eye_of_a_cat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2013-02-20 01:38 pm
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2013-02-20 01:38 pm
Entry tags:
Rewatching Babylon 5
It's been a while.
Season 1, some scattered thoughts:
- I like Sinclair better than I remembered liking Sinclair. Which isn't to say that I hated him or anything, but I think I appreciate him more as a character this time round, and would've really liked to see the show as JMS originally envisioned it, with him sticking around.
- also, it strikes me that while Sinclair could have had some (although obviously not all) of Sheridan's storylines in the following seasons, Sheridan couldn't really have had Sinclair's storyline in S1 - Sinclair's reaction to his returning memories about being aboard the Grey Council ship, about finding out what 'Satai' meant, etc. etc., is a very Sinclair-ish quiet reflection while he works it out, whereas I really don't see Sheridan going along with that. "And now, Episode 6, in which Sheridan steals an EarthForce cruiser and heads to Minbar to confront everybody personally!" No.
- Vir, I love you. And even if you're not a hero in the big epic sense at this point, it is also an act of heroism to be so consistently good in the face of a corrupt system, an immediate history of genocide, intermittent ongoing warfare, and a boss who is S1 Londo.
- I still love Legacies (not least because of my own personal fanon Minbari worldbuilding and Delenn-Neroon-Branmer backstory). But... seriously, Delenn, what was your actual plan here? How was passing off Branmer's disappearance as a miracle going to work, exactly? It's obviously not a big enough Thing to Minbari that it even occurred to Neroon, it doesn't even get mentioned until Sinclair finds out what's really happened towards the end of the episode, Neroon's reaction is totally predictable, how was this ever going to work out differently? It seems less of a plan and more of an afterthought, honestly, but it's unlike everything else we see of Delenn to have her act without any sort of plan at all. So I suppose it's a combination of Minbari canonically all going a little insane with grief (as Neroon also does in this episode - dude, you cannot start a war by yourself here), the knowledge that she can make Neroon back down before anything bad happens and it doesn't have to involve any kind of agreement or negotiation, and whatever existing dynamic is in place between Neroon and Delenn, because presumably there's some kind of history there.
- Eyes - It is sort of surprising that nobody's guessed Ivanova is a latent telepath, no? Her mother was a telepath, and she's so adamant about being scanned that she's prepared to hand in her resignation over it despite how much her career clearly means to her, and Sinclair (and later Sheridan) doesn't for a second suspect it? Not that she's not totally justified in her given reasons for refusing a scan anyway, of course, but, well. Either the Psi Corps screening is so good that it's almost inconceivable anyone would slip through the net, or Sinclair does wonder but is prepared to not look too closely - which, given we know that low-level telepaths without training can't really scan people, and given that it's established how horrific the non-Psi-Corps options for telepaths are, is a possibility.
- oh, Londo. I do remember how tragic it was to watch this knowing that he must suspect Morden is bad news, but what really struck me rewatching it now is just how much Londo does realise. There's a scene in Chrysalis (I think?) when he makes the decision to take Morden's offer, and he's contacting Centauri Prime he'll take care of the Narn outpost, and you can see it in his face: he knows exactly who he's making a deal with. Not in terms of the Shadows specifically, but certainly in terms of the magnitude of what he's doing and what kind of deal he's making. Just for that moment, he's not fooled or in denial at all; he knows. And he does it anyway. Oh, Londo.
- The first time I saw season 1 I'd already seen later episodes, so the President's assassination wasn't a surprise. But still, the way it's set up is pretty effective, especially genre-wise: the main characters discover a plot to assassinate the President, and they do so just in time to stop it, and they fail. Garibaldi confronts the bad guys and gets shot; he manages to literally drag himself to get the message to the others just before lapsing into unconsciousness, but he doesn't do it fast enough. Combined with Londo's decision, it's a really brutally effective way to end the season.
Season 1, some scattered thoughts:
- I like Sinclair better than I remembered liking Sinclair. Which isn't to say that I hated him or anything, but I think I appreciate him more as a character this time round, and would've really liked to see the show as JMS originally envisioned it, with him sticking around.
- also, it strikes me that while Sinclair could have had some (although obviously not all) of Sheridan's storylines in the following seasons, Sheridan couldn't really have had Sinclair's storyline in S1 - Sinclair's reaction to his returning memories about being aboard the Grey Council ship, about finding out what 'Satai' meant, etc. etc., is a very Sinclair-ish quiet reflection while he works it out, whereas I really don't see Sheridan going along with that. "And now, Episode 6, in which Sheridan steals an EarthForce cruiser and heads to Minbar to confront everybody personally!" No.
- Vir, I love you. And even if you're not a hero in the big epic sense at this point, it is also an act of heroism to be so consistently good in the face of a corrupt system, an immediate history of genocide, intermittent ongoing warfare, and a boss who is S1 Londo.
- I still love Legacies (not least because of my own personal fanon Minbari worldbuilding and Delenn-Neroon-Branmer backstory). But... seriously, Delenn, what was your actual plan here? How was passing off Branmer's disappearance as a miracle going to work, exactly? It's obviously not a big enough Thing to Minbari that it even occurred to Neroon, it doesn't even get mentioned until Sinclair finds out what's really happened towards the end of the episode, Neroon's reaction is totally predictable, how was this ever going to work out differently? It seems less of a plan and more of an afterthought, honestly, but it's unlike everything else we see of Delenn to have her act without any sort of plan at all. So I suppose it's a combination of Minbari canonically all going a little insane with grief (as Neroon also does in this episode - dude, you cannot start a war by yourself here), the knowledge that she can make Neroon back down before anything bad happens and it doesn't have to involve any kind of agreement or negotiation, and whatever existing dynamic is in place between Neroon and Delenn, because presumably there's some kind of history there.
- Eyes - It is sort of surprising that nobody's guessed Ivanova is a latent telepath, no? Her mother was a telepath, and she's so adamant about being scanned that she's prepared to hand in her resignation over it despite how much her career clearly means to her, and Sinclair (and later Sheridan) doesn't for a second suspect it? Not that she's not totally justified in her given reasons for refusing a scan anyway, of course, but, well. Either the Psi Corps screening is so good that it's almost inconceivable anyone would slip through the net, or Sinclair does wonder but is prepared to not look too closely - which, given we know that low-level telepaths without training can't really scan people, and given that it's established how horrific the non-Psi-Corps options for telepaths are, is a possibility.
- oh, Londo. I do remember how tragic it was to watch this knowing that he must suspect Morden is bad news, but what really struck me rewatching it now is just how much Londo does realise. There's a scene in Chrysalis (I think?) when he makes the decision to take Morden's offer, and he's contacting Centauri Prime he'll take care of the Narn outpost, and you can see it in his face: he knows exactly who he's making a deal with. Not in terms of the Shadows specifically, but certainly in terms of the magnitude of what he's doing and what kind of deal he's making. Just for that moment, he's not fooled or in denial at all; he knows. And he does it anyway. Oh, Londo.
- The first time I saw season 1 I'd already seen later episodes, so the President's assassination wasn't a surprise. But still, the way it's set up is pretty effective, especially genre-wise: the main characters discover a plot to assassinate the President, and they do so just in time to stop it, and they fail. Garibaldi confronts the bad guys and gets shot; he manages to literally drag himself to get the message to the others just before lapsing into unconsciousness, but he doesn't do it fast enough. Combined with Londo's decision, it's a really brutally effective way to end the season.
no subject
I agree that Legacies seems less a coherent story than a bunch of inconsistent actions that we are challenged to make up a story about. Which is I doubt what JMS intended, but is actually my favourite way of watching TV, hence that being one of the episodes I've watched most often. And yes, Minbari going insane with grief seems part of it. And Delenn in particular, never quite as Lawful Good as she presents as being.
I need to go back and re-watch that scene with Londo - what you're saying makes total sense and yes it hurts. Oh, Londo indeed.
no subject
LOL XD I've been rewatching B5 for the first time in years / watching it for the first time with my kids, and we recently wrapped up season 1, so your thoughts on it were very interesting and timely!
I find that the rewatch hasn't made me like Sinclair any more than I originally did (which is not a whole lot), but I definitely agree that having him be in charge during season 1 makes a lot of sense for the story.
I have been noticing how much more I like Vir this time around (I've always liked him, but now he's definitely one of my favorites), and also how much earlier I'm impressed by G'Kar -- on my first watch, I think I didn't pay him particularly much attention until s3.
no subject
Yes, this is exactly how Sheridan would have reacted. Awwww. He's so... uncomplicated. ♥
So I suppose it's a combination of Minbari canonically all going a little insane with grief (as Neroon also does in this episode - dude, you cannot start a war by yourself here), the knowledge that she can make Neroon back down before anything bad happens and it doesn't have to involve any kind of agreement or negotiation, and whatever existing dynamic is in place between Neroon and Delenn, because presumably there's some kind of history there.
Yup! It's pretty clear in the episode that she's having a bit of an epic pissing match with Neroon over which of them has the greater claim to grief and fury over Branmer's death, and if I were to assume she actually had a plan the whole time and wasn't just reacting in irrational grief as we know Minbari do, I would say her plan might have been exactly to poke Neroon where it hurt, and keep doing it until he snapped (not very much poking required, there...) so that she would have a legitimate opportunity to take him down several very painful pegs. The fact that she got to do what she wanted with Branmer's body could almost be read as a bonus, in that interpretation - the real agenda was showing Neroon who was boss. ...Of course, I have my own agenda behind that interpretation, due to decisions about that wonderful, wonderful implied history that you remarked on. XD
Her mother was a telepath, and she's so adamant about being scanned that she's prepared to hand in her resignation over it despite how much her career clearly means to her, and Sinclair (and later Sheridan) doesn't for a second suspect it?
I think we're meant to infer that it would just be too shocking for her to have escaped notice by this point, but... yeah. It's a bit of a huge gaping plothole, I agree.
Just for that moment, he's not fooled or in denial at all; he knows. And he does it anyway. Oh, Londo.
That's kind of Londo in a nutshell, though, isn't it? He always knows. On some level it seems like he's always aware exactly what stupid, horrible things he's doing, but for whatever reason he just cannot bring himself to not do the thing. It makes his decisions all the sadder, because at least if he didn't know we could all say "Oh, poor, stupid Londo, walking innocently into that trap!" Whereas as it is... we're just kind of stuck knowing that he knows and did it anyway.
(Holy crap, I have so much missed having these conversations. You should start re-watching B5 every day!)