Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
- Start date
"Eyes"
Season one bounces back from two less-than-impressive offerings with an extremely enjoyable episode bolstered by three really good subplots.
First, we had the return of Psi Corps (with Jeffrey Combs!) and the snooping of Earthforce's internal affairs division which introduced two engaging characters. I loved Combs and Colonel Ari Ben Zayn - the latter especially was a truly entertaining performance. I hope we haven't seen the last of them. The Colonel's verbal duels with Sinclair were a treat to watch.
Ivanova's portion had a deal of work to do since, if anyone remembers my reviews of the earlier episodes, I'm generally not a fan of telepathic stories. That said, I thought this episode handled the themes very well with a couple of fascinating sequences leading to her rampage in the station bar. Even Garibaldi didn't want to take his chances by engaging her in combat, preferring to use words to settle her down. In my mind, he's not sure he could take her in a fight.
The final subplot finely balanced the episode with some lightness thanks to Lennier devoting himself to building Garibaldi's motorcycle. Lots of fun and charming to watch.
Overall, this was one of my favourite episodes so far, and I'm excited to see how things develop from here.
Rating: ****
-The pattern of "no Londo/G'Kar = no good" is broken.
-I haven't forgotten Walter Koenig's Bector (EDIT - Bester! Guess I did forget a little...) and I'm sure he'll be cropping up again sometime soon.
-The various Ambassador aides seem to share the qualities of improving every scene they're in purely by being fun to watch and easy to root for.
Season one bounces back from two less-than-impressive offerings with an extremely enjoyable episode bolstered by three really good subplots.
First, we had the return of Psi Corps (with Jeffrey Combs!) and the snooping of Earthforce's internal affairs division which introduced two engaging characters. I loved Combs and Colonel Ari Ben Zayn - the latter especially was a truly entertaining performance. I hope we haven't seen the last of them. The Colonel's verbal duels with Sinclair were a treat to watch.
Ivanova's portion had a deal of work to do since, if anyone remembers my reviews of the earlier episodes, I'm generally not a fan of telepathic stories. That said, I thought this episode handled the themes very well with a couple of fascinating sequences leading to her rampage in the station bar. Even Garibaldi didn't want to take his chances by engaging her in combat, preferring to use words to settle her down. In my mind, he's not sure he could take her in a fight.
The final subplot finely balanced the episode with some lightness thanks to Lennier devoting himself to building Garibaldi's motorcycle. Lots of fun and charming to watch.
Overall, this was one of my favourite episodes so far, and I'm excited to see how things develop from here.
Rating: ****
-The pattern of "no Londo/G'Kar = no good" is broken.
-I haven't forgotten Walter Koenig's Bector (EDIT - Bester! Guess I did forget a little...) and I'm sure he'll be cropping up again sometime soon.
-The various Ambassador aides seem to share the qualities of improving every scene they're in purely by being fun to watch and easy to root for.
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"EYES" was the last produced episode of season 1.
The season 1 airdate to production order was really all over the place. The airdate order and production order starts to be mostly the same from season 2 onward, with a few exceptions.
The season 1 airdate to production order was really all over the place. The airdate order and production order starts to be mostly the same from season 2 onward, with a few exceptions.
"Eyes" title is derived from Internal Investigations ('I's)
JMS was sick and wasn't able to write. Doug Netter and John Copeland went to the writer Larry Ditillio and said they needed a script and they needed it fast. Due to the contract with the regular actors and how many episodes each can star in, they only had the regular actors that played Sinclair, Garibaldi, Ivanova and Lennier and due to budget constraints they could have only two guest stars instead of the usual four. The action budget was also limited. Kawasaki was a PTEN advertiser and loaned the show the Ninja ZX-11 for free. Ditillio got to choose the "A-story" but was told the Ninja as the "B-story" had to be inserted into whatever A-story was chosen.
Ditillio also loved Jeffrey Combs performance, but disliked the actor who was cast to play Ari Ben Zayn (Gregory Martin). The director felt Martin was playing every line like he's doing Macbeth. The director tried in vein to rein in his over the top performance, but without any luck.
JMS was sick and wasn't able to write. Doug Netter and John Copeland went to the writer Larry Ditillio and said they needed a script and they needed it fast. Due to the contract with the regular actors and how many episodes each can star in, they only had the regular actors that played Sinclair, Garibaldi, Ivanova and Lennier and due to budget constraints they could have only two guest stars instead of the usual four. The action budget was also limited. Kawasaki was a PTEN advertiser and loaned the show the Ninja ZX-11 for free. Ditillio got to choose the "A-story" but was told the Ninja as the "B-story" had to be inserted into whatever A-story was chosen.
Ditillio also loved Jeffrey Combs performance, but disliked the actor who was cast to play Ari Ben Zayn (Gregory Martin). The director felt Martin was playing every line like he's doing Macbeth. The director tried in vein to rein in his over the top performance, but without any luck.
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Yeah, Martin was really chewing the scenery.
@BlueStuff, how much do you know about where the show is going?
I figured as much. It is why I will only discuss the episode after you have posted your review.
Yeah, you are in for a great ride. I live a spoiler free existence, too, so no spoilers from me.
Wow, that's pretty impressive. I don't think I've ever managed to go into an old show that blind. I like to look shows up on sites like Wikipedia before I watch them, so I almost always end up stumbling on at least a few spoilers.
On season one in particular the fx heavy episodes were shot early so the back office had more time to work on them.
"Legacies"
An interesting Minbari story is let down by a pretty lame "kid telepath!" B-plot.
I enjoyed the main focus of the episode which added depth to both Delenn and the Minbari as a whole by introducing their Warrior Caste. Neyoon was an intriguing character and the dynamics of the "rift" between them and Delenn's Religious Caste were fascinating.
Less interesting were the scenes focused on super psi Alisa. The guest star wasn't great, to say the least, and the way in which she resolved the central problem by "looking into Delenn's mind!" was pretty clunky. That wasn't all - even the dialogue between Ivanova and Winters (who I almost forgot existed) around this issue seemed a little forced. I especially didn't care for the inelegant manner in which the character was used to tease future developments. "Was there anything else you saw in Delenn's mind?" "Hmmm, actually I heard this strange word: chrysalis. I don't know what it means. Well, bye!" Let's hope this revelation will turn out to be juicy.
Overall, Neyoon/Delenn = good / super orphan telepath = bad. More of the former going forward, please.
Rating: ***
-For a character built up as a pretty respected soldier in his own right, Neyoon sure got his ass handed to him by Sinclair.
-So, Warrior Caste and Religious Caste. Any more Minbari castes?
-After consecutive episodes with great Vir and Lennier moments, it was Na'Toth's time to shine as Ambassador Aide of the Week.
-Still waiting for a big Vorlon episode - I get the feeling that they'll play a key role as the stakes are raised, but for now they'll remain mostly a mystery.
An interesting Minbari story is let down by a pretty lame "kid telepath!" B-plot.
I enjoyed the main focus of the episode which added depth to both Delenn and the Minbari as a whole by introducing their Warrior Caste. Neyoon was an intriguing character and the dynamics of the "rift" between them and Delenn's Religious Caste were fascinating.
Less interesting were the scenes focused on super psi Alisa. The guest star wasn't great, to say the least, and the way in which she resolved the central problem by "looking into Delenn's mind!" was pretty clunky. That wasn't all - even the dialogue between Ivanova and Winters (who I almost forgot existed) around this issue seemed a little forced. I especially didn't care for the inelegant manner in which the character was used to tease future developments. "Was there anything else you saw in Delenn's mind?" "Hmmm, actually I heard this strange word: chrysalis. I don't know what it means. Well, bye!" Let's hope this revelation will turn out to be juicy.
Overall, Neyoon/Delenn = good / super orphan telepath = bad. More of the former going forward, please.
Rating: ***
-For a character built up as a pretty respected soldier in his own right, Neyoon sure got his ass handed to him by Sinclair.
-So, Warrior Caste and Religious Caste. Any more Minbari castes?
-After consecutive episodes with great Vir and Lennier moments, it was Na'Toth's time to shine as Ambassador Aide of the Week.
-Still waiting for a big Vorlon episode - I get the feeling that they'll play a key role as the stakes are raised, but for now they'll remain mostly a mystery.
Legacies was D.C. Fontana's second Babylon 5 script, her first being The War Prayer. She met with Larry Ditillio and Joe Straczynski to discuss a new assignment, they had a story for her and she had a story of her own. JMS asked her to first pitch her own idea. The story she pitched was based on a book she had been reading about the assassination and funeral of Abraham Lincoln. It was decided to honor Lincoln by allowing a maximum of mourners see him by transporting him around the country and displaying his body in various cities before taking him to Springfield, Illinois for his burial. Ten years after his death, body snatchers attempted to violate the tomb and steal his body. Joe told her to go ahead and write it. She discovered from Larry DiTillio that the story they planned to assign her was never used.
Worker
Not sure whether they're looking for spoilers or not...
Right.
They are more questions for myself, I wasn't really looking for them to be answered. Sorry if that wasn't clear!
Honestly I wouldn't call it a spoiler. Just a minor worldbuilding point that gets clarified later on down the line. The key piece of information is that the religious and warrior castes are the two that are most often at loggerheads. Like to the point where they both take the worker caste for granted, which is why you almost never hear about them.Right.
They are more questions for myself, I wasn't really looking for them to be answered. Sorry if that wasn't clear!
I'm not entierly sure what they were thinking with the casting here since the actress in question very clearly didn't have the chops for the role...like at all. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that she was a niece of someone important or some-such, but that may just have been speculation so calibrate sodium chloride dosage accordingly.
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This might be construed as a spoiler...
Most of the White Star's Minbari crew are Worker caste, aren't they?
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