Babylon 5 on DVD [NO SPOILERS for Season 5, please]

[Staffan]

Best season finale ever.

Actually, I'd put Becoming (Buffy season 2) above Z'ha'dum, when it comes to "best season finales". But yeah, it's up there.

 

[Orius]

It's not on the Season 1 DVD set, but it is in the Movie Collection boxed set with the above-mentioned films. I never had much love for The Gathering, for a lot of the same reasons Season 1 as a whole doesn't sit well with me: the look and style to the show hadn't reached where it needed to be yet.

Oh for sure. I really didn't watch the Gathering when it first aired, as it seemed cheesy and rather uninspired. I finally did get hooked on B5 near the end of the first season where JMS started ramping things up with the Great Machine, B4, and the Shadows. Anyway, the Gathering serves as a sort of introduction to some of the main characters, but doesn't seem to have any major plot point that make it a must see. The makeup in the Gathering is also inferior to what was used in the show itself.

 

[Staffan]

Oh for sure. I really didn't watch the Gathering when it first aired, as it seemed cheesy and rather uninspired. I finally did get hooked on B5 near the end of the first season where JMS started ramping things up with the Great Machine, B4, and the Shadows. Anyway, the Gathering serves as a sort of introduction to some of the main characters, but doesn't seem to have any major plot point that make it a must see. The makeup in the Gathering is also inferior to what was used in the show itself.

Some important things that appear in the pilot:

1. Kosh for some reason wanting to greet Sinclair outside of his encounter suit (otherwise they couldn't have gotten the patch on him).
2. Lyta making telepathic contact with Kosh.
3. Someone in the station staff being a traitor (though this was changed a bit on account of the actress in question leaving).
4. The dying Minbari gasping out to Sinclair "There's a hole in your mind", putting him on the path to investigating his missing 24 hours.
5. Narns not having any teeps, and being very interested in getting genetic material from one.

Also, it was a happy coincidence that both the actors of characters who saw Kosh without his suit (Dr. Kyle and Lyta) left the show before season 1, which in turn meant that both the characters had been recalled to Earth.

As for makeup... in at least one case, Delenn's, that was due to a change in plans. Originally, JMS had planned to make Delenn a male Minbari (and alter her voice in post-production), which is why she has male-looking makeup. This would have made the Chrysalis change even more impressive. However, it turned out that changing the voice didn't work out very well, so they scrapped that idea, and made her more female-looking for the series.

 

[wingsandsword]

3. Someone in the station staff being a traitor (though this was changed a bit on account of the actress in question leaving).

You probably know this, but to make it clear to people who might not know: (and since this all happens well before the season 4 spoiler limit on this thread)

Lieutenant Commander Takashima was the traitor. She arranged for the breach of security that let the assassin get to Kosh, and she was originally the person who was supposed to shoot Garibaldi in the back at the end of Season 1 to protect Clark's assassination of President Santiago.

Takashima was replaced by Ivanova, but that part of the character arc didn't follow over. JMS put out a few red herrings along the way, wanting to make online fans who knew that Takashima was a traitor and Ivanova was her replacement think that she would betray B5 at some point, but didn't to keep fans on their toes.

Personally, I think it's better this way. Having a main character be the traitor at the end of Season 1 would have been nice, but Ivanova grew to be a favorite character of many in B5 and for all the betrayals, assasinations, conspiracies, double-crosses, and secret alliances in B5, Ivanova shooting Garibaldi just didn't sound right with how it all finally turned out (I wish Talia hadn't left the series either, the relationship between her and Talia and Talia's plot arc with the Ironheart gift were pretty cool). However, Kosh having the Vicker recording of Talia's brain and Lyta having seen the true form of a Vorlon in the pilot did make her being given those powers by the Vorlons actually make sense.

 

[Orius]

Some important things that appear in the pilot:

1. Kosh for some reason wanting to greet Sinclair outside of his encounter suit (otherwise they couldn't have gotten the patch on him).
2. Lyta making telepathic contact with Kosh.
3. Someone in the station staff being a traitor (though this was changed a bit on account of the actress in question leaving).
4. The dying Minbari gasping out to Sinclair "There's a hole in your mind", putting him on the path to investigating his missing 24 hours.
5. Narns not having any teeps, and being very interested in getting genetic material from one.

Most of those points were later brought up in the series itself. The movie does have some importance, but I didn't see it until it was rebroadcast after Season 4, and not seeing it didn't lessen my understanding of the overall arc.

Also, it was a happy coincidence that both the actors of characters who saw Kosh without his suit (Dr. Kyle and Lyta) left the show before season 1, which in turn meant that both the characters had been recalled to Earth.

In the case of Lyta, it was actually beneficial for JMS, as it helped to contribute to her storyline.

As for makeup... in at least one case, Delenn's, that was due to a change in plans. Originally, JMS had planned to make Delenn a male Minbari (and alter her voice in post-production), which is why she has male-looking makeup. This would have made the Chrysalis change even more impressive. However, it turned out that changing the voice didn't work out very well, so they scrapped that idea, and made her more female-looking for the series.

Yes, I've read about that, although I didn't know it at the time. However, the bone headpiece in the movie looks like it's about to fall off. That's what I was commenting on. They did a good job of refining both Delenn's and G'Kar's makeup in the series. Even Londo's hair in pilot movie looks somewhat ragged, and is once again improved upon in the series.

 

[Orius]

You probably know this, but to make it clear to people who might not know: (and since this all happens well before the season 4 spoiler limit on this thread)

Lieutenant Commander Takashima was the traitor. She arranged for the breach of security that let the assassin get to Kosh, and she was originally the person who was supposed to shoot Garibaldi in the back at the end of Season 1 to protect Clark's assassination of President Santiago.

Takashima was replaced by Ivanova, but that part of the character arc didn't follow over. JMS put out a few red herrings along the way, wanting to make online fans who knew that Takashima was a traitor and Ivanova was her replacement think that she would betray B5 at some point, but didn't to keep fans on their toes.

I've been reading about that too. Having the original betrayal might have been an interesting addition to the overall arc, but Ivanova was a much more interesting character. B5 wouldn't have been the same without her.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Even Londo's hair in pilot movie looks somewhat ragged, and is once again improved upon in the series.

It is interesting to track the changes in Londos hair throughout B5, since it very much reflects his position and self esteem(porbably not right expression?).

I love the way that at the outset in year 1 G'Kar is the agressor and Londo is the downtrodden, washed-up, powerless one. Gradually we see a real shift in their positions, and ultimately even a swap.

Anyone who started with season one probably hated G'Kar and felt sorry for Londo... and then feelings start to change as the series progressed. Great writing IMO.

Cheers

 

[Mouseferatu]

1. Kosh for some reason wanting to greet Sinclair outside of his encounter suit (otherwise they couldn't have gotten the patch on him).

Not to nitpick an otherwise spot on analysis, but I'm pretty sure JMS has said that Kosh was wearing his encounter suit when this happened. The poison is simply something the suit wasn't designed to keep out.

Yeah, it sounded a bit weird to me, too. But I'm about 99.44% sure it's what was said.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Not to nitpick an otherwise spot on analysis, but I'm pretty sure JMS has said that Kosh was wearing his encounter suit when this happened. The poison is simply something the suit wasn't designed to keep out.

Spoilers are below, if the OP hasn't seen The Gathering yet.



Sort of yes and no on the above.

He doesn't fully leave the suit, but what you see is a Vorlon "hand" come out to shake Sinclair's, which the fake Sinclair puts a poison skin-tab on. It was the first hint that the Vorlons didn't really need their encounter suits to survive, if they could just open access hatches at will.

 

[Orius]

It is interesting to track the changes in Londos hair throughout B5, since it very much reflects his position and self esteem(porbably not right expression?).

I love the way that at the outset in year 1 G'Kar is the agressor and Londo is the downtrodden, washed-up, powerless one. Gradually we see a real shift in their positions, and ultimately even a swap.

Anyone who started with season one probably hated G'Kar and felt sorry for Londo... and then feelings start to change as the series progressed. Great writing IMO.

Londo is a tragic character. He starts out seemingly little more than a comic buffoon, where G'Kar and really all the Narns as a whole are aggressive, obsessed with vengeance and really not all that sympathetic.

Then Londo makes that fateful, Faustian pact with the Shadows.

And all hell breaks loose.

Londo digs himself in deeper and deeper, knowing what he's doing is wrong, but believing it's still what must be done. He slowly realizes that Refa and his cadre don't have quite the same goals he does, and he tries desperately to fix the damage he did but in the end it all turns out for the worse for him (as we see in the future scenes in War Without End).

G'Kar on the other hand does fight, but comes to realize the futility of revenge. He seems like little more than a warmonger at the beginning of the series, but after Narn is brutally defeated and conquered, he gradually becomes a more sympathetic character. I'd say more, but it would involve events in the 4th season, and I don't know how far into it the original poster has gone.