December Talking Meme: Babylon 5's biggest weaknesses (Doylist, Watsonian or both)

[selenak]

Disclaimer: I love Babylon 5. It's one of my two adored space station shows, it was my first non-Trek sci fi tv fandom, it contains some of my most beloved characters in any fandom of all time, and I think it still holds up as one of the most amazing things pulled off on tv. With all this in mind

Comments

[nolivingman]

I cannot agree strongly enough about Deconstruction of Falling Stars - it was completely JMS at his weakest at a writer, and giving into the Great Man of History thing. But I saw S5's Sheridan as President storyline differently. I feel like we were absolutely supposed to take from it that Sheridan was struggling and bad at the job in the first year. Clearly JMS wants us to feel that he improved at it (hence, Deconstruction), but in S5 Sheridan made too many blunders to justify thinking he was anything but bad. Now the fact that his enemies were strawmen who were obviously WRONG WRONG WRONG is JMS giving in again, but on Sheridan himself, I feel like he had some perspective. A little.

It's been a long time since I got to talk about B5 - I've missed it. I need to pop the DVDs in and have some nostalgia.

[selenak]

Rewatching B5 is always a good thing to do! And hm, maaaaayyyybe about Sheridan at least meant to be struggling in his first year. It's been too long since my own last rewatch; I need to do it again and now have an excuse. :)

[meganinhiding]

Personally I found myself making comparisons between Sheridan and Bush because JMS kept making these Churchill/WWII comparisons with B5 and Bush kept trying to wrap himself and the second gulf war into that narrative to the point where he expected our armed forces to be welcomed like the Allies were into France.

I really liked Sheridan up until Z'Ha'Dum; afterwards he was so Right and Correct all the time that I wanted him to turn out to be wrong about the Clark government Even Garibaldi wasn't allowed to be critical of him. Delenn always felt like Our Heroine; looking back it would have been nice if Neroon or the reporter or someone else were treated as having valid opinions.

[selenak]

Re: Sheridan up to Z'ha'dum, not only was he allowed to sometimes be wrong until then, but he had an interesting personal narrative that allowed for growth and change. When Sheridan arrives at B5, he had, as he later states, two things he was passionate and absolutely sure about, his career and his late wife. He's still struggling with his grief for Anna, but he's certain as to what happened to her and who she was. And then the show proceeds to shake his perspective on his job, the institution he represents, what happened to his wife, his wife. It introduces him to a larger community than the Earth military, gives him new relationships (not solely with Delenn but also with Kosh and G'Kar, and of course his old friendship with Ivanova stays and blooms), and Z'ha'dum in so many ways represents the pay off and wrapping up of his personal arc; he's saving B5, knows what happened to Anna, and is sure in his feelings for Delenn. Now, after Z'ha'dum, Sheridan as a character by contrast is static. The world around him is still in movement -

[londonkds]

The Churchill comparisons could have worked if JMS, unlike the average American Churchill-worshipper, had actually studied and added in aspects of Churchill's reputation and career BEFORE AND AFTER the 1940-5 period.