B5 - what was the turning point for you?
Niemist| Riitta Elina
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emma...@panix.com kirjoitteli:
: I was wondering if others have such turning points - when for you did
: the story become something worth following and telling people about?
G'Kar saving Catherine Sakai because it seemed like a good idea:
"I told you before you left: 'No one here is entirely what they appear.'
If I surprised you, all the better. Good day, Ms. Sakai."
Somehow those lines revealed for me that there is so much more in G'Kar
than it seemed at the first place.
--
Riitta Niemistö "Between the idea Falls the Shadow
p. 365 3863 t. And the reality For thine is the Kingdom"
261 7273 k. Between the motion -- T.S. Eliot:
And the act The Hollow Men
MasterShrink
>I've thought about this off and on over the years - at some point for me
>I realized that Babylon 5 was going to be something exceptional. I know
>that one of the elements I found intriguing in the pilot was the way
>Kosh was presented - it added mystery in a way I found appealing. But
>the real turning point for me had to be in "Mind War" at the very end
>when G'Kar parallels human understanding of the Sigma 957 creatures with
>an ant's understanding of humans. That was the point where Babylon 5 really
>became a story that *appreciated* the mysteries of space, not just a
>story that happened to *be* in space.
>
>I was wondering if others have such turning points - when for you did
>the story become something worth following and telling people about?
"Mind War" was one of those eps I missed when it first aired, even thought I'd
started with the pilot. "And the Sky Full of Stars" got me hooked because it
got the arc moving, and eps like "Signs and Portents" and "Babylon Squared"
kept me watching the first season, but once "Chrysalis" hit, the shadow ships,
Morden's dealings with Londo, Delenn realizing Sinclair remembers what happened
on the line, all the events of season one all came together into one explosive
hour.
But the real point of no return happened when Santiago died. When Garibaldi
managed to utter the words "They're going to kill the President" to Sinclair I
thought that they'd warn him in time and save the day (though Chistopher
Franke's music still had me really tense). Once I saw Earthforce One go up, I
knew this was looking to be a great ride.
-Andy
Master...@aol.com
ne...@texas.net
first few episodes were -okay-, so I stuck with it, but when And The
Sky Full Of Stars aired, I realized that this series was not the
predicatable formulaic sci-fry to which many of us had become
accustomed. The level of intrigue increased dramatically, and suddenly
Sinclair had a quest to find out what was really going on.
This episode was followed up with Deathwalker, which set up an
interesting ethical dilemma. Should earthgov help a scientist who
developed an anti-aging compound, which could save or extend the lives
of billions, even though she's wanted for war crimes, even though the
compound requires the sacrifice of one life per dosage?
Kosh's perfunctory "You are not ready for immortality," is still one
of my favorite lines, as is Sinclair's observation in the epilogue
that expediency and politics always seemed to take precedence over
morality.
In both episodes, the Minbari and Vorlons were clearly not just alien
window-dressing. Each was powerful, manipulative, and mysterious, with
unknown agendas. Very refreshing. I was hooked.
Iain Rae
>
> The first time I saw a shot of a Shadow ship - which happened to be
> in the first episode I ever watched, 'Distant Star'.
The same for me but it was signs and portents, the ships reminded me of
Jenny Meggies (Daddy long-legs or crane flies) which I can't stand since
I swallowed one in my sleep as a kid, I was really impressed that
someone else could see just how evil these little buggers could be. :)
Oh and the storyline was as good as Whip Hubley's acting was bad :)
--
Iain Rae
Computing Officer
Dept. Civil & Offshore Engineering
Heriot-Watt University
Kerry Casey
>.......
> the real turning point for me had to be in "Mind War" at the very end
> when G'Kar parallels human understanding of the Sigma 957 creatures with
> an ant's understanding of humans. That was the point where Babylon 5
really
> became a story that *appreciated* the mysteries of space, not just a
> story that happened to *be* in space.
>
> I was wondering if others have such turning points - when for you did
> the story become something worth following and telling people about?
>
And the Sky Full of Stars
I have watched B5 since the beginning. I enjoyed the pilot and the first few
episodes, but just taped them, watched them, then overtaped them. (just
another okay TV series, good to relax watching for an hour)
Then I saw "And the Sky Full of Stars" and thought "This series is really
good, I should have been keeping the tapes". I kept every episode since
then.
(Just as well they were later released on video. I now have all the
pre-recorded videos as well - no ads, and surround sound. Hanging out for
the DVDs - yes, I've signed the petition :-) )
Kerry
--
Kerry Casey
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
E-mail kca...@bom.gov.au
Pelzo63
any new Sci-Fi a chance right away. i enjoyed the gathering, and when i heard
that it was going to become a tv series, and have a "5-year arc" i thought
"heh, cool". i watched a few episodes of the first season, thinking it would
be just another "hit the reset button" show(i didn't realize what "an arc"
meant, i was a teenager!). i remember noticing a few things, mainly "what was
THAT ship? that was COOL!" in regards to the shadows, but, i always seemed to
miss the big turning point episodes during the first run, i became hooked on
the show(ie. taping it, and watching it every time its on) sometime during the
beginning of the 4th season, before the end of the shadow war, and REALLY
became hooked(ie, looking up info for it and books and stuff like that), during
the Break in the summer of Season 5(right after the drazi/narn started firing
on centauri prime). i was looking for spoilers thinking "i'm gonna read that
these were only warnin shots, or they were targetting the moon, or they were
targeting an ocean" never thinking that they would actually blow it up. ever
since then, i've watched every episode as it's rerun, and am about to finish
the psi-corps trilogy*, to start on centauri trilogy book 2.
*the local bookstores were ALWAYS sold out of Deadly Relations, and i was't
goig to read Final reckoning w/o reading deadly relations, so i held off on FR,
and read Cp trilogy book #1 instead
--Chris
JBONETATI
story become something worth following and telling people about?>>
It's all my husbands fault! I'd started taping the show because of the buzz
about the whole story having been mapped out before it even began. In truth,
though, while I enjoyed the episodes I watched, it didn't bother me if I
forgot. Then, one fateful week, my husband asked it I'd been watching it and I
told him I'd missed some but that it was a good show. He told me 'If you care
about the characters and story at all, you need to watch this weeks episode."
He was right. The episode was 'Signs and Portents'. From then on I was a
rabid Fan.
Thanks, Joe!
Jan
lcou...@stetson.edu
"Kerry Casey" <kca...@bom.gov.au> wrote:
> <emma...@panix.com> wrote:
> >.......
> > the real turning point for me had to be in "Mind War" at the very
end
> > when G'Kar parallels human understanding of the Sigma 957 creatures
with
> > an ant's understanding of humans. That was the point where Babylon 5
> really
> > became a story that *appreciated* the mysteries of space, not just a
> > story that happened to *be* in space.
> >
did
> > the story become something worth following and telling people about?
> >
>
>
> I have watched B5 since the beginning. I enjoyed the pilot and the
first few
> episodes, but just taped them, watched them, then overtaped them.
(just
> another okay TV series, good to relax watching for an hour)
>
> Then I saw "And the Sky Full of Stars" and thought "This series is
really
> good, I should have been keeping the tapes". I kept every episode
since
> then.
>
> (Just as well they were later released on video. I now have all the
> pre-recorded videos as well - no ads, and surround sound. Hanging out
for
> the DVDs - yes, I've signed the petition :-) )
>
> Kerry
>
> --
> Kerry Casey
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> E-mail kca...@bom.gov.au
>
>
Well I too saw the Garthering and both my husband and I crossed our
fingers that it would get picked up. When it did we watched season 1
but sporadically. We mangaed to miss Signs and Portents and Babulon
Squared until after the second season started (!)(the ads for Bsqrd
made it seem like a bad Trek time travel show - boy was I wrong!) . I
got hooked, to the point of taping, somewhere in the second season. The
point I know I was hooked was _In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum_ - I watched
a tape my husband made becase he insisted, and we never looked back. It
may have been earlier, I remember long distacne telephone calls with
friend devoted to earlier episodes (A Race through Dark Places comes to
mind), but that clinched it.
Lisa COulter
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Andre Lieven
I, and my ex, were at I Con 12, I believe it was, where jms and most
of the cast of The Gathering was in attendance. Along with a batch of
my pals from the area, we were doing panles at the con, and thus, were
to be found, at times, in the Green Room. I don't recall us having much
opportunity to speak with most of them, but what we heard, and saw of
them, both there and at panels, seemed interesting, and I remembered
to keep an eye out for the show, when it made it up to Ottawa.
Which was in January of '94, with the first episode coming the day after
they ran the pilot. I can't say that it blew me away right from the start,
but I could see that this was going to be an interesting, and different
place from ST. Even then, there were subtleties that I missed seeing,
until later. Now, it all but amazes me as to how some can think that
Season 1 was " quiet ", and how O'Hare doesn't emote. <g>
During my first pass, TKO, for instance, struck me as being almost an
incidental episode. Upon reviewings, I can now see that, while it wasn't
a heavy arc story, it was significant to several of the characters,
especially Susan. And, that it was very well told.
Past all that, Season four came along just as my marriage collapsed, and
what it said to me, was exactly what I needed to hear, at that time
and place of my life. So, by then, the story had a different additional
meaning to me. For that, alone, I owe jms great thnaks for being a
part of what, and who, helped me hold it together at the toughest
time of my life. In that way, I found that G'Kar really speaks to a
lot of what carries meaning to me.
And, if I were to carry that analogy further, I would say that, like
Sheridan, my first wife was the Shadow controlled Anna, and my wife
to be is definitely more of a Delenn figure. Having seen my Z'Ha'dum
once, I am content to let Lyta blow it up...
Andre
--
" The noblest achievement of the imagination is to make time run some
other way, and terminate in beauty and forgivness "
David Gelernter, " 1939 "
Jms at B5
I'll happily thettle for a thandwich and thome ith cream...
Thufferin' thuccotash....
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
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