Sunday, October 21, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Pacing Your Arc
First of all, a note to my Facebook friends who are reading this: this post does contain spoilers for Battlestar Galactica (massive spoilers for season 1 and some small details from the other seasons) and Babylon 5 (seasons 1 and 2). Yes, both those shows have been over for years, but as I'm in the process of showing two of you BSG, I thought I'd warn you in advance.
From TvTropes:
Furthermore, both Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica end their first seasons with an assassination attempt that upends the power structure and puts a regular in a coma. Just sayin'.
Now when pointing out the differences between the shows, it's easy to just jump in and go, "oh, B5 was planned out from the start, so it never forced any absurd plot twists on the audience, like Hot Dog abruptly becoming a father," or "BSG doesn't have anyone over-acting from behind a rubber mask." No, I'm going to talk about something different.
Pacing.
Given the above-mentioned similarities between B5's "Chrysalis" and BSG's "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II" (hereafter shortened as "Gleaming"), I thought I'd start with those two episodes and then move out to a comparison of the pacing in the two shows overall.
"Gleaming" ends with Adama being shot, whereas the presidential assassination takes place roughly two-thirds of the way through "Chrysalis." The writers on BSG were going for shock value, whereas JMS was more interested in how the assassination would affect the characters. When we cut back to CIC at the beginning of Season 2, everybody's still frantic because Adama just got shot. You're there, in the moment. In contrast, President Santiago did the big firework 10.5 light-years away. Santiago is not a character on the show. His death is not personal for you, the audience member; you might feel shocked that the Heroes didn't Save The Day, but you're probably empathizing more with the characters on the show. Santiago's like President Adar back in BSG's miniseries. He's like President Kennedy. (A note for young people: President Kennedy's assassination was your parents' 9/11. And while we're on that subject, Roslin's inauguration in the BSG miniseries is not a reference to Clark's inauguration in "Chrysalis." They're both references to LBJ's inauguration in Real Life.)
But go beyond that. The B-plot to "Chrysalis" is Londo Mollari's deal with the devil and the first seeds of next season's Narn-Centauri war. There's a grim sense of inevitability to these proceedings as Mr. Morden snares Londo in his web. In contrast, the B-plot to "Gleaming" (or at least one of them; I'll get to Starbuck's arc later) is Gaius Baltar having the first Opera House Vision. We can make some educated guesses about what "the face of the shape of things to come" is or represents; we know that Caprica-Sharon is pregnant, for example, but we have no idea what Baltar's role will be. Basically what I'm trying to say is that Battlestar was going more for shock value, excitement and mystery, whereas B5 was more about an inexorable slide into darkness.
Now for the overall pacing. Okay, that's not entirely accurate; I'm only halfway through B5's second season. But that's okay because BSG was at its best during its first season-and-a-half, so we'll just work with what we've got. Now, it's true that both shows were great at hiding their Chekhov's Guns. For example, in Battlestar Galactica's "Act of Contrition," the main point of the card game scene is to show that Starbuck is completely caught up in her memories of Zack to function. But that's also the conversation where Boomer learns that Baltar has a Cylon-detector (and then Boomer visits Baltar in a later episode, Head-Six convinces Baltar to lie about the results of his tests... and if you know who the final Cylon is, you know where this is going). Then in "You Can't Go Home Again," Starbuck gets her hands on a Cylon Raider than then sits on Galactica's hangar deck until the end of the season. And then both Boomer's angst about maybe being a Cylon and the Cylon Raider pay really important roles in the season finale. But this starts to not happen from Season 2 on. Yes, there was that mandala in Starbuck's apartment, but that almost feels like something the writers came back to after the fact. The Season 2 finale awkwardly disposed of both the Pegasus copy of Six as well as Baltar's nuke. The two focal episodes of Season 3 were "Unfinished Business," the episode that filled in the "missing year" gap and explained why everyone was suddenly acting differently, and "Maelstrom," which tied off the mandala/Eye of Jupiter thing in an extraordinarily awkward way. Most of the rest of that season (barring the first four and last three episodes) was pointless filler.
Babylon 5 had some pretty awful filler in its first season... except that "Soul Hunter" introduces just how important the Mimbari consider their souls to be (this is, er, incredibly significant later on),"Infection" is the episode that first mentions the war a thousand years ago, the B-plot in "Deathwalker" would have had ramifications down the line if not for one of the show's many cast changes, etc. It's more interesting to spot the threads developing on B5 because they're woven into the backstory. We're not examining the characters' behavior and going "Hmm, is Billy a Cylon?" We're thinking, "okay, Morden came back from the rim, Anna Sheridan died out on the rim, G'Kar was looking for Z'Ha'Dum on the rim, that cryo-freeze ship was reprogrammed to head to Z'Ha'Dum... gee willikers, I think something might be happening out on the rim at Z'Ha'Dum!" (And wouldn't-c'ha-know-it, there's an episode later in Season 2 called "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum"... three guesses what that's about.)
BSG basically operated on short bursts of things happening frantically, separated by long intervals of things not happening. (For a truly excruciating example, watch Season 4.0 the way viewers originally saw it, in weekly installments; "Have we found Earth yet?" "No." "Do we know who the final Cylon is yet?" "Not unless it really is Starbuck." "Do we know what the deal is with Starbuck yet?" "No." "Do we know what the deal is with the Final Four yet?" "No") In contrast, B5's plot was pretty much always unfolding, slowly, steadily, methodically.
So... knowing the destination makes the journey more enjoyable?
From TvTropes:
- Babylon 5 has slowly seemed less and less innovative as the traits it pioneered or popularized spread among sci-fi shows:
- It was the first major sci-fi show, not counting anime, to have major long-term story arcs planned in advance. Babylon 5 was written from a full outline for all five seasons, nearly unheard of at the time.
- It was the first sci-fi series (and one of the first, if not the first, series of any genre) to be filmed in widescreen.
- It gave the Darker and Edgier future and Used Future, in contradiction to Star Trek's utopia, a heavy boost of popularity (though it was nowhere near first with these).
- It intentionally avoided (former trope) "Cute Kids And Robots." In fact, the term was coined in reference to B5 in order to describe what J. Michael Straczynski was declaring war on within TV sci-fi.
- It pioneered the use of CGI effects, especially for anything involving spaceships. To put it in perspective: the producers of Deep Space Nine scoffed at B5's CGI and proudly announced that they would continue to use models; when Voyager launched, it not only used CGI, but used the same production house as B5 to make it.
Furthermore, both Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica end their first seasons with an assassination attempt that upends the power structure and puts a regular in a coma. Just sayin'.
Now when pointing out the differences between the shows, it's easy to just jump in and go, "oh, B5 was planned out from the start, so it never forced any absurd plot twists on the audience, like Hot Dog abruptly becoming a father," or "BSG doesn't have anyone over-acting from behind a rubber mask." No, I'm going to talk about something different.
Pacing.
Given the above-mentioned similarities between B5's "Chrysalis" and BSG's "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II" (hereafter shortened as "Gleaming"), I thought I'd start with those two episodes and then move out to a comparison of the pacing in the two shows overall.
"Gleaming" ends with Adama being shot, whereas the presidential assassination takes place roughly two-thirds of the way through "Chrysalis." The writers on BSG were going for shock value, whereas JMS was more interested in how the assassination would affect the characters. When we cut back to CIC at the beginning of Season 2, everybody's still frantic because Adama just got shot. You're there, in the moment. In contrast, President Santiago did the big firework 10.5 light-years away. Santiago is not a character on the show. His death is not personal for you, the audience member; you might feel shocked that the Heroes didn't Save The Day, but you're probably empathizing more with the characters on the show. Santiago's like President Adar back in BSG's miniseries. He's like President Kennedy. (A note for young people: President Kennedy's assassination was your parents' 9/11. And while we're on that subject, Roslin's inauguration in the BSG miniseries is not a reference to Clark's inauguration in "Chrysalis." They're both references to LBJ's inauguration in Real Life.)
But go beyond that. The B-plot to "Chrysalis" is Londo Mollari's deal with the devil and the first seeds of next season's Narn-Centauri war. There's a grim sense of inevitability to these proceedings as Mr. Morden snares Londo in his web. In contrast, the B-plot to "Gleaming" (or at least one of them; I'll get to Starbuck's arc later) is Gaius Baltar having the first Opera House Vision. We can make some educated guesses about what "the face of the shape of things to come" is or represents; we know that Caprica-Sharon is pregnant, for example, but we have no idea what Baltar's role will be. Basically what I'm trying to say is that Battlestar was going more for shock value, excitement and mystery, whereas B5 was more about an inexorable slide into darkness.
Now for the overall pacing. Okay, that's not entirely accurate; I'm only halfway through B5's second season. But that's okay because BSG was at its best during its first season-and-a-half, so we'll just work with what we've got. Now, it's true that both shows were great at hiding their Chekhov's Guns. For example, in Battlestar Galactica's "Act of Contrition," the main point of the card game scene is to show that Starbuck is completely caught up in her memories of Zack to function. But that's also the conversation where Boomer learns that Baltar has a Cylon-detector (and then Boomer visits Baltar in a later episode, Head-Six convinces Baltar to lie about the results of his tests... and if you know who the final Cylon is, you know where this is going). Then in "You Can't Go Home Again," Starbuck gets her hands on a Cylon Raider than then sits on Galactica's hangar deck until the end of the season. And then both Boomer's angst about maybe being a Cylon and the Cylon Raider pay really important roles in the season finale. But this starts to not happen from Season 2 on. Yes, there was that mandala in Starbuck's apartment, but that almost feels like something the writers came back to after the fact. The Season 2 finale awkwardly disposed of both the Pegasus copy of Six as well as Baltar's nuke. The two focal episodes of Season 3 were "Unfinished Business," the episode that filled in the "missing year" gap and explained why everyone was suddenly acting differently, and "Maelstrom," which tied off the mandala/Eye of Jupiter thing in an extraordinarily awkward way. Most of the rest of that season (barring the first four and last three episodes) was pointless filler.
Babylon 5 had some pretty awful filler in its first season... except that "Soul Hunter" introduces just how important the Mimbari consider their souls to be (this is, er, incredibly significant later on),"Infection" is the episode that first mentions the war a thousand years ago, the B-plot in "Deathwalker" would have had ramifications down the line if not for one of the show's many cast changes, etc. It's more interesting to spot the threads developing on B5 because they're woven into the backstory. We're not examining the characters' behavior and going "Hmm, is Billy a Cylon?" We're thinking, "okay, Morden came back from the rim, Anna Sheridan died out on the rim, G'Kar was looking for Z'Ha'Dum on the rim, that cryo-freeze ship was reprogrammed to head to Z'Ha'Dum... gee willikers, I think something might be happening out on the rim at Z'Ha'Dum!" (And wouldn't-c'ha-know-it, there's an episode later in Season 2 called "In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum"... three guesses what that's about.)
BSG basically operated on short bursts of things happening frantically, separated by long intervals of things not happening. (For a truly excruciating example, watch Season 4.0 the way viewers originally saw it, in weekly installments; "Have we found Earth yet?" "No." "Do we know who the final Cylon is yet?" "Not unless it really is Starbuck." "Do we know what the deal is with Starbuck yet?" "No." "Do we know what the deal is with the Final Four yet?" "No") In contrast, B5's plot was pretty much always unfolding, slowly, steadily, methodically.
So... knowing the destination makes the journey more enjoyable?
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Tonight's debate drinking game
Yeah yeah, go to the other blog for real political stuff. This one's not serious:
Drink when any of the following things are mentioned (if the question does not pertain to it, but the candidate brings it up in his answer anyway):
Bain Capital
ObamaCare
Solyndra
The Same Failed Policies That Got Us Into This Mess
47%
Libya
Outsourcing
The difference between outsourcing and offshoring
My Opponent's Tax Returns
Paul Ryan's budget
The Senate's (lack of a) budget
Small businesses
The Middle Class
Pay Your Fair Share
Balanced Approach
Big Bird
Any Republican president
(drink twice if Obama mentions Bush or Romney mentions Reagan)
Bipartisanship
Operation Fast and Furious
The Constitution
You Said We'd Be At 5.6% Unemployment Now If We Passed the Stimulus
Also drink if:
Romney mentions that Obama had four years to fix the economy
Obama claims the Republicans stopped him
Romney claims that half of all recent college graduates are living with their parents
Obama claims Social Security/Medicare is/are fiscally sound
The candidates start arguing about the merits of a study of one of their budget proposals
Obama claims he can balance the budget without raising taxes on the middle class
Either candidate spends more than ten seconds saying how happy they are to be here
Either candidate is asked a question along the lines of "how will you get me back to work?"
Drink when any of the following things are mentioned (if the question does not pertain to it, but the candidate brings it up in his answer anyway):
Bain Capital
ObamaCare
Solyndra
The Same Failed Policies That Got Us Into This Mess
47%
Libya
Outsourcing
The difference between outsourcing and offshoring
My Opponent's Tax Returns
Paul Ryan's budget
The Senate's (lack of a) budget
Small businesses
The Middle Class
Pay Your Fair Share
Balanced Approach
Big Bird
Any Republican president
(drink twice if Obama mentions Bush or Romney mentions Reagan)
Bipartisanship
Operation Fast and Furious
The Constitution
You Said We'd Be At 5.6% Unemployment Now If We Passed the Stimulus
Also drink if:
Romney mentions that Obama had four years to fix the economy
Obama claims the Republicans stopped him
Romney claims that half of all recent college graduates are living with their parents
Obama claims Social Security/Medicare is/are fiscally sound
The candidates start arguing about the merits of a study of one of their budget proposals
Obama claims he can balance the budget without raising taxes on the middle class
Either candidate spends more than ten seconds saying how happy they are to be here
Either candidate is asked a question along the lines of "how will you get me back to work?"
Monday, October 15, 2012
And now a word about plot twists
There are, broadly speaking, two ways of going about The Reveal. You can either have it come out of bat-frak nowhere, or you can slowly put little tiny clues throughout the story for the attentive audience member to piece together. I prefer the latter approach, myself, but the two most famous reveals in history are both examples of the former.
(This is my way of telling you that you owe it to yourself to see The Prestige if you haven't already. If you have already, see it again.)
(This is my way of telling you that you owe it to yourself to see The Prestige if you haven't already. If you have already, see it again.)
So there I am, playing Dragon Age: Origins
And this happens:
Damn it, BioWare, I've already had my share of obnoxious ghost children!
(Yes, my rogue is using a sword-and-dagger combo. This is before I learned how that was a no-no.)
Damn it, BioWare, I've already had my share of obnoxious ghost children!
(Yes, my rogue is using a sword-and-dagger combo. This is before I learned how that was a no-no.)
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Y'know
Sometimes we let the political stuff distract us from what's really important. So while my alter ego launches a gazillion tweets related to the Ryan/Biden debate, here's a question for us internet nerds:
Gravity gun vs Portal gun?
Gravity gun vs Portal gun?
The most idiotic photoshop contest Cracked has ever done
Is available here, and by God it is terrible.
Let's start with just the basic concept. Mundane photos. Not famous photos, works of art, scenes from films, etc. Nothing where we'd be expected to know the original. No, the entire joke here is something "creepy" is just flung into a random, low-resolution photo of what-the-frak-ever. I'll highlight some of my favorites.
#24: A clown in a mirror. Because clowns are creepy, I guess. If this were the only "little girl stalked by horror movie cliche" picture in this competition, I'd probably let it slide. But it's not, dear reader. No, it's not.
#23: A fish with hands. That's creepy?
#22: Death is chillin' in the background watching a bungee jumper jump. This guy got the "easter egg" thing right, because it took me a while to notice it. Whether a blurry guy in a robe with a blurry scythe is actually creepy or not is something I'll let you judge.
#21: One of the only decent entries in this entire list.
#20: I applaud the guy's photoshop skills. Reflections can't be easy to fake. But... this is a mundane photo? Really?
#19: I genuinely do not know what I'm supposed to be looking at here. It looks like something is wrong with the kid's right hand, but I have no idea what it's supposed to be because... oh. My bad. The easter egg is on the bottom right of the frame. But seriously, look at that kid's hands!
#18: I get it. But the image quality is so poor it looks like everything was photoshopped.
#17: See #24.
#16: I had to look in the comments to figure this one out. That's how frakking stupid and not-creepy it is.
#15: See #21.
#14: I'm at a total loss. I mean, the last time the Weeping Angels were scary was 2007. (Disclaimer: unless "The Angels Take Manhattan" was actually good. I haven't seen it yet.)
#13: Look another monster clown. The horror. The horror.
#12: Thank you Cracked. Finally one where the photoshop is so bad it's immediately obvious, and kinda creepy to boot.
#11: Decent.
#10: See, you cleverly hid a perfectly crisp hanged man in the blurry portion of the picture. Illusion ruined. (Why the sodding hell would you use a blurry picture in the first frakking place? See also #19.)
#s 9-7: Okay, I guess.
#6: What... the... hell?
#s 5, 4: Okay, I guess.
#3: I... I have no comment.
#2: GODWIN'S LAW!
#1: What the hell is that splotch of red? Seriously, #21 was creepier than this one.
So thanks, Cracked. Now never do it again.
Let's start with just the basic concept. Mundane photos. Not famous photos, works of art, scenes from films, etc. Nothing where we'd be expected to know the original. No, the entire joke here is something "creepy" is just flung into a random, low-resolution photo of what-the-frak-ever. I'll highlight some of my favorites.
#24: A clown in a mirror. Because clowns are creepy, I guess. If this were the only "little girl stalked by horror movie cliche" picture in this competition, I'd probably let it slide. But it's not, dear reader. No, it's not.
#23: A fish with hands. That's creepy?
#22: Death is chillin' in the background watching a bungee jumper jump. This guy got the "easter egg" thing right, because it took me a while to notice it. Whether a blurry guy in a robe with a blurry scythe is actually creepy or not is something I'll let you judge.
#21: One of the only decent entries in this entire list.
#20: I applaud the guy's photoshop skills. Reflections can't be easy to fake. But... this is a mundane photo? Really?
#19: I genuinely do not know what I'm supposed to be looking at here. It looks like something is wrong with the kid's right hand, but I have no idea what it's supposed to be because... oh. My bad. The easter egg is on the bottom right of the frame. But seriously, look at that kid's hands!
#18: I get it. But the image quality is so poor it looks like everything was photoshopped.
#17: See #24.
#16: I had to look in the comments to figure this one out. That's how frakking stupid and not-creepy it is.
#15: See #21.
#14: I'm at a total loss. I mean, the last time the Weeping Angels were scary was 2007. (Disclaimer: unless "The Angels Take Manhattan" was actually good. I haven't seen it yet.)
#13: Look another monster clown. The horror. The horror.
#12: Thank you Cracked. Finally one where the photoshop is so bad it's immediately obvious, and kinda creepy to boot.
#11: Decent.
#10: See, you cleverly hid a perfectly crisp hanged man in the blurry portion of the picture. Illusion ruined. (Why the sodding hell would you use a blurry picture in the first frakking place? See also #19.)
#s 9-7: Okay, I guess.
#6: What... the... hell?
#s 5, 4: Okay, I guess.
#3: I... I have no comment.
#2: GODWIN'S LAW!
#1: What the hell is that splotch of red? Seriously, #21 was creepier than this one.
So thanks, Cracked. Now never do it again.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Hmmm
So the internet has clued me in to the fact that Sovereign's theme from Mass Effect is pretty much the theme from Dune...
...but watching a certain something else has clued me in to this one. Am I the only one hearing this?
...but watching a certain something else has clued me in to this one. Am I the only one hearing this?
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Signs and Portents, part 1
Okay, so as you know, I've started watching Babylon 5 finally. And as you may know, that is an extraordinarily arc-driven show. All of about five episodes into the show I found myself scoffing at the quality of the filler episodes realized that a standard episode review in the style of, say, my Doctor Who reviews would be completely lunatic.
So I've already done episode 1, "Midnight on the Firing Line" and episode 3, "Born to the Purple," and the only important thing you need to know about episode 2, "Soul Hunter" is that we find out that Delenn is... important, somehow. So this blog post is going to cover the season from episode 4, "Infection," through episode 10, "Believers."
Okay, the other thing you need to know about "Soul Hunter" is that we introduced Dr. Franklin there. "Infection" is his first focus episode. It's Star Trek on a space station. Sorry, but that's what it is. Franklin's less... annoying here (another reason I skipped the "Soul Hunter" review was because doing it would mean having to comment extensively on how awful my first impression of the character was), maybe because the actor found his footing, or maybe because the writers decided to give him a proper character for his episode. Not a lot actually happens, and the episode is largely skippable, although it does tell us that a) Sinclair seems to have a death wish, and b) there are pro-human hate groups popping up.
"Parliament of Dreams" introduces Catherine Sakai, Sinclair's... "old flame" is probably not accurate. "Periodic bedmate" understates the genuine feelings they have for each other. It's also got a bizarre revenge/assassination plot against G'Kar that's ultimately thwarted by his new assistant, and they get to lighten the mood considerably in their last scene with the assassin. Neither one of these could accurately be called the "A-plot" of the episode, given that this is the first time we see G'Kar in a sympathetic light, and the Sinclair/Sakai stuff is too brief. That said, neither of these is the "C-plot," which involves a religious celebration festival, to showcase the beliefs of each species. And once again, humans are the only ones with multiple different religious systems.
"Mind War" introduces mind-readingNazi Pavel Chekov Bester and is a Talia Winters episode. The Psi Corps are, well, a more realistic, darker version of the Jedi. They have supernatural abilities, answer to pretty much no-one, and are immensely secretive. Talia gets a psychic boost at the end which has yet to pay off by the end of the season, and Sakai finds a) a monster alien ship, and b) that G'Kar is not entirely a selfish prick. This is also the episode where Garibaldi finally gets elbowed in the stomach because his brain can't stop hitting on Talia.
"The War Prayer" isn't focused on any one character specifically. While Ivanova probably has the most important role, Londo's side-plot contains the episode's best moments. Those pro-human hate groups I mentioned earlier are looking for a foothold on the station, using Ivanova's old flame as their spokesman. Meanwhile, Londo softens up and gets two of Vir's friends out of their arranged marriages to other people. Because he has forgotten how to dance. No, it's not a euphemism, Doctor Who fans. Just watch it yourself; it's the best standalone episode in the first half of the season.
In "And the Sky Full of Stars," Sinclair gets subject to a mind probe (I'll wait, Doctor Who fans) by a guy who was absent the day they taught subtlety in acting school. Which is a shame because this is a supremely important episode. The Earth-Mimbari war ended because Delenn found something out about Sinclair. This further confirms that Delenn is crazy important. Oh, and she's been ordered to kill Sinclair if he ever remembers... what he just remembered.
"Deathwalker" sees a pair of plot devices that have been done to death a gazillion times (although admittedly, most of the examples I can think of come from after this episode aired, so it might have been more original then): War criminal scientists, and medical vampirism. A war criminal scientist has found the cure for immortality, but it involves draining the life force from other people. Any sort of moral debate is quashed by Kosh blowing her ship up, but evidently the idea of transferring life-force from one person to another stuck with the writers; see the end of this season. Oh, and Kosh scanned Talia's mind for some reason. Still waiting to see what comes of that.
"Believers" is a) a Franklin episode, and b) a "religion versus medicine" episode. The first part isn't as bad as I'd feared, since the actor and writers have the character down pat now, and he's allowed to show a wider range of emotion. The second part is fairly grating. Offscreen, Ivanova pwns an entire squadron of raiders. I'd be lying if I said anything arc-centric happened in this episode.
I'm going to stop there because the next one is a rather complicated Garibaldi episode, and I've got a lot to say about the two after that. Until next time.
So I've already done episode 1, "Midnight on the Firing Line" and episode 3, "Born to the Purple," and the only important thing you need to know about episode 2, "Soul Hunter" is that we find out that Delenn is... important, somehow. So this blog post is going to cover the season from episode 4, "Infection," through episode 10, "Believers."
Okay, the other thing you need to know about "Soul Hunter" is that we introduced Dr. Franklin there. "Infection" is his first focus episode. It's Star Trek on a space station. Sorry, but that's what it is. Franklin's less... annoying here (another reason I skipped the "Soul Hunter" review was because doing it would mean having to comment extensively on how awful my first impression of the character was), maybe because the actor found his footing, or maybe because the writers decided to give him a proper character for his episode. Not a lot actually happens, and the episode is largely skippable, although it does tell us that a) Sinclair seems to have a death wish, and b) there are pro-human hate groups popping up.
"Parliament of Dreams" introduces Catherine Sakai, Sinclair's... "old flame" is probably not accurate. "Periodic bedmate" understates the genuine feelings they have for each other. It's also got a bizarre revenge/assassination plot against G'Kar that's ultimately thwarted by his new assistant, and they get to lighten the mood considerably in their last scene with the assassin. Neither one of these could accurately be called the "A-plot" of the episode, given that this is the first time we see G'Kar in a sympathetic light, and the Sinclair/Sakai stuff is too brief. That said, neither of these is the "C-plot," which involves a religious celebration festival, to showcase the beliefs of each species. And once again, humans are the only ones with multiple different religious systems.
"Mind War" introduces mind-reading
"The War Prayer" isn't focused on any one character specifically. While Ivanova probably has the most important role, Londo's side-plot contains the episode's best moments. Those pro-human hate groups I mentioned earlier are looking for a foothold on the station, using Ivanova's old flame as their spokesman. Meanwhile, Londo softens up and gets two of Vir's friends out of their arranged marriages to other people. Because he has forgotten how to dance. No, it's not a euphemism, Doctor Who fans. Just watch it yourself; it's the best standalone episode in the first half of the season.
In "And the Sky Full of Stars," Sinclair gets subject to a mind probe (I'll wait, Doctor Who fans) by a guy who was absent the day they taught subtlety in acting school. Which is a shame because this is a supremely important episode. The Earth-Mimbari war ended because Delenn found something out about Sinclair. This further confirms that Delenn is crazy important. Oh, and she's been ordered to kill Sinclair if he ever remembers... what he just remembered.
"Deathwalker" sees a pair of plot devices that have been done to death a gazillion times (although admittedly, most of the examples I can think of come from after this episode aired, so it might have been more original then): War criminal scientists, and medical vampirism. A war criminal scientist has found the cure for immortality, but it involves draining the life force from other people. Any sort of moral debate is quashed by Kosh blowing her ship up, but evidently the idea of transferring life-force from one person to another stuck with the writers; see the end of this season. Oh, and Kosh scanned Talia's mind for some reason. Still waiting to see what comes of that.
"Believers" is a) a Franklin episode, and b) a "religion versus medicine" episode. The first part isn't as bad as I'd feared, since the actor and writers have the character down pat now, and he's allowed to show a wider range of emotion. The second part is fairly grating. Offscreen, Ivanova pwns an entire squadron of raiders. I'd be lying if I said anything arc-centric happened in this episode.
I'm going to stop there because the next one is a rather complicated Garibaldi episode, and I've got a lot to say about the two after that. Until next time.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Random Confessions
Mass Effect
I was annoyed that Shepard has to argue with Zaeed when he sets the refinery on fire. My Shepard let Kate Bowman die under nearly identical circumstances; he's not about to give a fig about some refinery workers.
After the Thessia mission, it's impossible for me to like any of the asari. The asari in general because they kept that beacon a secret, and Liara because she won't shut up about the Banshees. Hey, tentacle-head, Shepard's had to deal with human zombies for three freakin' years now! Get over it!
Was I the only person who was confused as to why Shepard was locked up while Jack was made a freaking teacher between Mass Effect 2 and 3?
Dragon Age: Origins
The more I learn about the Chantry the more I'm convinced it's an oppressive dictatorship that needs to be put down. I'm mildly religious and I feel this way, so it kind of baffles me that other people don't.
I gave my female Warden Dalish armor. I keep telling myself that it's for the dexterity bonuses, not the limited coverage. I don't believe me yet.
"Broken Circle" from Dragon Age: Origins was recycled as "Ardat-Yakshi Monastery" in Mass Effect 3. Just sayin'.
And then there's the voice acting, which has led to Zaeed Massani (Experienced Male Warden) hitting on Matriarch Aethyta (Morrigan). That is... special.
I have never wanted to slit a video game character's throat within two seconds of meeting them... until I met Cullen. His introduction starts out exactly the same way as Liara's (trapped in a forcefield, thinking you're a hallucination)... and then he starts ranting about killing everyone who's different. If I could have left that Hitler Youth wannabe in his forcefield for the rest of the game, I bloody well would have.
It took me a while to realize that Isolde wasn't married to Teagan. Because they are totally boinking each other.
Immediately before I quit for the night, I found a tier 7 bow when most of the item drops are in the 3-4 range. It's like the game is teasing me to continue.
My female Warden was romancing Alistair, but after seeing hisNexus fantasy dream in the Fade, she's having second doubts.
Law School
Notre Dame's online class resource thingy is called Sakai. I find this funnier than a Babylon 5 fan should.
Today in the 7th Circuit oral arguments, Judge Posner looked about as tired as I felt.
Judge Sykes reminds me of Laura Roslin.
The liberals on the Supreme Court could learn a thing or two about epic rants from Justice Scalia. Of course, the liberals on the Supreme Court could also learn a thing or two about the Constitution from Justice Scalia.
I was annoyed that Shepard has to argue with Zaeed when he sets the refinery on fire. My Shepard let Kate Bowman die under nearly identical circumstances; he's not about to give a fig about some refinery workers.
After the Thessia mission, it's impossible for me to like any of the asari. The asari in general because they kept that beacon a secret, and Liara because she won't shut up about the Banshees. Hey, tentacle-head, Shepard's had to deal with human zombies for three freakin' years now! Get over it!
Was I the only person who was confused as to why Shepard was locked up while Jack was made a freaking teacher between Mass Effect 2 and 3?
Dragon Age: Origins
The more I learn about the Chantry the more I'm convinced it's an oppressive dictatorship that needs to be put down. I'm mildly religious and I feel this way, so it kind of baffles me that other people don't. I gave my female Warden Dalish armor. I keep telling myself that it's for the dexterity bonuses, not the limited coverage. I don't believe me yet.
"Broken Circle" from Dragon Age: Origins was recycled as "Ardat-Yakshi Monastery" in Mass Effect 3. Just sayin'.
And then there's the voice acting, which has led to Zaeed Massani (Experienced Male Warden) hitting on Matriarch Aethyta (Morrigan). That is... special.
I have never wanted to slit a video game character's throat within two seconds of meeting them... until I met Cullen. His introduction starts out exactly the same way as Liara's (trapped in a forcefield, thinking you're a hallucination)... and then he starts ranting about killing everyone who's different. If I could have left that Hitler Youth wannabe in his forcefield for the rest of the game, I bloody well would have.
It took me a while to realize that Isolde wasn't married to Teagan. Because they are totally boinking each other.
Immediately before I quit for the night, I found a tier 7 bow when most of the item drops are in the 3-4 range. It's like the game is teasing me to continue.
My female Warden was romancing Alistair, but after seeing his
Notre Dame's online class resource thingy is called Sakai. I find this funnier than a Babylon 5 fan should.
Today in the 7th Circuit oral arguments, Judge Posner looked about as tired as I felt.
Judge Sykes reminds me of Laura Roslin.
The liberals on the Supreme Court could learn a thing or two about epic rants from Justice Scalia. Of course, the liberals on the Supreme Court could also learn a thing or two about the Constitution from Justice Scalia.
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Post-Craig review: Goldfinger
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