low quick muffled

[aria]

Still doing this! I remain completely nuts.


1x01, Midnight on the Firing Line

Despite cosmetic & costuming changes, this episode really is a continuation of The Gathering -- it doesn't necessarily assume you've seen it, but nor does it do any of the character legwork the pilot did, except of course with Ivanova and Talia, since they're new. It's a bit of a shame, because the Gathering is basically a ridiculous shambles, but it's nice to go in knowing why G'Kar is so militant, why he and Londo are literally at each other's throats, why Ivanova's surprised to hear Sinclair call the Minbari honorable, &c.

Reasons Londo is my favourite:

GARIBALDI. A clerical error?
LONDO. Yes! We thought your world was Beta Nine; it was actually Beta Twelve. Okay, we made a mistake. I'm sorry. Here, open my wrists.
GARIBALDI. Centauri don't have major arteries in their wrists.
LONDO. Of course we don't. What do you think, I'm stupid?

It's funny, of course, and tells us a wacky fun fact about Centauri biology, but it's also about Londo's dramatics and lack of follow-through. This is not the man who will ask Vir to kill him to save Centauri Prime.

Speaking of Vir, here he is! He comes in bustling, anxious, and stating the obvious; "Have you met my diplomatic staff? Just arrived from the Homeworld. This is it!" Londo says, not even concealing his scorn. I think it's disgust with himself for the most part, though: the only assistance he merits is Vir. Of course it turns out that Vir is one of the best things that could possibly happen to him, and quite soon I'll probably want to talk about their seriously excellent relationship, but for the moment suffice it to say that Vir does not yet feel like a gift. (Sidebar: Vir already calls Londo "Londo." That seems to be the general rule, actually: everyone calls him Londo, or Ambassador if they're being formal; "Mollari" is reserved for official state occasions, or to be used like an insult every time G'Kar says it. It's just interesting that even Londo's nervous little aide is so informal with him. Maybe Londo told Vir to call him that in an attempt to make Vir less panicked?)

And here we have the near-simultaneous introduction of Talia and Ivanova. Talia's quite friendly and Ivanova completely brushes her off, which would be a braver move re: a new character if the audience'd had time to attach itself to the old lieutenant commander; as is, the first clear Ivanova impression we get involves her basically telling Talia to fuck off. To my vague recollection, this didn't make me dislike her, since I knew nothing about either of them; instead, I just assumed Ivanova had a reason to dislike telepaths, which is of course true.

Also, I ship them, but not yet.

Also also, we're five minutes in and the show has already passed the Bechdel test in this scene.

"Ambassador Mollari! Care to join me? I have some spoo; it's quite fresh this week." Rewatching makes these scenes golden, because of course Centauri hate fresh spoo, so a surface-jovial dining invitation is quite insulting already. Actually the entire scene is excellent: Londo and G'Kar are already placing personal blame on one another for everything their species do to one another; the wheel turns, does it not, Ambassador, G'Kar says in smug satisfaction; and they're already literally trying to strangle one another. You guys desperately need couples' therapy. Take two personal revelations and call me in the morning.

We hear about the Londo-and-G'Kar-will-strangle-each-other dream this early on! I love how weirdly pleased Londo is to know he's going to kill G'Kar (in much the same way that G'Kar will be happy to die if he watches Londo die too, two seasons from now in an elevator); I love Sinclair's assertion that a lot can change in twenty years, and that maybe it won't come to pass; I love that the dream can be a metaphor if Londo dies of a heart attack, and exactly what Londo thinks it is now if things stay in a holding pattern, and a mercy killing when it actually happens.

Londo in the series proper is a lot less of a joke than he is in the pilot, or at least he has more ... self-respect, maybe? He understands it's his personal responsibility that his nephew he assigned to Ragesh Three is in danger or possibly dead; he understands that peace with the Narn is virtually impossible; and so he decides there will be war. He has no power to make it so, but he's decided it anyway. The interesting thing about Londo is that when he decides to make something so, it often is so, and when he chooses to fight back it usually works; it's just that he often tricks himself into believing it doesn't, and so does nothing, and he hardly ever makes that decision when he should.

Kosh is a flashlight on a stained-glass dressing screen! That seems hilariously appropriate. Incidentally, I love how his voice is done; it's like a whole distant choir of people talking. And then of course he breaks out one of his first Koshisms:

KOSH. They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.
SINCLAIR. Who, the Narn or the Centauri?
KOSH. Yes.

I think I am going to love listening to the things Kosh says in retrospect, now that I know what's going on. Here, for instance, it's less that he's being deliberately obtuse than that who the Shadows pick, and how G'Kar and Londo (and Na'Toth and Ta'Lon and Cartagia and Vir and the Regent and &c) choose to act, will determine just who is alone and dying.

Of course, the real answer is the Vorlons, but I'm not sure even Kosh knows that yet.

G'Kar says that they've recently managed to restore a few forests on Narn, and that before the Centauri stripped it, it was all green. I'm picturing a glorious low-lit rainforest planet now, and my heart is breaking a bit, given what we see of Narn later. "I confess I look forward to the day when we have cleansed the universe of the Centauri and carved their bones into little flutes for Narn children," G'Kar adds, and dgkdsjkfd. I want to take his character arc home with me and feed it cookies and tell it how much I love it.

"The Earth Alliance can't go around being the galaxy's policemen!" a senator snaps at Sinclair, and boom, thus was born the Rangers. I don't know quite how serious I am about that, because technically the Rangers are deliciously recursive -- Sinclair joins the Rangers knowing that Valen founded them, discovers he's Valen, and goes to found the Rangers -- but I suspect that even if he didn't know, he'd still found them on principle.

At the end, in the bar, Ivanova and Talia talk about themselves to each other! Again! Ivanova apologizes, they sort of connect, and even though they're talking about a third party, they're discussing Ivanova's mommy issues. (I love that Ivanova has mommy issues! I also love that not too many people on this show even have very loud parental issues.) And I love that Talia willingly takes on Ivanova's story, and apologises for it; I love that Ivanova knows that what happened wasn't Talia's fault, but still can't yet forgive her. The two of them are excellent, and just typing this paragraph is making me want to go out in search of the fix-it fic I know is out there.

I LOVE GARIBALDI'S DAFFY DUCK OBSESSION. I also love that, while they didn't give Delenn much to do in this episode, she hangs out with Garibaldi and tries so hard to understand Earth humor. <3


1x02, Soul Hunter

This, on the other hand, is a Delenn-heavy episode!

We start with Franklin, though. One of the things that this show does that I love is maintain internal consistency: one black doctor is not interchangeable with another, thank god, and we get to find out what happened to Ben Kyle. More than that, though, these people know each other: Sinclair and Garibaldi are friends, Sinclair and Franklin apparently knew one another from before he transferred, Ivanova's been following Franklin's work, and later we learn she's had previous assignments with Sheridan. Everyone still has to get to know one another as friends, but they all know (of) each other in a professional capacity, and that's smart, insofar as it makes audience acceptance a bit easier.

I love the costuming on this show! I mean, I love in particular the way the various alien ambassadors' costumes change through the series, because the Earthforce uniform to the free Babylon 5 uniform is in-your-face striking, but the other clothing changes -- Londo's coats getting darker, G'Kar's outfits becoming ... more elegant, is maybe the way to put it? and Delenn's complete blue-to-red palette change -- are subtle and awesome. Right now I am appreciating Delenn's teal silk things.

I think I like soul hunters in concept. The soul hunter himself has a cool voice synthesizer thing -- but then, I also love how Sea Devils sound. The rubbishy bits of sci-fi: I'm weirdly fond of them. But I'm also fond of the bit where we establish, quite early on, that souls are real, tangible objects, although I still sort of think they're ... conceptual objects? They're not a matter of belief, though, and I find that fascinating. I do think that at this point the theology/spirituality/what-have-you of the show isn't fully formed or laid out in a definite way, and I find myself incredibly spoiled by some of the things G'Kar says in later seasons, but I do like that the show is playing around with beliefs and truths and realities already.

I also love that, having established the truth of the soul, no one can agree what to do with them. My inner archivist thinks that soul hunters are actually kind of awesome in the sense that, well, if a soul will leave the world if you don't catch it in a ball, you should probably work to preserve it. On the other hand, reincarnation is also one of those belief-facts, and keeping a soul from where it should go is a bit horrific. I also love what the soul hunter says: "Minbari! Pale, bloodless, look in their eyes and see nothing but mirrors, infinities of reflection." I love that -- infinities of reflection. That's a rather delightful visual for reincarnation.

...Apparently soul hunters came to take Dukhat at the beginning of the Earth-Minbari war; they made a wall of bodies to stop us. Having now met Dukhat, the idea of him being imprisoned is viscerally horrifying. I love rewatches! The old stuff is somewhat less good, but you can also retroactively assign extraordinary meaning to it.

"Understand this: before you leave, I will search your ship, rip every panel, tear up every floor; I will gut it from end to end until I find the souls you have stolen from us." There's the Delenn I know and love! The Delenn I know and love is badass and terrifying. On the other hand, she's not quite done becoming Delenn, because later on in the series, I'm fairly sure she'd have kicked the soul hunter's ass and not allowed herself to be captured for soul-harvesting. I do love how I have to think really hard to remember those times when she's actually damsel-in-distress-y rather than just threatened-but-competent.

I am desperately glad that Sinclair/Delenn did not end up happening in canon, if only because the early potential set-up is almost ridiculously heteronormative. I am, on the other hand, delighted that Sinclair got to be Valen, because he's already training to smile enigmatically and say strange imperceptive things.

Despite ehh-ness on the damsel-ness, though, I still already love Delenn. That last scene, where she releases the souls, is absolutely beautiful.

No Bechdel-test-passing on this one; Delenn and Ivanova weren't in any of the same scenes.

Comments

[icepixie]

The connections you're making between these early episodes and the later ones are awesome.

When I watched "Midnight on the Firing Line," remember thinking, "Okay, I heard this was great stuff. So far I'm not seeing greatness. I'll give a few more episodes, though, since so many--HOLY SHIT IT JUST GOT GREAT." That moment was the last scene with Ivanova and Talia, and I was totally blown away by how chilling it was, and how deep the universe got right there. (Not that it hadn't been earlier, now that I think about it, but for some reason that moment was really visceral for me.)

One thing that really irks me about S1 in particular (besides Sinclair, oh god) is the stagey blocking and directing they use. It's like everyone is thinking, "And now I will stand on my mark and deliver my [kind of overwrought for dialogue] line. And now I will take one step forward and do the same thing." etc. etc., and it's really obvious that everyone is set up in group scenes so that they're always facing the camera, even when it's unnatural. Either I got used to it or everyone loosened up by the end of S1, I dunno.

[aria]

Partly I am making those connections because I still have season five fairly fresh in my mind, but also partly because it's just much more interesting and arc-y this way. If you know how awesome the plots get later, this early stuff is meh.

I ... am hugely charmed by the bad acting in s1, actually, possibly because I will voluntarily watch awful old sci-fi with cardboard sets. But YES, everyone is clearly Acting!! instead of just acting. I think part of that has to be just the early direction's fault, though, because G'Kar and Londo are already aces. I think it got better as things went along, though, for the most part.

[icepixie]

I think part of that has to be just the early direction's fault, though, because G'Kar and Londo are already aces.

I think a lot of it is the direction. Apparently JMS had a Thing at first about wanting to put the "opera" in "space opera," and thus there were bold costume/set decoration choices (all of which turned out well, IMO), overwrought dialogue, and stagey acting.

[aria]

That ... wow, that explains a lot. I have to confess that I sort of remain a sucker for the overwrought dialogue, because even though a lot of it isn't stuff that people would say, a lot of it is beautiful, and G'Kar and Londo and Delenn all became quite good at it. It makes me want to forgive the early stagey acting a little, too. (Although not Sinclair's. Just. WHAT.)

[icepixie]

That ... wow, that explains a lot.

Doesn't it, though? Things kind of fell into place for me when I read that.

I have to confess that I sort of remain a sucker for the overwrought dialogue, because even though a lot of it isn't stuff that people would say, a lot of it is beautiful, and G'Kar and Londo and Delenn all became quite good at it.

Yeah, I like some of their long speeches. And they're aliens speaking in a foreign language, so there's an extra veneer of believability there for me. I think I would've liked it better had I not found B5 right at the tail end of BSG. I was watching them at the same time, and there were definitely times when B5 did not come off well in the inevitable comparison.

(Although not Sinclair's. Just. WHAT.)

I was SORELY tempted to skip to S2 just because of Sinclair. Gaaaaah.

[aria]

It explains EVERYTHING, especially the way I am sitting here going "Peter Jurasik, I know you're better at this than you're pretending to be right now!"

And they're aliens speaking in a foreign language, so there's an extra veneer of believability there for me.

Yes, exactly! I have a much harder time with it if it's, say, Sheridan pontificating. Which to my delight they eventually realized, witness the bit in ... s5, maybe? when everyone expects him to make a speech, and he wisely defers to Delenn. :D

Oh man, comparing BSG to B5, especially aesthetically, probably doesn't make B5 come off well at all, no. On the other hand, I broke up with BSG and I broke up with it hard, whereas not even Byron could make me break up with B5.

The way I get through Sinclair is by remembering watching s1 with friends of mine. We all liked to imitate his Hero Voice, which ... dulled the pain somewhat.

[icepixie]

Yes, exactly! I have a much harder time with it if it's, say, Sheridan pontificating. Which to my delight they eventually realized, witness the bit in ... s5, maybe? when everyone expects him to make a speech, and he wisely defers to Delenn. :D

Ha! I don't remember that bit, but that's awesome. (After Sinclair, Sheridan is probably my least favorite character. I'm broken, I know.)

Also: "Get the hell out of our galaxy!" Not enough *facepalm* in the world.

Oh man, comparing BSG to B5, especially aesthetically, probably doesn't make B5 come off well at all, no.

Especially in the first season, where the scope of the narrative hasn't had time to sink in yet. (Although I watched Crusade back when it was first airing on TNT, so I knew some things. And I had osmosed some stuff from other fans online over the years, so watching B5 was...odd, in that I had a collection of half-remembered information which I wasn't sure was true or not, and basically led to many instances of deja vu.)

On the other hand, I broke up with BSG and I broke up with it hard, whereas not even Byron could make me break up with B5.

Oh noes! What made you break up with it? (If talking about it wouldn't just lead to renewed rage, which I can understand.)

The way I get through Sinclair is by remembering watching s1 with friends of mine. We all liked to imitate his Hero Voice, which ... dulled the pain somewhat.

There's a thought...

[aria]

Heh, see, I love Sheridan, but there is a small and slightly crowded corner of my heart reserved for Idealistic Heroic Types. Objectively he's annoying as fuck. XD

Re: BSG, it was ... a mixture of my increasing frustration with the way they were using the Cylons, and then they killed Gaeta, and that was pretty much the last straw. I was in love with it through mid-s4, though, and I did finish it, but I just basically wish all of s4 was completely different.

Try the Hero Voice sometime! Mostly you just say, very dramatically, "The name of the place ... is BABYLON 5!" It's fun in a stupid sort of way.

[icepixie]

Oh, Gaeta. *sigh* I was sad when they killed him, but at the time I was 98% convinced he was the fifth Cylon, so my sadness was leavened by awe at the idea of the gigantic writing risk that would have been. (Instead, we got Ellen. Yeah, there are things I'd change about S4 as well, although I was basically happy with it.)

Try the Hero Voice sometime! Mostly you just say, very dramatically, "The name of the place ... is BABYLON 5!" It's fun in a stupid sort of way.

Hee. I used to either mute the credits or say it VERY LOUDLY at that point in order to drown out Sinclair.

[happydork]

Eee! I am enjoying these rewatches! Londo and G'Kar! Ivanova and Talia! AND THE FORESHADOWING IN THE WORLD!

[happydork]

Also, you are so right about Ivanova and mummy issues -- such a nice antidote to all the Sorkin in my life.

[aria]

Yay! I am enjoying the rewatches too, although I am impatient for s2 already. XD

And re: parental issues, I'm really happy that Ivanova's are the loudest. Does anyone on this show have actual daddy issues? The closest I can think of is Sheridan's willingness to risk his freedom by going to Mars after his father, but I don't think that even counts the same way. Hmm.

[icepixie]

Does anyone on this show have actual daddy issues?

Franklin, in that S2 episode with his father?

[aria]

RIGHT. *facepalm* I ... have a tendency to forget about Franklin, because he's more inconsistently written than a lot of the characters and he tends to rub me the wrong way.

[icepixie]

I always thought Franklin was kind of awesome, actually. He doesn't get a lot to do, but what he does get is generally good. (Er, minus several of the romantic plots, anyway. Poor guy never got the girl for more than an episode.) Plus he brings the snark, and I can't resist that. :D

I think I wound up shipping him and Lyta at one point in S4. That would've been...interesting.

[aria]

(...I love how Sam Tyler and Susan Ivanova are having a FACEPALM-OFF in our comment thread.)

The further along in the show it is, the more I like Franklin. But then, Garibaldi rubs me the wrong way a lot of the time too, which probably makes me kind of crazy. On the other hand, re: Franklin's one-episode love interests, didn't his thing with Number One kind of keep going? I sort of hope so, if only because Number One is hot and awesome, and even though I am lukewarm on Franklin, he definitely deserves someone hot and awesome.

fsdlkfdskj oh Lyta. Mind you, I kind of loved Zack's thing for Lyta, and that would've been a disaster too.

[icepixie]

(...I love how Sam Tyler and Susan Ivanova are having a FACEPALM-OFF in our comment thread.)

HEE.

But then, Garibaldi rubs me the wrong way a lot of the time too, which probably makes me kind of crazy.

*sadface* I didn't like him much in S5, but then I wrote an AU, and I've basically replaced his arc in S5 with that in my head.

On the other hand, re: Franklin's one-episode love interests, didn't his thing with Number One kind of keep going? I sort of hope so, if only because Number One is hot and awesome, and even though I am lukewarm on Franklin, he definitely deserves someone hot and awesome.

He definitely does deserves someone hot and awesome, but IIRC, he doesn't get it with Tessa/Number One. I'm pretty sure that when she came back in S5, I was all, "...And now Franklin gets some lovin'!" and he did NOT, and I was NOT PLEASED.

Mind you, I kind of loved Zack's thing for Lyta, and that would've been a disaster too.

Oh, Zack and Lyta. I shipped them hard too, disaster though it would've been. I've enjoyed the few fics I've found for them, where Zack is like, "Look, I know you're going through a lot, but I like you, and I'm here for you," and she finally says, "Okay, support would be nice," and they have a few moments of peace before things go to hell. At the same time, I want to write them something completely AU and just...happy and fluffy, because oh, Zack and Lyta.

Have you seen Thidspace? There's an awesome one-sided Zack/Lyta scene in it.

[aria]

My beef with Garibaldi is mostly that he makes RELENTLESSLY STUPID LIFE DECISIONS, and I think possibly Londo took up my whole supply of sympathy for horrible life decisions. Also, Lise bored me. I still love Garibaldi a lot of the time, though! I don't actively dislike anyone in B5 except Byron, actually.

I haven't seen any of the spinoff films, actually! I've had a fairly enthusiastic rec for In the Beginning, though.

[icepixie]

Ugh, Lise. Lise is a large part of the reason why I don't include Garibaldi's storylines from S5 in my personal canon of the show.

In the Beginning is excellent, yes. It's probably the best of the films. I think I've only seen that one, Thirdspace, and A Call to Arms, which kicked off Crusade. I heard terrible things about River of Souls and that newish thing with the Rangers, so I didn't bother with them.

Thirdspace is kind of like a less-than-average episode. It's as standalone as you can get with B5, and the plot is fairly forgettable. Its main attraction for me, aside from the Zack/Lyta cuteness, was that I watched it somewhere in S5, when I was missing Ivanova terribly, and there she was! Being awesome!

CtA/Crusade are okay, but not really great. I think Crusade would've gotten better had it been allowed to proceed without network interference, and given more than thirteen episodes. Galen, Dureena, and Max in particular were all pretty nifty.

[polarisnorth]

I have this somewhat crazy idea that I should try and watch along to your rewatch. I am... not sure how sane this idea is, on the other hand, it's only a couple episodes a day.

[aria]

DO IT!! I mean, I am trying to power through s1 because it gets better after that, but even if you're a few days behind it might still be really awesome.

PS, I got your text; I'm trying to be a good non-disruptive houseguest who doesn't have long phonetalks right now, but I'm moving on Saturday, so hopefully by early next week I'll be able to give you a call and do proper long catch-up. <333

[polarisnorth]

Londo still tearing my heart out. G'Kar is intensely creeping me out with lines like the one about flutes made out of Centari bones. And I love Vir.

The soul hunter is incredibly disturbing. (And when he talked about acting for "the greater good" I automatically intoned it after him. XD)

I love the burial at space/sea thing. And also Ivanova's opinion about humanity and the "I am Russia, we understand these things."

[starlady]

Well, this post made me go find the torrent, and start downloading. Because it sounds awesome.

I need more sf icons, wtf.

[aria]

Yessss.

Caveat: especially if you're starting with the pilot film, but even if you're just starting sensibly at the beginning of first season, it's ... like first season Buffy, I think is the best analogy? First season is cute and unevenly acted, and it picks up suddenly at the end of the season, but if you don't watch all of it, you'll miss important plot points/character stuff. So ... basically stick with it, and if you don't like it by ... mm, I'd say Signs and Portents, but possibly instead by Babylon Squared, you can probably give it up as Not For You.

I hope it is for you, though! I love it.

[starlady]

Life's too short for the pilot movie, I think. But I already know I like the show! I watched most of seasons three and four religiously on TV when it aired.

[aria]

Oh man, you saw the REALLY GOOD STUFF. I think watching it again in context would probably be awesome for you, then. :D

[skipthedemon]

OMG do I not have time to re-watch with you. But I am reading along and doing flappy hands of glee.

I. Sorta shipped Sinclair/Deleen when I was a teenager. I didn't forgive Sheridan for while for not being Sinclar. Look, I guess I hadn't developed taste when it comes to acting, ok? And I generally resent it when older and not classically handsome actors get replaced with younger, prettier ones. Earth: Finale Conflict, man. I'm still bitter.

[aria]

Read-alongs with flappy hands of glee are excellent! I am making flappy hands of glee right back at you. :D

My theory is that Sheridan > Sinclair just on the basis of acting ability, yeah, but ... honestly? When Sinclair came back very briefly in s3, my immediate response was "You know what would make everything AWESOME? Sheridan/Delenn/Sinclair!" Unfortunately the logistics sort of ... make this impossible, what with the thousand-year time difference and everything, but I think Sinclair/Delenn might be awesome. I'm just glad the show itself didn't go there.

[skipthedemon]

My brain kinda went to Sheridan/Delenn/Sinclair the first time I saw it too. Well, I was a sheltered teen and would not have had the faintest clue what that would have actually looked like, but I did have the pretty clear thought that they are shared this connection and it was sad time separated them, damn it!

I find myself gravitating towards OT3s a lot these days, and thinking back to half formed , not really thinking about sex, shippage back in the day and going....huh. Especially since I could not handle polyamory in my own love life. IDEK.

[themeletor]

I REALLY WANT TO READ THESE BUT I THINK WHAT THAT MEANS IS I SHOULD ACTUALLY WATCH BABYLON 5. WHICH IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE BAZILLION THINGS FOR WHICH I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT :( *GRABBY HANDS*

MY TORMENT IS ... NOT REALLY TORMENT. BUT I THINK I MIGHT BE TORN, AT LEAST?

/capslock, +apology for capslock

[aria]

YOU COULD ALSO JUST READ THEM! I mean, I am not sure how much ... sense they will make if you don't already know what's going on in the episodes in question? But don't let that stop you!

[selenak]

Vir already calls Londo "Londo." That seems to be the general rule, actually: everyone calls him Londo, or Ambassador if they're being formal; "Mollari" is reserved for official state occasions, or to be used like an insult every time G'Kar says it. It's just interesting that even Londo's nervous little aide is so informal with him. Maybe Londo told Vir to call him that in an attempt to make Vir less panicked?

Very possible. One of the reasons for Vir's love and loyalty for Londo, imo, is that even Londo's early s1 attitude is better than the complete ignoring which his family seems to have done, going by what Vir says about them in s2; Londo is loud and sarcastic but he notices Vir, keeps touching him (arms around shoulders, face pinching, chin chucking etc.) in this early eps already and drags him to social events. If you've been completely ignored and regarded as a nothing at home, this kind of companionship must be like a heady drink. Note also that of all the attachés, Vir is the one who from the get go is the most physical in return; you can't imagine Na'Toth or Lennier dressing their ambassadors, and Vir does that for Londo. It's an intimacy he probably hasn't had with anyone else before, including whoever he went to stage 1 with. And Londo has a knack for establishing intimacy very quickly; he's an immensly sociable character. Yes, some of it is attitude and part of his public persona (everyone is a "good, dear friend" in s1), but I think it's also due to Londo having developed a very different defense mechanism to ridicule and low status than Vir does. Early Vir shrinks in to the background; early Londo blasts into rooms and makes people notice him by invading their personal space. As Sheridan says in s5, coma aside, he hasn't known Londo to be in a room for five minutes without laughing or yelling at someone. So the characters, G'Kar aside, calling him by his first name both to his face and in his absence fits with that very well.

I think I am going to love listening to the things Kosh says in retrospect, now that I know what's going on. Here, for instance, it's less that he's being deliberately obtuse than that who the Shadows pick, and how G'Kar and Londo (and Na'Toth and Ta'Lon and Cartagia and Vir and the Regent and &c) choose to act, will determine just who is alone and dying.

Of course, the real answer is the Vorlons, but I'm not sure even Kosh knows that yet.

That's a brilliant point, and not one I've seen so far. I always thought Kosh writing off Narn and Centauri alike is a mark of how he at this point still is displaying the general Vorlon attitude towards the younger races. (With s3 as the turning point; Kosh intervening in Dust to Dust via giving G'Kar a vision of his father is not something s1 Kosh would have bothered to do.) But yes, it fits the Vorlons as well.

[lizbee]

...you can't imagine Na'Toth or Lennier dressing their ambassadors...

Wait, suddenly I can, and it's HILARIOUS.

[selenak]

I'm not saying they wouldn't enjoy it. :)

[lizbee]

Na'Toth would have more fun than G'Kar, I think. Poor Lennier might actually have to kill himself if dressing Delenn was part of his job description.

[aria]

If Na'Toth was responsible for dressing G'Kar, I'd blame her for that awesome patchwork coat thing G'Kar wears in the later seasons.

Somewhere, in the alternate universe where Lennier gets to touch Delenn's body every day as part of his duties, he's having a huge mental breakdown. XD

[aria]

YES, EXACTLY, to all the points you make about Londo there. And I don't think Londo's had time as of yet to see a younger version of himself in Vir, but even when he hasn't yet made that connection, it doesn't even occur to him to ignore Vir, and that must already be like a gift for poor Vir.

Also, I want to echo lizbee's amusement at the notion of Na'Toth or Lennier dressing their ambassadors. XD

Re: Kosh, yeah, it probably is Kosh writing off both the Centauri and the Narn. Maybe the fun thing about Kosh is like the fun thing about Morden: just as everyone who tells Morden what they want gets it, whether Morden has anything to do with it or not, maybe everything Kosh says has layers of true meaning, whether or not Kosh knows what that meaning is.

[lizbee]

I am desperately glad that Sinclair/Delenn did not end up happening in canon, if only because the early potential set-up is almost ridiculously heteronormative.

When I did my rewatch, I found myself reluctantly shipping them. There's something inherently twisted about "she kidnapped and tortured him!/he's her ancestor!" situation. But I mostly blame the OT3ness of "War Without End" for that, and the quiet moment where they speak Minbari to each other.

I feel like part of the problem with the acting in season one is that, on the one hand, you had a hell of a lot of relative novices (Claudia Christian, Jerry Doyle) and a lot of the more experienced actors had spent more time on stage than TV. (Peter Jurasik was the biggest exception among the main actors, and Mira Furlan had done several series in Yugoslavia, but my YouTube viewing tells me that late-80s Yugoslavian TV was incredibly theatrical anyway. Otherwise, the one with the most TV experience is Bill Mumy.)

Apparently Michael O'Hare is one of the most respected jobbing actors in the New York theatre scene, and occasionally we caught glimpses of that, but mostly, I think he was a bit lost in an unfamiliar medium. Sometimes you get a Patrick Stewart, sometimes you get ... well, Michael O'Hare.

[aria]

Happily, I still don't ship s1 Sinclair/Delenn. However, after he's gone off and been Ranger One for a while, knows Minbari, and has become suitably badass, then I ship them like burning. But Sheridan can come too, because he's important to Delenn's plans and also because did you see the way Sinclair looks at him? It's slightly absurd.

Happily, the thing about the s1 acting is that I know they get better, and I love them so much that I'll put up with it. Michael O'Hare is probably the exception only because we never do really see the evolution of his screen acting. (That, and I find it impossible to take the way he speaks seriously. Ever.)

[bessemerprocess]

Here via icepixie

I think I'll be joining in on the rewatch, because it's been almost a year since I've watched B5 and clearly that is TOO LONG.

It's so weird to go from season 4 back to season 1. The foreshadowing is so amazing awesome, but sometimes the acting makes me want to invent time travel to bring the actors from season four back to season 1 and make them re-do it.

I totally and completely ship Sheridan/Delenn/Sinclair (and am slowly working on a B5 AU of doom where in they do get up to shenanigans) based off like five minutes of canon. (Of course, I also ship Sheridan/Ivanova off a single hug in Summoning, so, er, it doesn't take a lot.)

G'kar and Londo! Maker love them, they've got these interconnected and yet inverse plot arcs, which kills me every single time.

[aria]

Hi! :) It's wonderful to have more people here for the rewatch, and absolutely almost a year without B5 is TOO LONG.

YES, both on the foreshadowing and on the acting. I also want to shake the directing, because clearly some of the actors already are excellent, but the filming itself was still really stagey.

I totally and completely ship Sheridan/Delenn/Sinclair based on 1. Sinclair becoming awesome enough for Delenn via running the Rangers, 2. Sheridan being obviously madly in love with Delenn, and 3. the amazingly infatuated looks Sinclair keeps shooting Sheridan whenever they're in a scene together. Anyway, Zathras clearly ships them! That's, um, good enough for me? (Also, I will ship nearly everything on this show. Basing a ship off a single hug is totally legit.)

sksdfkjfdj, G'Kar and Londo. I could go on about them for hours. Also they make me cry a lot. THEIR ARCS ARE AMAZING.

[bessemerprocess]

Oh, excellent, because I ship everything on this show, including, oddly enough Ivanova/Babylon 5, and usually I get some pretty odd looks when I suggest that.

G'kar just kills me over and over again while Londo tears my heart out.