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| The Babylonian thread; Revisiting the B5 universe *Spoilers* | |
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| Topic Started: 9 Dec 2006, 20:48 (920 Views) | |
| Kevin Thomas Riley | 9 Dec 2006, 20:48 Post #1 |
Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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Since I got my Babylon 5 megabox DVD set today, I decided to start rewatching this from the very beginning to the bitter end. And I started with the aptly titled In the Beginning. I suppose that if you're a B5 newbie you should skip this one at first, since it spoils some major plot points that will be revealed later on on the show. It's more of a prequel that's supposed to be watched ex post facto just for the fun of seeing how some of the characters were when they were younger and met for the first time. Even now I can't recall how Sheridan, Franklin, G'Kar and Delenn acted when the saw some of each other later on "for the second time". Even if JMS was meticulous in planning things out I don't think he ever intended to originally tossing them together in a prequel movie. ITB didn't have the same emotional impact as the episodes And the Sky Full of Stars and Atonement (of which it's based and even uses a lot of scenes from). However, by the time of the Battle of the Line I got the emotional impact. That also goes for the Emperor Mollari scenes, since we know what the situation is for him by then. Next up is feature length pilot movie The Gathering. |
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| Rigil Kent | 9 Dec 2006, 20:52 Post #2 |
Professional (but unpaid) troublemaker
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Yeah ... I actually didn't care too terribly much for In the Beginning because, frankly, I thought it was unnecessary. It was good to see Slimey G'Kar again (as we won't see him like this after season 1) but I thought the various characters meeting before the series was a little silly. |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 9 Dec 2006, 20:55 Post #3 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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Yeah! And if they wanted to tell the story about the Earth-Minbari war there really wasn't any need to toss the character together, since it was all so contrived anyway. |
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| Rigil Kent | 9 Dec 2006, 20:59 Post #4 |
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Professional (but unpaid) troublemaker
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Not to mention, it really missed an opportunity to show Garibaldi in his GROPO unit (which was referenced in a later episode ... I think it was the one with Dwight Whatshisname who played Barclay). And I personally had a whole lot of problems with Delenn and Sheridan meeting before season 2... Now that I think about it, though, I wasn't very impressed by any of the movies actually. I think A Call to Arms was my favorite but that's 'cause it introduced Galen who was my favorite character on the short-lived Crusade... |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 9 Dec 2006, 21:05 Post #5 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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Yes, it was too bad that Garibaldi wasn't there, but they managed to squeeze a young Ivanova in there for a short, but a bit pointless, scene.
Sheridan actually never saw Delenn's face since it was obscured by the hood of her Grey Council cloak. But she did see his face and must have remembered that. |
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| Reanok | 10 Dec 2006, 11:06 Post #6 |
Vice Admiral
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JMS plans to adress Garbaldi's past in the second direct to dvd movie about Mars and the woman he had the on again off again relationship he marries in season 4. I like Garibaldi and Ivanova she was a great character and am sorry she won't be in the dvd movies. Sky full of stars is a great episode. I wished they shown more of the Earth/Minbari war than just hinting at it. |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 10 Dec 2006, 18:16 Post #7 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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So I dived into the pilot The Gathering today, and found to my surprise that what was packed in the DVD box was the original - and inferior - version rather than the special edition JMS made later. Normally I would've been very pissed off at that, but as luck have it I already own the special edition on DVD, but only had a bad VHS copy recorded from a TV broadcast of the original pilot. So I'm actually quite happy to now have both versions on DVD. Anyway, back to the pilot itself. It is a rather underwhelming story and one that isn't that likely to get a newbie excited about B5. I remember renting this way back and only return to B5 late in season 1 (I think it was Signs and Portents) when I moved to a place that had the cable channel that aired B5. From then on B5 was a must-see for me. I find the acting a bit stilted, as if the actors weren't yet comfortable in their roles. And some of them wouldn't return for the series. In hindsight you can also see the plot threads left by them being picked up by other caracters. We have Sinclair's girlfriend Carloyn who would be replaced by Catherine Sakai who would be replaced by Sheridan's wife Anna. But all three could fill the role as being corrupted by the Shadows on Z'ha'dum. And Laurel Takashima would be the covert operative that tried to kill Garibaldi in the season finale. (On a shallow sidenote, I had forgotten how pretty she was :drool: ) And Lyta's thread would be picked up by Talia only to come back to Lyta when she returned to the show. It was weird seeing Delenn in that unflattering early makeup and it doesn't fit into the continuity with the series, and not even with how she looked In the Beginning. Also the EA uniforms weren't as elaborate here, and before ItB I suppose one could say that they changed them. However, in ItB they're using the elaborate leather-patched versions too. Come to think of it, the leathery version were used on Baylon Squared too, and B4 was constructed some years prior. I recognized John Fleck as Del Varner. Fleck played Silik on ENT. And Ed Wasser, who played Mr. Morden, makes an appearence as a C&C tech, which is a bit weird. Someone may enlighten me, but I don't recall if there ever was an explanation for how Kosh could shake hands and then get poisoned since he was in his encounter suit? :confus: |
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| Reanok | 10 Dec 2006, 19:07 Post #8 |
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About Kosh being poisoned I never understood that either how it could happen always thought it was odd myself. Babylon 5 Third space Talks about the Vorlons it is a strange movie too about these wierd creatures that came into our space from some ancient Vorlon technology they were going to invade the Babylon 5 univerese .They looked like giant beetles it was a strange story Ivanova had dreams of them trying to kill her. And Lyta has Kosh's memories and warns them of the danger. Sheriden and the others have to figure out how to shut this giant machine down. |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 10 Dec 2006, 19:50 Post #9 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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^ Yeah, Thirdspace was kinda weird. Anyway, I just watched the first regular episode - Midnight on the Firing Line - and it was much better than the pilot. One of the many things that impressed me about B5 was how it turned our expectations on end. Here we have the belligerent Narn, set out as the villains, and the weaker Centauri, a race well past their prime. And the Narn also look quite alien, reptile-looking, while the Centauri has a more humanoid look. On Star Trek and most other science fiction shows and movies, that's a dead give-away about who is the bad and who is the good guy. But eventually B5 turns that upside down when the Narn will become the victims and the Centauri the villains. In hindsight I'm also surprised at the many clues JMS gave quite early, like Londo's dream about how he's going to die. Heh, does anyone besides me want to try out some delicious spoo? Posted Image |
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| Reanok | 10 Dec 2006, 23:42 Post #10 |
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Midnight on the firing line was better than the pilot I liked it better anyway and Londo's dream was foreshadowing of his downfall to the shadows. dreams seemed to play real important role throughout the series. Fiding out Ivanova was a telepath and desperate to hide it from the Psicore. I liked eyes where we found more about her back ground her mother had been a telepath .Signs and Portents that dream sequence with Ivanova and the ravens was pretty cool. |
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| Rigil Kent | 10 Dec 2006, 23:47 Post #11 |
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Professional (but unpaid) troublemaker
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Case in point: the Xindi. Could a species possibly be any more cliched? :rolleyesrequest: |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 11 Dec 2006, 17:26 Post #12 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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^ Yeah, imagine if Degra had been a Reptilian and Dolim a Primate. Watched Soul Hunter today and it has held up nicely, even if the Soul Extractor Machine(tm) looked a little silly. But both soul hunters were very creepy in a non-cheesy way. And once again I'm reminded of all the little clues JMS is spreading around - like how Delenn is a Grey Councillor keeping an eye on Sinclair. The episode spawned some interesting thoughts about sould and what a soul is and how it is viewed by different people (and species). One thing that did look cheesy was the insectoid black-marketeer. Very fake looking. They should never have shown it's full body but settle for showing the head and upper torso. |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 13 Dec 2006, 14:45 Post #13 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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I've now seen Born to the Purple and Infection. Born to the Purple had Londo as the one who officially got laid the first on the show! Who'd have thunk? :wink: And even if she was bald, Adira was very beautiful. :drool: Infection was a bit cheesy and preachy, but it had a very memorable line from Sinclair which could come in handy today, as there have been some people in Sweden debating the use of the space program and criticizing the hype surrounding our first astronaut. Sinclair answers a question from a reporter:
:thumbsup: |
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| Reanok | 13 Dec 2006, 18:48 Post #14 |
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Londo and Adira are going to be an important part of the storyline in a suprising way with the Centauri. I'm not going to spoil just to say it's important to Londo's storyarc later on. And I liked how the shows are connected in later seasons . :thumbsup: :buttrock: |
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| Kevin Thomas Riley | 13 Dec 2006, 20:24 Post #15 |
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Jolene Blalock Worshipper
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^ Well, I've already seen it all before so I know what will happen. That's why it says *spoilers* in the title!
;) (The only thing I haven't seen is Crusade) |
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| Reanok | 14 Dec 2006, 13:13 Post #16 |
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I've seen the movie that Inroduces the Crusade characters and introduces the actors who were in the series Galen the Technomage I like him he's a cool character, There's a woman who's the last of her race after her planet was destroyed by the shadows her Captain is a Maverick outspoken a rebel kind of like Kirk. I've only saw a handful shows when it was on Sci-fi channel I think you'll enjoy them. And Galen is going to Appear in the first Direct to dvd Babylon 5 movie. |
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| Captain X | 14 Dec 2006, 13:23 Post #17 |
"Vice" Admiral
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I never got into Crusade much myself. And then of course there's the fact that the ship looks like a giant phallus... ;) |
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| Rigil Kent | 14 Dec 2006, 13:28 Post #18 |
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Professional (but unpaid) troublemaker
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One thing I did like about Infection (if it's the episode I'm thinking of) is that Garibaldi didn't let Sinclair's constant need to put himself on the front and in danger go without comment. It was a nice little bit of continuity from the pilot and other episodes, and at least gave us a legitimate reason why the main character was constantly putting himself in harm's way that was more believable than he was a "hero" or didn't want to send people to die. |
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| chrisis1033 | 14 Dec 2006, 13:46 Post #19 |
Board Slacker
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I liked Garibaldi... :thumbsup: |
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| Reanok | 14 Dec 2006, 14:02 Post #20 |
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Vice Admiral
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Garabaldi was one of my favorite characters after Ivanova. And she was a complex conflicted character I liked how she related to Marcus Cole . And when she was angry at the Earth ship's during the shadow war when they were fighting the earth ships that had shadow technology her I'll be the last thing you ever see was chilling.Don't Susan angry. they learned the hard way. |
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