- CatHorse
- Jan 5, 2008
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Most prominently in episode 17 when she resolves the tension of some warrior caste bigshot causing trouble by just dragging him into a room and using her authority to just order him to stop and apologize.
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Jan 11, 2022 19:14
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 16, 2024 23:07
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- 1000 Brown M and Ms
- Oct 22, 2008
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F:\DL>quickfli 4-clowns.fli
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s01e21 - Babylon Squared
- So B4 was in this same system. Was it also orbiting the planet with the mysterious aliens? Like, is Sector 14 just an area the planet goes through once a year as it orbits the star, and it's where it happened to be when the Time Shenanigans happened? Or was the station off in another part of the solar system?
It's deliberately left vague, as getting into those details too much is unnecessary, if not actively detrimental, for the plot. But suffice to say, B4 is obviously close to B5 since you can get there in a reasonable time without going into hyperspace, and that kind of narrows it down to the same solar system, or just outside.
I assume the 'mysterious aliens' are the ones Sakai found at Sigma 957? That's a completely different solar system.
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Jan 11, 2022 23:34
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- 1000 Brown M and Ms
- Oct 22, 2008
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F:\DL>quickfli 4-clowns.fli
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Apologies for being unclear, I meant the immensely powerful alien machines down on Epsilon 3, from A Voice in the Wilderness.
Oh right. Well, that's the planet that B5 orbits, and again, it's vague. It's never said exactly where B4 was built, so it may have been orbiting Epsilon 3 at one stage, but then again it might not have. Either way, it's not orbiting Epilson 3 when it appears in Babylon Squared.
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Jan 11, 2022 23:55
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- Chevy Slyme
- May 2, 2004
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We're Gonna Run.
We're Gonna Crawl.
Kick Down Every Wall.
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Oh right. Well, that's the planet that B5 orbits, and again, it's vague. It's never said exactly where B4 was built, so it may have been orbiting Epsilon 3 at one stage, but then again it might not have. Either way, it's not orbiting Epilson 3 when it appears in Babylon Squared.
Babylon 4 was both much larger than Babylon 5, but also notably had several other capabilities, such as an actual engine to move around within the system. A lot gets made of how Babylon 4 was the most ambitious thing Earth ever built, using all of the wreckage from the 3 sabotaged stations to build something bigger than any of them.
After it disappeared, much is made of how B5 was, essentially, done on a budget amid widespread opposition and as a result everything about it is cheaped out. Instead of having engines to cruise around within the system where it was built, it's stuck in a piddly orbit of this barren planet that happens to be near the appropriate lagrange point for the jumpgate.
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Jan 12, 2022 00:17
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s01e22 - Legacies
- Paying honors to the guy who commanded the other side of the big battle has got to sting. I doubt I could be as magnanimous as Sinclair is.
- I guess I was expecting a bigger difference from the religious caste Minbari that we've met so far, but the warriors we met in this episode mostly just seem... kind of cranky?
- Then again, maybe I was thinking of biological castes such as exist in ants: there are huge differences between workers, warriors, queens, etc. But the dead guy started as one caste and reluctantly became the other, so I guess it's more like the castes found in some human societies -- just a social construct.
- So the teenage telepath has casually scanned several minds. Granted, this is all new to her and she's having trouble controlling it, but isn't that literally a crime? Probably one more severe than the original shoplifting? Human society goes to great lengths to make sure there aren't any "wild" telepaths; it's the whole reason Psi Corps is a thing at all.
- Speaking of crimes, the Minbari guy broke into Sinclair's quarters, laid in wait for him, and attacked him. I can see why they'd be reluctant to arrest him, but there was no mention that if anyone else had done this, they'd be off to prison for years.
- I hope Alisa talked to Delenn a little more off-screen. As it was, she got like two sentences about the life of a telepath in Minbari society, which seems like insufficient information to decide on the rest of your life.
- However, despite all these nitpicks, I did actually like this episode.
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Jan 14, 2022 21:44
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s01e23 - Chrysalis
- Oh hey, the Commander's girlfriend still exists. Cool, haven't seen her in ages.
- Your space station might be a little too big if there's room for an entire drat hedge maze.
- Oh hey, it's the "what do you want" guy. About time he showed up again.
- I guess Kosh just flashed Delenn.
- It's neat to see a present-day thing like New Year's Eve show up in a sci-fi future. They never celebrated that on the Enterprise.
- *Picks up gaudy Christmas ornament* "Why, this is a 3-dimensional locator thingy, precisely pointed at a point near the third-largest moon of a planet ten light-years away. I mean, obviously that's what it is, just look at it."
- The medlab staff's surgical scrubs seem to consist of... harem-girl face veils and cardigan sweaters?
- Delenn's tower of colored acrylic triangles kind of looks like a Cones of Dunshire gameboard.
- "But his PPG is cold. If he'd fired, it'd be hot." It's nice to have Encyclopedia Brown on the security staff.
- It's always convenient to be the one in charge of investigating a crime you personally committed. It's happened occasionally in real life.
- What with the season ending with one main character in surgery clinging to life, another one off to who-knows-where, another discovering he's indirectly responsible for ten thousand murders, and another in a cocoon, my girlfriend ventured a guess that there'd be at least one main cast departure before the start of the next season. I told her she was correct, but didn't elaborate. I'm evil.
Here at the end of the first season seems a good time to quote one of my own posts from a Star Trek thread, the story of the time I met a truly awesome guy: Michael O'Hare.
It was soon afterward, 1995ish. I was a college student and a member of a Star Trek fan club that met in the back room of a local book/game shop. For some reason we decided to punch WAY above our weight and organize a sci-fi convention. Somehow I found myself as the most junior member of the organizing committee. (Though not by very much; I don't think there was anyone on the committee over 30.) It was summer, and we got a venue in the gym and auditorium of the local high school. We were originally hoping to get Majel Barrett as the guest of honor, but that fell through, and so instead we (somehow) booked Michael O'Hare of B5 instead.
The club president's mom was a limo driver, and she arranged to use the company's car to ferry around the guest of honor. The night before the con opened, Mr. O'Hare had dinner with all of us on the organizing committee. There were perhaps eight or ten of us there, dining at the restaurant at the hotel where we were putting him up. As I was a hardcore Trekkie who had never actually watched B5, I felt more than a little unqualified to speak up, and mostly tried to stay quiet. But he wouldn't let me do that. He made absolutely sure that everyone got to tell their story of what had brought them to this table, and that all of us felt like a full part of the conversation. Even when I confessed that I hadn't really watched the show, he made me feel that that didn't matter and that I was completely worthy of being there.
The next day, when the convention itself happened... it flopped. It flopped HARD, mostly because none of us on the committee knew what the gently caress we were doing when it came to publicizing an event. Maybe thirty people showed up, total. But when it came time for O'Hare's keynote speech, he rolled with it like a master. He invited everyone in that tiny crowd to come down to the first few rows of that school auditorium, sat on the edge of the stage, and turned his speech into a much more intimate back-and-forth chat.
Absolutely everyone who had anything to ask got to ask it. It felt more like a conversation than a speech. And in addition to his usual anecdotes, O'Hare got to give all sorts of enigmatic hints about what might be coming up in the show -- he'd left the cast but still clearly had insider info. Basically, everyone who was there felt like they'd met a celebrity, and he was awesome -- exactly the same impression I'd gotten at dinner the night before.
The convention was a disaster in most respects. We all lost money on it. But I'll always remember our guest of honor as being one of the nicest people I've ever met.
I'm glad I'm finally getting around to checking out his show.
Next up: Season Two!
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Jan 17, 2022 07:19
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- Winifred Madgers
- Feb 12, 2002
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I'm not sure how it is on the streaming services, someone else will have to assist, but due to laziness or ignorance on the part of the people encoding the DVDs, there is a moderate spoiler in the opening credits for the first episode or two of season 2. If I were you, I would wait to get confirmation on whatever service you're using before plowing ahead.
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Jan 17, 2022 08:58
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e01 - Points of Departure
- Shiny new opening credits sequence!
 I see they dropped the "third age of mankind", whatever that was about... oh wait, no they just moved it to the end of the narration. And I guess there's a big war coming (although there's been no shortage of hints that things are moving in that direction). And the transitions between the cast photos, with the wipes from the center out, remind me (not unpleasantly) of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
- Ivanova's improvised "honor guard" (one random bystander) for Sheridan's arrival was a well-executed little joke.
- I kind of hope the Starkiller nickname doesn't stick around, since every time they say it, for an instant my brain thinks they're talking about the Kilrathi ace of the same name, from Wing Commander.
- So, random humans at least know what the Gray Council is (though not its membership). I had been under the impression it was more of a deep-secret Minbari thing, what with the invisible forehead triangles and stuff.
- Starkiller, Blackstar... these aren't very alien sounding names. Perhaps those are just the English translations, although there are other military things that were left in the original: the Tragati, for one (though that does sound more Italian than alien), and of course the Shai Alyt wasn't called the Head Honcho.
- Remember that huge mystery they built up over the course of an entire season about Sinclair's missing day at the Battle of the Line and the inexplicable Minbari surrender? Yeah, let's just have Bill Mumy sit down with some main characters, explain the whole thing, and move on. Kind of a let-down, though I suppose with Sinclair's departure, the writers were a bit limited in how to handle it.
- I liked the almost-a-battle scene, and Sheridan figuring out that the only winning move is not to play.
- Sheridan giving his speech to nobody is cute, but... come on, is C&C really not staffed 24/7? I hope no hostile aliens learn about this and plan their attack for 3am when no one's minding the store.
- Overall, a strong start to the season. I'm looking forward to seeing where this is going.
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Jan 18, 2022 03:58
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e02 - Revelations
- Awesome, they actually remembered the existence of an alien macguffin (the life-force transfer device) from a one-off episode last season. It wasn't the greatest plot device, but it's just the sort of thing that Franklin would have been tinkering and experimenting with.
- "What's up, Doc?" from the fan of ancient Warner Brothers cartoons. I love it.
- Londo, Londo, you don't jokingly suggest the murder of billions when you're talking with someone who's acting just like Satan buying your soul.
- Is it just me, or does Sheridan's sister bear a resemblance to Major Kira? If you told me the actress was Nana Visitor's sister I'd believe you.
- Wait a minute, Delenn's cocoon was cracking open at the end of last episode and now it's whole again. Is she doing a Senor Wences "s'alright, close the box" routine?
- That was certainly a conveniently-placed rear view mirror in Garibaldi's memory.
- And the psychic stuff isn't admissible as evidence, but they immediately go arrest the guy based on it. Huh?
- They're setting up so much suspicious stuff about the new President (the former VP) that I've come all the way around to thinking it's too obvious, there's got to be a twist coming.
s02e03 - The Geometry of Shadows
I didn't have a chance to jot down my immediate reactions yesterday, so this review will be a little sparse:
- I loved loved loved the plot with the green and purple Drazi. It's genuinely funny, it hits exactly the right balance of just-ridiculous-enough-to-be-plausible, and the resolution was genuinely creative.
- The plot with the techno-mages... yeah, I didn't love that one so much. The techno-mages, for me, strike just the wrong balance of not-really-plausible-in-universe. It's common knowledge that they're just doing technical illusions and larping as wizards, so why does everyone take them so seriously?
- I'm a little surprised to realize how much I've come to like these characters, Ivanova and Garibaldi particularly.
s02e04 - A Distant Star
- That's a big ship.
- I like Sheridan so far, but it's an interesting choice to have him spend two of his first four episodes griping and complaining and wondering if he even wants to be there.
- The everyone-goes-on-a-diet B plot is... well, it's okay, though it's extremely sitcom-ish.
- The hyperspace rescue is leaving me with way more questions than answers. How exactly does physical distance work in there? Is it, like, to get from Earth to Omicron Persei you go sixteen miles exactly thataway? Do ships that are going to and from different places run across each other? Why does a single brief power failure mean they can never reorient themselves? How did they know what direction to extend the chain-of-fighters? Presumably the Cortez is big enough to carry its own jump-point-thing (I forget what it's called), what would happen if they just used it to drop into realspace from wherever they happen to be? Would it be possible for the government (or someone) to scatter automated beacons across hyperspace to make a sort of GPS (or HPS, I suppose), for just this kind of situation? Once the Cortez got the message about what direction to go, why would they get lost again if they took a minute to pick up the fighter? And once it was out, why didn't they send another chain of fighters in to try to save the one who got lost? Yes, I know, this is all grognard turbonerd poo poo, but this plot hinged completely on the details of hyperspace, and it wasn't really adequately explained.
- Delenn is full of fortune-cookie wisdom today (and a couple of phrases she stole from Carl Sagan), but I guess that was enough cheer Sheridan back up. For some reason.
- ...Yeah, this was not my favorite episode.
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Jan 20, 2022 04:35
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- Super Deuce
- May 25, 2006
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TOILETS
Oh, I like the smell of my own dumps.
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s02e04 - A Distant Star
- The hyperspace rescue is leaving me with way more questions than answers. How exactly does physical distance work in there? Is it, like, to get from Earth to Omicron Persei you go sixteen miles exactly thataway? Do ships that are going to and from different places run across each other? Why does a single brief power failure mean they can never reorient themselves? How did they know what direction to extend the chain-of-fighters? Presumably the Cortez is big enough to carry its own jump-point-thing (I forget what it's called), what would happen if they just used it to drop into realspace from wherever they happen to be? Would it be possible for the government (or someone) to scatter automated beacons across hyperspace to make a sort of GPS (or HPS, I suppose), for just this kind of situation? Once the Cortez got the message about what direction to go, why would they get lost again if they took a minute to pick up the fighter? And once it was out, why didn't they send another chain of fighters in to try to save the one who got lost? Yes, I know, this is all grognard turbonerd poo poo, but this plot hinged completely on the details of hyperspace, and it wasn't really adequately explained.
I recently brought up that episode to ask about this topic in the not blind thread on page 223 for when you're done with the show. It helped to make sense of it some.
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Jan 20, 2022 05:27
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- SlothfulCobra
- Mar 27, 2011
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I think Babylon 5 does earnestly try to examine mysticism in a way that a lot of sci-fi refuses to, and sometimes it's really neat, and sometimes it's really dumb.
I can imagine Delenn getting taken in by some ridiculous human scams.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:51
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e05 - The Long Dark
This one's going to be heavy on the Star Trek comparisons. My apologies.
- Why do I think all the guest stars lately look like Trek actors? Like Sheridan's sister a couple episodes ago resembled Kira, and now this raving nutball character reminds me of Barclay. **Guest starring: Dwight Schultz** Welp, that explains that. Hooray, I'm not completely crazy!
- And the scene where they go on the sleeper ship is exactly like the scene from that TNG episode, right down to rubbing the ice off the cryopod windows and finding some alive and some dead and decayed.
- Garibaldi's being super compassionate to the crazy guy. Good on him.
- The part about not being exactly sure how long they'd been asleep seems easy enough to pin down: "What year did you go into cryosleep?"
- Holy poo poo, Dr. Franklin, what the hell is wrong with you! First, you're her goddamn doctor, it is way unethical for you to be even flirting with her, let alone bringing her to your quarters (!!!) when she's passed out! Never mind that she just found out her husband was dead a couple of hours ago. (Hell, you're the one who loving told her!) She's physically traumatized, mentally traumatized, just woke up screaming from a nightmare, culture-shocked, grieving her husband (and everyone else she ever knew, come to think of it), and you decide this is a great time to forget that she's your goddamn patient and make a move on her? What the Christ, doc?
- Anyway, back to the Copernicus. Its flight history is given only in bits and pieces over the course of the episode, so I'm going to write the whole thing out just to get it clear in my own head. The ship leaves Earth at sublight speed, with the crew expecting to find an alien ship within a few years, or at most a few decades. It must be going at least 10% of the speed of light, since it made it the ten light-years to B5 in a hundred-ish years. Anyway, 90+ years into its flight, the computer hears signals from the moon where the Minbari were set up, so it homes in and slows down. For some reason the Minbari don't react to a human ship arriving in the system and broadcasting in English, but
Barclay Amis sees the ship at some point, since he'll recognize it a decade later. The monster, which is also on that moon and has just eaten some of the humans at the listening post, makes its way (somehow) up to the Copernicus and sets it to fly to that system on the rim that G'Kar has been fretting about. Presumably the ship has plenty of fuel for all of this starting and stopping and course changing. Sometime in the next ten years it eats Mariah's husband as an in-flight snack. The ship's computer then happens to hear transmissions from B5 and so changes course to home in on it. The monster, though able to navigate the ship, doesn't notice this -- perhaps it's in a hibernation state of its own for the long trip. The ship then slows down one last time as it approaches B5, since it sure wasn't going at any 18 thousand miles a second when it arrived. The episode never spells the whole thing out like this, but the sequence of events does make sense.
- Since the monster was clearly intelligent (it figured out how to navigate an unfamiliar spacecraft across interstellar distances), I can't help but wonder if they should have made an attempt to communicate with it instead of just killing it. Picard totally would have at least tried.
- So Mariah's going to go back to Earth. Great! But... who's paying for her ticket? Aren't they really expensive? There's this whole big thing about people who can't afford to leave the station, so they're stuck there wearing Dickensian rags and sitting on dimly-lit crates.
- When she gets to Earth, perhaps she can attend a support meeting for People Who Jumped To The Future At Babylon 5 with all of those B4 people who came from four years previous.
- Trekkies love to call out Dr. Bashir for that time he fell for one of his patients, but at least he had the self-awareness to recuse himself and hand off her case to another doctor when he realized what was happening. (And she certainly hadn't just found out she was a widow, literally earlier that day.)
- I just cannot get over what a creepy, creepy rear end in a top hat Dr. Franklin was in this episode.
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Jan 22, 2022 19:44
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- SlothfulCobra
- Mar 27, 2011
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s02e05 - The Long Dark
This one's going to be heavy on the Star Trek comparisons. My apologies.
I agree that it's super gross for Franklin to try to get in a relationship with his recently widowed patient. I guess the only way I'd excuse it is that it's a very soap opera kind of take on Doctor/Patient relationships, and actually Franklin's actor, Richard Biggs, did play a soap opera doctor on Days of Our Lives.
I guess I didn't think about how she's affording to leave, but I assume either she has some kind of assets somewhere that probably accrued interest, or Earthgov still owes her for the colonist job. Maybe they get paid in government bonds.
I didn't actually pay enough attention to the logistics to the episode to work out the logistics of the thing, but it sure is one heck of an episode. Franklin's side of the plot is super creepy, but Amos gives one hell of a performance that I loved, and you even get a rare moment of sympathy and humanity from Garibaldi, where he really cares about one of the lurkers.
I do feel like I remember Bashir being way hornier than Franklin gets, across multiple episodes trying to gently caress people (and constantly coming onto Jadzia, another main cast member). Franklin I think I remember going on a date with that daughter of the lady with the alien device.
I guess it's kind of a weird episode because it's really just about the one thing without separate b or c plots like the show normally does.
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Jan 22, 2022 21:02
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- Narsham
- Jun 5, 2008
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s02e05 - The Long Dark
- Holy poo poo, Dr. Franklin, what the hell is wrong with you! First, you're her goddamn doctor, it is way unethical for you to be even flirting with her, let alone bringing her to your quarters (!!!) when she's passed out! Never mind that she just found out her husband was dead a couple of hours ago. (Hell, you're the one who loving told her!) She's physically traumatized, mentally traumatized, just woke up screaming from a nightmare, culture-shocked, grieving her husband (and everyone else she ever knew, come to think of it), and you decide this is a great time to forget that she's your goddamn patient and make a move on her? What the Christ, doc?
- I just cannot get over what a creepy, creepy rear end in a top hat Dr. Franklin was in this episode.
Episode spoilers only: Writer Scott Frost (who I see has a pretty short IMDB page) did not write for the series again. In his preface to this script in the B5 Other Voices Script Book, looking back from 2008, he has this to say: "I don't think Cirrus's character was fully explored. Her pain seems to only touch the surface and her relationship with Dr. Franklin could have been more complicated considering the grief she is suffering." He still doesn't seem to find the relationship problematic. Yeeeck.
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Jan 22, 2022 21:10
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e06 - A Spider in the Web
- I wonder why Mars and an Earth-based company came all the way to B5 to have this chat. It's like if a town in Michigan was thinking of buying snowplows from a company in the next county, so they decided to talk it over in Istanbul.
- Okay, so I guess various aliens will be brought into the agreement at some point. Still seems a little premature to have the initial "are we even going to do this" conversation so many light-years away, though. (But hey, I appreciate that the writers have to get the action to B5 somehow, even if it's occasionally a stretch.)
- I know it's just so the audience knows the
robot cyborg guy is talking to the same evil computer from the beginning, but the bad guys might want to consider using a less eye-catching screensaver when they're doing covert communications at a public terminal.
- They overdid it just a bit with the biblical allusions: the guy whose whole thing is "being killed" is named Abel, and the project that brings the dead (well, mostly-dead) to life is called Lazarus.
- It's a pity that when Garibaldi's father was teaching him everything he knew about security, he neglected to mention that you might want to glance inside the room that the one you're protecting is about to disappear into.
- Oof, feeling Talia's divided loyalty here.
- So the evil Psi Corps woman who was at the surgery and in the dramatic reveal at the end is totally going to be Talia's old mentor Abby, right?
- Bureau 13? Everyone imagine I made a "we have Section 31 at home" meme.
 (Yes, I'm aware that B5's actually came first, by several years. The similarity of names is still funny.)
s02e07 - A Race Through Dark Places
- Bester's back!
- I'm appreciative of the little flashback to the Jason Ironheart story; I'd forgotten most of the details.
- All of them reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as they prepare weapons was pretty cool and more than a little creepy.
- It's been pretty obvious that Franklin was the one helping the Railroad ever since he popped up in the middle of the story to casually relay a message from them, but it's still a nice scene where he reveals that to the Captain. And once again, a nice callback to a one-off from an old episode: his free medical clinic in downbelow had another purpose.
- Okay, the big fake-out worked extremely well. I completely believed, at least at first, that Talia had done a complete heel turn and helped Bester.
- Of course, this does open the can of worms that just a few telepaths, working together like this, could basically take over the world by making anyone see exactly what they want them to see. (Is Psi Corps already doing that? Do they trick people into doing their bidding by giving them completely-convincing false experiences?)
- The B plot of Sheridan and Ivanova getting evicted is good fun, and a nice way to lighten the otherwise heavy mood of this episode.
- Good episode, and easily the best Winters episode so far.
s02e08 - Soul Mates
- For some reason, this episode on HBO Max had serious audio sync issues -- the sound was several seconds behind the video -- which we couldn't get to go away. I don't think it was on our end; are any of you HBO subscribers also seeing the problem? (Fortunately, a copy of the episode obtained upon the high seas had no such issue.)
- This makes three episodes in a row that feature Talia. Perhaps they're making it up to her for all those episodes where she didn't appear at all.
- Not really a whole lot to say about this one. The A plot (Londo's wives) managed to stay lighthearted despite the assassination attempt. Talia's B plot was serviceable and kept up the "Psi Corps = sinister" theme. The C plot with Ivanova helping Delenn with human stuff was amusing, although my girlfriend was a bit put off by the joke they chose to end the episode with.
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Jan 23, 2022 18:55
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- Chevy Slyme
- May 2, 2004
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We're Gonna Run.
We're Gonna Crawl.
Kick Down Every Wall.
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quote: I wonder why Mars and an Earth-based company came all the way to B5 to have this chat. It's like if a town in Michigan was thinking of buying snowplows from a company in the next county, so they decided to talk it over in Istanbul.
A better analogy to think of is Israel and Palestine needing to hold negotiations in the US.
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Jan 23, 2022 19:13
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e09 - The Coming of Shadows
- Holy poo poo this was a good episode. They've spent almost a season and a half slowly educating us about the galactic political situation, and they just threw a match into it.
- Big galactic events, big character events, big drama, all of which we feel because everything has been set up so well. (Some very pretty effects work, too. Those big spidery ships of the species I'm assuming to be named the Shadows are really impressive.)
- Really, I just love everything about this one. Londo sinking further into what he's becoming. G'Kar ready and willing to murder for vengeance. The tragic figure of the dying Emperor. A cryptic, foreboding comment from Kosh. A cameo by Sinclair. What's not to love?
- Seriously, best episode yet. I'm really seeing why people love this show so much.
s02e10 - Gropos
- Cool, it's Captain Terrell from Wrath of Khan! This show just loves to poach Trek veterans.
- The sudden arrival of all these new people with army ranks in green uniforms is reminding me that I've never figured out the rank insignia on Earthforce uniforms.
- Dr. Franklin arrives while they're planning the attack. Before they let him in, shouldn't they, you know, put away the top-secret highly-classified map?
- I've just realized how often Sheridan does the pep-talk-with-a-big-smile thing. I mean, he does it well, but he does it a lot.
- Oh yeah, great idea, Garibaldi. This is the perfect time to start talking about your ex.
- Ah, and we cap off the episode with a nice light low-stakes happy ending.
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Jan 23, 2022 22:37
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- Powered Descent
- Jul 13, 2008
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We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.
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s02e11 - Sheridan Gets an Anal Probe All Alone in the Night
- Lennier is a commendable service-oriented submissive.
- Radiation at 35% over the safe level for, like, a minute is already irreversibly lethal? Who the hell decided on that "safe limit"?
- So the aliens put Futurama brain slugs on their captives, have them fight, and then bet quatloos among themselves on the outcome. Cool.
- Silly Narn, bringing a knife to a pipe fight.
- So the dream was actually Kosh, sort of? Spooky.
- The bit at the end, where our four EA-uniformed main characters form a patriotic conspiracy to save Earth from its government, hits a little differently now, after the whole January 6 thing last year. I'm sure the maga chuds conspiring to storm the capitol thought they were being all patriotic and saving America from itself too, and had conversations exactly like this. I suppose any conspiracy of this type that believes it's on the side of right is going to sound exactly like this, but recent history has me skittish of it even though we're clearly meant to be on their side.
s02e12 - Acts of Sacrifice
- Londo has replaced his festive purple jacket with a somber black one of the same design. Appropriate.
- Whoops, killed the Narn. I guess they still haven't invented a stun setting (or cops still just default to deadly force anyway, even centuries in the future).
- Man, Londo's about to lose it.
- Man, G'Kar's about to lose it.
- Ivanova doing sex "the human way" to the alien is a reasonably clever way to resolve that plot, but I still found it more cringeworthy than funny.
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Jan 24, 2022 19:18
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- Polaron
- Oct 13, 2010
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The Oncoming Storm
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s02e12 - Acts of Sacrifice
- Whoops, killed the Narn. I guess they still haven't invented a stun setting (or cops still just default to deadly force anyway, even centuries in the future).
PPGs fire balls of superhot plasma. Not really something you can add a stun setting to.
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Jan 24, 2022 19:22
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 16, 2024 23:07
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- Torrannor
- Apr 27, 2013
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---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
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[b]s02e11 - [s][*] The bit at the end, where our four EA-uniformed main characters form a patriotic conspiracy to save Earth from its government, hits a little differently now, after the whole January 6 thing last year. I'm sure the maga chuds conspiring to storm the capitol thought they were being all patriotic and saving America from itself too, and had conversations exactly like this. I suppose any conspiracy of this type that believes it's on the side of right is going to sound exactly like this, but recent history has me skittish of it even though we're clearly meant to be on their side.
[/list]
Lots of B5 episodes can be seen in a new light, and it's striking that the twin whammies of COVID and January 6th are arguably as much of a watershed as 9/11 and the fall of the Soviet Union were.
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Jan 24, 2022 22:32
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Jan 11, 2022 19:14
