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I dunno, the telepath story was less grating for me than some of the early Lochley stuff ("nuhhhh some of us thought it was wrong to turn against your government (that was deliberately massacring its own civilians)" and "why? why does Sheridan trust you??" "because i'm his ex-wife okay???")
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Feb 21, 2018 17:59
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The Lochley stuff was an interesting diversion into "What if B5 didn't religiously follow the great man theory of history" (see also Deconstruction of Falling Stars)
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Feb 21, 2018 18:15
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MrL_JaKiri posted:The Lochley stuff was an interesting diversion into "What if B5 didn't religiously follow the great man theory of history" (see also Deconstruction of Falling Stars) Most of S5, really. As a politician, Sheridan is a really good military commander. Honestly, even earlier seasons chip away at the "great man" theory even as they build it up in other ways, but it's usually easier to go with the obvious and overt text over the subtext, especially whenever JMS goes into speechify mode. And Grand Fromage, The Real Ghostbusters would like a word with you over that "one-hit wonder" comment...
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Feb 21, 2018 20:55
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Sense8 is also very good.
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Feb 21, 2018 21:25
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Jedit posted:Because it was. Robin Atkin Downes was in nine episodes, although not all of them as Byron. He later went on to become the voice of the Medic in Team Fortress 2, that rights a lot of wrongs to me.
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Feb 22, 2018 01:52
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I quite enjoyed Jeremiah at the time, no idea if it holds up.
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Feb 22, 2018 08:13
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I generally enjoyed his run on Amazing Spider-man, as long as we forget Sins Past ever happened.
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Feb 22, 2018 12:01
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V-Men posted:I generally enjoyed his run on Amazing Spider-man, as long as we forget Sins Past ever happened. Ditto. ASM and Supreme Power before he lost interest and abandoned it were all good poo poo. Everything else though.. Oh I almost forgot JMS was responsible for getting me into Thor. it's a shame how that run ended with the drama between him and Marvel.
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Feb 22, 2018 12:43
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I have no idea about any of his comic book poo poo.
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Feb 22, 2018 12:52
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hope and vaseline posted:Ditto. ASM and Supreme Power before he lost interest and abandoned it were all good poo poo. Everything else though. He didn't lose interest in Supreme Power, he was ordered to tone it down and quit rather than comply. Rising Stars and Midnight Nation are also well worth a read, so long as you stick to the core issues of the former.
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Feb 22, 2018 13:00
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I still have a soft spot for Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.
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Feb 22, 2018 13:40
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Jedit posted:He didn't lose interest in Supreme Power, he was ordered to tone it down and quit rather than comply. Tone it down in a Max series? That's... that was the original point of the brand...
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Feb 22, 2018 14:46
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hope and vaseline posted:Tone it down in a Max series? That's... that was the original point of the brand... Yeah, Marvel wanted to take it out of the MAX line. JMS was mostly OK with dropping the extreme violence and sexual content because by then he'd made his point in those matters, but apparently the editors continued to ask for more - making Hyperion more conventionally heroic, stopping Varda being a psychopath and so on. Basically Straczynski wanted to tell a story about how superheroes would in reality be beholden to no one, paying due respect to Greunwald's maxi-series where the Squadron decided to take over the world. Marvel just wanted Justice League 616.
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Feb 22, 2018 16:03
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Penn and teller can get hosed. And Space jack the ripper. Another low point.
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Feb 22, 2018 19:33
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fist4jesus posted:Penn and teller can get hosed. Wow that is some epic bad opinions. 
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Feb 22, 2018 19:36
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Rebo, zoot zoot!
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Feb 22, 2018 19:38
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Space Penn and Teller are worth it, just for Londo's reactions to them.
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Feb 22, 2018 19:42
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fist4jesus posted:And Space jack the ripper. Another low point. Comes the Inquisitor is an unskippable episode. It is incredibly important to both Delenn and Sheridan's characters and the looming Vorlon/Shadow conflict. Plus the actor who plays Jack is super menacing. I love everything about that guy. But... The premise is silly, the acting is not up to par with the concept, and the philosophy is juvenile. It's an episode that really wants to be better than it is. It's so close to greatness, but that difference is the difference between lightning and lightning bug. Ultimately, I sort of dread this episode on each re-watch. There are some conceptually similar episodes with G'Kar/Londo later in the series that work much, much better because those actors are capable of selling it.
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Feb 22, 2018 20:02
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ConfusedUs posted:Comes the Inquisitor is an unskippable episode. It is incredibly important to both Delenn and Sheridan's characters and the looming Vorlon/Shadow conflict. Wayne Alexander. Same actor as the Drazi ambassador, Lorien, and like a dozen bit parts. Basically a regular cast member, just not often as the same character.
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Feb 22, 2018 20:07
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ConfusedUs posted:Ultimately, I sort of dread this episode on each re-watch. I don't even bother. I think I'd only ever bother watching if I was watching along with someone else who'd never seen the series before.
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Feb 22, 2018 20:10
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turn left hillary!! noo posted:Wayne Alexander. Same actor as the Drazi ambassador, Lorien, and like a dozen bit parts. Basically a regular cast member, just not often as the same character. I knew he was Lorien but not the Drazi. I can 100% see it now though. Drazi ambassador is my favorite guy out of the League, he's always so...blunt.
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Feb 22, 2018 20:25
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Once you've watched the show through a few times, you can pick him out even in all the different alien prosthetics he gets into.
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Feb 22, 2018 21:04
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ConfusedUs posted:Comes the Inquisitor is an unskippable episode. It is incredibly important to both Delenn and Sheridan's characters and the looming Vorlon/Shadow conflict. Yes. It adds very little unlike some of the other history/earth culture characters. The space monks for example and the mindwiped killer. Super fascinating scenario.
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Feb 23, 2018 00:18
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turn left hillary!! noo posted:Wayne Alexander. Same actor as the Drazi ambassador, Lorien, and like a dozen bit parts. Basically a regular cast member, just not often as the same character. There's a few actors doing multiple characters like that, generally referred to as the Babylon 5 Players  .
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Feb 23, 2018 01:32
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Neddy Seagoon posted:There's a few actors doing multiple characters like that, generally referred to as the Babylon 5 Players Kim Strauss, Jonathan Chapman and Mark Hendrickson being the main three. Strauss is best remembered as the leader of the Drazi Green (and the only one of the Players to appear in the show without make-up), Chapman as the Brakiri ambassador to the League, and Hendrickson as practically every Narn in the first two seasons.
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Feb 23, 2018 01:48
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Airspace posted:Space Penn and Teller are worth it, just for Londo's reactions to them. And Sheridan, too. Boxleitner is great at finding their stuff hysterical. It's great because humor in 200 years would probably be utterly bizarre to us. Imagine explaining half a dozen stupid Internet memes to someone even just back in the 80s or 90s.
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Feb 23, 2018 02:25
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I'm having such a nice time doing a rewatch and then BAM King loving Arthur.
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Feb 23, 2018 06:30
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fist4jesus posted:I'm having such a nice time doing a rewatch and then BAM King loving Arthur. Which made it an even better time is what you left unsaid of course.
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Feb 23, 2018 06:50
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fist4jesus posted:I'm having such a nice time doing a rewatch and then BAM King loving Arthur. That was easily one of the high points of the season, in no small part to the guest actor nailing the personality and mannerisms of what people think King Arthur would be like (based on modern movies and cinema)
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Feb 23, 2018 06:55
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turn left hillary!! noo posted:Once you've watched the show through a few times, you can pick him out even in all the different alien prosthetics he gets into. Haha yeah it's 100% clearly the same dude when you compare Lorien and the Drazi ambassador. I'd just never really thought about it before. I really love that Drazi guy, though. He's my favorite background character just for how consistent he is. For any of you doing a re-watch, keep track of how many times he flat-out murders a negotiation. Things are moving along, no one's really happy but they're compromising, then BOOM. Drazi guy swoops in and shoots the fledgling deal in the head, drops his mic, and walks out. The camera lingers on Ivanova's sad face before it fades to black.
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Feb 23, 2018 06:57
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ConfusedUs posted:Haha yeah it's 100% clearly the same dude when you compare Lorien and the Drazi ambassador. I'd just never really thought about it before. That's because the Drazi are one of the most powerful races in the League, along with the Markab, Brakiri and Pak'mara. The Pak'mara get pushed into the background a lot because they don't speak - in fact they were originally meant to be the race destroyed by plague; the Markab got it instead because JMS felt they were more relatable - and the Brakiri were to some great degree a replacement for the Markab as League front men so it wasn't all Drazi all the time.
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Feb 23, 2018 10:44
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I think the Pakmara got only one episode where anything about their species and culture got described, but I swear, that little tentacle-face was everywhere. One of the most impressive alien designs too.
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Feb 23, 2018 16:46
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Jedit posted:That's because the Drazi are one of the most powerful races in the League, along with the Markab, Brakiri and Pak'mara. The Pak'mara get pushed into the background a lot because they don't speak - in fact they were originally meant to be the race destroyed by plague; the Markab got it instead because JMS felt they were more relatable - and the Brakiri were to some great degree a replacement for the Markab as League front men so it wasn't all Drazi all the time. Oh yeah I totally get that's why he has the power to do what he does, but I love the characterization in the way he does it. Dude has an impressive chip on his shoulder (as do most Drazi, they're one of the most belligerent species on the show). I find him funny, and I always picture the command crew sitting around, bitching about this guy. Sheridan: "...and then, the Drazi ambassa--" Ivanova: "Let me guess. He starts yelling." Sheridan: "He starts yelling! And then..."
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Feb 23, 2018 16:55
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OK, getting increasingly confused by the "Wayne Alexander was the Drazi Ambassador" conversation. I'm pretty certain (and IMDB states) that the only Drazi Wayne Alexander played in B5 was the one in Intersections in Real Time. Alexander played Lorien, Sebastian, G'Dan, and of course the Drahk leader. Mark Hendrickson and Kim Strauss played the Drazi ambassador: IMDB gives Hendrickson credit in Shadow Dancing, and Hour of the Wolf, while Strauss went from the Green Drazi in Geometry of Shadows to the ambassador in The Fall of Night and multiple S5 episodes. Ron Campbell is credited as Drazi Ambassador on IMDB for The Long Night, Rumors, Bargains, and Lies, and Meditations on the Abyss. While poking around, I find myself interested in which rarely-appearing characters made the strongest impression on people. Not thinking Refa and Neroon (with 8 and 7 episodes), but the rarely appearing characters at or below the Zathras level (4 episodes). Zathras, obviously, but who else? There's a lot of small and effective performances. Captain James, for example (new commander of the Agamemnon), or Dr. Lilian Hobbs.
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Feb 23, 2018 21:49
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fist4jesus posted:I'm having such a nice time doing a rewatch and then BAM King loving Arthur. "THEY were the bad guys, we were the good guys; and they made a very satisfying thump when they hit the floor!"
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Feb 23, 2018 22:00
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Narsham posted:While poking around, I find myself interested in which rarely-appearing characters made the strongest impression on people. Not thinking Refa and Neroon (with 8 and 7 episodes), but the rarely appearing characters at or below the Zathras level (4 episodes). Zathras, obviously, but who else? There's a lot of small and effective performances. Captain James, for example (new commander of the Agamemnon), or Dr. Lilian Hobbs. Brother Theo is also only in 3 episodes
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Feb 23, 2018 22:12
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SlothfulCobra posted:I think the Pakmara got only one episode where anything about their species and culture got described, but I swear, that little tentacle-face was everywhere. One of the most impressive alien designs too. Was that the one where the Pak'ma'ra was in the medbay describing what they eat to Dr. Franklin and Garibaldi is like "hey, wanna know what they say humans taste like?"
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Feb 23, 2018 22:13
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The gospel preacher in "and the rock cried out no hiding place" had some good scenes in his one episode
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Feb 23, 2018 22:33
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Narsham posted:OK, getting increasingly confused by the "Wayne Alexander was the Drazi Ambassador" conversation. I'm pretty certain (and IMDB states) that the only Drazi Wayne Alexander played in B5 was the one in Intersections in Real Time. Alexander played Lorien, Sebastian, G'Dan, and of course the Drahk leader. Alexander got a lot of the Greek Chorus parts, speaking for the audience or asking questions for outside forces. It lends consistency to the outsider roles and turns them in some ways into a single narrative force. They're a bunch of different characters, but they have central roles in their episodes and the whole story tends to swing around them. quote:While poking around, I find myself interested in which rarely-appearing characters made the strongest impression on people. Not thinking Refa and Neroon (with 8 and 7 episodes), but the rarely appearing characters at or below the Zathras level (4 episodes). Zathras, obviously, but who else? There's a lot of small and effective performances. Captain James, for example (new commander of the Agamemnon), or Dr. Lilian Hobbs. Brad Dourif as Brother Edward. It's one of my favorite episodes, and the fact that he's the voice of Chucky (and later, Wormtongue) makes his work even more impressive.
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Feb 24, 2018 00:04
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Brad Dourif has been a favourite 'that guy' actor since Lynch's Dune. Doing a spin on the Demolished Man was cool, too.
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Feb 24, 2018 00:07
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