Not With a Bang

Another TV post. And, herewith, a spoiler warning for those few people who (like me) have waited a few extra years to watch Babylon 5.



The Shadow War just ended.



And the moral of the story is: Spout enough cliche's at the bad guys and they'll run clear out of the galaxy (universe?) to escape you.

That and the Shadows are really big wimps, scared of the dark. So are the Vorlons: "Will you go with us?" the Shadow representative asks the first old one plaintively. "Then we won't be alone," the Vorlon adds. Oh, and they want to know if all their friends will be waiting for them when they get there (wherever "there" is.).



It was, to put it mildly, a letdown. I mean, this sort of "talk them down by demonstrating our maturity/logic/stubbornness" is something James T. Kirk can get away with (kind of), but it really doesn't work here.

And, while I can see making all sorts of thematic and moral arguments as to why having a war end with a lecture rather than a battle is a good thing, I can't see any real plot-related arguments for having the big letdown. Yes--peace talks are good. Cliche'd monologues, not so much so.

That and the Shadow and Vorlon motivations as revealed by the exposition made no sense at all. Nor did their quitting "You can kill us," Delenn says, "and then those who come after us, and those who come after them..." Quite right, and I'm not sure why they didn't.

Actually, the Shadow motivations made some sense & were consistent: They foster growth through violence, and have a great time running around asking people "What do you want?" and then giving it to them--as long as it is sufficiently bloody. (And why did they side with the Centauri & not the Narn? Their representative asked both amassadors). The Vorlons, however, are supposed to be trying to drive people toward order. When I thought that they thought they would win the war by wiping out everyone who had followed the Shadows, it made a certain amount of sense, but when it turned out that their goal wasn't to wipe out the Shadows, themselves, it stopped making a whole lot of sense. Dead burned out planets are orderly, but the dead can't then agree that you were right all along and it is better to keep books in alphabetical order. I guess maybe they were hoping for a head start with the living sentients while the remaining Shadows recouped?

It was confusing, frustrating, and a complete letdown. For this we had Sheridan's Second Coming?

Babylon 5

Still watching Babylon 5. I admit, I've gotten hooked. They've pretty much stopped the whole "LOOK! HERE IS THE MORAL OF THE STORY!" stuff (I think the greatest sin an author can commit is not trusting the reader to get it), and they've developed a genuine sense of humor (Marcus helps a lot there). The story arc is just as intriguing as people said it would be.

My big fuss right now is the way the great Minbari-Human War got started. Oh, I love the idea of the mistake-that-starts-the war, and I love the way it was introduced, the parallels to King Arthur's final battle were brilliantly done.

But. The mistake itself is unbelievable. After all, this was not the Minbari's first contact with another species. They'd been out there for a long time with other races. You'd think that somewhere, sometime in the last thousand years (or so), someone would have told them "You know that thing you do with the gun ports? Don't."

I mean, really, open gun ports as a sign of honor? And no one before the humans had ever mistaken it for a threat? I don't think so.

Random Bits

I have a new MP4 player--the first I've owned or tried to use.

It's going to take some getting used to. The instructions are in something vaguely reminiscent of English and thus are no help at all. The device itself appears to operate on some system of Morse Code; one hits buttons for a long time or a short time and gets different results thereby.

*****
I also now own the Bible on MP3. Good old Alexander Scourby's doing the reading. Yes, I've listened to some very good dramatizations, but when it comes down to it, I like books read rather than acted.

And I like the KJV.

*****
Listening, I once again feel very sorry for Leah. Spectacularly beautiful women seem to have run in that family (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Dinah), and she got stuck with being "tender eyed."

Joseph was a first class brat when he was younger ("Hey everyone! I dreamed you'd all bow down to me some day! Isn't that neat?!")

God's used to crazy people. Jacob lied to everyone in sight (as did Rachel at least once); Abraham couldn't wait for the right kid to come along....).

****

I think I'm starting to like Babylon 5 now. At least, I still haven't seen the famous Eighth Episode, but I did enjoy episodes 9, 10, and 11.

I'm still on the fence about Captain Sinclair. On the one hand, he has a gorgeous voice. On the other hand--he has a gorgeous voice. Everything is stated at full intensity. It's hard to picture this man asking someone to please pass the butter, or wondering where he put the car keys.

Oh! Just looked to see how to spell the good captain's name. Neil Gaiman wrote an episode! I'm going to have to stick around for at least that long.

****
Modding continues to continue. I'm rough-coding the 5th (and final) quest now. Lots still to do on that, and my co-modder has just suggested a couple of complications for the 4th quest.

****
Just started reading Dragonhaven. So far, it's worthy of its author.

***
Life's not bad.

Actually, it's pretty good.

Stargate Withdrawal

Having finally caught up with the rest of the science fiction viewing world and watched Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis up to the most recent episode (a cliffhanger, of course), I'm finally watching Babylon 5 with the family.

Transitioning between stories is always rough, and I have to say, so far, I'm still in Stargate-withdrawal. I have missed, I think, three of the eight episodes everyone's watched so far, and I'm sure that doesn't help, but, well, so far the show seems fairly miss-able.

The last episode I watched (episode 6, I think) for example, was fairly predictable--good friend comes. Prediction: she's going to die or get horribly injured, that's going to run the plot--That, after all, is what Old Friends (especially Old Friends who are shown laughing and happy) are for--to get themselves hurt, thus advancing the plot. It's a rough life, but someone has to do it. And, yes, Old Friend was attacked--injured, not killed, which was mildly surprising since I had rated death more likely, but too close to the "standard" to be all that exciting.

Also, about the time Old Friend shows up, someone else's Former Boyfriend appears and restarts the relationship. It's a cinch that he's a) Not Who He Seems to Be (Old Boyfriends are always relying on their charm to get them by as they engage in nefarious doings. Old Girlfriends frequently indulge in the same idle hope). Also, b) he pretty much had to be involved in the attack. And, yeah, he was, and Girlfriend was upset and wanted to Take Him Down, which she did--waaaay too easily.

Despite the above, I wouldn't say it wast really, a bad story--there were some good emotional notes & some decent character bits, and it might contribute to the rest of the arc in an interesting way.

The problem is--I've gotten used to not being able to accurately predict events in the story. With Stargate, the Old Boyfriend might have been the bad guy, or he might have been just who he seemed, or he might have been someone who would turn out to matter to another plot four, five, or fifteen stories down the way. Old Friend would also have had a variety of possible roles. Yes--they use very familiar archetypes, but there's almost always a new twist to them, and I enjoy that. It's fun to try to guess the plot and not be able to do it.

I miss that!

Right now, too, Babylon 5 seems to be taking itself terribly seriously, on top of recycling plots that maybe shouldn't be revisited (ever). A couple of nights ago they had a "talk down the computer" episode. Now, where might I have seen one of those before?

Plus, the writers committed what I consider the cardinal sin of writing: They didn't trust their viewers to get the message. After having the characters talk with each other, in appalled tones, about how this particular people had ended up extinct because they programmed their killer-robot-cyborg-things to kill all but pure whatever-they-were, and after telling the computer that it had failed in its mission to protect its people because it had killed them all for not being pure, and "no one is pure," they then had to have two of the characters had to have a solemn discussion about the subject of purity, and, then, of course, someone from their government had to show up to have the computer/robot/cyborg thing carted away by their own government for study, followed by a dismayed comment from Our Pair.

Y'know, I think I got The Message somewhere back there, like, oh, the first time they mentioned it?

I suspect most viewers did.

Last night the family watched episode 8, which is supposed to be the one where things really take off, but I was too tired to sit through it, so I'll have to catch up later. And, maybe then I will change my views.

Right now, though, I'm very much missing Doctor Rodney McKay & Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard, and the rest of the gang--and I'm especially missing a group of writers who don't take themselves and their show too seriously.

In addition, thanks to a friend of mine & some of her older LJ posts, (I'm catching up), I'm also missing Blake's 7, but that's a different story--and a different sort of story--entirely.