Babylon 5 update
Jun. 29th, 2009 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeRight, so I'm into season 3 of Babylon 5. All you guys who said I could skip season 1 were totally wrong, btw, because that set everything up. I don't think I'd appreciate the Londo + G'Kar stuff half as much as I do without seeing season 1. Not to mention Delenn.
Here are some thoughts:
- Mostly, as the EarthDome conspiracy unfolds, I'm struck by how obviously it satirises the Bush Administration. Only it was all written a decade before 9/11. And the stuff with the political officer and the citizen police is very heavy handed.
- Kosh is hilarious. I love him.
- Delenn is amazing.
- The only way you can justify a scene without Delenn is by including Ivanova. A scene with both of them pretty much justifies the entire series. All five seasons of it.
- Bester/Ivanova: I ship it. I'm sorry.
- (Not really.)
- I kind of like the idea of Sheridan/Delenn in theory, but then you put them together and it's like ... she's totally spiritual and ethereal, and he's a cowboy, and what? But I like it when they're both vulnerable. If Sheridan spent more time suffering, I might like him better.
- I cheered when Talia left, because Andrea Thompson is like, the worst actress in history. But wow, your lesbian romance fell apart because one lesbian was evil? I don't care how you lampshade or excuse it, that's fail. On the other hand, Ivanova could totally do better. I'm torn.
- Andreas Katsulas is amazing, which kind of makes the loss of Na'Toth even worse. She had one actress, who was great, but she left because she couldn't handle the make-up. (And she was replacing another character, whose actress couldn't handle the make-up.) Then she was recast, with another good actress -- who left after a couple of episodes because she either couldn't handle the make-up or JMS didn't like her. Either way, it was fail, because I loved Na'Toth and wanted comedy fic about her hanging out with Lennier and Vir and facepalming over the antics of their superiors.
- Have I mentioned how Delenn is amazing? She is like the Romana that lives in my head, only less cranky, more sane and a totally different character. I especially love the bit where Draal is like, "You've changed. I like it." Because my mentor/apprentice thing extends to the Minbari religious caste, apparently (even though I don't like Draal very much). I briefly entertained myself by wondering how Braxiatel would act, given the opportunity to hook himself up to an ancient machine of knowledge. Only we know exactly what he'd do: con some younger, gullible person into doing it on his behalf. Then turning himself into a stone for a few millennia, because that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Some Time Lords turn themselves into Derek Jacobi, but not Braxiatel, oh no--
- Sorry, I got distracted.
- The show is in clear danger of falling into the trap where Our (Human) Heroes are awesome and Everyone (Human) Who Is Not Them Is An Evil Fascist. I love Bester just to spite Garibaldi, really. Sometimes it's like a whole series based on the final five minutes of "The Long Game". But then there's Delenn.
Here are some thoughts:
- Mostly, as the EarthDome conspiracy unfolds, I'm struck by how obviously it satirises the Bush Administration. Only it was all written a decade before 9/11. And the stuff with the political officer and the citizen police is very heavy handed.
- Kosh is hilarious. I love him.
- Delenn is amazing.
- The only way you can justify a scene without Delenn is by including Ivanova. A scene with both of them pretty much justifies the entire series. All five seasons of it.
- Bester/Ivanova: I ship it. I'm sorry.
- (Not really.)
- I kind of like the idea of Sheridan/Delenn in theory, but then you put them together and it's like ... she's totally spiritual and ethereal, and he's a cowboy, and what? But I like it when they're both vulnerable. If Sheridan spent more time suffering, I might like him better.
- I cheered when Talia left, because Andrea Thompson is like, the worst actress in history. But wow, your lesbian romance fell apart because one lesbian was evil? I don't care how you lampshade or excuse it, that's fail. On the other hand, Ivanova could totally do better. I'm torn.
- Andreas Katsulas is amazing, which kind of makes the loss of Na'Toth even worse. She had one actress, who was great, but she left because she couldn't handle the make-up. (And she was replacing another character, whose actress couldn't handle the make-up.) Then she was recast, with another good actress -- who left after a couple of episodes because she either couldn't handle the make-up or JMS didn't like her. Either way, it was fail, because I loved Na'Toth and wanted comedy fic about her hanging out with Lennier and Vir and facepalming over the antics of their superiors.
- Have I mentioned how Delenn is amazing? She is like the Romana that lives in my head, only less cranky, more sane and a totally different character. I especially love the bit where Draal is like, "You've changed. I like it." Because my mentor/apprentice thing extends to the Minbari religious caste, apparently (even though I don't like Draal very much). I briefly entertained myself by wondering how Braxiatel would act, given the opportunity to hook himself up to an ancient machine of knowledge. Only we know exactly what he'd do: con some younger, gullible person into doing it on his behalf. Then turning himself into a stone for a few millennia, because that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Some Time Lords turn themselves into Derek Jacobi, but not Braxiatel, oh no--
- Sorry, I got distracted.
- The show is in clear danger of falling into the trap where Our (Human) Heroes are awesome and Everyone (Human) Who Is Not Them Is An Evil Fascist. I love Bester just to spite Garibaldi, really. Sometimes it's like a whole series based on the final five minutes of "The Long Game". But then there's Delenn.
