Text 5403, 96 rader
Skriven 2006-07-31 13:49:00 av Robert E Starr JR (5900.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: The Summoning: my rev
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* * * This message was from Charlie Edmondson to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * *
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         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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jphalt@aol.com wrote:

> As Sinclair once said, the characters are "standing at a crossroads,
> and I don't like where we're going." The sense that things are
> going wrong, and are going wrong very quickly beyond the ability of
> anyone to control it, has never been so strong as it is at this point
> in the series.
> 
> 
> THE PLOT
> 
> The League of Non-Aligned Worlds has fractured. Delenn has gathered up
> a fleet made up of the Rangers and those of the League who remained
> loyal, and is preparing to attack Z'ha'dum. However, those plans
> are threatened when the rest of the League Worlds decide that such an
> attack would only bring the Shadows down on them all the faster. A
> demonstration is planned. Its goal? To stop Delenn from being able to
> take action against Z'ha'dum.
> 
> As the deadline for the attack grows near, Ivanova decides to take a
> Whitestar out to try to find some more of the First Ones. Marcus goes
> with her, to act as translator. Their search for the First Ones appears
> to be in vain. However, they do make a discovery in hyperspace - a
> discovery that will shock them to the very core. The entire nature of
> the war is changing, and not in a good way...
> 
> Meanwhile, on Centauri Prime, Emperor Cartagia is most displeased with
> his new toy. G'Kar has too much pride. He refuses to beg Cartagia for
> mercy, or even for water. He won't even scream. Cartagia determines
> that if he cannot get the Narn to scream, then he will have to kill him
> - leading a desperate Londo to beg G'Kar to compromise his pride just
> a little, if not for the sake of his life then for the sake of both
> their Homeworlds.
> 
> Finally, acting Security Chief Zack Allen runs down the lead that
> G'Kar and Marcus discovered in the last episode, tracking the salvage
> from Garibaldi's ship. The clue yields results, and Zack is able to
> bring Garibaldi back to Babylon 5. The return may have been just a
> little too easy, however. Among other things, surely that ship wasn't
> badly damaged enough to be destroyed - and destroyed with just enough
> time left to eject Garibaldi, alone, in a life-pod.
> 
> As if all that wasn't enough, there's an unidentified ship in
> hyperspace - and it's making its way right for the station...
> 
> 
> THE GOOD
> 
> Most of my reviews focus on the easiest areas to review: script,
> themes, and acting. This one will end up being no different, but I
> wanted to say a word first about the directing.
> 
> As noted in several past reviews, "Babylon 5" is a series that often
> uses a very stagelike directing style to great effect. This episode is
> yet another one that triumphs in this regard. Look at the electro-whip
> scene, with Londo and Vir watching helplessly as Cartagia has G'Kar
> whipped simply because the Emperor "must have (his) scream." It is very
> probably the single most memorable scene of the episode. Now look at it
> more closely. The set is incredibly basic. A chair for Cartagia, a
> pillar to which G'Kar is chained... and nothing else. The lighting is
> kept dim to avoid drawing your eyes to the absence of set dressing.
> Then spotlights are used, incredibly effectively, to focus on the faces
> of the actors.
> 
> The brightest spotlight is saved for G'Kar. He is the focus of the
> scene, after all. Everyone else in the room is waiting on him. The
> absence of set dressing further enhances the action. There is nothing
> on-hand to distract us from our principles, from those witnessing
> G'Kar's ordeal. Cartagia sits there, a look of near boredom on his
> face. He is there only because of a whim. He wants G'Kar's scream,
> and he will either have it or G'Kar will die by the fortieth stroke
> of the whip. His lack of reaction makes him all the more monstrous.
> Londo cringes at the strokes, feeling empathy for his old adversary
> when he would probably rather not, but at the same time begs G'Kar
> with his eyes to just give that one scream and save both their worlds.
> Vir has no agenda at all; he is simply sickened by what he is
> witnessing. And G'Kar is at the center, lit in a stark bright white
> light, enduring the increasing agony with an absolute determination not
> to scream - not until the very last stroke.

To truly understand the magnitude of this scene, my wife hates it!  It 
is just to graphic in her mind's eye,  and she has a very low tolerance 
for violence...

Charlie
                                                                               
                   
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