"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

[becky-monster.livejournal.com]

This episode stands out for me for two main reasons.

One - the whole Londo and his dreams of his death. When I first watched the series (around '94), I thought that it was words - that it wouldn't be followed through... This happened quite a bit to me in the first season (Soul Hunter is another episode that I hit upon this), too many loose ends and that magical 'reset' button being used in other shows had made me wary of such things (yes, I am looking at you Star Trek: TNG!).

I do believe the appropriate phrase is 'oh ye of little faith!';)

It was only on re-watching the series in '04 that it struck me that JMS knew exactly what he was doing and as others have said, sowing the seeds for the series, right from the word 'go'.

Two - Garibaldi's 'second' favourite thing in the universe.

The way that the shot of the station is juxtaposed with Duck Dodgers asking "And you want me to find Planet X, is that it?" was just such a breath of fresh air and one of the (many, many) reasons why I love this show so much.

I adore the Looney Tunes cartoons, so to see them referenced in a TV show is always good but to see it referenced in a Sci-Fi show (remember - Star Trek was pretty much the be all and end all) was just fantastic.

Along with the political aspect (bit of a history buff), it helped to flag up to me that this show was pretty much the complete antithesis of Star Trek (TOS - love, TNG - not so much) and that it was something I should be watching.