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Rewatched season 5...
So, I have watched Babylon 5 numerous times. But I always seem to taper off in Season 5. Usually because of Byron. Months go by, and eventually I just restart the series. Never making my way through season 5. (That and I think Deconstruction of Falling Stars was a wonderful end to the series).
This past week, I decided to correct that. I started with season 5. I'll admit, I skipped the Byron parts. Even the satisfaction of watching him blow himself up. Can't stand that guy, or that entire arc.
However, I was surprised by how good the rest of the season was. The shadow of Byron was cast so heavily on season five in my memory that I honestly couldn't remember much besides him, the bombing of Centauri Prime, and my loathing for Sleeping in Light. (Which I still have not re-watched, reading Legions of Fire first I think).
Re-watching it in its entirety for the first time, possibly since it's original air date, and I'm surprised how much I forgot. Them finding shadow tech on the Drazi home world for instance, totally forgot about that. #1 being made head of the ISA Intelligence division... just a couple excellent surprises that well...felt new.
I also forgot how well the show wrapped itself up. The last five episodes are basically one long farewell...tying up all the characters stories quite nicely, even some of the more minor characters. Almost hard to watch, especially knowing that some of the actors are now beyond the rim... but...refreshing at the same time. And I think, the ending is still unmatched in US television. SG1 didn't really have an ending, BSG fell apart, and...well, nothing else really told a continuous story IMHO. It was just so well done, and I forgot how WELL done it was.
Just thought I'd share.
This past week, I decided to correct that. I started with season 5. I'll admit, I skipped the Byron parts. Even the satisfaction of watching him blow himself up. Can't stand that guy, or that entire arc.
However, I was surprised by how good the rest of the season was. The shadow of Byron was cast so heavily on season five in my memory that I honestly couldn't remember much besides him, the bombing of Centauri Prime, and my loathing for Sleeping in Light. (Which I still have not re-watched, reading Legions of Fire first I think).
Re-watching it in its entirety for the first time, possibly since it's original air date, and I'm surprised how much I forgot. Them finding shadow tech on the Drazi home world for instance, totally forgot about that. #1 being made head of the ISA Intelligence division... just a couple excellent surprises that well...felt new.
I also forgot how well the show wrapped itself up. The last five episodes are basically one long farewell...tying up all the characters stories quite nicely, even some of the more minor characters. Almost hard to watch, especially knowing that some of the actors are now beyond the rim... but...refreshing at the same time. And I think, the ending is still unmatched in US television. SG1 didn't really have an ending, BSG fell apart, and...well, nothing else really told a continuous story IMHO. It was just so well done, and I forgot how WELL done it was.
Just thought I'd share.
Comments
You'll catch details you didn't even know were there in the first place.
I'm enjoying my Voyager marathon right now and it's a lot of fun. The web is also full of episode details and rumors about the cast. It's quite engrossing. :)
The ending of B5 was quite emotional at the time. I doubt it's any less now. It's the worst and the best moments that make us who we are. Life is good, while it lasts. :)
The rest of Season 5 is great. It has the best non-JMS episode (Day of the Dead), the Centauri War arc, etc. etc. It really was pretty good. I've liked it more and more as the years have gone by. During the first runthrough on the Sci-Fi channel when I was in middle school I was a bit "meh" by it but catching it on DVD in high school I was much more impressed.
Probably the moment that struck out at me more during the third-time through (the DVD) was the flashback Londo had after he is crowned emperor. The music swell during that....dear god, one of the most powerful moments of the entire series, and yet I didn't seem to emotionally catch it during the first two run throughs (but I was also 11 and 14 when those aired, so I was a bit younger).
And of course Sleeping in Light....I've seen it properly 4 times, the last time when I was 20.....got me everytime. Even just THINKING about it gets me. There's very few things that have had that same emotional pull on me.
I've never been truly disappointed with Season 5. It didn't have the long build-up and clear payoff of the preceeding seasons, but it had a huge pay-off in character development. I also find Byron to be fairly well written and very well acted now. The followers are a little odd, still, but overall the arc is really not that bad.
That said, the rest of season 5 was quite good. And...I watched Sleeping in Light. Gah that episode is such a downer on a whole.
Oh well...now to read Legions of Fire. :)
Granted the first season of any series is difficult to get through. We often have to pep talk each other to make it past a series growing pains (Eureka we nearly stopped watching after episode 2), but after BSG and Firefly which hit the ground running it makes it a lot more difficult.
Byron is supposed to be this charismatic likable person, that naturally draws people to him. (we are told this in the series many times).
But he's this moody jerk, who rarely says thank you, and is generally just an ass.
Now, picture if the personality of Marcus was applied to Byron. Suddenly you have a very likable person, driven, charming, capable, and friendly person who you sympathize with rather than want to punch. You know...a Byron with emotions other than angst. Puts a whole new spin on the entire arc, and makes it work. Even the other telepaths who look all moody and emo can be forgiven, as he'd naturally be there to help them out. Instead of "Poor me, I hear everything people think" we get a guy excited about who he is, yet knows the truth of the psi corps and how wrong they are. He's searching for a new solution, a home where teeps can be themselves. It's the way I think his character was intended, but they got the wrong actor for the spot, and worked with what they had.
I've always thought fans were too hard on the fifth season. It had it's flaws, and one of the major problems with it is the fact that it had to follow the mindblowing third and fourth seasons, but I still think it was good. Well, I have to admit that Byron's line are just so cheesy. It's weird, when I think about the character Byron I actually do like him, but when I watch an episode with him he just annoys me. I really liked Byron in the Psi Corps Trilogy, especially the one in Bester's head in the third book.
With the exception of Andromeda. Excellent first season, and downhill from there....
As for Season 5, it has a lot to recommend it, but I admit I often had little interest in the Byron arc beyond the effect it ultimately had on Lyta. I agree the last few episodes were and excellent conclusion and farewell to the characters, but I regard Sleeping in Light as the finest finale out there. I think I've watched it no more than 4 times however, as to this day it puts me through the emotional wringer every time
On the other hand, if you take the longer view and consider the events from the Centauri trilogy, his choices had a part to play in ultimately setting the Centauri on a far better path than the one they were on in Midnight on the Firing Line. They went through a lot of hell, but they came out better.
Edit: OK, so to elaborate on why I don't like those books some more, I thought the books were pointless. It's like the only reason they existed was to answer the question of what happened in that inbetween time, and for no other reason. The Psi Corps and Technomage books actually have points to them, while I felt that the Centauri trilogy just plodded along with no real message or anything. I also think that he screwed up on the characterizations, especially Galen. Just from what we saw in the show of him, and even more when compared to how Cavelos wrote him in the excellent Technomage books, which I actually consider to be the perfect end to Babylon 5, it ends with a message of appreciating mystery, which I think was Cavelos saying to fans that we should cherish our own imagination and interpretations and what the show is, and not worry about how it's not going to continue.
Galen in the Technomage books would never have manipulated someone's emotions like he did with Mariel (and let me also say that I thought it was so stupid that Galen actually used the seven words to make someone fall in love forever. I think that pretty much everyone understood that to be some sort of metaphor that Elric was using). I really don't see Galen brainwashing a woman to further his own goals like that asshole Spooky Electric in Boogiepop. He totally screwed up on Galen as far as I'm concerned. Back when I first read it, all I knew of Galen was what was in Crusade, and after seeing him in such pain over Isabelle's death, I really didn't see him doing what he does to Mariel in the Centauri books.
Oh yeah, and Peter David killed the duck/cat joke and I wanted to punch him in the face after the fourth time he used that joke in the book.
To each his own I guess. :) (That said, Galen had no problems killing someone in cold blood, even when other options were available. (The Lost Tales)
I too wasn't all that fond of the Technomage books, but that was more because I preferred knowing very little about them and their motives. I always thought them a group that didnt need explaining or having a spotlight thrown on them, they lost their sense of mysticism after that.
As for The Lost Tales, well, I just pretend it's fan fiction. I thought it took more away from B5 than added to it.
A few more little gripes about the Centauri books (looking forward to that, huh?). I thought it was stupid of him to have that part when Londo hears the kids nearby, which is right before the beginning of In the Beginning, and then Londo thinks to himself that he'll tell a story to the kids, while in the movie Londo tells the kid he'll grant any request at all that the kid could think of, and the kid says he wants to hear a story, and Londo is pleased with such a simple answer. Hell, Peter David even wrote the novelisation of the movie, so how did he forget that?
I realize that he was supplied with the wrong dates though and that's why there's the bizzare problem of how the entire fifth season up to The Fall of Centauri Prime is apparently supposed to take place in about five months.
OK, OK, I won't keep going on about my problems with those books.
Galen and Sheridan running into each other at Z'ha'dum was also pretty groan-worthy.
(Granted, some of that happened in the Centauri books, like Vir smashing Londo's keeper after finding his body, or Londo flirting with Delenn during the dinner scene in "Objects at Rest," but an extra line here or there or something happening after the end of the scene is a lot easier to swallow than trying to watch "Geometry" and imagine that Sheridan is musing about the power of magic while the rest of the dome is losing their shit because hundreds of people just died horribly without warning right on their doorstep).
And then I remembered that the Centauri handshake involves grasping [i]both[/i] forearms, preventing exactly that. So, that joke was actually a bit deeper than it seemed at first glance.
Voyager has better production values but it lacks heart and soul. I suppose I should compare B5 to DS9 to be fair. When Voyager originally aired I lost interest and I can see why. To wait a week to see another bland episode is a bit much. And to top it off it's not even the fault of the captain whose name shall not be mentioned. ;) The bottom line is that a boring story about a ship's long voyage home is not that compelling.
I know, I didn't have to watch it all to figure this out, but now I have and I don't have to ever watch it again. :D