Well I have to be honest..I was not too crazy about “By any means necessary” and “Signs and Portends” and even though I was warned that TKO is supposed to be the worst episode ever, I thought it was better than these two! They just felt limp….boring and the acting was stilted. I thought the fight scenes in TKO were good and Greg McKinney was very good as the boxer and Theodore Bikel was great as the Rabbi…maybe I’m crazy but “By Any Means Necessary” nearly put me to sleep and that gal who played the head of the dockworkers was really annoying . The workers holding up fake wrenches and various tools in a threatening manner was just plain silly.
Once again (I’m beginning to sound like a broken record) Peter and Andreas saved it for the two of us by being interesting to watch and fine actors…thank God for them! O’Hare was good in the scene in TKO where he talks to Ivanova about sitting Shiva, I thought it was a very real and compassionate scene without a lot of his trademark eye rolling and stiffness and Ivanova is finally becoming a little more human as well…everyone seems to be relaxing into their roles which is of course to be expected half way through the first season. It’s funny to watch it and remember the friendships forming and easy banter which would become all of our favorite reasons to come to work. There was a lot of laughter on the set and that’s something which carries through to this day when we see each other.
I am looking forward to this weekend, some of us are doing a convention in Burbank, The Hollywood Show, which has been billed as a Babylon 5 reunion of sorts. So far Bill Mumy, Jeff Conaway, Pat Tallman, Andrea Thompson, Julie Caitlin Brown, Steven Furst and myself are going to be there. It will be be nice to see them….
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I love reading your summaries of the episodes… makes the show come to life a little more for me when I hear it from the point of view of someone who was there when it were being made.
It's also nice to hear another person's opinion; everyone I know either saw B5 a decade+ ago when it was on the air, or not at all.
Have fun at the convention and please tell Andrea Thompson that her fans miss her – on screen and off. You could brag about the nice people commenting on your blog – maybe she'll get jealous and start her own!
"TKO" was half boring/irritating (classic sport movie storyline, of course the boxer's a black guy named Walker Smith, stereotype ahoy) but the Ivanova storyline was golden character development for both Ivanova and Sinclair (and their relationship, which of course turned out to be irrelevant since Sinclair left before his friendship with anyone except maybe Garibaldi really mattered) so I still love that episode. OTOH I think "By Any Means Necessary" was fun just for Sinclair pissing off the irritating guy at the end.
Had a thought the other day I thought I'd mention, while I'm here: have you thought about doing some kind of downloadable audio commentaries for these eps, sort of like a less snarky Rifftrax type thing? I don't know how MP3 sales would end up working out, but it seems to me you'd probably have a market. I know I'd be interested.
Yup Phoenix, I agree about the annoying guy at the end of "any means.."…and was it me or did his accent keep changing? It was great that Sinclair put him in his place though….
Okay, I am inspired to do a "Mystery Science theatre" type of thing soon…camera in back of David and I while we watch and comment on an episode…hee hee! This could be fun! More soon..
xx cc
Re: MST3K-style video commentary: I'd worry about copyright stuff around broadcast/distribution of anything including the episode video itself — hence my specification of audio — but then I imagine you're one of the best-positioned people to solve that sort of problem as far as B5 goes, so I'll not be an internet lawyer here. At any rate, I have full confidence that if you do any such commentary it'll be AWESOME.
Hi there,
I’m glad you are watching the series from start to finish. I bought the DVD set and really appreciate having something to watch if the need arises. One of the things that makes this show unique is how little hints of things to come are sprinkled though each show. The first season was filled with them. One of my favorites is after watching the series and knowing the Sinclair arc, go back and watch ‘The Gathering’ again. At the 46 minute mark is the scene where Kosh meets who he thinks is Sinclair. Listen to what he addresses him as (funny the line didn’t make the subtitles). It really goes to how well thought out the storyline was.
You wouldn’t by any chance know who did the French voice-overs for the first season DVD set would you? I’ve seen the episodes so much that I know the story lines. Now I’m trying to learn French and the French track has been great to listen too. Unfortunately, the rest of the series only has subtitles.
It’s sad to see how far television has fallen, from a show with the scope of Babylon 5 to ‘fake’ reality. Perhaps we’ll be seeing you in future ‘Lost Episodes’ DVDs. There is certainly room on TV for a new B5 series based storyline.
Thanks again for doing this ‘review’, it is fun to hear your impressions from being there.
Mira Furlan will also be at the convention. Man, I miss B5.
Make sure you include "Sleeping in Light" from season 5 – that show still gets to me.
By the way, you can see the pilot at hulu.com. I know you said you couldn't find it.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us as you go back and watch the show after all these years. It's alot of fun reading over your thoughts as you watch them "from the outside". We all enjoyed them immensely when we first watched… and I think the fun you had on set is apparent from time to time on the screen. Hope you have as much fun as we did!.. Have a safe and pleasant Autumn!
i would like too know what you think about my proposal for Babylon 5 Future
on http://babylon5continuum.blogspot.com/