My Opera"Born to the Purple" (season 1, ep. 3)
Saturday, June 1, 2013 9:58:35 PM
Skipped episode: "Soul Hunter". Not a great episode, and redundant besides. Everything that is revealed here, both to the audience and the characters, is done better in later episodes.
Of course, that means two very Londo-focused episodes back to back at Delenn's expense, but we'll manage, for now. This is, for some reason, a very good episode to watch while drunk. Could be the music, which again is very soothing, and very typical for that special mood of the first season.
I forgot to talk about the season 1 intro, by the way. It's one of my favourites (again the season 1 atmosphere seeps through), and the narrative sums up the series at this point beautifully. There are no portraits to go with the credits, which I don't really mind so much, but I guess they added the portraits in the second season so people wouldn't mistake it for the ending credits and switch off.
Notable moments in this episode:
• Ko'Dath is the only Narn I've seen with no red eyes. Apparently the actor had trouble with the make-up and couldn't continue in the role, which explains the missing contact lenses. I wonder what was planned for this character down the road. And how she died, for that matter.
• This is a fun twist on the love story that seems too good to be true… but it really isn’t. Or, rather, it is that good, but it’s true after all. You know what I mean.
• “Moon faced assassin of joy.” Londo has many good one-liners in this one, but that one was perfect. ^^
• Gotta love how easily Ivanova plays Garibaldi in the beginning. Even though he eventually figures her out, she really leads him by the nose for quite a bit.
• Luminescent flowers are a nice trick. *takes notes*
• Fresh Air seems like an awesome concept. Would love to try it.
• Data Crystals: I’m sure it seemed advanced for its time, but with cloud computing it already seems obsolete. Perhaps the security risks made physical storage relevant again, who knows?
• “Quarkface”? What a strange insult…
• I find it kind of hard to believe Sinclair doesn’t get recognized by the club owner. Londo at least had the good sense to hide his hair, but you’d think Sinclair was the most easily recognizable of the two.
• I love how convincingly G’Kar plays his part in nailing Trakis, completely unwittingly. Not that he was really playing, of course.
• Davo seems like a nice place. It’s a shame we never got to see more of it later in the series. In seasons 3-5 there were a lot of opportunities.
Of course, that means two very Londo-focused episodes back to back at Delenn's expense, but we'll manage, for now. This is, for some reason, a very good episode to watch while drunk. Could be the music, which again is very soothing, and very typical for that special mood of the first season.
I forgot to talk about the season 1 intro, by the way. It's one of my favourites (again the season 1 atmosphere seeps through), and the narrative sums up the series at this point beautifully. There are no portraits to go with the credits, which I don't really mind so much, but I guess they added the portraits in the second season so people wouldn't mistake it for the ending credits and switch off.
Notable moments in this episode:
• Ko'Dath is the only Narn I've seen with no red eyes. Apparently the actor had trouble with the make-up and couldn't continue in the role, which explains the missing contact lenses. I wonder what was planned for this character down the road. And how she died, for that matter.
• This is a fun twist on the love story that seems too good to be true… but it really isn’t. Or, rather, it is that good, but it’s true after all. You know what I mean.
• “Moon faced assassin of joy.” Londo has many good one-liners in this one, but that one was perfect. ^^
• Gotta love how easily Ivanova plays Garibaldi in the beginning. Even though he eventually figures her out, she really leads him by the nose for quite a bit.
• Luminescent flowers are a nice trick. *takes notes*
• Fresh Air seems like an awesome concept. Would love to try it.
• Data Crystals: I’m sure it seemed advanced for its time, but with cloud computing it already seems obsolete. Perhaps the security risks made physical storage relevant again, who knows?
• “Quarkface”? What a strange insult…
• I find it kind of hard to believe Sinclair doesn’t get recognized by the club owner. Londo at least had the good sense to hide his hair, but you’d think Sinclair was the most easily recognizable of the two.
• I love how convincingly G’Kar plays his part in nailing Trakis, completely unwittingly. Not that he was really playing, of course.
• Davo seems like a nice place. It’s a shame we never got to see more of it later in the series. In seasons 3-5 there were a lot of opportunities.
Georgius the PeasantLokiAesir # Sunday, June 2, 2013 8:38:36 AM
Kaffekatten # Sunday, June 2, 2013 8:48:11 AM
The idea is to create a best-of viewing order for new watchers or people who have seen the show too many times.
I may make an exception for "In the Beginning", maybe... but I would insist on watching it between "Objects at Rest" and "Sleeping in Light", where it fits in chronologically (Londo doing the retelling of the story).
Georgius the PeasantLokiAesir # Sunday, June 2, 2013 10:19:18 AM
I don't recall exactly, but judging by some old weblog posts I found with a quick search now (http://my.opera.com/Loki%20Aesir/blog/babylon-5-the-lost-tales-voices-in-the-dark and http://my.opera.com/Loki%20Aesir/blog/show.dml/1655381), it would appear River of Souls is my third or fourth favourite among the movies, so I suspect I'd disagree with skipping it. But heavens know if I'd even like it on rewatch now, it's been so long.