I don't remember the (lack of) cinematography that well. My two biggest takeaways from that b-plot was Paul Williams in what I thought was excellent casting, and Down Below convincing the aliens that humankind was "worthy" of them. That's some excellent sci-fi writing.
I though the "sex" scene was like a typical Will Ferrell routine: funny for about 15 seconds, but at least two minutes too long.
But that was a footnote. The developments in the Narn/Centauri war dominated this episode in my opinion. Maybe it allowed me to forgive the substandard direction. Or maybe it was as simple as watching it via Tivo on a small TV.
Or they could have intercut it with everything else happening throughout the episode. Every couple of scenes cut back to a 3 second clip of Ivanova still doing her weird dance, then go back to the main scene.
Here's a random thought that flashed through my mind...
So the big riot scene in GROPOS was much more exciting than the one-on-one fight in Acts of Sacrifice. I've already speculated some of that might have been Johnston being less ambitious with this episode, but there's another possibility.
The riot scene isn't a structured narrative in that we're not following a plot driven action with a defined beginning/middle/end. It's a series of quick flashes to show us a larger situation has spiraled out of control. In other words, the G'kar fight is a two minute long sequence following two combatants, with a few cutaways for reaction and ancillary action.
The riot may have had a couple dozen fighters, but they're all doing one or two moves. Additionally, the riot was handheld, while the G'kar fight was shot on tripods.
So... Maybe the stunt teams can take all the individual small groups off the Zocalo stage to somewhere else in the building to rehearse their small segments while the groups are shooting. All his "side characters" can be somewhere else rehearsing while Johnston first worries about his principles - Garibaldi, Dodger, etc. Because the camera is handheld, the camera can be moved faster. As the riot isn't a single narrative Johnston could use his designated shoot time to get as many little one-to-three hit exchanges in the can as possible, and order his clips in the edit freely as needed to fill the scene time, just using the coolest bits he's got. As one who's done fight choreography (as performer and choreographer), I can say it's obviously faster to rehearse the bit that's only a Centauri jump-kicking a Narn, and that's the entire gag, than it is for G'kar and his foe to posture, grab, slam into the wall, roll around, push each other off, throw a roundhouse, fall to the floor, scramble to feet, leapfrog over the other guy, draw a knife, etc...
That's a lot of setup and rehearsal time for a single fight.
So the riot may just have been easier to shoot in the end than a single long fight. I've never been involved in a sequence like that riot (on a film set - I've been in 30-actor fights on stage), so, again, it's a guess.
Sigh. Amount of time spent thinking about this - about three seconds. Time to type up? Over ten minutes. Heh.
An absolute banger opening, with an absolutely heroic Narn crew who face their sacrifice with calm and dignity. I've always particularly liked the shot where Centauri fire blows blows straight out the bottom of the Narn cruiser. It's brutal.
There's a lot of good going on in the episode with both Londo's loneliness, punctuated by his scenes with Garibaldi, and G'Kar's struggles to hold authority over a scared and angry Narn populace. Add in Delenn's quiet, "I do not have the resources I once commanded, and Sheridan going behind EarthGov's back, and we see, in a season and a half, more evolution than most shows of the time had in their entire runs.
There's some good social commentary fighting to get through the Lumati subplot. "Wow, we never thought of treating our own species like crap!"
Then there's... That scene. Sigh. Claudia asked JMS for some more humorous scenes and for Ivanova to let her hair down. This is what she got. In fairness, "Roll over and go to sleep/get pizza, never see you again," is a good line, as is Paul William's quiet amusement at the scam, but, yeah, one terrible scene almost overshadows the episode.
Jeff Conaway... Had had a lot of legal trouble and substance abuse issues when he was cast as Zach. Initially he was a single character guest spot who continued to grow in prominence. Zach will get some decent writing as the series goes along, but (SPOILER) I am sad Zach Allen basically takes over for Lou Welch. Lou was great. A later script (technically a spoiler, but this isn't really much of one) script will have Garibaldi say to Zach, "look, I have you a chance when no one else would." Yes, that's the author pulling from reality to inform the character. That line is a direct comment on Conaway's demons. Sadly, those same demons eventually beat Conway.
Jim Johnston directed GROPOS, and on that episode I specifically discussed how well Johnston did the Zocalo brawls with the handheld camera and quick cuts. I ALSO discussed how GROPOS went over budget and over time, and noted JMS said he had to write two small scale episodes to make up for the budget shortfall. I assume this was one of those episodes.
I also assume, since GROPOS went over time and budget, JMS put on his Executive Producer hat and had words with Johnston. How else can one explain the mediocre direction for this episode? I've complimented Johnston in the past for creative camera angles and use of elements to create texture and depth in compositions. The only reason I can think of for this episode being so utterly visually boring. Only the battle at the beginning, and the angle on the jumpgate - showing the plasma (?) running through the gate's fusion tubes (?) have any style. The only reason I can imagine is, after being chewed out by JMS, Johnston just did the minimum coverage needed to get the show in the can, possibly under time and under budget. Made the beam-counter aspect of JMS happy, I'm sure, but to the detriment of the episode as a whole.
I don't remember the (lack of) cinematography that well. My two biggest takeaways from that b-plot was Paul Williams in what I thought was excellent casting, and Down Below convincing the aliens that humankind was "worthy" of them. That's some excellent sci-fi writing.
I though the "sex" scene was like a typical Will Ferrell routine: funny for about 15 seconds, but at least two minutes too long.
But that was a footnote. The developments in the Narn/Centauri war dominated this episode in my opinion. Maybe it allowed me to forgive the substandard direction. Or maybe it was as simple as watching it via Tivo on a small TV.
I agree: that scene would've been funnier if it were just a tad shorter.
...
So to speak.
Or they could have intercut it with everything else happening throughout the episode. Every couple of scenes cut back to a 3 second clip of Ivanova still doing her weird dance, then go back to the main scene.
Here's a random thought that flashed through my mind...
So the big riot scene in GROPOS was much more exciting than the one-on-one fight in Acts of Sacrifice. I've already speculated some of that might have been Johnston being less ambitious with this episode, but there's another possibility.
The riot scene isn't a structured narrative in that we're not following a plot driven action with a defined beginning/middle/end. It's a series of quick flashes to show us a larger situation has spiraled out of control. In other words, the G'kar fight is a two minute long sequence following two combatants, with a few cutaways for reaction and ancillary action.
The riot may have had a couple dozen fighters, but they're all doing one or two moves. Additionally, the riot was handheld, while the G'kar fight was shot on tripods.
So... Maybe the stunt teams can take all the individual small groups off the Zocalo stage to somewhere else in the building to rehearse their small segments while the groups are shooting. All his "side characters" can be somewhere else rehearsing while Johnston first worries about his principles - Garibaldi, Dodger, etc. Because the camera is handheld, the camera can be moved faster. As the riot isn't a single narrative Johnston could use his designated shoot time to get as many little one-to-three hit exchanges in the can as possible, and order his clips in the edit freely as needed to fill the scene time, just using the coolest bits he's got. As one who's done fight choreography (as performer and choreographer), I can say it's obviously faster to rehearse the bit that's only a Centauri jump-kicking a Narn, and that's the entire gag, than it is for G'kar and his foe to posture, grab, slam into the wall, roll around, push each other off, throw a roundhouse, fall to the floor, scramble to feet, leapfrog over the other guy, draw a knife, etc...
That's a lot of setup and rehearsal time for a single fight.
So the riot may just have been easier to shoot in the end than a single long fight. I've never been involved in a sequence like that riot (on a film set - I've been in 30-actor fights on stage), so, again, it's a guess.
Sigh. Amount of time spent thinking about this - about three seconds. Time to type up? Over ten minutes. Heh.
Non Spoiler
An absolute banger opening, with an absolutely heroic Narn crew who face their sacrifice with calm and dignity. I've always particularly liked the shot where Centauri fire blows blows straight out the bottom of the Narn cruiser. It's brutal.
There's a lot of good going on in the episode with both Londo's loneliness, punctuated by his scenes with Garibaldi, and G'Kar's struggles to hold authority over a scared and angry Narn populace. Add in Delenn's quiet, "I do not have the resources I once commanded, and Sheridan going behind EarthGov's back, and we see, in a season and a half, more evolution than most shows of the time had in their entire runs.
There's some good social commentary fighting to get through the Lumati subplot. "Wow, we never thought of treating our own species like crap!"
Then there's... That scene. Sigh. Claudia asked JMS for some more humorous scenes and for Ivanova to let her hair down. This is what she got. In fairness, "Roll over and go to sleep/get pizza, never see you again," is a good line, as is Paul William's quiet amusement at the scam, but, yeah, one terrible scene almost overshadows the episode.
Jeff Conaway... Had had a lot of legal trouble and substance abuse issues when he was cast as Zach. Initially he was a single character guest spot who continued to grow in prominence. Zach will get some decent writing as the series goes along, but (SPOILER) I am sad Zach Allen basically takes over for Lou Welch. Lou was great. A later script (technically a spoiler, but this isn't really much of one) script will have Garibaldi say to Zach, "look, I have you a chance when no one else would." Yes, that's the author pulling from reality to inform the character. That line is a direct comment on Conaway's demons. Sadly, those same demons eventually beat Conway.
Jim Johnston directed GROPOS, and on that episode I specifically discussed how well Johnston did the Zocalo brawls with the handheld camera and quick cuts. I ALSO discussed how GROPOS went over budget and over time, and noted JMS said he had to write two small scale episodes to make up for the budget shortfall. I assume this was one of those episodes.
I also assume, since GROPOS went over time and budget, JMS put on his Executive Producer hat and had words with Johnston. How else can one explain the mediocre direction for this episode? I've complimented Johnston in the past for creative camera angles and use of elements to create texture and depth in compositions. The only reason I can think of for this episode being so utterly visually boring. Only the battle at the beginning, and the angle on the jumpgate - showing the plasma (?) running through the gate's fusion tubes (?) have any style. The only reason I can imagine is, after being chewed out by JMS, Johnston just did the minimum coverage needed to get the show in the can, possibly under time and under budget. Made the beam-counter aspect of JMS happy, I'm sure, but to the detriment of the episode as a whole.