EpDis: Babylon Squared

[KoshFan]

I just had the strangest thought -- is Ivanova's trouble waking up in S1 a sort of precursor to her not being able to sleep at all in "The Hour of the Wolf?"

Ivanova has a lot of dreams and sleep stuff, come to think of it -- the famous "totally... unprepared for work" dream, and her dreams in Thirdspace, too.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

IIRC, JMS claims Delenn would never have hooked up with Delenn

No, I never thought that would happen either

Well, Franklin DID hook up with Franklin, so, nothing's impossible. But I have to agree with GKE, this is an excellent ep.

 

[hypatia]

Buuuuuuuut........since it DID have the legendary Fasten/Zip Zip/Fasten controversy.......... .....I guess I can bump it to an A-.........

What is it with guys and their fascination with that "fasten/zip" scene? Just curious.

 

[2aMageing]

It's an anal, obsessive compusive's, amature sociological/psychological analysis, dream-come-true survey question.................




Take it from a card carrying, anal, obsessive compusive, amature sociologist/psychologist.
It's great stuff..........

 

[2aMageing]

I forgot the breakfast scene. My favorite bits are Sinclair telling Garibaldi, "I'll notify your next of kin" and then looking furtively in the direction Ivanova left as he hurries off in the opposite direction.

It had the "quick meal" joke in it TOO???? Well, hell, that's an A+ episode............. "3.......2.......1...........GARIBALDI!!!!........YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!!!!!!!!!!"........... poetry in humor........

 

[hypatia]

It's an anal, obsessive compusive's, amature sociological/psychological analysis, dream-come-true survey question.................




Take it from a card carrying, anal, obsessive compusive, amature sociologist/psychologist.
It's great stuff..........

O.K. I thought I was missing some kind of an inside joke. I had no idea I was missing a whole inside psychological analysis there...

 

[2aMageing]

Never underestimate an obsessive compulsive's capacity to come at things from totally unforeseeable directions............

 

[deaded]

It's an anal, obsessive compusive's, amature sociological/psychological analysis, dream-come-true survey question.................




Take it from a card carrying, anal, obsessive compusive, amature sociologist/psychologist.
It's great stuff..........

Yup. Being a doctor and a card-carying obsessive compulsive I can vouch for that.

But BEING an obsessive compulsive I tend to spell obsessive-compulsive correctly LOL!

 

[2aMageing]

Misspellings tend to happen when you are of the "Hyperactive" Obsessive Compulsive variety........ .......not as bad as some.......certainly worse than others.......



How on EARTH did I miss the L......TWICE.....IN A ROW.........see now the obssessive compuLsive coming out to kick his own arse for not getting it at least 50% right......?!?!

 

[deaded]

Sorry, the board members of the obsessive compulsive club have decided to put you on suspension. Well, actually, half of us did. The other half missed the vote because they had to run back home to make sure they didn't leave the gas on.

 

[2aMageing]

Dam........I just realized......I don't know if I locked the door when I left................but since I'm already back home........I'm not sure I locked the door after I got in..........I better go check.......again..........

 

[Chilli]

Straight A. The eventual resolve could have been better, but given the way things changed in the show till then, they did a good job with the situation they were in. The resolve definitely suffered from Sinclair leaving though - I'm quite sure that the time anomoly that aged Sinclair was made up to cover for the original plan - Sinclair actually being 20 years older, this happening 20 years in the future, in the last episode of Babylon 5.

Also the "the One" being three thing .. I also feel certain that if Sinclair has stayed, he would have been the One .. the One One.

I wonder where Sinclair would have gotten his scar if he had remained.

Hmpf, have a huge test tomorrow, too nervous to sleep and have studied too much to make more studying a possibility .. seems like thread necromancy is a good way to deal with insomnia

 

[B5obsessive]

Hmpf, have a huge test tomorrow, too nervous to sleep and have studied too much to make more studying a possibility .. seems like thread necromancy is a good way to deal with insomnia

Set up the garden hose and think happy thoughts then!

 

[Cell]

http://worldsoforos.com/secondviews/2008/09/13/review-babylon-5-120/

 

[G'Kar]

One of my favorite episodes of the season behind the season finale. Always liked this episode especially because it gave a reason for Sinclair to come back later on in the series.

 

[Estelyn]

I agree - this is a pivotal, excellently done episode. There are so many details that tie into the story arc and hint at the changes to come.

Delenn is at the pinnacle of her "career", being nominated as the leader of her people, but she is also at the threshold to being cast out and alienated. Of course her reasons for staying on B5 are largely mysterious to us at this point.

Zathras is a wonderful character! He manages to be very humorous without being in the least ridiculous, and his lines are eminently quotable.

One of the best episodes of the first season!

 

[Lennier's Tears]

Babylon Squared is a great episode. I love how it quietly sits right next to A Voice in the Wilderness, as though the two have nothing to do with each other Mostly I love how it shows us a glimpse of what is to come, and how it fits so seamlessly with WWE (OK, except for those details that couldn't quite line up). I do agree with Chilli that it would have lined up even better if there hadn't been any changes to the story as originally conceived, but I think it works out very well, and the way those three episodes play out together is one of my favorite things about Babylon 5.

The list of little things:

• Sinclair is explaining how every Earth ship/station has a unique ID code, but whom is he explaining this to? Garibaldi? Presumably he already knows this. More likely it's to us, the audience and that's just the best way they could fit that exposition in there.
• Those guards on B4 are the WORST. They're just standing there looking at each other as Zathras leaves the room, wait a few seconds, and then run after him.
• Why isn't the triluminary glowing when Delenn holds her hand up against it?

 

[Springer]

I remember as a kid, just 14 years old, I'd watch the last four or five episodes of season 1 on the VHS I'd recorded over and over again until season 2 began, those episodes seemed so epic to me. Babylon Squared and Chrysalis in particular were my favourites and while everything that was awesome about Chrysalis was there on screen, with Babylon Squared much of its greatness was inferred and I think that's both its great strength and weakness. The promise of seeing the flip-side of this story and a time when the galaxy is at war, as well as that giant battle on the station was tremendously exciting. Who was attacking? Why were they attacking? Would anyone survive? As a kid my imagination ran riot and the scenarios I imagined were far beyond what was possible with a TV show budget! With that in mind, WWE could never hope to meet my expectations, although WWE is pretty damn epic in its own right. But every time I watch Babylon Squared, it feels special, I remember what it felt like to watch it in 1994, and partly because of that it feels really unique – what the series could have been, and what I imagined it could be. Not that I'm complaining about how the series turned out, mind!

 

[Mororless]

The interesting thing looking back for me is that at the time you were dealing with a TV environment where such extended storytelling was rare and if you did get a "wrap up" it was often a much more ambiguous one such as TNG or Quantum Leap.

Whilst Babylon Squared and several other late season 1 episodes did offer strong hints in this direction I remember at the time thinking that we might not ever know for sure what this "great war" B4 was being stolen to fight actually was.

These is of course a certain appeal of mystery and the unknown which arguably cannot ever be replicated by actually filling in the details however well its done and I think these late season 1 episodes(Squared, Voice in the darkness, Signs and potents, etc) do have more of it than any B5 that followed.