As I mentioned in my last post, I discovered a couple of spoilers on the DVD cover for Season 2. My friend Allison kindly covered up the spoiler images on the other DVD boxes when she was over yesterday — thanks, Allison! 
Several of you advised me to watch The Gathering before going onto the second season, hence this out-of-order post. As soon as I began watching the pilot, I recognized the first scene: I did see this many years ago when it first aired. Or at least a segment of it — I recall losing interest partway through.
Part of the turn-off for me, I recall, was the wooden acting of some of the main characters. Yes, I know, I should have still given it a chance! At least I’m admitting I was wrong not to have persevered, right?
Interesting to note how the make-up has changed on some of the characters, like Delenn and G’Kar. And Garibaldi looks older and more worn-looking in the pilot.
Was there ever an explanation (in the story) for Takahashi being replaced by Ivanova? I do remember one of the episodes mentioning that the telepath and doctor were sent off B5 after their close contact with Kosh.
And what’s with Delenn and her rings?? Does she still have them? What are the other colours for? Don’t answer those questions.
I hope we eventually get to find out what a Vorlon looks like (but don’t tell me).
But from the one brief glimpse of Kosh’s hand, it looks as though a Vorlon is humanoid. And glowing!
So I wonder if we’ll ever see Carolyn again? Does Carolyn know about Catherine and vice versa? Poor Carolyn.
And AHA, there’s that “hole in your mind” quote…
After having watched the first season, I was especially interested in Delenn’s evasive reaction when Sinclair asked her about that.
Also, doesn’t the B5 crew member below look a lot like Morden The Shadow Guy?
Glad I went back to watch this pilot episode, but I’m VERY much looking forward to starting Season Two…
[For those who comment below: As the title of my blog indicates, I'm watching B5 for the very first time so PLEASE refrain from posting plot/character spoilers/hints about upcoming episodes, or including links to pages with spoilers (unless you warn readers that they contain spoilers). More info about spoilers here. Thanks so much! - Debbie]
12 comments ↓
Catherine Sakai knows about Carolyn, she asked Sinclair how Carolyn was in the episode she first came to B5 (Parliament of Dreams), and he told her they’d split up.
The B5 crew guy actually doesn’t just look like Morden, it’s the same actor - Ed Wasser. No connection characterwise, though; the crewman’s got nothing to do with Morden.
I think part of the change in make-up/look was to get to something that looked a little better. Another part, probably a big part, is that the producers and jms discovered that they needed to go to a make-up that took less time to apply while being consistantly applied on a near daily basis. Proably less time to get prostetics ready for each day–Actors get a new one each day, as they are basicly ripped off at night.
Your screen shots point out something that was thought of in the redesign of Minbari, in this case, Delen’s bone crest (religious caste) looks very much like the bone crest of the Minbari warrior (caste). In season 1, you can see that the bone crests of warriors as similair to each other, while religious caste look different from those but similair to each other. Also, Delen’s make-up looked a bit Narn-ish, I’m not sure they wanted to make that association.
JMS originally wanted Delenn to be a male who then became female when he/she came out of the chrysalis at the beginning of season 2. The idea got nixed, but you can still see remnants of it in Delenn’s makeup in the pilot–it looks much more masculine than what they ended up using. That’s part of the reason for the makeup changes; style and ease of application would be the rest of it.
Many of the things that viewers liked a lot in the first season are not present in the pilot. Kosh-isms are missing. Ivanova’s pithy dialogue is missing. You only get to see a single side of G’Kar and Londo, not the multi-faceted personalities that get revealed later.
The pilot sets up plot points (some of which are touched on in season one). It also provides a contrast for some episodes that followed. For example, in the pilot you have “the doctor disobeying orders to intervene for the good of the patient” and it had a happy ending. In season one you have “the (new) doctor disobeying orders to intervene for the good of the patient” with a horrifying ending. This contrast helps emphasize that “actions have consequences” and that “good intentions aren’t always enough” in the B5 universe.
No explanation is given for Laurel’s disappearance from the show that I can recall. It’s a shame - I mean, Tamlyn Tomita is hot, but the network edict to make Laurel “friendlier” and less of a ball buster elicited this schizophrenic performance from her that is decidedly more wooden and what I’ve seen from her elsewhere.
Delenn’s character was supposed to male, IIRC, and the idea of using Mira Furlan was to make the performance more “alien”. Either that or JMS was going to pull a bait and switch on us and reveal Delenn was hermaphroditic or would transform into a woman later or something.
One of the mysteries arising from The Gathering is… who wanted to kill Kosh? Clues as to who might be involved are tucked into the background in the episode.
Also, what you’re watching (if it’s from the movie box set) is the special edition of The Gathering which was not quite the cut we saw when it was first broadcast. So some scenes were left out in the original, which, once placed back in and on hindsight, make a lot more sense. Especially the “how the heck do you poison a Vorlon through an encounter suit” bit.
Also from the fascinating world of “what-ifs”, Laurel’s character arc was distributed among a couple of the other characters.
*waves* Another person chiming in from Livejournal. *grin* Wanted to welcome another convert to the fold, as it were. Yes, that’s Morden’s good twin there in the ops dome. They never talked about Laurel Takashima leaving in Season 1, but the off-screen reason was that Tamlyn Tomita wanted to pursue movie work.
I also wanted to advise you that the opening credits for Season 2 are ever-so-slightly spoilery, because the DVD didn’t use the special non-spoilery ones that were made for episodes one and two! So my advice is: cover your eyes for a few seconds after “The year is 2259: The place, Babylon 5″, for the first two episodes. I don’t know if that will actually protect you but I thought I’d put it out there.
To all who posted above: thanks SO much for these comments - I found them all hugely enlightening. Your input is greatly enhancing my B5 virgin experience!
This is a spoiler that’s not really a spoiler because it didn’t happen that way etc etc — but apparently the traitor who shoots Mr Garibaldi in the back was originally going to be Laurel Takeshima.
I also bailed on the show after seeing the pilot. Sometime in season 2 a friend persuaded me to give it another chance and lent me some tapes. That did it.
Physics were not quite the best in this pilot.
Joe and The Physics lesson 1: The Rings of Delenn
“You are being held by the force of two gravities”. G’Kar is in pain. Let’s see, two gravities would be somewhere near the kick in the pants of a good sports car as you go from 0 to 60 mph in 8 seconds.
“3 gravities”. How about a good roller coaster? Some coasters get up to 4 gravities for short bursts of time. A long drop and we don’t feel the agonizing pain G’Kar was expressing. Okay, he was at 2 gravities for 20 seconds, higher gravities for another 20 seconds. But getting back to what we can endure. What, 5 to 7 gravities for a space shuttle launch? Probably around 7 for an Apollo launch? Fighter pilots experience 9 gravities on a power dive and 5 gravities for a lot of manuevers, but they have a flight suit to help them with it. Hawks, eagles and other birds of prey also get to 9 gravities on their power dives.
Joe and The Physics lesson 2: An Expolding Minbari
Okay, you want an explosion that will destroy one and what they are wearing to beyond recognition. If all the explosion (an air shock wave) was vented out the hull, allong with the venting of the local atmosphere, it still would be punney compared to the mass of the station. Maybe enough to move the station .15 degree off axis, not 15 degrees off axis. Interesting to show the stablizing jets and thrusters, but too much drama from in a sense, a non-event. Since then, I think we have seen, or will see soon, someone blow-up real good without affecting the stability of the station in space. Maybe it’s a guy thing to notice.
According to IMDB, this pilot episode was the last acting role for Johnny Sekka, who played the doctor. He appeared in Movies and TV from 1959 until his appearance on Babylon 5 in 1993, and that was all. He died in 2006 of lung cancer.