Farscape or Babylon 5?

[JD]

The Jim Henson Company posted this to their Facebook and Youtube pages earlier today.
Four Seasons of Frells.

[kirk55555]

The books sound interesting. I'll check them out when I can whenever I finish the series.

A Distant Star - The Explorer ship is interesting. It looked like it was the size of Babylon 5. The doctor was really annoying in this episode, to the point of being totally unlikeable. I get the joke, it just wasn't very funny. Lots of doctors in media, like other SciFi shows, have done similar stuff, but in this situation the doctor just came off as an ass. It was also annoying that Sheridan, Ivanova and Garibaldi just took it, like they were scared of him. Atleast with Ivanova and Sheridan, if they didn't want to do it, they could have told him where to shove his diet. Its not like he would have gotten them relieved of duty or something for ignoring him, for them it was just reccomendations, unlike garibaldi who probably had the most reason to have to be on a special diet. I don't hate the doctor, but I'd say he's no McCoy or Phlox (thats right, Phlox is my second favorite ST doctor, what of it ) and he's easily the most annoying character of the main cast right now.

The ship rescue story was cool. Its interesting to learn more about B5's take on Hyperspace. I thought it was some kind of wormhole thing, and that they coulkd just leave hyperspace at any time. It makes me wonder how they can explore, since they'd have to travel under the speed of light once they get to the farthest point that a gate exists. That must mean they spend a lot of time exploring small areas of space, and (from what I heard) building new gates periodically.

Also, what is up with Delenns head? The shell used to be part of it, but now its obviosusy just covering the hair, like some kind of accessory. Is it still supposed to be part of her head, or is it something she wears to look more like she used to? I hope its not supposed to still be part of her head, because it makes no sense because it just sits above the hair, its not connected to her skull. I just don't know if its just supposed to be an accessory, or a stupid design. Its not a huge deal, I just kept thinking about it when I saw her. Plus, I just looked it up on wikipedia, I guess Delenn is still played by the same actoress, and stays the same actoress throughout the whole show. Then, why was she in a cacoon? I thought it was to replace the actress. Did she dislike not having her hair out, and they did that so that she didn't leave the show? Or did they always plan to change her look (for reasons that aren't very clear) after one season? Its not a problem, it just seems weird to me. Overall, this was another good episode.

[JoeD80]

kirk55555 wrote:

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in this situation the doctor just came off as an ass.

Dr. Franklin does tend to think he is right no matter what; this does come to haunt him later in the show actually...but don't forget that he did eat the Bagna Cauda in the end!

kirk55555 wrote:

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That must mean they spend a lot of time exploring small areas of space, and (from what I heard) building new gates periodically.

Sounds about right.

kirk55555 wrote:

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Is it still supposed to be part of her head, or is it something she wears to look more like she used to? I hope its not supposed to still be part of her head, because it makes no sense because it just sits above the hair, its not connected to her skull.

It is connected to her skull. It looks clearer in later episodes.

kirk55555 wrote:

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Or did they always plan to change her look (for reasons that aren't very clear) after one season?

The transformation of Delenn was planned out before season one started production. There are some specific reasons related to the plot.

[kirk55555]

Yeah, I remember he did let Garibaldi eat his thing, although it was only after hearing Garibaldi's story. As for delenn, I have no problem with it being part of her head, it just didn't look very good in this episode, since, because of the way her hair is, there is obviously hair beneth it, and the shell just sitting on top. I guess I'll just get used to it as a somewhat poorly done make up effect.

[JoeD80]

Because she's now half-human, her head changed a little bit. So yeah, there is a space there now. But it's connected on the side of her head where it grows out from.

[Reverend]

Yeah the "head bones" on the Minbari are actually two separate ridges that grow out and back from the temples and fuse where they meet in the middle. The "bone" itself is not actual bone but more like horn or antler and through binding and carving can be shaped into specific styles. This is why religious caste Minbari (and especially females) have a more ornate, smooth look while those of the warrior caste have a more rugged (and probably more natural) rough hewn style. It also grows more with age, hence Lennier's looking the way it does. If you look back it actually grows over the course of the show.

As for Delenn's "bone", IIRC you actually see Lennier pick of her old bone out of the remnants of the cocoon, so what she has now is all new growth.

In the real world though, yes the original make-up design did bother Mira quite a bit so when the time came for the change, they tried to make it a lot less uncomfortable to wear. Still, it took them a few episodes to figure out exactly how to handle how to wear her hair so it didn't look so odd. Regardless, I think even to this day she was never happy with how it looked.

[DWF]

Reverend wrote:

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Yeah the "head bones" on the Minbari are actually two separate ridges that grow out and back from the temples and fuse where they meet in the middle. The "bone" itself is not actual bone but more like horn or antler and through binding and carving can be shaped into specific styles. This is why religious caste Minbari (and especially females) have a more ornate, smooth look while those of the warrior caste have a more rugged (and probably more natural) rough hewn style. It also grows more with age, hence Lennier's looking the way it does. If you look back it actually grows over the course of the show.

I always thought the female Minbari had a rounded crested look while the males were all rougher and spiked.

[Jan]

DWF wrote:

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I always thought the female Minbari had a rounded crested look while the males were all rougher and spiked.

There are probably some gender differences since Lennier's has more points than Delenn's or Shaal Mayan's but it could also be part of the cultural fashion since we see how much pointier and even possibly weaponized the Warrior Caste bones are.

Jan

[JoeD80]

Reverend wrote:

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In the real world though, yes the original make-up design did bother Mira quite a bit so when the time came for the change, they tried to make it a lot less uncomfortable to wear.

The human/minbari makeup actually took longer to apply than the original Minbari makeup!

[Reverend]

^If I recall correctly, it wasn't so much the length of time to apply as it was all the glue. Plus I think she didn't believe it looked very flattering. I could be misremembering though.

She may have also had a bad reaction to the appliances. I know it was certainly a problem for the actresses that played Ko D'Ath & Na'toth

Jan wrote:

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There are probably some gender differences since Lennier's has more points than Delenn's or Shaal Mayan's but it could also be part of the cultural fashion since we see how much pointier and even possibly weaponized the Warrior Caste bones are.

Jan

I'm pretty sure the more curved shape for females is a style thing, not a natural feature of Minbari sexual dimorphism. If you'll recall, there was a warrior caste female in command of the renegade ship in 'Points of Departure' and her bone was just as rough and pointy as any male Minbari we've seen.

I think Lennier's was just smoother because of his youth. Plus I think some (though by no mean all) religious caste males have a similar multi-pronged look as the warriors, but smoother and more ornately carved like Delenn's & Mayan's.

No idea where the worker caste fit into things as we very rarely ever see any of them. Probably somewhere in between.

[Lindley]

kirk55555 wrote:

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they coulkd just leave hyperspace at any time. It makes me wonder how they can explore, since they'd have to travel under the speed of light once they get to the farthest point that a gate exists.

They can leave hyperspace at any time, but only with a functional jumppoint generator. Small craft like Starfuries and civilian freighters usually wouldn't have these, since they are expensive and require a lot of power.

Warships and explorer ships often do have them, especially the larger ones. However, the explorer ship's drive was damaged in this episode.

Note that even if you can leave hyperspace whenever you want, you still need the lock-on signals to navigate. Otherwise, you could come out pretty much anywhere.

[tomswift2002]

Sindatur wrote:

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You can't read them until after you finish the Series, but, there is a Trilogy of Books about the Technomages, that are very good, and are blessed by JMS as Canon.

The Technomage Trilogy
All are considered canon[18]: written by Jeanne Cavelos.

1. Babylon 5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages - Casting Shadows (2001, ISBN 0-345-42721-1)
2. Babylon 5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages - Summoning Light (2001, ISBN 0-345-42722-X)
3. Babylon 5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages - Invoking Darkness (2001, ISBN 0-345-43833-7)

Not to mention that the post series Crusade and the movie A Call To Arms also feature Technomage's to a higher degree than they are seen in B5.

Plus with the thing about the opening credits, even if they weren't there during the original run, someone at Warners probably thought that most people, especially with a TV series, wouldn't be bothered watching the opening credits, so they were maybe hoping that that would just slip by.

[JoeD80]

Reverend wrote:

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^If I recall correctly, it wasn't so much the length of time to apply as it was all the glue. Plus I think she didn't believe it looked very flattering. I could be misremembering though.

What Mira said in interviews was that she had a hard time dealing with the barrier between actress and audience by having the makeup on; losing herself in it as it were. As for the lighting, I do recall something about having to avoid certain angles or her face would glow.

Reverend wrote:

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She may have also had a bad reaction to the appliances. I know it was certainly a problem for the actresses that played Ko D'Ath & Na'toth

I don't think that was an issue for Mira. She even did her full Minbari makeup in that first episode of season two (since there was that flashback). She also said she had a lot of fun being in the "mud-creature" makeup she wore in that scene when Dr. Franklin gets to her; as long as she didn't have to do it long-term!

[kirk55555]

The Long Dark - This was a decent episode. It was cool seeing Dwight Shultz. I always liked Barclay, and he played a good role in this episode. His parts were good, as was the shadow creature plot. The episode did get dragged down by the woman and Doctor's parts. I really don't care about the Doctor, and especially not his personal life. When they were together it was really boring. But, they didn't ruin the episode, they just stopped it from being more than just a decent one. Overall, I did like the episode, despite the boring parts.

[kirk55555]

A Spider in the Web - This was a good episode. I will say that I'm getting sick of annoying senators. The government stuff never acomplishes anything except to show that all senators are either idiots or corrupt, and just seem to be used as filler/exposition. Its not a huge deal, but if the mysterious entities they keep hinting at do come and attack, I hope the Earth Government gets destroyed. Also, is it just me or does it seem weird that pretty much no one other than B5 personnel have communications devices? What is with that? I mean, when the cyborg is ordered to eliminate Talia and kills the security officer, she barely gets saved by her mind powers and then has to run screaming for help, because she has no communication device. It seems like having some way to call for help would be sueful, even if portable personal communications isn't alolowed for some stupid reason.

The cyborg was interesting. I do wonder how Psi Corps is involved with this mysterious orginazation. The woman was wearing her badge, so even though the computer says shes dead, it may just be a death faked by the Corp. One thing this episode did is make me want to see Winters die. She is so fanatical in her devotion to the Psi Corps that she actually covers up their possible involvement in the cyborg plot? Seriously, shes either a fanatic or an idiot, or both. To be clear, i don't hate the character, I just now want to see her cover up exposed and then see her get punished for being an idiot. I am interested in learning why all telepaths seem to be idiots or loyal to the Corps. Are there really no legal telepaths in the Corps with minds of their own? Even if they have all be indoctrinated since they were young, there must be one or two of them with some free will, we just haven't seen them. I hope we see Walter Koenig again this season. So, overall, I enjoyed this episode, and I do hope the stuff that happens in this episode gets followed up on in other episodes (I'm assuming it will).