[Nate the Great]

Okay, here we go. But first, a quick rundown of how this will go.


1. I watch the episode. Duh. While doing so I will take notes.
2. I start the forum entry with a "First Impressions" section derived from my notes.
3. I read the transcript and do the usual "The Episode" section.

4. I read the wiki entry for the episode for the "B5 Wiki" section.

Note: I will NOT move to any other pages on the wiki. If I have to Wiki Walk to understand something, the show is doing something wrong. As I've said before, B5 left me with the impression that I was being held responsible for every word said in every episode if I wanted any chance of understanding what's going on. This rewatch is the show's chance to convince me otherwise.



Now I'll give my memories of how I felt about the characters before I encounter them again.
* Sinclair and Sheridan-Boring. "Chosen One" stories are very easy to mess up, and I recall B5 messing this up. You can't just declare someone to be "the Greatest Captain" ever without proving it. That's why Kirk and Picard worked, the writers weren't afraid to show their faults. It backfired with Janeway and Archer of course, but that's a story for future retrospectives.

* Ivanova-Annoying. A lot like S1 Kira, come to think of it. I don't recall ever liking her.
* Garibaldi-I liked him. He was a great humanizing factor, like applying the McCoy role in a different direction.
* Franklin-Boring. I can blame some of this one on the outdated perspective that you can't portray heroic black people with the slightest fault lest you get complaining from certain very loud factions of the audience. It's sad when TOS wrote black people better than this "modern" show thirty years later. I seem to recall liking M'Benga better than Franklin!
* Delenn-Mishandled. I liked her well enough, but they did too much to humanize her later. And the idea that an alien can't be a romantic lead without human hair is ridiculous.

* Kosh-I hated him. I despise mysterious characters who only exist to be mysterious. I'm looking at you, Future Guy. Garak was written well because the writers always kept the "new mystery introduced"/"old mystery explained" ratio correct. Not Kosh. I don't recall him ever being a character in his own right, just a source of mystery and exposition.

* G'Kar-It's Andreas Katsulas (Tomalak), what's to hate?
* Londo-I recall him being one of my favorite characters. I like characters who know how to work hard or play hard as appropriate.