Sic Transit Vir

[Kinky Vorlon]

Since this is the most recent B5 review:

“All life is transitory. A dream. We all come together in the same place at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall.”

RIP Mira Furlan. You will be severely missed.

Fuck. It saddens me that TNG's cast is still alive as well as DS9, but B5's cast is dropping like flies.

[Beelzquill]

DS9 lost Rene Auberjonas (ODO) and Aron Eisenberg (Nog) fairly recently actually.

[Nightbeat74]

Since this is the most recent B5 review:

“All life is transitory. A dream. We all come together in the same place at the end of time. If I don't see you again here, I will see you in a little while, in the place where no shadows fall.”

RIP Mira Furlan. You will be severely missed.

i cried when i saw that she died.

[RobbyB1982]

Everyone that was in all five season of B5 has passed on now, except for Lennier and Londo. Sinclair, Franklin, G'kar, Vir, Garibaldi, Delenn, Zach...

Mostly died in their 60's too. Not young, but not old either. It's sad.

Most of the 4 season cast members are still alive tho, Sheriden, Ivonova, Lyta...

[Riedquat]

65 isn't any age to go these days.

Andreas Katsulus is maybe the least surprising, dying of lung cancer and being a heavy smoker, but the rest, a shock every time.

More regular cast members lost than the original Star Trek (although B5 had a larger regular cast I suppose).

[Scififan]

No matter how much talk I heard about tentacle penises, I was much more disturbed by Chuck casually slipping in the fact that he sleeps naked.

Vir is a great example of why Babylon 5 is so well done. In other shows, his character would be one dimensional comic relief, or a nerdy audience proxy with no real depth. But Vir has a well thought out character which is absolutely vital to the story without being the predictable hero type or the predictable subversion either. A lot of characters like him feel like they might as well have a neon over their head saying "regular guy, the everyman, an ordinary person" but Vir seems so much more natural and genuine.

He is flawed and weak much of the time. He lacks courage and confidence at first, and with good reason. He is not there because he is overly qualified, he's there because he's an embarrassment. But his compassion and likability has an effect on Londo, drawing out the old bastard's better nature and earning considerable loyalty. And when he finds himself put in the terrible position of being the only one with a conscience in the midst of unspeakable evil, he finds the courage that was lacking. Because he is not fighting for honor, pride, glory, or any of the other things that others would have him pursue, but for the good of others.

But he's still not exactly heroic. He does what he can do, what he has to do, but he's not a soldier or a charismatic leader. He's just some guy in the middle of a bureaucracy making a difference with what influence he has. When things get dangerous and snap decisions need to be made, in the heat of the moment, his instinct is to do the right thing, but he's still shaken by it afterwards. He gets tougher as the series goes on, but is never hardened by it.

Honestly, I think part of the reason Vir could be such a good person when he was surrounded by so much evil is because he was always weak willed. He is caring and empathetic, and no amount of prodding him will give him the determination to suppress those feelings.

He's like the Samwise Gamgee of Babylon 5, he doesn't any real ambition to make him commit evil acts.

[Scififan]

Yeah, I can get the Star Trek TOS people dying because they were so old, but many of the Bab5 people were relatively young in comparison.