So since I was weeks ahead this week again, I wrote up my reactions ahead of time (which turns out to have been good because this week was busy). So you get the at-the-time reactions this week one more time :)
So, first, my response to the credits at the time: a) who is this guy narrating?? That's not Sinclair! b) This was the year the Great War started???? Also, A+ fakeout, I thought for sure at one point in this episode that it was going to be the story of how the war between the Minbari and the humans got re-ignited.
First scene with Sheridan: who the heck is THIS dude?? Must say I was suspicious of him at first (as Garibaldi was in 2x02, lol) but the fact that Ivanova already knew and liked him counted for a lot :) These episodes really showed him in a good light, though -- you can see pretty well the kind of quick-thinking captain he must have been.
(Sheridan is actually super distracting to me because he looks and acts and sounds (or at least his voice is cadenced similarly, it's much deeper in pitch) like the younger version of a guy at church I knew whom everyone really liked and respected and who died of a very sudden heart attack last year, only in his early 60's. It's not a bad thing, it's just... a thing. (Sinclair also looked a lot like a (different, living) guy I know at church, though they acted differently -- probably something to do with the large intersection of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints membership with the All-American good looks types.) But it also probably contributed to my warming up to him a lot faster than I might have otherwise, especially the dead wife subplot, much as I usually hate fridging, because of course in my universe, the Sheridan-lookalike is the one who died and his wife is the one who lived.)
And THEN 2x01 the secret turns out to be that the Minbari believe that the humans have Minbari souls!! As I had obliquely mentioned before, I was thinking maybe Sinclair was their avatar/religious figure (similar to Sisko as the Emissary) and thinking that if so this would be kind of annoyingly like DS9 (even if it was not JMS's fault, I remembered reading in his autobio that Paramount may well have ripped him off). But this is way better. HUMANS in general are their avatar! (I also like this better than DS9 because it kind of highlights the difference between the Federation/Bajorans and Earth/Minbari -- in the latter case they're much more equals, it's a much more interesting dynamic.)
But the military caste doesn't know this! (I think this is actually a) kind of dumb of the Grey Council b) consistent with what I know about them, so whatever)
Also NOW I get that weird religious ceremony Delenn did at the beginning! Where she was like... eat, drink, this is your body and blood, or whatever it was she said. She was talking to Sinclair specifically but also to any humans who were there as well (though not everyone decided to partake) (and, of course, not all humans would be Minbari souls, I guess).
2x02: Okay, the Delenn reveal was pretty great, although I must confess my reaction was something along the lines of "uh where did all that hair come from?? Hair is dead cells! She hasn't been in the cocoon long enough to grow so much hair!" I'd have understood it much better if she had very short hair, like a baby's, but I guess that wouldn't have elicited quite the same reaction :) Oh, maybe metamorphosed Minbari grow hair at a really fast rate (that would be hilarious). But also, that's a super good point Sheridan's sister brought up about the DNA and now I'm very curious, and it's the sort of thing that with Any Other Show would be a throwaway line but JMS actually cares about that kind of thing... so...
I am a sucker for resolution beyond the grave, so although I knew pretty well where the Anna Sheridan storyline was going with letting Sheridan off the hook, I DON'T CARE, I loved it anyway. (But also her hair! So 80's-90's!) --------------------------- OK, and I was going to stop there but I couldn't resist saying a couple more things after reading your post:
Given Sheridan is Clark's choice to replace Sinclair and a first time watcher has gotten several hints about Clark by now, this is important to make it clear our new Captain is no one's tool.
Yesssss this was one of the reasons I was suspicious of Sheridan in the very beginning but by now I have relaxed about him, especially at the very end of 2x02, that troubled look he gives, when he and we are both "...wtf just happened there??"
there is no attempt to endear Warren K. to the audience, and/or to make him interesting in any way
Haha, I don't even remember this guy!
Which is not something I really took in the first time around, so I didn't notice the contradiction when Delenn says in the very next episode she did this explicitly with the permission of the Grey Council. Which is vey Delenn.
Oh whoops! I missed that too. But I agree it's very Delenn. I also missed the Tolkien referent to Z'ha'dum.
(Btw, during last season's rewatch I did spot the "Psi Corps endores VP" headline when Garibaldi was reading the newspaper in question mid s1. That was really neat worldbuilding, JMS.)
I did notice that at the time! Mostly because I love it when shows go to the trouble of doing things like making up headlines (iirc the other ones were more tabloid-y). I hadn't expected it to come back, though!
Would you have preferred that or not, assuming Delenn's entire story remains otherwise unaffected?
In the 90's I would have absolutely preferred the non-binary solution. Now, I still do, but I agree with lightofdave that it has the potential for some unfortunateness, which I suppose could be sidestepped but would certainly have to be treated more sensitively than you could get away with in the 90s :)
no subject
So, first, my response to the credits at the time: a) who is this guy narrating?? That's not Sinclair! b) This was the year the Great War started???? Also, A+ fakeout, I thought for sure at one point in this episode that it was going to be the story of how the war between the Minbari and the humans got re-ignited.
First scene with Sheridan: who the heck is THIS dude?? Must say I was suspicious of him at first (as Garibaldi was in 2x02, lol) but the fact that Ivanova already knew and liked him counted for a lot :) These episodes really showed him in a good light, though -- you can see pretty well the kind of quick-thinking captain he must have been.
(Sheridan is actually super distracting to me because he looks and acts and sounds (or at least his voice is cadenced similarly, it's much deeper in pitch) like the younger version of a guy at church I knew whom everyone really liked and respected and who died of a very sudden heart attack last year, only in his early 60's. It's not a bad thing, it's just... a thing. (Sinclair also looked a lot like a (different, living) guy I know at church, though they acted differently -- probably something to do with the large intersection of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints membership with the All-American good looks types.) But it also probably contributed to my warming up to him a lot faster than I might have otherwise, especially the dead wife subplot, much as I usually hate fridging, because of course in my universe, the Sheridan-lookalike is the one who died and his wife is the one who lived.)
And THEN 2x01 the secret turns out to be that the Minbari believe that the humans have Minbari souls!! As I had obliquely mentioned before, I was thinking maybe Sinclair was their avatar/religious figure (similar to Sisko as the Emissary) and thinking that if so this would be kind of annoyingly like DS9 (even if it was not JMS's fault, I remembered reading in his autobio that Paramount may well have ripped him off). But this is way better. HUMANS in general are their avatar! (I also like this better than DS9 because it kind of highlights the difference between the Federation/Bajorans and Earth/Minbari -- in the latter case they're much more equals, it's a much more interesting dynamic.)
But the military caste doesn't know this! (I think this is actually a) kind of dumb of the Grey Council b) consistent with what I know about them, so whatever)
Also NOW I get that weird religious ceremony Delenn did at the beginning! Where she was like... eat, drink, this is your body and blood, or whatever it was she said. She was talking to Sinclair specifically but also to any humans who were there as well (though not everyone decided to partake) (and, of course, not all humans would be Minbari souls, I guess).
2x02: Okay, the Delenn reveal was pretty great, although I must confess my reaction was something along the lines of "uh where did all that hair come from?? Hair is dead cells! She hasn't been in the cocoon long enough to grow so much hair!" I'd have understood it much better if she had very short hair, like a baby's, but I guess that wouldn't have elicited quite the same reaction :) Oh, maybe metamorphosed Minbari grow hair at a really fast rate (that would be hilarious). But also, that's a super good point Sheridan's sister brought up about the DNA and now I'm very curious, and it's the sort of thing that with Any Other Show would be a throwaway line but JMS actually cares about that kind of thing... so...
I am a sucker for resolution beyond the grave, so although I knew pretty well where the Anna Sheridan storyline was going with letting Sheridan off the hook, I DON'T CARE, I loved it anyway. (But also her hair! So 80's-90's!)
---------------------------
OK, and I was going to stop there but I couldn't resist saying a couple more things after reading your post:
Given Sheridan is Clark's choice to replace Sinclair and a first time watcher has gotten several hints about Clark by now, this is important to make it clear our new Captain is no one's tool.
Yesssss this was one of the reasons I was suspicious of Sheridan in the very beginning but by now I have relaxed about him, especially at the very end of 2x02, that troubled look he gives, when he and we are both "...wtf just happened there??"
there is no attempt to endear Warren K. to the audience, and/or to make him interesting in any way
Haha, I don't even remember this guy!
Which is not something I really took in the first time around, so I didn't notice the contradiction when Delenn says in the very next episode she did this explicitly with the permission of the Grey Council. Which is vey Delenn.
Oh whoops! I missed that too. But I agree it's very Delenn. I also missed the Tolkien referent to Z'ha'dum.
(Btw, during last season's rewatch I did spot the "Psi Corps endores VP" headline when Garibaldi was reading the newspaper in question mid s1. That was really neat worldbuilding, JMS.)
I did notice that at the time! Mostly because I love it when shows go to the trouble of doing things like making up headlines (iirc the other ones were more tabloid-y). I hadn't expected it to come back, though!
Would you have preferred that or not, assuming Delenn's entire story remains otherwise unaffected?
In the 90's I would have absolutely preferred the non-binary solution. Now, I still do, but I agree with