NewbieQ: Thirdspace

[asdfff]

Overall impression: Call of Cthulhu on B5. Even the telepathic calls, cultists, and tentacles are there. The only thing missing was a reference to sleeping. I forget who calls this "Turdspace" but its literary ties and references run deep.

Observations and questions not touched on by Lurker's guide:

1) JMS didn't really *need* to give the aliens a motivation. It could have been more neat if they simply wanted to come into our space. Making them eeeeevil interspace aliens is a bit campy, even for B5.

2) Spiffy that the nuclear device needed those short tubes to slam subcritical nuclear bomb material together. You don't see details like that in every scifi.

3) Those alien flighter have a very vorlon-ish design. Hmm.

4) Vir is either slightly telepathic, or very gullible.

5) I thought "The Hand" uses the same idea--they just want to come through, genocidic tendencies or not? Both have a very eldritch Lovecraft feel to it.

 

[Elenopa]

My own personal feelings, but TS is my least favourite of the movies.

Partly this is because It is very difficult to figure out where exactly it comes in season 4. I know where I'd put it. Also, it is never mentioned again in the series, and almost nothing from the series is connected to it. It just feels 'not real' to me.

Partly I don't like it as much because there is no Marcus, but that's just me.

Not to say it's completely bad. I love the scene in the lift between Zack and Lyta. Even more when you learn that it was a last minute scene written when they discovered they were three minutes short, and that the only sets still standing included the lift.

 

[vacantlook]

5) I thought "The Hand" uses the same idea--they just want to come through, genocidic tendencies or not?

Off topic, but I've occationally wondered if in the course of the show of Rangers that we'll never see if we would have perhaps learned that those locked away in the portal deep underground weren't The Hand or any other "bad" aliens, but instead some aliens that maybe "The Hand" locked away a long time ago.

 

[asdfff]

Awwww....you have such a cute avatar! I'm sorry to say that I don't like marcus nearly as much as you do (cute bear still, though). For me, he stuck out a little bit too much amongst a collection of B5's more campy aspects.

And you're right, B5 isn't really the place for fantasy/scifi. It's best used as exploratory allegories for political situations and personal desires. Still, one can tell a good amount of planning went into the movie.

EDIT: In Lovecraft stories, the "horrors of the week" are one-off things that come into reality, scare people, and get driven away. They usually don't have motives beyond entering out reality (or spacetime). In that sense, The Hand and our 3rd space aliens are alike. Whether they're the same race or not remains to be seen.

I have a feeling JMS wants the story told one way or another. Perhaps the next pilot he's given money for...

 

[deaded]

I love the scene in the lift between Zack and Lyta. Even more when you learn that it was a last minute scene written when they discovered they were three minutes short, and that the only sets still standing included the lift.

I had no idea that was filler. I thought it was awesome! Just goes to show ya...

 

[KoshFan]

Truly one of B5's best comic moments.

 

[KoshN]

Truly one of B5's best comic moments.

Comic? That was painful, for ol' Zack.

 

[deaded]

Oh yeah man. I felt for him sooooooo much

 

[GKarsEye]

The elevator scene was great! Just from a theatrical perspective, having the one character awkwardly monologise himself into hope, romance, rejection and pain while the other is completely oblivious. Beautiful!

I like this one. In the middle of the busiest and most complex season, it's a monster story, and a fun one.

 

[bobbyboy]

My own personal feelings, but TS is my least favourite of the movies.

MY own personal feelings, this is the worst thing ever to have been done in the B5 Universe (even worse than TKO). That elevator scene is the only thing that keeps it from getting a G rating (yes, not an F, but a G).

I mean, the story is basically like this: you find a strange object, bring it to the station, spend 75 minutes trying to guess what it is, then Lyta just gives you the answer, you blow it up, end of the story!

Give me a break! What happened to JMS's "I'd rather have no movie than one not worthy of B5" directive?

 

[KoshN]

My own personal feelings, but TS is my least favourite of the movies.

MY own personal feelings, this is the worst thing ever to have been done in the B5 Universe (even worse than TKO). That elevator scene is the only thing that keeps it from getting a G rating (yes, not an F, but a G).

I mean, the story is basically like this: you find a strange object, bring it to the station, spend 75 minutes trying to guess what it is, then Lyta just gives you the answer, you blow it up, end of the story!

Give me a break! What happened to JMS's "I'd rather have no movie than one not worthy of B5" directive?

TS is your least favorite? TS is, IMHO, ~100 times better than TLaDiS.

Here's how I'd rank the B5 movies, from best to worst.

In the Beginning
A Call to Arms
The Gathering
Thirdspace
The River of Souls
To Live and Die in Starlight

Actually, over time, I've been liking TRoS more and TS less, and they're about ready to switch places in my order. With regards to TS, there just isn't much there (Ditto for TLaDiS.). Both, especially TLaDiS, seem fairly empty and padded out to reach ~90 minutes. TRoS is helped by strong performances from Garibaldi, Lochley, McShane's character (regardless of what McShane says.) and the comic bits with the lawyer. Part of my rising opinion of TRoS may be due to the fact that I've finally begun to accept Lochley.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

TRoS is helped by strong performances from Garibaldi, Lochley, McShane's character (regardless of what McShane says.) and the comic bits with the lawyer. Part of my rising opinion of TRoS may be due to the fact that I've finally begun to accept Lochley.

Intrigued am I ... what does McShane say?

 

[darth_librarian]

I liked TROS, mainly for Mcshane...

 

[Sindatur]

Happy Birthday Mr. Librarian, sir.

 

[GKarsEye]

McShane did have a lame character. And Souls is by far the worst of the movies, IMO. Ok, so Thirdspace wasn't brilliantly original, but if you just take it as an adventure story starring our favorite characters, it's entertaining enough. We already have a great epic arc-intensive TV movie called In the Beginning.

If you want to see McShane in a great role, watch Deadwood. Everyone should watch Deadwood.

 

[admiraldave]

I still haven't finished TRoS. I just can't get into it. So I'd rate the movies in this order:

In the Beginning
A Call to Arms
To Live and Die in Starlight
The Gathering
Thirdspace
The River of Souls

Although I haven't seen the reedited "The Gathering" yet, so it's based on my hazy memories of the original.

 

[KoshN]

TRoS is helped by strong performances from Garibaldi, Lochley, McShane's character (regardless of what McShane says.) and the comic bits with the lawyer. Part of my rising opinion of TRoS may be due to the fact that I've finally begun to accept Lochley.

Intrigued am I ... what does McShane say?

Ian McShane on Jay Leno w/ B5 reference

 

[B5_Obsessed]

His character really had no evolution. He ended up simply being the plot catalyst. Halfway through the movie, it centered on the Soul Hunter and Lochley, and McShane disappeared altogether until the very end. I don't recall him having any dialogue in the denouement, but I could be wrong.

Corwin's insane face as he bats himself is definitely worth watching.

 

[KoshN]

His character really had no evolution. He ended up simply being the plot catalyst. Halfway through the movie, it centered on the Soul Hunter and Lochley, and McShane disappeared altogether until the very end. I don't recall him having any dialogue in the denouement, but I could be wrong.

Well, his character is more or less taken over by the souls in the big sphere. IIRC, at the end, he's pretty much fried, probably not permanently, but then the movie ends. Anyway, to me, TRoS comes over as something believable in the B5 universe, whereas TS and TLaDiS don't. IMHO, the best thing about TS were the ship/battle special effects, and Delenn and Sheridan's conversation about her picking him up after his navpack is exhausted.

Corwin's insane face as he bats himself is definitely worth watching.

Ditto for the lawyer when he hits himself with the "reprogrammed" bat, especially for the last hit.