Babylon 5 season 4

Mmmm... drugs in micro gravity! Now there's a thought.

Re: \"Deconstruction\" commentary

There's one more very good reason for the commentary on "Deconstruction." Whether you like the episode or not, there's the most to explain with this ep, and thus a greater likelihood that the commentary will be informative in some way. With this commentary, Straczynski was able to explain the odd circumstances behind the finale, explain structural choices that some viewers may have found odd, lay out a little more of his vision of the back story, and talk about his perspective on the media, academics, and so on. I like the choice of this as a commentary ep along with the decision to do "Face of the Enemy" with Vejar because those two episodes both had unique things about them, which made the commentaries unique as well. I enjoyed "No Surrender, No Retreat" more than "Face of the Enemy," but honestly, I'm not sure Straczynski would have had that much new to say about that ep after having already commented on "Severed Dreams." Meanwhile the pack-of-lions scene in "Face" was a special opportunity to hear a producer and director discuss a fairly complicated setup. So I think those were good choices all around.

I also think the music suite was great, and I'll take a new Franke composition over another short talking-heads interview featurette any day of the week.

Re: \"Deconstruction\" commentary

There's one more very good reason for the commentary on "Deconstruction." Whether you like the episode or not, there's the most to explain with this ep, and thus a greater likelihood that the commentary will be informative in some way.

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I agree 100% and was thinking of posting that same comment when I read yours. Someone said above, or in another thread, that they wished the commentary was on "endgame" or one of those episodes instead of Deconstruction. Why?!? Endgame is pretty self explainatory and straightforward. Deconstruction NEEDS a commentary just because it was so vastly different than other B5 episodes, and was "out there" a bit. It was great hearing JMS explain his thoughts behind why he did things on that one, as well as hidden meanings. It was one of the few episodes that almost demanded a commentary from the creator. good choice.

I just finished watching "The Face of the Enemy" about half an hour ago, then immediately started watching it again with the commentary track.

The ISN anchor calls Edgars one of the richest men "on Earth" when reporting his death, and calls Edgars Pharmaceuticals one of the largest Mega-Corps on Earth. Edgars Industries may be the parent company, and the larger of the two, located on Mars for tax reasons. (Edgars mentions having to spend half the year on Mars to keep his tax breaks.) But the drug company is apparently a huge concern all by itself. I suspect that Edgars Pharmaceuticals came first, and remains on Earth* because there is simply a larger pool of trained talent, while Edgars Industries was established on Mars as an umbrella company for a number of Edgars interests having nothing to do with drugs.

Regards,

Joe

* They probably also have manufacturing facilities in Earth orbit and on the Moon for drugs and other products that can best be created in low or microgravity environments.

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'Course, ISN was still under Clarke's control when they reported Edgars' death. Given the rocky relations between Earth and its Mars colony, ISN could have chose to emphasize Edgars' Earth-bound holdings just as a matter of policy. Probably stuck in Clarke's craw that Edgars kept his corporate headquarters on Mars.

Re: \"Deconstruction\" commentary

There's one more very good reason for the commentary on "Deconstruction." Whether you like the episode or not, there's the most to explain with this ep, and thus a greater likelihood that the commentary will be informative in some way.

Click to expand...

I agree 100% and was thinking of posting that same comment when I read yours. Someone said above, or in another thread, that they wished the commentary was on "endgame" or one of those episodes instead of Deconstruction. Why?!? Endgame is pretty self explainatory and straightforward. Deconstruction NEEDS a commentary just because it was so vastly different than other B5 episodes, and was "out there" a bit. It was great hearing JMS explain his thoughts behind why he did things on that one, as well as hidden meanings. It was one of the few episodes that almost demanded a commentary from the creator. good choice.

Click to expand...

Plus, we get to hear JMS criticize the writer for such a talking heads episode.

Deconstruction is an odd episode, which could have worked just as easily as a coda to the entire series (although the references to Season 5 wouldn't have been as interesting). In some ways, it set the tone for the quiet way the series ended. Some segments work better than others, but fortunately, the quality of the little stories increases, so that it ends strongly. It's one that has grown on me.

Re: \"Deconstruction\" commentary

My S4 set from Amazon came today...discs 2 and 4 were loose, disc 4 was scratched, but all the discs played fine, i checked scenes from every episode just in case...dont appear to be any problems