B5 Rewatch: 1x01
Jun. 4th, 2010 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieB5 rewatch! Oh, lord, what am I doing?
I have no particular schedule for this, and I'll be gone all of the week after next, so I may get way behind the two people I'm rewatching along with. I'm also not sure how much I'll be posting for each ep. I think it'll vary considerably.
Anyway, after those disclaimers, here's one more: rewatch notes can and will contain spoilers for the entire rest of the series, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't click the cuts.
Midnight on the Firing Line
This episode was not actually as bad as I feared it would be! It doesn't compare to S3 or S4, of course, but for a pilot it's rather well-done. I just have to keep reminding myself that the acting will get better as things go along. At the moment, it's really just Sinclair, Garibaldi, and Talia who are bugging me. Sinclair is just, I, oh dear god OW. Talia I have to admit I never really warmed up to until she turned evil and left the show in S2. Garibaldi I like as a character, but Jerry Doyle is obviously new at this. Claudia Christian, on the other hand, is also new, but somehow is still kind of rocking it. I think her overly serious and studied manner works for Ivanova, who is also new to this particular place and job. I thought she was especially good in her final scene with Talia.
That scene is still the best in the episode for me. Ivanova's "I very much doubt it" is exceptionally chilling, and I think it made me fall all the way in love with her character back when I first saw it. Also:
TALIA: I don't feel like a victim.
ME: You will.
I see so much UST between Ivanova and Talia now. I'm surprised I basically missed it the first time around. (And yet the totally non-canon pairing of Ivanova/Garibaldi still owns my heart. They didn't really give off anything but a cautiously friendly vibe in this one--hee, I love that moment where she asks if there's a reason why he's at her station or if she should just snap his hands off right now--but I still adore them.) But wow, Talia has not so good timing--how does a non-diplomatic civilian even get into C&C to bug the second in command?
Wow, I'd forgotten how much they tried to get us to dislike G'Kar early on (and, conversely,like tolerate Londo). It's amazing how much he changes over the course of five years. And JMS seemed to be working a symmetry between the Humans and the Centauri, with Londo telling Vir to forget their conversation, and then Sinclair telling Ivanova the same thing, but at the same time, he undercuts it with Garibaldi's expositioning about how their species look the same but are genetically different. (On that note, I kind of loved it when, in the council session, G'Kar was all, "I propose we don't even have this vote," and Ivanova subtly went, "Oh, SHIT, what do I do now? I am totally unprepared for this! SINCLAIR, I HATE YOU!")
And oh, Kosh. "They are a dying race; we should let them pass." Awesome foreshadowing-we-didn't-even-know-was-foreshadowing.
I still admire the Starfury design, especially the way they can just flip over and shoot something that was originally behind them.
I have no particular schedule for this, and I'll be gone all of the week after next, so I may get way behind the two people I'm rewatching along with. I'm also not sure how much I'll be posting for each ep. I think it'll vary considerably.
Anyway, after those disclaimers, here's one more: rewatch notes can and will contain spoilers for the entire rest of the series, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't click the cuts.
Midnight on the Firing Line
This episode was not actually as bad as I feared it would be! It doesn't compare to S3 or S4, of course, but for a pilot it's rather well-done. I just have to keep reminding myself that the acting will get better as things go along. At the moment, it's really just Sinclair, Garibaldi, and Talia who are bugging me. Sinclair is just, I, oh dear god OW. Talia I have to admit I never really warmed up to until she turned evil and left the show in S2. Garibaldi I like as a character, but Jerry Doyle is obviously new at this. Claudia Christian, on the other hand, is also new, but somehow is still kind of rocking it. I think her overly serious and studied manner works for Ivanova, who is also new to this particular place and job. I thought she was especially good in her final scene with Talia.
That scene is still the best in the episode for me. Ivanova's "I very much doubt it" is exceptionally chilling, and I think it made me fall all the way in love with her character back when I first saw it. Also:
TALIA: I don't feel like a victim.
ME: You will.
I see so much UST between Ivanova and Talia now. I'm surprised I basically missed it the first time around. (And yet the totally non-canon pairing of Ivanova/Garibaldi still owns my heart. They didn't really give off anything but a cautiously friendly vibe in this one--hee, I love that moment where she asks if there's a reason why he's at her station or if she should just snap his hands off right now--but I still adore them.) But wow, Talia has not so good timing--how does a non-diplomatic civilian even get into C&C to bug the second in command?
Wow, I'd forgotten how much they tried to get us to dislike G'Kar early on (and, conversely,
And oh, Kosh. "They are a dying race; we should let them pass." Awesome foreshadowing-we-didn't-even-know-was-foreshadowing.
I still admire the Starfury design, especially the way they can just flip over and shoot something that was originally behind them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-06 08:59 pm (UTC)"Midnight on the Firing Line": HOLY CRAP do they ever pack a lot of stuff into Babylon 5 episodes. Raiders and Centauri and Narn and CARTOONS with Delenn and a lot of stuff I somehow thought happened later, so much so that I was afraid mid-episode that Morden and the Shadows would suddenly show up. ("Morden and the Shadows" = good doo-wop group name y/n?)
We get Talia/Garibaldi 'lift scene the first, we get Talia all "I don't feel like a victim" which is awesome, and we have my brain trying to bleed out from my skull at whatever terrible combination of dialogue and acting happening with Ivanova. I'm sure it is something misguided about her being Russian, and therefore being unable to use contractions (instead of being unable to use articles, which would be more accurate, and also, would be kind of irritating after a while). Russians = ALIENS, omg! Man, this recap is stupid, because I totally forget it all.
ANYWAY. Santiago is reelected, tons of shit happens, we get the Ivanova's mother story, and Talia comes on strong in Susan's direction. Also: CUTE CUTE CUTE grin when Michael hits on her in the lift, omg. *squeee!* But let's talk about Talia's behavior toward Susan here, and some of her behavior throughout the (especially early) series. She flirts with everyone, but not in a come-on flirt as much as a... come-hither sultry yet distant flirt. It's almost like part of her job is to get people to like her, and she's using all the charms and skills at her disposal. It's quite, quite interesting from the Control idea, actually, even though I suspect that wasn't a glimmer in anyone's eye yet. It's also interesting from the perspective of an oddly sheltered registered telepath who really doesn't seem to *get* at this point that people fear her for her teep-ness (even though she freaks out about being tired of that in season 2). Possibly she's just determined to charm herself out of her second-class citizen status -- and it does seem to work.
She also starts her long career of being weak and overwhelmed in the face of danger and/or telepathic onslaught when she accidentally intercepts Londo. And she runs to Garibaldi. Again, squeee. Note: she's only been on the station for a few weeks and they're already in a bantery pattern of friendship and flirtation.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-06 09:38 pm (UTC)"Morden and the Shadows" = good doo-wop group name y/n?
YES.
I'm sure it is something misguided about her being Russian, and therefore being unable to use contractions (instead of being unable to use articles, which would be more accurate, and also, would be kind of irritating after a while). Russians = ALIENS, omg!
Ahahahaha. Yeah, I'm glad she dropped the stiltedness after a few episodes. She was starting to sound just a bit like Data, and that's just not a good thing at all. (I also thought it would be more accurate if she forgot the occasional article, assuming they were going for her not being bilingual-from-childhood in English. But I think they mention later--"Divided Loyalties"?--that she was educated in North America from a young age, which I guess would give her two native languages?)
She also starts her long career of being weak and overwhelmed in the face of danger and/or telepathic onslaught when she accidentally intercepts Londo.
This. This is primarily why I don't like Talia. Aaaaarrrrggghh.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-06 09:48 pm (UTC)I don't remember hearing that Susan was educated in North America! I'm sure you're right, but I don't think it was in Divided Loyalties.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-07 12:29 am (UTC)which is especially bad in Spider in the Web (though I kind of remember her taking charge at the end there? when she reads Abel's mind? eh, I still think Sheridan rescued her after that.)
I remember her being in charge as well, but I don't remember what happened after that. Odds are she fainted. ;)
I don't remember hearing that Susan was educated in North America! I'm sure you're right, but I don't think it was in Divided Loyalties.
...Possibly it's just something JMS said online? Or maybe it was in "Eyes." I know she mentions having moved from school to school because of her latent telepathy, and that's in her conversation with Sheridan in DL, but it's entirely possible she doesn't say it was in North America.