A Niner Watches Babylon 5 (NO spoilers, please)

Although I think he's credited as "Security Guard" or something equally generic at this point.

 

^^
I think that's right. His role is awfully generic in that episode, anyway.

 

You know, they were showing "Grease" on TV a few days ago. I did a double-take when I saw Zack at the beginning of the movie.

 

Is it bad that I'm not even remembering most of these Season 2 episodes? Maybe I skipped over them the second time around.

 

A hickey from Kinniky is like a Hallmark card...

 

I wish Grease was all I had seen him in recently. Two seasons of Celebrity Rehab has really ruined my view of the guy. He's such a mess, it's a wonder he's still alive.

 

Even when I marathon the show I feel like I'm marathoning past them; they're speedbumps between me and the next big arc event. As observed, B5 is IMHO mostly terrible when it comes to standalones, and I think it's been hit why upthread: They frequently feel upstaged by their own foreshadowing. When the background noise is more enticing and is more carefully designed than the main event, well, what's the point?

 

I watched A Spider in the Web last night and I enjoyed it, great pace and more development of Talia Winters. I hadn't exactly warmed to her before this episode but I'm now more interested in her, because of the secrets she is keeping. I hope we get to see that mystery red haired "deceased" psi corp agent again.

 

With the S1 and S2 one-shot episodes, especially those written by someone other than JMS, that's unfortunately what they are-- mostly handwaving in the foreground to while things are being set up in the background. You almost get the sense that JMS didn't care much about what they were about as long as the bits that he needed name-dropped were in there.

I remember reading about how he got on the show. Apparently Conway was home sick and flipping channels, caught an episode and decided he had to be on the show.

 

I was home sick and flipping channels when I saw him in "Grease." Maybe I can get in on the next iteration of B5.

 

The first half of S2 is mediocre, no way around it.

Some good things it does though is establish the new 'ambiance' of the show. The sets, lighting, mood, and the music are a lot more reminiscent of the rest of the show rather than S1, which always somehow seemed metallic and gray (I attribute this to Sinclair's wooden performance and the techno-twangs that seem to infest Franke's music in S1).

But really, I almost feel like you can jump straight from Revelations to that hugo-award winning episode halfway through the season that I shall not name. Yeah you'd miss some character threads and such, but its not like they're all that interesting to begin with.

 

Didn't scientology "cure" him of all his problems?

 

Scientology, really? Is that a recent development? As recently as last year he was a drug-addled mess.

I do recall when I last saw him at a convention, something like 8-10 years ago, he was a tad overtly "holy". No sign that it was Scientology, though.

 

After one of his stints on that obscene 'rehab' show, he did have some meetings with somebody involved with Scientology but he denied having any intention of becoming a Scientologist. Last October he was apparently well enough to attend a convention, albeit using a walker. In January, he sufffered a fall and was hospitalized. I haven't heard anything else since then.

Jan

 

Christ, he looks like a ghoul in that groupshot.

 

Yeah, he is in rough shape.

 

Jeff has never again attained the heights of his Taxi years.

 

Sadly, I have to agree. I hate to think that I might be a plot-whore, but I'm just not enjoying most of the standalone episodes of this show. A few of them stand out, but with the rest of them I often don't find myself interested in what is happening. It's a pity, but hopefully the arc related stuff later this season will work better for me.


Soul Mates (**½)

At least now I can see why Centauri males need all those tentacles; one for each of the wives, one for themselves, and two more to make a sandwich for when you're done. That's intelligent design in action.

The Londo plot didn't do much for me, it was everything you'd expect from a comedic three-wives scenario. One was attractive and claimed to love him while trying to kill him, another was prudish and cold but came through for him in the end, and there was a third one that didn't really matter. Nothing unexpected here and nothing too annoying, but my overall feeling was one of "meh". At least it was a Londo episode that didn't hit me over the head with the irritating inflatable hammer of foreshadowing.

The Talia plot was a little better but still didn't engage my interest too much. It was obvious that her ex-husband still had powers because of the scene at the start of the episode, and it was obvious that he was using those powers to control her, so any big character moments for her couldn't be taken at face value. The Galibaldi/Talia romance stuff also feels a little too forced, I don't buy that Garibaldi really loves her. Hopefully any future stuff in this direction will make it seem more natural.

Oh, if the issue of Delenn's new-found cramps becomes a major plot point then I'm stopping. I now have images of the Shadow fleet destroying the last hub of galactic resistance... and then being stopped by this.

Scott Bakula: 24

 

Nah, Garibaldi doesn't love her. He likes her, would love to bone her, he might have a crush, but it's not love.

Me, I love most of the standalone eps. With the plot and character easter eggs and just little things they drop that widen the view of the B5 window, I enjoy them.

But then, I really like this universe.