A Niner Watches Babylon 5 (NO spoilers, please)

[Reverend]

for some reason there's this lame framing device where Garibaldi is telling the story to Keffer while they're stranded on some random planet running away from space hobbits. I don't know why they just didn't tell the story straight up.

Because it had to connect to real time of season 2 somehow. I think it worked quite well like that myself, and the art for these issues was better than the earlier ones.

Oh I get that they were connecting it to Season 2, I just don't think it was necessary, or if they absolutely must have done so the framing narrative needn't have taken up so much of the overall story. I realise this might just be me, but while reading it I couldn't care less about Keffer and the planet of the space hobbits and kept skimming past until it got back to the Mars story.

It would have been better if it was just Garibaldi telling someone the story without so much interruption or in such a contrived circumstance.

As for the artwork in the issues, yes they defiantly got better over time and by 'In Valen's Name' it had gotten pretty damn good.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

100 Pages!

And just reaching the "Point of No Return"

Jan

I'm so envious of TGB, that he is about to experience the high point of Babylon 5 for the first time.

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
Haven't we already established posts like that are unwarranted?

 

[TheGodBen]

Point of No Return (***½)

I don't know, it seems like a point of some return to me. Sure, Earth has collapsed into chaos, but with a title like that I was expecting Sheridan to make his stand, instead he keeps following orders and continues to do everything by the book. The solution to the immediate crisis involving the Night Watch didn't work for me, it was all based on a legal loophole that Sheridan should have picked up on right away rather than waiting until the last ten minutes until the light-bulb went off over his head. I'm not saying that Sheridan should have stood firm, given a speech and swayed the Night Watch to his side, he's no Mark Antony, but I felt the out-clause here was too cheap for the weight of the events. How am I supposed to take EarthGov seriously as a threat when they can't even file paperwork correctly? How am I supposed to take the Night Watch seriously when they all walk into a trap willingly? Who was providing security on the station while all these guys were marching towards the docking bay in slow motion? Why did Sheridan have trouble sleeping when his plan involved hiding in a corridor and only coming out after all the Night Watch guys were sealed away? It's not like as if he even stood up to EarthGov, he was just following the letter of the law.

In short, I really didn't like the ending. I was expecting a knock-out blow, instead I got an awkward pat on the bum.

The rest of that story was good though, the tone was excellent throughout, and I'm very interested in seeing where all this is going.

The b-story with Londo left me ambivalent. It wasn't bad, it just felt like an excuse to have a famous sci-fi figure on screen. That's right, the Queen of Star Trek made an appearance; Scott Bakula. It was confirmed that Londo would become Emperor, which was already hinted at, and we learned that Vir would be Emperor, something which was certainly not hinted at (now prove me wrong). Although I'm not sure if I believe the prophesy of a woman who didn't have the foresight to tell her husband to push up his visit to B5 by a few days before he died of fatal plotitis.

Scott Bakula: 42

 

[Truth_Seeker]

Jerry Doyle's performance in "Point Of No Return" was truly memorable.

The Security Room scene is one of my favourite Garibaldi moments.

 

[Lindley]

Why did Sheridan have trouble sleeping when his plan involved hiding in a corridor and only coming out after all the Night Watch guys were sealed away? It's not like as if he even stood up to EarthGov, he was just following the letter of the law.

That wouldn't matter. Sheridan knows the government won't see it that way. At best he'll be removed in short order, now that he's demonstrated he's looking for ways to oppose the new order.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

It was confirmed that Londo would become Emperor, which was already hinted at, and we learned that Vir would be Emperor, something which was certainly not hinted at (now prove me wrong).

I'm very fond of that scene.

"You will also be Emperor"

...

"Why are you laughing?"



It makes me chuckle every time. As you say, there was no foreshadowing of the Vir-as-Emperor idea prior to this claim, but it works as part of the ongoing "everyone underestimates Vir" business. Of course, again as you say, the issue now is the amount of faith a viewer is willing to put in these prophecies.

 

[Reverend]

Why did Sheridan have trouble sleeping when his plan involved hiding in a corridor and only coming out after all the Night Watch guys were sealed away? It's not like as if he even stood up to EarthGov, he was just following the letter of the law.

That wouldn't matter. Sheridan knows the government won't see it that way. At best he'll be removed in short order, now that he's demonstrated he's looking for ways to oppose the new order.

Exactly. He's demonstrated that he's not on-board with the "new order" and I'm sure the news that he's put Narns on the security force will reach Earthdome fairly quickly.

 

[sidious618]

In short, I really didn't like the ending. I was expecting a knock-out blow, instead I got an awkward pat on the bum.

You say it like an awkward pat on the bum is a bad thing.

 

[Brian]

In short, I really didn't like the ending. I was expecting a knock-out blow, instead I got an awkward pat on the bum.

You say it like an awkward pat on the bum is a bad thing.

It's never as good as a determined pat on the bum, but I'll take one any day.

 

[Forbin]

In short, I really didn't like the ending. I was expecting a knock-out blow, instead I got an awkward pat on the bum.

You say it like an awkward pat on the bum is a bad thing.

It's never as good as a determined pat on the bum, but I'll take one any day.

Tell that to my wife! Sure, I usually do it while's occupied with housework or cooking, and I usually sneak up on her and scare the hell out of her - but she's so damn CUTE when she's preoccupied.

 

[stonester1]

This ep was awesome. But the one coming up is probably my favorite of all. The "We REALLY mean business" ep of B5.

 

[Reverend]

Let's just lock down and keep to ourselves any thoughts and opinions on the next episode until he's seen it. Let's just wait and see what he thinks.

 

[tomalak301]

Let's just lock down and keep to ourselves any thoughts and opinions on the next episode until he's seen it. Let's just wait and see what he thinks.

Yeah. There wasn't this much participation when I was reviewing B5 last year and I liked almost every episode. I guess Ben has a way to bring out the energy in people I suppose.

 

[JoeD80]

Although I'm not sure if I believe the prophesy of a woman who didn't have the foresight to tell her husband to push up his visit to B5 by a few days before he died of fatal plotitis.

She might have told him; but he really wanted to see a Vorlon according to his dialogue in that episode and he was thinking that going at that time to Babylon 5 was when he could see one. So even if she told him, he would have gone at that time anyway.

 

[Can]

LoL...TGB would watch a very special episode next right ?

 

[chrisspringob]

Let's just lock down and keep to ourselves any thoughts and opinions on the next episode until he's seen it. Let's just wait and see what he thinks.

Yeah. There wasn't this much participation when I was reviewing B5 last year and I liked almost every episode. I guess Ben has a way to bring out the energy in people I suppose.

Did you individually review every episode though? I don't remember another B5 review thread in which the reviewer took the time to review each episode separately. I could be misremembering though.

 

[tomalak301]

Let's just lock down and keep to ourselves any thoughts and opinions on the next episode until he's seen it. Let's just wait and see what he thinks.

Yeah. There wasn't this much participation when I was reviewing B5 last year and I liked almost every episode. I guess Ben has a way to bring out the energy in people I suppose.

Did you individually review every episode though? I don't remember another B5 review thread in which the reviewer took the time to review each episode separately. I could be misremembering though.

Yes I did. I did it faster, but I talked about all of them, the movies, Crusade, and Lost Tales. Only one I haven't talk about is LOTR which I haven't seen yet.

 

[chrisspringob]

OK, I'd forgotten that.

Btw, when "Point of No Return" first aired in the US back in 1996, it was followed by a month of reruns. That was a long wait to see what happened next.

 

[Kegg]

The b-story with Londo left me ambivalent. It wasn't bad, it just felt like an excuse to have a famous sci-fi figure on screen. That's right, the Queen of Star Trek made an appearance;

And that's basically how JMS pitched it on the messages back on the internet in those days. He even went into the Star Trek forum to inform the Trekkie geeks that he'd scored this (while IIRC also making a swipe at the then unpopular move by Viacom to stop fans from using images from the show on their websites.) It's been argued her reverential respect for Turhan is sort of a nod to the guy she was actually widowed from.

However the Majel Barret story is basically an excuse to do that scene with MacBeth and Banquo from... uh... the Scottish Play, that's right!