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A B5 Complaint From a Newbie

Recoil

Regular
So I finally got my brother to start watching B5. He is just finishing up the Second Season now, and pretty much feels the same way about it that I felt at that point --- great show, First Season was really slow and dragged on, didn't really like Sinclair much, likes Sheridan better, and the story is really picking up and getting interesting. (Many of those opinions have changed after watching it a few times as you appreciate things more, but I felt that same way on first viewing).

Anyway, so we are going out to a bar last night and he was talking about where he was in the show, asking a couple questions, etc. Then he says "Ok, so I have one real complaint about the show thus far. Remember how in the Pilot Sinclair said he had to pull huge strings to get that Zen Rock Garden there because space was so precious that it was needed for plants to help with food and air? And how the second in command, (and eventually this also turned out to be Ivanova) had a rogue coffee plant that she had to sneak in because space could only be used for official business and plantlife? So why in the hell do they have an enormous freakin BATTING CAGE complete with center field????"

I sat there for a second, and pretty much had to agree with him. Yea, that does seem silly. What is worse, is he couldn't find a valid reason for it. Exactly how much demand would there be on a space station for an indoor baseball diamond? Given how much realism they tried to put into things that BELONGED on the station, it does seem rather silly. Its like, the only reason it was there was so Sheridan could be hitting baseballs while taking a break.

I had totally forgotten about that scene, but yea, seems pointless. Anyone else have any different or similar thoughts?
 
Maybe there are actual B5 resident teams that compete on the field with tickets and concessions sold for the games and that income is used to partially offset B5's operating costs.
 
Grass produces oxygen, too. If you look at many of the shots from the central core, you'll see large areas of green, presumably parks. The batting area could have been part of one of those, with the field used at other times for picnics, soccer and other games. The importance of "green space" for the human psyche is a matter that has been discussed in both scientific and science fiction circles for decades. It seems likely that B5's designers would have incorporated something like it. But grass and simple plants are less labor and resource intensive than food crops, so it makes sense that more area would be set aside for it than for it than for grains, fruits and vegetables, and therefore that a higher premium would be placed on space devoted to them. (And luxuries like coffee forbidden.)

The "zen garden" proper is the small Japanese stone garden (which is what Sinclair correclty calls it) and has no plants. :) Presumably Sinclair had trouble getting space set aside for it because space is always at a premium in a place like a space station and it could have been used for storage or guest quarters or something practical. The objection would have been to "wasting" space (that had to be heated and air conditioned and provided with oxygen) on a place set aside for contemplation - "A place for Zen skinny-dipping" - rather than plant resources or what-have-you. The same would not have applied to a park with a baseball diamond that could be put to other uses.

Regards,

Joe
 
The ball diamond might have been built to give the staff, workers, and etc exercise or a way to vent and unwind, just like some companies have exercise programs or even weightrooms and such for their employees.
 
If Ivannova had known about Grey 17, she could have grown all the coffee she wanted.

Sure, that's all we'd've needed - a Zarg on a caffine jag. :)

Actually "Grey 17" might make for a nice Lost Tale. Presumably Jeremiah and his people were rounded up and moved out of there shortly after the episode, but I doubt anyone was able to give the place much thought for the next several years given the distractions of the Shadow War, Earth Civil War and the first year of the Alliance. (Although you would have thought it would make the perfect hide-out for Byron and his Wacky Cult (tm), given that it was all broken in by Jeremiah and company. Maybe JMS was trying to repress all memory of the episode, so he never thought of reusing the location.) Anyway, you've got to figure that at some point duirng Lochley's tenure work crews got in there, cleaned the place up and reopened it. Wonder what they turned it into? :)

Regards,

Joe
 
A holo-brothel? :LOL:

Ooohh, I like the way you think. :)

A holo-brothel. The very thing the station needs. ;)

scogginshb.jpg


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And maybe they still have Kosh's data-crystal of Talia lying around. ;)

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Regards,

Joe
 
And maybe they still have Kosh's data-crystal of Talia lying around.


Joe you forget those were (in finest kosh) "reflections" not saucy images.
 
Is this the old cool Starbuck or the new crappy one :confused:

The thing with B5 is that little things are seen as big errors because the series was that good at being realistic.

The scene only existed to further the story line.

The most popular sport on the planet is football.It is not so popular in America though which is why we see a sport that most people couldn't care about.

At least it wasn't cricket :eek: :LOL:
 
The scene only existed to further the story line

Well, the same can be said for virtually every scene in a TV show or movie. But in this case the fact that Sheridan is playing baseball has nothing at all to do with the plot. He and Garibaldi could have had the same conversation in Sheridan's quarters or the Zocalo or any number of other places. Instead JMS chose to do a one-time virtual set to tell us something about both the character (Sheridan is an obsessive-compulsive who works himself relentlessly even on his day off) and the station (B5 has things like baseball diamonds.)

And Sheridan is an American, so it isn't terribly surprising he plays baseball. (And how do you show someone practicing soccer solo? Taking shots at a empty net? Batting is something you can practice with a pitching machine and nobody else. I suppose Sheridan could have been on a driving range or practicing his putting, but a golf course on B5 seems even less likely than a baseball diamond tucked away in some corner of the central core. ;))

Regards,

Joe
 
Football training is easy to show.

Or are you trying to say baseball can be played alone without someone throwing the ball :p

The scene might not have had anything to do with the story arc but it was supposed to show something about Sherridan's character.

It did not detract from the episode though so no complaints here.

An American sport was shown because the series was made in America.In no way does this bother me.

B5 for me is good because because it is mostly realistic compared to other Sci-Fi series.It still has it's faults though.
 
And Sheridan is an American, so it isn't terribly surprising he plays baseball. (And how do you show someone practicing ***soccer***:mad: football solo? Taking shots at a empty net?

He could play keepie uppie but I bet he'd be rubbish!:devil:

I suppose Sheridan could have been on a driving range or practicing his putting

A golf course? None of that elitist nonsense here thanks. Where is Mr Defense (US spelling due to film and character being set in America) when you need him?:devil:
 
He could play keepie uppie but I bet he'd be rubbish! :devil:

I'm pretty sure Boxleitner had a "don't make me look like a dork playing hacky-sack" clause in his contract, so that would have been out. :) Yeah, I bet he'd be rubbish too, attempting a practice routine he'd never done for a sport he'd never played and that nobody he knew remotely cared about. I'll bet Becks would do a lousy job take snaps in the shotgun position, too. :D

A golf course? None of that elitist nonsense here thanks.

Golf is becoming increasingly mainstream over here, with lots more public courses being built and a much broader demographic playing the game. Tennis used to be an "elitist" sport, too, but few people think of it that way now. Golf seems to be on the same trajectory.

Regards,

Joe
 
Is this the old cool Starbuck or the new crappy one :confused:

Knew I'd regret invoking that name here. :eek:

This kind (See attached.), the kind that is CLOSED all along the length of the Ohio Turnpike from ~9PM to ~6AM :mad: :mad: :mad:, when people who are driving 432 freaking miles at night could USE a quad-espresso, TO KEEP AWAKE. :rolleyes: This particular Starbucks Coffee is about 20 miles East of Toledo, Ohio, USA. Photo* taken at 1:47 this morning. I got a Coke at Burger King, instead. No way I was going to try that weak, Burger King swill that they have the nerve to call "coffee." It's actually 99.9% tasteless, very light brown, hot water. :p I've had that miserable excuse for coffee many times before.

*Sorry the photo's so low-res. It's from my cellphone, and I wasn't about to go back to the car to get my good digicam. I was trying to get home before the freezing rain/sleet storm hit. Made it to within 3 miles of my house when it started. :D
 

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Football training is easy to show.

Or are you trying to say baseball can be played alone without someone throwing the ball :p

Pitching Machines/Batting Cages.
Driving Ranges.

Both solo.

IIRC, they also have something like pitching machines for tennis and even dodgeball (See Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, which btw, reunites Gary Cole with the stapler guy from Office Space. :LOL:)
 

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