She's the ISN anchorwoman on news broadcasts all thru the series. Some have argued that the show is as much Jane's story as it is Babylon 5's.
And they're right.
Rewatching Babylon 5- So is it really any good?
- Thread starter sidious618
- Start date
And they're right.
She's the ISN anchorwoman on news broadcasts all thru the series. Some have argued that the show is as much Jane's story as it is Babylon 5's.
As a professional journalist who has worked in TV and newspapers, I thought Jane was the better of JMS string of broadcasters, who could be a tad cliched, that appeared on the show.
Although, I wish JMS had the budget to put a permanent ISN reporter on the station, as stated in the third volume of the script books.
The following on Laura James had potential to open more of the station's "naked city" aspect:
When the meta-story took over, the smaller stories of the "quarter of million humans and aliens, trapped inside two-million tons of spinning metal" was lost. As I've said before, the more I look back at "Babylon 5", the more I find myself enjoying the first two seasons and the first third of the third season because of those smaller stories.
That's similar to why I like the first two seasons of DS9 the most. Although both shows of course occasionally throw in the occasional non-arc / closer to home story.
I thought I'd find myself itching to get to the arc stories and while I am looking forward to them I do enjoy the standalones even if they're a little silly.
Yes it's Shadow technology. The Ikarrans adapted it for their purposes and it blew up in their faces.
Do we find this out at some point or did JMS say this?
Cool, thanks. I actually have the script books from when they were originally released; I love hearing/reading writers discuss their work.
Mind War
Yes, that was good. Very good. Outside of the first scene with Sinclair and Catherine, which had dire dialogue, this episode was solid all the way around.
But first let me mention something that I've picked up on before but really noticed while I watched this episode. Babylon 5 is very influenced by David Lynch's Twin Peaks. The musical score is where I first picked it up but some of the imagery is similar as well. Talia standing outside the shimmering blue light in the hallway, talking to Ironheart, is not unlike something we'd see Cooper doing in Twin Peaks. This isn't an insult to B5; on the contrary almost all great shows have been heavily influenced by TP like The Sopranos and LOST. Sadly, David Lynch never directed any of B5 but, boy, THAT would've been a trip.
Let's talk about the episode now. It's interesting how invasive the Psi Cops are right away when they talk to the security guard telepathically. Shortly after that we have the really disturbing scene in which Talia is mind-raped. That scene more than any other defined this episode for me. It's a nasty look at what happens when we give people too much authority over others, something B5 will touch on again. It's also very linkable to what happens today a la Guantanamo Bay. Politically, B5 has quite a bit of depth and I imagine I'll only be mining that more as time goes on. I'd do it more now but it's 2:30 AM.
On the downside, this episode does require Andrea Thompson to act quite a bit but much to my surprise she's a hell of a lot better than she was in MotFL. And then we have Walter Koenig who knocks it out of the park. Who knew he could say more than "Yes, Captain!" in an awkward accent?
For those of you who watched this when the show originally aired was this episode a WHOA one? It was for me on the rewatch. It certainly signals that there's more going on beneath the surface. Or as G'kar would say, "Not everyone is what they appear."
More like this please!
A well earned A-.
Yes, that was good. Very good. Outside of the first scene with Sinclair and Catherine, which had dire dialogue, this episode was solid all the way around.
But first let me mention something that I've picked up on before but really noticed while I watched this episode. Babylon 5 is very influenced by David Lynch's Twin Peaks. The musical score is where I first picked it up but some of the imagery is similar as well. Talia standing outside the shimmering blue light in the hallway, talking to Ironheart, is not unlike something we'd see Cooper doing in Twin Peaks. This isn't an insult to B5; on the contrary almost all great shows have been heavily influenced by TP like The Sopranos and LOST. Sadly, David Lynch never directed any of B5 but, boy, THAT would've been a trip.
Let's talk about the episode now. It's interesting how invasive the Psi Cops are right away when they talk to the security guard telepathically. Shortly after that we have the really disturbing scene in which Talia is mind-raped. That scene more than any other defined this episode for me. It's a nasty look at what happens when we give people too much authority over others, something B5 will touch on again. It's also very linkable to what happens today a la Guantanamo Bay. Politically, B5 has quite a bit of depth and I imagine I'll only be mining that more as time goes on. I'd do it more now but it's 2:30 AM.
On the downside, this episode does require Andrea Thompson to act quite a bit but much to my surprise she's a hell of a lot better than she was in MotFL. And then we have Walter Koenig who knocks it out of the park. Who knew he could say more than "Yes, Captain!" in an awkward accent?
For those of you who watched this when the show originally aired was this episode a WHOA one? It was for me on the rewatch. It certainly signals that there's more going on beneath the surface. Or as G'kar would say, "Not everyone is what they appear."
More like this please!
A well earned A-.
Grey 17's A-Plot was indeed bad, even JMS wasn't happy with it, but, the B-Plot is awesome, so, there is some very worthwhile watching there.
Sidious, I agree, I very much liked Mind War on it's original airing, and I'm surprised it gets panned by many.
I'm surprised it gets panned, too. I thought it was a universally liked episode. If you recall, at the time you saw it did you think the show was going in a serialized direction or did you figure the lingering plots wouldn't add up to anything?
Yeah I tend to miss out on interesting B plots in episodes with a cringeworthy A story.
I'll have to load up that ep and rediscover it.
I'm not sure how much inkling I had at that point, but, I do remember that And the Sky Full of Stars (3 episodes later, I believe) definitely made me see it was going to be something really special Serialization-wise.
The War Prayer
This episode should've been better than it was. The idea behind the Homeguard is a good one and one worth exploring. We have such groups around today like the Minutemen on the border, who "guard" it from illegal immigrants. We have people like Herman Cain who want to put up an electric fence to electrocute those who try to cross. I was, at first, really happy to see B5 touching on this issue.
Sadly, the episode wasn't up to the task. We had a quite frankly ridiculous subplot with Londo and Vir and the only reason I wasn't forced to fast forward was because of Peter Jurasik's acting; he's always in top form, isn't he? The man could make "A Night in Sickbay" watchable.
Ivanova's love interest, well, who didn't know he was going to be no good? As soon as I saw him I knew he was behind the attacks on aliens and I was right. Not to mention their introductory scene was filled with utterly horrific dialogue. Sometimes less is more but instead we got their entire backstory through exposition filled dialogue that did not work. "As you well known..." type of stuff. Yuck.
I want to give this episode some latitude because I liked the idea behind the main plot but I really can't. I will say that I did enjoy G'kar's sense of satisfaction when the prisoners were being escorted away at the end. He can provide a laugh in the worst of episodes.
Grade: D
I'm going to start And the Sky Full of Stars... now!
This episode should've been better than it was. The idea behind the Homeguard is a good one and one worth exploring. We have such groups around today like the Minutemen on the border, who "guard" it from illegal immigrants. We have people like Herman Cain who want to put up an electric fence to electrocute those who try to cross. I was, at first, really happy to see B5 touching on this issue.
Sadly, the episode wasn't up to the task. We had a quite frankly ridiculous subplot with Londo and Vir and the only reason I wasn't forced to fast forward was because of Peter Jurasik's acting; he's always in top form, isn't he? The man could make "A Night in Sickbay" watchable.
Ivanova's love interest, well, who didn't know he was going to be no good? As soon as I saw him I knew he was behind the attacks on aliens and I was right. Not to mention their introductory scene was filled with utterly horrific dialogue. Sometimes less is more but instead we got their entire backstory through exposition filled dialogue that did not work. "As you well known..." type of stuff. Yuck.
I want to give this episode some latitude because I liked the idea behind the main plot but I really can't. I will say that I did enjoy G'kar's sense of satisfaction when the prisoners were being escorted away at the end. He can provide a laugh in the worst of episodes.
Grade: D
I'm going to start And the Sky Full of Stars... now!
And the Sky Full of Stars
Holy shit YES! This was superb in almost every way you can imagine. Michael O'Hare and Christopher Neame (who played the Knight that interrogated Sinclair) really knocked it out of the park. The back and forth dialogue was outstanding which is great as dialogue has been hit and miss at times so far during this show. Here, though, it crackled. Since B5 a number of television dramas have been talky like Mad Men, In Treatment and The West Wing but before those there wasn't much in the way of dialogue driven shows. I'm not saying B5 is but this episode certainly is which makes it standout when you consider it aired in 1993.
And the Sky Full of Stars also addresses the racism that The War Prayer did but in an infinitely better way. We have Sinclair's pained admission that for a long time he wanted to strangle every Minbari he saw which is an understandable reaction after what he's been through. We have the two Knights who aren't just Bad Guys like the idiot in Born to the Purple or Ivanova's former squeeze in the last episode but are characters, worried that the Minbari have somehow infiltrated Earthforce. You can even see where they're coming from when you think about it: the Minbari did surrender out of the blue and it's awful convenient that Sinclair remembers nothing.
The scene in which Sinclair removes the hood of the Minbari and it's Delenn must have been mind blowing on first viewing. I knew it was coming and I was still totally caught up in the scene.
I really wonder if before we get to the Shadow War the show will get better than this. Time will tell.
Grade: A
Holy shit YES! This was superb in almost every way you can imagine. Michael O'Hare and Christopher Neame (who played the Knight that interrogated Sinclair) really knocked it out of the park. The back and forth dialogue was outstanding which is great as dialogue has been hit and miss at times so far during this show. Here, though, it crackled. Since B5 a number of television dramas have been talky like Mad Men, In Treatment and The West Wing but before those there wasn't much in the way of dialogue driven shows. I'm not saying B5 is but this episode certainly is which makes it standout when you consider it aired in 1993.
And the Sky Full of Stars also addresses the racism that The War Prayer did but in an infinitely better way. We have Sinclair's pained admission that for a long time he wanted to strangle every Minbari he saw which is an understandable reaction after what he's been through. We have the two Knights who aren't just Bad Guys like the idiot in Born to the Purple or Ivanova's former squeeze in the last episode but are characters, worried that the Minbari have somehow infiltrated Earthforce. You can even see where they're coming from when you think about it: the Minbari did surrender out of the blue and it's awful convenient that Sinclair remembers nothing.
The scene in which Sinclair removes the hood of the Minbari and it's Delenn must have been mind blowing on first viewing. I knew it was coming and I was still totally caught up in the scene.
I really wonder if before we get to the Shadow War the show will get better than this. Time will tell.
Grade: A
And the Sky Full of Stars is fun to rewatch every time. The bad guys here are much better than in The War Prayer not simply acting wise, but because their motives are quite reasonable. Not just because of the memory loss, but because the Minbari forced Sinclair's selection as commander from way down toward the bottom of the list. It's not surprising that folks might wonder why. It makes them much more interesting than the one note bigots.
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