Rewatching Babylon 5- So is it really any good?

[sidious618]

Deathwalker

Everyone together now: "DEEEEEEEEEEATHWALKEEEEEEEEEEEER!" Okay, now that we've gotten that out of our system let's talk about the episode. Admittedly, it's a little harder for me as I watched it and almost wrote this review but stopped because Boardwalk Empire was coming on and I had to watch that first (it was excellent, in case you were wondering) which means Deathwalker has faded a little from my mind.

That's not to say it was a bad episode. I enjoyed it well enough although it had its share of problems most of which have to do with the last scene. Sinclair and Garibaldi are sitting at one of the bars and talk about Kosh killing Deathwalker and then along comes Talia comes along and tells a rather chilling tale about what Kosh and his robot VCR (I always knew VCRs would have their revenge because we abandoned them). You'd think after everything that happened Sinclair and Garibaldi might go, "Hm, we need to look into what the fuck Kosh is up to a little more closer." Instead we get Talia randomly walking off in mid conversation and then Sinclair and Garibaldi having a laugh and essentially saying, "Well, that's our Vorlon!" WTF?

That aside all the actual scenes with Kosh are very good. The complete ridiculousness of Abbot reminds me a little of Twin Peaks, something that I've mentioned before has obviously influenced B5, which is always a good thing. The scenes in Talia's head are disconcerting and work well. The direction in this episode overall was really good, something that I think has been a little hit and miss so far.

The main plot with Deathwalker is solid but I get a distinct Star Trek vibe from it. Still, scenes like Garibaldi saying to Sinclair, "Why don't you pray to YOUR God" remind us that this is B5. It's also pleasant to see an atheist character, Garibaldi, on a TV show.

Grade: B-

Next up is Survivors. Not as fun a title as- No, I won't do it again.

DEEEEEEEEEEATHWALKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!

 

[JoeD80]

You'd think after everything that happened Sinclair and Garibaldi might go, "Hm, we need to look into what the fuck Kosh is up to a little more closer." Instead we get Talia randomly walking off in mid conversation and then Sinclair and Garibaldi having a laugh and essentially saying, "Well, that's our Vorlon!" WTF?

What would they do? Talia is Psi Corps not EA military. The Council are mostly happy now that Deathwalker is dead. Since Kosh is the Vorlon Ambassador I think diplomatic immunity would come in to play for any kind of surveillance that Garibaldi might want to try.

 

[Lindley]

The Council are mostly happy now that Deathwalker is dead.

Bet they're not to thrilled about the pilot and crew of that transport, though.

 

[sidious618]

You'd think after everything that happened Sinclair and Garibaldi might go, "Hm, we need to look into what the fuck Kosh is up to a little more closer." Instead we get Talia randomly walking off in mid conversation and then Sinclair and Garibaldi having a laugh and essentially saying, "Well, that's our Vorlon!" WTF?

What would they do? Talia is Psi Corps not EA military. The Council are mostly happy now that Deathwalker is dead. Since Kosh is the Vorlon Ambassador I think diplomatic immunity would come in to play for any kind of surveillance that Garibaldi might want to try.

They don't even have to do anything but just laughing it off, which they literally do, seems massively inappropriate and out of character, especially for Sinclair.

 

[David cgc]

The Council are mostly happy now that Deathwalker is dead.

Bet they're not to thrilled about the pilot and crew of that transport, though.

Minbari Fliers are apparently single-person ships. Judging by the fact that Lennier needed to borrow another one for himself to go somewhere with Delenn one time, it looks like they couldn't carry passengers even if they wanted to.

 

[Reverend]

^Plus I'm pretty sure it's mentioned in dialogue that Jha'dur was flying the ship herself, both coming and going.

Still, if the Wind Swords have a problem with the destruction of one of their ships, then they're free to file a complaint with the Vorlon Empire...good luck with that.

 

[JoeD80]

I'm already a little tired of the lens flare. I guess it was very state-of-the-art at the time but they really overused it

I knew I had read something about lens flare from Joe once. I finally found it.

You basically have two choices: 1) make sure there is not one single lens flare in any live action scene, which means you double your time to do lighting setups, or 2) you do flare in both live and CGI...because if it's there in some shots, and your mind says it SHOULD therefore be in other shots, and it's not, then you begin to draw attention to yourself, and to the question. Better if it's consistent one way or another.