Hrm. This is one of those episodes that you can tell worked much better on the page. In practice, it's sabotaged by some bad special effects (that monorail scene, yikes) and lousy performances. Walter Koenig chooses the wiser course of action and mostly internalizes his character, making him far more memorable and unsettling. Unfortunately, his companion Felicity Waterman is dreadful, either delivering her lines robotically or going over the top sneering evil. Not helping is Andrea Thompson, asked to convey far more range than past episodes and she's not up to the task. Her scenes with Ironheart plod when I should be feeling like those two characters have a history.
It's unfortunate because there's a lot of good stuff here, especially on the world building front. Development of the Psi Corps is welcome and the B-story was an interesting twist on G'Kar, even if I'm not convinced he was telling the truth. But I appreciate the episode had the guts to make it ambiguous. As he points out, everyone has an agenda and layers underneath.
(Except maybe Garibaldi, whose continued portrayal as a womanizer is starting to reach creepy levels. Move on from this, guys.)
TKO i was expecting to be boring or offensive but i ended up enjoying it. My experience is different from watching when it aired because i could just go to the next episode instead of waiting a week.
Mind War was the best episode of the first season but its immediately surpassed by the next installment. The effects, sets, and acting are going to be dodgy until S2 where there is another leap in quality comparable to the difference between The Gathering to S1.
Mind War was the best episode of the first season but its immediately surpassed by the next installment. The effects, sets, and acting are going to be dodgy until S2 where there is another leap in quality comparable to the difference between The Gathering to S1.
Ah, Gerrit Graham, another of those actors who kept showing up everywhere in the 90s. Wonder if he retired or something after Now and Again got cancelled in 2000, very few credits in the last two decades.
So a friend of mine has been watching the show for the first time recently and he noticed the Zima thing before it was announced to be making a comeback. We got in a chat about it and why JMS threw that in there and then the following week that Zima thread popped up. I laughed so hard.
Yeah, definitely going to re-watch, just have to find the right version. How are you watching? I am curious if I'll perceive it any differently at 45 (with adult kids) versus in my early 20s (with no kids). I might even convince my wife and my best friend (still my best friend) to do the re-watch with me. =)
Yup, I'm watching it on go90. I was in my early 20s for the 2009/10 rewatch and I'm at the very end of them now (I'll almost certainly be 30 once I'm finished). It's pretty amazing how differently we can take to seeing things through aging eyes. There's so much I will have (hopefully) experienced by the time I see the show for a fourth time. I'm certainly picking up on things and reacting to certain subplots differently in '17 already.
Jeff catching up to me has me running scared, and watching Eyes.
OMG the first thing I see is Jeffrey Combs. He actually is a nice looking dude, why does Star Trek insist on painting him blue?
The second thing is an evil guy. You can tell because he is scarred. And sounds like Jeremy Irons. And the camera lingers on his face while he goes Grrrr just in case you missed it.
So I learned a couple things.
Don't push Sinclair unless you can cite section and subsection of the law code better than he can.
Don't send a pissed off Ivanova out to drink alone, although this should have been obvious. Hmmm. Maybe Garibaldi didn't forget her, maybe he just wanted to see what would happen.
And Jeffrey Combs is always there for everyone to beat on. Poor guy.
Combs is brilliant. I love him as Weyoun and Shran in the Star Trek franchise. I'm almost caught-up to you, huh? It's kind of nice knowing that not everyone sprints past me, ha!
There are two things about the opening of Season 5 that puts it over the top. The first is the way the years visually fade into and out of the picture, and the second is how the quotes and the imagery is a retelling of the first four seasons.
I'm noticing that Season 5 is the popular pick for best opening. I can't disagree with the logic. The reason 3 and 4 are a little higher is I adore 3's score and 4's monologue. 5 is very, very close however.
On a side note, I'm reading a historical novel right now, and the sheer level of cultural detail in it is incredible. Sadly there's no way for a fictional world to have such detail, but I'm glad that Babylon 5 tried as hard as it did. It really does make the universe feel more authentic.
For sure. The scope of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age universes lured me into BioWare fandom during the previous decade just as Star Trek and Babylon 5 hooked me as a kid. And if a fictional setting can successfully marry scope with cultural detail, I'm pretty much calling in sick for the next few days.
Hrm. This is one of those episodes that you can tell worked much better on the page. In practice, it's sabotaged by some bad special effects (that monorail scene, yikes) and lousy performances. Walter Koenig chooses the wiser course of action and mostly internalizes his character, making him far more memorable and unsettling. Unfortunately, his companion Felicity Waterman is dreadful, either delivering her lines robotically or going over the top sneering evil. Not helping is Andrea Thompson, asked to convey far more range than past episodes and she's not up to the task. Her scenes with Ironheart plod when I should be feeling like those two characters have a history.
It's unfortunate because there's a lot of good stuff here, especially on the world building front. Development of the Psi Corps is welcome and the B-story was an interesting twist on G'Kar, even if I'm not convinced he was telling the truth. But I appreciate the episode had the guts to make it ambiguous. As he points out, everyone has an agenda and layers underneath.
(Except maybe Garibaldi, whose continued portrayal as a womanizer is starting to reach creepy levels. Move on from this, guys.)
Aww, I actually liked Felicity Waterman's portrayal. She's one-note and robotic but somehow it just works, especially as an introduction to a concept like the Psi Corps. (Obviously it wouldn't have worked half as well without someone as nuanced as Bester beside her though. I agree with you about Andrea Thompson not quite rising to the occasion and Garibaldi being a little much here. His womanizer nonsense perks up a few more times going forward but he gets so much more interesting and it gets so downplayed by Season 2, as I recall.
Halfway through S2s The Coming of Shadows. You can see this trainwreck coming and its awful. The "Let me buy you a drink" part. Great episode so far.
I've played through the game before (the SNES version, I think) but I'm tackling the PS2 version this time, haha. I played through DQ I-IV in quick succession last year and then started V but felt burnt out. I'm returning to it now because I feel I need to polish off unfinished games. It really is a great game, though. The best of the DQs, I think.
There's definitely some direction heading the way of all Psi Corps actors they get to make everyone sound a bit wooden and weird. Because they are wooden and weird when talking vocally, because they all prefer doing it mentally. That's been my theory all along.
There's definitely some direction heading the way of all Psi Corps actors they get to make everyone sound a bit wooden and weird. Because they are wooden and weird when talking vocally, because they all prefer doing it mentally. That's been my theory all along.
Actually, whenever you see PSI Corps members alone they are usually speaking regularly. I don't recall if any explicit reason for this was given (other than for the benefit of the viewer), there might have been some talk of this during a certain arc in season 5. Though presumably they want to appear normal in public, proficient in "normal human interaction", and are trained to use their powers only when necessary and allowed by the regulations.
The Corps is all about self control. Most telepaths are discovered as children and raised by the Corps, and taught to tightly control their emotions since this also affects their powers. To avoid physical contact (note Corps members always wear gloves). To keep mundanes at arms length in general since there's a good deal of distrust on both sides. In short, human telepaths are not raised to be friendly and sociable, but to be obedient and loyal agents of the Corps.
For sure. The scope of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age universes lured me into BioWare fandom during the previous decade just as Star Trek and Babylon 5 hooked me as a kid. And if a fictional setting can successfully marry scope with cultural detail, I'm pretty much calling in sick for the next few days.
It's too bad that this level of ambition is so rare nowadays. I think that the last serious attempt at it was Battlestar Galactica but it still tried to do a lot less than Babylon 5 did.
It's probably for a change of pace. Boxing episodes don't work like how regular ones do, so they would seem attractive on paper. Unfortunately, that's probably the only place where they seem attractive.
Just made it to season 2s And Now For a Word. Anytime theres an episode like this in a show it signifies to me that it has completely taken flight and is wholly comfortable with itself.
Oh.. and i was waiting for a commercial. So glad i wasnt disappointed.
I've played through the game before (the SNES version, I think) but I'm tackling the PS2 version this time, haha. I played through DQ I-IV in quick succession last year and then started V but felt burnt out. I'm returning to it now because I feel I need to polish off unfinished games. It really is a great game, though. The best of the DQs, I think.
It's really great. It's also, um, the only Dragon Quest game I've finished. v_v I've started 3 and gotten like a third into 8 though. I liked 8 a lot! But I got lost and gave up. Y-yep.
There's definitely some direction heading the way of all Psi Corps actors they get to make everyone sound a bit wooden and weird. Because they are wooden and weird when talking vocally, because they all prefer doing it mentally. That's been my theory all along.
The Corps is all about self control. Most telepaths are discovered as children and raised by the Corps, and taught to tightly control their emotions since this also affects their powers. To avoid physical contact (note Corps members always wear gloves). To keep mundanes at arms length in general since there's a good deal of distrust on both sides. In short, human telepaths are not raised to be friendly and sociable, but to be obedient and loyal agents of the Corps.
It's too bad that this level of ambition is so rare nowadays. I think that the last serious attempt at it was Battlestar Galactica but it still tried to do a lot less than Babylon 5 did.
It's enough to make me wish I'd pursued a career in television production. Got all these big ideas and little accompanying ideas, all swirling inside my head, and I'd love to give it a whirl. If only so that there's something out there to fill these voids.
Just made it to season 2s And Now For a Word. Anytime theres an episode like this in a show it signifies to me that it has completely taken flight and is wholly comfortable with itself.
Oh.. and i was waiting for a commercial. So glad i wasnt disappointed.
i dont know if this is the end of Smiley Sheridan as was hinted at earlier in the thread but its the first time hes been Patrick McGoohan Angry and im loving it lol (in the middle of In the Shadow of Zhadum).
You're in the middle of another strong episode. Season 2 is rarely chosen as anyone's favorite year, I think, but it's certainly when the training wheels come off in a big way. There are more "wham episodes" than 1 and the arcs push forward considerably more.
Is there a go90 app for Samsung TVs? Currently watching on my 65" TV via the browser. Glorious! I'm only on Soul Hunter now.
Midnight on the Firing Line was great, I forgot just how much was set up in that first episode alone. Soul Hunter is a bit of a klunker, and the acting isn't great. But hey, I already knew that and didn't come (or return) for the acting. =)
Not much of particular interest going on here. Three competing plots, none of them especially riveting and all notably executed with a lack of subtlety. The main story sorta reminded me of DS9's far superior "The Circle" trilogy and fizzled out near the end. And Ivanova's lover was a non-character, wooden as hell for the first half and then suddenly an asshole for the second. How could any actor make that work? This one certainly didn't. I did like a couple of the Delenn and Londo scenes ("LOVE?! What does love have to do with marriage?") but overall, this was watchable but disposable.
One sidenote. The best sci-fi shows make their ships a character but I don't get that from Babylon 5. All of the sets blend together in design and it's not made entirely clear where each location is in relation to the CG model. Budget is an issue here, obviously. 350,000 people are supposed to live on this thing (so it's gigantic) but I never really get the impression that many people are there.
go90 is one of those things I get the feeling is gonna date this thread once it's archived. Years from now, folks will search for Babylon 5 discourse, read our posts, and keep thinking, "man, you can really tell that was written in 2017, because I've literally never heard of that streaming service." The joke's preemptively on them -- most people in 2017 haven't heard of go90, either. One of go90's features involves the ability to click a heart icon if you like what you're watching. Babylon 5 sometimes gets literally dozens of clicks, so you know you're a fan of a big hot franchise and reliving the magic on a huge hit channel. Another of go90's perks is that you can leave comments. Tonight's episode, "Grail", has one comment with three replies. A guy named Kenny left a comment stating that his friend Tom Booker is in this episode and he's the best part. Kenny went on to say that he'd fight anyone who claimed otherwise. Well, Kenny, this is your 15 minutes of fame. I'm calling you out, bud. Right here on the most spectacular website on the net, where literally dozens more people will take notice.
The best part about "Grail" is that it's over.
David Warner comes to Babylon 5, armed with a Level 18 Wizard's Robe and a Fine-Caliber Nicely-Chiseled Elder's Elm Wooden Staff. He rolls a d20 on his Charisma, which is enough to draw Delenn out from her invisibility cloak spell and make Lennier smile. I don't know actually know how tabletop gaming works so I'm winging this and I'm asking you to pretend I'm good at describing it because I have a fragile ego. Warner's character, Aldous, explains that he's in search of the Holy Grail. Sinclair smiles to sheathe his discomfort and Garibaldi openly laughs. Little do either of them know that JMS is dead serious about this. Delenn is mystified that Sinclair doesn't seem to care, so now that she's out of multi-episode hiding she takes the time to admonish him.
Meanwhile, a guy named Jinxo makes funny faces when another guy -- let's call him Deuce -- threatens to assault him with his tentacle monster, who cosplays as Ambassador Kosh on weekends. The tentacle monster terrifies Londo, who locks his room as soon as he hears its name. Jinxo believes he is cursed, because he helped build the first four Babylon stations and the rest is history. I should note, it's remarkable how quickly these five stations were built. The Earth-Minbari War only ended a decade ago. Jinxo is a good guy, just a bit flighty, but he gets taken to court for attempted pickpocketing. Aldous, you see, rolled a d20 on his initiative. Or awareness. Um, recognition? Anyway, he failed. But Aldous decides to take Jinxo into his custody, and tells him why he seeks the Grail. Turns out, he's got a tragic past. I actually like Warner's rendition of the man and sympathize with him.
Other elements do not fare so well. Vir, like Delenn, has been absent for a while. In fact, Vir hadn't been seen in nearly ten episodes -- not since his little introductory stretch. He's back, but not for the better. He and Londo spend a couple of scenes being scared, which climaxes with a final scene in which they'll... be scared. What of Deuce? The crime boss has a bit of a certain accent, because of course he does, and he commits to various tasks which are inane enough to lead Garibaldi straight to him. Good thing, too, because Aldous puts up a good fight but eventually goes down, leading Jinxo to a bumbling heroics session that inevitably goes south.
And the award for Best Supporting Actor goes to...
Our team winds up in a shootout with Deuce, his goons, and Species 8472. We win, Jinxo learns the true meaning of Christmas, and Aldous dies, naming him heir. Jinxo puts on the robe and wields the staff, and his heart's in the right place, but he kind of just ends up looking like a LARPer. Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Sinclair watch Jinxo''s ship -- Thomas, rather, he's now Thomas -- leave through a jumpgate. They then wonder if that means the station will now go boom. Ivanova says "boom" eight times and the credits roll.
I've been harsh on "Grail", but it's really not as bad as I'd remembered. It's fine. I guess it's "Infection, Part 2" in that regard, except minus the complete absurdity of Sinclair versus the VR Trooper villain. The whole Arthurian myth angle is handled fairly reasonably, even; it's just that "Grail" gets held down considerably by its comically inept bad guy, schlocky tone, and the hilarity of framing Kosh as some kind of hentai final boss. I suppose Kosh is such a complete mystery at this point that it may have worked in the moment, though. Maybe people actually wondered if this was his true form for like two weeks in 1994. In any case, it's cute when he tells Sinclair it's "good" that people are afraid of him. Kosh, you're fantastic.
I'd hesitate to call this bad, but I stand by what I said, Kenny. I was glad when it was over.
Most likely Crusade would have gone into to this had it not been cancelled.
We already got a snippet with Matheson's flashback in The Path of Sorrows, though its impact was kneecapped when they couldn't get Patricia Tallman back as Lyta and had to rewrite the role as a generic telepath resistance member. And Bester was due to return as a fugitive war criminal in Value Judgments, which was one of the episodes that were in pre-production when the show was cancelled.
One sidenote. The best sci-fi shows make their ships a character but I don't get that from Babylon 5. All of the sets blend together in design and it's not made entirely clear where each location is in relation to the CG model. Budget is an issue here, obviously. 350,000 people are supposed to live on this thing (so it's gigantic) but I never really get the impression that many people are there.
Just out of curiosity, what large sci-fi ships or stations do a good job of showing where the interior rooms actually are? The only one I can think of is Firefly, since the ship is small enough that the show and movie were able to follow characters going from one end of the ship to the other fairly easily. At least on B5, I know where the bridge is. Most of the other stuff is just kind of scattered around various sections of the main cylinder, from what I understood.
You always see lots of shots of the various markets, casinos, restaurants, and so on, so B5 always felt plenty populated to me. It's not like you're going to be gathering the entire station's population in one place.
Just out of curiosity, what large sci-fi ships or stations do a good job of showing where the interior rooms actually are? The only one I can think of is Firefly, since the ship is small enough that the show and movie were able to follow characters going from one end of the ship to the other fairly easily. At least on B5, I know where the bridge is. Most of the other stuff is just kind of scattered around various sections of the main cylinder, from what I understood.
You always see lots of shots of the various markets, casinos, restaurants, and so on, so B5 always felt plenty populated to me. It's not like you're going to be gathering the entire station's population in one place.
Ok, I'll give you that the bridge should have much lower gravity since it's closer to the center of the cylinder.
I guess the question is, how many levels are there? I always pictured the majority of the station as being hollow, since we see many shots of that big open area that seems to stretch on for quite a while. For all we know, those "elevators" that they get in are just shuffling them down the length of the station.
As far as low-G near the center of the tube, that does get addressed at one point, when (S2 spoiler)
A character is riding in the tram that runs down the center of the station, with lots of audible "this is a low G area" warnings.
The station is hollow, so aside from the central transport shuttle (which is portrayed as zero-G, thus they're always strapped in when using it) there are very few areas with no/low gravity. Part of the design is that variances of gravity are used to accommodate different races preferences, so the human's quarters are centred around the areas with 1G.
I believe the bridge was the one part where they fudged it a bit. It is far enough from the axis that it does have gravity, but not enough for a full G. So you have to handwave it a bit and assume the crew is used to it and compensate as necessary.
I've been harsh on "Grail", but it's really not as bad as I'd remembered. It's fine. I guess it's "Infection, Part 2" in that regard, except minus the complete absurdity of Sinclair versus the VR Trooper villain. The whole Arthurian myth angle is handled fairly reasonably, even; it's just that "Grail" gets held down considerably by its comically inept bad guy, schlocky tone, and the hilarity of framing Kosh as some kind of hentai final boss. I suppose Kosh is such a complete mystery at this point that it may have worked in the moment, though. Maybe people actually wondered if this was his true form for like two weeks in 1994. In any case, it's cute when he tells Sinclair it's "good" that people are afraid of him. Kosh, you're fantastic.
I'd hesitate to call this bad, but I stand by what I said, Kenny. I was glad when it was over.
I'm not too keen on "Grail"'s main plot per se, but I thought that the episode itself wasn't too bad. We learn a lot about Minbari culture, and their religion. We also learn, I believe for the first time, that they have a warrior caste in addition to the religious one that we see all the time, and that the two don't get along at all. I think that what really sells me on this episode is that David Warner managed to convey a lot of sincerity through his performance. I also recall there being a few neat quotes as well.
The station is hollow, so aside from the central transport shuttle (which is portrayed as zero-G, thus they're always strapped in when using it) there are very few areas with no/low gravity. Part of the design is that variances of gravity are used to accommodate different races preferences, so the human's quarters are centred around the areas with 1G.
I believe the bridge was the one part where they fudged it a bit. It is far enough from the axis that it does have gravity, but not enough for a full G. So you have to handwave it a bit and assume the crew is used to it and compensate as necessary.
Lower G environments would look a fair bit like 1G environments anyways. Unless there are a lot of falling objects, you're not going to see much difference until you hit microgravity. The main handwave is that CnC would probably be closer to microgravity, but that would be horribly hard to shoot on a TV budget.
Just out of curiosity, what large sci-fi ships or stations do a good job of showing where the interior rooms actually are? The only one I can think of is Firefly, since the ship is small enough that the show and movie were able to follow characters going from one end of the ship to the other fairly easily. At least on B5, I know where the bridge is. Most of the other stuff is just kind of scattered around various sections of the main cylinder, from what I understood.
You always see lots of shots of the various markets, casinos, restaurants, and so on, so B5 always felt plenty populated to me. It's not like you're going to be gathering the entire station's population in one place.
Deep Space 9 is the ultimate example. I felt like I knew the vast majority of that station by the time the series was over. Granted, I'm very early into B5.
Deep Space 9 is the ultimate example. I felt like I knew the vast majority of that station by the time the series was over. Granted, I'm very early into B5.
But Deep Space 9 is a fraction of the size of B5. It's a modest military outpost with (according to the wikis) about 300 people aboard during normal operation. B5 is a damn city in space, with a vast number of living spaces and facilities, most of which will never come up in the series itself.
You always see lots of shots of the various markets, casinos, restaurants, and so on, so B5 always felt plenty populated to me. It's not like you're going to be gathering the entire station's population in one place.
To be fair in the first season most of the public action seems to take place in what i refer to as Flower Shop Corridor. i imagine the life expectancy of the attendants of that flower shop must be around two weeks from all the action that happened there.
First came: Legacies, in which we have the public viewing of a dead guy.
But he goes missing. The first thought of the security team is to believe the dead body went missing, and not to verify that the warmongers ever had a dead body. What? Also, they pick on people just because they eat dead bodies. Those poor people do a public service, why not let them handle all mortuary duties? Better than plague, right? Do they even get a warrant before abusing the carrion eaters? Apologize? Anything?
Then a two part: voice in the wilderness
So, the planet was very badly surveyed, and the laziness comes back to bite the station in the ass. Single-episode guy saves the day, which we know he will, because he sounds all zen. Yay!
I really hate the drama-music. It's like a soap opera. Dun dun dun! But Ivanova says Boom a lot. Yay!
A veritable tribunal is launched against the B5 command staff, summoning up the tailwind of a bunch of little continuity details in a return-to-form arc-sensitive episode that's good but by no means great. All the ingredients are here for something fit to rival "Midnight on the Firing Line", "Mind War", "And the Sky Full of Stars", "Believers", and "Signs and Portents", but "Eyes" ends up somewhere a bit further down the list. Today, we'll examine what makes it tick and what holds it back.
Let's get this part out of the way first. Garibaldi's character is stretched a bit thinly in "Eyes", because when he's not on-duty hating his new CO behind his back, he's coming home to Lennier tinkering with a Kawasaki. Lennier, who up until now has not had screentime opportunity to demonstrate a whole heck of a lot of character, shines here. He's funny, if not downright adorable, as he monologues over perceived masculinity. Garibaldi's awkward, mildly uncomfortable demeanor seals the deal; this B-Plot's positively Velveeta, but it works. I have to question the act of revving up the Minbari-installed engine so much in the episode's closing scene, though -- I'm pretty sure this unlikely duo mauled someone down. One last thing on this front, complete with a regular reminder not to click this if you haven't seen the whole show before:
this is Lennier, the fellow who will turn dark-side in the eleventh hour. It hurts, seeing him so pure. He develops into a pretty great character and his arc is a memorable one.
Now that that's out of the way, we'll move on to the main course. EarthForce dispatches Colonel Ari Ben Zayn and his Psi Corps sidekick Harriman Gray to conduct a full-scale investigation of the station's security. But before we see them, we've already heard through Sinclair and Ivanova about a terrorist bombing on Phobos, and a group called Free Mars is name-dropped. It seems humanity is inching closer and closer toward the razor's edge, and our cast often hears these things from the sidelines. We've ran into a few B5-side examples, though, haven't we? Fringe groups and common thugs, and shadowy extremists. That's where Ben Zayn and Gray come in, and it quickly becomes apparent that Ben Zayn in particular is out for blood.
Ivanova is the heart of this episode, because circumstances offer her fear of telepathic scans to be explored in greater detail. Colonel Ben Zayn wants to submit the entire senior staff to the technique, and Ivanova races to an early retirement to avoid it. She'll end up in such an emotional muck that a classic barroom brawl will break out with her at the epicenter, but let's rewind and evaluate her mental state in the scenes which precede it.
Coming to a theater near you.
Many of us know Jeffrey Combs. Many of us love Jeffrey Combs. But before he was Star Trek DS9's Weyoun or Star Trek Enterprise's Shran, he was a Psi Cop named Gray. He's a well-acted secondary character in "Eyes", and although he's a little off-putting and lacks a sense of personal space, he really doesn't mean any harm when he sets Susan off in such a frenzy that she'll wind up waking in a cold sweat from a terrible nightmare. She sees her mother, and a couple of stage theater jesters on either side, and she's terrified. Unfortunately, this is the kind of scene that really could have benefited from a higher budget, because TV-caliber rising fog and a classic drama reference isn't really enough to sell me on it, leaving things a little limp.
In any case, Ivanova is a bit of a downward spiral from hereon out, and it's up to Garibaldi and Sinclair to keep her from falling away from a promising career. In the meantime, Garibaldi's forced to serve Ben Zayn, and what's nice about this is that it provides ample chances to tie in stray storytelling strands. The dockworker strike, the Jason Ironheart incident, and several other episodic callbacks all come into renewed relevance, but it's the Ironheart that really sticks out like a sore thumb to me, opening up a considerable question:
Some people are born with artistic talent. Some people aren't. And then there's me.
I haven't consulted the Lurker's Guide for this one, but I'd be willing to bet one of y'all has. Where the heck was Talia Winters? I know she's not command staff, but I felt like her presence was sorely missing from the plot. Oh well, I suppose. The story carries forward, with Sinclair working against-the-clock to stop the scans. When he reaches out to Earth, he's told that Babylon 5 has made some enemies over the past year. As fate would have it, Bester is one of them. Ben Zayn is exposed as working for the scorned Psi Cop, and even Harriman Gray had no idea. Turnabout is fair play, so the episode's climax brings Gray into Ben Zayn's deeply disturbed mind, saving our heroes for another day.
I've yet to mention the problem with "Eyes". The problem is Ari Ben Zayn. I've done some research on actor Gregory Paul Martin and he seems like an ample, amicable, able enough fellow. He's played opposite Ian McKellan, Faye Dunaway, Liam Neeson. The man is talented. And horribly miscast. Whatever stage magic Gregory Paul Martin summoned in the world premiere of Bent at The Royal Court in London back in 1979, not a single speck of it can be found in 1994. Ari Ben Zayn is a bit-rate comic book bad guy who scowls at the camera, growls beneath his breath, and tops it all off with a scar he can point at while steaming at people. He's M. Bison trying to be deep and tragic and troubled. He's a SuperSoaker in an hour of television that required the delicate precision cutlery of a wakizashi. He was in an episode of SeaQuest DSV that even I can't remember, and I carry the last dying embers of SeaQuest DSV deep within mine heart.
He sucks.
"Wanna know how I got my scars? You can't handle the truth! I eat boys like you for breakfast! Nothing like the smell of space napalm in the space morning! I am the Senate!"
Colonel Ari Ben Zayn almost ruins the climax. Michael O'Hare does what he can, but director Jim Johnston doesn't know what to do about his bad actor. Ben Zayn basically spits his wrath and it's all Sinclair can do to keep composure while avoiding being spat-upon. This man's performance is bad news with a capital fraksake. B5's got its fair share of acting duds, and this blither proudly nears the top of the annals.
Thankfully, this ain't nearly enough to down the ship wholesale. While it's regrettable that "Eyes" is resigned to a very mediocre antagonist, the spirit of the episode marches on, and what we're left with is an exercise in curbed decency. A very passable hour that could have been much more.
I like the characterization of Garibaldi. Trolling Ivanova would be a fun way to start the day, and taking the piss out of Sinclair is a clear win.
But then there's an emergency about tachyons. I know from Star Trek that tachyons relate to time problems. Yep. This is about time problems.
Delenn learns that missing important meetings is bad, because you'll end up nominated to do the suckiest work possible. Luckily she has the balls to tell her entire species to piss off.
People keep saying "Where is it" when they mean "when is it". Clearly there is insufficient classwork dedicated to temporal mechanics in the Earth Force training facility. They should get some guest teachers in from Starfleet Academy. O'Brien would love teaching it.
I like the characterization of Garibaldi. Trolling Ivanova would be a fun way to start the day, and taking the piss out of Sinclair is a clear win.
But then there's an emergency about tachyons. I know from Star Trek that tachyons relate to time problems. Yep. This is about time problems.
Delenn learns that missing important meetings is bad, because you'll end up nominated to do the suckiest work possible. Luckily she has the balls to tell her entire species to piss off.
People keep saying "Where is it" when they mean "when is it". Clearly there is insufficient classwork dedicated to temporal mechanics in the Earth Force training facility. They should get some guest teachers in from Starfleet Academy. O'Brien would love teaching it.
I'm not too keen on "Grail"'s main plot per se, but I thought that the episode itself wasn't too bad. We learn a lot about Minbari culture, and their religion. We also learn, I believe for the first time, that they have a warrior caste in addition to the religious one that we see all the time, and that the two don't get along at all. I think that what really sells me on this episode is that David Warner managed to convey a lot of sincerity through his performance. I also recall there being a few neat quotes as well.
Lower G environments would look a fair bit like 1G environments anyways. Unless there are a lot of falling objects, you're not going to see much difference until you hit microgravity. The main handwave is that CnC would probably be closer to microgravity, but that would be horribly hard to shoot on a TV budget.
I just rechecked the introduction. CnC is very close to the axis, so the gravity should be minimal. At least it's below the dock.
And other people go there all the time, so it can't be explained by training. But maybe they licensed some tech for localized gravity adjustment just for that area?
Welcome aboard! You really haven't missed much. Several of us are doing rewatches and most of us aren't very far along. I'm still in Season 1 for another 6 episodes, myself -- I plan to pen full-length write-ups for every episode, so even if I'm the only one left I'll probably be chipping away at this for quite some time yet!
You should totally join us in a rewatch if you like!
I just rechecked the introduction. CnC is very close to the axis, so the gravity should be minimal. At least it's below the dock.
And other people go there all the time, so it can't be explained by training. But maybe they licensed some tech for localized gravity adjustment just for that area?
Earth had no artificial gravity tech to put into B5. It's either rotation or zero-G. However I did look up jms official position on the matter:
C&C is a little over one-third of the way from the central hub.
This gives you about 33-35% of normal gravity, so a person weighing 200
pounds would weigh about 66-70. (Yes, we did the math on this.) So
you're not going to see anybody bouncing around the walls.
Is there ever a thorough explanation for WHY the Minbari so clearly think in terms of 3s, or is it just a visual thing and otherwise only obvious from the council of 9?
Thankfully, this ain't nearly enough to down the ship wholesale. While it's regrettable that "Eyes" is resigned to a very mediocre antagonist, the spirit of the episode marches on, and what we're left with is an exercise in curbed decency. A very passable hour that could have been much more.
I don't really remember much from "Eyes" aside from the motorcycle plot. It's one of those nice bits that tie Babylon 5 to the real world, and those are always great. On paper, I can see how it can look like a great episode, but it just doesn't seem fleshed out enough. And I agree that Talia should have had a big role in the story (although I can think of a reason for her to skip it).
Yeah, when you're using rotation to generate gravity it's not all that hard to get beyond microgravity. 0.3G would be about the gravity on Mars and you're not going to float around there either.
Is there ever a thorough explanation for WHY the Minbari so clearly think in terms of 3s, or is it just a visual thing and otherwise only obvious from the council of 9?
It probably hasn't been explicitly stated yet, but the Minbari have 3 castes: Religious, Warrior, and Worker. The Minbari affinity to the number 3 (and to triangles) probably has some relation to this.
I couldn't find the title card for this episode so I went ahead and made a better one.
A teenage girl who is actually 23 steals a necklace down in the Zocalo and Susan and Talia watch it happen. In C'n'C, which I've been incorrectly labeling "CIC" for the past 17 write-ups, a Minbari war cruiser drops out of hyperspace, prompting Sinclair to experience an intense flashback sequence from "And the Sky Full of Stars" literally less than a minute into the teaser. Complete with dramatic music, I might add. It's a hard-knock life.
The year is 2258. The name of the ep is "Legacies".
A highly-honored Minbari war leader, Bramner, has fallen. One of his chief advisors, a not-terribly-charming fellow by the name of Neroon, has brought the corpse aboard for proper funeral rites. Neroon makes a wonderful first showing when he keeps his ship's gun ports open, confounding Sinclair and Ivanova almost to the point of open war. It would be a very bad thing if Earth and Minbar went to war over gun ports. Thankfully, Delenn appears, smoothing things over. It's good of Mira Furlan to join us on this adventure. Have I mentioned lately that Season 1 Delenn is downright uncommon? Neroon and Sinclair get off on the wrong foot, if not the wrong two legs. Neroon doesn't even want human security officers involved in the festivities, which causes Garibaldi to twitch incessantly. The situation is tense. Compounding the issue, Bramner's corpse... disappears. Whoops.
Susan and Talia both express interest in the teenage girl, who fell unconscious after experiencing a "mind burst". Motrin ain't got nothing on mind bursts. The teenage girl, who is revealed to be 14 (but is clearly 23), is a latent telepath. Talia wants to help usher her into the Psi Corps for proper treatment, but Susan wants to give her options. It helps greatly that "Eyes" is set just prior to "Legacies", because Susan Ivanova's telepathic plight is fresh on our minds. Her mother's descent into madness is what spurs Susan to action, and no, I have no idea why sometimes I routinely refer to her as Ivanova and sometimes it's suddenly Susan, either. This has the workings for a wonderful B-Plot, but unfortunately it's stymied by a very familiar problem. Indeed, the similarities to "Eyes" do not end in Susan's past; "Eyes" also suffered from some profoundly rough guest acting, and "Legacies" is similarly infected. Not by John Vickery, who even in his first appearance as Neroon is pretty good; no, the unfortunate element here is Grace Una, who plays Alisa, the 23-year-old 14-year-old telepath. She seems to think she's a cantina extra in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a curious mixup given that the game will not release until five years after Babylon 5's conclusion. Thus, our time-traveling young lass (who, again, I simply must note, is not so young as the script seems to think) delivers her lines with all the gusto of a card-carrying mid-tier Pazaak player, and emotional resonance is often robbed.
But we do get a nice scene with Na'Toth agreeing to check her teeth despite Susan's sarcasm, so props to Narn for making the most of things.
Garibaldi and Neroon traipse around trying to confirm or deny NeoGAF's comprehension of the city's complicated layout until they stumble upon a Pak'Ma'Ra. I want to talk about the Pak'Ma'Ra. If you live in Downbelow, you've got it bad. If you die in Downbelow and have any sentimental attachment to how the body might factor in the role of the afterlife, you've got it worse than bad. B5 fanatics, often referred to as "Lurkers", sometimes like to point out the differences between their favorite franchise and that Roddenberry animal called Star Trek. Oftentimes, it's the more complex characters that are addressed. Sometimes it's the more involved storytelling. I humbly submit the Pak'Ma'Ra. I want you to imagine life aboard Picard's USS Enterprise. I want you to pretend you're leaving Ten-Forward one lazy evening and you die. Now, this is unfortunate, but arguably not so unfortunate as what happens next. A Pak'Ma'Ra, stalking Deck 11 for a late-night snack, happens upon your still-warm body. Its facial trunks wrap around you and you are consumed. This is the end of your journey.
Neroon gets very, very uncouth and Delenn calls him out. Sinclair almost falls for the bait until Garibaldi convinces him to back down. The two men growl. Later that evening, Neroon totally trashes Sinclair's quarters and then physically assaults him. Then Alisa explains it all: thanks to a mental scan of Delenn's mind, she's realized that the religious caste absconded with Bramner's body, which points all fingers to our dearest Satai. Delenn scoffs, makes up a lame last-minute explanation, and then gets caught red-handed. To wit, she explains that Bramner was a priest to the end despite his status in the war, and he deserved a priestly finish: cremation. Neroon goes nuts over this until he succumbs to The Furlan Factor -- that is to say, the unforgettable "okay, but now I'm angry" voice Delenn uses when she rolls a natural 20. (I'll remind you I am not well-versed in tabletop mechanics, but this time I feel confident in my metaphor.) Neroon acquiesces, and he and Sinclair even share a moment of relative relaxation thereafter.
It's a little bit unfortunate that the closing scenes largely center around Alisa, whose plot could have been stronger with a better-chosen actress. Still, it's nice to see Susan and Talia getting along somewhat better, and I'm always down for more Ivanova. Sinclair catches up with Alisa just before she hops on her ship, sneakily asking her if she read anything else when she brushed Delenn's mind and solved a mystery. The grad student high school freshman gives him a single word in reply: "chrysalis."
Welcome aboard! You really haven't missed much. Several of us are doing rewatches and most of us aren't very far along. I'm still in Season 1 for another 6 episodes, myself -- I plan to pen full-length write-ups for every episode, so even if I'm the only one left I'll probably be chipping away at this for quite some time yet!
You should totally join us in a rewatch if you like!
Is there ever a thorough explanation for WHY the Minbari so clearly think in terms of 3s, or is it just a visual thing and otherwise only obvious from the council of 9?
It's just a thing the Minbari do as a thematic-cultural feature, afaik. I don't think we're given any particular reason for it, though the out-universe explanation is that being number-themed helps the Minbari seem more mystic and mysterious.
(Personally, imo, if we're ever going to get a series to surpass Babylon 5, I want it to lean more into giving aliens varied and incompatible cultures like humans do. Pan-species cultures are a bit silly once you think about it.)
Neroon goes nuts over this until he succumbs to The Furlan Factor -- that is to say, the unforgettable "okay, but now I'm angry" voice Delenn uses when she rolls a natural 20. (I'll remind you I am not well-versed in tabletop mechanics, but this time I feel confident in my metaphor.)
Hmm, as this is the 90s we're talking AD&D 2nd edition, which would make this a straight Charisma check or some kind of non-weapon proficiency from the supplementary rulebooks. While both require a d20 roll, you unfortunately have to roll below your score so a 20 would be automatic fail.
There was of course the The Babylon Project RPG which came out a few years later in 97, though it used a curious system based around 2 six sided dice where I believe the best outcome would be rolling a 6 on the negative one and a 5 on the positive one.
Anyway, another episode written by D.C. Fontana, and the only one in the first season developed entirely by an outside writer (i.e. not based on a premise by jms or DiTillio.) Good on her for creating a solid character, and to jms for picking him up and running with him.
Thank you!! When the episode started, and they called her a child, I thought "gee, I'm worse than I thought at telling the ages of asian women. She looked grown up to me."
I guess that explains anime?
So I watched The Quality of Mercy
That's all I have to say about that.
Until i looked at the episode list in the app, I couldn't even remember what the episode was about. Very forgettable imo.
Do you mean it's the best episode up to that point?
