Tevee Report: Fringe and Babylon 5
You know, if I remembered to post when I actually have thoughts, this wouldn't be so damn long. It's hard enough just to keep this to Fringe and B5.
1. I'm a little sad I don't have anything to say about BSG these days. Which is my own fault.
2. Leverage: Like I could leave off this show. <3 Not as awesome as last week, except for Tara though. May we keep her, plz? I fell asleep from exhaustion halfway through and woke up for the last 10 minutes only. So I might have missed some fun stuff. Also team, y'all may want to learn the fine art of gloating from a distance. Prison ain't forever.
The glee this show gives me powers me through the rest of the week though, I swear. <3
3. Fringe! It was like a textbook of everything I want in (mostly) all the wrong ways!
The Good
4. Babylon 5: First off, flist, I would like to say that due to discussions and tangential stuff running around my corner of B5 info, I THOUGHT SUSAN IVANOVA WAS THE KICKASS COMMANDER OF BABYLON 5! Sinclair (or Sheridan) didn't even cross my radar of things that might be important and I can't tell you how sad I am that this is not so :/ And it's important to establish that I resented Sinclair for this even before I found him boring. ;)
Also important, I er, discovered I didn't watch the pilot at all! Since I got it from Netflix, the first episode is Midnight on the Firing Line and it's plenty expositiony to be a proper pilot in my mind. I'm listening to The Gathering while I type this and about the only thing I regret missing so far is Lt Commander Takashima. Also ew, the first tour through the alien sector feels like a zoo. Wouldn't they all have privacy dwellings? If I finish it, I may post thoughts later, since this is just a vague overview of everything I've watched.
Honestly, I think my biggest problem with getting hugely invested in this series in figuring out when I'm supposed to be taking it seriously. There's a lot of good stuff there, but it's buried under lots of grade A cheese and some terrible acting from guest stars especially. And hair and bad 90's styling! Subtle it is not. I usually have more fun with the goofier bits and character stuff because of this. I'm also too amused that they keep telling us how many tons of metal B5 weighs in the intro. But there's an unnerving sense it's all temporary, since it's continually referred to as the "last of the Babylon stations". And is named Babylon.
Midnight on the Firing Line: Not great. I noted both the protectionism yay! tone of the election (and Earth) and the details about the Psi-Corps, both of I suspect are hugely important. Londo is immediately kind of sympathetically flawed and G'Kar is a manipulative bastard. Ivanova I suspected I would love a lot and now I do. I didn't even know who Delenn was or that she was Minbari by the end of the episode, but all of her stuff is more interesting with context later.
Soul Hunter: Delenn! Otherwise, meh. Apparently the start of at least every other episode so far including an assassination plot. Oh and hi, Dr. Franklin. I was watching the Twilight Zone right before this one and it occured to me you could probably make a game of who would give the Rod Sterling message of the episode, but I suspect it would usually be Sinclair. ;)
Born to the Purple: I surprisingly liked this one and I didn't expect to. I would think Londo's purple files would be much better protected if they were so important and he hasn't impressed me with ambassadorial competence yet. Always needs assistance. But it was Ivanova's B plot that really worked for me, she's got a great poker face when bluffing Garibaldi. But is is so difficult to call Earth or does the gold channel just have more speed and absolute privacy which would be extremely important to her? And *sniff*
Infection: Bad. Nazi metaphor fail. The clumsiness of their big statements is really painful sometimes. Dr. Franklin's idealism is kind of sweet though. I think this was the first time they confirmed that Earth is moving in a very isolationist direction counter to the whole point of the Babylon project.
The Parliament of Dreams: My favorite so far! Still clumsy, but not distractingly so. And of course the Centauri religious celebration is built on drunken debauchery, genocide, and celebrating life. And I'm sure you look stunning in purple, Londo. Of course. Hee. This is also the second "Londo and G'Kar are married" joke and I'm amused to think that the show ships them. No mention of a Narn religion, btw? I thought it was interesting that apparently all of the alien races have one dominant faith, as shown here, and it's purposefully contrasted with the multiplicity of those on Earth (with the atheist first and next to the priest, I noticed). The costuming of all the religious representatives made me raise my eyebrows a bit, many of them seemed more of a visual cue of diversity for the viewer, instead of having anything to do with the faith they practiced. And here's the part where the serious bits lose me a little, because my favorite thing was the highly entertaining G'Kar assassination plot (I kind of love him, not gonna lie). And Na'Toth! :D Plus he makes this face:
Oh and there was Caroline and I wish I remembered more of about her, because it's not that I hate Sinclair I just profoundly do not care 90% of the time and she caught some backlash from that.
Mind War: Hey, Talia gets plot! So does Caroline! Already a plus mark for me. Also, there's the proof that the Psi-Corp is as creepy as I thought. And OH MY GOD! was that the most hilarious looking super being ever?! Oh dear. Rod Sterling for this episode brought to you by G'Kar.
The War Prayer: Ouch, Susan. :( I love that she never hesitates for a second though. <3 (The less time on the specifics though, the better, yeesh) And I like Londo. I've got some idea that where he's going will be fascinating, but he's kind of lovable as a character who enjoys life and is brought down too frequently by his flaws.
And the Sky full of Stars: I feel like I slept through this one and can't remember anything except for the interesting bits about Delenn, Sinclair and the end of the Human-Minbari War.
Deathwalker: Ugh, I hate immortality potions. Poor Sinclair has a hard time balancing that sense of morality with the universe. Talia's apparently viewed as a potential threat to the Vorlons as a psychic? Hmm. Vorlons? Hmm. And how so awesome Ivanova? :D
And I think I'll keep going with this one. There's just enough character love, if not show love yet. I have hope. :)
1. I'm a little sad I don't have anything to say about BSG these days. Which is my own fault.
2. Leverage: Like I could leave off this show. <3 Not as awesome as last week, except for Tara though. May we keep her, plz? I fell asleep from exhaustion halfway through and woke up for the last 10 minutes only. So I might have missed some fun stuff. Also team, y'all may want to learn the fine art of gloating from a distance. Prison ain't forever.
The glee this show gives me powers me through the rest of the week though, I swear. <3
3. Fringe! It was like a textbook of everything I want in (mostly) all the wrong ways!
The Good
- Olivia was awesome and it helped some of my fears that the show might forget that.
- Mytharc! (where we still don't learn anything new, except for some of the universe-combining symptoms, but yay! for a lack of pattern o' the week!)
- My watching buddy and I practically leaped off the couch in relief when she saw Peter glimmering. THANK YOU, SHOW. FINALLY. Walter was coming close to passing Tigh's lonely eye in "NOPE, NO CYLONS AROUND HERE!" with his hints.
- Olivia and Walter. You know what? They're my favorite relationship of the show. Because there's a part of Olivia that hates and will never forgive Walter, and it's not for herself alone.
- Peter/Olivia: Just...no. Not a fan. There are ways that I could be persuaded to buy it, but it's completely unnecessary to the show at this point and I think, would change things for the worse. Plus it's tied to vulnerability for Olivia every time they go near it and that's not exactly my favorite way to begin a relationship. Well, whatever I think, it's going to have to be something that's dealt with at some point, now that they officially brought it out. ("Peter, I'm scared", though. Ergh.) *clings tightly to my sort of ship, Peter/Astrid*
- Her abilities being activated by fear. The hell? And it's a bit of weird characterization, since I never saw Olivia's strength coming from forgetting how to be afraid. It just never stops her.
- Probable Peter angst extravaganza in April (haven't watch that preview thing yet).
- Astrid and Nina Sharp might as well have not showed up at all.
4. Babylon 5: First off, flist, I would like to say that due to discussions and tangential stuff running around my corner of B5 info, I THOUGHT SUSAN IVANOVA WAS THE KICKASS COMMANDER OF BABYLON 5! Sinclair (or Sheridan) didn't even cross my radar of things that might be important and I can't tell you how sad I am that this is not so :/ And it's important to establish that I resented Sinclair for this even before I found him boring. ;)
Also important, I er, discovered I didn't watch the pilot at all! Since I got it from Netflix, the first episode is Midnight on the Firing Line and it's plenty expositiony to be a proper pilot in my mind. I'm listening to The Gathering while I type this and about the only thing I regret missing so far is Lt Commander Takashima. Also ew, the first tour through the alien sector feels like a zoo. Wouldn't they all have privacy dwellings? If I finish it, I may post thoughts later, since this is just a vague overview of everything I've watched.
Honestly, I think my biggest problem with getting hugely invested in this series in figuring out when I'm supposed to be taking it seriously. There's a lot of good stuff there, but it's buried under lots of grade A cheese and some terrible acting from guest stars especially. And hair and bad 90's styling! Subtle it is not. I usually have more fun with the goofier bits and character stuff because of this. I'm also too amused that they keep telling us how many tons of metal B5 weighs in the intro. But there's an unnerving sense it's all temporary, since it's continually referred to as the "last of the Babylon stations". And is named Babylon.
Midnight on the Firing Line: Not great. I noted both the protectionism yay! tone of the election (and Earth) and the details about the Psi-Corps, both of I suspect are hugely important. Londo is immediately kind of sympathetically flawed and G'Kar is a manipulative bastard. Ivanova I suspected I would love a lot and now I do. I didn't even know who Delenn was or that she was Minbari by the end of the episode, but all of her stuff is more interesting with context later.
Soul Hunter: Delenn! Otherwise, meh. Apparently the start of at least every other episode so far including an assassination plot. Oh and hi, Dr. Franklin. I was watching the Twilight Zone right before this one and it occured to me you could probably make a game of who would give the Rod Sterling message of the episode, but I suspect it would usually be Sinclair. ;)
Born to the Purple: I surprisingly liked this one and I didn't expect to. I would think Londo's purple files would be much better protected if they were so important and he hasn't impressed me with ambassadorial competence yet. Always needs assistance. But it was Ivanova's B plot that really worked for me, she's got a great poker face when bluffing Garibaldi. But is is so difficult to call Earth or does the gold channel just have more speed and absolute privacy which would be extremely important to her? And *sniff*
Infection: Bad. Nazi metaphor fail. The clumsiness of their big statements is really painful sometimes. Dr. Franklin's idealism is kind of sweet though. I think this was the first time they confirmed that Earth is moving in a very isolationist direction counter to the whole point of the Babylon project.
The Parliament of Dreams: My favorite so far! Still clumsy, but not distractingly so. And of course the Centauri religious celebration is built on drunken debauchery, genocide, and celebrating life. And I'm sure you look stunning in purple, Londo. Of course. Hee. This is also the second "Londo and G'Kar are married" joke and I'm amused to think that the show ships them. No mention of a Narn religion, btw? I thought it was interesting that apparently all of the alien races have one dominant faith, as shown here, and it's purposefully contrasted with the multiplicity of those on Earth (with the atheist first and next to the priest, I noticed). The costuming of all the religious representatives made me raise my eyebrows a bit, many of them seemed more of a visual cue of diversity for the viewer, instead of having anything to do with the faith they practiced. And here's the part where the serious bits lose me a little, because my favorite thing was the highly entertaining G'Kar assassination plot (I kind of love him, not gonna lie). And Na'Toth! :D Plus he makes this face:
Oh and there was Caroline and I wish I remembered more of about her, because it's not that I hate Sinclair I just profoundly do not care 90% of the time and she caught some backlash from that.
Mind War: Hey, Talia gets plot! So does Caroline! Already a plus mark for me. Also, there's the proof that the Psi-Corp is as creepy as I thought. And OH MY GOD! was that the most hilarious looking super being ever?! Oh dear. Rod Sterling for this episode brought to you by G'Kar.
The War Prayer: Ouch, Susan. :( I love that she never hesitates for a second though. <3 (The less time on the specifics though, the better, yeesh) And I like Londo. I've got some idea that where he's going will be fascinating, but he's kind of lovable as a character who enjoys life and is brought down too frequently by his flaws.
And the Sky full of Stars: I feel like I slept through this one and can't remember anything except for the interesting bits about Delenn, Sinclair and the end of the Human-Minbari War.
Deathwalker: Ugh, I hate immortality potions. Poor Sinclair has a hard time balancing that sense of morality with the universe. Talia's apparently viewed as a potential threat to the Vorlons as a psychic? Hmm. Vorlons? Hmm. And how so awesome Ivanova? :D
And I think I'll keep going with this one. There's just enough character love, if not show love yet. I have hope. :)