Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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That plot with the keepers was a bit disappointing. Given Londo's behaviour in prior seasons I had half wondered even back then if he was under someone else's control. /spoiler]
You will have fun with this show if you stick with it.
You will have fun with this show if you stick with it.
It'll become clear later on that the story was deliberately structured so that you'd get to like him first.
I won't say who exactly, but Londo is not the only character set-up like this, though sort of coming from the opposite direction.
You'll find that if you go back and watch this show a second time, you'll notice that seemingly throwaway lines turn out to be *massively* significant. JMS has a background in mystery writing and is a big believer in giving the audience a fair chance to figure the answer out for themselves. For example, just about every word G'Kar says in 'Mind War' will come into play later. Big time. You'd never guess that as it's just a b-story that feels very throwaway given that main plot with the Psi Cops & Talia. Indeed, there's a *lot* more going on in that episode than you might think.
Didn't the Psi Corp dissect our blonde commander?
Remember what G'Kar said: "No one here is exactly what he appears." Or rather, even if they were exactly what they appeared when you first met them, they won't stay that way.
It's rather unusual when you have the opportunity to meet a character and get to "know" them only to realize you really don't.
Almost every other show the characters are just types. They never change or grow or even much worse learn from something that just happened to them.
Almost every other show the characters are just types. They never change or grow or even much worse learn from something that just happened to them.
What blonde commander? Did you mean Talia?
Bester seemed to indicate that she was but that may have just been a ploy to get a reaction from the command staff.
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I'm imagining Earth-as a third world country-importing tech from League planets. Perhaps even obsolescent machines would beyond Earth tech.
To a certain extent, that's about right. Though most races are careful about keeping their most advanced or unique technologies to themselves, for obvious reasons. Hence only the Centauri & Minbari (and possibly the Vree & Brakiri?) having artificial gravity. That's why Earthforce (among others) has a large stake in IPX; because the fastest way to get a leg up on advanced technology is to dig it up from the ruins of some dead world.
As I understand it, JMS structured B5 as a novel.
I believe your understanding is correct.
Similarities to Lord of the Rings?
Khazad-dûm = Z'ha'dum? Leading character struggles against daemons, falls down a dirty great hole and is reborn by the intervention of a higher power? Season 5 = scouring of the shire, traveling to the grey havens, and journey to the Undying Lands = beyond the Rim?
^That's a very old, very persistent fan theory that I'm pretty sure JMS has categorically denied doing so. At least on anything but a passing superficial level. Indeed, I suspect it's because it's superficial that it's so persistent. Name drops are easy to spot and don't require much depth of thought or insight.
He has however been very upfront about borrowing from Lensmen, Mesopotamian creation mythology and Rod Serling to name a few.
He has however been very upfront about borrowing from Lensmen, Mesopotamian creation mythology and Rod Serling to name a few.
Also H P Lovecraft.
Yup. Not to mention Tolkien was doing much the same in taking and reshaping mythologies for LOTR. Everything from Finnish myth and the Kalevala to Anglo-Saxon myth and folklore. Mythology and folklore are always being reshaped and retold. Sam's query to Frodo about whether the great tales ever end goes back to that point. The archetypal tales and characters important to a culture are always being recycled.
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