beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

Watched the B5 Rangers thingy.
Solid story. Runs them through the new threat, the ships capabilities, at least a little of what each of the crew do, some of the dynamics, and enough dangly threads to lead onwards. Liked it. Also, like the guy that plays the first officer, from many other things and also conventions. So wanted to see more of him.
Only quibble really is that they got a bit carried away with the FX. I don't see any reason to 'improve' the hyperspace effect. That was plenty freaky enough as it was. Now it just looks different for no in-universe reason. Distracting.


Is frustrating. The B5 TV movies are sort of pointless, and stuff like Crusade or Legend of the Rangers just sits there with all the promising threads dangling. Where the story go? More story!



And, yes, it is 3am on a school night. More of a school morning, actually, since I managed to sleep so much it got to be midnight. My sleeping is really not helpful at the moment. Always in the inconvenient way round.


But hey, I get a lot of TV watched...

Have now finished watching Babylon 5
right through season 5

so I've been crying now for about a whole episode


Lots of films stop with the 'yaay we won' end of the war bit.
B5 kept right on going through trying to rebuild, and all that mess, and then right up to the dying part. That's more like the whole story. Only, showing that the story doesn't end, because all those people still moving on to the next thing.


The bit where Delenn always watches the sunrise, that makes me cry most.


People dying is dumb. Even if they go on to the next thing, there is the leaving everyone behind part. I consider that a big design flaw.


Life is change, but I think it would be much better if everyone was still around changing together.


*shrugs*
guess I'll see eventually.



I think I go write now.

stories are important.

Had a dream that Day of the Dead bit was actually induced / controlled by those comet badge thingies they were giving out. It is limited to the one night the comet is there only because of social controls, because with the dead wandering around is very hard to get things done. But having admitted this, the Brakiri then gave out comet tech to a select few.

Which kind of remakes B5 into a more Buffyverse place.



Also dreamed that B5, B7 and DW were the same 'verse again.
And there was Vila kissing Avon.
Of all the slash pairings my subconscious could come up with... *sigh*



something up with me. I keep on waking up for a couple hours then going sleep again. 4 hours sleep, 8 hours sleep, now another... possibly 4. That is too much sleep for one 24 hours. annoyance.

We create the meaning in our lives. It does not exist independently. Being Anla'shok does not mean worrying about what others will think about us. It does not mean deciding what to do based on whether or not it serves our sense of ego or destiny. It means living each moment as if it were our last one. It means doing each right thing because it is the right thing. The scale doesn't matter. The where, the when, the how, or in what cause -- none of those things matter. In my life I have discovered very few truths. Here is the greatest truth I know: your death, Rastenn, will have a meaning if it comes while you're in fullest pursuit of your heart.


so now I stop the ep and go write fanfic
which, I know, drama queen
but, is how I been feeling lately.

Babylon 5
Moments of Transition

I've almost entirely forgotten the storyline with Garibaldi.
No offense to it, its been years since I've watched these, I've forgotten most things.

But the scenes with the Starfire Wheel?
I always remember those.

"Will you follow me into fire?"


and then

"I was born Warrior caste.
But I see now...
...the calling of my heart is Religious."


That was just... wow. And it being Neroon... makes total sense and makes it that much more of a surprise. That worked so well. He was always turning up to be a pain in the neck, but he was always trying to do the right thing, fighting on principle. So when his boss starts going on about how there should be war only for gain, you can see him react. And everything he does fits.


The bit with the new Grey Council worries me though. I mean putting the Worker caste in charge sounds great in principle, but its running parrallel to a story about the power of the corporations on Earth, yesno? So its maybe like putting business in charge? I liked better the balanced version. Except it wasn't in practice balanced, is what they were saying.

B5 is always about the big questions. Is very fun.



And now its 3 in the morning and I should have been asleep long ago. This the problem with DVDs, I have all of them right here and I have to think up reasons not to just sit and watch.

Babylon 5 is utterly, totally and completely awesome.


I just finished watching season 3.
I thought I'd just watch the one ep while I ate and get back to writing, but one turned into 3, and now I want to start the next season right away.

With the White Star, and the jumping, and the... *wow*

I love this show.

President's man says "Do not force us to engage your ship."

Delenn says:
"Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

*very big grin*

I purely *love* that line.



on the other hand, I don't love this bloody DVD set. same problems on this disc, albeit in different places. Missed Delenn's speech to the Grey Council! Badness!
2/6 discs bad, new box set methinks.
*sigh*

forgot to press post
have now watched all disc
including 'Sic Transit Vir'
6!
and the hand gesture...
kind of hilarious and disturbing at once, that ep.


so I change discs, and guess what?
disc 4, looks like it'll be messed up too.
*headdesk*

The first 2 sections of Exogenesis - out of 6 - are too messy to work. grr arrgh sulk.

I'd forgotten how much I loved Marcus Cole, the Ranger. And if I could forget that it has been *far* too long since I've watched these.

The theme of the ep was miscommunication, so the series of *facepalm* moments range from funny to tragic. Though, given how things end for him and Ivanova, the bit with Marcus and the roses acquires a bit of tragic. *sigh*

The thing with the alien symbiotes who were memory, that clicked in my head with Highlander style Immortals. I had this xover theory once that the Vorlons made Immortals - I think there was something about how both have Quickenings when they die - but the Shadows corrupted them by introducing 'There Can Be Only One' and that whole mess about the Prize. Because obviously they were originally meant to fight in a far away place, but not each other.
But, Immortals would have that same function of preserving a culture through the long nights induced by the repeated cycle of Shadow wars. Walking memories.

I know 'The Source' is coming up and likely going to screw up the whole origin of Immortals again. I know making Immortals be part alien is perilously close to Zeist territory. But for a fanfic theory I thought it was fun.

I'm half way through the second season of Babylon 5 and only now do I find that for some reason my TV (or possibly my DVD player) makes it so I can't see the edges of the picture. Its supposed to have aspect ratio settings on the TV but I can't make that change. I only just discovered that if I set the zoom on the DVD player to shrink (and no I don't know why it has a shrink setting under zoom) then I can see the whole thing. With a gap all around the edge.

Technology! Whyfor it no working as it should be???


OTOH, B5 is still great. I'm not commenting on it much because I keep on watching a whole disc at a time, and then I have too many seen to have seperate thoughts.

I liked the bit about when they sold us the future they should have said some assembly required.

Yes.

The ISN news version was interesting to watch now I've studied more cultural studies. I can pick up on more of what they're doing with the wording, and not showing the questions. I don't know if actual news shows are quite that manky, because I do not the TV news watch. It takes long times to tell many things I do not wish to know. Print news only. And there I can find three or four different versions of any big story for comparison, so I can know quickly that nobody agrees, or sometimes that everyone is printing the same press release.

News is strange.


The bit about the distinctive quality of humans being that they build communities... I kind of don't buy it. But as a way of TV holding up this quality, this building from diversity, as the very good thing, I can accept it.

I just kind of figure that many cooperative species would be more widely cooperative if it would benefit them.

But I guess other species don't keep as many pets, let alone build cities with as many cultures. So. *shrugs*.

finished watching the first season of B5
it really does kick off and get twisty
and the last episode?
shot in the back... still makes me ouch, and so angry at the bastard
and their president going boom hurts just like it should
five minutes! just that bit sooner, and maybe no boom.

I love this show, it gets me caring about politics in made up worlds.


also by the end of the first season there is no character who appears entirely in the right, though the humans are ahead on points I think. And there is no character we don't know well enough to care about, including the ambassadors and their sidekicks. Thats really nicely done.

I'd quote all the good bits, but it would be a very long post.

I really do love this show.

Today I watched a couple of DVDs worth of Babylon 5
ending up with TKO
which... is sort of not the best to end on, but is late now, so end I shall for the night.

There's some episodes of some shows where I tend to forget that the A & B stories are in the same episode. Usually because one of them is weak, or lame, or totally doesn't match the other. Timeless is obviously about Methos & Alexa, except technically the A story is that newbie Immortal woman. The Girl In Question could have worked better if the halfs were in quite different episodes. Not that I'd have hated the Rome stuff any less, but, less whiplash in the comparisons. TKO? Incredibly lame boxing thingy, paired up with Ivanova having this big emotional story with her father. The Ivanova parts make me cry. The boxing parts... more with the wincing. And the way they switch between? *facepalm*

I can sort of see a vague connection, in the fighting and great heart bits, but... No. Those two did not go together.
So in my head the Ivanova story tends to migrate to another episode.

Like the conversation where Connor and Ramirez compare bullet holes. I always forgetting its in the lame movie, because that was funny.

This time of watching I get a feeling a bit like looking at a half finished statue, like if you pushed this bit and shaped over here a bit I can see what they were trying to do. But on the whole... I very nearly skipped the ep, and I probably nearly will next time I watch them too.


The rest of what I watched had all sorts of neat stuff in it. Worldbuilding, cultures, character building, all kinds of nifty cool. And the Shadows arrive for the first time. "What do you want?" Excellent cool.

I also remembering how much B5 stomps through my Issues sometimes. Garibaldi and drink and Ivanova and grieving and just... Issues central. Which may be another reason is been so long between rewatchings.

The DVD box is all falling apart, the glue not holding the plastic bits in. And the outer box had stuck to the shelf. Blue painted shelf, now blue stripes on box. Oh dear. Been a long time since I moved it then. *sigh*

Is a good series.

But I'm sort of balanced between the fannish pleasure of knowing where everything is going so it means more, and the less fun knowing where everything is going so the mystery rather isn't.

I think later episodes will work better for me. For a start I haven't had them so long so I've got them less memorised...


Interesting day.

I had a bath :-)
The water turned a spectacular sort of claret colour... always after hair is newly coloured there is bathing in rainbows.

Then I had vegetable soup and bread, and apple pies, and orange juice with fizzy water in it.

I also started watching Babylon 5. I was only going to watch one episode but its gone on to the second without button pushing.

It just had the funeral words.
"From the stars we came, and to the stars we return, from now until the end of time. We therefore commit this body to the deep."
And the conversation "Its all so brief, isn't it?"
Making me tearful. Especially because its him saying it.

Then the :-) with pessimist=Russian, "We understand these things."

See even in an episode I don't recall fondly, theres these conversations. Character moments, philosophical moments, worldbuilding moments, all in the same few sentences. Is *brilliant*.

See, in between viewings, I forget how much I love a particular show. But then I start watching and its all so rich and full of possibilities.

And watching this Soul Hunter thing, the Minbari explaining their beliefs about souls - at the time that seemed so much less weighty than it turned out to be. There's so much packed in to these. Very, very cool.

It amuses me that two of my favourite shows have the same name for their first episode.

I just watched this on DVD, and while the disc is unwrapped, I'm not sure I've ever actually watched that version before. The one in my head is shorter.
So, the DVD version is smoother, less jumpy, with better transitions and more little character moments. In some places this is the difference between 'makes sense' and 'never did quite make sense', so yaays.

There are a lot of things about the look of it that got changed before the series proper. Thank goodness. The Minbari kind of look like a lighter Narn with a bone on their head. Chin thing, strange. And all those flashing lights? Nobody chooses to work in a room full of strobe lights. Except DJs. Generally, flashing lights are not useful.

One moment I noticed this time through - Kosh called Sinclair "Entil'za Valenn" ??? (I probably spelled it wrong, but it was in the subtitles). Thats his title and name, right? Talk about big time give away! Nifty. Because its all alien gobbledygook at the time, so its quite safe to give it out.
:-)

I now want to watch more B5. Which is the purpose of the pilot, so yaay for them.

I actually also want to know what happened to all the vanished people. I know we got Lyta again later, but what about the doctor and the lt commander?
They probably got squished somehow, but I wants to know.
*sigh*

Stories! Always more of them than TV has time to tell!

Which is what fanfic is for.
But I don't think I've ever gone there for B5.
Hmmm...