This is a two parter because the studio asked for a two parter to sell to certain markets as a movie. Not uncommon in the 60's-90's.
It does lead to odd pacing issues - especially as, at that point, JMS had mostly done half-hour and hour shows, except the B5 pilot, which was a full two-hour movie. Designing a two-parter is a different game.
So, a few things drag out a bit, while the cliffhanger basically comes out of nowhere and stops abruptly in a frustrating manner. I think we'd have had a stronger cliffhanger with Sinclair and Ivanova returning to base. Just a pan of the shuttle and Starfuries with B5 in the BG. We've just picked up the mysterious alien pulled from the mysterious machine, and that's enough hook to hold us for a week. "Something coming through the jumpgate - something big..." "What the hell?" That's just dropping in something else confusing at the last second. End on the shuttle returning to base and have the jumpgate open 15 seconds into the next teaser, having that interrupt Sinclair reporting to C&C.
It's what it is because of the "repackage as movie" pacing. As a film the reveal of what is coming through would immediately follow without interruption.
So... Other glitches... Garibaldi being creepy and stalking Talia doesn't play well with Garibaldi turning and stressing over Lise, does it?
Why does the alien appear to Londo of all people?
Yet Londo gets all the best bits of the episode, with the story of one of his wives to Garibaldi (while scamming a free drink), and being frustrated by the Holey-Pokey...
The head of the survey team doesn't quite hit his lines. His comments about cards and "It scares the hell out of me, but what better death....?" hint at a charming man with a good sense of humor, but he's a bit flat.
There is some EXCELLENT VFX work in this episode. There's a new Starfury launch where Delta six drops from the Cobra bays and immediately his RCS thrusters to "tight turn" we've not seen before, some amazing design on Epsilon 3 (the Forbidden Planet homage isn't intended, but, there it is), and... A good chunk of the shuttle is virtual set. Certainly the nose of the shuttle in the over-shoulder shots, but also some of the side of the cabin, with only a little fringe on Sinclair's hair in one shot giving the composite away. Still, the CG set extensions really match the practical set. Oh, the Psi Corp lady Talia talks to has some green fringe which the "low fi transmission" effects don't quite cover.
So... I have a friend who worked for EFX, the audio house for B5. He was the maintenence engineer who kept the gear running. One day, he gave me a building tour and I met the audio editors for B5. I asked them why they started using the sound effect of an alien from the 1978 video game "Space Invaders" for Starfury weapons (very notable in this episode). The editors shared a look and didn't answer the question.
But, in season 2 the sound FX for Starfury weapons gets remixed and the Space Invaders element gets tweaked.
And that's MY contribution to the evolution of Babylon 5.
Spoiler Stuff...
We'll come back to that next newsletter and do the entire story.
Non-spoiler Stuff...
This is a two parter because the studio asked for a two parter to sell to certain markets as a movie. Not uncommon in the 60's-90's.
It does lead to odd pacing issues - especially as, at that point, JMS had mostly done half-hour and hour shows, except the B5 pilot, which was a full two-hour movie. Designing a two-parter is a different game.
So, a few things drag out a bit, while the cliffhanger basically comes out of nowhere and stops abruptly in a frustrating manner. I think we'd have had a stronger cliffhanger with Sinclair and Ivanova returning to base. Just a pan of the shuttle and Starfuries with B5 in the BG. We've just picked up the mysterious alien pulled from the mysterious machine, and that's enough hook to hold us for a week. "Something coming through the jumpgate - something big..." "What the hell?" That's just dropping in something else confusing at the last second. End on the shuttle returning to base and have the jumpgate open 15 seconds into the next teaser, having that interrupt Sinclair reporting to C&C.
It's what it is because of the "repackage as movie" pacing. As a film the reveal of what is coming through would immediately follow without interruption.
So... Other glitches... Garibaldi being creepy and stalking Talia doesn't play well with Garibaldi turning and stressing over Lise, does it?
Why does the alien appear to Londo of all people?
Yet Londo gets all the best bits of the episode, with the story of one of his wives to Garibaldi (while scamming a free drink), and being frustrated by the Holey-Pokey...
The head of the survey team doesn't quite hit his lines. His comments about cards and "It scares the hell out of me, but what better death....?" hint at a charming man with a good sense of humor, but he's a bit flat.
There is some EXCELLENT VFX work in this episode. There's a new Starfury launch where Delta six drops from the Cobra bays and immediately his RCS thrusters to "tight turn" we've not seen before, some amazing design on Epsilon 3 (the Forbidden Planet homage isn't intended, but, there it is), and... A good chunk of the shuttle is virtual set. Certainly the nose of the shuttle in the over-shoulder shots, but also some of the side of the cabin, with only a little fringe on Sinclair's hair in one shot giving the composite away. Still, the CG set extensions really match the practical set. Oh, the Psi Corp lady Talia talks to has some green fringe which the "low fi transmission" effects don't quite cover.
So... I have a friend who worked for EFX, the audio house for B5. He was the maintenence engineer who kept the gear running. One day, he gave me a building tour and I met the audio editors for B5. I asked them why they started using the sound effect of an alien from the 1978 video game "Space Invaders" for Starfury weapons (very notable in this episode). The editors shared a look and didn't answer the question.
But, in season 2 the sound FX for Starfury weapons gets remixed and the Space Invaders element gets tweaked.
And that's MY contribution to the evolution of Babylon 5.