Watching Babylon 5 Season 2

[Lazarus]

Episode 1 / Points of Departure

Just finished watching the first two episodes of Babylon 5 series two, so I thought I'd start a new thread to record my thoughts and opinions and ask others for theirs.

Well for starters I thought Points of Departure was a fantastic episode to kick things off for season two, setting up the coming conflict with the Shadows and perhaps more importantly, introducing the new commander of the station after the departure of Michael O'Hare as Sinclair.

All the players are basically the same, but O'Hare has been replaced by Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan. My initial thoughts are that I do quite like him in the role, I find his acting a little more believable than O'Hare's, and he does seem to fit into the puzzle quite nicely. His infamous reputation amongst the Minbari causes conflict from the very outset, although his destroying a Minbari vessel, even their flagship when the Minbari decimated hundreds of Earth ships seems a bit excessive. The concept that Sheridan is so hated for destroying the Black Star seems a little forced given the massive destruction wrought by the Minbari.

But having watched this episode, I find that I'm experiencing a strange feeling of missing Jeffery Sinclair. In a previous thread I admit that I called Michael O'Hare's acting a little wooden, and thought so throughout series one, but curiously now that he's gone I find that I miss him. I'm not entirely sure why, but I sort of wish he was still there.

 

[Lindley]

Sinclair is still involved in the story. Just...mostly behind the scenes from this point on.

 

[Lazarus]

Sinclair is still involved in the story. Just...mostly behind the scenes from this point on.

I know Sinclair returns, but somehow I miss the actor/character being present in series two. I quite like Sheridan, but I can't quite put my finger on why I also miss Sinclair when I felt he was pretty poor in series one!

 

[Geckothan]

After a while you'll forget all about Sinclair.

 

[Harvey]

I'm not a big fan of "Points of Departure." Sheridan's entry and Sinclair's (off screen) departure is a little bit too akward for me. He's better in the next episode, "Revelations," which is one of my favorite of the series.

 

[JoeD80]

The idea behind Sheridan's sudden appearance here is that General Hague gave him some extra instructions that we aren't privy to, beyond "go command that station now". We find out what it's about around mid-season or so. Personally, I like the way the Sinclair issue is handled - he is gone here but we find out what's going on a little later in the season. If it had just been a scene of Sinclair handing the station off to Sheridan that probably wouldn't have been very interesting to watch.

 

[stonester1]

Episode 1 / Points of Departure

Just finished watching the first two episodes of Babylon 5 series two, so I thought I'd start a new thread to record my thoughts and opinions and ask others for theirs.

Well for starters I thought Points of Departure was a fantastic episode to kick things off for season two, setting up the coming conflict with the Shadows and perhaps more importantly, introducing the new commander of the station after the departure of Michael O'Hare as Sinclair.

All the players are basically the same, but O'Hare has been replaced by Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan. My initial thoughts are that I do quite like him in the role, I find his acting a little more believable than O'Hare's, and he does seem to fit into the puzzle quite nicely. His infamous reputation amongst the Minbari causes conflict from the very outset, although his destroying a Minbari vessel, even their flagship when the Minbari decimated hundreds of Earth ships seems a bit excessive. The concept that Sheridan is so hated for destroying the Black Star seems a little forced given the massive destruction wrought by the Minbari.

But having watched this episode, I find that I'm experiencing a strange feeling of missing Jeffery Sinclair. In a previous thread I admit that I called Michael O'Hare's acting a little wooden, and thought so throughout series one, but curiously now that he's gone I find that I miss him. I'm not entirely sure why, but I sort of wish he was still there.

Just an FYI, it's not Sheridan's destroying the Black Star that got the Minbari (mostly the warrior cast) so out of joint. It's HOW he did it. It wasn't a stand up fight. He did it by faking a distress signal and drawing them into a booby trap. That mortally offended their sense of honor and warrior pride.

 

[Reverend]

I'm not sure what got up the warrior caste's collective nose more, that a "fellow warrior" would resort to those tactics or that they FELL for it. On balance I'd say it was the part where they were made to look like a bunch arrogant, gullible, attempted murders in front of the other castes.

 

[StarshipDefiant]

An interesting season, none the less, it starts to pick up the pace and get rolling during this Season, and into season three. As for O'Hare, his style is perhaps dry, but for his character, it worked because he's...troubled.