Babylon 5

The Coming of Shadows.

"Hello old friend" I loved it so much when I heard Jeffrey Sinclair's voice again.

A very noble Centauri Emperor, and his message to G'Kar, and then the tragedy that will follow.

And Rangers!

Now, on to GROPOS!

Gropos, what a sad story. But some great characters!

All Alone in the Night. Great Sheridan story. Nice to see the Aggie again, and General Hague.

Acts of Sacrifice

Such a contrast from G'Kar breaking down when he learns of the lack of help from Earth and Minbar, to Ivanova's sex with the alien.
Brilliant.

There All the Honor Lies

Merchandising!

Not some "Deep Space Franchise"

Love it!

In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum

Morden, what a scumbag.

And he should have paid attention to what Vir wanted!!
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this [smiles and waves his fingers at Morden]. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

...still a bit behind...

Survivors - Major Kemmer: Major Hottie. That's all I got for this one. Not one of my favs.

By Any Means Nessessary - Gotta give Sinclair props for finding a solution the way he did. I've had days like his. The best part of the epi, though. is G'Kar and his desperate attempts to obtain a G'Quan-Eth plant from Londo. Gotta love those two!

Signs and Portents - Mr. Morden arrives for the first time and nothing will ever be the same again. Ranks up there with Bester as my favorite recurring character.

TKO - Not a fan of this one, but I am a fan of the great Theodore Bikel!

Finished Season 2 and now into season 3

Marcus Cole!!

White Star!!

A Distant Star

I wonder what Captain Maynard felt about John being tied to a desk when word got to the Cortez out he was elected President of the ISA.

1 Explorer Ship. 100 Whitestars. Sheridan wins

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"I'll gain weight! Great. All my life i have stood up against Imperialism. Now suddenly I am the expanding Russian frontier."

"But with very nice borders."
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"You are the 2nd person in a month to tell me something strange is going on out in the Rim."
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"I command starships, Susan, not cities in space."
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"I'll tell you one thing. If the primates that we came from had known that someday politicians would come out of the gene pool, they'd have stayed up in the trees and written off evolution as a bad idea!"
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"This whole diet thing is your fault."

"Food plan."

"Whatever!"
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"I shouldn't need to remind you- no ship lost in hyperspace has ever been found again."

(but that's okay... Captain Smiley thrives on doing the impossible)
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"So when does the new delegation arrive? I heard Mr Garibaldi mention to someone that he was awaiting their arrival. I believe they are called 'bagna cauda'? "
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"God be between you and harm, in all the empty places where you must walk."
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"What makes you think this is the right place for me?"

"The universe puts us in places where we can learn. They are never easy places, but they are right. Wherever we are is the right place and the right time. The pain that sometimes comes is part of the process of constantly being born.

... We are both, i suppose, going through transitions. But the universe knows what it's doing."

"I wish I had your faith in the universe. I just don't see it sometimes."

"Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out. And as we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
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"There was just this feeling something dark and dangerous had gone by. You know that feeling, like somebody just walked on your grave? That's the only way I can describe it. I wanna know that it is."

"I'm sure we'll find out one of these days."
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"Trust me, Doc, you are gonna love this."

"I can feel my arteries hardening just being in the same room with it."
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"She (Ambassador Delenn) and the universe seem to have a special relationship."

"Don't we all?"
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Cruel Angel wrote:

bagna cauda

I really need to get this recipe, to see if it is really as good as they claim!!

Convictions

Brother Theo!

Just finished "Passing Through Gethsemane"

This episode just blows me away every time. And nothing to do with the arc, either.

Ronpur wrote:

Just finished "Passing Through Gethsemane"

This episode just blows me away every time. And nothing to do with the arc, either.

You know JMS has a little love for Lovecraft when he names a serial killer Charles Dexter and creates the PakMaRa, with their resemblance to Cthulhu

Ronpur wrote:

The Coming of Shadows.

"Hello old friend" I loved it so much when I heard Jeffrey Sinclair's voice again.

And that's why I don't do spoilers. If somehow you came across that Michael was going to be in the show, hardly any impact.

But if you have no idea and have just been along for the ride week to week, here it's been half a year since Chrysalis... a guy shows up trying hard to get the data crystal to Garibaldi, and you got a decent bit of curiosity going as to what is so important... then BAM!

And if you had no idea what was up before seeing the ep, there was no indication of it since they back credited his appearance instead of the front. From what i understand, you can use this as a tool for a surprise appearance that is decently brief, but I think there are rules that if an actor has a certain amount of screen time that they have to be front listed in the guest stars.

My favorite all time 'surprise appearance' that hit out of nowhere was in Angel, and they used the same trick. In the first half of Season 2, Wolfram and Hart launch a plan to bring Angel down using the resurrected Darla to play mind games with him. After finally realizing she was real, he gets her away from W and H, hoping to bring her back 'to the good side'. He comes to find out that when she was brought back... she was brought back not as a vamp, but human. Bad part is, she is now dying from the same disease that she had before she was turned (The Master bit her to save her from death). Then Angel goes on this huge bit to try and rescue her soul from being taken, and learns at the end that Darla through her resurrection, is already living her second chance at redemption. So after all that, Darla finally makes her personal breakthrough and finds peace with her past deeds, and decides to accept death... dying the way she was meant to, as a human. Of course Angel vows to be with her til the end, to make her final time on earth as nice and comfortable as possible.

Nice touching end to Darla's character changing arc... a happy ending.

But no. Out of nowhere, W and H bust in, bringing with them someone that enables them to destroy everything that Angel and Darla had gone through. When Lindsey tells Angel- How did you think this would end?, you still have no idea what they are going to do, until the surprise guest walks through the door... and after you get over the surprise, you know in an instant they are doomed.

If they hadn't back announced the actor, no way does that ending deliver the punch it did.


I think in series like B5 and Buffy and other fringe genre shows, it is easier to pull off surprises like that. They aren't under as much scrutiny as mainstream shows. With those, usually the media, internet, etc get wind of an actor returning to a show to reprise a character even before the show is produced. Even if it is managed to kept under wraps, then you have people in production that can leak that info too.

Rather sad, when you can try and work toward a big surprise for the viewers, and it's ruined by people and media outlets that just have to tell and report about anything they learn about.

Right now I'm having to be careful when I visit the DW news site. They have the ep titles for the rest of DW series 6 and the Torchwood eps, but the page loads the article text first, and there is a couple of seconds delay before the spoiler tags activate. I have to remember to avert my eyes til the page completely loads and the info is hidden.

The Long Dark

Love for Dwight Schultz

Bytes from The Long Dark-

"This is the Copernicus. We come in peace."
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"Hanson. Were you in the war?"

"No, I missed it."

"He didn't."

"How do you know?"

"I've had the same dream."
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"What did I do this time?"

"You were about to accuse the Centauri ambassador of being in league with the Devil. Which might not be far from the truth...You were standing in the middle of the plaza yelling that the Day of Judgement was coming."

"Did it?"

"Nah, not that I know. But I may have missed a staff meeting."
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"I checked his war record. They put enough ribbons on his chest to open a gift shop."
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"The forces of Darkness do not move openly. They work through others. Use others. When the Darkness was defeated long ago, they scattered. Hid themselves away in secret places and waited. Now the dark hand is reaching out and recalling them from their sleep."
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"Evil sometimes wears a pleasant face."
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"You said the ship was reprogrammed to a new destination? So where was it going?"

"It was heading for the Rim, toward the exact place where Ambassador GKar told us an ancient enemy was gathering its forces."

"Z'ha'dum."

"Something's going on, Commander..."

"I know. And between you and me, it's scaring the Hades out of me."
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And I also love how when Sheridan orders heavy weapons to be broken out when the Soldier of Darkness was found, that Susan already had two PPG rifles ready to go for her and him in C and C.

Point of No Return

Marshal Law.

All heck is breaking loose.

I love this show!!!

And Majel Roddenberry!

And this is one of Zach's best episodes. Making Jeff's death all the more sad.

Grail - Not one of my favorites for sure, but David Warner is wonderful in everything he does. It does have Ivanova's "No boom today" line. THAT was priceless...

Eyes - Jeffrey Combs is always wonderful as well - and this episode is no exception. Pretty good episode that even has a great B-story with Lennier helping Garibaldi rebuild his motorcycle. Hilarity ensues..

Severed Dreams

By far, my favorite of the series. Just so many awesome things going on. But, the favorite scene of mine, the end, when Sheridan walks onto the Zocolo, to the applause of the population of Babylon 5. Only at that moment, does he realize he has really done the right thing.

Ronpur wrote:

Severed Dreams

By far, my favorite of the series. Just so many awesome things going on. But, the favorite scene of mine, the end, when Sheridan walks onto the Zocolo, to the applause of the population of Babylon 5. Only at that moment, does he realize he has really done the right thing.

The trilogy of Messages from Earth, Point of No Return, and Severed Dreams is just terrific to watch. Sheridan's succession speech blew me away... really brought home that they were on a whole other level than other 'deep space franchises'

Even if a series had the guts to pull off a radical game changer on that level, most shows would use it as a cliffhanger finale, only to resolve it all within one or two eps of the next season premiere. It wouldn't happen during the regular run and take a year and a half to resolve.

With this trilogy and onwards, it just upped my already present need to keep tuning in each week... you really had no idea what could be happening next.

In that regard, I think it's kind of a mixed experience for people getting into B5 after it went off the air. With the dvds, you can blow through the eps and get the immediate gratification, but you lose that building anticipation of having to wait for the next ep or season to start.

Especially after Fall of Night and Zhadum. But I could have lived much easier without the added stress of wondering if we were going to get another season at those points

A Spider in the Web

Oh those pesky Psi Cops and their dark projects

I guess it is a matter of perspective. P5s and under probably have a great life... all living expenses paid by the Corps, plus their actual work fees- and not being powerful enough to be courted or be exposed to the conspiracy that military teeps on up would.

Age is also probably a factor. Born teeps that are indoctrinated into the Corps at an early age are probably more vulnerable to the 'we are better than the mundanes' attitude and not have a problem with the darker agendas, versus latent teeps that have lived their lives as mundanes until their abilities manifest, then get sent through the Academy.

You figure the Psi Cops would be sneaking in special personality screenings and scans to determine who would be amenable to their agenda, especially with powerful latents.

Bester's groupie in The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father is just plain scary.

Bytes from A Spider in the Web-

"Ah, it's good to be the captain."
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*** Zack's first episode!!!! ***

*** I wonder if they actually got Andrea to do Control's voice ***
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"With all due respect, Senator, my duties of commander of B5 don't include spying on civilians."

"These are volatile times, Captain. Practicality is more important that principles if lives are to be saved."

*** makes you wonder just how many senators were in Clark's camp ***
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"Free Mars!"
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"I'll arrange for an escort."

(before Sheridan even activates his link, in comes Garibaldi) "One escort, at your service!"
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"You know how I feel about telepaths."

"Do I ever. You threw one out a 3 story window on Io."

"There was an ample pool below the window."

"I'll assume you knew that."
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"Whoever killed Taro Isogi killed Mars's best hope for the future."

*** Fear not, Captain Smiley can sort out entire planetary problems ***
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*** So was Talia triggering Abel to fight his programming a fortunate happenstance, or was that actually Dark Talia doing?

I'd go with the latter... since Control ordered Abel to take out Talia. By going after her, Dark Talia messing with Abel deflects any involvement and keeps security focused on Abel ***

*** On a related note, could you have imagined heads rolling in Bureau 13 if Abel had indeed managed to kill Talia and whoever was running the Dark Talia project found out they just lost their only mole on B5? ***
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"Some people collect coins or art. I collect secrets."
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"For the past 6 years, there have been rumors about a rogue agency operating deep inside EarthGov. A dirty tricks squad- dealing in black projects and star chamber justice. It took me over 3 years just to get a name- Bureau 13. And the man who gave me that name died soon after."
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"There is a spider in the web, Mr Garibaldi. And I intend to find it, and kill it."
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*** Now that I am really paying attention to Control and 13's dialogue... in 13's final message to Control, 13 states- he is to follow up until he is certain. So Dark Talia is actually a male personality... ***
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War Without End

A true Babylon 5 epic. The circle is complete.

In Valan's Name, this was awesome!

In Sinclair's Name, this was awesome!

Soul Mates

Here come Pestilence, Famine, and Death...

Matt is cool too... much love for Keith Szarabajka playing Mickey in The Equalizer series

Bytes from Soul Mates (and there are a ton of good ones)-

"Matt Stoner? He's not here on Babylon 5...?"

"You know him?"

"Only in the most unpleasant sense. I was married to him."
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"What's he hiding? Vir, tell me. I won't bite, Vir."

"With all due respect, Madam, that's not what I have heard."

"All right. That one time..."
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"I acquired human characteristics to bring your people and mine closer together, to symbolize our mutuality. It is supposed to be a dignified, inspiring transition for both humans and Minbari. So will you please explain to me why this... this... "

"Hair."

"... refuses to cooperate!?!"
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"... people seem to be implying that I shouldn't get too comfortable."

"Oh, nonsense. It's not as if anyone expects you to vanish overnight under mysterious circumstances to a strange Minbari post. Why that would be unprecedented in this station's history."
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"The secret of our marriage's success, Londo, is our lack of communication."
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"Breeding will tell."

"A b*tch like you would know about breeding."
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"Garibaldi. Head of security."

"So if I'm feeling insecure, hugging you will make me feel better?"
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"I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Use both eyes. You'll need them."
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"Both of us, together?"

"If it pleases Londo, it pleases me."

"No, no, this isn't right. Timov should be here too."

"Do you seriously expect me to become involved in your sexual olympics?"

"They're merely expressing their feelings for me."

"Oh, I can do that!"

SMACK!

***Timov rules ***
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"If by any chance Londo doesn't survive, I'll find something to charge you with. Negligence, transporting dangerous material..."

"Sure, why not? Go for broke. Hey, how about I call you an idiot in public, and you can convict me for revealing state secrets?"
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"Londo, are you okay? Do you know where you are?"

(looks around MedLab and sees his wives standing around his bed)

"Either in MedLab or in Hades. Either way, the decor needs work."
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"Nightmares. All of them. And Timov, the worst of the lot."

"Ambassador Mollari, do you mind if I make one personal observation? Stick it."

"How odd. And I didn't even know we were married."
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"Gkar, a pleasure as always."

"I warn you, Mariel, do not be overconfident. If I were married to Londo Mollari, I'd be concerned."

"GKar, if you were married to Londo Mollari, we'd all be concerned."
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"All right, Londo, why did you choose to keep me as your wife and not them?
I've made no pretense of affection for you. I find your recent actions contemptible. I'll never love you. At best, I'll tolerate you, and I'll never be what you want me to be. Why?"

"Because with you, I'll always know where I stand."
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Peter David is such a great character writer