gdp's Comments

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Tue, 28 May 2019 22:39:49 +0000

I watched all of TNG and fair bit of DS9 and Voyager before B5. I think watching those helped me appreciate B5 more. It was the first time I had ever watched anything and there was actually consequences for everything. Everything that happened mattered and when it was over it felt complete. But I still enjoy the Trek shows, and upon getting deeper than I originally saw DS9 I definitely thought it was pretty outstanding... for a Trek show. I would never rank it in my top 10 favourite shows. It does some things better than B5 (notably, it is far less white and utilizes the cast better) but in terms of story, theme and complexity I prefer B5.

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Tue, 28 May 2019 18:40:27 +0000

I love Avatar but I don't agree with Mark about it being the same thing. It's just nowhere near as complex a story and afaik wasn't planned out on the same level. But it is AMAZING and well worth watching immediately. Unfortunately it looks like it's not streaming anywhere online. I often see the complete series DVD set for sale for like $20-25 dollars which is not a bad deal at least. Hopefully it'll pop back up somewhere soon.

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Tue, 28 May 2019 15:22:22 +0000

That's more or less what I meant. I mean she'd be the lead in season one since it would be awkward to plan something like switching out leads but keeping one of them around in the second season.

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Fri, 24 May 2019 20:58:26 +0000

There's a pretty big segment of the fandom that hates season 5 (and hates Lochley.)

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Fri, 24 May 2019 17:05:52 +0000

Babylon 5 has often been described by fans as a novel for television to separate it from other shows with serialization. Did it feel like to you that there was something unique in Babylon 5's storytelling or does it just feel like another show with early serialization similar to what we see today?

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Fri, 24 May 2019 16:50:29 +0000

In the AU where I get put in charge of a B5 remake, I'd combine Ivanova and Sheridan (I'd keep Sinclair as a separate character, just in a diminished role, keep Ivanova as the lead.)

Mark Watches : Mark Finishes 'Babylon 5': Q&A

Fri, 24 May 2019 16:14:57 +0000

So puts it in the ballpark of TNG and Enterprise but below DS9 and basically HALF as much as Voyager. I was definitely stunned by how bad it was. I always focused on how much I loved the female characters as well, not noticing how little time they spent together (and like, a lot of those passes seemed pretty fleeting as it was.)

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Babylon 5': The Lost Tales

Thu, 23 May 2019 14:13:06 +0000

Yeah, after all these years it still surprises me that JMS turned down more B5, even if it meant doing stuff like this that felt like stage plays. Granted, Lost Tales was kind of received with a "meh" from the fans. I guess JMS just had loftier goals.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Babylon 5': The Lost Tales

Wed, 22 May 2019 20:09:45 +0000

The Lost Tales was the last of the Babylon 5 spinoffs. There would never be another. This was an attempt at creating a straight to video anthology series. Each episode would focus on a different character and would take place at different points of time. Believe it or not, this did well enough for WB to be interested in a follow up but JMS declined since they had initially promised a bigger budget if the first one did well but ultimately didn't follow through. And it should be obvious that this thing was already shot with a very small budget. The cast is sparse, sets are sparse and even the CGI is less than normal. If I recall, the CGI in this was actually controversial at the time. It looks beautiful in HD now but at the time it was seen as not being good enough to live up to B5's legacy. I thought the CGI was fine then and I think it's fine now. Lochley's half of this is controversial but personally it's my favourite half. I don't think you have to assume he was literally possessed by the devil/a demon. My theory is that it was some alien the Vorlons abandoned on Earth (for whatever reason) and over millennial it eventually came to believe it was the devil, seeing as the story matched. I have issues with Sheridan's half of the story. Part of it feels like something we've seen before. Plus the stuff with the reporter feels very off-tone, even more harsh than in the past. It's nice seeing Galen one last time but idk. It doesn't entirely work for me. And that's that. This is the last piece of Babylon 5 involving the original cast that will ever exist. And the last piece of any sort of Babylon 5 for the foreseeable future, until WB gets new execs who decide this is a property they could reboot and make money off of, some distant day from now. Rating: 8.5

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E07 - The Rules of the Game

Tue, 21 May 2019 01:47:58 +0000

I'd like to assume JMS had SOMETHING in mind for her. Too bad he pretty much declines to answer those sorts of questions anymore since it's one I'd love to know. It would be weird if he put in her in the main credits with the intention of giving her less than a handful of episodes per season.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E07 - The Rules of the Game

Mon, 20 May 2019 20:20:16 +0000

Ah, so glad you neatly summarized all this stuff. Hard to even find all this information in one place online since so few people care. Didn't know Gary Cole didn't get along with everyone else. That's a shame. I've never been able to fully erase him as the Brady dad.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E07 - The Rules of the Game

Mon, 20 May 2019 20:11:39 +0000

This is another episode I generally like but don't have much to say about. Good Max stuff (for all the little I care about Max) and the best episode in terms of the Gideon/Lochley thing. Rating: 8.75 ---- With that out of the way, I'll attempt to answer Mark's questions of what went wrong, with the context that, obviously, I really like this show and don't really have any problems with it beyond that it is very, very incomplete. Part of it is that it is a new show that's getting its footing. The first 13 episodes of B5 are the weakest run of episodes of the series. Most blame TNT and while TNT did mess with things, I'm not convinced they hurt the quality much. My theory is just that JMS ran out of steam. I honestly think issues with his writing began in season 4 of B5. It's easy to ignore them there because the story is so good. The vast majority of fans will agree that his writing had problems during season 5. Crusade was developed alongside season 5 and that makes it very differen than B5, which was something JMS had planned for YEARS before even making the Gathering. Crusade had a lighter plan and was clearly building off stuff started on B5. He designed it to be more friendly for outside writers to contribute since writing almost all of the last 3 seasons of B5 had been extremely detrimental to his health and the quality of his writing. But then he wrote 10 out of 13 episodes of Crusade anyway. So, that's my theory. Network interference + still burned out JMS + shorter development period = a weaker show (depending on your POV, I personally think these 13 episodes are better on average than B5's first 13, but that's probably a controversial opinion.)

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E03 - The Well of Forever

Fri, 17 May 2019 20:07:45 +0000

I tend to think of this as one of the better episodes of Crusade. It's hard to say why exactly. It's a cool premise with some good character bits, especially the stuff with Matheson. It leans into the weird which is something I appreciate. Rating:9.00

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E05 - Patterns of the Soul

Thu, 16 May 2019 02:17:17 +0000

Yep.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E05 - Patterns of the Soul

Wed, 15 May 2019 23:17:48 +0000

This episode is why it's impossible to ever watch Crusade in a perfect, continuity-error free way. You have the "old" uniforms mixed with a plot point that didn't exist until the "new" uniforms. Granted, had the show continued JMS would've made it all make sense but as it stands, it's an issue. It's not the only issue caused but probably the most glaring. This is pretty good episode that has some flaws that prevent it from being a great episode. I don't have much to say about it. Rating: 8.75

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E13 - Each Night I Dream of Home

Mon, 13 May 2019 20:06:17 +0000

One of the best episodes of Crusade, guest starring Richard Biggs, in his final performance as Stephen Franklin (dying 5 short years later.) There's something unintentionally bitter sweet about the near reunion of Franklin and Lochley. But yeah, this is a good episode all around. I love the plot about the plumber who wants to get infected and the things Franklin and Chambers learn about the virus. The Lochley/Gideon stuff is better here than in Ruling from the Tomb. Speaking of Ruling from the Tomb, this episode, I believe, was the original first meeting of Gideon and Lochley, the line about it being good to see her again being dubbed in later. (I assume the script for ruling from the tomb must've been changed to fit it as a first meeting retroactively.) Rating:9.25

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E12 - Visitors from Down the Street

Fri, 10 May 2019 21:33:06 +0000

Probably easier to pull off now since alien stuff seems to have been replaced by a lot of other conspiracies these days.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E12 - Visitors from Down the Street

Fri, 10 May 2019 20:12:08 +0000

When it’s good, Crusade hits the mark. When it’s not, it surprises me that this is supposed to all have been crafted by the same person who wrote Babylon 5. Things feel rushed and messy, and while I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, I do wonder if that affects the end result. I feel like JMS was running on fumes at this point. I believe the plan in the long term for Crusade was to have a lot more input from other writers but it does feel like JMS just couldn't relinquish control of his universe. This is definitely the sort of episode he should've handed off to someone else to save himself energy to work on other scripts.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E12 - Visitors from Down the Street

Fri, 10 May 2019 20:08:31 +0000

While this isn't one of my favourite Crusade episodes, this was probably the episode I was most looking forward to Mark getting to. This is a really weird episode. Possibly Crusade's weirdest. I have to imagine if you could somehow show this episode to someone who had never seen the X-Files and knew nothing about it, it would be pretty bewildering. It's a fun episode. Rating: 8.25

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Crusade': S01E10 - Memory of War

Wed, 8 May 2019 20:21:30 +0000

This is the episode we all get to chuckle at Sarah explaining nanobots. One of those good examples where technology continues to march on and lots of sci-fi since has made use of nanobots (or other nano things) in their plots. You know, I mostly like this episode but parts of it don't work. Plot just seems a little muddy and unrefined. Needed another draft. But the good parts are pretty good. Rating: 8.75