Comments on: Babylon 5: The Gathering

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:14:57 +0000

Well, it’s more in the plot-revealing-style the similarities lie than in the actual plot. But yeah, not a mean comparison for any show to get.

B5 is no BSG. It’s got good characters and dialogue, but few great ones, whereas BSG has them a-plenty (though maybe being a bit behind B5 on the dialogue). It’s got as good a - or even better -series/season-plot, but in return the individual episodes are way weaker plotwise than most BSG-eps. It’s good, however, and on the humouristic side way better than BSG, but if I’m to choose favourites, it’s a far cry from BSG’s excellence and sheer pathos.

(Apropo nothing, I just realized I have more comments on this weblog than Terje has, even if you put all his different names for commenting together I still match him, or just about. Scary.)

By: Lotta

Lotta — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:57:43 +0000

I have to say that this sounds very promising. Having started BSG season 3 myself, I suspect that I may have a “thing” for space operas. BSG certainly rocks so hard it makes my head hurt and eyes weep

I’ll be looking forward to your season reviews, Terje. GotM isn’t a bad comparison in my book.

By: Terje Phlegmont Mendoza

Terje Phlegmont Mendoza — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:44:12 +0000

Inconsistancies, you say? Does any of these appear before episode 10 of season 1? Because if they do, I’ll have to catch you now or later tonight, whereas if they don’t occur until later, I could put it off ’till tomorrow or something.

And GotM — you’re actually right. It does resemble that.

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:28:55 +0000

“In spite of all these things, though, I was relatively impressed and intrigued. The plotting built a hell of a lot of suspense through leaving a lot of unanswered questions — what happened at The Line? what happened to Babylon 4? — as well as by hinting at possible political scemes and old grudges between the races.”

Actually, this reminds me a lot of “Gardens of the Moon”. Huh.

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:35:34 +0000

Suit yourself. There is not anything on quite the level of “Serenity” being aired as the 12th and 13th episode, but there are some inconsistancies. However, I’m cautious by nature, so I watched it all in the “right” order when I watched it, I don’t really know if you’d notice inconsistancies watching it in the original, “wrong” viewing order or not.

By: Terje Phlegmont Mendoza

Terje Phlegmont Mendoza — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:00:21 +0000

I don’t think I’ll care too much about that corrected viewing order, but I might take you up on that offer on the movies. Not now, though. I think I’ll prioritise the show tonight.

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:36:45 +0000

I think you will too. It’s not all that high on my favourites-list, but that’s ’cause of my subjective opinions on which strenghts to look for first in a show, and B5’s main strenghts often being among the ones I look for only third or fourth. It’s very well made, though, on the whole, and as long as your expectations are at a sane level, the few weak episodes shouldn’t bother you too much, either.

Some episodes have an official “corrected” viewing-order compared to their initial airings, by the way, if you log on MSN I can give it to you, as well as tell you where the different movies fit in.

By: Terje

Terje — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:28:23 +0000

I’m now done with the first two episodes, and it looks like all of my complaints were heard back through time, because all the flaws of the pilot are fixed, so far. Fun to observe the difference in quality between the pilot and the first episode.

I suspect I might come to like this show very much.

By: zhayena

zhayena — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:15:19 +0000

We are waiting for some B5 rental movies, but I’m not sure if this was one of them.. I used to see both the Sunday show (new episodes) and the Saturday show (old episodes) as long it was on, - and I was crying when the very last episode was over.. I just loved it. I wish they could send it again.

By: Loki

Loki — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:43:23 +0000

Nah, feel free to count it.

Londo rocks, no question about it, and increasingly so as the series progresses, he’s without a doubt one of the main strengths of the series, character-wise, together with another certain someone who’ll remain anonymous to avoid unnecessary spoilage.

The pilot takes place a good while before the first episode, just so you’re prepared for that, mostly to explain some cast-changes - like, Lyta Alexander, for instance, is not there anymore, nor is another of the main cast in “The Gathering”, instead of recasting them they kept the characters in-continuity and simply said they’d been reassigned and such, and there were new people holding their positions at the time the series start.