(Spoilers, obviously, but it's for a series that's been over for almost 15 years, so...)
It's one of my most beloved series (if not the most), but when I started to rewatch it last month (just finished ep 3 of season 2), I bumped into so many annoying things, that I may need to stop watching, lest I ruin my own recollection of it. Sure, the "state of the art special effects" are somewhat outdated, but that's fine. It's the logic of the story that's starting to bug me.
What really bugs me for example, is that it makes absolutely no sense that the Minbari are so angry with John Sheridan that his position on B5 would be a grave insult for Minbari. Sure, he brought down the Black Star in the Earth-Minbari war, but besides that the war's been over for more than 10 years when he assumes command, he only did his job as a soldier at the time.
It was the Minbari who started a war, after a small communication error had large consequences by killing Dukhat. They then proceeded to systematically kill humans (Delenn uses the word "genocide" ), who didn't even have targeting systems sophisticated enough to shoot back. The only real victory during that war was Sheridan mining an asteroid field and bringing down the Black Star and three heavy cruisers. What? Maybe 5,000 soldiers? At most?
This compared to the annihilation of a quarter million human soldiers, not to mention 20,000 at the Battle of the Line alone. The only reason the Earth-Minbari War lasted three years must have been that the Minbari took their time and that Space is BIG.
It's like if we would waltz into the Amazon in Brazil, start killing off local tribesman and then yell in outrage when one of them is smart enough not to face us with bow and arrow, but instead just let's us step into a mine.
His tactics were "dishonourable"? Well, fine, then start fighting fair yourself. Sheesh.
In season one, the acting of some of the background characters (especially one of the women in C&C announcing incoming and outgoing ships) is so wooden and "let's just read what I need to tell you without using something as unnecessary as intonation", that it gets me out of my suspension of disbelieve.
The "It all goes to Hell" phrase, which I only started to notice when somebody pointed it out to me the first time and became a running gag when I rewatched about five years ago, is a pain in my ear right now. Please, people, some originality?
And I haven't even started about the movies that came after. ("The Lost Tales"? For that one alone JMS should be spanked)
The next episode is "The Geometry of Shadows", which is the Technomages episode. I dread it terribly now, as I have come to love these characters after reading the excellent Passing of the Technomages novels by Jeanne Cavelos.
</Rant>
Please, somebody assure me it will get better. *sigh*
Now that I've cooled down, some things that I found cool:
- I never noticed this before, but in "The Gathering" (pilot episode) Kosh is approached by a Minbari assessin in a Changeling Net, which makes him appear as Jeffrey Sinclair. Kosh then greets him with "Entil'Zha Valen". Cool bit of foreshadowing. But besides that, and a decent plot, the acting is terrible, the link between pilot and series is thin (as it is with many pilots, granted) and there are some plot holes to drive a truck through.
- For some reason I am now more inclined to cringe whenever I see Mr Morden smile. His creeps work better on me now than they did before. "Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" "One thing at a time, Ambassador. One thing at a time." Heh
- Susan Ivanova continues to be a delight. I had a HUGE crush on her years ago and I fortunately can still see why.
It's one of my most beloved series (if not the most), but when I started to rewatch it last month (just finished ep 3 of season 2), I bumped into so many annoying things, that I may need to stop watching, lest I ruin my own recollection of it. Sure, the "state of the art special effects" are somewhat outdated, but that's fine. It's the logic of the story that's starting to bug me.
What really bugs me for example, is that it makes absolutely no sense that the Minbari are so angry with John Sheridan that his position on B5 would be a grave insult for Minbari. Sure, he brought down the Black Star in the Earth-Minbari war, but besides that the war's been over for more than 10 years when he assumes command, he only did his job as a soldier at the time.
It was the Minbari who started a war, after a small communication error had large consequences by killing Dukhat. They then proceeded to systematically kill humans (Delenn uses the word "genocide" ), who didn't even have targeting systems sophisticated enough to shoot back. The only real victory during that war was Sheridan mining an asteroid field and bringing down the Black Star and three heavy cruisers. What? Maybe 5,000 soldiers? At most?
This compared to the annihilation of a quarter million human soldiers, not to mention 20,000 at the Battle of the Line alone. The only reason the Earth-Minbari War lasted three years must have been that the Minbari took their time and that Space is BIG.
It's like if we would waltz into the Amazon in Brazil, start killing off local tribesman and then yell in outrage when one of them is smart enough not to face us with bow and arrow, but instead just let's us step into a mine.
His tactics were "dishonourable"? Well, fine, then start fighting fair yourself. Sheesh.
In season one, the acting of some of the background characters (especially one of the women in C&C announcing incoming and outgoing ships) is so wooden and "let's just read what I need to tell you without using something as unnecessary as intonation", that it gets me out of my suspension of disbelieve.
The "It all goes to Hell" phrase, which I only started to notice when somebody pointed it out to me the first time and became a running gag when I rewatched about five years ago, is a pain in my ear right now. Please, people, some originality?
And I haven't even started about the movies that came after. ("The Lost Tales"? For that one alone JMS should be spanked)
The next episode is "The Geometry of Shadows", which is the Technomages episode. I dread it terribly now, as I have come to love these characters after reading the excellent Passing of the Technomages novels by Jeanne Cavelos.
</Rant>
Please, somebody assure me it will get better. *sigh*
Now that I've cooled down, some things that I found cool:
- I never noticed this before, but in "The Gathering" (pilot episode) Kosh is approached by a Minbari assessin in a Changeling Net, which makes him appear as Jeffrey Sinclair. Kosh then greets him with "Entil'Zha Valen". Cool bit of foreshadowing. But besides that, and a decent plot, the acting is terrible, the link between pilot and series is thin (as it is with many pilots, granted) and there are some plot holes to drive a truck through.
- For some reason I am now more inclined to cringe whenever I see Mr Morden smile. His creeps work better on me now than they did before. "Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" "One thing at a time, Ambassador. One thing at a time." Heh
- Susan Ivanova continues to be a delight. I had a HUGE crush on her years ago and I fortunately can still see why.
I love this series and have rewatched it and don't feel like you do honestly..I mean if what you mentioned happened in the amazon WE WOULD GET ANGRY...you are expecting to much of the Minbari here which is part of the point I suppose. No one in this show is good (even the vorlons) and no one is completly bad (even the shadows) so having the minbari here be less than likeable is part of the point...
I may need to stop rewatching Babylon 5...
01/06/2012 04:18:28 PM
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I have an autographed picture of Claudia Christian (Ivanova). Did you know she has nudes out there? *NM*
01/06/2012 11:51:21 PM
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(re)watch Battlestart Galactica instead
02/06/2012 08:51:08 AM
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I am doing that these days
04/06/2012 08:31:46 AM
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Re: I am doing that these days
06/06/2012 12:14:52 AM
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Agreed. The ending is one of the worst conclusions to any work of fiction ever written.
08/06/2012 12:48:58 AM
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Re: Agreed. The ending is one of the worst conclusions to any work of fiction ever written.
08/06/2012 08:20:40 PM
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I just saw the ending, watched the whole thing for the first time
09/06/2012 06:42:21 AM
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You're still in the dodgy part of the series. From early Season 2 onwards it improves immensely.
02/06/2012 04:08:09 PM
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Re: I may need to stop rewatching Babylon 5...
03/06/2012 06:32:49 AM
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I think the Minbari were suppose to be something like the honorable Samurai warrior
03/06/2012 08:30:13 AM
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