Babylon 5 - I'm finally going to do it
- Thread starter tomalak301
- Start date
Yeah I still need to remind myself that there is one episode left in Season 4. I'll get to season 5, and I'll form my own opinions on it, just like every other episode.
Here's a bit of trivia that's not really a spoiler. #422, "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" was actually the first episode filmed in the fifth season. In order to ensure that the show would have the proper finish, JMS filmed the final episode, "Sleeping in Light" as the final episode of the 4th season and then set it back once the 5th season was picked up by TNT.
Jan
Harlan Ellison was a creative consultant, and (at least by Season 5) Fiona Avery was a "reference editor" who helped him keep track of all the continuity and such, but in terms of actually writing the scripts....JMS wrote every script for Seasons 3 and 4 by himself. There was no writing staff. And in Season 5, he wrote all but 1 script himself.
That's impressive.
It's a record of some sort, too, as I recall. I don't know of any other writer who was so prolific. David E. Kelley was credited on most teleplays for Boston Legal, and Aaron Sorkin for most teleplays on The West Wing (during the seasons, 1-4, that he was involved with), but those were often in collaboration with other writers. And for all the public credit that he recieves, Ronald D. Moore is only named in the writing credits of 12 episodes and the miniseries (13 if you count 'Daybreak' as three episodes) of Battlestar Galactica. Love him or hate him, but Joe Michael Straczynski is the closest thing television has ever had to an auteur.
JMS mentioned that Terry Nation wrote all 13 episodes of the first season of Blake's 7, but (at least as of 1996) no one had ever singlehandedly written an entire season of a TV series by themselves that was longer than that. But JMS wrote a 22 episode season by himself. And then he did it again the very next year.
Oh, and of course, after early Season 2, there was no creative interference from Warner Bros. whatsoever, so JMS was pretty much singlehandedly writing whatever he wanted.
I suppose Rob Grant and Doug Naylor wrote every episode of Red Dwarf together until Grant left the show--five series worth, IIRC. But that's only 30 half-hour episodes, which Straczynski certainly outshines. I suppose you could count Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. David writes the outline for every episode, but they are then largely improvised. There have been a special and 60 episodes to date.
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
This episode was ok. I can understand the point of it, how will history remember the events that took place, but I couldn't bring myself to care about those people. The first segment (2362) reminded me of watching CNBC where you have guys talking over one another (Fast Money or The Kudlow Report are two examples, and for those who don't know, CNBC is a cable news/commentary network focused on the financial markets). I did like the segment where Garibaldi took over the hologram program and used it against the guy. Serves him right. Also, the segment where Delenn came was powerful, but after all the momentum from the previous episodes, this one felt kind of out of place. I also liked the final message even if I saw on the lurkers guide that some people took it as a shot towards the naysayers. It's not just the naysayers, you can use that in everyday life. Even if you don't believe in god, you believe in something. Faith does work in interesting ways. So, there were a lot of good parts, but I couldn't bring myself to really care so much because it featured characters I don't give one iota about.
Now for a short recap of Season 4:
I liked this season a lot. It's not as good as Season 3, or even Season 2, but I really liked it. The reason though it's not as good as the seasons mentioned was because it felt like a really weird season. You had the end of the Shadow War, and with it kind of brought an end to the mythos and how the alien races, including Babylon 5 were interconnected. The series turned kind of in on itself, focusing more on earth and the removal of president Clark. That's not a bad thing per say, but it felt like something was missing, and characters like Londo and G'Kar were kind of pushed to the sidelines.
With that being said, it was great having 2 seasons in one. The end of the Shadow War was great, and we were able to see some fall out from that. Would have liked to see more but I don't have issues with what we got. As for Earth, on sunday when I did a 6 episode marathon, I was revited. I wanted to see what happened next because I found it exciting. Episodes like Face of the Enemy, Endgame, and Moments of Transition made the back half of season 4 for me.
I did have two minor qualms though even though I liked the season. One, I wanted more fallout from Garibaldi and Sheridan. We never really saw them talk after the rescue in Between the Darkness and the Light, and given the whole season had both of them at odds almost ready to kill each other, I wish we had gotten something. Not anything big, but something. Also, the friendship between G'Kar and Londo weirded me out. Yeah there was the new intersteller alliance, but this whole series they never were friends. Londo had a hand in destroying his homeworld for heaven sake. Yeah Londo agreed to free Narn, but like I said, that whole friendship thing was odd.
Now, top 5 and bottom 3
Top 5 (In Order)
The Face of the Enemy
Endgame
Into the Fire
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi
No Surrender, No Retreat
Bottom 3 (In Order)
Illusions of Truth
The Hour of the Wolf
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
This episode was ok. I can understand the point of it, how will history remember the events that took place, but I couldn't bring myself to care about those people. The first segment (2362) reminded me of watching CNBC where you have guys talking over one another (Fast Money or The Kudlow Report are two examples, and for those who don't know, CNBC is a cable news/commentary network focused on the financial markets). I did like the segment where Garibaldi took over the hologram program and used it against the guy. Serves him right. Also, the segment where Delenn came was powerful, but after all the momentum from the previous episodes, this one felt kind of out of place. I also liked the final message even if I saw on the lurkers guide that some people took it as a shot towards the naysayers. It's not just the naysayers, you can use that in everyday life. Even if you don't believe in god, you believe in something. Faith does work in interesting ways. So, there were a lot of good parts, but I couldn't bring myself to really care so much because it featured characters I don't give one iota about.
Now for a short recap of Season 4:
I liked this season a lot. It's not as good as Season 3, or even Season 2, but I really liked it. The reason though it's not as good as the seasons mentioned was because it felt like a really weird season. You had the end of the Shadow War, and with it kind of brought an end to the mythos and how the alien races, including Babylon 5 were interconnected. The series turned kind of in on itself, focusing more on earth and the removal of president Clark. That's not a bad thing per say, but it felt like something was missing, and characters like Londo and G'Kar were kind of pushed to the sidelines.
With that being said, it was great having 2 seasons in one. The end of the Shadow War was great, and we were able to see some fall out from that. Would have liked to see more but I don't have issues with what we got. As for Earth, on sunday when I did a 6 episode marathon, I was revited. I wanted to see what happened next because I found it exciting. Episodes like Face of the Enemy, Endgame, and Moments of Transition made the back half of season 4 for me.
I did have two minor qualms though even though I liked the season. One, I wanted more fallout from Garibaldi and Sheridan. We never really saw them talk after the rescue in Between the Darkness and the Light, and given the whole season had both of them at odds almost ready to kill each other, I wish we had gotten something. Not anything big, but something. Also, the friendship between G'Kar and Londo weirded me out. Yeah there was the new intersteller alliance, but this whole series they never were friends. Londo had a hand in destroying his homeworld for heaven sake. Yeah Londo agreed to free Narn, but like I said, that whole friendship thing was odd.
Now, top 5 and bottom 3
Top 5 (In Order)
The Face of the Enemy
Endgame
Into the Fire
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi
No Surrender, No Retreat
Bottom 3 (In Order)
Illusions of Truth
The Hour of the Wolf
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
This is on the DVDs, and definitely worth a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV4zXNAdUgI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV4zXNAdUgI
Thanks for your perspective on season 4... I agree with you 100% about "Deconstruction...".
As for plot points you did not see resolved... many of those will be touched on in season 5. As for G'Kar/Londo... Londo did keep his word and freed Narn. That's gotta count for something.
But their tumultuous relationship is far from over.
As for plot points you did not see resolved... many of those will be touched on in season 5. As for G'Kar/Londo... Londo did keep his word and freed Narn. That's gotta count for something.
But their tumultuous relationship is far from over.
That was great. Really Really Great.
Thanks for your perspective on season 4... I agree with you 100% about "Deconstruction...".
As for plot points you did not see resolved... many of those will be touched on in season 5. As for G'Kar/Londo... Londo did keep his word and freed Narn. That's gotta count for something.
Yeah and I mentioned that. However, the last few episodes had them almost be buddy buddy. Like I said, weird.
G'Kar knows everything there is to know about Londo. For a time that enranged him. But since getting over that, and his Vorlon encounter, he's found some degree of empathy for Londo.
Which is not to say he likes him. But G'Kar has, one might say, transcended hatred in his case.
Which is not to say he likes him. But G'Kar has, one might say, transcended hatred in his case.
That makes sense. Ever since his encounter with Kosh it seemed like he had found peace in himself, and it gave him the will to make it through Cartagia's torture. And Londo did keep his word so yeah it does count for something.
Harvey,
It did seem like a lot of things at the end of Season 4 were there because JMS thought it would be the last. I guess that's why he gets the benefit of the doubt.
interesting... the last segment is one of my favorites. it inspired me to read A Canticle for Leibowitz, which is a truly fantastic novel!
No Compromises
Well, this is it. The final season of Babylon 5. Before I get to the episode, I love the title sequence. Maybe not the pictures themselves, but the theme song is really good, and it was stuck in my head for a time a while back.
Now that I know all the title sequences, my favorites ranked:
1) Season 3 (Yeah I came around to it. It fit perfectly with the season)
2) Season 5 (Love the fanfare)
3) Season 4 (The monologue and the entire cast doing it really makes it great. Only downside is the song itself seemed a bit muddled half way through)
4) Season 2 (I still love it, but the other three were better)
5) Season 1 (Nice intro, but it needed to go somewhere)
Now as for the episode, it was ok. I will say for a trained killer, this guy didn't do very well. Seemed kinda easy to catch him, but of course a telepath being in the right place at the right time I guess helped. Still, kind of wish there was more of a challenge. I need some time to warm up to Lochley. She seems so stiff at this point so hopefully she gets better. The same thing happened with Sheridan and Sinclair so I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. Loved G'Kar in this episode. He's so excited to write the oath to the new alliance, and then the impromptu inauguration was great.
Well, this is it. The final season of Babylon 5. Before I get to the episode, I love the title sequence. Maybe not the pictures themselves, but the theme song is really good, and it was stuck in my head for a time a while back.
Now that I know all the title sequences, my favorites ranked:1) Season 3 (Yeah I came around to it. It fit perfectly with the season)
2) Season 5 (Love the fanfare)
3) Season 4 (The monologue and the entire cast doing it really makes it great. Only downside is the song itself seemed a bit muddled half way through)
4) Season 2 (I still love it, but the other three were better)
5) Season 1 (Nice intro, but it needed to go somewhere)
Now as for the episode, it was ok. I will say for a trained killer, this guy didn't do very well. Seemed kinda easy to catch him, but of course a telepath being in the right place at the right time I guess helped. Still, kind of wish there was more of a challenge. I need some time to warm up to Lochley. She seems so stiff at this point so hopefully she gets better. The same thing happened with Sheridan and Sinclair so I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. Loved G'Kar in this episode. He's so excited to write the oath to the new alliance, and then the impromptu inauguration was great.
"You want to be President?"
"Yes"
"Put your hand on the book and say I do"
"I do"
"Good, let's eat"
One of the best moments in the series.
"Yes"
"Put your hand on the book and say I do"
"I do"
"Good, let's eat"
One of the best moments in the series.
Rod Serling wrote 92 eps. of The Twilight Zone one more that JMS wrote of B5.
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