Pretty sure the vortex effect thing was also there in 'The Fall of Night'.
Which is what Shadow vessles exiting hyperspace looks like, no?
Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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Pretty sure the vortex effect thing was also there in 'The Fall of Night'.
Nope, the hyperspace "whirlpool" is present in the background (just like it is in nearly all shots of hyperspace), but the ship itself just ripples in without interacting with it in any way. That's actually more vindicating than I thought. I'd forgotten the ship wasn't already there, I was thinking the only other time we saw a Shadow ship phasing in or out within hyperspace was "Matters of Honor" (which we actually don't, I checked, which is why I didn't mention it before).
Well, yes, but since I don't agree that that counts as a "jump point," per se, and definitely doesn't count as going through a jump gate, which was the original question I was responding to, I don't think it's relevent to the question of, "How big can a jump vortex get?"
I'm sure the family would be kicking themselves after a couple of decades if they didn't let her marry Vir.
^ Who knows, Lyndisty and Vir could have been married anyway...I mean, it's not like they have a choice in the matter, right? 
I would really hope that Vir would have the moral integrity not to see her again. Sure, she was hot, but her hotness was nullified the instant she started bragging about being an accomplice to genocide by her father. She should be tried for crimes against sentience, and Vir needs to not be thinking with his, er, thoraxial tentacles.
"Comes the Inquisitor"
Gotta admit - when I learned that the Vorlons were sending an inquisitor to B5, I wasn't expecting Jack the Ripper. I was thinking more along the lines of another Vorlon; perhaps that was foolish of me?
This was an interesting one. It wasn't too difficult to see what qualities Jack (to which I'll keep referring to him) was looking for from Delenn; namely, the leader of the Army of Light must be a champion of life - pure and selfless to the highest degree. "One life or a billion, it's all the same." Because after all: "if you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, the work becomes corrupted." It looks like Jack has successfully established that Delenn is in this for the right reasons.
And Jack's presence shows that even the side of light is more complicated than black/white. He's not a nice person, is he? He seems delectably infatuated with his own villainy, and for good reason; it's hella entertaining. Of course, to what extent are we to believe the show? Because a "show" is all that it really can be - obviously the Vorlons were not going to kill Delenn (or Sheridan) in the name of a test... right?
Somehow I'm sensing that the Jack the Ripper twist was somewhat controversial among fandom at the time (if it aired 10-20 years later I bet you'd have chunks of fans accusing the show of "jumping the shark" - a phrase which gradually morphed into meaning "something happened that I don't like or agree with") and yet there's something that makes twisted sense about such an infamous figure being the perfect judge to find glimmers of darkness in the soul.
Rating: ****
-Elsewhere, G'Kar quells a mutiny-in-the-making by demonstrating his diplomatic acumen and influence. While he's at it, he gets in a terrific moment with Vir: "Dead. Dead. Dead. How do you apologise to them?"
-Your thoughts on the Jack twist?
Gotta admit - when I learned that the Vorlons were sending an inquisitor to B5, I wasn't expecting Jack the Ripper. I was thinking more along the lines of another Vorlon; perhaps that was foolish of me?
This was an interesting one. It wasn't too difficult to see what qualities Jack (to which I'll keep referring to him) was looking for from Delenn; namely, the leader of the Army of Light must be a champion of life - pure and selfless to the highest degree. "One life or a billion, it's all the same." Because after all: "if you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, the work becomes corrupted." It looks like Jack has successfully established that Delenn is in this for the right reasons.
And Jack's presence shows that even the side of light is more complicated than black/white. He's not a nice person, is he? He seems delectably infatuated with his own villainy, and for good reason; it's hella entertaining. Of course, to what extent are we to believe the show? Because a "show" is all that it really can be - obviously the Vorlons were not going to kill Delenn (or Sheridan) in the name of a test... right?
Somehow I'm sensing that the Jack the Ripper twist was somewhat controversial among fandom at the time (if it aired 10-20 years later I bet you'd have chunks of fans accusing the show of "jumping the shark" - a phrase which gradually morphed into meaning "something happened that I don't like or agree with") and yet there's something that makes twisted sense about such an infamous figure being the perfect judge to find glimmers of darkness in the soul.
Rating: ****
-Elsewhere, G'Kar quells a mutiny-in-the-making by demonstrating his diplomatic acumen and influence. While he's at it, he gets in a terrific moment with Vir: "Dead. Dead. Dead. How do you apologise to them?"
-Your thoughts on the Jack twist?
I'm pretty indifferent to the Jack thing. It honesty probably would have been more interesting if he were some serial killer and not the super famous one.
My favorite review of this episode asked why Americans are so much more fascinated with British "mythology" than the British themselves are.
Considering how fucking obsessed this country is with Britain's Royal Family despite the fact that we fought two wars to ensure they'd never have a say in our governance again ... yeah, that checks out, too.
Fixed that for ya!
Hey now, he's the Jeffrey Combs of Babylon Five!
Somewhat unrelated, but a couple of musician friends of mine wrote a satirical song called "Make America Great...Britain Again!" I wonder whether there are a substantial number of people at this point who question whether American would be better off if it was still part of the UK.
I actually loved that is was Jack the Ripper. It makes perfect sense because who better to find darkness in a soul than someone who is darkness. Plus, since we never discovered in real life who he actually was, it doesn't retcon any actual history.
Again: He doesn't have a choice. Neither of them do. These are Centauri we're talking about here. If their handlers require them to be married, then they will, whether or not they want it. That's just what Centauri do.
Which also answers the question regarding Lyndisty supposedly being tried for "crimes against sentience".
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Regarding Lyndisty...
But once Vir lost his title when Londo fpund out about his helping of the Narn, Lyndisty's family might very well have backed out of the arrangement. I think Londo said something to that effect as a strong possibility.
Vaughn Armstrong's got 'em ALL beat.
(rather unfortunate that he only got one appearance on B5 - a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as a Nightwatch security guard
)
Not sure that would work considering we would have to have his backstory *explained* to us. The fact he is THE Jack provides a mental bridge our brains connect naturally giving it a weight with no further explanation.
EX: I watched it with my daughter who was younger at the time and she was confused due to her ignorance of the Ripper. If it was another serial killer and it was explained for us both point-by-point that it was a killer who also was "weeding out morally inferior" it loses a lot of punch imo.
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