Half a Year Down, Four and a Half Years to Go

I've finally started doing something I've meant to get around to for what seems like ages: watching all of Babylon 5 through from the beginning. I may have mentioned this here before, but my watching of that show when it was first on was very far from ideal. I caught random episodes (and sometimes pieces of episodes) over the first two or three seasons, suddenly got hooked on it round about the end of season 3 or the beginning of season 4, watched it faithfully through all of season 4, and then lost interest again a few weeks into season 5. There is no doubt in my mind that I missed a lot that way, even in the episodes that I actually saw. So I'm really psyched about having picked up the first season on DVD and having finally made the time to start watching them.

Unfortunately, however, the DVD Gods, for some unfathomable reason, have never liked me, and they're making this project a difficult one, too. I got about halfway through the season, and five minutes into what was clearly the pivotal episode of the season -- "Signs and Portents," for the B5 fans in the audience -- I discovered that the god-damned disc was bad. It's visibly scratched-up, in fact, which I know for certain is not my fault, because this is the first time I'd taken that particular disc out. Grrr. Talk about frustrating! Fortunately, I was able to borrow another copy from a friend and watch the episode, anyway, but, needless to say, I'm not feeling happy. I'm going to see if I can send it back for a replacement, but being as I've had the discs for at least a couple of months, I'm not sure if I'll be able to. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Anyway. I was going to wait until I'd finished watching the first season and then post some thoughts on it as a whole, and I think I'm still going to do that. But, having now watched "Signs and Portents," and, more importantly, having played the commentary track on "Signs and Portents," I just wanted to say this: I think I am in love with J. Michael Stracsynzski. Yes, just from listening to the commentary! Here's just a sample of the incredibly cool stuff that came out of this guy's mouth: He talked about how the Starfury fighter ships leave the station at the correct angle determined by the station's rotation, and that they'd calculated it, and that people at NASA had checked it and agreed that it was right. He mentioned a very clever justification for viewers being able to hear the sound of ships exploding in space. He said he believed that the characters were the primary thing, and that the entire story of Babylon 5 comes out of the characters being who they are. He talked about how he'd planned out the series' long-term arc and had deliberately planted seeds that were intended to bear fruit as much as five years down the road. He said he believed that audiences are intelligent enough for that sort of thing to work, and that Babylon 5 was proof of this fact. He mentioned Blake's 7 as a show that had done the story-arc thing before him. He used the word "fandom." He was even gracious towards Star Trek. Man, oh, man... Anybody know if this guy is married?