#b5-rewatch

Okay let's get back into it after over a month!

Well if you're going to fight in public better wear a cape for it...

If I ever get stabbed for having important information, I'm going to make sure to not use any pronouns in my last words. It will be specific proper nouns ONLY. "They're gonna kill him." Man there's 250,000 people on Babylon 5

Oh hey it's that woman who's name I sadly forget because I didn't realize she was going to be a recurring character

Aw, Sinclair's proposal

Oh Lando, you haven't even BEGUN to offend gods yet

"After I while I might even come to enjoy it" and the "nibbled to death by cats" thing have stuck in my head for 30 years

MORDEN >:(

Watcha building Delenn? (And what did you ask Kosh 👀)

I find shady shipping/smuggling interesting on Babylon 5, because it's such a controlled/constructed environment, you can't just go a few miles down the coast. Like, presumably there has to be a lot of corruption in official channels to make it work. It just seems like there's more "chaos" for lack of a better word, on Babylon 5 than you'd think, given that it can't be approached or boarded without being tracked somehow.

"We're simply here to help." MORDEN

I didn't remember that Delenn got a Kosh reveal before her project, I wonder why/what it confirmed for her

More alienfuckery confirmed for G'Kar lol

Oh, that would be a lot of time in makeup. Love to see the extra effort.

The "him" they're going to kill has to be the Earth President, right? What with the unnumbered PPG

Well. That is one way to "take care of" a military outpost

Oh and the security forces ARE corrupted hey

Sinclair: Dealing with Garibaldi missing, then Delenn shows up with the triluminary "it's time to learn about the most mysterious incident in your past RIGHT NOW" That's just how it is on Babylon 5

I like G'Kar immediately recognizing that there's another force at play now

Seeing the president's ship explode on live TV--what had been comparable to that in 1994? I don't know what kind of awful "this changes everything" moments had been televised by then; I'm of the age where it made me think of 9/11.

Oh whatever is going on with Delenn does not sound good

The Centauri government thinks Lando did this somehow in secret??? Many people are sticking their fingers in their ears and covering their eyes.

Kosh feeling talkative today, I see

Ah yes. The chrysalis.

I feel like this is a major turning point in G'Kar's characterization

Susan seems like a delight, she's terrifying and I approve of her.

Unfortunately I think Londo Mollari's whole deal is going to be extremely my thing. His pathetic little assistant too, I love pathetic little assistants so much.

I don't have a lot of deep thematic insights but it was very engaging and it made me want to keep watching. There was quite a lot of info dumped and it was done very deftly - I think it's because each character has different takes on things, so they can go 'the war went like THIS' 'no the war went like THAT' and I the viewer learn there was a war. That's good writing advice.

I got a security related chuckle out of the episode twice. First, Sinclair, who is all concerned about the guy in Medlab, goes, "I'll have somebody from security here within the hour." Yeah. Sounds good. No need to hurry there. And then the guard seems more concerned about people entering than anyone leaving.

The scene that really makes the episode worth watching for me is the one with the space burial. It has Ivanova and Franklin.

I "met" Richard Biggs at conventions three times before I ever saw the show. That scene is really rough to watch, knowing that he died very young and unexpectedly.

I only noticed this time that the way they're playing it makes it seem as if the little "speech" she gives is totally just a Susan thing since Franklin seems to be surprised by it. I think it fits the character, so I'm going to go with that as part of my Susan head canon from now on.

I also think the episode does a very good job with introducing us to the Minbari's beliefs regarding their souls, which will turn out to be pretty important soon enough.

Every character in this is great. Dr Franklin is a bit of a one-note hero but honestly that's my greatest complaint. They are all distinctive and interesting and fun.

Ivanova, of course, is particularly good and my favourite.

I'm not keen on the amount of copaganda in the way that Garibaldi is written. I feel like the vibe is supposed to be that he is a Good Man and a Good Cop who sometimes does Bad Things, but... he's not a safe person to be doing his job. This is a pity because he's a great character otherwise.

If I'm wrong about this and Garibaldi being bad at his job becomes a plot point later then I'll be much happier.

Every interaction between the ambassadors is gold, always. My husband doesn't enjoy how much that gets played for laughs given the huge consequences of their actions, but the combo of spiky personalities/high stakes/petty bickering feels very plausible to me.

Every romantic interaction has been awful. Worse than 90s Star Trek, somehow.

Probably my biggest criticism is that Babylon 5 really doesn't convince me as a home for 250,000 people. I know that there are budget factors at play but I'd buy there being 5,000 people. 10,000 at a push.

I also don't know why they needed to pick such a big number? It would all have worked just as well at small-town size.

Sinclair really needs a bigger staff.

Also I feel like if there are 5,000-10,000 people then the set-up makes sense: it's a diplomatic hub plus support staff (and inevitable underbelly). If there are 250,000 people then it feels like there's a serious democratic deficit here. Where are the Babylon 5 city council elections? Who decides when the bins get taken out?

The costumes are universally FABULOUS.

Still no explanation of why Londo sounds like a Compare the Meerkat advert and no other Centauri does. Long may this be entirely unexplained.

I can't believe season 1 is supposed to be the bad season.

It's really very good for a bad season. There were maybe one or two dull episodes. The batting average is very good.

This is fun. I like the scary Russian (Russian?) second-in-command especially. By the bar scene I was decidedly shipping her with Psychic Blonde Lady. (I also enjoy that humans are sometimes telepathic in the future.) Enemies to lovers slowburn please.

I feel like I could also develop considerable fondness for Garibaldi, given time, though I struggle with the way he shares his name with a biscuit. Though one consequence of that is that his is the only name I've successfully remembered.

I knew that there were some similarities with Deep Space Nine, but I wasn't expecting the bar with the gambling tables, or the virtually identical layout of Ops. I kept expecting to see some Ferengi showing up.

The X-wing starfighters came as a surprise though.

The variety of alien designs is cool - and ambitious. The costuming is also universally great. Very stylish uniforms.

I'm not yet sure what to make of Commander Heroic, except that he reminds me of Captain Archer in a way that's disconcerting. (Someone saying "oh boy!" early on in the episode didn't help with that impression).

I'm STOKED for this, I remember loving the Babylon 4 stuff

Sinclair and Garibaldi being morning-people trolls to Ivanova (fucking around with perception of time--thematic???)

Oh he ded

Ooh, such pretty spaceship controls in the Minbari ship

B4!!! I like how Garibaldi can say so casually that it vanished without a trace because that is FUCKING WEIRD

Yes, command staff, this DOESN'T just happen. I mean, it's only the first season, I think they should be freaking out a little bit more about this.

I wonder if their different colored uniforms are for their different squadrons, or ranks (or what the costume department had)

This episode is reminding me that the command staff is like...not that different in age from me, now.

Okay enough of those thoughts it's time for the Grey Council

It's TIME FOR RESPONSIBILITY.

I do remember the line "prophecy will take care of itself"

I know Delenn will get out of this adroitly, after the soul hunter and the body snatching and the unauthorized trip to Epsilon 3...she has a brand of bonkers that can only thrive on Babylon 5

Okay, the guns don't make marks on inanimate objects, which is good when you want your station to not get holes in it, but how do they actually work?

Delenn: Well what if I just say no?

ZATHRAS hi Zathras

If Babylon 4 was the largest Babylon station then I guess they scaled down a little bit for B5 after B4 just disappeared

I remember this...I think...that person in the space suit isn't who we're meant to think it is at first?

Of course you got whammied, man

Yes, Delenn, how are you going to continue to study humans? 👀

"Either way, is bad for Zathras." Yes, I remember this also

Man, this B4 Commander is CHEWING the scenery

Sinclair: Shit, destiny again?

Oh no it was who I thought it was in the space suit. I mean, I couldn't have guessed when I first watched it, but it's who I remembered.

TRILUMINARY

I love a properly tonally discordant A and B plot, and this is a classic of the genre. A plot: sinister forces are threatening to unseat Sinclair and pry into the minds of his staff. B plot: Lennier builds a motorbike!

Was the focusing on the precise details of the said motorbike a product placement thing or was some member of the production crew just really into bikes?

Interesting that 2035 felt like a plausible date for the last gasoline-powered motorbike in 1994. Seems very optimistic now, though that is when the ban on new petrol and diesel powered cars comes into effect in the UK.

I feel like the casting director had a very long list of English character actors with distinctive voices, because it feels like there's a new one guest starring every episode.

So please no spoilers here, I'm a first time viewer, but... is Ivanova secretly also a telepath??

Every interaction between Ivanova and Gray in this episode is great, but I particularly enjoyed her complete lack of interest in his moving backstory.

Garibaldi's little "if I kill him, it would start a war" aside is great. I mean, obviously because it's hilarious, but also because it feels like very much a stage convention rather than a TV convention, which is fun.

I also liked the growing picture we're getting of Sinclair as a guy who will know all the rules and will use that knowledge against you.

"Ms Winters was loud in your mind". As a Talia/Ivanova shipper, thank you for this crumb <3

Ivanova beating up the entire casino, as if there was any way I could love her more.