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EpDis: Walkabout

Sic Transit Vir


  • Total voters
    8
A fairly solid episode. Franklin's story isn't that enthralling but isn't as bad as some people make out, and this episode has got enough Vorlons, Shadows, space battles, Garibaldi-G'Kar scenes and swedish meatballs to keep me happy. I'd rate it a B.
 
I enjoyed it more than that, and seeing as it was my intro. to B5, and what hooked me to coming back to see all the rest (including all of the movies, novels, short stories, comics and Crusade), I give it an A.

"Lyta: They killed him. They tore him apart. ... Burn, you bastard!"

:cool: :D
 
Solid episode. I usually don't like single episode romances, but I have to say this one was really great.

Best moment: Franklin walking out of the bar, and the camera going to the view of him through the glass.
 
This episode is great and nicely done emotionally. My one criticism is that too much time is spent showing the singer singing.
 
I was very excited when I recently finally watched the first season of Veroncia Mars and saw that the woman who played the singer/Franklin-love interest in this episode is Wallace's mother on VM.

:D

(BTW, Veronica Mars is such a good show it's crazy!)
 
I loved Franklin's story arc.

Changed this post a bit, realized I was talking about enother episde. That said, I still liked to see this side of Franklin.
 
Any time there is an episode with Steven talking to females it hurts me. He's so awkward and cheesy just about every time. I need to believe that he was deliberately written that way - his social skills less than optimum due to his myopic view of his life as a doctor.

I gave this a B-, averaging out a C story and a B+ story. Why not a C+?

Ulkesh is why.
 
Well, I think the best shot in the episode came right at the beginning - Sheridan outside, with the new Vorlon's ship coming right up to him. What a moment! Knowing what we do about the part of Kosh that resides in him, I can't help but wonder if his going outside was on purpose, being led there, rather than mere coincidence. However, the new ambassador doesn't appear to recognize his colleague's presence.

It's scary to see him attacking Lyta. His whole appearance is more angular, darker and more sinister, it seems. And of course there's a memorable quote: "We are all Kosh."

The universal mystery of Swedish meatballs was an amusing dialogue!

I enjoyed the singer's great voice - and was surprised to read that the actress did the singing herself. That's not always the case in TV/movies. She works as a love interest for Franklin - at least it's easy to understand why he's fascinated.

As to the walkabout idea, I rather like it. It seems like a good way for the doc to get back on his feet (literally!) without leaving the station.
 
[Kosh]Is there a problem?[/Kosh]

Anyone else jump a little in their seat when they first heard that? Lol.

Also, is it ever said anywhere else (a book or whatever) what that writing on Ulkesh's ship, when they encountered Sheridan on his space-walk, said? That was one incredible scene. I thought it would prelude a new meaningful connection between the new Vorlon and Sheridan, but that would never happen....
 
As long as it doesn't say "Human Exterminators, available cheap!"

But that would be stealing the Shadow's act.
 
It's a decent semi-arc episode. The Walkabout story is not terribly exciting. It gives us some more insight into Dr. Franklin's personality and all the stuff he's going through. I'm not sure we really NEEDED that at this point, but it's OK. It's not horrible and I quite enjoyed the songs Cailin performed (I did not realize JMS wrote those, I just read that in the Lurker's Guide a few minutes ago). But, there's a victory against the Shadows in this episode, so that's a pretty big deal. And then there's the new Kosh ...

New Kosh is kind of scary. He's not very nice to Lyta. She seemed pretty happy when she returned from the Vorlon homeworld, so presumably this isn't the way the Vorlons normally treat her. Perhaps it is as she says, they are upset by Kosh's death. I like the appropriate encounter suit design. I never quite could work out what the deal is with the Vorlon ship and how it pops up to say hi (?) to Sheridan. Is Sheridan supposed to be able to read the words on the side of the ship? I checked the Lurker's Guide, but it appears as though this isn't anything really important. I'd really like to know what happened there! Also, do you think it freaked out people in C&C when that ship didn't start docking, but instead randomly shot up like that?

It's a good thing it was Sheridan who ran over to Lyta to check on her after she collapsed. Otherwise she wouldn't have seen Kosh's death and gotten all angry and things would have ended rather badly. I was pleased to see G'Kar arrive, and that he brought the cavalry. I'm quite surprised that that Narn cruiser was able to do so much damage to the Shadow ship. Ok, so we can't actually see what damage it is doing, but it stopped the ship from pursuing the White Star, in any case.

As for the Walkabout story ... Leave it to Dr. Franklin to totally butt into someone else's life after just meeting them, and while still in bed with them. Not even just about the drinking (look who's talking!), but even before that, when he's telling her that she shouldn't be living there like she is, as though she isn't an autonomous person perfectly capable of making her own decisions. I guess she was in too much pain to kick him out of the bed :p
 
:LOL::LOL:

That's a pretty harsh character summary of Franklin, but your points are all valid. It's all perspective, I guess. Franklin is not exactly perfect, but at least he keeps making the same mistake with the same noble intentions. And he's not exactly lazy about giving the support needed.

He just tends to forget he isn't, after all, a Vorlon. ;)
 
Hah, yes, I suppose it does sound (read) a bit harsh :p He's obviously a very well-intentioned person, willing to go to great lengths to stand by his principles. He didn't want to hand over his notes on the Minbari during the war so as to not contribute to the creation of biological weapons, or whatever else the military might come up with, he was running the underground railroad for the rogue telepaths, and that free clinic downbelow. He was ready to go into the isolab when the Drafa plague was killing all the Markab, .. There's lots of good things to say about him.

To be honest, I am totally with him when it comes to his actions in "Believers", too. I would put that in the same category as all the stuff above, even if it obviously didn't end well. He did his very best to save that kid. I don't think he could have done anything else, because he is so dedicated to his job, to helping people (sentient beings).

But, he clearly has has his faults like the rest of us, and they come to the foreground more when he's dealing with his stim problem. He was being a total ass to Cailin, at least at first.

I didn't start commenting here, until halfway through the second season of this re-watch. I started JUST after "The Long Dark", which is probably a good thing because that's where I would have been the harshest on Dr. Franklin. He's totally inappropriate and creepy in that :p
 
Yea, Franklin could be kind of creepy, I agree completely. And he had to be flawed somehow, in some ways he's the least flawed of all the B5 characters. Which is boring, of course. :)
 
Not this episode but I thought this 'Believers' quote explained a lot about Franklin:

People come to doctors because
they want us to be gods. They
want us to 'make it better' or
'make it not so.' They want to be
healed. Whatever, they want, they
come to me when their prayers
aren't enough.
(the heart of it)
Well, if I have to take the
responsibility, then I claim the
authority too.

It's why he's so consumed by his work and also why nobody and nothing else gets close to him.

Jan
 

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