Babylon 5 - Survivors

[Darth Wedgius]

Garibaldi was my favorite character on B5, and I'm glad they gave him the alcoholism problem. I think it was a good example of a flaw used to make a character more sympathetic.

On the other hand, I gave up on Stargate Universe fairly early in its run because I just didn't care whether the characters lived or died.

I'm not sure what the difference is. Almost certainly I was biased because I saw SGU as trying too hard to be dark and gritty, and it's hard to see straight when you're rolling your eyes. Beyond that, maybe there's flawed vs. too flawed, or that Garibaldi started off with his more sterling qualities shining and then screwed up a lot. Maybe because Garibaldi's intentions remained good.

[FaxModem1]

I think it's because the adventures faced in Babylon 5, it would actually affect the main characters emotionally. When the Tollan, the Tokra, or some other person they knew faced calamity, it would sort of be shrugged off at best with a grim resignation.

Compare that to the utter devastation that the main characters had when the Drafa plague wiped out the Markab, or the Earth president was assassinated. For Babylon 5, it was the world being turned over, for SG1, a quick joke was just a few minutes away.

[cdrood]

This episode is more than a Garibaldi centric standalone episode. It's doing a big part of what season one of B5 was about. It's setting up what is to come. Most notably, it's furthering the plot of what's going on back home. It's showing that even the President's security detail has been compromised. Heck, you can even draw a parallel to what happens at the end of season one to Garibaldi.

It also brings Garibaldi's alcoholism front and center. We see what his main weakness is. He hates not being able to control the situation. On Mars, it was about the bad guys having too much power. This actually sounds similar to Laurel Takashima's backstory, so it may be one of JMS's shifted plots. In this case, it was losing his position. His last binge on the show is another example when he loses the ability to control something.

That's the thing with season one, especially. You don't really know what's important until quite a bit later.

[SlackerinDeNile]

I like this episode, sure it's a little cheesy and dated like the rest of Season 1 but I like the cop drama in space feel of it. This kind of story telling suited Garibaldi in my opinion, his Bruce Willis\John McClane similarities help sell it too.

I understand it's Chuck's job to do requests but I'd prefer if he got back to the arc episodes.

[Yukaphile]

Just finished the review! I don't know what's coming, really, I don't. I'm still absorbing B5. Have all the episodes and movies downloaded, but I wanna learn from Chuck and the wiki what's going to happen.

And all I can say is... HOLY SHIT Lianna is a bitch. She killed off a man in a hospital bed because "It's Personal." Just... WOW. I appreciate she seems to have softened at the end, but... yeah. Wow. And OMG there's B5 comics? I just perused the wiki and there's actual B5 comics? Oh I gotta get those! XD

Speaking of Lianna, she comes back... doesn't she? Crap...

[Deledrius]

Just finished the review! I don't know what's coming, really, I don't. I'm still absorbing B5. Have all the episodes and movies downloaded, but I wanna learn from Chuck and the wiki what's going to happen.

You can watch it that way if you want (to each their own), but for this show it's probably not the best way to enjoy it. ::shrug::