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Mark Oshiro watches Babylon 5

vacantlook

Super Moderator
For anyone who might be interested, Mark Oshiro -- author of the Young Adult novel Anger Is A Gift -- is beginning to watch Babylon 5 for the first time. As with other series he's watched, he'll be posting on his website his contemplation and analysis of each episode. (He also does videos, which can be purchased, of him reacting as he's watching.) The first post is scheduled for next Thursday, the 20th.

Mark Watches
 
Lyta might be a permanent character, but I wasn’t sure, and there’s virtually nothing in the way of a history for Dr. Kyle or Takashima. Which is okay! It’s just the start, and I’m eager to see what the series itself does with these characters. What else is in store for them? How significant are the events of this film to other story arcs?

Ooops!! Thanks for the link.
 
Mark Oshiro watches "Midnight on the Firing Line"

I'm enjoying this comment from Mark:

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW. Oh my god, can we have a Psi Ops episode? They sound FUCKED UP.

As the culture of the comments section of his website would say: All the nuns! (Explanation for those who don't understand the use of "nuns" in the comments there: Mark maintains a strict spoiler policy; however, he does allow people to discuss spoilers if they post them using rot13 text. "Aha" (aka laughter) converts into rot13: "Nun." So references to nuns is an expression of recognition that something Mark has said reveals he's so not prepared for what's coming in a show.)

Another nun moment:

I don’t know how important the recently-elected president is....
 
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I don't know this person, so have no opinion on his character.

But if you're SELLING your reviews, you're going to need to be entertaining. And don't comments like about Kyle and Takashima strike you as just a *bit* too contrived? To say you felt they didn't have background fine, but "I’m eager to see what the series itself does with these characters. What else is in store for them?"

Or is he being deliberately funny and I didn't get it?
 
Well it seems like we have a new fan of the show. If he's this excited after only the first two episodes then something like Crysalis is going to blow him away.

I must say that I'm enjoying reading his reviews. It's nice to see the reactions of someone watching the show for the first time and remembering back to when it blew me away.


EDIT: I followed the links from his site to the Black Market and tried actually watching his video for Midnight on the Firing Line. It was pretty entertaining (especially when he ships Talia and Ivanova!). I don't know if I'll watch them all but I'll definitely watch him for at least one of the bigger episodes. This all reminds me of finally sitting my sister down and getting her to watch B5 with me after years of telling her she'd love it. Last time I saw her we still had a chuckle about G'Kar and Londo trapped in the lift.
 
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"But this idea of ancient beings who roam space and are basically impossible to understand is SO F****** COOL. Can we please have more of this???"

Yes, sir. Yes you can.
 
Part of the joy of this series is watching him say stuff like "Can we have an episode about the Psi Corps" and then seeing his reaction when he gets it!
 
Heh heh! Quoting Oshiro's tweet today regarding his watching "And The Sky Full Of Stars": "I've reached the first truly mind-bending and deeply unfair episode of BABYLON 5."

And the first line of the review:: "In the eighth episode of the first season of Babylon 5, WHAT THE FUCK!"
 
As much as I love him reacting to these early episodes, I want to see him when we get to the first episode of Season 2 when he realises that these mysteries DO get explained. The show isn't unfair, they don't introduce mysteries and leave them unsolved.
 
I was about to post the exact same two quotes. :D


I'm impressed that he got the Vorlons so quickly. But I suspect that he'll forget it before Season 4 and start thinking of the Vorlons in the Good vs Evil terms that they wanted us to think of them in.
 
Well this fun. Oshiro has for a second time begun a review introduction, this time for "Believers," with "In the tenth episode of the first season of Babylon 5, WHAT THE FUCK." (The previous "WHAT THE FUCK" introduction was earlier this week with "And the Sky Full of Stars." If B5 is throwing him for a loop this early, then things are bound to get good.
 
The man raises a good point about Lianna Kemmer. She is indeed one-note in her pursuit of Garibaldi. Oshiro's idea that an acknowledgment that Santiago is always under threat, and that therefore Kemmer's paranoia is totally justified, makes a lot of sense and is a little bit of a missed trick.
 

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