My Opera"The Gathering" [Pilot]
Saturday, June 1, 2013 2:07:05 PM
Just so you know: HUGE SPOILERS for new viewers. Just sayin'.
• Even though season one stands the test of time somewhat worse than the rest of the series, this is even more true for the pilot, even with the revised version. The second half is better than the first, though. Warn first time viewers about this – they need to know it gets better for every episode from here on out.
• I kind of miss the original intro music for the pilot, though. The “new” one is just… bland.
• Urgh, Delenn’s makeup… I’ll just pretend she had come down with the Drazi Pox. Disfiguring, but clearly curable.
• Why would a Minbari want to kill a Vorlon anyway? To make the Vorlons finish the job the Minbari started, one assumes. That’s what’s so nice with warrior castes, they are rarely subtle.
• The scenes with Sinclair, Garibaldi and G’Kar toward the end is a really good teaser for the first season as such. I love how G’Kar responds to Sinclair’s accusations, too.
• The races are pretty well established in the pilot. Humans are, well, human. Narn are the bad guys, clearly dangerous. Centauri are the comic relief. Minbari are boring, but interesting in the way that you want to find out more about them, but not go to one of their parties. Also, they keep secrets. And Vorlons are a complete mystery. Oh, how things will change...
• Dr. Kyle’s response to the question of what a Vorlon looks like makes so much sense in retrospect, and made so little sense at the time. Clever.
• Kyle and Takashima being replaced by Franklin and Ivanova after the pilot were huge improvements, even though Takashima being the Psi Corps agent would have been interesting (if you didn't know, she was the one responsible for the elevator malfuction, though why the Psi Corps were in on a plot like this I have no idea... clearly not to make the Vorlons destroy B5, and it's a little early for Sinclair to be their target - he hasn't even BEGUN to piss them off yet).
• Sadly, the real Psi Corps agent which replaced Lyta did not, in my humble opinion, turn out quite as well. But of course Lyta comes back, so I guess that is all right. Still, would have liked to see her there for all of the first and second seasons. Or at least replaced by someone more interesting.
• As for Carolyn, she had some spirit, but when you see Catherine Sakai, you instantly know why the Commander never called Carolyn back. As if he’d leave his post to go off on a hippie trading trip anyway, come on.
• Mystery overall is well established. The Vorlons. The Battle of the Line. And easy to forget, also Babylon 4, which seemed so minor at the time. It works really well because of that fact, though, because making a big deal of it would have been too much foreshadowing. So well played.
• Garibaldi not taking Varner in for questioning while he had the chance is so weird. Still, gotta love the character.
• Last but not least: Seeing Morden in C&C is SO WEIRD. Must be an evil twin thing, though. Ed Wasser’s character is listed in the credits as “Guerra”, so it clearly cannot be That Other Guy. Still weird.
• Even though season one stands the test of time somewhat worse than the rest of the series, this is even more true for the pilot, even with the revised version. The second half is better than the first, though. Warn first time viewers about this – they need to know it gets better for every episode from here on out.
• I kind of miss the original intro music for the pilot, though. The “new” one is just… bland.
• Urgh, Delenn’s makeup… I’ll just pretend she had come down with the Drazi Pox. Disfiguring, but clearly curable.
• Why would a Minbari want to kill a Vorlon anyway? To make the Vorlons finish the job the Minbari started, one assumes. That’s what’s so nice with warrior castes, they are rarely subtle.
• The scenes with Sinclair, Garibaldi and G’Kar toward the end is a really good teaser for the first season as such. I love how G’Kar responds to Sinclair’s accusations, too.
• The races are pretty well established in the pilot. Humans are, well, human. Narn are the bad guys, clearly dangerous. Centauri are the comic relief. Minbari are boring, but interesting in the way that you want to find out more about them, but not go to one of their parties. Also, they keep secrets. And Vorlons are a complete mystery. Oh, how things will change...
• Dr. Kyle’s response to the question of what a Vorlon looks like makes so much sense in retrospect, and made so little sense at the time. Clever.
• Kyle and Takashima being replaced by Franklin and Ivanova after the pilot were huge improvements, even though Takashima being the Psi Corps agent would have been interesting (if you didn't know, she was the one responsible for the elevator malfuction, though why the Psi Corps were in on a plot like this I have no idea... clearly not to make the Vorlons destroy B5, and it's a little early for Sinclair to be their target - he hasn't even BEGUN to piss them off yet).
• Sadly, the real Psi Corps agent which replaced Lyta did not, in my humble opinion, turn out quite as well. But of course Lyta comes back, so I guess that is all right. Still, would have liked to see her there for all of the first and second seasons. Or at least replaced by someone more interesting.
• As for Carolyn, she had some spirit, but when you see Catherine Sakai, you instantly know why the Commander never called Carolyn back. As if he’d leave his post to go off on a hippie trading trip anyway, come on.
• Mystery overall is well established. The Vorlons. The Battle of the Line. And easy to forget, also Babylon 4, which seemed so minor at the time. It works really well because of that fact, though, because making a big deal of it would have been too much foreshadowing. So well played.
• Garibaldi not taking Varner in for questioning while he had the chance is so weird. Still, gotta love the character.
• Last but not least: Seeing Morden in C&C is SO WEIRD. Must be an evil twin thing, though. Ed Wasser’s character is listed in the credits as “Guerra”, so it clearly cannot be That Other Guy. Still weird.
