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Babylon 5 Re/Watch: s1e01
Here's the discussion post for this week's episode of our Re/Watch!
If you're joining the livewatch, the Discord has the chat discussion; this one is for comments and discussion spanning the week. Warning! There will be Spoilers!!
Livewatch starts Tuesday 8PM EST and happens again on that following Saturday at 1PM EST.
This week's episode is s1e01: Midnight on the Firing Line.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find a publicly viewable version of the pilot (which is actually a movie), a piece called "The Gathering." If anyone has information on where we could all view this piece, that would be lovely.




Alright, so I watched The Gathering last week (I own the DVDs, sorry I don't know where anyone could watch it online) and Episode 1 tonight. I livetweeted it (I'm @Miya_Tenaka on Twitter if you want to have a look), but here are some of my thoughts! Keep in mind I have seen the show before, so I know where some things are going, but it was years ago and I've forgotten a lot.
I'm not gonna talk a lot about The Gathering, because I can't remember if the important events in it will be re-shown later in the series? Although if you guys want I could do a summary of it for those who couldn't see it. Some of it will be relevant later in the series.
Pardon the lack of organization and structure of this comment. :P
It's funny how the Centauri are kind of a mix between the British Empire (former great colonial force) an Italian mafia (or Italian politicians, really (one can wonder if there's much difference between the two, but I digress :P)) (the shadiness, the styling, the accent).
I looooove that Talia's first scene is with Ivanova, for reasons. ^^
We could totally have a drinking game where we take a drink every time Londo blames something on G'Kar, and vice-versa. (Granted, it's often with reason.) I love these two. And the whole "we will die together thing"... <3
Garibaldi is a cute carebear (who can kill you, but will be sad about it).
That ending, not fore-shadowing at all, am I right? Eart president being elected after a campaign basedd on cutting the budget and preserving earth cultures from non-Terran influences. What could possibly go wrong?
A few good quotes from the episode:
"Ignore the propaganda. Focus on what you see." - Sinclair "Enhance!" - Londo (this thing movies and series do will never not be funny to me) "They kill you and take your land. You kill them and take their land. On and on and on. A cycle of hatred." - Delenn
The Gathering doesn't really have any future-ep impact (except where people reference that Sinclair was framed for "murdering" the Volon ambassador when he first arrived, but the "ambassador" was an evil parasitical changeling instead) so you're fine there! I really wish I could've found a way to get that ep. :\ Good pilot.
I LOVE the Centaurii, and the bit with Garabaldi and Londo being all "you lied and said we were cousins!"/"whoops, our mistake" is possibly one of my favourite in the whole series. A perfect example of how Centaurii political interactions go, too. Mainly: Bullshit until it works out in your favour.
Talia will and always shall have, a special place in my heart. Especially in later seasons, but I love most her line "I don't see myself as a victim" because it does an incredible job conveying how institutionalized PsiCorp is. Even after hearing Ivanova's story about her mother, her primary emotional response is pretty much "that's a very sad story of someone who fell through the cracks, but <i>I'm</i> not that unfortunate! I'm truly blessed" without realising that satement should be followed by "-to be oppressed."
Londo and G'Kar are possibly my favourite duo in this whole series. Even more than Vir and Lenir or Garabaldi and Londo (who are very close seconds.)
All the foreshadowing. All of it. I'm actually interested in examining and discovering how this will/won't//does/doesn't mirror current American politics, and how it differs from early Nazi party historical evolution. (Which is difficult, I realize, seeing as how a lot of Earth politics are overshadowed plot-wise for focus on the more series-relevant B5 politics.)