Ah, one of the infamous ones. It's not quite as bad as I remembered. I think the basic problem is that despite the important continuity stuff which shows up here first, it's terribly generic - you could do that episode on any space ship in any sci fi show, and it would be the same. Wheareas the other first three episodes were specifically about THESE characters.
Re: continuity - as I sad to londondkds once, Max Eilerson on Crusade has to be the only archaeologist in the B5 verse (financed by Interplanetary Expeditions, no less) who makes it out of his story alive, not evil, and not brainwashed, either. (Which makes him the last girl of a horror movie!) Otherwise, the profession is doomed, and we see it here for the first time. Speaking of Max, I think David McCallum's character was supposed to be more ambiguos and failed sadly; for a sci fi icon, he's singularly charismaless here. (And I've seen him in Sapphire & Steel!)
The episode also features the first appearance of a JMS stock-in-trade, the annoying reporter (still featured in Lost Tales.) I have to say this bothers me in retrospect. Not the depiction of the media as a tool for the goverment once we're solidly in the Clark era, because that's how fascism works, but the media in the first one and a half seasons, and in Lost Tales, too, when we're talking about Earth as a free society. While I agree reporters can be annoying (and I've read my share of interviews which made me roll my eyes at the interviewer, not the interviewee), it strikes me that in a story which features a democratic society turning into an authoritarian one and back, the importance of the media as a fourth power, as something that keeps everyone on their toes and responsible, in short, the Watergate scandal side of the media, is singularly neglected. There is Good!Heroic!ISN shortly before the building is stormed by Clark's troops, true, with the reporter that made the last free broadcast coming back after Clark is gone, and there is Ivanova as the voice of the resistance in s4, but the later is on Sheridan's orders, and that comes back to my point. By and large, the media are represented in a "how dare they bother and crtisize our heroes?" fashion, when we, the viewers, know so much better. And that irritates me.
(Sidenote: it's not just JMS, though. If a show doesn't make reporters the heroes, a la Lois & Clark, they usually aren't presented in a complimentary manner, though I think The West Wing does a good job of offering the media as something that might be unfair at times but also is important for democracy, not just in spite but BECAUSE they can run stories that go against Our Heroes' interest, to keep them honest.)
Stand-out scene, in terms of character: Sinclair and Garibaldi at the end, no doubt. The whole "do you have anything worth living for" will be transfered to Sheridan later, of course; at this early stage it's remarkable that the usual leading man heroics aren't presented as simply heroic but that we're meant to wonder about the reason, about whether this man might need to reexamine his life.
no subject
Re: continuity - as I sad to
The episode also features the first appearance of a JMS stock-in-trade, the annoying reporter (still featured in Lost Tales.) I have to say this bothers me in retrospect. Not the depiction of the media as a tool for the goverment once we're solidly in the Clark era, because that's how fascism works, but the media in the first one and a half seasons, and in Lost Tales, too, when we're talking about Earth as a free society. While I agree reporters can be annoying (and I've read my share of interviews which made me roll my eyes at the interviewer, not the interviewee), it strikes me that in a story which features a democratic society turning into an authoritarian one and back, the importance of the media as a fourth power, as something that keeps everyone on their toes and responsible, in short, the Watergate scandal side of the media, is singularly neglected. There is Good!Heroic!ISN shortly before the building is stormed by Clark's troops, true, with the reporter that made the last free broadcast coming back after Clark is gone, and there is Ivanova as the voice of the resistance in s4, but the later is on Sheridan's orders, and that comes back to my point. By and large, the media are represented in a "how dare they bother and crtisize our heroes?" fashion, when we, the viewers, know so much better. And that irritates me.
(Sidenote: it's not just JMS, though. If a show doesn't make reporters the heroes, a la Lois & Clark, they usually aren't presented in a complimentary manner, though I think The West Wing does a good job of offering the media as something that might be unfair at times but also is important for democracy, not just in spite but BECAUSE they can run stories that go against Our Heroes' interest, to keep them honest.)
Stand-out scene, in terms of character: Sinclair and Garibaldi at the end, no doubt. The whole "do you have anything worth living for" will be transfered to Sheridan later, of course; at this early stage it's remarkable that the usual leading man heroics aren't presented as simply heroic but that we're meant to wonder about the reason, about whether this man might need to reexamine his life.