The 5 year mission
Mar. 19th, 2008 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilroyEvery five or six years I go back and watch Babylon 5 again. The whole series takes me a few months to get through, but that's what I do-- I start with the pilot and watch every single episode until the end (I skip the movies).
I find the whole process fascinating. Every time I do it, I discover things I hadn't seen before.
Like, JMS is really bad at character substitution. If an actor has to leave the show, the new actor will get to do the exact same plot arcs. Ok, we lost Sinclair. Which means we lost his girlfriend the archaeologist, who we needed in season 3. So let's have the new guy's ex-wife ALSO be an archaeologist, and have them working for the exact same company! We also lost all the set-up we did between Sinclair and Delenn... oh well, I guess we'll have to have the new guy fall in love with Delenn that much faster. Hmmm. We lost our telepath after we set her up to have the phenomenal god-like powers we need in seasons 4 and 5. So let's also give the NEW telepath phenomenal god-like powers. We lost the XO from the pilot, who was growing illegal coffee in the hydroponics lab. The new XO can do the exact same thing!
I mean, as a GM, it's just bad form to me. You got a new player, you give 'em a new plot. That's the beginning and the end of it. But in B5 I hear Sinclair saying lines and I can hear Sheridan saying those exact same lines-- the writing is largely identical. It's a credit to the two actors that their characters give such different impressions with the same dialogue, attitude, and initials. By the same token, the best arcs in the story are the ones where the major players stuck around-- Vir, Londo, G'Kar, Garibaldi. Delenn's arc suffered because she had to switch love-interests, as did Ivanova's (if I remember Talia correctly). And don't get me started on the Lyta/Talia thing.
Side note: I also realized this morning why Marcus had to die. Not because it was dramatic or appropriate, but because he was only a useful character during the war subplots. War's over? No need for him anymore. Might as well kill him off.
As a storyteller, watching B5 like this is a chance for me to get under the hood, metaphorically. The show was a big machine with a lot of moving parts, and it's only now that I'm familiar enough with it that I begin to see the underlying structures and interactions. I'm over the "Wow, this is great!" phase and now I'm into the "Oh, so that's why they did it that way" phase. It's a whole other ball-game this time around.
I wonder what I'll see in the show the next time around.
I find the whole process fascinating. Every time I do it, I discover things I hadn't seen before.
Like, JMS is really bad at character substitution. If an actor has to leave the show, the new actor will get to do the exact same plot arcs. Ok, we lost Sinclair. Which means we lost his girlfriend the archaeologist, who we needed in season 3. So let's have the new guy's ex-wife ALSO be an archaeologist, and have them working for the exact same company! We also lost all the set-up we did between Sinclair and Delenn... oh well, I guess we'll have to have the new guy fall in love with Delenn that much faster. Hmmm. We lost our telepath after we set her up to have the phenomenal god-like powers we need in seasons 4 and 5. So let's also give the NEW telepath phenomenal god-like powers. We lost the XO from the pilot, who was growing illegal coffee in the hydroponics lab. The new XO can do the exact same thing!
I mean, as a GM, it's just bad form to me. You got a new player, you give 'em a new plot. That's the beginning and the end of it. But in B5 I hear Sinclair saying lines and I can hear Sheridan saying those exact same lines-- the writing is largely identical. It's a credit to the two actors that their characters give such different impressions with the same dialogue, attitude, and initials. By the same token, the best arcs in the story are the ones where the major players stuck around-- Vir, Londo, G'Kar, Garibaldi. Delenn's arc suffered because she had to switch love-interests, as did Ivanova's (if I remember Talia correctly). And don't get me started on the Lyta/Talia thing.
Side note: I also realized this morning why Marcus had to die. Not because it was dramatic or appropriate, but because he was only a useful character during the war subplots. War's over? No need for him anymore. Might as well kill him off.
As a storyteller, watching B5 like this is a chance for me to get under the hood, metaphorically. The show was a big machine with a lot of moving parts, and it's only now that I'm familiar enough with it that I begin to see the underlying structures and interactions. I'm over the "Wow, this is great!" phase and now I'm into the "Oh, so that's why they did it that way" phase. It's a whole other ball-game this time around.
I wonder what I'll see in the show the next time around.