<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tigara:
I wonder if KoshN will get involved with this one. Nah he's busy arguing with me on Deconstuction of Falling Stars.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
In the
Least Favorite Episode thread in the Babylon 5 forum, yes. Plus my screen caps for the Room for Rangers thread.
When I first read David Hamelech's 15-point post, my first reaction was the same as Joe DeMartino's:
I'm guessing you didn't read most of the other posts in this thread, since almost every point you raised has already been addressed.
David Hamelech's stuff is in "all italics" below:
1. The Ranger code during B5 had nothing in it involving combat. That crap about not retreating was made up for LOTR!
Well, we've seen Rangers retreat before. In The Long Night, we see:
While the League watches, Sheridan calls up the White Star scout ship again and instructs her captain to attack a Shadow base near one of their main staging areas. The Shadow response will be instant--and deadly. Sheridan asks this crew to leak news of a nonexistant coalition base near Coriana 6 to the Shadows, and to die in apparent defense of this false intelligence. Ericsson, the captain of the Whitestar with the info. covers the other Whitestars so they can escape. Admittedly, this was all a ploy to get the Shadows to take the bait, but the other two Whitestars
did retreat.
However, the no retreat "rule" may have come about between 2261 (The Long Night) and 2265 (TLaDiS).
2. The weapon systems were stupid at best.
Needs refinement. The method of firing was over-the-top. With a few minor changes, the weapons system could be made much better.
3. The chronology was messed up.
Specifics, please!
4. Raiders beat a ranger ship. (raider ships are pieces of junk in B5 and even if they got better, they still shouldn't have been able to beat a modern ship. Besides they don't look any different.
That was one of my first coments to JMS. Here's what he said:
>The Enfali is in a firefight with some raider fighters. Since when have
>raiders ever been able to do serious damage to a Minbari vessel, and why are
>no Nials around?
Even a lion can be brought down by a pack of smaller predators. The Enfalli
was alone and the pursuit was a long one, and they just kept taking hit after
hit.
> Since when do raider fighters have aft guns?
Raider fighter craft come in as many variations as human fighter craft. The
error is in thinking monolithically.
>The wheel had already been invented and perfected in Lightwave. *Use* the
>wheel. If necessary, tweak it some more, but *don't* go to different
>software. To change to Maya is to incur additional work and expense, and
>leave yourself open to the possibility of errors and inconsistancies. This
>kind of thing really pisses me off. The change makes no sense. There are
>times to be conservative, and this was one of them.
>
>
Understand, however, that we did not *have* that software, or those images. WB
had literally lost all the CGI archives we gave them every season. All we were
able to get, at the very last moment, was a copy of the ship files we had
given Sierra for the B5 game. That's it.
jms
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
5. If the Hand ships destroyed the Valen's engines, why didn't the Valen defend itself?
Another one I asked JMS:
>The Valen has weapons, so why were they never fired? Maybe they were fired
>but we never saw them fired.
The Valen never had time to fire; they were hit within a second of the hand
ships coming out of hyperspace (actually *as* they were coming out)...the hits
disabled most of the systems on the new ship (you can see eruptions all over
the bridge). The weapons systems were intact elsewhere, but the control
mechanisms were down. That's why they kept hammering the Valen, to make sure
it wouldn't be able to fire.
jms
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
6. Ancient and super powerful ships are blown up by weak weapons (grenades). This holds true to B5 as well. After 1,000,000 years I would hope that we would have a way of protecting ourselfs from nukes.
These are not ancient and super-powerful ships (the snowflake ships).
>I can't see the Liandra making any
>headway against a Shadow Battlecrab. "Seems" inconsistent.
It wasn't a shadow battlecrab. It was tough, but it wasn't one of those. The
hand wouldn't give out that kind of power to flunkies.
jms
(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
7. Consistency. Narns and Drazi can't get on ships. In season 5, the Rangers can't deal with a Pakmara!
The Narn and Drazi may have fallen out of favor when they attacked Centauri Prime against Sheridan's direct orders not to do so. The Pak'ma'ra already had Ranger recruits in B5S5, but the Minbari didn't know what to do with them. Delenn came up with a solution.
8. What about people from 3rd Space? How do they compare to this Hand? Why couldn't that have just used the people from 3rd Space to begin with instead of making up a new race.
Now this comment makes no sense at all. Why do people try to make this association? It is possible that the Thirdspace aliens and The Hand are completely unrelated, in
any way. I don't know where JMS is going with this, and while I see no real need for
either race in TLaDiS, I'm going to wait to see how this pans out.
I think that the Drakh and the shadowtech they have, and other Shadow allies and other shadowtech they may have, make for more than enough bad guys and dramatic tension in B5:LotR. Just read the Centauri Prime and Technomage trilogies to see what I mean.
9. Hand ships look weak and stupid. Shadow ships cut up other ships like a knife through butter. Vorlon ships are rarely seen in battle but they are fast and strong. 3rd Space ships have shields and the big ones looked like they were on fire. Membari ships were graceful and deadly. Why could't the Hand ships look neat.
Those were not the Hand ships. Those were obsolete Hand designs from who knows how long ago, given to cronies of the Hand (like Kafta's race). It's probably similar to the USA today selling a World War II LST to another country. You don't see us selling our leading edge stuff, just the older stuff.
10. The people on board the hand ships looked dumb as well. A guy in a black cape. Ooh. Scary.
I guess you thought that the Walkers of Sigma 957 looked silly too. How about the Vorlons and the Shadows? How many let their true form be easily seen? How about the Gray Council?
There are lots of reasons why the alien captains might with to remain disguised. Maybe they're of Kafta's race.
11. Spirits not able to rest. There are Soul hunters and Sheridan came back from the dead but a haunted ship! Get real!
Lyta saw the dead Ranger before he went into the light. Was that silly as well? What about Bester's deathbed scans in the Psi Corps trilogy? Maybe these spirits just hung around for a little while because they have some unfinished business.
12. David Martel is a boring character. He seems like a cross between Sheridan, Garibaldi and Marcus. He possses none of the traits that make any of those other characters neat.
You've only seen 90 minutes of one pilot. Give him a little time. I thought he was fine in TLaDiS.
13. Good vs Evil is neat. Pure evil vs pure good isn't.
Who really knows where JMS is going here? I don't. I just thought he should have put more contrast between The Hand and The Shadows. G'Kar's comments muddle things, and lead a lot of people to think that The Hand are a ripoff of The Shadows. A greater distinction could have been made.
14. The Hand of G-d! What type of a name is that? Saying something like we are what we are is better. It puts them on par with G-d (G-d said to Moshe at the burning bush "I am that I am" and it makes the Hand seem more ancient and mysterious).
I don't know where JMS is going here, and I think Kafta was just trying to make The Hand sound "awe inspiring." Kafta did compare them to the Shadows, but who knows how much Kafta saw of the Shadows, and how much he's just repeating Hand propaganda?
15. The mines looked dumb when they were deployed.
I thought the mines, both as they came out of the ship, and when they dispersed and then sought the Liandra, looked great.
It was a nice effect, and reminiscent of how Shadow Battlecrabs launched fighters in
The Long, Twilight Struggle.
These are just a few problems that I had with the film. I understand that I might be assuming things. Another thing, LOTR should not be compared to The Gathering! The Gathering created a setting. LOTR took a knife and cut that setting up.
It
should be compared to
The Gathering. Both are pilots, and set-up a new show with a different cast of main characters.
If they'd just get rid of the most objectionable parts of TLaDiS if and when it goes to series, e.g.:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> the weapons firing antics. Weapons interface needs refined, so that no wire work is needed. Move the VR scene, not the Weapons Officer.
<LI> the lack of familiar B5 universe ships, planets, nebulae, planetary ground scenes (e.g. Centauri Prime, Minbar, Earthdome, Mars Dome, etc.
(CURSES on WB for losing the CGI files)
<LI> too subtle jumppoint colors. Go back to Crusade's jumppoint look.
<LI> the new hyperspace look. Go back to Crusade's hyperspace look.
[/list]
------------------
KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire
Crusade (reruns) starting 03/26/2002 at 1PM EST on the Sci-Fi Channel
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
[This message has been edited by KoshN (edited February 10, 2002).]
