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b5_revisited2018-11-19 02:14 pm
alexcat) wrote in b5_revisited2018-11-19 02:14 pm
Entry tags:
Recap and Discussion for The Gathering
The Gathering (Babylon 5 pilot)
As we take a look at the station, Londo is the voiceover:
"I was there, at the dawn of the Third age of mankind. It began in the Earth year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travellers from a hundred worlds. It could be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5was our last, best, hope for peace.
Under the leadership of its final commander Babylon 5 was a dream given form...a dream of a galaxy without war, where species from different worlds could live side by side in mutual respect...a dream that was endangered as never before by one man on a mission of destruction.
Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. This is its story."
We meet our characters and several matter very little because we will never see them again, one who plays a big role.
We see Takashima in the C&C, directing traffic and Sinclair heading down to greet their new telepath, Lyta. He diffuses a situation while there and shows Lyta to her quarters, telling her about the alien quarters as they go through them.
G’kar raises hell because a Narn ship is not allowed to dock since they refuse a weapons scan.
Ambassador Kosh is set to arrive in 48 hours from the Vorlon homeworld. He is the last of the four main alien worlds, though I have to be honest that this makes no sense to me. No one knows anything about them, has been to their homeworld or has seen them so why are they important at all?
A tiny ship that looks like a red stinkbug attached itself to the B5 hull.
Sinclair goes to the Zen garden to speak with Delenn. They speak about Kosh and she gives him a datacard with info on the Vorlons.
Meanwhile Londo is gambling and Del Varner says he will bankroll him because he’s broke.
G’kar offers to pay Lyta to give them DNA or breed with one of the Narn to develop telepaths since Narn has none.
Sinclair’s girlfriend Carolyn comes aboard.
Suddenly, Kosh’s ship is there. Sinclair gets ready then is stalled in the lift because of a glitch of some kind and when he gets to Kosh, he’s down.
Dr. Kyle says Kosh was poisoned and the search is on for who did it. They get Lyta to read him and we find that he saw Sinclair. There is an investigation led by Garibaldi. Everyone has an alibi except Sinclair. There is no record of a delay in the lift. The council votes to try him and the Vorlons come for him with a full battle fleet.
Garibaldi finds out that Del Varner is a tech trader and that he had a changling net, which allows the wearer to project a hologram that looks like another person. He and Sinclair decide that is how the assassination attempt was done.
Lyta goes to Medlab and tries to kill Kosh again and meets the real Lyta on the way out. Sinclair goes after him and loses him. They locate him and also find the small transport attached to the ship.
Del Varner sold the net to someone, they killed him and used his likeness, they used Sinclair’s to try to kill Kosh. Sinclair and Garibaldi go after him and find him. He turns out to be a Minbari, who tells Sinclair he has a hold in his mind.
We find out the Narn set the whole thing up.
~
So all of this is interesting and much of the intrigue in this plot does not matter at all since Laurel Takashmia, who was supposed to be the one who allowed Varner access and made it possible for him to try to kill Kosh, is never seen or talked about again in the series. Some hint now and then that Ivanova was also a spy and plant but that never really happened.
Dr. Kyle goes back to Earth.
Lyta doesn’t show up again for a long time and is quite different when she does – she and Talia both look like female SS officers though, in my opinion, in their uniforms.
Carolyn is never seen or heard from again. In fact, Season One gives us Catherine Sakai.
We get no real hint how important Londo will be.
Of course there is also the extreme change in Delenn and G’kar physically.
~
Quotes:
There was a time when this whole quadrant belonged to us! What are we now? Twelve worlds and a thousand monuments to past glories. Living off memories and stories, and selling trinkets. My god, man! We've become a tourist attraction. "See the great Centauri Republic - open 9 to 5 - Earth time." ~ Londo Mollari
Delenn: By the way, there is something I've been wondering. Why Babylon 5? If the prior four stations were lost or destroyed, why build another?
Sinclair: Plain, old human stubbornness, I guess. When something we value is destroyed, we rebuild it. If it's destroyed again, we rebuild it again. And again, and again, and again - until it stays. That, as our poet Tennyson once said, is the goal: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Sinclair: There's a 24 hour period in my life that I can't account for; it happened during the war with your people. You wouldn't be holding anything out on me, would you old friend?
Delenn: Commander, I would never tell you anything that was not in your best interest.
Questions:
1. What changes from pilot to series stood out to you?
2. Did you notice that the interior of B5 seemed more elaborate in the pilot?
3. Who was your favorite character in the pilot? Did that change in the series?
4. Did you feel there were too many unanswered questions in the pilot?
Sources:
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/000.html
Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106336/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu
Sadgeezers Cult Sci Fi Portal: http://sadgeezer.com/Babylon-5-Films-The-Gathering.htm
Cap-that.com: http://www.cap-that.com/
As we take a look at the station, Londo is the voiceover:
"I was there, at the dawn of the Third age of mankind. It began in the Earth year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travellers from a hundred worlds. It could be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5was our last, best, hope for peace.
Under the leadership of its final commander Babylon 5 was a dream given form...a dream of a galaxy without war, where species from different worlds could live side by side in mutual respect...a dream that was endangered as never before by one man on a mission of destruction.
Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. This is its story."
We meet our characters and several matter very little because we will never see them again, one who plays a big role.
We see Takashima in the C&C, directing traffic and Sinclair heading down to greet their new telepath, Lyta. He diffuses a situation while there and shows Lyta to her quarters, telling her about the alien quarters as they go through them.
G’kar raises hell because a Narn ship is not allowed to dock since they refuse a weapons scan.
Ambassador Kosh is set to arrive in 48 hours from the Vorlon homeworld. He is the last of the four main alien worlds, though I have to be honest that this makes no sense to me. No one knows anything about them, has been to their homeworld or has seen them so why are they important at all?
A tiny ship that looks like a red stinkbug attached itself to the B5 hull.
Sinclair goes to the Zen garden to speak with Delenn. They speak about Kosh and she gives him a datacard with info on the Vorlons.
Meanwhile Londo is gambling and Del Varner says he will bankroll him because he’s broke.
G’kar offers to pay Lyta to give them DNA or breed with one of the Narn to develop telepaths since Narn has none.
Sinclair’s girlfriend Carolyn comes aboard.
Suddenly, Kosh’s ship is there. Sinclair gets ready then is stalled in the lift because of a glitch of some kind and when he gets to Kosh, he’s down.
Dr. Kyle says Kosh was poisoned and the search is on for who did it. They get Lyta to read him and we find that he saw Sinclair. There is an investigation led by Garibaldi. Everyone has an alibi except Sinclair. There is no record of a delay in the lift. The council votes to try him and the Vorlons come for him with a full battle fleet.
Garibaldi finds out that Del Varner is a tech trader and that he had a changling net, which allows the wearer to project a hologram that looks like another person. He and Sinclair decide that is how the assassination attempt was done.
Lyta goes to Medlab and tries to kill Kosh again and meets the real Lyta on the way out. Sinclair goes after him and loses him. They locate him and also find the small transport attached to the ship.
Del Varner sold the net to someone, they killed him and used his likeness, they used Sinclair’s to try to kill Kosh. Sinclair and Garibaldi go after him and find him. He turns out to be a Minbari, who tells Sinclair he has a hold in his mind.
We find out the Narn set the whole thing up.
~
So all of this is interesting and much of the intrigue in this plot does not matter at all since Laurel Takashmia, who was supposed to be the one who allowed Varner access and made it possible for him to try to kill Kosh, is never seen or talked about again in the series. Some hint now and then that Ivanova was also a spy and plant but that never really happened.
Dr. Kyle goes back to Earth.
Lyta doesn’t show up again for a long time and is quite different when she does – she and Talia both look like female SS officers though, in my opinion, in their uniforms.
Carolyn is never seen or heard from again. In fact, Season One gives us Catherine Sakai.
We get no real hint how important Londo will be.
Of course there is also the extreme change in Delenn and G’kar physically.
~
Quotes:
There was a time when this whole quadrant belonged to us! What are we now? Twelve worlds and a thousand monuments to past glories. Living off memories and stories, and selling trinkets. My god, man! We've become a tourist attraction. "See the great Centauri Republic - open 9 to 5 - Earth time." ~ Londo Mollari
Delenn: By the way, there is something I've been wondering. Why Babylon 5? If the prior four stations were lost or destroyed, why build another?
Sinclair: Plain, old human stubbornness, I guess. When something we value is destroyed, we rebuild it. If it's destroyed again, we rebuild it again. And again, and again, and again - until it stays. That, as our poet Tennyson once said, is the goal: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Sinclair: There's a 24 hour period in my life that I can't account for; it happened during the war with your people. You wouldn't be holding anything out on me, would you old friend?
Delenn: Commander, I would never tell you anything that was not in your best interest.
Questions:
1. What changes from pilot to series stood out to you?
2. Did you notice that the interior of B5 seemed more elaborate in the pilot?
3. Who was your favorite character in the pilot? Did that change in the series?
4. Did you feel there were too many unanswered questions in the pilot?
Sources:
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5: http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/000.html
Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106336/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu
Sadgeezers Cult Sci Fi Portal: http://sadgeezer.com/Babylon-5-Films-The-Gathering.htm
Cap-that.com: http://www.cap-that.com/