Babylon 5 3-12: Sic Transit Vir

Episode:

56

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

15-Apr-1996

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This is my 200th post on Sci-Fi Adventures, so to celebrate I'm writing about the next Babylon 5 episode: Sic Transit Vir!

Star Trek loves to throw in the occasional Latin title, like Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges or Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, but this is the first and only time it happened in Babylon 5. It's also the first of three occasions that a character's name appeared in a title, with Garibaldi and Londo getting their turn later. The title's a pun by the way, as it can mean both "thus passes the man" and "thus passes Vir". It's a step up from A Day in the Strife at least.

Additional trivia: this is one of five B5 episodes directed by Jesús Treviño, his second after Divided Loyalties. I think J. Michael Straczynski must have liked his work, as he's one of the elite few who got to direct a Babylon 5 movie (Thirdspace) and was invited back for the Crusade spin-off.

If you're wondering why I posted this after A Late Delivery From Avalon, it's because I'm still following the Lurker's Guide Master List, which makes this block of episodes look this:

11 - Ceremonies of Light and Dark
13 - A Late Delivery From Avalon
12 - Sic Transit Vir
14 - Ship of Tears
15 - Interludes and Examinations

This is relevant to you because I'm going to be giving SPOILERS for A Late Delivery in this review. I'm also going to be spoiling the hell out of Sic Transit Vir and some of the other episodes leading up to it.

Babylon 5 3-13: A Late Delivery from Avalon

Episode:

57

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Air Date:

22-Apr-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about A Late Delivery From Avalon, an episode of Babylon 5 that definitely isn't Grail, though it's easy to get the two of them mixed up due to their King Arthury titles.

There's definitely something wrong with that screencap up there isn't there? I've been looking at it wondering when Babylon 5 put on so much weight. The CGI for the series was rendered full frame and then cropped to widescreen for the DVD release, but I think they accidentally stretched it wider this time instead.

But one thing that wasn't a mistake, was Sic Transit Vir being aired in this episode's place during the original TV run. It was felt that they needed something lighter after all the tension of the last few stories and they wanted their big guest star on screen during the first week of sweeps, so they switched the stories around. But the Lurker's Guide Master List says I should watch this one first so that's what I'm doing.

It's been ages since I've had to do this, but here's the order I'm watching the episodes in:

10 - Severed Dreams
11 - Ceremonies of Light and Dark
13 - A Late Delivery From Avalon
12 - Sic Transit Vir
14 - Ship of Tears

All this really means to you is that I won't be spoiling Sic Transit Vir. There'll be a whole lot of SPOILERS for this episode though, and the stories leading up to it.

Babylon 5 3-11: Ceremonies of Light and Dark

Episode:

55

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

08-Apr-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, the Babylon 5 continues with Ceremonies of Light and Dark. Sorry for the close up of the guy's fingernail up there, that's the image the episode chose to display its title over.

It's a pretty fitting title for a post published at Christmas though. I mean Christmas is a social or religious occasion that happens in the dark of winter that involves putting lights up, and participating in ritual acts such as giving gifts and eating too much. Not that the episode has anything to do with Christmas whatsoever, it originally aired in April, but it's still a bit of an occasion.

Babylon 5 has at least five TV movies, two spin-offs and whatever you'd call The Lost Tales, but if you just take the episodes on their own then this story is the halfway point of the Babylon 5 saga. We're halfway through the five year arc!

Which means this recap potentially contains SPOILERS for exactly half the series, including this episode. But if you're watching through the series for the first time you don't have to worry about me spoiling what happens in the other half.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Part 3

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the final part of my epic three-part Star Wars: The Force Awakens review! If you missed PART ONE or PART TWO, then click the text to jump right there.

It's not a coincidence that I'm writing about the movie now, just before The Rise of Skywalker comes out. I mean I started writing it ages ago, but I realised that this was the ideal deadline to hit. It probably would've made more sense to write about The Last Jedi, seeing as it's the film that actually leads into the new movie, and to be honest I think it'd be more interesting to examine, but I figured I should start at the beginning of the trilogy. This way I get to talk about whether Rey is a Mary Sue or not, and I bet you're dying to read another opinion about that on the internet.

This will contain SPOILERS for the movie, but you know that as I've said it twice already. I say it on all my reviews in fact, even though there's a spoiler warning in the side panel over on the right. Maybe I could change the colour of the warning text next week, add a bit of variety.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Part 2

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still going through J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens!

Actually I don't think the 'Episode VII' part is in the name this time, which is a shame because I like it when films get numbers; they let me keep my stories straight. If I ever decide to watch the Harry Potter movies I'm going to have to find a guide just to know what order to watch them in. Star Wars, on the other hand, has handy episode numbers that... well okay this is actually a bad example, seeing as episodes 1, 2 and 3 came out years after 4, 5, and 6 and everyone's got their own ideas on which order works best.

Fortunately it's easy to figure out what order to read this review in, as you start with PART ONE, then you read this part, then part three finishes it off tomorrow.

I'm going through the movie scene by scene so this will be full of SPOILERS. I'll also be spoiling parts of the earlier Star Wars movies (episodes 1 to 6), but somehow I doubt that's going to be an issue for anyone. I'm just making sure you know what you're in for.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Part 1

Written by:

Lawrence Kasdan & J. J. Abrams and Michael Arndt

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Directed by:

J. J. Abrams

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Release Date:

2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars movie where the film number and the episode number is the same! It's the seventh instalment either way.

It's also the first movie in the final trilogy of the Skywalker Saga. It still blows my mind that they finally made there in the end, as I still (vaguely) remember when there was only one trilogy and no sign that George Lucas was ever going to make the others he had planned. Not that these three films are anything like he'd planned.

I mean I doubt any of them were really, seeing as we're still waiting for Annikin Starkiller to show up, but this trilogy was created after Lucas had sold Star Wars to Disney and his involvement was minimal. His most recent concept for the final trilogy apparently focused on the microbiotic world and midi-chlorians, but Kathleen Kennedy's crew have gone in a different direction and to be honest I'm kind of glad.

Okay, this is going to be the same deal as with my Star Trek Into Darkness review, as I'm splitting it into three parts to save you from having to read too much in one sitting. Though you could just wait a couple of days until all three parts are out and read it that way if you want to climb that mountain of words.

There will be MASSIVE SPOILERS below for The Force Awakens and I'll also be assuming that you've seen the earlier films as well. No spoilers for The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker though, and not just because that last film isn't out for a couple of days at the time I'm posting this. But these are genuine pre-Rise of Skywalker opinions.

Babylon 5 3-10: Severed Dreams

Episode:

54

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

1-Apr-1996

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about a Babylon 5 episode.

Severed Dreams was pretty much the final part of a stealth three-parter, and this worked out pretty well for UK viewers who got the episodes weekly with no breaks and no cliffhangers. It was less good for US fans, as they had to wait five weeks to see how things got resolved here. They couldn't have really aired it any sooner though to be fair, as the episode is so VFX heavy they struggled to get it all finished in time as it is. I'm not sure it was absolutely necessary to air the episode on April 1st though. Viewers just had to hope that the entire story arc didn't turn out to be a magnificent prank.

I can't talk really, as I had the bright idea to launch Sci-Fi Adventures on April 1st, and it's the day the site always comes back after taking February and March off. In fact I could've been clever and held off reviewing Severed Dreams until next April, using it to kick off the next block of reviews, but... no. It's already taken me long enough to get here.

Here's some trivia for you: the episode was up for the 'Best Dramatic Presentation' Hugo in 1997, an award that Babylon 5 had actually won the previous year with The Coming of Shadows. This time though it was up against Independence Day, Star Trek: First Contact, the 30th anniversary episode of Deep Space Nine where they go back and hang out with Captain Kirk, and... uh, Mars Attacks! Spoiler: Mars Attacks! didn't win.

In fact it was Babylon 5 that went and won the Hugo for a second time! Because that's what happens when you make Severed Dreams.

SPOILER WARNING!

The DVD comes with a commentary track, but I'd recommend staying clear if you haven't seen the whole series yet as they tend to spoil things. In fact stay clear of all the special features. My review, on the other hand, won't spoil a thing! Well, except for the whole of Severed Dreams and the episodes leading up to it.