And, again, my S1 knowledge is spotty at best and will be till the damned DVDs get here.
Ah. I so enjoyed rewatching season 1 when I got the DVDs. Yes, there's the occasional doozy, but that's in every season, and 1 is so essential to everyone's arcs but in particularily for Londo and G'Kar. I think one of the quintessential crimes one can commit as B5 is to introduce a newbie via season 2. Yes, season 2 is rounder and has more action, but you really have to meet Londo as the wistful romantic who falls for Adira and as the cynical, desperate man who is clearly on the losing side in the intergalactic powerstruggle to understand why he accepts Morden's offer, and you have to meet G'Kar as a ruthless bastard who does what he can to sabotage the Babylon project in the pilot to understand how far he comes, and how amazing his development is.
andrastewhite recently reviewed the very first episode of the show, Midnight on the Firing Line, and here are some choice quotes from her review:
Speaking of Londo, I was startled to realise just how much of his arc is forshadowed here. It's not just that this is the first time he recounts his vision of his death, but a number of other things that he says. "On the question of galactic peace I am long part innocence, and fast approaching apathy. It is all a game" he tells us, and it's that cynicism that will later prove his downfall. (...) Speaking of G'Kar and foreshadowing, I'd forgotten how closely events here mirror The Coming of Shadows, and boy, does he run up the negative karma here. At least Londo has the grace to feel horribly guilty when he knows that his people are about to attack the Narn homeworld - G'Kar is hypocrite enough to express insincere sympathy while he's pretending that he knows nothing while the Narn attack Ragesh III. Always good to remember that first season G'Kar was an utter bastard most of the time. But of course, just when the audience might be inclined to write him off as a villain, he's allowed a chance to remind us that he has every reason to want revenge against the Centauri.
Re: he played me like a PUPPET!
Ah. I so enjoyed rewatching season 1 when I got the DVDs. Yes, there's the occasional doozy, but that's in every season, and 1 is so essential to everyone's arcs but in particularily for Londo and G'Kar. I think one of the quintessential crimes one can commit as B5 is to introduce a newbie via season 2. Yes, season 2 is rounder and has more action, but you really have to meet Londo as the wistful romantic who falls for Adira and as the cynical, desperate man who is clearly on the losing side in the intergalactic powerstruggle to understand why he accepts Morden's offer, and you have to meet G'Kar as a ruthless bastard who does what he can to sabotage the Babylon project in the pilot to understand how far he comes, and how amazing his development is.
Speaking of Londo, I was startled to realise just how much of his arc is forshadowed here. It's not just that this is the first time he recounts his vision of his death, but a number of other things that he says. "On the question of galactic peace I am long part innocence, and fast approaching apathy. It is all a game" he tells us, and it's that cynicism that will later prove his downfall. (...)
Speaking of G'Kar and foreshadowing, I'd forgotten how closely events here mirror The Coming of Shadows, and boy, does he run up the negative karma here. At least Londo has the grace to feel horribly guilty when he knows that his people are about to attack the Narn homeworld - G'Kar is hypocrite enough to express insincere sympathy while he's pretending that he knows nothing while the Narn attack Ragesh III. Always good to remember that first season G'Kar was an utter bastard most of the time. But of course, just when the audience might be inclined to write him off as a villain, he's allowed a chance to remind us that he has every reason to want revenge against the Centauri.
The entire review plus ensuing discussion is here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/andrastewhite/122706.html