100 Reviews: 87
I do want to write up thoughts, but I also kind of want to just go onto the next one, so we’ll see how much detail I feel like getting into here.
Babylon 5: 1c05: The Parliament of Dreams
I really enjoy this episode. I don’t exactly know how objectively “good” it is, but I always like it. There’s a lot of world building and character development, and it’s just fun to watch. It’s kind of the most “B5” episode since MOTFL, with the many plotlines going on and the just take the universe as fact attitude in the presentation. There’s plot of the week stuff obviously, we’re not really into arc territory yet, but it feels kind of slice of life like, like it could be any day in these people’s lives when stuff happens.
It also brings us up to our first season regulars all being present. It’s kind of weird that Vir and Ko’dath were clearly not selected because they were qualified for their jobs, but Lennier and Na’toth definitely seem to be. It kind of makes sense though. The Minbari take the Babylon Project very seriously, so they take care with their diplomatic assignments. The Centauri are the opposite, it’s a joke assignment to them at this stage so what do they care if Londo’s assistant is at all qualified? And the Narn are somewhere in the middle, Ko’dath was definitely passionate about her posting but not exactly...skilled for it, and when she died (I do wish we got some better answer for what happened to her somewhere in the series) Na’toth rose to the position and impresses one as very skilled and confident; maybe not the greatest diplomat but it’s not like G’Kar is either given his behavior in the series so far.
It does, and usually has when I think about it, strike me as kind of weird that Delenn and G’Kar were both members of their ruling governments (meaning they are basically doing double duty by also being ambassadors), and Londo is at least of the ruling class (it wasn’t considered a particularly high honor for him to take the job but there’s a clear connection to why he ended up with it), but the humans send military officers as their representatives instead of a diplomatic corps. Not that soldiers can’t also be diplomats but B5’s commander is responsible for a lot of responsibilities I would note.
As far as Jeff/Catherine goes, I’ve always ended up with a kind of odd view of it in that I read ‘To Dream in the City of Sorrows’ before I ever saw any of them on screen...or at least very little...maybe. In any case most of my attachment to this ship comes from the book rather than the show, not that I dislike them on the show it’s just that their screen time is so limited that the book gives so much more. But I have always liked them as a pair, and appreciate that they’re just normal by and large. (Yeah, if she ended up back in time as is implied in a few sources, whether they got back together back then or not, they’ll end up a lot less normal, but they’re built on something normal.) We don’t necessarily need to see a ton of them to know that they are and that they work.
The framing device of the episode around the religious festival does require a little thought. That the other cultures could fall into a “dominant religion” while Earth didn’t is a little odd but the only other ceremonies we see are the Centauri and the Minbari.
-The Centauri are polytheistic, Londo goes around naming plenty of gods just in that scene (which by the way is lots of fun), so the demonstration is just kind a big party a little bit for a lot of gods at once.
-The Minbari on the other hand are extremely unified so probably do have a dominant religion common to the Religious Caste; different sects may have slightly different practices, but the mail thrust of the religion is fairly standard. Plus Delenn IS from the Religious Caste so takes on the right to speak for Minbari religion and at the same time is working on drawing out the soul of Valen she believes Sinclair to possess.
-There’s also a lot more humans on B5 than there are any other single race so Sinclair was more obliged to show the variety of cultures that the other races might have been.
-And on a larger level, this speaks to the B5 thesis of Humans forming communities; this is there to show that we form communities out of many disparate types of people, and are stronger for it.
That’s my rational for it right now at least.
Next time:
I’ve still got time for more right?
Suggestion box
Babylon 5: 1c05: The Parliament of Dreams
I really enjoy this episode. I don’t exactly know how objectively “good” it is, but I always like it. There’s a lot of world building and character development, and it’s just fun to watch. It’s kind of the most “B5” episode since MOTFL, with the many plotlines going on and the just take the universe as fact attitude in the presentation. There’s plot of the week stuff obviously, we’re not really into arc territory yet, but it feels kind of slice of life like, like it could be any day in these people’s lives when stuff happens.
It also brings us up to our first season regulars all being present. It’s kind of weird that Vir and Ko’dath were clearly not selected because they were qualified for their jobs, but Lennier and Na’toth definitely seem to be. It kind of makes sense though. The Minbari take the Babylon Project very seriously, so they take care with their diplomatic assignments. The Centauri are the opposite, it’s a joke assignment to them at this stage so what do they care if Londo’s assistant is at all qualified? And the Narn are somewhere in the middle, Ko’dath was definitely passionate about her posting but not exactly...skilled for it, and when she died (I do wish we got some better answer for what happened to her somewhere in the series) Na’toth rose to the position and impresses one as very skilled and confident; maybe not the greatest diplomat but it’s not like G’Kar is either given his behavior in the series so far.
It does, and usually has when I think about it, strike me as kind of weird that Delenn and G’Kar were both members of their ruling governments (meaning they are basically doing double duty by also being ambassadors), and Londo is at least of the ruling class (it wasn’t considered a particularly high honor for him to take the job but there’s a clear connection to why he ended up with it), but the humans send military officers as their representatives instead of a diplomatic corps. Not that soldiers can’t also be diplomats but B5’s commander is responsible for a lot of responsibilities I would note.
As far as Jeff/Catherine goes, I’ve always ended up with a kind of odd view of it in that I read ‘To Dream in the City of Sorrows’ before I ever saw any of them on screen...or at least very little...maybe. In any case most of my attachment to this ship comes from the book rather than the show, not that I dislike them on the show it’s just that their screen time is so limited that the book gives so much more. But I have always liked them as a pair, and appreciate that they’re just normal by and large. (Yeah, if she ended up back in time as is implied in a few sources, whether they got back together back then or not, they’ll end up a lot less normal, but they’re built on something normal.) We don’t necessarily need to see a ton of them to know that they are and that they work.
The framing device of the episode around the religious festival does require a little thought. That the other cultures could fall into a “dominant religion” while Earth didn’t is a little odd but the only other ceremonies we see are the Centauri and the Minbari.
-The Centauri are polytheistic, Londo goes around naming plenty of gods just in that scene (which by the way is lots of fun), so the demonstration is just kind a big party a little bit for a lot of gods at once.
-The Minbari on the other hand are extremely unified so probably do have a dominant religion common to the Religious Caste; different sects may have slightly different practices, but the mail thrust of the religion is fairly standard. Plus Delenn IS from the Religious Caste so takes on the right to speak for Minbari religion and at the same time is working on drawing out the soul of Valen she believes Sinclair to possess.
-There’s also a lot more humans on B5 than there are any other single race so Sinclair was more obliged to show the variety of cultures that the other races might have been.
-And on a larger level, this speaks to the B5 thesis of Humans forming communities; this is there to show that we form communities out of many disparate types of people, and are stronger for it.
That’s my rational for it right now at least.
Next time:
I’ve still got time for more right?
Suggestion box