Theophilus
Member
I just don\'t get the negativity...(spoiler)
(For those who haven't figured out that every new post on this forum has spoilers...)
THERE BE SPOILERS HERE!
I just don't get all the negativity, guys. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was a great addition to the B5 universe, and bunches better than "The Gathering". I always expect this kind of series to take at least a year to get going really well (think about the first season of all of the Treks, plus B5, Crusade and Farscape), and don't expect much out of the pilot. To my great surprise and pleasure, I thought LotR was better than all but the best B5 episodes (maybe 20 or so). If we go to series we may not have to wait through a whole year of cringe-making to get to the good stuff.
Some random thoughts as they come to me:
1. The only real cringer for me was "It ain't over till it's over."
2. Yes, the waterboy scene was terribly predictable, but it was still fun to watch.
3. Who CARES if they've changed the gate effect and the hyperspace effect slightly? The story and the characters are what are so interesting. It might be different if the effects looked hokey or bad, but they don't, just different. Come on, get a life! Remember how they radically changed Delenn's face from pilot to Season 1? (She was originally going to be a man.) Just exactly how much difference did that make to the whole series?
4. Sarah Cantrell...what a hotty! And I see the potential for a relationship there, too. They may not be laboring under the same rules as Earth military, but it does seem like it could cause real problems to have a captain and a subordinate being romantic. But they could handle it the way Stargate SG-1 does, lots of sexual tension but not doing anything about it.
5. I was concerned from pre-viewing photos that Dylan Neal just looked too young, too boyish to be convincing as a captain. I was very pleasantly suprised. His David Martell has a commanding presence, and I found it quite convincing. He's not, after all, commanding a large ship like a Sharlin, but a small PT-boat type.
6. Dulann was perfectly in character, and a welcome change of personality from all the other Minbari we've yet seen. His response to David saying that he might get his room was just precious, not the words but the tone.
7. I don't care that G'Kar didn't have any real reason to be there...it was still great to see him. It was like he never left the role...the role JMS may have thought up, but he himself actually created, probably one of the greatest roles ever. I especially liked the "kiss, kiss, love, love, gotta go."
8. The eager boyishness that I feared in David was actually there in Kitaro Sasaki, but that's okay so long as it's not the captain and there's only one. (We survived Wesley Crusher, after all.) Kitaro didn't get any real character lines, but you can't cram too much into just ~140 minutes or so. And Tafeek...he's introduced so he'll be in place for the series, but there was no real use for him in the story.
9. Tirk was hilarious. Looks like he'll be the comic relief, at least for a while. It'd be great if he does turn into a Vir character and grows. And the Narn engineer was hilarious, too.
10. I rather liked the concept of the gunnery pod, but I agree with everyone that the kicking and punching is wrong. Seems like it was thought up to be a really spectacular sight, but it doesn't seem realistic. Keep the VR environment, lose the kicking and punching.
11. I got the impression that the Liandra didn't have the ability to form its own jump points, but I read in another post that their jump engines got knocked out early, which is why they had to run to the gate. Which is it? I think it makes for better stories if they're more limited.
12. I especially liked the non-Trek ending. I get so sick of all these politically correct shows all over TV that somehow make out that it's wrong to kill the bad guys, that violence for any reason is evil ("let's not descend to his level"). It's refreshing to see a group of people that kick butt and take names.
13. Franke, not Chen. 'Nuff said!
14. "It's a good day to die." "Oh, with you, every day is a good day to die!" I love it! A wonderful, semi-respectful tweak at Star Trek.
15. Did anyone notice the last-but-one scene, where Sarah asks David, "So, do we have a mission yet?", and David doesn't respond? Was it just me, or is that a subtle question from JMS, really asking "So, do we have a series yet?"
/Theophilus
------------------
(For those who haven't figured out that every new post on this forum has spoilers...)
THERE BE SPOILERS HERE!
I just don't get all the negativity, guys. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was a great addition to the B5 universe, and bunches better than "The Gathering". I always expect this kind of series to take at least a year to get going really well (think about the first season of all of the Treks, plus B5, Crusade and Farscape), and don't expect much out of the pilot. To my great surprise and pleasure, I thought LotR was better than all but the best B5 episodes (maybe 20 or so). If we go to series we may not have to wait through a whole year of cringe-making to get to the good stuff.
Some random thoughts as they come to me:
1. The only real cringer for me was "It ain't over till it's over."
2. Yes, the waterboy scene was terribly predictable, but it was still fun to watch.
3. Who CARES if they've changed the gate effect and the hyperspace effect slightly? The story and the characters are what are so interesting. It might be different if the effects looked hokey or bad, but they don't, just different. Come on, get a life! Remember how they radically changed Delenn's face from pilot to Season 1? (She was originally going to be a man.) Just exactly how much difference did that make to the whole series?
4. Sarah Cantrell...what a hotty! And I see the potential for a relationship there, too. They may not be laboring under the same rules as Earth military, but it does seem like it could cause real problems to have a captain and a subordinate being romantic. But they could handle it the way Stargate SG-1 does, lots of sexual tension but not doing anything about it.
5. I was concerned from pre-viewing photos that Dylan Neal just looked too young, too boyish to be convincing as a captain. I was very pleasantly suprised. His David Martell has a commanding presence, and I found it quite convincing. He's not, after all, commanding a large ship like a Sharlin, but a small PT-boat type.
6. Dulann was perfectly in character, and a welcome change of personality from all the other Minbari we've yet seen. His response to David saying that he might get his room was just precious, not the words but the tone.
7. I don't care that G'Kar didn't have any real reason to be there...it was still great to see him. It was like he never left the role...the role JMS may have thought up, but he himself actually created, probably one of the greatest roles ever. I especially liked the "kiss, kiss, love, love, gotta go."
8. The eager boyishness that I feared in David was actually there in Kitaro Sasaki, but that's okay so long as it's not the captain and there's only one. (We survived Wesley Crusher, after all.) Kitaro didn't get any real character lines, but you can't cram too much into just ~140 minutes or so. And Tafeek...he's introduced so he'll be in place for the series, but there was no real use for him in the story.
9. Tirk was hilarious. Looks like he'll be the comic relief, at least for a while. It'd be great if he does turn into a Vir character and grows. And the Narn engineer was hilarious, too.
10. I rather liked the concept of the gunnery pod, but I agree with everyone that the kicking and punching is wrong. Seems like it was thought up to be a really spectacular sight, but it doesn't seem realistic. Keep the VR environment, lose the kicking and punching.
11. I got the impression that the Liandra didn't have the ability to form its own jump points, but I read in another post that their jump engines got knocked out early, which is why they had to run to the gate. Which is it? I think it makes for better stories if they're more limited.
12. I especially liked the non-Trek ending. I get so sick of all these politically correct shows all over TV that somehow make out that it's wrong to kill the bad guys, that violence for any reason is evil ("let's not descend to his level"). It's refreshing to see a group of people that kick butt and take names.
13. Franke, not Chen. 'Nuff said!
14. "It's a good day to die." "Oh, with you, every day is a good day to die!" I love it! A wonderful, semi-respectful tweak at Star Trek.
15. Did anyone notice the last-but-one scene, where Sarah asks David, "So, do we have a mission yet?", and David doesn't respond? Was it just me, or is that a subtle question from JMS, really asking "So, do we have a series yet?"
/Theophilus
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