What exactly does a drowned rat look like, anyway?
1. It is RAINING LIKE A MOFO. I believe the official meteorological term for this weather is "crappy." Since it's more or less been raining and gray and cold since Monday, all I want to do is crawl into a hole and stay dry. We're in for some major storms today and this weekend, and I'm wondering how lame of me it would be to bail on several
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"I'm in this scene." Hee!
Thanks again for a lovely evening, great food, and great company. Looking forward to next week.
::needs B5 icon::
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Oh, Sinclair. Rooting for his death is an acceptable reaction, right?
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And no, I did not actually freeze to death. I should probably have requested tea, though. Next time!
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That beet salad looks pretty tasty!
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And thanks again for hosting me and Hookles for the B5 event! Those beets were indeed ultra-yummy.
As for the episodes themselves, I agree completely on the effective setup of the geopolitical (cosmopolitical?) situation, as well as the charming artificiality of the CG effects and the awe-inspiring woodenness of Sinclair. I think when the show first debuted, The Hook and I had just seen Mystery Science Theater 3000 presenting Teenagers From Outer Space, and Sinclair struck us as a dead ringer for one of the alien invaders. (I don't remember if it was the captain or the puppy-disintegrating Thor, but I hope it was the latter.) This time, Hookles was reminded of the evil mad scientist from Re-Animator, but that guy can seriously actThe one thing that bugged us when we saw the pilot movie, and doesn't seem to have been covered in the episodes yet either, is the reason for the existence of Babylon 5 itself. If all these ( ... )
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I hope that went well. I discovered the hard way that I have a hole in the sole of one of another pair of shoes, and walked around all day today on a cold and soggy sock. And then BART, as usual, was messed up tonight. Fortunately, it only took me two hours to warm up after I got home.
I am so glad you both came, and as I type this I am admiring my bedbug. Acquaintances come and go, but friends give each other Giant Microbes. Or something. :)
If all these alien empires hate each other, and humans are just the newest kids on the block, then why would they all send ambassadors to a human-owned and -operated space station?I'm really interested to see if that question gets answered later in the series. I suspect it might not, simply because in some ways the show seems like a product of its times, and if it does follow those Cold War lines of thinking, then (a) of course the humans (Americans) are assumed to stand for peace, and everybody ( ... )
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First, glad you're enjoying the bedbug. Those Giant Microbes are cute as all get-out. :-)
As for the whys and wherefores of the Babylon 5 station itself, I'm relieved that Hooks and I aren't the only ones wondering. Perhaps this was addressed in the pilot movie, but I recall being just as puzzled when I saw the pilot as I am now, so perhaps not.
It occurs to me that, from the Earth perspective, creating this faraway outpost could be a way of keeping these "alien" cultures at arms' length. We don't know yet whether there's any significant alien presence on Earth (diplomatic or otherwise), or any human presence elsewhere in space for that matter, but I can imagine a scenario in which Babylon 5 is actually a workaround for terrestrial xenophobia. Based on the episodes thus far, however, I have absolutely no clue whether the writers have anything like that in mind. Just have to keep watching, I guess. :-)
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I'm not sure how much it matters to have seen the movie pilot thing. I went straight into season 1, and I've been fine. Still haven't seen it, though I'm sure I'll endeavor to do so at some point.
And it's interesting to see in retrospect (from your writeup; I haven't rewatched any of season 1) how many pieces were already there in that first episode. I'm not sure I was so attentive--or maybe I only recognize it in retrospect. The thing that is generally excellent about this show is the world-building and the plot-building. Lots of canons going up on the wall in season 1 to be fired later on in the series, to adopt the theatrical metaphor (was it Chekhov's?). I really look forward to seeing what you, as the extraordinarily attentive viewer that you are, make of it all.
As for Sinclair, I find it helps marginally to refer to him as "Commander Eyebrows."
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And it's interesting to see in retrospect (from your writeup; I haven't rewatched any of season 1) how many pieces were already there in that first episode.
That's also something Laura (who has seen the whole show before) said. And I wish I could take more credit for original thought, but I was talking the episodes out with the people I was watching them with, and they are all very, very smart.
I place a lot of importance in worldbuilding, though, which is why I loved Farscape from the beginning, get cranky with BSG when it biffs in that area, and was only able to enjoy Firefly the second time through, after I'd finished sputtering and fallen in love with the characters.
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His obsession with doing what he sees as good, even though it is viewed as evil by the rest of the world can be seen in many facets of our world today
I appreciated the way the show handled his motivations: it wasn't a clear-cut case of good versus evil.
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