Babylon 5 Episodes you Love that others hate ?

[Shaal Mayan]

I love Intersections in real time as well ,I agree some of Bruce's best work on the series ..BTW ST TNG did an episode similiar to A View from the Gallery it was called the Lower Decks if I am not mistaken ..

 

[Springer]

I didn't mind Intersections in Real Time. It was well written and well acted. I think a lot of people don't like it because of the format it takes.

Another episode that I like is Conflicts of Interest (except for the Zathras part). I don't know if people hate it, but I don't usual hear it get spoken about. I found that whole Garibaldi storyline watchable, and on some levels I even sympathise with Garibaldi.

I also like War Zone from Crusade. Sure its formulaic, but there is nothing terrible about it, and doesn't deserve the bad rep it gets IMO.

 

[GKarsEye]

I like the one with Sebastian, too, but it doesn't have 1/10th of the intensity as Real Time because Sebastian is this mystical, powerful personality backed by a super-race. The Real Time interrogator is just a regular guy. That is the scariest shit imaginable.

 

[Ninja_Squirrel]

I also like War Zone from Crusade. Sure its formulaic, but there is nothing terrible about it, and doesn't deserve the bad rep it gets IMO.

It's not so much that it's terrible. It just seems out of place for a JMS show. I probably didn't notice the first time I saw it, but upon repeat viewing, and knowing the contoversy around it, you can just smell the executive interference in the episode. It gets the job done, it just doesn't do it pretty.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

I like Intersections In Real Time, but it's not one I feel I need to watch often. I like View From The Gallery. I don't hate Infection, it's just rather ordinary. I kind of liked Sebastian. It made me think of Blade Runner for some reason. I think the Zarg, and its unlikely demise, must be the low point of B5. I won't mention the ones I don't like, that others do, since that is off topic.

 

[vacantlook]

I think what bothers me most about the Zarg is not the Zarg himself but the way they have Garibaldi kill him. Granted, I don't know as much about physics as many other people living on this planet, but the whole bullets in the steam tube thing seems to me to be completely impossible in terms of physics; even if the steam can ignite the bullets, how in the world could the one nearest the exit of the tube fire first and get the shell out of the way for the others?

A thought I just had just now which might would have been kinda funny: what if they had never showed the Zarg. In other words, have everything happen as needed (the shooting to kill the Zarg) just that we never got to see what the Zarg looked like when it attacked and Garibaldi killed it. It could have potentially been a bit of offbeat type humor, I think. But then, I tend to find weird things humorous.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

I think what bothers me most about the Zarg is not the Zarg himself but the way they have Garibaldi kill him. Granted, I don't know as much about physics as many other people living on this planet, but the whole bullets in the steam tube thing seems to me to be completely impossible in terms of physics; even if the steam can ignite the bullets, how in the world could the one nearest the exit of the tube fire first and get the shell out of the way for the others?

Yes, this is impossible, and JMS has admitted it, with embarassment. That's what I meant by "unlikely demise." It's been mentioned on the board before.

 

[Ninja_Squirrel]

I forgot... In addition to TKO, I also don't dislike Grail like most people do. Grail isn't great. I still only give it a C+, but I know a lot of people would probably give it a D or F. TKO is just slightly better at B-.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

To be honest, when B5 was in first run here in the UK, Infection was the episode that hooked me. For that reason I will always have a soft spot for it - and for when others slate it I suggest they go watch the Voyager ep "Threshhold", and then tell me that Infection isn't a masterpiece by comparison.



To a guy used to Star Trek, (original) Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century even Infection (2nd rate though it now looks having seen everything that came after it) showed glimpses of a larger, darker and more interesting story lurking in the background.

It's all about context. I agree Infection now seems poor and derivative when looking back over 5 years of B5, but at the time I first saw it, when only 3 eps of B5 had aired previously, I thought it was great.

Oh ... and I love Intersections in Real Time too.

 

[vacantlook]

Voyager ep "Threshhold"

Wasn't that the episode in which Paris figures out a way to break the "warp barrier," which I was under the imrpession one couldn't go past warp 10 because it was a hyperbolic curve of measurement, but either I was wrong with that or the people in charge of Star Trek changed it to suit them at the moment... and then he ends up kidnapping Janeway and the two of them go past warp 10 and "evolve" into these weird slug creatures and have babies together?

 

[GaribaldisHair]

Sure was VL - sadly, it is the only episode of Voyager whose ep title I ever remembered. Purely because it was soooo bad!

 

[GKarsEye]

Hah, yeah, Threshold is the ep that everyone cites when dissing the show.

And yes, JMS did admit that Garibaldi's method of Zarg killing was bullshit.

As to the hypothetical- what if Zarg wasn't show, would the episode be decent- I say no, IMO. I don't let one moment or scene ruin a whole ep (ie, I hate Ivanova's sex dance, but really like the rest of the episode, so I consider it a solid ep).

Jeremiah just repeats the same philosophical mumbo-jumbo that Delenn has and Lorien will. That mumbo-jumbo is the heart and soul of the show. When Delenn and Lorien use it, it means something. It diminishes it by having this raving lunatic spit it out. And I also find the premise of a "missing level" to be absurd.

Of course it goes without saying that the Neroon stuff was great. But the A plot has absolutely no redemming value for me at all.


I always used to knock Infection, but have come to appreciate it recently. I think it reveals more about the B5 universe than Midnight on the Firing Line.

 

[vacantlook]

Yeah, "Midnight On The Firing Line" seems to me to be almost like a scifi magazine article introducing the characters of a new show. Here are some humans. This one's a telepath. This one's a security chief. Here is a Minbari. Here is a Centauri, they hate the Narn. Here is a Narn, they hate the Centauri. Here is a Vorlon: they're mysterious.

 

[aajay]

Nothing at all wrong with Intersections in Real Time. A very unique episode.
Comes the Inquisitor was never one of my favorites, though I must admit the more I see the more I like it.
Grey 17 is just painful - even with the good Marcu-Neroon plot.

 

[RW7427]

The Marcus/Neroon plot is the only part of Grey 17 that is any good.

 

[RMcD]

What's not to like about the A-plot of Grey 17???
Garibaldi finally getting to play the leading man for a change, a handgun making an appeance in a futuristic sci-fi show, the spine-chilling idea of whole level of the station disappearing into its own microcosm, the whole 'fat air not thin air' thing, the gnostic ravings of a lunatic preacher (a Freddy Krueger cameo, for all love!), a creepy mannequin that shoots poison darts from its eye, the terrifying revelation that the most dangerous beast in the entire sector has been prowling through B5's underbelly for who-knows-how-many years, Garibaldi's quick-thinking and resourcefulness in the face of extreme danger, the scene where he turns the tables on Sheridan at the end, and then, on top of all that you have Lennier's long night of the soul and the coolest pike-fight in the whole series..

Sleeping in Light was okay, but in terms of covering the really big issues, and serious, high concept, emotional drama, Grey 17 is where it's at..

Okay, seriously, why do people hate this more than, say, Learning Curve? I honestly think it's much, much better than so many weaker episodes..

 

[PillowRock]

What's not to like about the A-plot of Grey 17???

you have Lennier's long night of the soul and the coolest pike-fight in the whole series..

OK, all of the Lennier-Marcus-Neroon-Delenn stuff is the B-plot. I've never seen or heard anyone say anything that wasn't positively glowing about the B story in that episode.

The A-plot is only the stuff surrounding level 17 of Grey section. That piece (taken entirely on its own) falls flat with people for myriad reasons: the poor realization of the Zarg, the physical impossibility of the resolution when Garibaldi kills the Zarg, the lack of logic or believability of the whole premise (if you actually try to think through how that would have played out over the course of *years* from the construction of the station, the initial skeleton crew shakedown period, all of the time that has passed since the station was fully online .... start thinking about food requirements [for the Zarg if nothing else] ... and try to figure out how this could possibly have flown under the radar for this long ..... it just doesn't fly), the dialog and character of the guest star (might be amusing; but if you try to think it through with the backstory that have given him, it doesn't really fit or work either) .......

There's too much there that doesn't make sense ...... for many peoples' taste. Everyone has their own tastes and preferences, though. So individuals may well love that section of the episode.

BTW: I have always been quite amused by Garibaldi's meeting with Sheridan in the tag scene at the end.

 

[alex_t]

In all (few) episodes of B5 which I don't really like there is a B-plot that saves the story. In fact I simply tend to forget about A-plot in these rare episodes.

 

[ARK1701]

TKO & Grey 17 is Missing, and any line Byron had.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Sure was VL - sadly, it is the only episode of Voyager whose ep title I ever remembered. Purely because it was soooo bad!

I love Threshold! I won't try and convince you it was good, but it was so far over the top, with giant salamander/officers rutting about, that I dug it. It was just too weird!


And, unlike most, I too, liked Byron. But, perhaps not every line he had, like ARK1701