Topic: Babylon 5

[Nemesis]

You may think you have seen the series but you have only seen the first half.  The 2nd half comes when you watch it again and see all the connections that are there but not linked up for the characters or audience yet.

[stoneyface]

babylon 5 has been and will continue to be one of my favorite sci fi series EVER!!! superb writing, great cast, excellent guest writers and awesome storyline + epic bad guys! w00t. this series had it all. my favorite ep was the neil gaimann halloween episode and the penn and teller guest appearance

[Nemesis]

Stephen there are some potential spoilers below so read at your own risk.

I ended up watching it as a result of one of these online quizzes posted here and quite enjoyed it.

The series has excellent continuity as the story line was planned out from the beginning.

Not sure I agree.  They claim that now, but that might just be spin.  While Season 2 onwards is definitely one massive story arc, Season 1 seems to be more stand alone in nature.

Without watching the first season over again here are a few examples of things that presage the future of later seasons.

Season 1, Episode 4: Infection - A living weapon from a planet destroyed by its own defenses after fighting off an alien attack.  Hint of the last "Great War".

Season 1, Episode 6: Mind War - Catherine Sakai runs into a "First One" and is told of them by G'Kar.

Season 1, Episode 11: Survivors - first hint of Clarks conspiracy.

Season 1, Episode 13: Signs and Portents - first appearance of Morden, Delenns reaction to him is consistant with the "Great War" story arc.  Also the bare beginning of Londos path is revealed.  Londos path is consistent with his behaviour through this whole season, including his efforts to leave the path.

Season 1, Episode 16: Eyes - another connection to the "Clark conspiracy"

Season 1, Episode 18: A Voice in the Wilderness - The 5 century old installation on the planet waiting for the time to come.

Season 1, Episode 20: Babylon Squared - The first hints to what actually happened to Babylon 4

Season 1, Episode 22: Chrysalis - connects with Delenns ancestry which she later discovers and explains part of Valens origins.

All of these episodes leave links that are clearly picked up and woven back into the story line.  Hard to do if it wasn't planned that way.

While they left a few stubs that they could develop further later on, the episodes in the season just don't seem as interconnected as later ones in the series.  Also, remember the Babylon 4 episode implied that they were bringing the station into the future, that's why they had to come up with an explanation of why future Sinclair appeared much older when they revisited that storyline.

Bit of a Necro bump but I'm watching it again. 

In the pilot episode where Lyta is in Kosh's mind to find where the poison entered his body and he creates the false Sinclair he addresses him as "Entil Zar Valen".  In the first few episodes we learn who Valen is.  Kosh presumably remembers Valen from the prior Shadow war.  The Entil Zar title is revealed later.

[Sirgod]

It was just amazing the amount of detail they put into the show, like your example.

Stephen

[EschelonOfJudgemnt]

Incidentally, a bunch of Russian types made a Star Fury simulator a while back.   Track down a copy of 'Babylon 5 - I Found Her: Danger and Opportunity' via Google if you are interested.

BTW, website for development of said game here: (Black Omega is the sequel they are currently plugging away at)
http://ifhgame.ru/main/

Newtownian physics is very much in play here, so getting the hang of cancelling momentum in one direction and changing the direction of travel, while attempting to dogfight, takes some practice.  The designers note that space dogfighting shouldn't be easy, and I agree with this observation.  Freelancer dogfighting was much easier IMHO...

Mastering the tutorials is highly recommended.

The control mappings aren't bad, although for us left handers I'd recommend remapping the thruster keys to the number pad and relocating the camera angles to other keys.  A joystick isn't required, but probably would make for a more enjoyable experience.

The game is far from complete (only a few scenarios and such currently), but definitely worth a gander.

[Nemesis]

Another thing that hints at the future.  In TKO when Walker shows up as Garibaldi is about to be backstabbed and decks the knife man he asks Garibaldi "when are you going to learn to watch your back".  This is before Garibaldi is shot in the back and almost killed.