Lennier's arrival was huge for my mother. She loved Bill Mumy and was over the moon when he signed on. Lost in Space was a tad before my time, and I never got into it that much.
No spoilers, but mom looked forward to what he might be doing on a given week.
Nope, Delenn didn't "marry" Sinclair. Sinclair IS her ancestor, and I'm pretty certain she knows that.
Li, Goddess of Passion. Centauri have a hermaphrodite Goddess of Passion. Male and female attributes. This sets up Centauri "full frontal nudity" later on the censors will ignore...
Not stated here, but Catherine works for Interplanetary Expeditions. As we will learn IPX isn't exactly what it claims...
Mark Hendrickson plays Du'Rog. He was also the captured Narn from the Narn C&C in "Midnight on the Firing Line." Hendrickson is ALSO Grey Council, will play other Narns, Drazi, Drakh, Brakiri, etc. Rule 1 of my B5 drinking game is "drink when the Vorlon makes no sense (if the Vorlon makes sense, stop drinking, you're done)," but later in the rules is "drink for Mark." Also applies to several other actors who end up playing a dozen characters.
Quantum 40 is used in production of hyperdrive/jump gate tech.
Oh, those wacky Centauri with their jokes about genocide... In the first few episodes Londo, and the Centauri in general, have been presented as a more "relatable" and "benign" species than the Narn... Oh, sure, they have slavery, but, those wacky Centauri with their silly hair, and their hedonistic ways... In the meantime G'Kar has been strutting around, declaring his desire to wipe the Centauri from the universe.
Telling jokes about genocide?
First really big hint that the Centauri, as a species, aren't terribly nice.
The Centauri - spurred on by Londo - haven't even begun to commit their atrocities in this show yet. But it's coming....
Yeah, I love that it all tracks, with the Narn and the Centauri. Behind the buffoonery there is real malice and danger. In fact, it's a reminder that we could have done with in the UK a couple of years ago: that a buffoon with a stupid haircut who likes having parties instead of doing the job is probably not best placed to be Prime Minister. I mean, ambassador to Babylon 5.
So, we've caught up to the first script written after production started - the first script written after JMS saw what new actors were bringing, and with more than a pilot for returning actors. As noted, the characters are now better defined.
JMS described Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi) as being "to the right of Ghengis Khan." I think this episode's teaser is JMS bringing more Doyle to Garibaldi.
We'll also note this episode has a LOT more non-human characters. Makeup and wardrobe have had the time to make lots of masks and costumes. From here on we get more extras - which helps make the station feel alive.
First time viewers, I hope, payed attention to Li, goddess of passion. Li is a setup for something.
The signs in Customs at the top of the episode. I freezed to read them. B5 has six atmospheric mixes on standby. Others can be arranged, if needed. Another notes which decks have whatever gravity. But the funny one is "Watch out for airlocks." Just wondering if that's a joke based on what happened to Ko'Dath.
Bill Mumy and Julie Caitlin Brown hit the ground running as Lennier and Na'Toth. Lennier, ultimately, is my favorite character.
TV SF rarely got into Humanity and religion. Trek implied atheism (except certain 60's scripts which had studio notes pushing Christianity), so, the final scene , while on the nose, was different and important at the time. "JMS has noted filming that scene was the first time all the studio people came to set, and a news crew was there. There were 160(!) extras for just that scene, all of the actual groups they portray, most in their own clothes. JMS, being atheist, put the atheist first - but also did things like having the Muslim and Jew standing next to each other. Sure, it's on the nose, but it's also a powerful celebration of diversity.
Otherwise, it's a nice world building episode.
Shout out for the first time we see G'Kar's arm and torso. It's a really nice makeup job.
Note Joe Straczynski (JS) and Jeffery Sinclair (JS). Carolyn Sykes and Catherine Sakai (CS). JMS has said much of Sinclair and Catherine's dialog is verbatim from a past relationship. JMS was being cathartic.
Last thing - regarding the narrative justifying characters arriving/leaving (Takishima/Ivanova, Kyle/Franklin, Ko'Dath/Na'Toth, Lyta/Talia etc) being worked into the narrative. JMS stated he had "trap doors" for every character - a way to move them in or out of the narrative if real-world considerations affected production. This is just smart. I guess it's technically a spoiler to say some of these trap doors will be used.
Simon, when I spent too much time writing narratives of my Wednesday TTRPG sessions, this is something I had to do. Characters would come and go based on their player's game attendance, or being wounded and swapped out to heal, and I always had to find an "in story" reason for the change. Fun to justify... Easiest was if a PC entered right when the GM did exposition... Cuz that PC could be the one who brought that information.
It's funny. As a teenager I never really picked up on Garibaldi's politics. I just read him as 'Hero John McLane Style'. Classic Hollywood action hero/cop.
As an adult, I'm enjoying that he's STILL that, but that I also find his attitudes and politics quite off-putting. I love that the show does both of those thing simultaneously: I can strenuously disagree with Garibaldi on a lot of things, but he's still shown to be a good guy. I like the writing there. It presents him as-is and lets the viewer draw their own conclusions.
A more politically right-leaning viewer would respond very differently to Garibaldi's politics, but would still have the same general take on him being a heroic character.
Bearing in mind an "extreme right winger" in the 1990's was much different from one today. Even with a crap POTUS like George W Bush, one couid fall back on, "He genuinely wants what he thinks is best for the country, even if I disagree with his vision." But GWB still had some respect for rule of Law, rather than current right-wingers, which basically went fascist/authoritarian.
Besides, it feeds into Garibaldi's general paranoia, which Bester will amplify in s4.
I think this episode is a great example of how well continuity works in B5. It's kind of like an Eisenhower Matrix. Nothing urgent happens, but several important things do. You could skip it, but if you don't you learn quite a bit.
That's a good observation. It's a particular kind of continuity and world building, which is cumulative and rewarding but not vital. It's interesting to compare it to serials these days, especially the big franchises such as Marvel, where every single episode and every show feels 'essential' to the point of feeling like homework. There's also a weird phenomenon, I think, where if *everything* is important, it all ceases to feel important.
Whereas with B5, just as one example, that mix of Eisenhower-style episodes makes the big ones feel all the more impactful. The 'minor' episodes create the foundation that enables the big episodes to really fly.
Yeah, Sheridan reads a bit of Ulysses later in the show. I think Sinclair read a bit of it in the pilot. I memorised the final 10-or-so lines of that poem as a teenager.
Reading these slightly out of order, sorry...
Lennier's arrival was huge for my mother. She loved Bill Mumy and was over the moon when he signed on. Lost in Space was a tad before my time, and I never got into it that much.
No spoilers, but mom looked forward to what he might be doing on a given week.
Mumy make a great debut here. I'm looking forward to more!
SPOILERS ABOUND
.
.
.
.
.
Nope, Delenn didn't "marry" Sinclair. Sinclair IS her ancestor, and I'm pretty certain she knows that.
Li, Goddess of Passion. Centauri have a hermaphrodite Goddess of Passion. Male and female attributes. This sets up Centauri "full frontal nudity" later on the censors will ignore...
Not stated here, but Catherine works for Interplanetary Expeditions. As we will learn IPX isn't exactly what it claims...
Mark Hendrickson plays Du'Rog. He was also the captured Narn from the Narn C&C in "Midnight on the Firing Line." Hendrickson is ALSO Grey Council, will play other Narns, Drazi, Drakh, Brakiri, etc. Rule 1 of my B5 drinking game is "drink when the Vorlon makes no sense (if the Vorlon makes sense, stop drinking, you're done)," but later in the rules is "drink for Mark." Also applies to several other actors who end up playing a dozen characters.
Quantum 40 is used in production of hyperdrive/jump gate tech.
Oh, those wacky Centauri with their jokes about genocide... In the first few episodes Londo, and the Centauri in general, have been presented as a more "relatable" and "benign" species than the Narn... Oh, sure, they have slavery, but, those wacky Centauri with their silly hair, and their hedonistic ways... In the meantime G'Kar has been strutting around, declaring his desire to wipe the Centauri from the universe.
Telling jokes about genocide?
First really big hint that the Centauri, as a species, aren't terribly nice.
The Centauri - spurred on by Londo - haven't even begun to commit their atrocities in this show yet. But it's coming....
Yeah, I love that it all tracks, with the Narn and the Centauri. Behind the buffoonery there is real malice and danger. In fact, it's a reminder that we could have done with in the UK a couple of years ago: that a buffoon with a stupid haircut who likes having parties instead of doing the job is probably not best placed to be Prime Minister. I mean, ambassador to Babylon 5.
NON SPOILER CHAT.
So, we've caught up to the first script written after production started - the first script written after JMS saw what new actors were bringing, and with more than a pilot for returning actors. As noted, the characters are now better defined.
JMS described Jerry Doyle (Garibaldi) as being "to the right of Ghengis Khan." I think this episode's teaser is JMS bringing more Doyle to Garibaldi.
We'll also note this episode has a LOT more non-human characters. Makeup and wardrobe have had the time to make lots of masks and costumes. From here on we get more extras - which helps make the station feel alive.
First time viewers, I hope, payed attention to Li, goddess of passion. Li is a setup for something.
The signs in Customs at the top of the episode. I freezed to read them. B5 has six atmospheric mixes on standby. Others can be arranged, if needed. Another notes which decks have whatever gravity. But the funny one is "Watch out for airlocks." Just wondering if that's a joke based on what happened to Ko'Dath.
Bill Mumy and Julie Caitlin Brown hit the ground running as Lennier and Na'Toth. Lennier, ultimately, is my favorite character.
TV SF rarely got into Humanity and religion. Trek implied atheism (except certain 60's scripts which had studio notes pushing Christianity), so, the final scene , while on the nose, was different and important at the time. "JMS has noted filming that scene was the first time all the studio people came to set, and a news crew was there. There were 160(!) extras for just that scene, all of the actual groups they portray, most in their own clothes. JMS, being atheist, put the atheist first - but also did things like having the Muslim and Jew standing next to each other. Sure, it's on the nose, but it's also a powerful celebration of diversity.
Otherwise, it's a nice world building episode.
Shout out for the first time we see G'Kar's arm and torso. It's a really nice makeup job.
Note Joe Straczynski (JS) and Jeffery Sinclair (JS). Carolyn Sykes and Catherine Sakai (CS). JMS has said much of Sinclair and Catherine's dialog is verbatim from a past relationship. JMS was being cathartic.
Last thing - regarding the narrative justifying characters arriving/leaving (Takishima/Ivanova, Kyle/Franklin, Ko'Dath/Na'Toth, Lyta/Talia etc) being worked into the narrative. JMS stated he had "trap doors" for every character - a way to move them in or out of the narrative if real-world considerations affected production. This is just smart. I guess it's technically a spoiler to say some of these trap doors will be used.
Simon, when I spent too much time writing narratives of my Wednesday TTRPG sessions, this is something I had to do. Characters would come and go based on their player's game attendance, or being wounded and swapped out to heal, and I always had to find an "in story" reason for the change. Fun to justify... Easiest was if a PC entered right when the GM did exposition... Cuz that PC could be the one who brought that information.
It's funny. As a teenager I never really picked up on Garibaldi's politics. I just read him as 'Hero John McLane Style'. Classic Hollywood action hero/cop.
As an adult, I'm enjoying that he's STILL that, but that I also find his attitudes and politics quite off-putting. I love that the show does both of those thing simultaneously: I can strenuously disagree with Garibaldi on a lot of things, but he's still shown to be a good guy. I like the writing there. It presents him as-is and lets the viewer draw their own conclusions.
A more politically right-leaning viewer would respond very differently to Garibaldi's politics, but would still have the same general take on him being a heroic character.
Bearing in mind an "extreme right winger" in the 1990's was much different from one today. Even with a crap POTUS like George W Bush, one couid fall back on, "He genuinely wants what he thinks is best for the country, even if I disagree with his vision." But GWB still had some respect for rule of Law, rather than current right-wingers, which basically went fascist/authoritarian.
Besides, it feeds into Garibaldi's general paranoia, which Bester will amplify in s4.
I think this episode is a great example of how well continuity works in B5. It's kind of like an Eisenhower Matrix. Nothing urgent happens, but several important things do. You could skip it, but if you don't you learn quite a bit.
That's a good observation. It's a particular kind of continuity and world building, which is cumulative and rewarding but not vital. It's interesting to compare it to serials these days, especially the big franchises such as Marvel, where every single episode and every show feels 'essential' to the point of feeling like homework. There's also a weird phenomenon, I think, where if *everything* is important, it all ceases to feel important.
Whereas with B5, just as one example, that mix of Eisenhower-style episodes makes the big ones feel all the more impactful. The 'minor' episodes create the foundation that enables the big episodes to really fly.
Might have mixed my metaphors there.
I have to say, I loved G'Kar's song in the beginning, and the tag-team of Na-Toth and G'Kar to the assassin at the end. Cracked me up.
Also I think Tennyson shows up again with Sheridan as well, if I recall correctly. I have a fondness for that passage myself, which is why I remember.
Yeah, Sheridan reads a bit of Ulysses later in the show. I think Sinclair read a bit of it in the pilot. I memorised the final 10-or-so lines of that poem as a teenager.