Babylon 5: No Compromises

[Madner Kami]

Sheridan's Monologue about good leaders. Boy did that age badly, especially before the background of Boxleitner's political orientation. Has he ever made a statement about January 6th or anything into that territory?

Hm, come to think of it, I wonder what Doyle would do these days. He was affiliated with the Tea Party after all.

[Nobody700]

My main gripe with this season is Cultyboi, what a lame ass character and a creep.

[CrypticMirror]

My main gripe with this season is Cultyboi, what a lame ass character and a creep.

The actor was a bad fit for the role, although the role itself was outdated by that point too. I know it was similar to Marcus, but Marcus' actor was so full of personality and just sheer charm.

[Aotrs Commander]

I always feel season 5 gets a bit of an unfair wrap. Season 4 squeezed two seasons and most of the concluding plot arcs or the preceeding series into itself, so expecting season 5 to be able to match that is a bit unreasonable; it was never going to be that good. With the best will in the world, season 5 more or less had to build up from near-scratch.

I kind of liked Lochley; again it was sort of a shame we didn't see more of her, though at least she got some more time in the tragically cut-short Crusade.

Byron... Yeah, no I didn't like him at all.

[Makeitstop]

Sheridan's Monologue about good leaders. Boy did that age badly, especially before the background of Boxleitner's political orientation. Has he ever made a statement about January 6th or anything into that territory?

I'm not familiar with Boxleitner's politics, and a bit of googling only gave me sources labeling him as a Republican, but without any details, quotes, or even an indication of how old this information is. Without a bit more context, I'm not sure how his views interact with this scene.

On the surface, I don't really see anything particularly wrong with his speech now that wouldn't have been equally wrong then. The basic sentiment of "leaders are out of touch" is hardly objectionable. If this was given in the context of pay, lifestyle, and the perks (or even actual bribes) that come with a position of power and influence, he'd be absolutely right.

The position he's taking, that he shouldn't cancel just because of a threat, is also arguably correct. You can't let everything come to a screeching halt because of a threat from a single nutjob, it only empowers the nutjobs. But that wasn't his argument.

And so we have a terrible mismatch, leaders are out of touch, therefore, I can't hide behind a bunch of security in the face of a credible assassination attempt. Says the guy who was only even put on the path towards this leadership position as a result of a leader being assassinated, and things turning to shit as a result.

-----

As for Byron and Lochley, I'd say both are a miss. They had a blank slate to do whatever they wanted. With Lochley, they mostly left the slate blank. And I kind of get it, it's hard getting people invested in the new replacement character for the final season, just look at Ezri Dax. But they could have done something more interesting. Bringing back an existing character would be one way, or maybe they could have put in someone who would be more actively antagonistic, and not make them one of our heroes. Someone from the other side of the war had potential, but with that conflict being over, and the morality of it being so stark, it's hard to see how you could get much out of that without bogging the show down with it.

With Byron, they needed a character that was going to be compelling and probably likable, given how much time would be devoted to the telepath stuff. What we got was neither interesting or enjoyable.

I almost wish we'd gotten Jeffrey Combs back. His character came across as naive and a bit on the timid side, but deep down he's a decent guy with principles. Imagine how much his character might have evolved over the course of the past few years, particularly after he ruined the schemes carried out by Bester, Psi Corps, and some powerful people who would have likely gone on to support Clark. I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up as a runaway that's been to hell and back. And Combs is easily charismatic enough to play someone that was reluctantly thrust into leadership.

[McAvoy]

Byron would be at least 50% better if he didn't have those cringey poetry reciting lines. Once or twice. But it seems like every episode he was in he was quoting something. There is no need to go full on like that.

His open distain for mundane doesn't help either when the audience is nothing but mundanes.

[Nobody700]

Byron would be at least 50% better if he didn't have those cringey poetry reciting lines. Once or twice. But it seems like every episode he was in he was quoting something. There is no need to go full on like that.

His open distain for mundane doesn't help either when the audience is nothing but mundanes.

This is to me, a good 70% reason why I hated Byron. He was just an absolute pretentious creep who RADIATED SMUG, and I hated it so much. Like he would roll his eyes whenever he saw anyone because he just made up in his head they'd disagree with him. The other 30%, is because he came off as this was step 1 in his plan to TAKE OVER DA WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not joking, he really did come off like a villain pretending to be a good guy so he could do his evil plan.

[McAvoy]

Byron would be at least 50% better if he didn't have those cringey poetry reciting lines. Once or twice. But it seems like every episode he was in he was quoting something. There is no need to go full on like that.

His open distain for mundane doesn't help either when the audience is nothing but mundanes.

This is to me, a good 70% reason why I hated Byron. He was just an absolute pretentious creep who RADIATED SMUG, and I hated it so much. Like he would roll his eyes whenever he saw anyone because he just made up in his head they'd disagree with him. The other 30%, is because he came off as this was step 1 in his plan to TAKE OVER DA WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not joking, he really did come off like a villain pretending to be a good guy so he could do his evil plan.

Well of course he made up his mind. He has such a distain for mundanes and that he does seem to hate the rules placed preventing him from letting loose with his abilities.

He was never called out either. Like there is legitimate reasons why telepaths shouldn't have full reign to go in someone's head without their permission. Like there was no realization even on his own part about that.

Nope, couldn't get his way so he did exactly what everyone feared and tries to blackmail everyone in getting what he wanted too.

He is just Bester but with long hair.

[Madner Kami]

Well of course he made up his mind. He has such a distain for mundanes and that he does seem to hate the rules placed preventing him from letting loose with his abilities.

He was never called out either. Like there is legitimate reasons why telepaths shouldn't have full reign to go in someone's head without their permission. Like there was no realization even on his own part about that.

Nope, couldn't get his way so he did exactly what everyone feared and tries to blackmail everyone in getting what he wanted too.

He is just Bester but with long hair.

I never experienced him as being that grating, but in hindsight, that might be down to voice actors. Either way, his pose came across as a religious cult with him being their Lord and Saviour and I always had a high level of distrust of this kind of power and relationship and it got made worse, because the character was always displayed as being in the right, no matter what he did, even when his actions and the implications of his words and actions didn't paint a flattering light if you really thought it through (quite the contrary even). He demanded freedom for telepaths and trampled over everyone else's rights and privacies, acting all indignant when people distrusted him naturally. Buddy, you're smug, you act superior, you're exclusive and you clearly carry a god-complex around. People not liking you isn't about you being a telepath. It's about you being a collosal arsehole. For someone who can read minds, you're having an astounding lack of empathy and understanding.

But the really wierd thing is: These traits could be compelling. But we lack an origin story of that villain in the making, to properly contextualize everything.

[Nobody700]

Well of course he made up his mind. He has such a distain for mundanes and that he does seem to hate the rules placed preventing him from letting loose with his abilities.

He was never called out either. Like there is legitimate reasons why telepaths shouldn't have full reign to go in someone's head without their permission. Like there was no realization even on his own part about that.

Nope, couldn't get his way so he did exactly what everyone feared and tries to blackmail everyone in getting what he wanted too.

He is just Bester but with long hair.

I never experienced him as being that grating, but in hindsight, that might be down to voice actors. Either way, his pose came across as a religious cult with him being their Lord and Saviour and I always had a high level of distrust of this kind of power and relationship and it got made worse, because the character was always displayed as being in the right, no matter what he did, even when his actions and the implications of his words and actions didn't paint a flattering light if you really thought it through (quite the contrary even). He demanded freedom for telepaths and trampled over everyone else's rights and privacies, acting all indignant when people distrusted him naturally. Buddy, you're smug, you act superior, you're exclusive and you clearly carry a god-complex around. People not liking you isn't about you being a telepath. It's about you being a collosal arsehole. For someone who can read minds, you're having an astounding lack of empathy and understanding.

But the really wierd thing is: These traits could be compelling. But we lack an origin story of that villain in the making, to properly contextualize everything.

https://youtu.be/GINNjer0BdY?si=HV_0KbGRDrSJzX1M

The more realistic Byron.