"Midnight on the Firing Line" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X01 "Midnight on the Firing Line". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Extra reading:

The article for "Midnight on the Firing Line" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[shapinglight]

This was the first B5 episode I ever saw - not because I missed The Gathering but because Channel 4, in their wisdom, chose not to show it first. I can't now remember how many episodes of season 1 I'd seen before I saw The Gathering, though I do remember that when I finally did get to see, I was blown away by how much had been set up in it (principally the Sinclair/Minbari stuff) that had had me scratching my head while watching the following episodes (which I saw before the pilot).

So, on viewing MotFL again for the first time in years, I guess it's a tribute to how gripping B5 is right from the start that I kept on with it, because the episode doesn't make any concessions. It just throws you right in there.

Yes, Ivanova and Talia (and Dr Franklin in the next episode)are new characters, but the others already know each other and I found myself dropped right into the middle of things knowing nothing about them. I hadn't been introduced. So, Sinclair is incredibly hostile towards G'Kar, for reasons that were at the time unknown to me - as was the history between the Centauri and the Narn, so Londo and G'kar's enmity was also inexplicable. (And who was this Dr Kyle that Dr Franklin told Sinclair he'd met on Io in Soul Hunter I had no idea?

Speaking of whom, I suppose if Dr Kyle became the President's personal physician, he must have died too during the assassination?)

Anyway, despite being totally bewildered, way back then (1994?), there was enough in this first episode to draw me in and keep me coming back, even though I remained in the dark about a lot of things until I saw The Gathering.

For a start, there's Londo and G'kar. So much about their interactions here and about Londo's with Vir adds richness to their various cultures. Weirdly, for me with Londo, it was the fact that he was so concerned about his nephew that drew me in, because it sets up so well and so economically the Centauri preoccupation with the extended family. Have to admit that on my first watch, I just presumed the Narn were going to be the villains. Brash, arrogant, look like lizards therefore treacherous and bound to be the bad guys. Yet even in this episode, there are hints that all is not quite what it seems.

I'm also so impressed by how much is set up here that turn out to mean so much later in the series, which is also true in Soul Hunter, such as Londo's dream of fighting to the death with G'kar, and Earth's political troubles. Also, I know it's hindsight talking, but it looks to me like Talia had set her sights on Ivanova right from the start, which reminds me all over again how innovative B5 was, not just for its own time, but still, in suggesting that same sex relationships are no longer thought of as 'difficult' or unusual.

And I don't think Sinclair's wooden.

[ruuger]

Speaking of whom, I suppose if Dr Kyle became the President's personal physician, he must have died too during the assassination?)

Wasn't the guy who was hiding on B5 in S2 the president's physician? I have a vague recollection that it was mentioned that Kyle was the head of the xenobiology whatever, and Franklin replaced him (or joined him?) when he left B5 at the end of S5.

[shapinglight]

I'm afraid I can't remember. It's so long since I saw all of this. I haven't watched these episodes since they were first aired.

All those little details escape me, though some of the things I do remember are not what might be expected. I've forgotten all the details of the Telepath War, for instance, but still remember vividly Sheridan telling Delenn about how he loved the sound of rain and how his father sprayed the roof with a hose so he would hear the sound he loved while he was studying for exams.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

That was Clark's physician in Hunter, Prey, tho I don't remember his name. I love the letter he left for his wife Mary. I always wonder what happened to her once his report came out, showing Clark wasn't really ill when he jumped EarthForce One before the explosion.

[traviswells.livejournal.com]

I was the same way (missed Gathering the first time around), but by the time I finally got around to seeing it, I still liked MotFL better as a first episode.

The problem I had with Gathering is that they had to spend a lot of the episode setting up things. There's a ton of backstory in that episode. The problem is, I think the episode itself suffers for it (I also watched the extended edition, which made it worse).

MotFL had more of a "dropping you in the middle of a situation and seeing you stumble" feel. Here's a universe: It's neat and weird. Why is it like that? No time for that, we've got a story to tell. Do try to keep up.

[shapinglight]

Yes, it definitely has that feeling, which I think was rather unusual in TV at the time.