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The Deconstruction of Season 5
This prolly belongs in the B5 forum, but more people seem to read here...
Over the past 4 months, we've been re-watching all of B5 with my daughter, we just finished Day of the Dead in season 5 (actually one of my favorite episodes)
And i started to wonder...Everyone hates Byron, but, is it the Character. or the Actor? i started to think that maybe a different actor, could have actually made him a compelling character.
And people generally dislike the way the Telepaths were portrayed, is that because of the writing? or again, because they cast people who looked as Gypsy like as possible, and turned it into a commune rather than a colony.
I realise that as a whole, S5 prolly should never have happened, the story was mostly over with S4, and you can see the external influences on S5, but i do wonder, could different actors and a different portrayal of the Telepahs have saved S5?
Over the past 4 months, we've been re-watching all of B5 with my daughter, we just finished Day of the Dead in season 5 (actually one of my favorite episodes)
And i started to wonder...Everyone hates Byron, but, is it the Character. or the Actor? i started to think that maybe a different actor, could have actually made him a compelling character.
And people generally dislike the way the Telepaths were portrayed, is that because of the writing? or again, because they cast people who looked as Gypsy like as possible, and turned it into a commune rather than a colony.
I realise that as a whole, S5 prolly should never have happened, the story was mostly over with S4, and you can see the external influences on S5, but i do wonder, could different actors and a different portrayal of the Telepahs have saved S5?
Comments
About Byron I liked Byron for the most part till he lost control. Don't know who else would play Byron there aren't that many Brits who have long hair and aren't rockstars. I can't see a short haired Byron no sir. The long hairs portrayed his rogue status. Short hair seemed to be the Psi Corp standard (Leeta had short hair earlier and Talia kept hers reasonable)
That scene where he takes the beatings was probably his most defining moment. Who didn't see that scene and think next time I'm in a fight ya know. Tried it myself and well it doesn't work I got pretty pummeled last time. :/
Don't think any actor could have saved the telepaths didn't Joe PLAN the teep war?
The telepaths just seemed creepy. Lived in their dark place and didn't talk that much.
wasnt that the point?
i always felt sorry for byron, as soon as i saw him i just knew he was the 'tragic character' and that he was inevitably going to meet a bad end
You forgot how it usually ends, as see in "Passing Through Gethsemane" where "Brother Edward" gets mugged.
Remember, not everyone watched or liked Babylon 5. :D
The original plan was to introduce the telepaths more slowly in Season 4 (it made more sense, with B5 a rebel station outside EA). Season 4 would end with "Intersections in Real Time". The one to be involved romantically with Byron was Ivanova (she would have seen Byron as a way to take the chance she didn't take with Marcus). The telepath arc we saw would have seemed more natural, not a rushed series of B-stories.
I'm almost sure Byron would have seemed a more likable tragic hero that way, not the whinny hippie we saw.
JMS didn't know there would be a fith season, so he pushed out some secondary stories and characters, finished the main threads in season 4.
When season 5 happened I believe JMS made a mistake by almost splitting it in two. We got a weak start of Season 5 with the telepaths and a strong end with the Fall of Centauri Prime stories and the lead up to Sleeping in Light. Had the telepath storyline developed more slowly, to culminate towards the end of the season, it could have been better.
I believe it was the writing, but I don't blame JMS that much due to the circumstances.
As for byron on the Gag Reel, he was quite funny, i need to find my copy of the gag reel, i had the whole big dvd sized one, on a disc when i left New York 4 years ago, now, i think its in a box, somewhere.
And yes, my daughter is enjoying it, every night "Can we please watch babylon 5 daddy, come on, lets watch" which is funny, because during season 1, it was mostly "Do we have to watch Babylon 5 tonight daddy"
She was terrified of Kosh at first, course she is 9.. i guess Vorlons could be scary. So far, she thinks her favorite part is Vir waving to Morden's decapitated head. lol thats my lil girl.
Yes, i know this. but you left out the part where TNT wanted more creative control, and asserted that control, which is what lead to all the sex and violence in S5, and the demise of Crusade.
I almost think it would have been better to not have Season 5, and just end it at the end of S4, since for the most part, the story he wanted told, was told.
Especially River of Souls...
anyway...
;)
Seriously, didn't JMS find out a few years ago that TNT was [i]trying[/i] to make the show suck so they could cancel it?
And your daughter is nine and is watching the show? Does she really understand much? The show seems more suited to people at least in their teens to me. That they'd be more aware of the themes and such in stories (duh, why can't I think of the right word right now? I hope this statement makes sense).
The older daughter already likes it, although she's not watched the whole series through.
bottom line was, it' had been about 4 years since i watched the whole series, and it was time to watch again, And short of throwing her out of the room whenever we wanted to watch 3 or 4 eps in a night, she'd have to watch with us, and no point in watching if she was only going to see an episode here and there...
in the "war without end" part 1, who is this 'lucy and ethel' sinclair compares them all to? i've got no clue as to the reference, and its been bugging me for a while