Comments | pellucid: a post with fannish content!!!

pellucid

a post with fannish content!!!

Aug 10, 2011 21:05

First of all, the happiest of happy birthdays (probably belated by the time she gets this, but it's still her birthday in Canada!) to my very dear beccatoria!!!!!! I hope it's been a fabulous start to what will prove to be a wonderful year. *giant hugs ( Read more... )

rizzoli and isles, babylon 5, james ellison is my fictional boyfriend, vid rec

Comments 6

beccatoria August 11 2011, 17:40:28 UTC

Thank you so much! :D And yes, it's an AWESOME vid - thank you so much for helping chaila43 with it!

I always liked Commander Eyebrows too, you know. I mean, neither Sheridan nor Sinclair are going to win Emmys but I actually always kind of liked Sinclair better, I don't know why, I just...liked that he was tough without being cruel - he seemed less...I don't know, perhaps, by the end, pretentious or prone to pontificating than Sheridan (though to be fair, if he'd survived as a regular for more seasons that would probably have changed).

I'll be honest, most of my experience of Straczynski since B5 hasn't been that awesome (though that's largely through comics and I think his television style doesn't translate well), but Babylon 5, even with its dodgy sets, CGI, acting, and dialogue like something out of a noir thriller by way of a philosophy textbook manages to just be awesome no matter how many years pass.

pellucid August 12 2011, 03:01:49 UTC

I actually didn't much care for Commander Eyebrows the first time through. I found his acting barely tolerable, and I was happy to see him replaced, even though Bruce Boxleitner is hardly an example of stellar acting, himself. But this time through I was quite fond of him, and three or so eps in to season 2, Sheridan is wearing on me more than I remember, so it will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out this time around. Though Sheridan seems pretentious to me at the beginning, whereas at least by the end, well, perhaps he never becomes less pretentious, but at least he sort of earns the right to be. It would be interesting to know how it would have worked out if Sinclair had stayed. Some of the other particularly bad s1 acting did sort of work its way out of people's system, at least to a certain extent (both Garibaldi and Ivanova have some pretty awful moments early on, for instance, but they certainly get better--even if Jerry Doyle and Claudia Christian were never going to be Emmy contenders, either).

Babylon 5, even ( ... )

mylittleredgirl August 11 2011, 20:14:09 UTC

As you know, I totally love Commander Eyebrows. He has war angst! And the Grey Council is all pulling his strings and he doesn't even know. And he's THE SECOND COMING OF MINBARI JESUS!

I'm so glad you're rewatching it! Isn't it a trip after you know what's coming?? So cool!

pellucid August 12 2011, 03:03:21 UTC

I did not especially love him the first time I watched the series (although the whole Minbari Jesus thing is completely awesome), but I rather loved him on the rewatch--yay!

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gabolange August 11 2011, 23:22:09 UTC

Someday I swear I will watch Babylon 5, painful first season and all. Someday.

As much as I always tell people to watch in order, because you really, really should . . . I didn't. The first episode I ever saw was in the middle of season three. Then there was the rest of season three, season four, then season two, the series finale, and . . . possibly I saw season one sometime after that, after which I watched season five.

Which is to say that yes, the narrative arc and character development in season one are secretly awesome, but that if you're having a really, really hard time with season one, it will not ruin the show for you to skip it and come back later. Because it is quite special once you know what's to come.

Either way: Babylon 5!! Yes!

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pellucid August 12 2011, 03:07:14 UTC

I would also mention that I have still never seen the actual pilot. When I first acquired the episodes I didn't realize there was a pilot that was sort of separate from season 1 proper, and I still haven't bothered to track it down. And there are several of the series' key players who aren't actually in the pilot, I believe. So if you're having trouble with that, you might try just skipping to the first regular episode of season 1?

But it's true that there's a whole lot of it, overall, and a lot of it is pretty bad television, even though the rest of it is some of the best television you'll ever seen. It's an odd, odd series that way, and I don't think I'd blame anyone who couldn't make it through, even though I do firmly believe the payoff is worth it.