(no subject)
Logged into Road to Amber. Read gossip. Decided nah, that was not going to be at all fun, logged off, plunked a Babylon 5 disc into the player. Ah, Lyonesse. Your players make my decisions so easy.
Remember, these are first-time impressions. I've never seen this series, I know very little about it and nothing about 'what comes next', so don't spoil unless I ask.
"Matters of Honor"
Every now and then, I see in B5 something that makes me go "Oh. This is what Brody and Jeff Ryan were thinking about when they were working Otherspace MUSH." This is one of those episodes. People playing the hero, plots within plots (and a lot of 'dear gods, did you leave your brains in your other pants?' kinds of scheming). I realize few people reading this would have a clue what I'm talking about, but nevertheless, this was one of those episodes.
"Convictions"
And in the range of the 'every now and then' episodes...this episode reminds me that some scripts get approved purely on how much fun the actor can have playing the part. With this episode, a lot of the cast got to have fun. G'Kar's actor had a blast, in a very nearly literal way. So did the mad bomber's actor. Man, he must've been exhausted from getting to be so completely over the top.
One thing I do appreciate though, is G'Kar's position. He really hates the Centauri and feels betrayed (justifiably) by Londo in particular...and to get what he wants all he has to do is nothing at all. Sure it could kill him, but he's reached the stage where that isn't the point anymore. I actually felt sorry for him...but then, I've been in that kind of position, at least RPwise. That was miserable enough. I'd hate to have to live through it RL.
"A Day in the Strife"
That this episode began with ye standard testosterone display really should've been an indicator.
They're playing music from WWII. On a space station. At least DS9 had the (still flimsy) background of Bashir loving James Bond stuff to pawn a 40s-60s era Vegas on the crew. This music is just there, out of nowhere. And people on the space station are dancing to it with 40s dances. Grab a random military guy off the street now and I'll lay bets he couldn't even NAME a dance from WWII never mind actually dance it.
Ahh. Londo wishes to send Vir away. Probably because Vir keeps reminding him that what he's doing is extremely wrong and bad and being Disapponted in him. However...honestly, if he's going to do that, he really is doing Vir a huge favor sending him to Minbar. Vir would LIKE Minbar. What's more I think he'd actually grow into not just a wise person, but a person capable of acting on what he knows is wrong in the world. Vir's much too aware of his own isolation, his own dissimilarity to many Centauri.
YAY INTERVENTION. No really, yay intervention. That doctor needs at least three more people in his own role, at his own level of skill. An addiction to uppers is seriously not what you want in a doctor.
A probe with an IQ test AND a bomb? Does anybody have sense enough to go 'this is a huge issue'?
Okay. G'kar's hatred of the Centauri is about the only point on which he's blind, anymore. And really, after what they've done, that's pretty damn forgivable. In all other respects he appears to have grown hugely in the "non-asshole sentient being" department. (Honestly, though, it's reaching a point where watching this show is becoming my reason for not logging in to RtA, because I recognize too much of myself in this. I know damn well I'm THAT unreasonable about Lyonesse - and for the same kinds of reasons, on the personal and not galactic scale - and if you're not stuck in that story then the best course isn't to play it through, it's to leave it entirely. So I've been feeling really, really sorry for G'Kar, because he IS stuck in that story and so he's got to play through every agonizing turn of it to the bitter end.)
...I am glad they got G'Kar to stay on the station, but after years of mushing my only reaction to the scene is "I wish humans were that intelligent." I've tried that stunt a few times and even in RPGs, where all losses are imaginary, I've been hung out to dry every time. It's just how people are.
Intervention Stage 2: Pretend we didn't say anything. Okay, that is just like a human.
And Vir walks away sadly, turning back again and again like a puppy being sent to time out. I do hope we get to see him again.
"Passing Through Gethsemene"
Oh hey! The Vorlons have returned nice not!Talia telepath lady! Shit must be about to hit fans.
Ooooh. Sudden appearances of black roses out of nowhere. OOOOO CREEPY. No wait. Not creepy. I'm more at "How'd someone smuggle a black rose in full bloom across light years if there's no black rose bush anywhere on the station?"
Somebody scrawls "DEATH WALKS AMONG YOU" in dripping red stuff on a monk's wall. Okay, yes, this one's creepy. More for the "how'd they get in" than anything else. Especially the "then it's gone when the authorities come". Cos that's not just an invasion, it's a mindscrew.
Oh wow. Someone sprayed Londo with Creep Spray with Extra Creep in this episode. Send Vir away and boom. Lyta handled it perfectly, and better than I would have. Creeps tend to make me itch to do violence.
And now screams and more blood writing. This monk dude really can't catch a break. Unregistered telepath?
Oh and he lost his bag. So, either it's full of stuff that's dangerous to get into the wrong hands, or he's about to die.
And now not on the station, but somewhere cold and damp with a dead woman with a black rose stuffed in her mouth. Uh. Did someone let Jack the Ripper...I mean Sebastian... back onto the station?
Ohhh. He's one of those 'death of the personality' people, only the mindwipe wasn't complete.
...and someone's making him remember? Didn't Criminal Minds already do this - and frankly, do it better? (Okay yes, B5 came first, but eesh.)
Uh. Lyta's your personal attack dog now? She doesn't have *problems* with mindrape? Hello, YOU SHOULD.
Okay. The ending wins the "fuck that's creepy" award.
Remember, these are first-time impressions. I've never seen this series, I know very little about it and nothing about 'what comes next', so don't spoil unless I ask.
"Matters of Honor"
Every now and then, I see in B5 something that makes me go "Oh. This is what Brody and Jeff Ryan were thinking about when they were working Otherspace MUSH." This is one of those episodes. People playing the hero, plots within plots (and a lot of 'dear gods, did you leave your brains in your other pants?' kinds of scheming). I realize few people reading this would have a clue what I'm talking about, but nevertheless, this was one of those episodes.
"Convictions"
And in the range of the 'every now and then' episodes...this episode reminds me that some scripts get approved purely on how much fun the actor can have playing the part. With this episode, a lot of the cast got to have fun. G'Kar's actor had a blast, in a very nearly literal way. So did the mad bomber's actor. Man, he must've been exhausted from getting to be so completely over the top.
One thing I do appreciate though, is G'Kar's position. He really hates the Centauri and feels betrayed (justifiably) by Londo in particular...and to get what he wants all he has to do is nothing at all. Sure it could kill him, but he's reached the stage where that isn't the point anymore. I actually felt sorry for him...but then, I've been in that kind of position, at least RPwise. That was miserable enough. I'd hate to have to live through it RL.
"A Day in the Strife"
That this episode began with ye standard testosterone display really should've been an indicator.
They're playing music from WWII. On a space station. At least DS9 had the (still flimsy) background of Bashir loving James Bond stuff to pawn a 40s-60s era Vegas on the crew. This music is just there, out of nowhere. And people on the space station are dancing to it with 40s dances. Grab a random military guy off the street now and I'll lay bets he couldn't even NAME a dance from WWII never mind actually dance it.
Ahh. Londo wishes to send Vir away. Probably because Vir keeps reminding him that what he's doing is extremely wrong and bad and being Disapponted in him. However...honestly, if he's going to do that, he really is doing Vir a huge favor sending him to Minbar. Vir would LIKE Minbar. What's more I think he'd actually grow into not just a wise person, but a person capable of acting on what he knows is wrong in the world. Vir's much too aware of his own isolation, his own dissimilarity to many Centauri.
YAY INTERVENTION. No really, yay intervention. That doctor needs at least three more people in his own role, at his own level of skill. An addiction to uppers is seriously not what you want in a doctor.
A probe with an IQ test AND a bomb? Does anybody have sense enough to go 'this is a huge issue'?
Okay. G'kar's hatred of the Centauri is about the only point on which he's blind, anymore. And really, after what they've done, that's pretty damn forgivable. In all other respects he appears to have grown hugely in the "non-asshole sentient being" department. (Honestly, though, it's reaching a point where watching this show is becoming my reason for not logging in to RtA, because I recognize too much of myself in this. I know damn well I'm THAT unreasonable about Lyonesse - and for the same kinds of reasons, on the personal and not galactic scale - and if you're not stuck in that story then the best course isn't to play it through, it's to leave it entirely. So I've been feeling really, really sorry for G'Kar, because he IS stuck in that story and so he's got to play through every agonizing turn of it to the bitter end.)
...I am glad they got G'Kar to stay on the station, but after years of mushing my only reaction to the scene is "I wish humans were that intelligent." I've tried that stunt a few times and even in RPGs, where all losses are imaginary, I've been hung out to dry every time. It's just how people are.
Intervention Stage 2: Pretend we didn't say anything. Okay, that is just like a human.
And Vir walks away sadly, turning back again and again like a puppy being sent to time out. I do hope we get to see him again.
"Passing Through Gethsemene"
Oh hey! The Vorlons have returned nice not!Talia telepath lady! Shit must be about to hit fans.
Ooooh. Sudden appearances of black roses out of nowhere. OOOOO CREEPY. No wait. Not creepy. I'm more at "How'd someone smuggle a black rose in full bloom across light years if there's no black rose bush anywhere on the station?"
Somebody scrawls "DEATH WALKS AMONG YOU" in dripping red stuff on a monk's wall. Okay, yes, this one's creepy. More for the "how'd they get in" than anything else. Especially the "then it's gone when the authorities come". Cos that's not just an invasion, it's a mindscrew.
Oh wow. Someone sprayed Londo with Creep Spray with Extra Creep in this episode. Send Vir away and boom. Lyta handled it perfectly, and better than I would have. Creeps tend to make me itch to do violence.
And now screams and more blood writing. This monk dude really can't catch a break. Unregistered telepath?
Oh and he lost his bag. So, either it's full of stuff that's dangerous to get into the wrong hands, or he's about to die.
And now not on the station, but somewhere cold and damp with a dead woman with a black rose stuffed in her mouth. Uh. Did someone let Jack the Ripper...I mean Sebastian... back onto the station?
Ohhh. He's one of those 'death of the personality' people, only the mindwipe wasn't complete.
...and someone's making him remember? Didn't Criminal Minds already do this - and frankly, do it better? (Okay yes, B5 came first, but eesh.)
Uh. Lyta's your personal attack dog now? She doesn't have *problems* with mindrape? Hello, YOU SHOULD.
Okay. The ending wins the "fuck that's creepy" award.