Text 16501, 71 rader
Skriven 2007-08-01 21:21:21 av Amy Guskin (2977.babylon5)
  Kommentar till text 16394 av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (2867.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: TLT: Spoiler thread -- HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
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Okay, now I've got a moment to take a breath and post a review.  I've 
_wanted_ to post a review, but the past two days have been filled with 
scrambling to keep up with moderating messages (as this place has gotten LOTS 
more active over the past few days!), doctor appointments, cars needing 
servicing, and today, a funeral.  Life does tend to intervene.

I'm not going to be exhaustive, because lord knows there'll be plenty of 
that.  I do have to confess that I went in with fairly low expectations.  For 
me, as much as I love Joe's writing and B5, the thought of more B5 will 
always be bittersweet because I know that G'Kar will _never suddenly turn up 
in a scene again, will never be the centerpiece of any filmed story, because 
Andreas is gone.

Having gone into it with a neutral attitude, I was pleasantly surprised.  I 
liked _both_ stories.  However, I was painfully aware as I watched the 
Lochley episode that I think that Joe did Tracy Scoggins a great disservice.  
Lochley is disliked by many fans -- I don't know why, I always enjoyed the 
character, and her performances -- so I think there is a certain percentage 
of viewers who are going to be pretty hard on her segment, and find fault 
with it even if it was Hugo-worthy material.  IMHO, "Over Here" 
_particularly_ needed something to prop up the segment, and that the 
isolation of having Lochley be the only familiar face in her tale isn't going 
to help people love her, or it.  It would have been great to have had Galen 
be in her story as well.  Or Garibaldi.  Or Zach.  Or Corwin, even!  Or, 
heck, how about Brother Theo?  I'm not really up on my monk-lore, but aren't 
all Christian monks Catholic?  If so, he could have done the exorcism.  Of 
course, I have no idea whether the actor was available or if JMS even wanted 
him, but I just felt this keen sense of _isolation_ in Lochley's episode.  It 
didn't help that the halls of B5 were near-deserted, as others have pointed 
out before me.

Still and all, I liked the story well enough, but that kind of thing appeals 
to me so JMS had an easy sell in my house.  :-)   I just wish Lochley hadn't 
been so _alone_.

Sheridan's vignette was gangbusters, though.  I have no complaints at all.  
I've spent so many years coming to terms with the techno-mages and who they 
are, and why Galen does what he does, that I'd forgotten how much I disliked 
his arrogance on first sight in "A Call to Arms," but amazingly, Peter 
Woodward brought his A-game and made me feel that same distaste for his 
character once again!  At one point I caught myself thinking, "Geez, he's not 
sounding like one of the good guys...you'd almost think he was under some 
kind of evil influence, or something."  (Nothing more will be said here for 
those who aren't up to date with the entire canon.)

When we heard about casting and I heard there was going to be some young, 
Gen-Y'er in the cast playing a Centauri, I kind of rolled my eyes in 
annoyance that some suit wanted them to have something for the younger 
demographic.  I call it "Dawson's Creeking" a show.  But Keegan Macintosh, 
the guy playing Vintari, was _great_!  Not only did he have the southern 
Centauri accent (which I can fanwank away as being the accent of his mother's 
people, where he was raised), but he had the FULL Londoish version of it.  He 
was awesome!  Just the right combination of guileless arrogance and 
expectation of privilege.  Hopefully his mental stability isn't 
patrilineal...

I could have watched Bruce as Sheridan for the entire 72 minutes.  He's aged 
so beautifully, and he still _inhabits_ the part.  It was just great to see!  
And, I do love how he handles the press...

Like others have said, in general, I would have liked to have seen a more 
populated B5 universe, but also like others, I think this was a great first 
foray into this format, and hope we'll get to see more.

Amy
-- 
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over 
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George 
W. Bush, May 24, 2005
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
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