[1994.07.06] A man comes to Babylon 5 asking seeking information that can help him with his quest to find the Holy Grail, while a Downbelow gangster evades justice by mindwiping all who oppose him.
I didn't care for this episode as a whole, I like the moments with Delenn, comedic stuff, but for me it was just slightly above TKO (which was carried by Ivanova's story).
So it's always funny to see people liking it more, especially conisdering that I think that the first season is not bad, just ok-ish on average, while half the interenet seemed to have declared that B5 is "unwatchable", and people "couldn't get into it" after a couple of episodes (some wish for a world peace, I'm more petty, I want that people who say it to be stuck in a room rewatching the first season of TNG for a year or ten).
It's the first and one of the the few roles of Jinxo actor, Tom Booker, who's mostly a comedian, he acts quite ok for the occasion, but I've always found him to be somewhat distracting. I coudln't quite decide if he slightly misses the role, or was his miscast and someone else would've been better.
Maybe the director, Richard Compton is part of the problem, I think I wrote in the pilot that he's to blame for the terrible look it had. He did one or two more episodes in this season and was later not invited back to continue in season 2 unlike directors of most other episodes you've seen, so maybe his skill has something to do with my mediocre reception of this one.
That is interesting. I will agree that Booker seemed a bit of a strange choice for the character arc, but it does seem to be a point of B5 in the first season to toy with that sort of thing, so it doesn’t seem odd in that context. I’d say Booker carried it off with sincerity. I have to generally praise the actors for both “TKO” and “Grail,” the writing has not been great. It’s the acting that carries both of them. Not to say the ensemble in “TKO” was worse, they just had a steeper climb. But unwatchable as a series is harsh. If I had been watching this in the 90s, I’d have made it appointment viewing, as we did back then. That said, I wouldn’t fuss if I forgot to set my VCR.
Yeah, I sterted to listen to a couple of podcasts where writers are interviewed, so I became fascinated by show business in general, and looked up who wrote B5 because to date I only knew that it was one of the last things DC Fontana wrote, about JMS's career, and and stuff everyone knows about popular shows showrunners.
So it was intereting to find that JMS gave a job to 2 cartoon writers, both of them returned to cartoons after.
As for VCRs, yeah, first season doesn't give much to make it mandatory. During the second broadcast I've started to record episodes to rewatch later, and whole show was coming out in my country every day after the season was done in UK/US, so I was pressed for time because I coudn't record the whole show or savour all episodes for longer, so I had to decide what to overwrite. Well, after the excitement of Midnight on a Firing Line, turned out there was not much to salivate over until Signs and Portents. I basically rewatched moments with ambassadors in Survivors and Believers, comedic moments in this one and this is how my opinion on the show was formed, and it haven't changed much.
Didja catch the joke about the ship Jinxo left on?
"The transport Marie Celeste, which Thomas boarded at the end of the episode, is a reference to a sailing ship found adrift on the sea in 1872 by the crew of the ship Dei Gratia. The Celeste's crew was missing, as was her single lifeboat, but there were half-eaten meals in the mess hall and other evidence the crew had left suddenly. Investigators found that Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia had dined with Captain Briggs of the Celeste the night before departure, and Morehouse and his crew were tried for murder. There was no hard evidence, and they were acquitted. The missing crewmen were never found."
JMS had this to say about it: "Yeah, it was a bit of *really* perverse humor...Jinxo survives all five Babylon stations, and leaves thinking all is well...on a ship named the Marie Celeste? We're a sick bunch, but we're fun."
The answer on the castes agreeing being a bad thing is given in 2 more episodes in "Legacies," as I recall it, so... you're almost there!
I’m afraid I don’t know enough maritime trivia to have had a chance to catch that one. Dark and funny. I prefer to believe that Thomas spent the rest of his days searching and passed the mission on in kind. I’m sappy like that.
I didn't care for this episode as a whole, I like the moments with Delenn, comedic stuff, but for me it was just slightly above TKO (which was carried by Ivanova's story).
So it's always funny to see people liking it more, especially conisdering that I think that the first season is not bad, just ok-ish on average, while half the interenet seemed to have declared that B5 is "unwatchable", and people "couldn't get into it" after a couple of episodes (some wish for a world peace, I'm more petty, I want that people who say it to be stuck in a room rewatching the first season of TNG for a year or ten).
It's the first and one of the the few roles of Jinxo actor, Tom Booker, who's mostly a comedian, he acts quite ok for the occasion, but I've always found him to be somewhat distracting. I coudln't quite decide if he slightly misses the role, or was his miscast and someone else would've been better.
Maybe the director, Richard Compton is part of the problem, I think I wrote in the pilot that he's to blame for the terrible look it had. He did one or two more episodes in this season and was later not invited back to continue in season 2 unlike directors of most other episodes you've seen, so maybe his skill has something to do with my mediocre reception of this one.
That is interesting. I will agree that Booker seemed a bit of a strange choice for the character arc, but it does seem to be a point of B5 in the first season to toy with that sort of thing, so it doesn’t seem odd in that context. I’d say Booker carried it off with sincerity. I have to generally praise the actors for both “TKO” and “Grail,” the writing has not been great. It’s the acting that carries both of them. Not to say the ensemble in “TKO” was worse, they just had a steeper climb. But unwatchable as a series is harsh. If I had been watching this in the 90s, I’d have made it appointment viewing, as we did back then. That said, I wouldn’t fuss if I forgot to set my VCR.
Yeah, I sterted to listen to a couple of podcasts where writers are interviewed, so I became fascinated by show business in general, and looked up who wrote B5 because to date I only knew that it was one of the last things DC Fontana wrote, about JMS's career, and and stuff everyone knows about popular shows showrunners.
So it was intereting to find that JMS gave a job to 2 cartoon writers, both of them returned to cartoons after.
As for VCRs, yeah, first season doesn't give much to make it mandatory. During the second broadcast I've started to record episodes to rewatch later, and whole show was coming out in my country every day after the season was done in UK/US, so I was pressed for time because I coudn't record the whole show or savour all episodes for longer, so I had to decide what to overwrite. Well, after the excitement of Midnight on a Firing Line, turned out there was not much to salivate over until Signs and Portents. I basically rewatched moments with ambassadors in Survivors and Believers, comedic moments in this one and this is how my opinion on the show was formed, and it haven't changed much.
Didja catch the joke about the ship Jinxo left on?
"The transport Marie Celeste, which Thomas boarded at the end of the episode, is a reference to a sailing ship found adrift on the sea in 1872 by the crew of the ship Dei Gratia. The Celeste's crew was missing, as was her single lifeboat, but there were half-eaten meals in the mess hall and other evidence the crew had left suddenly. Investigators found that Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia had dined with Captain Briggs of the Celeste the night before departure, and Morehouse and his crew were tried for murder. There was no hard evidence, and they were acquitted. The missing crewmen were never found."
JMS had this to say about it: "Yeah, it was a bit of *really* perverse humor...Jinxo survives all five Babylon stations, and leaves thinking all is well...on a ship named the Marie Celeste? We're a sick bunch, but we're fun."
The answer on the castes agreeing being a bad thing is given in 2 more episodes in "Legacies," as I recall it, so... you're almost there!
I’m afraid I don’t know enough maritime trivia to have had a chance to catch that one. Dark and funny. I prefer to believe that Thomas spent the rest of his days searching and passed the mission on in kind. I’m sappy like that.
That is my headcanon for Jinxo's story continuing as well.