Babylon 5: The Gathering

So following the advice from my new chums, I've finally started my Babylon 5 odyssey with the pilot episode, The Gathering. I'm not going to give a summary of the plot as there are multiple great options on the web already. However I will share my thoughts. First up, when you start watching you do have to get over the fact that some of the effects and make up look dated (as do some of the haircuts which smell of the early 90s) but that is only to be expected and you get over it quite quickly. And even given the dated look the moment when the Vorlon fleet appears is great. But I am running ahead of myself, let me pick out some specific thoughts, but be warned there will be some spoilers.

The Good

The set up going forward is great, you have four races meeting at Babylon 5. Two were at war ten years earlier, one was a slave race to the other and there is one that we know almost nothing about. Plenty of room for tension.

Some of the characters are great, in particular I thought that the Londo the Centauri ambassador was really well drawn, with huge flaws but immensely likable at the same time. In fact all of the "alien"ambassadors were good...it's the humans you had to worry about.

There are lots of plot hooks for the future that you genuinely want to find out more about (the Grey council, why the Minbari surrendered, the "hole in your mind" etc)

There are also character hooks for the future (Garibaldi and Laurel's loyalty to Sinclair over official protocol, Londo's gambling problem, Delenn's short temper)

The not-so-good

Some of the acting was SHOCKINGly bad! I think Lieutenant Laurel and Del Varner deserve a special mention for being wooden and cheesy respectively. As does the moment when Commander Sinclair finds the Vorlon ambassador, Kosh collapsed and reacts with a slightly bored "Dammit" (although I grant that this may just be the quality of the audio on my DVD).

There seems to be quite a lot of padding in there. For example the fight scene at the end that goes on much longer than it needs to. And the pointless scene where Garibaldi tells Sinclair that he reckons that Del Varner has something to do with the attack on the Vorlon ambassador could easily have been cut and absorbed elsewhere. There are other moments as well and I reckon this could have been cut by 10-15 minutes without losing too much and actually ending up with a much better show.

Summary
If I'm honest if I'd come across this on a wet Sunday afternoon in 2009 then I probably would have found it mildly diverting but I wouldn't have thought it was great, or worried about spending too much effort trying to find out more. However, this is the light of having been exposed to some game changing TV over the intervening decade and a half (such as the West Wing, The Wire, Battlestar Gallactica et al) since it first came out along with the increasingly sophisticated use of CGI (think of the evolution across the three Lord of the Rings films)

But you have to put it in context of it being first broadcast in 1993, I think then the CGI would have been cutting edge and a huge surprise. More pertinently it was released into a world that had only just escaped from Dallas, Dynasty (although I believe that Knots Landing was still running). When the behemoths of the schedules looked like that...

Overall taking the context into consideration, the interest in wanting to find out more outweighs any negative thoughts, so further up and further in. Bring on Episode 1...

(BTW, in the interests of full disclosure, as I go I am going cross-post versions of these "reviews" at B5TV so don't feel cheated if you come across it there as well)

Cooking...not my bag but still impressive

I meant to blog about the Masterchef final yesterday while I was watching it but didn't quite get round to it so I'm passing on my thoughts tonight. Now cooking isn't really my thing. I can put together a few basic dishes but I'm very aware of my limitations. That doesn't mean however that I don't like food. I do, I love it. The combination of my limitations and my love of food means that I was really impressed as what the three finalists did over the course of the last week.

To be honest the least of what they did was the last meal that they delivered for shouty Greg and John. All three meals looked fabulous but it is sort of what you expect from a really good amateur chef. I also thought that random army meals were not too much to be bothered about (yes it is tricky to make a meal on a makeshift stove with basic rations, but I'm not sure being able to do it or not is the sign of a great chef). The catering bits were a step up, it's a conveyor belt but it has to be multiple great, identical plates of food.

But, that all paled into insignificance compared to the various meals that they cooked for, and with, Michelin starred chefs. Unlike many TV chefs to have got their Michelin stars these guys have proven that they know what they are doing. So for these amateurs to have made them food that they enjoyed is hugely impressive.

These guys did it and more. In the end the Kiwi Mat won, but all of these chaps can leave with their heads held high. Unlike more reality shows all three contestants had to show real skill in front of people who know what they are talking about and came through with flying colours. Well done all three.

Snort, Gargle, Fnah...

Being an office worker does have it's compensations sometimes. One of the mail guys had just dropped off the mail as he walked off he passed one of my female colleagues. The brief conversation went something like this.

"I've just slipped a parcel into your tray"

"Really? I hadn't noticed"

"Well it's very small"

I know I need to get out more (...and clean up my mind...and get some friends) but it made me chuckle on a Friday morning.

TTFN

It's arrived (part 2)...and now I'm broke

Following yesterday's excitement my second big delivery has arrived. It's a Acer Aspire One Netbook and it's the neatest piece of electronic kit that I've ever come across (and I include most of Apple's oeuvre in that). It has been reviewed all over the internet so I won't try to do that again here, but I'm surprised at the emotional (possibly too strong a word) response I had to it out of the box.

I got it so that I would be able to take it with me, pretty much where ever I went. However that combined with the styling makes me think that I'm going to see it as an essential accessory along the same lines as my mobile. It's the Linux version so I'm going to wait until I have some time on the weekend before actually turning it on as I think I'm going to have to spend some quality time with it to try to work out how it works.

However all of this means that I am now entirely out of spare cash so I think the next month is going to be spent at home. Ah well, all the more time to watch TV and surf the net. Hurrah and Huzza!.

It's arrived...

So I walked through the door and there it was. A brown Amazon labeled box. It was like Christmas but with less Turkey and less booze...and no crackers...or the Queen's speech. Nevermind, scrap that analogy. It was like having a yummy, gorgeous, scrumptious pile of sci-fi tastiness. 'cos that what it was. Yes my Babylon 5 Complete Collection has arrived.

The thing that surprised me the most was how small it was, about three-quarters of the size of a small shoe box for five complete series of the main Babylon 5 saga (each with 22 odd episodes) plus the complete 12 episode Crusade (whatever that is), six movies and The Lost Tales (which is billed as a movie although I don't think it is.

It is the biggest box set that I own by far, although if all of my West Wings were in one box I'm sure that would challenge it. What that means is that it rather dominates my DVD shelf. Not to worry. If there is something that I've learnt as a Geek, its that there is no point trying to pretend that you aren't.

Its a bit late to crack into it tonight but it's going to happen soon.

Lenten fasts

It's Ash Wednesday which means that its the beginning of Lent. 40 days and 40 nights in the desert isn't what we are expected to do but despite the reduction in church going people still give up things Lent. In years gone by I have gone pretty extreme peaking a couple of years ago by giving up alcohol, caffeine chocolate and junk food (extreme for me that is, I realise that this is a very relative statement and most people in the world don't have a chance to take these things up, never mind give them up on a "whim"). After the first couple of days of effectively detoxing I felt absolutely fantastic. although I don't think that was the point. But that was then, this is now and I'm not quite sure yet what I am going to do this year.

There has been move in recent years not to give stuff up but to take something up. I like that idea so I think that is what I'm going to do. Not finalised yet but I think that it will involve something around either exercise or writing. Better get on with making my mind up though it'll be Easter soon

Babylon 5 - The Plan

Amazon assures me that my complete Babylon 5 box set is on its way. I'm far too excited about it although I'm not quite sure why. I don't know anyone else who has seen it who has bigged it up for me. I don't even know that much about it. I think that I've read enough about it (which is quite a feat when you're trying to avoid spoilers) that I want to see if it lives up to the hype.

I'm a little apprehensive as I've had mixed success from listening to the blogosphere's' views on good TV to date. Biggest successes so far have been Band of Brothers and The Wire. Biggest miss so far been Firefly. Heresy I know, but I just found it a bit ordinary. Will try to remember to do separate blogs looking at all of those in the future.

So, back to Babylon 5, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to watch it, I'm going to blog it and I'm going to see if I can find some new interweb friends who want to go through it with me. Don't worry (as if you were) I'm going to be blogging other stuff as well. But, as I work my way through the series, I will plan to blog my thoughts.

Just got to wait for it to arrive now...

In The Beginning...

...was a lack of originality. But all cliches need somewhere to start and this is where mine begins.

Much like everyone else my blog is going to be about the stuff that I'm interested in. At the moment that's TV, music, films (when I have time), computers (at the most basic level) and books. I may well veer of into politics, or "amusing" stories of things that have happened in my life or something completely different.

It is entirely possible that this blog will eventually focus on something more specific...or more likely no-one will come and I will get bored and stop. In any event lets hope that my writing improves. Who knows? Lets see how it goes.