B5: Season 3, Episodes 13-17
Apr. 4th, 2009 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieA Late Delivery from Avalon
Wow. After the amazing rollercoaster of the past several episodes, we have...this. An episode that the original Cupid took a shot at and actually did much better. (Anyone remember the one with Don Quijote?) "Grail" tackled the Arthurian stuff much better.
Feh. My only question is, aside from Sheridan/Arthur, do Marcus's comparisons of people to the knights of the round table have any significance? Because somehow I don't quite see Ivanova playing the lead in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
(Okay, and G'Kar's "and they made a very satisfying thump" was pretty amusing.)
Ship of Tears
- Ivanova, sweetheart, of course ISN is lying. What on earth did you expect?
- And now JMS is getting preachy through Franklin. Some of that's taken verbatim from the newsgroup postings that have been archived at the Lurker's Guide.
- Ivanova: "I thought your patience was infinite."
G'Kar: "Since space and time are curved, the infinite sooner or later bends back upon itself and ends up where it began. And so have I."
Bwahahahahaha!
- I knew Ivanova was going to hit Bester. Excellent. He was just asking for it there.
- "My telepaths"--so does Bester run PsiCorps? I'm fuzzy on his role in the structure. He started out as a simple PsiCop, but I get the impression he's been promoted a few dozen times since we first saw him.
- Ah, he's pulling out the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing. Yeah, not quite buying that one.
- Ohhhhh. G'Lan's prophecy was about the past. (Okay, here I can sort of see what "Late Delivery" was doing--"Arthur" and G'Kar bonded over being the good guys in a fight between pure good and pure bad, and now G'Kar is reminded that nothing is purely good or evil. That episode still sucked.)
- Those aren't weapons...
- Although that lady damn near gave me a heart attack with her screaming in the cryotube. GAH.
- There was an alien probe? Really? I wonder, do the shadow-people actually look like that, or are those aliens hired guns?
- Bester in love is a strange, strange sight.
- Wait. They seriously have A ROUND TABLE now? SERIOUSLY?
- Hee, Garibaldi wants an index to the Book of G'Quon. And he has a pocket Narn dictionary.
- "Do not thump the Book of G'Quon. It is disrespectful."
- I think it was right around this point that I realized I have completely lost the plot here. Conspiracies to the right, Shadows to the left...I don't know who's allied with or double-crossing whom anymore. Is there a flow chart somewhere online that won't spoil me too badly? Seriously. I'm not kidding. I need one. Anyone got a link?
Interludes and Examinations
- I was seriously starting to wonder in this episode if the round table room was replacing C&C, and if paper printouts were replacing computer readouts. Thankfully, we got back in C&C in the next episode. But this was weird. Surely paper printouts for updates on a battle are far less efficient than just pulling it up on the computer?
- "The wrong type of people"? Ivanova, you're starting to sound like Clark. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING.
- Hello, Morden. Okay, I guess you could legitimately be considered "wrong type of people."
- Aw, Londo's all bouncy about Adira. SMOOSH.
- "We'll be okay for now, unless something else goes wrong." Ivanova, you of all people should know that that's an invitation to disaster.
- I was pleased to see that only a few minutes after I asked myself (out loud; one of the joys of living alone is that no one can look at you strangely when you talk to your computer) what exactly the Shadows' motivations are , Sheridan asked that very same question. I suppose one day we'll get an answer...
- Garibaldi. Have you learned nothing? Shut the damn door when you're doing confidential stuff! If you don't, people can and will walk in on you and find out what you're doing!
- So did Morden or Refa actually kill Adira? I was totally thinking Morden had done it as basically a threat, but then the show seemed to come down on the side of Refa doing it out of revenge for his own poisoning. I guess they could've been both of them working together, maybe.
- Speaking of revenge, Londo is now thoroughly ensconced in a role in The Spanish Tragedy or Titus Andronicus. Cycle of vengeance ahoy!
- Again, I had to ask myself what Kosh's secret motivations were, because I was very confused while he was beating up Sheridan, but then the episode answered them. It was sad. :( (And...Kosh is Sheridan's metaphorical father?)
- We're going to get a new Kosh? Is he going to be friendlier than the old one?
- Naturally, telling Sheridan he's going to die if he goes to Z'ha'dum is like putting a big neon sign out saying, "GO THERE!" I can't imagine what an episode next season or so is going to be about... (And as far as dying, well... *sits on spoilers*)
War Without End, Parts 1 and 2
*raises eyebrow* Okay, so now I understand "Babylon Squared." Perhaps there will be a future episode that explains these two to me in the same manner? Because I am LOST IN A VERY DARK WOOD here, and I expected more of a Virgil. Hell, I was even spoiled for Sinclair-as-Valen, and I don't know what the hell was happening in this story.
You know, I was reading Ulysses for three hours today, and the experiences of reading that book and watching this episode are not as dissimilar as you might think. I don't know that I can even articulate my questions about the timeline, but I'll give it a shot in between other comments below.
- Minbar is purty.
- "Earth Alliance Station Babylon 5." Okay, here's my first problem. In theory, this message-that-apparently-never-comes-to-pass was sent eight days in the future. They...aren't part of Earth Alliance anymore. That was the first thing that tripped me up, because I figured it had to be from some kind of alternate timeline where they hadn't broken off. But I guess it was just a detail that got overlooked...?
- "Time doesn't work right in [that sector]." Anybody else immediately think of the exchange in the X-Files pilot that goes like this:
Scully: "You're saying that time disappeared. Time can't just disappear. It's a universal invariant!"
Mulder: "Not in this zip code!"
Hee.
- Uh, Delenn? You haven't "been gray" for several episodes now. Just sayin'.
- Hi, Zathras.
- Second question: Why is the Babylon Five mayday coming from Babylon Four space? The time rift obviously has something to do with it, but even so, the signal would have to bounce over to that sector of space before it could come shooting out of the rift. This makes no sense.
- Minbari cruisers haven't advanced at all--at least on the outside--in a thousand years? Really?
- "Zathras not understand. But Zathras do." You and me both, buddy.
- Third question: Sinclair complains about things happening like he remembers them (going forward in time to evacuate the folks on B4). Is this not what he wanted? I'm confused about whether they're trying to change the timeline or keep it correct. I thought it was the latter, but if they don't want to go forward, then do they actually want to change it?
- I like the addition of the robe-like things over Sheridan's and Ivanova's uniforms. I got the impression from "Late Delivery" that they were to be used like dress uniforms, but apparently they've become part of the regular get-up. They make the front look less stark and abstract, which is good (I hate that random beige triangle on the right), and they also make them look kind of like Rangers. (I see they all have Ranger patches on their sleeves, too.) And the gold command-bar thingy over their hearts intersects the vertical line on the robe at just the right angle to make it look like a cross, particularly on Sheridan (Ivanova has...attributes that throw it off a little). I wonder if they're intentionally being made to look like modern crusaders...
- I see Sinclair is watching Sheridan and Delenn hold hands. Aw.
- The ship evolves. Awesome.
- Heh, Sheridan is now Billy Pilgrim. (And that is the sixth literary reference I've made in this post. Hee!)
- The flashforwards to Centauri Prime were also where I got confused, but more on that later.
- Marcus!Logic is excellent logic. He's being very Murphy. And then he gets lucky with his staff. *snerk*
- So Delenn's fit there means she's linked to Sheridan, and thus knows when he's moving around in time?
- OKAY. HERE'S WHERE I GOT LOST. Is Delenn right about this bit in the Centauri prison with Londo as emperor-with-parasite being the future that doesn't change? Because that totally gives the game away if she's right. (All spoilers aside, anyway. AT THE TIME, it would've given the game away, since she's very specific about them winning the war, getting married, having a son, etc. etc.) And Sinclair remembered Garibaldi with them being all Rambo, which obviously didn't happen this time, so DID they in fact recreate all the events that would lead to that very moment in the Centauri prison, or is there still an element of variability involved? Does everyone involved in that vision still have free will? Or are we supposed to assume that she's entirely right, and the big answers were just given away two years early?
- Londo has a monkey on his back. Hee. (Have we seen these things before? Are they Shadows?)
- Ahhh, here's where the strangling vision comes in. And Vir as emperor. Oh, I don't want this future. I hope future!Delenn was wrong about that.
- "Don't go to Z'ha'dum!" But... *sits on spoilers*
- Okay, so here's where Sinclair in the blue suit from "Babylon Squared" comes in...
- You know, snowglobes never, ever make it through a filmed scene without being broken. I feel bad for them.
- And...now Sheridan is the one?
- WAIT JUST A MINUTE! DAMMIT, IT WAS SINCLAIR IN THE BLUE SUIT ORIGINALLY. NOW IT'S DELENN?! (Does this mean the timeline was changed and that scene on Centauri Prime won't happen?)
- Goddammit, Zathras!math makes my head hurt. Are Sheridan, Delenn, and Sinclair now the frakking holy trinity or something?
- And Delenn...is older than Sheridan? Is going to stay in the present while Sheridan travels to the future? How is she the present and he the future?
- Sinclair...turns into a Minbari? Oh, for god's sake. I don't even care anymore. I hate this episode.
- Two questions before I flounce off, though. Well, three, really.
1. How did Sinclair know to chrysalize? Did he write it in the letter to himself? If so, how did he know to do it the first time he went back in time? Wait, he would still have the letter to know to send himself back. GODDAMMIT, I HATE TIME TRAVEL STORIES.
2. I was going to ask how he chose the name "Valen," but I guess the same paradox would apply.
3. I had gotten the impression that the Minbari viewed Valen as a god, but of course now we know he was an ordinary--well, not "ordinary," but not supernatural--guy. Do they view him as such because of the combination of time travel and seeing him appear with a brace ofVorlons angels? (Oh, wait, they were working with Vorlons. I guess they would know the Vorlons aren't angels. Never mind.)
Wow. After the amazing rollercoaster of the past several episodes, we have...this. An episode that the original Cupid took a shot at and actually did much better. (Anyone remember the one with Don Quijote?) "Grail" tackled the Arthurian stuff much better.
Feh. My only question is, aside from Sheridan/Arthur, do Marcus's comparisons of people to the knights of the round table have any significance? Because somehow I don't quite see Ivanova playing the lead in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
(Okay, and G'Kar's "and they made a very satisfying thump" was pretty amusing.)
Ship of Tears
- Ivanova, sweetheart, of course ISN is lying. What on earth did you expect?
- And now JMS is getting preachy through Franklin. Some of that's taken verbatim from the newsgroup postings that have been archived at the Lurker's Guide.
- Ivanova: "I thought your patience was infinite."
G'Kar: "Since space and time are curved, the infinite sooner or later bends back upon itself and ends up where it began. And so have I."
Bwahahahahaha!
- I knew Ivanova was going to hit Bester. Excellent. He was just asking for it there.
- "My telepaths"--so does Bester run PsiCorps? I'm fuzzy on his role in the structure. He started out as a simple PsiCop, but I get the impression he's been promoted a few dozen times since we first saw him.
- Ah, he's pulling out the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing. Yeah, not quite buying that one.
- Ohhhhh. G'Lan's prophecy was about the past. (Okay, here I can sort of see what "Late Delivery" was doing--"Arthur" and G'Kar bonded over being the good guys in a fight between pure good and pure bad, and now G'Kar is reminded that nothing is purely good or evil. That episode still sucked.)
- Those aren't weapons...
- Although that lady damn near gave me a heart attack with her screaming in the cryotube. GAH.
- There was an alien probe? Really? I wonder, do the shadow-people actually look like that, or are those aliens hired guns?
- Bester in love is a strange, strange sight.
- Wait. They seriously have A ROUND TABLE now? SERIOUSLY?
- Hee, Garibaldi wants an index to the Book of G'Quon. And he has a pocket Narn dictionary.
- "Do not thump the Book of G'Quon. It is disrespectful."
- I think it was right around this point that I realized I have completely lost the plot here. Conspiracies to the right, Shadows to the left...I don't know who's allied with or double-crossing whom anymore. Is there a flow chart somewhere online that won't spoil me too badly? Seriously. I'm not kidding. I need one. Anyone got a link?
Interludes and Examinations
- I was seriously starting to wonder in this episode if the round table room was replacing C&C, and if paper printouts were replacing computer readouts. Thankfully, we got back in C&C in the next episode. But this was weird. Surely paper printouts for updates on a battle are far less efficient than just pulling it up on the computer?
- "The wrong type of people"? Ivanova, you're starting to sound like Clark. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING.
- Hello, Morden. Okay, I guess you could legitimately be considered "wrong type of people."
- Aw, Londo's all bouncy about Adira. SMOOSH.
- "We'll be okay for now, unless something else goes wrong." Ivanova, you of all people should know that that's an invitation to disaster.
- I was pleased to see that only a few minutes after I asked myself (out loud; one of the joys of living alone is that no one can look at you strangely when you talk to your computer) what exactly the Shadows' motivations are , Sheridan asked that very same question. I suppose one day we'll get an answer...
- Garibaldi. Have you learned nothing? Shut the damn door when you're doing confidential stuff! If you don't, people can and will walk in on you and find out what you're doing!
- So did Morden or Refa actually kill Adira? I was totally thinking Morden had done it as basically a threat, but then the show seemed to come down on the side of Refa doing it out of revenge for his own poisoning. I guess they could've been both of them working together, maybe.
- Speaking of revenge, Londo is now thoroughly ensconced in a role in The Spanish Tragedy or Titus Andronicus. Cycle of vengeance ahoy!
- Again, I had to ask myself what Kosh's secret motivations were, because I was very confused while he was beating up Sheridan, but then the episode answered them. It was sad. :( (And...Kosh is Sheridan's metaphorical father?)
- We're going to get a new Kosh? Is he going to be friendlier than the old one?
- Naturally, telling Sheridan he's going to die if he goes to Z'ha'dum is like putting a big neon sign out saying, "GO THERE!" I can't imagine what an episode next season or so is going to be about... (And as far as dying, well... *sits on spoilers*)
War Without End, Parts 1 and 2
*raises eyebrow* Okay, so now I understand "Babylon Squared." Perhaps there will be a future episode that explains these two to me in the same manner? Because I am LOST IN A VERY DARK WOOD here, and I expected more of a Virgil. Hell, I was even spoiled for Sinclair-as-Valen, and I don't know what the hell was happening in this story.
You know, I was reading Ulysses for three hours today, and the experiences of reading that book and watching this episode are not as dissimilar as you might think. I don't know that I can even articulate my questions about the timeline, but I'll give it a shot in between other comments below.
- Minbar is purty.
- "Earth Alliance Station Babylon 5." Okay, here's my first problem. In theory, this message-that-apparently-never-comes-to-pass was sent eight days in the future. They...aren't part of Earth Alliance anymore. That was the first thing that tripped me up, because I figured it had to be from some kind of alternate timeline where they hadn't broken off. But I guess it was just a detail that got overlooked...?
- "Time doesn't work right in [that sector]." Anybody else immediately think of the exchange in the X-Files pilot that goes like this:
Scully: "You're saying that time disappeared. Time can't just disappear. It's a universal invariant!"
Mulder: "Not in this zip code!"
Hee.
- Uh, Delenn? You haven't "been gray" for several episodes now. Just sayin'.
- Hi, Zathras.
- Second question: Why is the Babylon Five mayday coming from Babylon Four space? The time rift obviously has something to do with it, but even so, the signal would have to bounce over to that sector of space before it could come shooting out of the rift. This makes no sense.
- Minbari cruisers haven't advanced at all--at least on the outside--in a thousand years? Really?
- "Zathras not understand. But Zathras do." You and me both, buddy.
- Third question: Sinclair complains about things happening like he remembers them (going forward in time to evacuate the folks on B4). Is this not what he wanted? I'm confused about whether they're trying to change the timeline or keep it correct. I thought it was the latter, but if they don't want to go forward, then do they actually want to change it?
- I like the addition of the robe-like things over Sheridan's and Ivanova's uniforms. I got the impression from "Late Delivery" that they were to be used like dress uniforms, but apparently they've become part of the regular get-up. They make the front look less stark and abstract, which is good (I hate that random beige triangle on the right), and they also make them look kind of like Rangers. (I see they all have Ranger patches on their sleeves, too.) And the gold command-bar thingy over their hearts intersects the vertical line on the robe at just the right angle to make it look like a cross, particularly on Sheridan (Ivanova has...attributes that throw it off a little). I wonder if they're intentionally being made to look like modern crusaders...
- I see Sinclair is watching Sheridan and Delenn hold hands. Aw.
- The ship evolves. Awesome.
- Heh, Sheridan is now Billy Pilgrim. (And that is the sixth literary reference I've made in this post. Hee!)
- The flashforwards to Centauri Prime were also where I got confused, but more on that later.
- Marcus!Logic is excellent logic. He's being very Murphy. And then he gets lucky with his staff. *snerk*
- So Delenn's fit there means she's linked to Sheridan, and thus knows when he's moving around in time?
- OKAY. HERE'S WHERE I GOT LOST. Is Delenn right about this bit in the Centauri prison with Londo as emperor-with-parasite being the future that doesn't change? Because that totally gives the game away if she's right. (All spoilers aside, anyway. AT THE TIME, it would've given the game away, since she's very specific about them winning the war, getting married, having a son, etc. etc.) And Sinclair remembered Garibaldi with them being all Rambo, which obviously didn't happen this time, so DID they in fact recreate all the events that would lead to that very moment in the Centauri prison, or is there still an element of variability involved? Does everyone involved in that vision still have free will? Or are we supposed to assume that she's entirely right, and the big answers were just given away two years early?
- Londo has a monkey on his back. Hee. (Have we seen these things before? Are they Shadows?)
- Ahhh, here's where the strangling vision comes in. And Vir as emperor. Oh, I don't want this future. I hope future!Delenn was wrong about that.
- "Don't go to Z'ha'dum!" But... *sits on spoilers*
- Okay, so here's where Sinclair in the blue suit from "Babylon Squared" comes in...
- You know, snowglobes never, ever make it through a filmed scene without being broken. I feel bad for them.
- And...now Sheridan is the one?
- WAIT JUST A MINUTE! DAMMIT, IT WAS SINCLAIR IN THE BLUE SUIT ORIGINALLY. NOW IT'S DELENN?! (Does this mean the timeline was changed and that scene on Centauri Prime won't happen?)
- Goddammit, Zathras!math makes my head hurt. Are Sheridan, Delenn, and Sinclair now the frakking holy trinity or something?
- And Delenn...is older than Sheridan? Is going to stay in the present while Sheridan travels to the future? How is she the present and he the future?
- Sinclair...turns into a Minbari? Oh, for god's sake. I don't even care anymore. I hate this episode.
- Two questions before I flounce off, though. Well, three, really.
1. How did Sinclair know to chrysalize? Did he write it in the letter to himself? If so, how did he know to do it the first time he went back in time? Wait, he would still have the letter to know to send himself back. GODDAMMIT, I HATE TIME TRAVEL STORIES.
2. I was going to ask how he chose the name "Valen," but I guess the same paradox would apply.
3. I had gotten the impression that the Minbari viewed Valen as a god, but of course now we know he was an ordinary--well, not "ordinary," but not supernatural--guy. Do they view him as such because of the combination of time travel and seeing him appear with a brace of
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-04 10:15 pm (UTC)I loved those episodes... although I do believe you have to take into account JMS re-writing things because Sinclair left.
Sheriden gets "unstuck in time" and thus zooms from present to future and back again. JMS made much about the fact that that was his first Delenn/Sheriden kiss but it wasn't for her, she gets her first kiss in a future episode but it's his second... hah! Mind you she has to work for it.. *coughs*
I think that the Centauri Prime future is related to the prediction Londo got a few episodes back... i.e you should bear in mind what Majel Barrett said about the future being a possibility.
The thingy on his shoulders is a Drakh.. not nice beasties.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-05 02:39 am (UTC)Really? I thought Delenn talked fairly extensively about how the Minbari had worked with the Vorlons and other older races to defeat the Shadows.
I loved those episodes... although I do believe you have to take into account JMS re-writing things because Sinclair left.
I dislike time travel paradox stories as a rule, so my reaction to this one may have been over the top. Add that to my completely losing the thread of what's going on with the Shadows-Earth-PsiCorps-Centauri-Narn, and I was just irritated in general by the time they were over. I must go search for a flow chart. (Where's Marcus and his poster when I need him?)
JMS made much about the fact that that was his first Delenn/Sheriden kiss but it wasn't for her, she gets her first kiss in a future episode but it's his second... hah! Mind you she has to work for it.. *coughs*
Yeah, I saw him making a big deal out of it on the episode pages at the Lurker's Guide. It was pretty cute. ;)
I think that the Centauri Prime future is related to the prediction Londo got a few episodes back... i.e you should bear in mind what Majel Barrett said about the future being a possibility.
I hope so. It didn't look like a good future.
The thingy on his shoulders is a Drakh.. not nice beasties.
Ahhh, the Drakh! I remember them from Crusade, which I watched back when it was airing. As I recall, they caused a giant time bomb of a plague on Earth that was the premise for the whole show...
no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 04:24 am (UTC)It seems pretty clear to me that Morden killed Adira. That's why he asked the shopkeeper about the arrangements Vir made at the beginning of the episode. He blamed it on Refa to give Londo a target for his anger and to ensure that Londo would come back into the Shadow fold. I doubt that Refa knew anything about it, but since I haven't got to his next episode yet, I could be wrong about that part.
We're going to get a new Kosh? Is he going to be friendlier than the old one?
Bwahahahahahaha...
this message-that-apparently-never-comes-to-pass was sent eight days in the future. They...aren't part of Earth Alliance anymore.
That threw me, too, but I figured maybe the station designation stayed the same even though it wasn't technically part of the alliance anymore?
Minbari cruisers haven't advanced at all--at least on the outside--in a thousand years? Really?
They looked pretty different to me at the end of the episode.
Is Delenn right about this bit in the Centauri prison with Londo as emperor-with-parasite being the future that doesn't change? Because that totally gives the game away if she's right.
So? You know they win, but you don't know how. It's a great way to build tension and interest in your story. As my first adviser put it, "We know how the movie ends, but we go to see Titanic anyway." The suspense now is in finding out how they did it, especially since there's still plenty of room for doubt about any progress in the "present" timeline.
And Sinclair remembered Garibaldi with them being all Rambo, which obviously didn't happen this time, so DID they in fact recreate all the events that would lead to that very moment in the Centauri prison, or is there still an element of variability involved?
Sinclair was remembering a flash-forward from Babylon Squared. He didn't know then what that flash-forward was, when it took place, etc. Presumably, the fact that he's no longer the commander of the station means that what he saw me or may not happen in the future.
Londo has a monkey on his back. Hee. (Have we seen these things before? Are they Shadows?)
It's a Keeper. I remember them as being distinct from the Drakh, since there are Drakh that walk on two legs like a human. I'm fuzzy on that, though, so I could be wrong.
Zathras!math makes my head hurt. Are Sheridan, Delenn, and Sinclair now the frakking holy trinity or something?
Now you've seen the whole series, this may make more sense to you, so forgive me if I'mtelling you what you already know: I thought this one was pretty clear, too. Past, present, future. They each have their moments in which they are critically important, and none of those moments are at the same time.
How is she the present and he the future?
She's the one who organizes everything in the present and keeps it on track. Sinclair's been gone, and Sheridan comes later. But without her in the middle, none of that happens.
On a slight tangent, in the commentary for "Interludes and Examinations," which is hilarious, they talk about Londo's accent, and Peter Jurasik chose a generic Eastern European accent.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 06:08 pm (UTC)I think the show eventually came down on Morden killing her. I just remember it being confusing that episode, although now I'm not sure why.
That threw me, too, but I figured maybe the station designation stayed the same even though it wasn't technically part of the alliance anymore?
I think JMS might have done some covering about Ivanova slipping in the heat of the moment or something. Which makes sense, but I still found it a bit sloppy, particularly coming at the beginning of the episode, where savvy genre fans like myself will be most expectant of clues to indicate alternate universes or other hinky things.
So? You know they win, but you don't know how. It's a great way to build tension and interest in your story. As my first adviser put it, "We know how the movie ends, but we go to see Titanic anyway." The suspense now is in finding out how they did it, especially since there's still plenty of room for doubt about any progress in the "present" timeline.
*shrug* I still found it kind of silly. Reading JMS's little self-congratulatory, "Teehee, Sheridan's and Delenn's first kiss with each other doesn't happen at the same time!" thing at the Lurker's Guide afterward just made it all the moreso. (This was about the point where I stopped reading his comments at the guide, 'cause more often than not the tone just irritated me.) And if I'd been watching in real time, I'm not sure if I would've been PISSED that the surprise had been taken away (because I don't think would have known, if I were unspoiled, whether to bet on an ending where they win or where the Shadows win) or I would've fallen back on my previous genre experience and thought, "aha, we saw the future, but it's not the REAL future" and continued on wondering how it would end. (Especially since a few scenes later it was Delenn in the blue suit where B2ed had Sinclair, or however that worked, and I would've wondered if they had changed the future by not recreating events from B2ed.)
I guess I can see the argument about going to see Titantic even knowing the ending, but I just didn't think this one was done well. Like, for example, hearing that G'Kar was going to murder Londo way back in the first episode, you think, ah, this will be because they obviously hate each other. Turns out it's a mercy killing. That subverts my expectations, and I can see why you would want to show the future for that. But Delenn and Sheridan getting married and having a kid...seems like a foregone conclusion. And then JMS set up the expectation of winning the war, but didn't set up anything to subvert--they go on and win the war, big whoop. I would've understood the reasoning more if it had been like the G'Kar/Londo thing, where the context was radically different than what was implied by the flashforward.
It's a Keeper. I remember them as being distinct from the Drakh, since there are Drakh that walk on two legs like a human. I'm fuzzy on that, though, so I could be wrong.
I believe they turned out to be distinct from the Drakh, but I'm not sure that it was ever really explained very thoroughly.
Now you've seen the whole series, this may make more sense to you
It did make much more sense to me once I saw SiL and found that Sheridan had taken over as An'la'shok after Delenn (and thus after Sinclair). The past/present/future thing made more sense as well.
Peter Jurasik chose a generic Eastern European accent.
Huh.