(no subject)
Nov. 17th, 2003 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakLong train journeys (Munich-Hannover today) have the benefit of allowing one to watch DVDs if one brings a laptop along. So I finished the third season of Babylon 5. Also, before I left I could have a quick look at my friends list, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
butterfly continues to write the most amazing posts on the second season of Angel. And [Bad username or site: andrastewhite, @ livejournal.com] after finishing B7, wonders about the way fanfic treats Roj Blake; I do recognize the feeling. But now, about that other show starting with B….
Bruce Boxleitner says in the audio commentary to Interludes of Examinations that the third season is his favourite, and I dare say that’s true for a lot of fans. I can’t pinpoint a favourite myself, loving all of them as I do. It depends on my mood, I suppose. I do know that the single sequence of episodes I’ve rewatched most often in order, i.e. without leaving out one, was season 4’s The Hour of the Wolf to Into the Fire (three guesses why). But yes, season 3 is magnificent.
Speaking of the audio commentary for Interludes and Examinations, it’s far better than last season’s actorly commentary on Geometry of Shadows which was basically just Christian, Doyle and Boxleitner joking around. This time, Boxleitner, Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser do joke a lot but they also make enough serious comments for it to be interesting. (Mind you, the jokes are funny. During the scenes with Garibaldi and Franklin they suggest Garibaldi/Franklin slash which I think nobody else has come up with yet.) There is also a lot of praise for Peter Jurasik and Stephen Furst going on, mostly from Ed Wasser who says he feels incredibly lucky that most of his scenes were with Peter Jurasik and that he loved Morden’s two Vir encounters, “short of dying – no” being one of his favourite moments of the show. Boxleitner joins in with the Jurasik praise but says this made playing scenes with him so daunting – if you weren’t Andreas Katsulas or Stephen Furst, you knew in advance that the audience wouldn’t watch your character in any given scene with Londo.
Interludes and Examinations could be nicknamed Episode of Death. (Farscape joke, for not-Scapers.) When I watched it first I guessed that Adira was doomed before we saw her body, but Kosh biting the big one certainly was a surprise. As with Dust to Dust, all the different plots going on in this episode are strong and engaging to me. Seeing Londo being so happy that Adira is going to return to him at last is as heartbreaking as ever, and along with Londo one realises how very long it has been since last we saw him like this. And when you’ve watched the entire show, you also know the last time we’ll see him like this - Day of the Dead, in which Adira does return for a night. (Not that Londo hasn’t moments of amusement and even delight afterwards, but complete happiness – no.) The romantic in Londo who is able to exist side by side with the cynic and pragmatist fell in love with Adira within a short time, and held on to that emotion through all the years of the show. But romantic love, alas, isn’t all flowers, or to be more specific, starlaces. Love can also produce terrible results. When Morden has Adira killed, framing Refa in the process, in order to get his hold on Londo back, he couldn’t have chosen a better method. (In the short term. In the long term, Morden’s plot backfires with a vengeance once Londo finds out who is truly responsible. IMO he would have killed Morden regardless in season 4, but I bet whatever came before Morden ended up as a head on a pole was spectacularily unpleasant.) When Londo in his last scene of the episode says he only wants vengeance for Adira - “give me that, and the safety of my people, and let the rest of the galaxy burn. I don’t care anymore” – he damns himself all over again.
Did I mention yet Londo Mollari is the most heartbreaking character ever?
Vir, between being embarrassed while ordering lingerie for Adira and trying to comfort Londo in vain, is his usual adorable self in the episode. But given his own encounter with Morden, I wonder why he doesn’t suspect Morden as Adira’s killer? Londo has the excuse of being blinded by grief and rage, but Vir is usually more insightful than this.
Arguably, Interludes and Examinations along with In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum and Z’ha’dum contains Boxleitner’s best acting and JMS’ best writing for Sheridan. The confrontation with Kosh has an intensity usually reserved for Londo and G’Kar scenes and Sheridan’s desperation and urgency comes across perfectly. Given that Kosh is one interchangable encounter suit with no face for the audience to focus on, it’s amazing how absolutely real the character has become to us at this point; Farscape pulls off a similar trick with Rygel and Pilot, but then they do have a face and movement. Of course, for the second the encounter, Sheridan’s dream while Kosh is killed, JMS does get an actor. Kosh appearing to Sheridan as his father makes sense; it’s that mixture of manipulation and genuine affection which these Merlin-esque mentor types offer. (And Kosh’s affection for Sheridan is genuine; strong enough for his katra – sorry, wrong series, but you know what I mean – to help kill Kosh II in order to save Sheridan.) Plot and arc-wise, it was a clever decision on JMS’ part. Not just because Wise Old Mentors ™ have to die in any hero’s journey, but because a) it demonstrates Morden and the Shadows can do more than smile dastardly and kill Centauri women, and b) it paves the way for Sheridan & Co. having it out with the Vorlons which presumably would be more tricky if Kosh I whom they have emotional ties with were still around.
War Without End, the first official two-parter since season 1, is among other things a test for the true fan. You better remember all your Bablyon Squared facts from season 1, or you’re screwed. If you do remember, you’re stunned. It works on so many levels – taking up all those loose ties from season 1, giving Sinclair a worthy farewell and send-off, showing a crucial event in the saga which due to the five-years-time frame otherwise couldn’t be shown (the circumstances of Londo’s and G’Kar’s deaths), offering an incredible twist and/or revelation in the process, as our expectations on why they kill each other are completely reversed, and foreshadowing darkness ahead for the Sheridan/Delenn relationship which so far proceeded smoothly (the return of Anna).
Now I recall that at the time of season 1, a lot of people complained that Michael O’Hare came across as wooden. I never thought so, but if I had to offer proof for the contrary in the form of just one episode, I’d cheat and pick War Without End, both parts. The Sinclair we meet again clearly has had his own journey since last we saw him in. The mixture of sadness and serenity, of grief and exhilaration is fascinating. In between, as he effortlessly takes command after Sheridan becomes unstuck in time, we get a last demonstration of Sinclair-the-commander – or is it a first of Valen? It’s worth noticing, btw, that Delenn both with Lennier in her first scene and with Sinclair later (when they talk in Minbari) shows guilt and grief at what is essentially the ascension of Sinclair into the Minbari Messiah (at the cost of his present-day human existence). Compare this with the triumphant “we were right about you” of season 1 (when Delenn is still a full Minbari), and you have to wonder: is it because she now knows what it means to undergo such a radical transformation, to become a prophecy and live between worlds? Or is it still guilt because if anyone prompted, guided and manipulated Sinclair into becoming Valen ever since they first discovered his soul, it was Delenn?
The scenes in the future Centauri Prime, burning (where will it end, asked emperor Turhan, and Kosh replied “In fire”), and with Londo under the control of the hideous keeper which he only can escape for some minutes by drowning it in alcohol, are, sorry to repeat the word, heartbreaking. Never mind whether or not Future Delenn and Sheridan make it out alive – when I first saw this, I sat there wimpering. And clung to the hope that since the alternate future from which Ivanova sent her distress call did not come to pass, maybe there was some way Londo could escape this fate. I kept hoping that till the last third of season 5, but to tell the truth, if Londo had, I might have been happy for him but not as satisfied with JMS as a storyteller. Londo’s arc is a tragedy, and here we see the final act. With only one bright glimpse, and that would be the stunning reversal of expectations I mentioned earlier. In the middle of wimpering all those years ago, I exclaimed “Friends!” and was wowed.
Rewatching brings up a question and/or irritation which plagues me ever since season 5. If, as Z’ha’dum shows, Sheridan remembers his time trip (actually saving Centauri Prime from this fate is one of two motives he gives Delenn in his farewell message in Z’ha’dum), why on earth doesn’t he put two and two together in The Fall of Centauri Prime and Objects at Rest, especially in the later when Londo desperately asks for some alcohol? I guess the only answer which makes sense is that the resurrection process robbed Sheridan of some memories.
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place this time around took me by the neck and told me that there were two very obvious missing scenes which someone should write. Can you guess which ones?
I mentioned in connection with Dust to Dust that while G’Kar’s feelings for Londo don’t change over night, what he does there works as a catharsis of hate. Afterwards, we don’t see any more anti-Londo actions from him. What I had forgotten until And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place was that you could say the same thing for Londo in regard to G’Kar himself (not the Narn in general). Arguably before Dust to Dust Londo might have tried to strike two birds with one stone and would have tried to capture and/or kill G’Kar as well using him to get rid of Refa. Which brings me to my first missing scene. Hobsonphile observed in connection with Londo’s and G’Kar’s season 4 arc that it took an incredible leap of faith for G’Kar to strike his deal with Londo, and that Londo honouring their agreement (as opposed to plain ignoring it after Cartagia was dead, or modify it to something more convenienet for him) was an equally important step for Londo’s path back to the light. Which is true. But then we saw their conversations together, we saw what led up to this point. In order for WTRCONHP to work, we can’t be shown how on earth (or rather on Babylon 5) Londo managed to contact G’Kar without any Narn bodyguards around, and how Londo managed to convince G’Kar that this wasn’t a trap (or at least not one for G’Kar but for Refa). I mean, just imagine it: your greatest enemy tells you to go back to your homeworld where you could be arrested on the spot so you can kill another enemy of his who also happens to be one of yours for him. Would you go? This also is chronologically their first conversation after the assault-cum-mind rape. Now again, the episode is structured in a way that makes it essential we’re as surprised as Refa and poor Vir – though JMS plays fair; when you listen to what Londo actually tells Minister Virini, you’ll notice he never mentions G’Kar, he just pledges to put an end to the feud with Refa once and for all, and equally G’Kar never mentions Na’Toth when talking with his fellow Narn but only of “the information” which he assures them is correct. But I still would love to read just how Londo managed to pull off that one.
(Their enforced mindsharing was probably a factor, and you could argue G’Kar knows Londo well enough to judge that revenge for Adira was more important to him, and that Londo was in fact capable of not stabbing G’Kar in the back while arranging it. And yet.)
The other missing scene concerns this episode’s victim, and I’m not talking about Refa. Although Refa is in fact blameless in regard to Adira, I doubt any watcher feels sorry for him during his gruesome (yet entertaining) demise. (Note to Morden: Londo can be really inventive when arranging someone’s death when he bears a grudge.) No, the person one feels for here is Vir. This is, without a doubt, the episode in which the relationship between him and Londo is stretched to the limit, and the only time when Londo is deliberately cruel to Vir. Using Vir without his knowledge to set Refa up, in the process letting Vir believe the worst things, is an emotional betrayal of the first order. And it says something about the strength of the relationship that they were able to come back from this. Now a major reason why the relationship recovered is certainly that Londo behaves very differently during the plot against Cartagia, asking Vir for his help instead of blackmailing him, and telling him openly about the stakes. But Vir and Londo are already on talking terms in Z’ha’dum, and Vir does not appear to be angry at Londo anymore. So what happened? How did they make up?
Meanwhile, on the human/Minbari front: Rumours of Death, II (Part I would be In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.) Aka Z’ha’dum. Are you a character in a show starting with B? Do you have a beloved named Anna whom you believe to have died tragically? Then don’t wonder whether she’s alive. Believe me, you don’t want to know. Also, you might as well join the For Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves support group.
Seriously now: Z’ha’dum is the pay off for the Anna background story set up in season 2 and all the “if you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die” prophecies, and it’s a great one. It is also, imo, the end of Sheridan’s emotional arc, which makes his character somewhat problematical in the subsequent two seasons. In this episode, he comes to terms both with the loss of Anna and with his new love for Delenn, and offers his life to end a war and prevent a terrible future, thereby fulfilling his hero’s quest. Now resurrection and rebirth are also a part of the hero’s journey, but the trouble in season 4 and 5 is that Sheridan remains static. He comes back as the person he was when he died, full stop. (Compare this with Buffy after her resurrection, who struggles hard and long to regain some semblance of emotional normalcy and is never the same again – nor should she be.) All his emotional conflicts are resolved by the end of Z’ha’dum, and he doesn’t gain any new ones. It occurs to me that if Sinclair had remained as the central human character, this would have been different. (BTW then the Valen revelation probably would have come in Sleeping in Light, with Sinclair going back in time at that point instead of season 3.) Given that the friendship between Sinclair and Garibaldi was pretty intense, their alienation and Garibaldi’s subsequent betrayal (albeit Under The Influence) could have been season 4’s emotional conflict for Sinclair in a way it just couldn’t be for Sheridan. (They were never that close at the best of times.)
Back to Z’ha’dum. Sheridan gives Delenn two reasons why he goes, despite knowing Anna isn’t herself – to end the war, and to prevent the destruction of Centauri Prime. Imo, he also goes because that’s the last thing he can do for Anna – dying with what is left of her. The last look between them gets me every time.
In his commentary, JMS says that the Shadow motivation as explained by Justin, Morden and Anna is the genuine thing and came to be because he didn’t want to write the Shadows as motive-less bad guys who destroy just because they can, without any purpose whatsoever. He also points out the irony that from a certain pov (has he been watching Star Wars?), the Shadows are right, since the main characters of this very story come out of war and conflict stronger and smarter than they were before. But better? That, he adds, is the question, and the human dimension which escapes the Shadows – what war can do to you on an emotional level. I remember there were some complaints in SFX and other magazines about the Shadows’ motivation being a let down. Not to me. I would have found it boring if they had just been B5’s stronger, more impressive Orcs. I also love the irony that Morden, manipulator and villain that he is, actually tells Sheridan the truth about the Vorlons in a way Delenn never could (of course Delenn is about to be disillioned in regards to the Vorlons pretty soon). They did condition the younger races to see them as divine beings. They did genetically modify them to produce telepaths. And while order might be less bloody a state than constant conflict, they are not really in any way morally preferable to the Shadows. This takes the Tolkienean model of forces of light vs forces of darkness and shatters it in a very postmodern way. At the time, I didn’t know any other fantasy or sci-fi saga which included a twist quite like this.
butterfly continues to write the most amazing posts on the second season of Angel. And [Bad username or site: andrastewhite, @ livejournal.com] after finishing B7, wonders about the way fanfic treats Roj Blake; I do recognize the feeling. But now, about that other show starting with B….Bruce Boxleitner says in the audio commentary to Interludes of Examinations that the third season is his favourite, and I dare say that’s true for a lot of fans. I can’t pinpoint a favourite myself, loving all of them as I do. It depends on my mood, I suppose. I do know that the single sequence of episodes I’ve rewatched most often in order, i.e. without leaving out one, was season 4’s The Hour of the Wolf to Into the Fire (three guesses why). But yes, season 3 is magnificent.
Speaking of the audio commentary for Interludes and Examinations, it’s far better than last season’s actorly commentary on Geometry of Shadows which was basically just Christian, Doyle and Boxleitner joking around. This time, Boxleitner, Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser do joke a lot but they also make enough serious comments for it to be interesting. (Mind you, the jokes are funny. During the scenes with Garibaldi and Franklin they suggest Garibaldi/Franklin slash which I think nobody else has come up with yet.) There is also a lot of praise for Peter Jurasik and Stephen Furst going on, mostly from Ed Wasser who says he feels incredibly lucky that most of his scenes were with Peter Jurasik and that he loved Morden’s two Vir encounters, “short of dying – no” being one of his favourite moments of the show. Boxleitner joins in with the Jurasik praise but says this made playing scenes with him so daunting – if you weren’t Andreas Katsulas or Stephen Furst, you knew in advance that the audience wouldn’t watch your character in any given scene with Londo.
Interludes and Examinations could be nicknamed Episode of Death. (Farscape joke, for not-Scapers.) When I watched it first I guessed that Adira was doomed before we saw her body, but Kosh biting the big one certainly was a surprise. As with Dust to Dust, all the different plots going on in this episode are strong and engaging to me. Seeing Londo being so happy that Adira is going to return to him at last is as heartbreaking as ever, and along with Londo one realises how very long it has been since last we saw him like this. And when you’ve watched the entire show, you also know the last time we’ll see him like this - Day of the Dead, in which Adira does return for a night. (Not that Londo hasn’t moments of amusement and even delight afterwards, but complete happiness – no.) The romantic in Londo who is able to exist side by side with the cynic and pragmatist fell in love with Adira within a short time, and held on to that emotion through all the years of the show. But romantic love, alas, isn’t all flowers, or to be more specific, starlaces. Love can also produce terrible results. When Morden has Adira killed, framing Refa in the process, in order to get his hold on Londo back, he couldn’t have chosen a better method. (In the short term. In the long term, Morden’s plot backfires with a vengeance once Londo finds out who is truly responsible. IMO he would have killed Morden regardless in season 4, but I bet whatever came before Morden ended up as a head on a pole was spectacularily unpleasant.) When Londo in his last scene of the episode says he only wants vengeance for Adira - “give me that, and the safety of my people, and let the rest of the galaxy burn. I don’t care anymore” – he damns himself all over again.
Did I mention yet Londo Mollari is the most heartbreaking character ever?
Vir, between being embarrassed while ordering lingerie for Adira and trying to comfort Londo in vain, is his usual adorable self in the episode. But given his own encounter with Morden, I wonder why he doesn’t suspect Morden as Adira’s killer? Londo has the excuse of being blinded by grief and rage, but Vir is usually more insightful than this.
Arguably, Interludes and Examinations along with In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum and Z’ha’dum contains Boxleitner’s best acting and JMS’ best writing for Sheridan. The confrontation with Kosh has an intensity usually reserved for Londo and G’Kar scenes and Sheridan’s desperation and urgency comes across perfectly. Given that Kosh is one interchangable encounter suit with no face for the audience to focus on, it’s amazing how absolutely real the character has become to us at this point; Farscape pulls off a similar trick with Rygel and Pilot, but then they do have a face and movement. Of course, for the second the encounter, Sheridan’s dream while Kosh is killed, JMS does get an actor. Kosh appearing to Sheridan as his father makes sense; it’s that mixture of manipulation and genuine affection which these Merlin-esque mentor types offer. (And Kosh’s affection for Sheridan is genuine; strong enough for his katra – sorry, wrong series, but you know what I mean – to help kill Kosh II in order to save Sheridan.) Plot and arc-wise, it was a clever decision on JMS’ part. Not just because Wise Old Mentors ™ have to die in any hero’s journey, but because a) it demonstrates Morden and the Shadows can do more than smile dastardly and kill Centauri women, and b) it paves the way for Sheridan & Co. having it out with the Vorlons which presumably would be more tricky if Kosh I whom they have emotional ties with were still around.
War Without End, the first official two-parter since season 1, is among other things a test for the true fan. You better remember all your Bablyon Squared facts from season 1, or you’re screwed. If you do remember, you’re stunned. It works on so many levels – taking up all those loose ties from season 1, giving Sinclair a worthy farewell and send-off, showing a crucial event in the saga which due to the five-years-time frame otherwise couldn’t be shown (the circumstances of Londo’s and G’Kar’s deaths), offering an incredible twist and/or revelation in the process, as our expectations on why they kill each other are completely reversed, and foreshadowing darkness ahead for the Sheridan/Delenn relationship which so far proceeded smoothly (the return of Anna).
Now I recall that at the time of season 1, a lot of people complained that Michael O’Hare came across as wooden. I never thought so, but if I had to offer proof for the contrary in the form of just one episode, I’d cheat and pick War Without End, both parts. The Sinclair we meet again clearly has had his own journey since last we saw him in. The mixture of sadness and serenity, of grief and exhilaration is fascinating. In between, as he effortlessly takes command after Sheridan becomes unstuck in time, we get a last demonstration of Sinclair-the-commander – or is it a first of Valen? It’s worth noticing, btw, that Delenn both with Lennier in her first scene and with Sinclair later (when they talk in Minbari) shows guilt and grief at what is essentially the ascension of Sinclair into the Minbari Messiah (at the cost of his present-day human existence). Compare this with the triumphant “we were right about you” of season 1 (when Delenn is still a full Minbari), and you have to wonder: is it because she now knows what it means to undergo such a radical transformation, to become a prophecy and live between worlds? Or is it still guilt because if anyone prompted, guided and manipulated Sinclair into becoming Valen ever since they first discovered his soul, it was Delenn?
The scenes in the future Centauri Prime, burning (where will it end, asked emperor Turhan, and Kosh replied “In fire”), and with Londo under the control of the hideous keeper which he only can escape for some minutes by drowning it in alcohol, are, sorry to repeat the word, heartbreaking. Never mind whether or not Future Delenn and Sheridan make it out alive – when I first saw this, I sat there wimpering. And clung to the hope that since the alternate future from which Ivanova sent her distress call did not come to pass, maybe there was some way Londo could escape this fate. I kept hoping that till the last third of season 5, but to tell the truth, if Londo had, I might have been happy for him but not as satisfied with JMS as a storyteller. Londo’s arc is a tragedy, and here we see the final act. With only one bright glimpse, and that would be the stunning reversal of expectations I mentioned earlier. In the middle of wimpering all those years ago, I exclaimed “Friends!” and was wowed.
Rewatching brings up a question and/or irritation which plagues me ever since season 5. If, as Z’ha’dum shows, Sheridan remembers his time trip (actually saving Centauri Prime from this fate is one of two motives he gives Delenn in his farewell message in Z’ha’dum), why on earth doesn’t he put two and two together in The Fall of Centauri Prime and Objects at Rest, especially in the later when Londo desperately asks for some alcohol? I guess the only answer which makes sense is that the resurrection process robbed Sheridan of some memories.
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place this time around took me by the neck and told me that there were two very obvious missing scenes which someone should write. Can you guess which ones?
I mentioned in connection with Dust to Dust that while G’Kar’s feelings for Londo don’t change over night, what he does there works as a catharsis of hate. Afterwards, we don’t see any more anti-Londo actions from him. What I had forgotten until And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place was that you could say the same thing for Londo in regard to G’Kar himself (not the Narn in general). Arguably before Dust to Dust Londo might have tried to strike two birds with one stone and would have tried to capture and/or kill G’Kar as well using him to get rid of Refa. Which brings me to my first missing scene. Hobsonphile observed in connection with Londo’s and G’Kar’s season 4 arc that it took an incredible leap of faith for G’Kar to strike his deal with Londo, and that Londo honouring their agreement (as opposed to plain ignoring it after Cartagia was dead, or modify it to something more convenienet for him) was an equally important step for Londo’s path back to the light. Which is true. But then we saw their conversations together, we saw what led up to this point. In order for WTRCONHP to work, we can’t be shown how on earth (or rather on Babylon 5) Londo managed to contact G’Kar without any Narn bodyguards around, and how Londo managed to convince G’Kar that this wasn’t a trap (or at least not one for G’Kar but for Refa). I mean, just imagine it: your greatest enemy tells you to go back to your homeworld where you could be arrested on the spot so you can kill another enemy of his who also happens to be one of yours for him. Would you go? This also is chronologically their first conversation after the assault-cum-mind rape. Now again, the episode is structured in a way that makes it essential we’re as surprised as Refa and poor Vir – though JMS plays fair; when you listen to what Londo actually tells Minister Virini, you’ll notice he never mentions G’Kar, he just pledges to put an end to the feud with Refa once and for all, and equally G’Kar never mentions Na’Toth when talking with his fellow Narn but only of “the information” which he assures them is correct. But I still would love to read just how Londo managed to pull off that one.
(Their enforced mindsharing was probably a factor, and you could argue G’Kar knows Londo well enough to judge that revenge for Adira was more important to him, and that Londo was in fact capable of not stabbing G’Kar in the back while arranging it. And yet.)
The other missing scene concerns this episode’s victim, and I’m not talking about Refa. Although Refa is in fact blameless in regard to Adira, I doubt any watcher feels sorry for him during his gruesome (yet entertaining) demise. (Note to Morden: Londo can be really inventive when arranging someone’s death when he bears a grudge.) No, the person one feels for here is Vir. This is, without a doubt, the episode in which the relationship between him and Londo is stretched to the limit, and the only time when Londo is deliberately cruel to Vir. Using Vir without his knowledge to set Refa up, in the process letting Vir believe the worst things, is an emotional betrayal of the first order. And it says something about the strength of the relationship that they were able to come back from this. Now a major reason why the relationship recovered is certainly that Londo behaves very differently during the plot against Cartagia, asking Vir for his help instead of blackmailing him, and telling him openly about the stakes. But Vir and Londo are already on talking terms in Z’ha’dum, and Vir does not appear to be angry at Londo anymore. So what happened? How did they make up?
Meanwhile, on the human/Minbari front: Rumours of Death, II (Part I would be In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.) Aka Z’ha’dum. Are you a character in a show starting with B? Do you have a beloved named Anna whom you believe to have died tragically? Then don’t wonder whether she’s alive. Believe me, you don’t want to know. Also, you might as well join the For Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves support group.
Seriously now: Z’ha’dum is the pay off for the Anna background story set up in season 2 and all the “if you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die” prophecies, and it’s a great one. It is also, imo, the end of Sheridan’s emotional arc, which makes his character somewhat problematical in the subsequent two seasons. In this episode, he comes to terms both with the loss of Anna and with his new love for Delenn, and offers his life to end a war and prevent a terrible future, thereby fulfilling his hero’s quest. Now resurrection and rebirth are also a part of the hero’s journey, but the trouble in season 4 and 5 is that Sheridan remains static. He comes back as the person he was when he died, full stop. (Compare this with Buffy after her resurrection, who struggles hard and long to regain some semblance of emotional normalcy and is never the same again – nor should she be.) All his emotional conflicts are resolved by the end of Z’ha’dum, and he doesn’t gain any new ones. It occurs to me that if Sinclair had remained as the central human character, this would have been different. (BTW then the Valen revelation probably would have come in Sleeping in Light, with Sinclair going back in time at that point instead of season 3.) Given that the friendship between Sinclair and Garibaldi was pretty intense, their alienation and Garibaldi’s subsequent betrayal (albeit Under The Influence) could have been season 4’s emotional conflict for Sinclair in a way it just couldn’t be for Sheridan. (They were never that close at the best of times.)
Back to Z’ha’dum. Sheridan gives Delenn two reasons why he goes, despite knowing Anna isn’t herself – to end the war, and to prevent the destruction of Centauri Prime. Imo, he also goes because that’s the last thing he can do for Anna – dying with what is left of her. The last look between them gets me every time.
In his commentary, JMS says that the Shadow motivation as explained by Justin, Morden and Anna is the genuine thing and came to be because he didn’t want to write the Shadows as motive-less bad guys who destroy just because they can, without any purpose whatsoever. He also points out the irony that from a certain pov (has he been watching Star Wars?), the Shadows are right, since the main characters of this very story come out of war and conflict stronger and smarter than they were before. But better? That, he adds, is the question, and the human dimension which escapes the Shadows – what war can do to you on an emotional level. I remember there were some complaints in SFX and other magazines about the Shadows’ motivation being a let down. Not to me. I would have found it boring if they had just been B5’s stronger, more impressive Orcs. I also love the irony that Morden, manipulator and villain that he is, actually tells Sheridan the truth about the Vorlons in a way Delenn never could (of course Delenn is about to be disillioned in regards to the Vorlons pretty soon). They did condition the younger races to see them as divine beings. They did genetically modify them to produce telepaths. And while order might be less bloody a state than constant conflict, they are not really in any way morally preferable to the Shadows. This takes the Tolkienean model of forces of light vs forces of darkness and shatters it in a very postmodern way. At the time, I didn’t know any other fantasy or sci-fi saga which included a twist quite like this.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 09:51 am (UTC)When I watched it on Sunday, though, it was the first time since I read "To Dream in the City of Sorrows", and I was really surprised by the amount of difference it made. Particularly with some of the smaller things; there's one scene with Delenn on the White Star where he describes himself as "an arrow from the bow", and the power of that scene is so much greater when you know where it's coming from...
the trouble in season 4 and 5 is that Sheridan remains static. He comes back as the person he was when he died, full stop.
That's an interesting observation. Thinking about it, that may be part of my problem with Season 5, at least. Sheridan and Delenn are both essentially static characters; we don't see them growing in the same way we did in the earlier seasons. For season 4, it isn't so much of an issue, perhaps, because there are so many other things going on. The war arcs are so overwhelming that character is not as noticeable. But for me, most of their character arc in season 5 is presented as it is in "A View From The Gallery" - a rather distant and ceremonial relationship between two major but rather unreal figures. The focus on Londo and G'Kar, on the other hand, is much closer, and one of the true joys of Season 5.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 01:16 am (UTC)About Sheridan and Delenn in seasons 4 and 5: the reason why I have less trouble with Delenn than with Sheridan is that she's given relationships and issues other than the one with Sheridan (which does remain static) which do change. Namely, the one with Neroon in season 4 and with Lennier throughout seasons 4 and 5. Granted, Neroon and Lennier are the ones who change, not Delenn herself, but she is crucial to their development.
Also, the Minbari Civil War in season 4 (and the episode Atonment showing Delenn's guilt which explains much about her singlemindedness in making the raprochment with the humans work) is tied to Delenn's actions in season 3, and to her emotions; my theory is that the reason why she doesn't leave the Star Fire Wheel after she shamed the ruler of the Warrior Caste is that she does feel responsible for the civil war and wants to die to bring back unity. Whereas Sheridan isn`t conflicted about the Earth Civil War anymore; he was in season 3, but again, in season 4 those conflicts are no longer an issue.
Yeah...
Date: 2003-11-17 10:30 am (UTC)And while I haven't read the books, I hear strong reports that the Vorlon/Shadow conflict and the revelation of moral exchangeability between the two was inspired by E E Smith's Lensman novels. Is that true?
Re: Yeah...
Date: 2003-11-17 10:38 am (UTC)The only link I've noticed is that the super-good-guys live on a planet called Arisia, and Marcus Cole comes from (ba-dum-BUM) a mining colony on Arisia. Thus proving what we always knew, that Marcus Cole was a shining being of good and light ;)
NB: This last comment is not intended to be taken seriously, and is instead a poke at those people around here who I know aren't so fond of my favourite character :D
Hey, I'm trying.
Date: 2003-11-18 01:17 am (UTC)Re: Yeah...
Date: 2003-11-18 01:07 am (UTC)In any case, the reason why Londo was able to fool the keeper with his performance was probably that a lot of the anger was real enough. Sheridan did fail the Centauri, and him.
As usual, I am in full agreement with your commentary
Date: 2003-11-17 11:13 am (UTC)Yep, that is my favorite sequence as well and I can go on forever about my reasons. *g* I can't wait for the release of the fourth season on DVD here in the States (slated for early January).
There is also a lot of praise for Peter Jurasik and Stephen Furst going on, mostly from Ed Wasser who says he feels incredibly lucky that most of his scenes were with Peter Jurasik and that he loved Morden’s two Vir encounters, “short of dying – no” being one of his favourite moments of the show.
I was very curious about Wasser's commentary in particular. (Alas, I could not afford to purchase the season three set when it was released in August here.) I'm delighted to hear that he brings the praise for our favorite Centauri.
Boxleitner joins in with the Jurasik praise but says this made playing scenes with him so daunting – if you weren’t Andreas Katsulas or Stephen Furst, you knew in advance that the audience wouldn’t watch your character in any given scene with Londo.
"You might as well be the wall." *g*
When Londo in his last scene of the episode says he only wants vengeance for Adira - “give me that, and the safety of my people, and let the rest of the galaxy burn. I don’t care anymore” – he damns himself all over again.
The fascinating thing about Londo is that it is his redeeming qualities that truly make him dangerous. His willingness to throw everything into a cause, his clear capacity to love passionately and deeply- these are traits that are often admired in people. And they are the very same traits that Morden manipulated to the Shadows' advantage.
To someone like Lord Refa, the game of politics is a relatively dispassionate one- it's a matter of moving chess pieces on the board of life. One cannot see a Refa willing to burn down the galaxy to avenge a lover. One cannot see Refa tearing apart his quarters in grief and rage and then turning around and murdering his former associate in a cold, haunting fury. (You're probably right that he would've killed Morden regardless, but you are also right to guess that what did ultimately occur was likely more brutal than originally planned. The light in Londo's eye when he spits "I have not even started with you yet" sends chills down my spine.)
continued in part two
Part Two
Date: 2003-11-17 11:15 am (UTC)Hee. I love that scene.
and trying to comfort Londo in vain, is his usual adorable self in the episode. But given his own encounter with Morden, I wonder why he doesn’t suspect Morden as Adira’s killer? Londo has the excuse of being blinded by grief and rage, but Vir is usually more insightful than this.
How do we know he does't suspect Morden? We didn't see his reaction to the murder- the focus was, rightfully, on Londo. Perhaps he does make the connection, but is powerless to do anything with the suspicion.
This sounds like another missing scene to me.
Speaking of which:
In order for WTRCONHP to work, we can’t be shown how on earth (or rather on Babylon 5) Londo managed to contact G’Kar without any Narn bodyguards around, and how Londo managed to convince G’Kar that this wasn’t a trap (or at least not one for G’Kar but for Refa). I mean, just imagine it: your greatest enemy tells you to go back to your homeworld where you could be arrested on the spot so you can kill another enemy of his who also happens to be one of yours for him. Would you go? This also is chronologically their first conversation after the assault-cum-mind rape.
This is a very good question and a fascinating idea for a missing scene. Regarding Londo getting past Narn bodyguards, when I read this, I heard the following in my head (in a Northern provincial accent, no less *g*):
"If I were going to kill you, G'Kar, I would not be so blatantly obvious as to walk up to you with a knife in my hand."
Now a major reason why the relationship recovered is certainly that Londo behaves very differently during the plot against Cartagia, asking Vir for his help instead of blackmailing him, and telling him openly about the stakes. But Vir and Londo are already on talking terms in Z’ha’dum, and Vir does not appear to be angry at Londo anymore. So what happened? How did they make up?
When I brought up this subject in another forum, it was suggested that the release of the 2000 Narn prisoners included in the deal might've played a factor. But you're right- this is one big honking missing scene.
Re: Part Two
Date: 2003-11-18 01:30 am (UTC)Sounds like a Londo argument to me.*g*
The idea that the release of the 2000 Narn prisoners might have helped not just to assure G'Kar of Londo's good faith in this matter but also to mollify Vir is plausible, too. I still see a plot bunny twitching its nose, though.
Heh. This reminds me that I really need to get my B5 eps from
Date: 2003-11-17 12:25 pm (UTC)As for Garibaldi/Franklin: *no one* has come up with that yet? Incredible. And here I was thinking slashers would slash everything and everybody... and G/F seems so... obvious.
Well, remember that...
Date: 2003-11-17 02:31 pm (UTC)(Apologies if you're not into that, but I couldn't resist. *eg*
Too true.
Date: 2003-11-17 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 02:43 pm (UTC)Meanwhile, on the human/Minbari front: Rumours of Death, II (Part I would be In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum.) Aka Z’ha’dum. Are you a character in a show starting with B? Do you have a beloved named Anna whom you believe to have died tragically? Then don’t wonder whether she’s alive. Believe me, you don’t want to know. Also, you might as well join the For Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves support group.
Ahem. "For Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves support group." Haven't you forgotten poor Buffy? Also a character in a show starting with B. With a beloved named Angel (about as close to Anna as a man's name can reasonably get), who she believed irretrievably lost, if not dead, who then had to be killed/sent to Hell...
but Buffy...
Date: 2003-11-18 01:20 am (UTC)Re: but Buffy...
Date: 2003-11-18 01:43 am (UTC)much dullervery different if the Federation had shelled out for a good shrink instead of wasting all that scientific talent by sending him to Cygnus Alpha.no subject
Date: 2003-11-17 06:37 pm (UTC)is it because she now knows what it means to undergo such a radical transformation, to become a prophecy and live between worlds? Or is it still guilt because if anyone prompted, guided and manipulated Sinclair into becoming Valen ever since they first discovered his soul, it was Delenn?
I don't think Delenn feels guilt about guiding Sinclair on the path to becoming Valen; if anything, she would consider it as helping a friend fulfil his pre-ordained destiny. The grief you mention probably stems from empathy: she understands now how difficult the transition will be. And also because she is losing a friend.
But don't take my word for it. I haven't watched WWEII because my friend conveniently forgot to set her VCR the week it showed. Gah!
Now resurrection and rebirth are also a part of the hero’s journey, but the trouble in season 4 and 5 is that Sheridan remains static. He comes back as the person he was when he died, full stop.
Which is what bugs me most about Sheridan's character. How could a man go through something as drastic as being resurrected from the dead... and not change?
I also love the irony that Morden, manipulator and villain that he is, actually tells Sheridan the truth about the Vorlons in a way Delenn never could
It's an irony of life that people tend to know their enemies better than they know their friends. There's a Chinese proverb which loosely translates as "To win every battle, you must know yourself and know your enemy." Interestingly enough, it makes no reference to allies, and it's often true that people try to understand the people they hate more than the people they love. So it makes sense that the Shadows would know more truth about the Vorlons that the allies of the Vorlons would.
What truly creeps me out is that philosophy aside, the Shadows seem to be so much more approachable than the Vorlons. Given the choice, I might actually prefer working with the Shadows instead...
Of course, the best choice would probably be that of Sheridan's. "Get the hell out of our galaxy!" I love that line so...
~~JUne
Knowing your enemy
Date: 2003-11-18 01:26 am (UTC)Re: Knowing your enemy
Date: 2003-11-18 09:57 am (UTC)That's an interesting analysis. I admit, I never understood why she flipped out like that; Sheridan *obviously* wouldn't do something like that, it was just a case of working out the logical strategy given Shadow aims. But if the Minbari *were* in that situation of not trying to empathise with the enemy, it would make sense both of that scene, and of the situation in "In The Beginning"...
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 09:22 pm (UTC)And you would think that a supposedly wise and enlightened race wouldn't see things in such a simplistic way, but noooo...
But then again, the Minbari are the same people who approached a bunch of alien ships with all gunports open and expected them not to take offense.