Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
- Start date
I don't really dislike View but it really doesn't have any details that I can think of that mean something somewhere else. The two guys are never seen again. The attackers are never seen again. Unlike almost every other event that happens, there's no foreshadowing of hit happening or reveal later why it did. So these guys show up in force and attack and none of the 5 major powers seems to be involved in any way. And none of the major characters seem to have any real building moments.
If I had to pick my least favorite episode, mind again please that there are no episodes I don't like so I'm not saying I don't like it but my least favorite, it's Exogenesis. It really doesn't do much and this far into season 3, knowing there is some kind of galactic disaster looming is hardly news, however, it has great character moments for Marcus and Stephen, plus we do get to meet some more of the people living in B5. I also like the JMS standard that the body stealing monsters are really not bad at all, or stealing for that matter, just in need of volunteers but don't want to be too open because they don't want to be hunted down or killed. Fairly reasonable when you think about it, but somewhat skipable except I really liked getting those extra scenes with Marcus and it did set up he and Stephen as a team which really paid off in S4 with the Mars resistance.
I don't mind the view but its only real character value is the conversation between G'Kar and Londo in the bomb shelter. The discussion about how they grew up was a nice insight into how they became what they were.
Eh, I liked "A View From The Gallery" just fine. Tasted like chicken to me. It was weird that the space pirates were one-off antagonists (at least on a show like B5 where everything was connected), but that's no big deal.
Yet nobody ever complains about the nameless 'raiders' we saw and that were referred to in a number of other episodes. B5 had 'baddies of convenience' fairly regularly. I think what's unusual is that in this case they were seen so late in the series.
I liked "A View from the Gallery" quite a bit. Not every episode has to be of galaxy-wide importance. In fact, what I love about B5 is that it *does* have lighter moments and episodes. I've dropped more than one series (GoT, for instance) due to unrelenting grimness despite their excellence.
By the way for anybody attending WorldCon this coming week, there's a panel celebrating 25 years of Babylon 5:
https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/worldcon-76/en/worldcon-76/schedule/5366/25+Years+of+Babylon+5
https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/worldcon-76/en/worldcon-76/schedule/5366/25+Years+of+Babylon+5
I liked what the color storyline had to do with Ivanova though. She's such a fun character, and that episode was one example as to why. Also, it was her first episode trying to carry out a command decision and failing. It may not have relevance to the storyline at the time, but it was important character growth played for laughs and levity.
I just got to Secrets of the Soul. For some reason I remembered the Markeb as the race that previously committed genocide, got those two episodes mixed up.
Markab is also the name of Alpha Persei.
Weren't the Dilgar the genocidal race - also extinct after Deathwalker got the Vorlon treatment?
Weren't the Dilgar the genocidal race - also extinct after Deathwalker got the Vorlon treatment?
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Ah right. I'd forgotten about them. Without the Hyach-do, whom they exterminated, they lack the DNA diversity to prevent them from going extinct. That's one regard in which B5 is now becoming well out of date. We can edit DNA now (for example, using CRISPR) so imagine the genetic manipulation tools Franklin and his ilk will have in over 200 years time.
We can edit DNA now but we can't do it all that well. And without the Hyach-do around it'll be very difficult for them to isolate which genes are missing, especially since it's probably a host of genes.
Rebo: "People don't take comedians seriously when they talk about politics, they listen to the politicians."
Hahaha. Out of all the things in B5, that statement might actually be the most dated.
Hahaha. Out of all the things in B5, that statement might actually be the most dated.
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