Two veteran Star Trek podcasters watch Babylon 5 for the first time in this reaction video and podcast. Brent Allen and Jeff Akin search for Star Trek like messages in this series, deciding if they should have watched it sooner.
Babylon 5 gets a ship!!! Kind of. Jeff and Brent talk about changes to the cast here in season 3.
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Ohh hadn't ever thought of the markab plague being a bio weapon before, interesting idea.
"Is Londo the Gul Dukat of B5?" Yeah… I think he isn't — I think in an important way they are diametrically opposed — but I think they kinda play a similar role: they are the evidence each show gives that villains aren't simple, that being evil is not just an on/off switch, that there's more involved. (Anankin is to me more like the on/off switch villain, I don't think Lucas did a good job with his development as a character.) My view is that Dukat is interesting because he wants to be loved — he knows the value of love — and he also doesn't want to give up evil — he likes being evil — so he comes to the surprising conlcusion that he wants to be loved because he's evil… he just has to make everybody understand that evil is actually good. Whereas Londo… Londo knows evil and good. He knows what he's doing. Dukat doesn't feel remorse for being evil ('it's all the fault of those Bajorans who never appreciated all I did for them!'); Londo, however, does. Londo appears to be thinking in terms of self-sacrifice: if what I have to do for Centauri Prime to become again the center of the galaxy is… to destory my soul, then that's what I'll do (as Delenn would say, abso-fracking-lutely, damnit!). He knows what he's doing. It pains him. He suffers. BUT he thinks it's worth it. In some sense, it's as if he were a martyr: I'm destroying my soul… for the Centauri Republic!
And then you guys compared Londo to Damar, which is closer in that sense (Damar also knew good from evil, and was keeping his conscience quiet with alcohol), but there is something lazy about Damar too — he doesn't have the grandeur, the vision that Dukat (and Londo) have. Damar is more like the guy who admires Dukat and thinks that's how he, Damar, should be… and is angry that something in him cannot do it. He probably would not be able to be one of the generational heroes in The Never-Ending Sacrifice, that great Cardassian masterpiece, he knows it, and he's angry at himself for it. Damar is the guy who is ashamed of the good parts of his soul because he thinks they makes him weaker.
I dunno. That's just my $0.02 + inflation.
OK, it may be weird, and yes, Club65 – it does ship that fast!
Definitely agree with that comment..People need to chill out and let these guys experience your favorite show the way you (hopefully) first experienced it..Talk about each episode as a self-contained story or extra behind the scenes tidbits, or how much you don't really care for 'x' episode..Talking about how much one episode goes into another or how great a whole season is, etc..Those are spoilers even if they don't go into any specific details on plots or characters..
I myself am very happy to just see new people getting into and enjoying one of my all-time favorite shows..
Just try to preserve the mystery of the future episodes and seasons..Let them enjoy it as if it was just being released one episode per week..
Marcus is one of my favourite characters, a definite archetype for sure but really well acted.
So glad Jeff remembered the Markab also knew about the Shadows…
…and now they're all dead.
I know that you guys, on occasion do graphics. It might be time for a conspiracy board graphic with all of the theories, connections, and predictions. Kind of like a white board in those police procedural shows. Just spitballing.
65 thoughts on this episode to be honest… but I wouldn't worry about how long it takes you to get through them… we love b5… talking about it more is not a problem.
Hi guys, great breakdowns as always and glad to see you enjoyed the first of season 3. I seem to remember there was a slightly mixed opinion of the new ship originally, a design that differs from everything else, but I rather like it. It's zippy, can create its own jump point and seems pretty heavily armed, what's not to like!
Jeff, the whitestar is one of the most featured tattoos from Babylon 5, maybe because its easier to do it than having a big scene with the whole station put on ya.
Long live The Great Egg.
I love the Great Egg People.
65. Always.
Guys…
The disparaging remarks about White Castle…
It hurts my soul…
John Schuck would make a great Great Egg Ambassador who has an intense hatred of the Doctor.
"There shall be no peace as long as Franklin lives!" Bzzt
Welcome to season 3, guys. I absolutely love the new opening and great podcast as usual. I was planning to write a normal comment but unfortunately, your podcast, this afternoon (Irish time), took a sad and personal turn for my wife and myself: we had paused your podcast 50 mns in to take care of some errand but, before we were able to resume, one of our cats, a deeply loved and very close companion who had been quite unwell for a little while, had a stroke and passed in our arms. What a strange and sad irony that it happens to be halfway through the very podcast talking of the destruction of a Shadow ship by Sheridan that our cat passed away. His name was Shadow.
We have now given him a lovely resting place and after much grieving, we have decided that we needed to think of something else for a little while, to clear our minds. And so, we are resuming the podcast. Thank you for being there (albeit unknowingly) at this sad time. Much love to you all.
Wait… they are still hoping for a Londo redemption, after all that he has done?
Yah know… I am not sure I have heard any other B5 fans pontificate about the "Great Egg". I think you guys might have a little bit of an echo chamber going on that one lol.
Brent as far as villains go you need to add linea to the list (sorry Jeff another Stargate reference)
Speaking of 65…
Was there a time limit?
I really liked Endawi. It was a nice change of pace to have an Earth Force character who WASN'T super fashy visit the station.
I liked your guys observation about Londo starting to drink during the day. I'd always taken Londo at his word about Centauri attitudes toward business and pleasure, but yeah, I think you guys are right; I think he IS descending more into his drink to deal with his guilt.
BUT I do want to point out that Londo has never seen a Shadow ship. That's why he's so open to Endawi; he didn't know he was ratting out his "business associates." Also, I think Brent got the impression that Shadows attacked the Narn homeworld. The Shadows ambushed the Narn fleet when they tried to attack a Centauri logistics hub. The ships that bombarded Narn were Centauri ships.
404 😣
Marcus is the Sam Elliott character of B5. Garbaldi abides.
The White Star doesn't look like a sci-fi rubber chicken to you?
Londo's relationship with the Shadows is a result of his low expectations learned during his years growing up in a diminishing Empire. Morden shows up like an unexpected guest. Londo offers him a taste of a cake that's on the table and steps away for a moment to make tea. When he comes back, the cake is gone and Morden is using a fragment of the plate to pick the bones of Londo's cat out of his teeth. Of course Londo has become uneasy about the Shadows! Lord Reefa has always been more ambitious than Londo, that's why Reefa was at the Emperor's right hand while Londo was pushed out to B5 as a lowly Ambassador.
He is more similar to Garak than to Dukat.
Fun fact: The closed captioning for this video has Brent s comparison to Damar and the furtherance Cardassian Dominance coming up as Kardashian Dominance.
Just hope you like the next episode. It's the first one that I ever saw.
Brent keeps confusing "universe" with "galaxy". The Shadow War is a war for our galaxy, not the entire universe.
The comparison of Londo to Damar hit the nail on the head! Both patriots, both see the vision of greatness….and both eventually regretting their decisions. Good call.
On a side note, JMS has mentioned that he, along with several other actors, would sometimes be on set just to catch Peter and Andreas do their thing…even if they were not on call that day. Tells you just how awesome they were together.
Lol. These guys are now taking up almost 3-eps worth of time to discuss one!! Looks like I'll need to havw a few naps before I watch their reviews now. I'm thinking they could get even longer!
Haven’t listened to your number for over under yet, but I do hope you revisit at the end of the season.
when Marcus came on the scene my girlfriend said "what ren faire did this guy escape from?"
I hope nobody spoils for you that Marcus ends up as King of Earth at the end of season 5. They named that season Return of the King, which JMS didn't like because he felt it gave away too much, but he got overruled by the network.
The guys at Last Best B5 Podcast totted up Keffer's total screen time; I think it was about 14 minutes or so for the entire season. I don't know if that was more or less than Not'Toth.
Enjoyed the reaction as always, it’s nice to see how the show plays out from a first-timer’s perspective. Also interesting to see your predictions and how some of them play out – even if not in the episodes or even seasons you make them for 😊
The little detail of Sheridan using the jump gate in the Markab system destroying it because he disliked the rampant looting on a dead world is another example that details often do carry over into future episodes.
I say that Babylon 5 for the second time you guys should watch a few episodes at once (three to four or on a busy week two). That way it has less episodes and you can see the connections closer together to better remember (especially for brent being he can hardly seem to remember anything. I mean most of my commentson brent watches are telling him his question was already answered in eariler episodes/seasons) and make the connections.
All I have to say about convictions is that I am pretty sure you will like part of it.
You have finally seen the plucked chicken/aka the white star.