Babylon 5 2-15: And Now for a Word

Episode:

37

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

03-May-1995

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about an ISN special report called 36 Hours on Babylon 5, except not really, as the text on screen gives away that it's actually Babylon 5 episode And Now for a Word. It's the series' first format-breaking episode but they didn't break it quite far enough to leave the title off or change the opening credits sequence. It's a bit disappointing really.

Oh, by the way, it's Babylon 5's 25th anniversary! The pilot movie The Gathering aired on the 22nd of February 1993, just one month after Deep Space Nine's pilot Emissary. I was late for the DS9 anniversary and I've missed Red Dwarf's recent 30th anniversary entirely, but this time I finally got it right! (Though to be honest I was planning to have reached the slightly more monumental In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum by this point).

Okay, this is one of my regular length reviews, which means I'll be sharing my thoughts on the entire episode and throwing out massive SPOILERS along the way. I'll likely end up spoiling a few of the earlier B5 episodes as well, but I won't even hint at anything that happens after it. Except for just then when I said that Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum is one of the more important ones.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-15: Will You Take My Hand? (Quick Review)

Episode:

15

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Writer:

Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts

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Air Date:

11-Feb-2018

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm sharing my opinions on Star Trek: Discovery's first season finale: Will You Take My Hand?

There aren't actually all that many Star Trek episode titles with question marks in. I'm sure it's not something you've ever wondered or cared about, but out of 707 titles, this is only the 6th to have a question mark in the title, after the Original Series' What Are Little Girls Made Of? Who Mourns for Adonais? and Is There in Truth No Beauty? and Deep Space Nine's Doctor Bashir, I Presume? and Who Mourns for Morn? Hey, that Morn title is a play on the other one! I never realised that.

The episode's written by showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, and directed by Akiva Goldsman, so they've got the Context is for Kings team back together for this one, more or less. There's only one episode of Discovery so far I haven't been keen on, and it wasn't that one, so no warning signs there for me. Though whenever Akiva Goldsman's involved I can't help but be just a little concerned that Mr Freeze and the Riddler are going to pop up at some point and have a pun battle.

By the way, it says (Quick Review) up there, but that's basically a lie this time. I won't be going through the story scene by scene like I usually do, but you'll be getting a similarly epic mountain of text. Plus I'll be throwing out massive SPOILERS for the whole episode, so please factor that into your decision to read any further. I'm also going to be considering the whole rest of the franchise up to this point fair game, so don't be shocked if you find spoilers for things like Deep Space Nine, Star Trek III, Star Trek IV and Star Trek Into Darkness underneath as well. But not Alice in Wonderland this time.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-14: The War Without, The War Within (Quick Review)

Episode:

14

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Writer:

Lisa Randolph

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Air Date:

04-Feb-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about Star Trek: Discovery's The War Without, The War Within.

It's debatable whether Discovery's had the best episodes of any Star Trek series' first season, but one thing that's not in dispute is that it's got the longest titles of a Trek series first season. The War Without, The War Within is the 10th longest title in the franchise's history, meaning that Discovery's already claimed three slots in the all-time top ten. Hopefully they can do better next season; I want to see them knock For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky off the top spot in time for the story's 50th anniversary.

The episode's credited to Lisa Randolph, who also wrote The Wolf Inside just a few weeks back. I guess that explains why it wasn't called The Wolf Within, as she was saving the alliteration for this one to get a higher combo. It was directed by David Solomon, who did a whole lot of Buffy and Dollhouse, plus everyone's favourite episode of Firefly (Out of Gas). He never did any Angel though, weirdly.

Beyond this point there shall be SPOILERS and not just for this episode. Well mostly for this episode, but I may also mention some things that happened in earlier Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-13: What's Past is Prologue (Quick Review)

Episode:

13

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Writer:

Ted Sullivan

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Air Date:

28-Jan-2018

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Discovery season one's antepenultimate episode What's Past is Prologue. Wait, hang on, Trek already had a story called Past Prologue! It was the second episode of Deep Space Nine. Though now that I think about it the first episode of DS9 stole its name from a Next Gen story called The Emissary, so it's only fair.

The title comes from The Tempest, which means this is the second Discovery episode in a row to take its name from a line in a Shakespeare play. The phrase 'vaulting ambition' appears in Macbeth, and is spoken by a character trying to talk himself out of committing regicide, while in The Tempest 'what's past is prologue' is said by a character talking someone else into it. So I'm spotting a bit of a theme there. I don't know if that was deliberate though, as this one's by a different writer.

With this Ted Sullivan becomes part of the elite group of writers who've written more than one episode, and Olatunde Osunsanmi becomes the only director so far to return. So if you were ever curious about what would happen if the writer of the episode with the shortest title (Lethe) teamed up with the director of the episode with the longest title (The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry), now you know: they made an episode with the most average length title. Organise the episodes by the length of their name and you'll find this in the exact centre of the list; it's spooky is what it is. I thought both of their previous stories were decent enough though, so no warning signs there. In fact, I've actually been pretty hyped for this one, mostly because the title maybe possibly hints that we're getting some backstory and explanations at last.

This is going to be one of my relatively quick reviews, meaning I won't be going through the episode scene by scene, but you'll still find massive SPOILERS for this story and the ones that preceded it below. In fact, I'll throw in some spoilers for other Trek series like Deep Space Nine for you as well, plus Return of the Jedi and Alice in Wonderland.