A Niner Watches Babylon 5 (NO spoilers, please)

[Lindley]

Kegg wrote:

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Ah, Technomages. They worked better than say, Soul Hunters in a single episode, but I don't think it was a concept that bears much revisiting.

And yet, the Passing of the Technomages is an excellent trilogy.

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Lindley wrote:

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And yet, the Passing of the Technomages is an excellent trilogy.

Yes, it is. For some reason, the whole technomage thing seems to work better in that medium than rendered onto the small screen where ham acting can run riot.

[RoJoHen]

My big problem with the Technomages is that their introduction in B5 was also their departure from the series. We had no backstory nor any reason to care that they were leaving. It was really hard to give a shit.

[David cgc]

Kegg wrote:

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I don't even understand how that happened, but that's not my post.

[Jan]

I liked the Galen in the series but the one in the novels just never came over as the same character to me.

Jan

[Reverend]

David cgc wrote:

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I don't even understand how that happened, but that's not my post.

^A techno-mage must have done it.

Jan wrote:

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I liked the Galen in the series but the one in the novels just never came over as the same character to me.

Jan

I still haven't gotten around to reading them yet, but I gather the idea was to show how drastically the events of the novels (I gather the flashback from 'Path of Sorrows' was part of them) has changed him. No idea if that logic holds much water though. All I can say is that I've gotten about a third of the way through the last Centauri book and the two or three times he's shown up has been pretty much in line with the Peter Woodward's performance.

By contrast, Bester's characterisation in the second & third Psi Corps novels was pretty much dead on, but, to be fair that author had a lot more to go on.

[Kegg]

Lindley wrote:

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And yet, the Passing of the Technomages is an excellent trilogy.

Haven't read any of the Babylon 5 books or comics (if they were ever available here they are before my time) so no comment.

Reverend wrote:

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^A techno-mage must have done it.

GALEN!

But seriously I multiquoted a half dozen posts, and then pared it down to the handful of quotes I wanted to append to whatever the heck it was I was saying. I grabbed David's post, then realized I could just use Reverend's for that point, and clearly, my editing skills are as sloppy and lazy as ever.

Been corrected, though!

[Jan]

Reverend wrote:

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I still haven't gotten around to reading them yet, but I gather the idea was to show how drastically the events of the novels (I gather the flashback from 'Path of Sorrows' was part of them) has changed him. No idea if that logic holds much water though. All I can say is that I've gotten about a third of the way through the last Centauri book and the two or three times he's shown up has been pretty much in line with the Peter Woodward's performance.

I really need to read them again and be on the lookout for just such a change. I just kinda disliked the novel version from the start and probably didn't keep an open enough mind.

By contrast, Bester's characterisation in the second & third Psi Corps novels was pretty much dead on, but, to be fair that author had a lot more to go on.

True. And the backstory was great, too.

Jan

[TheGodBen]

Patterns of the Soul (**)

This episode is kind of hard to judge, it keep swerving between being vaguely interesting and being somewhat dull. That has nothing to do with A or B plots, it's just that some scenes and plot points are interesting and others are not. The overall plot felt tired as I've seen it a few times, but I the conspiracy and the infected food stuff was a twist that held my attention. I liked the leader of the world, he seemed like a reasonable guy, it's a pity he didn't have the charisma to keep his people in line. The other colonist guy that kidnapped the doctor and tried to run was a cliché, could have done without him. Dureena running into some of her people was just kind of there. The episode had Max, which was good, but he didn't really do anything.

The solution seemed a little rushed and I'm not sure how Gideon got that one past the brass. Dr Chambers is clearly in view on the bridge of the colonist's ship right before it blows up, so is she going to pretend that she's dead from now on? Wouldn't the General guy want a little more proof than an edited video showing a ship being blowed up real good?

I have some other thoughts but they're more about the show as a whole and I think they'd work better when I do my season wrap-up. I know that you're all on the edge of your seats to find out what I have to say, just be patient and wait a day or two.

Scott Bakula: 93

[Jan]

TheGodBen wrote:

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The solution seemed a little rushed and I'm not sure how Gideon got that one past the brass. Dr Chambers is clearly in view on the bridge of the colonist's ship right before it blows up, so is she going to pretend that she's dead from now on? Wouldn't the General guy want a little more proof than an edited video showing a ship being blowed up real good?

From the Lurker's Guide:

Chambers could be seen on the shuttle in the footage Gideon showed General Thompson. Won't people wonder why she's still alive?
JMS: It's only ever going to be seen by the general, and bear in mind that in that shot Chambers was WAY in the background, it was only seen for a moment on the monitor, with the General more concerned about what's happening in FG, and in any event he would have to instantly recognize her by sight, and he didn't know her.

High profile mission or not, I don't think most Generals would know all of the department heads on the ships under their command by sight.

Jan

[Hound of UIster]

Lindley wrote:

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And yet, the Passing of the Technomages is an excellent trilogy.

Yes as a sleeping aide.

[Admiral Shran]

TheGodBen wrote:

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I have some other thoughts but they're more about the show as a whole and I think they'd work better when I do my season wrap-up. I know that you're all on the edge of your seats to find out what I have to say, just be patient and wait a day or two.

I can't wait a day or two. I want it now!

[TheGodBen]

The Rules of the Game (**½)

There's two plots in this episode, an A-plot that's not really important and which is more interested in Lochley's boobs than the alien-of-the-week, and a B-plot that's about how Max is something of a badass.

In the A-story, Gideon is trying to negotiate the right to land on some planet because some people died there at one point a long, long time ago and Earth Force has a good feeling that maybe there's a clue there about the current unrelated plague. But more on that tomorrow. Gideon is really stressed out from having the weight of the world on his shoulders, so he focuses his energy on trying to get his hands on Lochley's boobs. But first he has to meet with some obnoxious aliens who decide to kill him with magic rubies. This leads to a chase and a fight which gets him and Lochley all sweaty and their hearts pumping, so they rush into the shower like a couple of horny teens. Gideon has finally achieved his goal for the series, he got to wash Lochley's boobs. Yay. If this plot has a fault then it's me, because I just don't care about Gideon's attempts to fondle Lochley. I barely even care about Gideon or Lochley.

In the B-story, Max's ex-wife took out a ridiculous loan and needs Max to bail her out. Max agrees to help but he insists on a haircut on the debt. If I had more skill and it wasn't rapidly approaching 3am then I'd make some sort of topical joke about the eurozone debt crisis, but you'll just have to settle for this sentence. Anyway, Max's cat gets abducted and he decides to break bad (have I used that colloquialism correctly?) by threatening to kill the loanshark with a magic necklace that will decapitate him if he doesn't give the cat back. The cat is saved, Max goes back to work and everybody is happy. Yay. This plot wins points because I got to see more of Max, who is a much bigger badass than Galen can even dream of being.

Scott Bakula: 94


Alright, I'll do a wrap-up of Crusade tommorow (hopefully), then I'll watch the finale two movies.

[Sykonee]

TheGodBen wrote:

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The Rules of the Game (**½)

In the A-story, Gideon is trying to negotiate the right to land on some planet because some people died there at one point a long, long time ago and Earth Force has a good feeling that maybe there's a clue there about the current unrelated plague. But more on that tomorrow. Gideon is really stressed out from having the weight of the world on his shoulders, so he focuses his energy on trying to get his hands on Lochley's boobs. But first he has to meet with some obnoxious aliens who decide to kill him with magic rubies. This leads to a chase and a fight which gets him and Lochley all sweaty and their hearts pumping, so they rush into the shower like a couple of horny teens. Gideon has finally achieved his goal for the series, he got to wash Lochley's boobs. Yay. If this plot has a fault then it's me, because I just don't care about Gideon's attempts to fondle Lochley. I barely even care about Gideon or Lochley.

Having never seen Crusade, I honestly can't tell if this synopsis is obfuscating jokes or actually semi-legit.

[Forbin]

Nope, that was the plot all right!