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Gunnery Pod (spoilers)

K

Kitaro Sasaki

VIP
Hello everyone!

Please read the interview with director, Mike Vejar over at the official SCI FI Channel's "Bablylon 5:The Legend of the Rangers". (www.scifi.com/b5rangers/)

In this interview, he (Mike) explains the original concept of the "Weapon Pod" for the Liandra and how "JMS" had to improvise due to money constraits to develop what is seen in "To Live and Die in Starlight"...

If you ask me, that was pretty darn brilliant to think of this idea in such a short period of time...but given how "JMS's" mind works...it's not surprising! The guy (JMS) is a genius in my opinion and I have not witnessed many that can do what he can do!

Just some additional information!

Thanks! Cheers! -Warren-
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I really did love the idea. It was unique, original, and the effects for it were great with the "constraints".

However, I do think Myriam over did it a bit with the excessive screaming and the kicking.

I see how it can be improved upon in a series (lets hope), and it was of course, a great start.

Phil

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"And that, Mollari, is why it will not be your people, or mine, or the Gaim, or the Drazi or the Vorlons or the Shadows who in the end will stand astride the galaxy like giants. It will be the humans."
"I think you are the one who is mad, G'kar," Londo said. "I can choose just as well as the humans. I can choose to stay in this cell, with you, or I can choose to leave."
"Yes, but can you choose for there not to be a cell at all?"
"I don't understand," Londo said.
"Exactly," G'kar said. "Exactly."
 
I thought it was a cool idea, well-executed.

Not terrible practical, as poor Sarah would be exhausted by the end of a major battle, but cool to watch.

And if she adds elbows and knees, she could fire up to eight guns. Nine with a head butt.

Ten if she impersonates Mike Tyson...
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"We are (not) all Kosh."
 
As for the overacting... (which, as I didn't see the movie, I can't say anything about) - granted, I know nothing about acting, but wouldn't at least some of that be the 'fault' of the director? I mean, isn't it ultimately the director's call how a scene should be handled?

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"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com
 
Kribu--possibly but in the end, the actor adds personal "flavor" or whatever to the scene. I think Myriam added a little too much of it, making it seem a bit rediculous.

Phil

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"And that, Mollari, is why it will not be your people, or mine, or the Gaim, or the Drazi or the Vorlons or the Shadows who in the end will stand astride the galaxy like giants. It will be the humans."
"I think you are the one who is mad, G'kar," Londo said. "I can choose just as well as the humans. I can choose to stay in this cell, with you, or I can choose to leave."
"Yes, but can you choose for there not to be a cell at all?"
"I don't understand," Londo said.
"Exactly," G'kar said. "Exactly."
 
A prerequisite for being exhausted is the pull of gravity on you, the resistance on muscles and limbs, etc. If you're in free fall, like Sarah was, it seems like it would be a lot easier to move, as there's no pull, no resistance. (I've never been in free-fall, of course, but I have watched the NASA Channel.) AND, if you're trained and do that for a living, it's also going to be easier in the way that a big construction guy can carry a lot more than me because he does such a thing for a living, and I sit on my duff being pretentious on B5LR.com
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Gunnery pod was fine with me.

The gunnery pod idea could have been really hokey. As it is, however, it was one of the best parts of the movie.

Now, don't get me started on the dialogue. *wails*

Warren, dude, I hope we get to see more of you in the series - yours was on my list of Sadly Underdeveloped Characters.

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "I wonder," said Frodo, "but I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale."
 
Emfeeli - Some of Sarah's lines were really, really ridiculous. You can be the best actor in the world, but if you're given clunky, bad dialogue, it's all downhill from there. For me, especially in a pilot, it's a lot more important for *character* to be created. Unlike shows like Andromeda, Rangers did that for me (mostly).

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "I wonder," said Frodo, "but I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale."
 
Channe-- I agree, Sarah did have some horriffic lines, but even when she didn't haev lines, she was always making some extreme facial expression--I'm guessing those weren't in the script.

Phil

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"And that, Mollari, is why it will not be your people, or mine, or the Gaim, or the Drazi or the Vorlons or the Shadows who in the end will stand astride the galaxy like giants. It will be the humans."
"I think you are the one who is mad, G'kar," Londo said. "I can choose just as well as the humans. I can choose to stay in this cell, with you, or I can choose to leave."
"Yes, but can you choose for there not to be a cell at all?"
"I don't understand," Londo said.
"Exactly," G'kar said. "Exactly."
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by taichidave:
I thought it was a cool idea, well-executed.

Not terrible practical, as poor Sarah would be exhausted by the end of a major battle, but cool to watch.

And if she adds elbows and knees, she could fire up to eight guns. Nine with a head butt.

Ten if she impersonates Mike Tyson...
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<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

ROTFLMAO!

Question: Surely she can't have been in free fall. All the jerking and Ranger Fu stuff would have had her drifting all over the place. Isn't she in a straight VR environment? anybody?

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I loved the Gunnery Pod, I thought it was great. Now I really want a series so I can see more of the Liandra. The telemovie brought up so many questions (for me it did), and the only way we can get answers is if it goes to a series.

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A proud member of the Wind Swords.
"War is life and death is the only true peace."
war-demon@b5fan.b5lr.com
 
Yes, it did. Which would leave her exhausted in an extended battle no matter how well she was trained.

Though the idea was clever, it seems a step backwards in tech to me. I didn't buy it. Nor did I care for the Wham Bam Pow scenes.

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Sorry - life got fun and interfered with my plans to be diligent.
 
I would add that the Minbari are quite comfortable with bending gravity. As for the visual concept itself, I have not seen it yet.

I like the idea of making weapons response quicker. I do not like the idea of leaving it to one person, unless we are dealing with a little fighter. One person has only that much attention. I do not like the idea of it requiring physical effort. But I can accept it as something experimental.

This concept can be developed further to make it fit in more seamlessly. But at most, it can only exist on the Liandra, as the other Minbari vessels work quite differently.

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On a Sharlin warcruiser, the captain points to enemy vessels and gives additional commands. The computer divides the orders and delivers target information. The gunnery crew and fighters do the job with help from their respective computer systems, and will keep doing the job even if the tactical centre goes off-line.

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On a White Star, the two weapons officers select targets and give commands with eye and finger movements, the image of the battlefield projected straight into their eyes. Alternatively, navigations officers and the second-in-command can direct fire with the ordinary hand gesture commands, seeing the battlefield map on a screen.

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In a Minbari fighter, the pilot sees both actual space and various screens, both through optical, radar and other sensors. He selects targets and locations with eye movements, giving commands with words, gestures and ordinary switches/buttons.

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For comparison, on a Vorlon ship, the Vorlon sees what the ship sees. In all directions, through all sensors. It may even feel what the ship feels. And it gives commands with thought.

[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited January 20, 2002).]
 
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Gee, maybe the weapons officer could spit at the enemy.
What would a harsh look do?

I fail to see who such an inefficient method would save your butt in a firefight in space.
Especially as the officer needs time to jump into the pod everytime.
Plus as others has pointed out she sure would be pooped after a long battle.

Bad idea and poorly done.

Of course it has gotten the Fans talking, perhaps that was the main reason for its inclusion.

barry56

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I agree with Channe. I liked the gunnery pod. It was something new and different from what we had seen on B5.

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Have a nice day!!!
 
Technology wise, it's definately a step backwards. A more realistic and wiser approach to the gunnery pod would have been to suspend her as they did, but instead of throwing punches and kicks to fire weapons, give her manual controls. Also, since they seemed to indicate optical targeting, she should simply need to /look/ at the target much like an Apache helicopter gunner does and then squeeze the trigger. The pod would allow her to have a 360 degree field of view, which was good. But given the fact we have the technology now for optical targeting like in the Apache, the idea of throwing punches to fire the weapons seems a bit silly.

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Of course it's a step backwards! It's an old ship!

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We're all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars, molecules that do not understand politics, policies and differences. In a billion years we, foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. Desperate acts of ego. We give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps. And pretend our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that live inside us. A spark that tells us: you should know better. The flame also reminds us that life is precious, as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it's gone forever. And there will never be another quite like it
 
One thing I think worth mentioning is the possibility that the kicking and punching aspect of the gunner pod gives the weapons officer more control of the shot. Perhaps the weapons officer can control the amount of power used in each shot in some fashion.

The useful capabilities of the gunnry pod include the 360 degree field of view, finer control, greater responsiveness. Could there also be a psychological factor in making the operator feel more at one with the ship, and thus better able to feel it's capabilities?

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Sorry, I don't have a creative signature.
 
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