Babylon 5 - I'm finally going to do it

If you do, look for one of the "programs" Flynn (Jeff Bridges) first meets when he enters the electronic world. It might be hard to tell who he is without his prominent hair.

And of course, there is the title character...

 

I don't know. I kept on hearing remake but it could be a sequel. Long time for a sequel though. Hasn't it been like 20 years.

Just checked. Apparently it is a sequel.

 

That's putting it in a very kind way.

 

A Voice in the Wilderness

Since this is a two parter, I'm going to talk about it as one long episode.

I really liked this one. There was everything, a nice sci-fi type plot, some good Babylon 5 mythos, and a lot of good Humor in part one. Is it in my current top three? No, but it's probably in my top 5 of the season.

The reason it's not in the top three was because there was one question I had and couldn't shake off throughout the entire hour and half. Should this episode have come sooner? I mean the station was built, when, 2257 and it's been orbiting the planet ever since then. So given we're at the end of Season 1, meaning it's almost 2259, that's a good year and a half to 2 years of not seeing what is down on the planet your orbiting. I was hoping this episode would explain that little conundrum, but it really didn't. I know it's been mentioned that these episodes are out of order, but it's still quite a while between the building of the station and actually seeing what is down there.

With that being said, there were so many good things. That scifi story of the guardian and protector of the planet, Garibaldi's love interest (Which thanks alot credits for spoiling the ending but I thought Kemmer meant something to him as well), and the ambassadors (Again, no G'Kar, which makes it 5 in a row) going down to the planet. Delenn has gotten real interesting as the season has gone on. Helping her mentor find something in life was a very spiritual thing to do. Also loved the battle sequence, even though it's not as good as Signs and Portants and a Ron Canada guest star appearence is always good. Man that dude was busy in the 90s.

Anyway, there were a couple humorous things I also wanted to mention. I love Londo Mollari. I loved his thing in the bar with Mike, but I need to ask a question. Who does the Hokie Pokey these days. Man I haven't heard that song in years, and having it reintroduced on Babylon 5 was the last place I thought it would be. Another good bit was the Babylon 5 Mantra. Also, that's another thing I noticed as if this episode should have aired earlier in the season. Christian's hair was back to the beginning of the season look.

As for the Mars thing, that's been something that's been mentioned in passing but I've been kinda ignoring talking about it. I'm actually a bit confused on what is going on. You go from quartermaster/arm shipments to rebellion and that rebellion wasn't really that long. Can someone clear that plot point up.

 

With regards to Epsilon 3:

I assumed that Earth Force or someone had done surveying on the planet, and they just didn't find anything. Since the Great Machine is very powerful, I'd think it had the ability to hide itself until the time was right, but it struck me as odd at first as well.

Plus the episode paves the way for one of my favorite characters...

 

It's simply a part of the story occurring off-screen. B5 does that sometimes. Not everything of consequence happens directly to the station, after all.

In later years they'll sometimes refer to the "Mars rebellion", which is this event, and the "Mars (food) riots", which occurred a few years earlier.

You'll see Mars up-close later in the show.

 

Yeah, the bad stuff happening on Mars is basically there to get the idea in your head that there is something going seriously wrong with Earth's government, and that will play a huge part later in the show.

 

Babylon Squared

Wow. There is a lot to think about after that episode. Who was Sinclair (Old) talking to and that's what happened to Babylon 4. I'm not sure if I can really talk about this episode that much other than it was very interesting and added a ton of texture to this already complex series. I really liked what this episode offered, more building blocks to be explored and thought about as the series progresses. Delenn revealing some of what happened in those 24 hours (Valen thinking some humans had a destiny) and it's really uncovering a lot on the Minbari. It's interesting that this late in the season, there is so much exploration on a race that was kind of ignored early on. It balences out I think. I'm loving watching this mythos develop and there are so many questions it's hard to really review this episode. There was just so much to think about it's hard to put it in words.

I will say there were two great scenes that had me laughing quite a bit. The first was the prank on Ivanova at the beginning of the episode. The second was the fasten or zip question. Sinclair's look was priceless.

As for what was revealed, it only convinces me more that watching this series is definately worth it.

 

Yeah, B^2 was very good. You seem to have caught on to and most liked the big mythology building episodes of the season, which is very similar to my reaction seeing them. (The big season 1 episodes being "And the Sky is Full of Stars", "Signs & Portents", "Babylon Squared", plus the forthcoming "Chrysalis")

Keep posting your mini-reviews, it is always cool to read the impressions of a new viewer.

 

^And it's no wonder now that my top three episodes of the season, in order are:

Signs and Portants
And the Sky Full of Stars
Babylon Squared

Looking forward to the final two.

 

The wonderful thing about Babylon 5 is that it starts off small. A bunch of pieces about a few characters, a few races. By no means is Season 1 terrible when it stands aside TNG or any other science fiction series.

The episodes in the first half of the season are basically all 'background' episodes. A Sky Full Of Stars is really the first 'important' episode which is slid amongst them.

Then of course we start to hit Signs & Portents, By Any Means Necessary and the series starts to pick up a little pace and by the time you get to Babylon Squarded you're completely engaged.

If anyone can watch upto Babylon Squarded and then walk away from the series I'd be amazed. I can kinda understand if they stop watching after 12 or so episodes since it can appear as a normal Sci-Fi show but after the first Season you realise that this story is going somewhere.


And it is utterly scary to realise that by the time you're amongst Season 4 you will think of the first season as 'poor' because in comparison to the later seasons it is. But that's not due to a poor first season, it's due to a building 2nd season and brilliant 3rd & 4th Seasons.


The one piece of B5 DVD I'm missing is 'Legend of the Rangers' (though I've seen it) now that it's out of print I can't seem to locate a Region 4 copy since I want to complete my collection.

 

Where is Region 4? I've seen it on sale at shops in the UK recently.

 

True. B5 isn't just about the wars and struggles, it's about actions and consequences. It shows how things crept up gradually so we see the whole process of how things got as bad as they did and how the characters came to do the things they did.

What people who think that earlier episodes/seasons are poor don't seem to realize is that without them, the later season's struggles wouldn't have meant nearly as much as they did. Whether it's a story or music or anything else, only experiencing the climax without the build-up lessens the experience.

Jan

 

IMNSHO, Garibalid - the lucky bastard - has the two hottest women on the show to himself (kemmer & lise). But he's really good guy, and acts like the "Uncle Mike" he is to Kemmer - you see in Survivors, that he doesn't go down that road even once.

As for Lise - perhaps the best woman on the show.

 

Except for in the blooper reel.

 

Yeah, I think with Kemmer it was a special bond, kind of like a family relative. For Lise, it was a relationship so that clears that up.

 

that's awesome

 

I went into to Season 1 thinking it's like an introduction. It's absolutely crucial and probably the most important season because it's the one that introduces everything. It's kind of like reading a novel. You don't want to start the novel in the middle because you don't gain anything from it.

While the later seasons maybe good (I don't know, haven't gotten there yet), to say Season 1 is poor is a bit unfair. Of course the series is going to improve, but like I said above, it needs to grow and develop before you get to the meat of it.

 

All the blooper reels are on youtube divided up into usually two parts per season. They are unedited, so the vulgarities fly. It's one the funniest set of bloopers I've ever seen. Peter Jurasik and Bill Mumy are quite hilarious.

 

The Quality of Mercy

Perhaps I'm just looking forward to the finale because I found this episode kind of dull. It had it's good moments, such as Lennier and Londo and the alien tech was kind of cool, but that was pretty much it. The plot with the murderer (Who overacted the part and reminded me of Sisko playing Joran in DS9's Facets) could have been a lot better and I had a feeling we'd get a cross of plots at the end. I was a bit surprised to see Lennier kicking a lot of ass though. For someone as religious as he was, his ability in the martial arts impressed me in a surprising kind of way.

It's not as bad as Believers but it's at the bottom of the season. It's a shame that the next episode is called Chrysalis and it was hinted at in a few episodes this season (Like Legacies, and probably Babylon Squared, but I haven't seen the episode yet so that's only a guess) because this episode could easly be forgotten.