Babylon 5 Episode 1 Season 4
Hello! Yes, I'm back! We went away on holiday to New Zealand and the plan was to get back to Babylon 5 when we got back home, but you know what they say about mice and men and plans, so it's taken until now.
The first episode is titled The Hour of the Wolf, it's a rather ominous title, especially as there are no wolves in space, not that I know of. Given that wolves are often associated with Russia you'd have to think it's an Ivanova reference, which it kind of was in a way.
The start is totally different. It's not narrated by any one cast member as has been the case in previous seasons, there are a number of them with lines to use. It's very effective and thoughts of peace are now totally out the window.
Understandably this one deals with what happened at the end of season 3 and it's aftermath as well as the effect that's had on the various people aboard Babylon 5. I'll try and cover this by crew member or delegate as best I can.
G'Kar seems to have a genuine position as an actual Narn emissary now. He is concerned about Sheridan's fate, but the disappearance of Garibaldi bothers him more. I actually thought that it was a little sad that the only two people who really seemed to care about Garibaldi, at least they were the only two who showed it, were G'Kar and Zach. There is a rather amusing exchange between the two when Zach finds G'Kar in Garibaldi's room wearing the fedora Garibaldi donned when he wanted to go incognito. The hat looks really funny on G'Kar, because it's too small for his head.
I was pleased to see that the Daffy Duck picture is still above Garibaldi's bed, a nice bit of continuity. G'Kar asks Zach if it's some sort of God. Zach nearly answers that it's Daffy Duck, then realises that he couldn't explain Daffy Duck to G'Kar and agrees that it is a kind of personal God for Garibaldi. In a way maybe it is, after all watching old Daffy Duck cartoons is Michael Garibaldi's second favourite thing in the universe to do.
Sheridan's disappearance/death has hit people harder. Ivanova blames herself for it, and spends the nights drinking herself into oblivion. That's where the title came from. Ivanova's father used to have a large slug of vodka before bed every evening, he called it keeping the wolf from the door, he also took 3 shot glasses with him, they were for the cubs. Ivanova seems to be getting through more than that, it's not good for her.
Delenn, who was in love with Sheridan, has taken it very hard, and she's doing a great impression of the nope octopus in simply refusing to even entertain the fact that Sheridan could be dead.
Londo? Londo got what he'd always wanted. He was posted to Centauri Prime as an important official and had access to the Emperor. Vir assumes Londo's position as ambassador aboard Babylon 5.
Lyta has been added to the regular cast. I knew they needed another telepath. What makes her particularly important is the fact that she is to a large extent the mouthpiece by which the Vorlonn ambassador, also named Kosh, communicates to the station. I have to say at this juncture that I do not like the new Kosh. He doesn't treat Lyta very nicely and he's also reluctant to help in the struggle against the Shadows.
The other aligned races no longer want to fight the Shadows, they think what happened at the end of season 3 spelled the end. G'Kar, Ivanova and Delenn know differently.
They do actually mount a mission to Z'ha'dum to see if they can find Sheridan, but have to abort and it's only Lennier's quick thinking that gets them out of it alive. Sheridan is shown at the end of the episode. He's in a network of caves and he encounters an old looking character. He looks kind of like a Narn, but he's not. He's one of these wise old sage types that will have to become important later on.
My favourite storyline as is so often the case involved Londo. I really like the depiction of the Centauri's. I always have. I find their combination of classical Rome and 18th century European empire interesting. I found out that their standing up hairstyle is actually referred to as a crest, so it's not simply an affected style, it's obviously how their hair grows.
Londo knew that the Emperor was young, vain and hedonistic, he didn't realise that he was completely insane. He kills anyone he perceives as a threat or an enemy, keeps the heads and talks to them. Shades of Idi Amin there. The Ugandan dictator didn't talk to the heads of people he'd had killed, but he was reported to have kept the heads in a freezer. Even worse he's invited the Shadows to take up residence on an island. As Londo sees their spiderlike ships overhead his future visions haunt him again. He determines that he needs to kill the Emperor and brings Vir to Centauri Prime to help him. Unfortunately Morden wasn't killed, he was however horribly injured and scarred, but he's still manipulating things.
There was no Marcus or Franklin in this episode. I didn't miss Franklin, he's never done a lot for me as a character, but I would have liked to see what Marcus was up to. They're both in the opening credits, so they'll be around I am sure.
The first episode is titled The Hour of the Wolf, it's a rather ominous title, especially as there are no wolves in space, not that I know of. Given that wolves are often associated with Russia you'd have to think it's an Ivanova reference, which it kind of was in a way.
The start is totally different. It's not narrated by any one cast member as has been the case in previous seasons, there are a number of them with lines to use. It's very effective and thoughts of peace are now totally out the window.
Understandably this one deals with what happened at the end of season 3 and it's aftermath as well as the effect that's had on the various people aboard Babylon 5. I'll try and cover this by crew member or delegate as best I can.
G'Kar seems to have a genuine position as an actual Narn emissary now. He is concerned about Sheridan's fate, but the disappearance of Garibaldi bothers him more. I actually thought that it was a little sad that the only two people who really seemed to care about Garibaldi, at least they were the only two who showed it, were G'Kar and Zach. There is a rather amusing exchange between the two when Zach finds G'Kar in Garibaldi's room wearing the fedora Garibaldi donned when he wanted to go incognito. The hat looks really funny on G'Kar, because it's too small for his head.
I was pleased to see that the Daffy Duck picture is still above Garibaldi's bed, a nice bit of continuity. G'Kar asks Zach if it's some sort of God. Zach nearly answers that it's Daffy Duck, then realises that he couldn't explain Daffy Duck to G'Kar and agrees that it is a kind of personal God for Garibaldi. In a way maybe it is, after all watching old Daffy Duck cartoons is Michael Garibaldi's second favourite thing in the universe to do.
Sheridan's disappearance/death has hit people harder. Ivanova blames herself for it, and spends the nights drinking herself into oblivion. That's where the title came from. Ivanova's father used to have a large slug of vodka before bed every evening, he called it keeping the wolf from the door, he also took 3 shot glasses with him, they were for the cubs. Ivanova seems to be getting through more than that, it's not good for her.
Delenn, who was in love with Sheridan, has taken it very hard, and she's doing a great impression of the nope octopus in simply refusing to even entertain the fact that Sheridan could be dead.
Londo? Londo got what he'd always wanted. He was posted to Centauri Prime as an important official and had access to the Emperor. Vir assumes Londo's position as ambassador aboard Babylon 5.
Lyta has been added to the regular cast. I knew they needed another telepath. What makes her particularly important is the fact that she is to a large extent the mouthpiece by which the Vorlonn ambassador, also named Kosh, communicates to the station. I have to say at this juncture that I do not like the new Kosh. He doesn't treat Lyta very nicely and he's also reluctant to help in the struggle against the Shadows.
The other aligned races no longer want to fight the Shadows, they think what happened at the end of season 3 spelled the end. G'Kar, Ivanova and Delenn know differently.
They do actually mount a mission to Z'ha'dum to see if they can find Sheridan, but have to abort and it's only Lennier's quick thinking that gets them out of it alive. Sheridan is shown at the end of the episode. He's in a network of caves and he encounters an old looking character. He looks kind of like a Narn, but he's not. He's one of these wise old sage types that will have to become important later on.
My favourite storyline as is so often the case involved Londo. I really like the depiction of the Centauri's. I always have. I find their combination of classical Rome and 18th century European empire interesting. I found out that their standing up hairstyle is actually referred to as a crest, so it's not simply an affected style, it's obviously how their hair grows.
Londo knew that the Emperor was young, vain and hedonistic, he didn't realise that he was completely insane. He kills anyone he perceives as a threat or an enemy, keeps the heads and talks to them. Shades of Idi Amin there. The Ugandan dictator didn't talk to the heads of people he'd had killed, but he was reported to have kept the heads in a freezer. Even worse he's invited the Shadows to take up residence on an island. As Londo sees their spiderlike ships overhead his future visions haunt him again. He determines that he needs to kill the Emperor and brings Vir to Centauri Prime to help him. Unfortunately Morden wasn't killed, he was however horribly injured and scarred, but he's still manipulating things.
There was no Marcus or Franklin in this episode. I didn't miss Franklin, he's never done a lot for me as a character, but I would have liked to see what Marcus was up to. They're both in the opening credits, so they'll be around I am sure.