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Absurd Alhazred posted:"Ben Zayn" is also not a real Israeli/Jewish surname and literally means "Son of Dick". lol
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Feb 1, 2020 03:21
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Absurd Alhazred posted:"Ben Zayn" is also not a real Israeli/Jewish surname and literally means "Son of Dick". I was specifically wondering if he was skewering a member of the Israeli military. It doesn't seem outside the realm of what JMS would do (although it's not his name on the episode).
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Feb 1, 2020 14:04
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Maera Sior posted:I was specifically wondering if he was skewering a member of the Israeli military. It doesn't seem outside the realm of what JMS would do (although it's not his name on the episode). He doesn't look like any specific famous Israeli general or otherwise. 
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Feb 1, 2020 18:00
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power crystals posted:Hi I don't think I have ever said anything in this thread before, I just lurk off and on, but having more money than sense I have ordered one. If and when it shows up (estimated January 15th, don't hold your breath) I will post a trip report. Assuming that yeah I can actually figure out how to build the drat thing, I am deeply curious what the hell it's going to include for instructions given the above. Did it ever show up ? Were there instructions or do we deal with the nice Aussie person for those ?
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Feb 2, 2020 00:19
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It's been sitting at "ready to ship" for a while. I was assuming that the Chinese new year wasn't helping but I guess I'm going to have to go complain at support shortly to see what's up.
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Feb 2, 2020 02:35
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power crystals posted:It's been sitting at "ready to ship" for a while. I was assuming that the Chinese new year wasn't helping but I guess I'm going to have to go complain at support shortly to see what's up. Make sure you spray it down with Lysol when you get it.
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Feb 2, 2020 02:42
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Absurd Alhazred posted:A View from the Gallery, however, is as cringe-worthy and full of hero-worship of the Big Important Characters (and also Are Troops) as I remembered.
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Feb 2, 2020 05:37
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Absurd Alhazred posted:A View from the Gallery, however, is as cringe-worthy and full of hero-worship of the Big Important Characters (and also Are Troops) as I remembered. Absurd Alhazred posted:Welp, that's my last impression from B5 for a while. There's a shot that's quite possibly a hidden Goatse in that episode. Go back and check out the porthole in the floor towards the end of the episode when the camera shot tracks out into space.
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Feb 2, 2020 05:44
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Neddy Seagoon posted:There's a shot that's quite possibly a hidden Goatse in that episode. Go back and check out the porthole in the floor towards the end of the episode when the camera shot tracks out into space. Oh, I didn't miss that one.
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Feb 2, 2020 06:29
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Neddy Seagoon posted:There's a shot that's quite possibly a hidden Goatse in that episode. Go back and check out the porthole in the floor towards the end of the episode when the camera shot tracks out into space. B5 finished in 1998 and Goatse didn't go up until the next year, so it couldn't possibly be that.
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Feb 2, 2020 14:02
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Jedit posted:B5 finished in 1998 and Goatse didn't go up until the next year, so it couldn't possibly be that.  If it's not actual Goatse, it's a very big coincidence and a good chuckle.
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Feb 2, 2020 14:11
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I was an adult for an embarrassing long time before I realized that the Dark Star logo and name was a reference to an rear end in a top hat.
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Feb 2, 2020 16:04
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Hey everyone, first time watcher here  Besides seeing a few episodes back in 90s I have not seen B5 properly, neither a full season or a story arch. I'm an avid trekkie, a proper SW fan and I am starting my watch. (only things I remember are Bruce Willis type of guy, a headpiece woman that grown hair and was 'reborn' as human and ferengi-ripoff-funny guy Mollari) It is also known to me that the show was really on a budget when it started 1x01 Midnight on the Firing Line -Mollari and nepotism among minbari, possible future plotline about his government forfeiting Ragesh 3? -Female president of Earth supposed back in 1993? Bold. Good. Like. -Diplomatics are shown almost exactly as it was in pre-internet era. Believable but naive at parts. Lets hope its for viewers' comfort. -Humans didn't change much but have ideals and ground they stand on. Probable nods towards Trek's Federation where almost everything was built on self-improving? Feels ENT trek btw, thou it came ten years later than B5. -Believable space combat, no sound as per then-contemporary theories. -Mars colony seems separate in politics from Earth. This is an interesting point. A great start, almost zero introductions, decent dialogue and several plotlines. Characters seem believable. Let's see what's next!
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Feb 27, 2020 20:50
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Welcome, you will be very happy, babylon five is extremely good
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Feb 27, 2020 21:01
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AntherUslessPoster posted:Hey everyone, first time watcher here Yes! Never not post your thoughts as the show unfolds. Note, Season 1 has some really low lows, but you need to push through those as Season 2 onward is some of the best television you'll ever watch. ENJOY
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Feb 27, 2020 21:05
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AntherUslessPoster posted:Hey everyone, first time watcher here So hey, I'm always glad to see a new first timer. Welcome aboard! You might want to consider watching "The Gathering", the two hour pilot movie that's set before "Midnight on the Firing Line" to get a better feel for things, though there are some significant changes between pilot and actual show that need to be smoothed over a bit if you do.
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Feb 27, 2020 23:59
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S1 is ropey in places, but it's not exaggerating to say there's something worthwhile in every ep, and the level of foreshadowing is very satisfying as you go through the series.
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Feb 28, 2020 00:14
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Why would you ever advise someone new to the show to watch the loving pilot? It's a neat thing to catch once you're definitely a fan, but nothing in it is particularly vital and it's rough enough to scare off a few would-be fans. edit: I'm squarely in the "don't skip any S1 episodes" camp, but "The Gathering" is entirely skippable. Q_res fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 28, 2020 |
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Feb 28, 2020 00:20
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Q_res posted:Why would you ever advise someone new to the show to watch the loving pilot? It's a neat thing to catch once you're definitely a fan, but nothing in it is particularly vital and it's rough enough to scare off a few would-be fans. Here's what you need to know; Kosh gets poisoned by an assassin, the Minbari responsible mysteriously told Sinclair he "had a hole in his mind", the original assigned Psi-Corps telepath Lyta Alexander gets a peek at what a Vorlon REALLY looks like. A whole lot of setup present gets tossed, along with the original chief medical officer and first officer. I just saved someone two glacially-paced hours.
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Feb 28, 2020 01:59
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It's a little weird since the pilot is canon. The psychic from the pilot even comes back. I think it's neat to see G'kar and Londo interact before the war, you even get to see G'kar be The Worst with women to really put who's the bad guy into perspective. ... 
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Feb 28, 2020 02:19
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I'd throw my vote in for watching The Gathering. Get the whole experience, there's really only one thing that stands out that I'm happy never made it into the series proper. POWER RINGS!
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Feb 28, 2020 02:28
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SlothfulCobra posted:It's a little weird since the pilot is canon. The psychic from the pilot even comes back. I'd say it's only semi-canon really. Just because soooo much gets changed or tossed in the year between The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line airing, to the point Midnight's functionally a soft retool/reboot.
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Feb 28, 2020 02:38
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Here's what you need to know; Also we learn that the Narn are the only major race with no telepaths, and that the first three Babylon stations were sabotaged during construction while Babylon 4 disappeared.
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Feb 28, 2020 02:46
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Jedit posted:Also we learn that the Narn are the only major race with no telepaths, and that the first three Babylon stations were sabotaged during construction while Babylon 4 disappeared. Those come up again in due course in season 1, I was mostly thinking of what comes directly from The Gathering itself.
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Feb 28, 2020 02:50
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Jedit posted:Also we learn that the Narn are the only major race with no telepaths, and that the first three Babylon stations were sabotaged during construction while Babylon 4 disappeared. We learn this because Lyta asks. Because it wasn’t widely known, and she hadn’t looked it up before moving there, I guess?
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Feb 28, 2020 03:07
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epenthesis posted:We learn this because Lyta asks. Because it wasn’t widely known, and she hadn’t looked it up before moving there, I guess? Because they needed exposition. It's just clumsy writing.
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Feb 28, 2020 09:15
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Decided to write afterthoughts, not putting down every thing I seem important. Kills momentum of the episode. 1x02 Soul Hunter -Interesting tidbits about alien migration to Earth, a wee bit of character development with -Why only Commander can catch the ship? Brave commander is brave -Immortal race of soul hunters. Immortal race. Huh -Neat worldbuilding about Minbari mythology -Why did the Soul Hunter chose the poor cheating dealer's soul? I dunno if he felt his departure or took his soul? The Soul Sucking Machine™ by the end of the ep. seems big and difficult to setup, so they indeed can 'steal' a soul out of thin air? Hope this gets addressed or explained further -Satai Grey Council? Delenn is some high command with hidden motives? Hmmm she seemed nice tho. -Minbari (as a race) are on decline -Brave Commander is Brave again -Flying souls in balls -'We were right about you' huh 1x03 Born to the Purple -Women, wine and music! -I laughed at that G'Kar-Londo scene -Overall feels like a contemporary 90s spy movie with some good laughs and strong romance -Centauri worldbuilding and traditions, also neat character development for Londo -Although it seems in character for Londo to not have a family, this was surprising tbh for an Ambassador to not have one -Brain scan through ear, ugh thats nasty -Brave Commander is brave again -Very sweet character development for Garibaldi and Ivanova, her father death seemed very natural (for a serial that just started) and not enforced as a filler -Brave commander is cunning now! -Overall a positive, light and nice episode I like that every episode there is worldbuilding with proper explanations that don't seem out of place, nothing is shoehorned as-is. Everything seems important and related to the story, no fillers.
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Feb 29, 2020 10:28
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I very much enjoy reading these observations from first timers. Keep it going please.
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Feb 29, 2020 15:27
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Thinking about it today, B5 is older now than Star Trek TOS was when B5 was made. I just yesterday did the "someone said something happened 20 years ago and my brain told me that was 1990" thing.
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Feb 29, 2020 15:48
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Son of Sam-I-Am posted:Thinking about it today, B5 is older now than Star Trek TOS was when B5 was made. I just yesterday did the "someone said something happened 20 years ago and my brain told me that was 1990" thing. Well thanks for making me feel old as Methuselah before I hit 40
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Feb 29, 2020 16:27
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Singing Sunflower posted:I very much enjoy reading these observations from first timers. Keep it going please. Yes, I also can predict from his takes that he's really going to enjoy this journey. For fucks sake go back and watch gathering. You're in for over a hundred hours of content, go back and catch the original 1.5 if for nothing else context.
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Feb 29, 2020 16:36
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Will watch tomorrow-monday, finishing ep5 today, I hope. Ep4 was a blast not only as some action but as some answers to the questions I had in mind after watching first 3 episodes. This is neat. ps for the first time in a long while I'm really sad Sad that I got spoilered about who Sinclair is and will be for Minbari  Also that actor died 
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Feb 29, 2020 16:46
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A lot of the actors have died. On the spoiler note, it's too bad that happened, but at the same time with this show it's a little less of a big deal in a way. Often the show will telegraph something ahead of time anyway; watching it all unfold is where its true greatness lies. I know you only get to watch it for the first time once, though.
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Feb 29, 2020 17:12
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AntherUslessPoster posted:-I laughed at that G'Kar-Londo scene This is going to be a very frequent bullet point.
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Feb 29, 2020 17:15
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AntherUslessPoster posted:Will watch tomorrow-monday, finishing ep5 today, I hope. The relevance of that to the actual main story is pretty drat minor, so don't fret too much.
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Feb 29, 2020 17:32
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Son of Sam-I-Am posted:A lot of the actors have died. I feel like I'd rather things telegraph themselves too much instead of not telegraphing themselves at all and seeming arbitrary. The trick you really want to do is put in little hints as to what will happen before it happens so the reveal brings all the disparate elements together to become a greater whole and make people engage even deeper with the story, but some authors value their twists too much and decide to change them at the last minute if people start guessing them through the foreshadowing. I'm personally of the opinion that if a work loses most of its quality without the twists, it's not actually that good in the first place, but I get that they're exciting. I also kinda think that one of the reasons to lead with the pilot is just to really reinforce who G'kar and Londo were at the beginning of the series.
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Feb 29, 2020 17:47
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Not really. G'Kar gets MASSIVELY retooled between The Gathering and the series proper, he becomes a lot less underhanded and far more affable. Instead of actually being standoffish and self-interested, he puts it up as a front in the early arc of the actual series to keep the Centauri, and Londo on their toes while being nice to his friends. Saving Catherine Sakai is an example of the mask slipping.
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Feb 29, 2020 18:01
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Not really. G'Kar gets MASSIVELY retooled between The Gathering and the series proper, he becomes a lot less underhanded and far more affable. Instead of actually being standoffish and self-interested, he puts it up as a front in the early arc of the actual series to keep the Centauri, and Londo on their toes while being nice to his friends. Saving Catherine Sakai is an example of the mask slipping. Yeah, but that moment only really works BECAUSE you've been thinking of G'kar as a villain from the beginning, and it doesn't land as hard if you don't see him BE a villain in "The Gathering". That scene is the first real indication that there's more to G'kar than just The Bad Guy, but if you want the emotion to work right, you have to see him as The Bad Guy in the first place. 
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Feb 29, 2020 18:40
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Neddy Seagoon posted:I'd say it's only semi-canon really. Just because soooo much gets changed or tossed in the year between The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line airing, to the point Midnight's functionally a soft retool/reboot. I don't think changes made between a pilot and a first episode count as any kind of a "reboot", historically the pilot was there both to make the initial sale to the network and to help identify what works and what doesn't so that things can be improved for the series proper. Sometimes pilots were close enough that they were just used as an episode in the series (and sometimes not even the FIRST aired episode!), and sometimes they were sufficiently different that they were never aired. "Pilot episode" is not synonymous with "first episode".
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Feb 29, 2020 20:42
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How does it feel to use spoiler tags in almost 30 y/o show thread? Thank you for that  1x04 Infection -Oh c'mon Garibaldi, you have a promised drink with XO! -Worldbuilding and tidbits about xenophobia on Earth, how people saw B5 at the beginning. -They should have tried to smuggle the artifacts as-is, because only specialized med equipment showed that they are organical. Or was it to set up Nelson as a killer for easier introduction as 'bad guys of the week'? I guess latter. -The concept of organical machinery was not new, but for the first time on my memory it was so gracefully explained -More introduction/development of Dr. Franklin. He is good. Explicitly good. I dunno how to word it better. He knows what is right and suspects that something is wrong. Though he is tired and he doesn't notice it. -Nelson acts accordingly to how he was introduced. -Garibaldi gets what he deserved from the nosy reporter. lmao C'mon man you can do better! -Wonky SFX don't feel 'cheap', they feel very early 90's -One-off prosthetics are very good -Ivanova is badass -The main fight. Brave commander being brave again. I expected him (and dreaded this) to finish off Ikarran with airlock but instead he talked him out of it. This moment of mercy and understanding is what I hope to see more. If it's like that, I like it! -Trying to bribe your ex-student with large sums of money, we see the struggle and we can (maybe?) relate here a bit. But Stephen already did what was right - called the guard on his ex prof. -Garibaldi doing a lecture on bravery in our Brave Commander's actions. This is another thing early shown and early addressed. In-season pacing is cool. 1x05 The Parliament of Dreams -Nice character development and worldbuilding overall in this episode -G'Kar gets to trust his new assistant -Londo being Londo (I guess that's a thing now) -Decent worldbuilding on part of traditions here -Ou la la Commander gets his romantic interest back in game! Wonder if she stays for longer? Also more background for our Commander -What struck me the most was our 'Earth' representation in the end of the episode. I'm very non-religious person but this slow camera move along endless line of Earth representatives of different religions made me feel proud. Everyone is so different yet we all are together. Man that felt good!
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Feb 29, 2020 21:06
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