Greeting from very warm and sunny Tucson,

Just finished listening to your last podcast: Exogenesis/Message from Earth. Thank the Great Maker; I can now view perhaps two of the strongest back to back episodes: Point of No Return/Severed Dreams. I was in so much AGONY waiting, as if I had injured my foot (Facebook reference). Hope all is well.

Got to love Delenn's line "I will watch and catch you if you should fall". I was surprised the following was not mentioned DOWN BELOW.

Since this is my first message, I an a bit unsure about this dicey bit of HTML code. So I will now try to hide a spoiler the old fashioned way. Just in case I should fail, please watch below and see if you catch it. (translation: I will enter several hard carriage returns, and use some of the words in Delenn's quote to try to be clever).













Glad you are back. I did get some quizzical looks while listening to your podcast at the gym this morning. "Why is that guy laughing to himself".

Regards
Andrew from Tucson

PS I feel a need to rewatch some Red Dwarf after some of your comments.

This has to be the most awesome 42 minutes of TV anywhere. Best b5 episode in my not so humble opinion. Best episode of any sci-fi, nay... any tv show in any genre.

Exogenesis

I can't say I'm really warming to Marcus Cole but he is definitely quite the badass. An interesting story, if a little X-Filesy and I'm glad that it wasn't just a case of killing the alien parasites and that they weren't hell bent on invading. They simply sought out those who needed a purpose. Of course, since they have lived for so many years and it's clear that they will be sticking around for a bit I bet that at some point they will have some interesting things to say about the Shadows. At first I thought we were going down the road which would see one of the parasites attach itself to Franklin and be unable to take hold due to his Stims addiction. I also thought that the new Lieutenant would be a Mitchell of the week but he had a fun subplot with Ivanova which gelled with parasite one; he could have become part of something bigger. He looked so petrified when she asked him to her quarters though. Best book the time off and a bed in Medlab already. Very sweet episode, not the best but still enjoyable.

Messages From Earth

Back to the main arc and a very thrilling episode. Nightwatch are growing more suspicious but couldn't they have given the main security guard a proper name? He's very good though. Garabaldi seems to have been holding out as well if he saw the Shadow ships years earlier. I love the business with the Minbari beds and the idea that sleeping horizontal is tempting death. Sheriden comes up against the one threat he's not prepared for: the Agamenon and it just shows what a good team he and Delenn make.

Martin wrote:


Bad Martin! No biscuit. Far from being a Mitchell of the Week, this is the 22nd episode David Corwin has appeared in, and the ninth since he was formally named (onscreen during his interview in And Now For A Word). He's had a very gradual build up from non-speaking background tech in C&C to a fully-fledged character.

Gillian Coyle wrote:


Well that was my first impression but as the plot progressed it was obvious that wasn't case. I do kind of recall him now you mention it but it's interesting that he has appeared that many times in the background. As always, I bow to your superior knowledge

I had one quick (non-spoiler) thought on Passing through Gethsemane, and until now I was debating whether to share it since we're getting quite far passed that episode. Still, I wouldn't mind your thoughts. One thing I really adored about the episode is that when Brother Edward brings Garibaldi to his quarters and shows him where the words used to be, Garibaldi does NOT dismiss him as crazy. Too often in show, such a set up would be grounds for a character like Garibaldi to claim that the victim is insane. This trope is particularly annoying when the story is set in a sci-fi or otherwise fantastic universe. Why, in worlds that contain magic or advanced technology, do characters consistently treat such phenomena as proof of insanity? It's such a relief to see that Garibaldi not only considers the possibility that something fishy is going on, and that the words might actually have disappeared, but brings in a team to analyse the wall. Sure enough, he discovers that a type of disappearing ink was used and thus validates Edward's claim.

Due to my rambling science post will try and keep these short. WHat a cracking set of episodes though.

Point of No return

Really good episode, you can feel things are beginning to get out of control and events begin to force the hand of the conspiracy of light. The exchange between Sherridan and Garibaldi has Sherridan for teh first time with no idea what his next move will be. If he had a plan he may have been able to stop Michael going to bust up the night watch recruitment, but without a solution he can't stop him. Even at the end they know the solution is only stalling for time. I do think general "Wink wink nudge nudge" must have been arrested shortly after, prize for most obvious hints in a message. I remember on first viewing I genuinely didn't know which way Zack was going to jump, B5 never shied away from letting its characters make bad choices and then deal with the consequences. The Londo Plot is not bad either, and the final exchange between Londo and Vir is a nice juxtaposition with the exchange at the end of Dust to Dust.

Regarding Charly's take on the Chain of command. You are correct that station security appears to be closer to a civilian force like the Police than Military. The mistake Clarke actually made was in how B5 is run. The colonies who he ordered into martial law would have been administered by civilians, however B5 is administered by the military. Chain of command meas that B5's orders have to come from a different source, regardless of makeup security are under overall command of the station commander, who can not be given orders by a civilian agency.

Severed Dreams

Firstly. I love angry Delenn.

I also love the Omega Class Destroyer. It's not pretty, not even handsome, but I love it's functional, utilitarian look. In fact I love the general Aesthetic of the Earth Alliance ships. I love the way each ship has its own logo (You can see part of the churchill's in the background) remeniscant of current Naval destroyers. Another nice detail, not actually explained but observed, is the use of "interceptors" basically guns to shoot down incoming fire. Again this is similar to some of the anti-missile systems on present day Navy ships. The idea of using the fighters for the screen, as we see in the early fight between the Alexander and the Clarkestown, was later purloined by Battlestar Galactica, in the pilot fighters are used to shoot down incoming cylon nukes.

Anyway, enough going gooey over space ships, reat episode. They build on the reluctance of the crew to take the actions they ultimately take, considering it is a Military coup we are looking at here it had to be handled just right so as not to make the good guys look like they're knocking over a legitimate civilian government. It has been done that well. There is also a lovely moment where B5 avoids the cliche, Sherridan asks any C&C crew who don't want to be involved to leave, and people actually leave, so rarely happens.

Effects work is superb, the battle seems both epic and brutal. A small nitpick (Which seems awfully like complaining your delcious sundae is 1 chocolate sprinkle short) Near the end Sherridan signals the Roanoke, but it was destroyed when the Churchill rammed it. The Agrippa was the surviving ship. Sorry.

Finally, Delenn's big entrance. Did I say I love Angry Delenn? I do. Probably my favorite speech from Babylon 5, Delenn's response to "Don't make us engage" is just "Why not" in two words she says "We can take you without breaking a sweat" then the speech followed by "Be somewhere else" today's lesson kids. Never, ever, EVER mess with Angry Delenn.

I love Angry Delenn.

G'Kar is also fantastic in these episodes but I have rambled on enough. Sorry, intended to keep this short.

Sneaky edit - Plausable explanation as to why they were reluctant to use Draal, Clarke has shown an interest in aquiring advanced tech (Shadow ships for starters) now as far as we know all he knows about the great machine is that it currently has an eccentric Nimbari in it who has told everyone to bugger off. Finding out that it is fully operational and at B5's disposal may attract a lot more unwanted attention further down the line. Obvoiusly in a crunch they would have called him but I coudl see why they wouldn't just let Draal take care of things from the off.

Great work guys.

PieMan70 wrote:

Understandable mixup, the shot before is Sherridan telling the gunners to target the Roanoak, entirely possible the CG people took that as the ship being rammed. Would love to see the script, to see if it had anything more specific for the FX guys.