Babylon 5 3-19: Grey 17 is Missing

Episode:

63

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

07-Oct-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's a late contender for the worst ever episode of Babylon 5. Grey 17 is Missing is currently in the bottom three on IMDb, just above Infection and TKO, and the other places I've checked haven't been much kinder to it.

(Though right now the main thing that's bothering me about it is that it's the 19th episode this season; the numbers are just a little bit too close. I have to keep double checking to make sure it's not episode 17 and the title's not 'Grey 19 is Missing'.)

Seems that what went wrong with the story is similar to what went wrong with Exogenesis (the 7th worst B5 episode according to IMDb), as it just took too long to write. Showrunner jms says his best scripts only took one or two days, as once he got on the right track the ideas would start flooding out of his head. Apparently this one took more like two weeks for whatever reason, possibly because he got pulled away to deal with other problems, possibly because of some kind of idea blockage that needed sorting out, I don't know.

Exogenesis took so long to write because it was interrupted by that strike that happened during the filming of A Day in the Strife. They eventually worked things out and got production running again by finding the money to go full union, but that meant cutting costs elsewhere. Turns out that this is one of the places they cut costs on... as director John Flinn chose to give up his payment for this episode and direct it for free! I'm starting to think that people liked working on this show and wanted it to do well.

SPOILER WARNING: This recap and review is for people who've seen the series up to this point. I won't spoil anything that happens after this episode but I'll definitely be spoiling what came before it.

Doctor Who (2005): Series 12 Review

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the latest season of Doctor Who!

Series 12 was apparently Jodie Whittaker's second season as the Doctor (and Chris Chibnall's second year as showrunner), but I only vaguely remember there being a first one. It seems so long ago now. In fact the show disappeared for exactly a year after 2019's New Year's Day special! It would've been the longest gap between episodes since the series was resurrected in 2005, but 2016's hiatus has it beat by one day, due to being a leap year.

It apparently took them bloody ages to film the last couple of seasons, possibly because they were always flying around the world to shoot on location, I don't actually know. It's worked out well for me though, as I've only got 10 episodes to cover here. Sure I still have to somehow fit everything I want to say into 1/10th of the space of one of my normal reviews, but with these episodes I don't expect that'll be a problem.

Oh by the way, I wrote the first draft of these reviews right after each episode aired, so if I sound weirdly clueless about what's going to happen next, that's because I genuinely didn't know at the time of writing. I should also inform you that there will be SPOILERS below, but I won't be spoiling anything that comes after series 12. Partly because it hasn't aired yet and nobody knows anything about it, but mostly because I don't want to.

Babylon 5 3-17: War Without End, Part Two

Episode:

61

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

20-May-1996

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the conclusion of Babylon 5's epic War Without End two-parter.

Sorry about the mosaic up there where the screencap should be, but the image seemed a bit spoilery to have up here in the non-spoiler intro section which everyone can see. Not that you can really tell what you're looking at if you don't already know.

There's going to be even more SPOILERS below this point, for this episode and earlier ones, so I'd suggest you stop here if that's an issue for you. Then watch the episode and come back!

Babylon 5 3-16: War Without End, Part One

Episode:

60

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

13-May-1996

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Ray Hardgrit's Sci-Fi Adventures has finally returned for its fifth season... and I'm still working my way through season three of Babylon 5. Though that's not so bad, as it means I get to write about the epic War Without End two parter!

I've spent almost the entire last two months preparing for this. I've been growing my hair out to try to get it as long as Marcus Cole's and I've grown an appropriate beard. I've also studied to become fluent in Minbari, I've trained to become a master of staff fighting, and I've been taught the application of terror.

Actually I'm lying, I've done no preparation. In fact it's been so long since I've published anything here that I've forgotten what Babylon 5 even is. I'm sure it'll all come back to me though.

One thing I do remember is that I've already written about the episode Walkabout, even though it was originally broadcast after War Without End. That's because I'm following the Lurker's Guide Master List, which reorganises this block of episodes to look like this:

15 - Interludes and Examinations
18 - Walkabout
16 - War Without End, Part One
17 - War Without End, Part Two
19 - Grey 17 is Missing

Not long now before I get to write about Grey 17 is Missing!

The reason I'm pointing out this story shuffling is because there's going to be SPOILERS here for this episode and anything that came before it, and for me Walkabout came before it, so it's possible I might mention something that happens in it. Like the scene where Franklin goes to a bar, sits down and just listens to an entire song.

Sci-Fi Adventures Awards - Season Four (2019-20)

Surprise, it's the Ray Hardgrit's Sci-Fi Adventures Awards 2019 Season Four!

You might be thinking that I'm a month late with this, seeing as most people agree that 2019 ended a while back, but it occurred to me that I'm not judging the last year of sci-fi when I do my awards, I'm judging the sci-fi I've reviewed over the last year of my site. I start publishing reviews in April and finish in January, so the awards post should logically come at the end of January.

Plus I'm actually 13 months late, as I skipped the awards for 2018. I watched more than 600 episodes of Doctor Who over that summer (in addition to everything else I reviewed), and when it came time to think back over them all and hand out some awards my brain put up a little white flag and surrendered.

It seems like this year it should be a landslide in favour of Babylon 5, seeing as it's what I've been writing about each week (from season 2's Knives up to season 3's Walkabout), but I also threw in a few other reviews along the way. Like all of Discovery and The Orville's second seasons, the first four Short Trek's, Deep Space Nine's Rivals and the the first episode of Picard. I watched a pair of movies as well: Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek Into Darkness! Spoiler: the one that doesn't win Best Movie is going to win Worst Movie.

There's going to be lots of SPOILERS in fact, because that's sadly inevitable when you're giving out awards for 'Best death' and 'Most shocking twist'. No Picard spoilers though, as it's a bit too new. Plus I should remind you that all winners have been chosen by me, without a whole lot of thought, for purely subjective reasons, and shouldn't be taken seriously at all.

Babylon 5 3-18: Walkabout

Episode:

62

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

30-Sep-1996

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Hey, a shot looking straight down at Babylon 5 station, you don't see that often.

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Walkabout, an episode of Babylon 5. In fact this is the last episode I'll be writing about for a while, as I'll be switching over to Super Adventures to play video games for a couple of months instead.

Because of scheduling weirdness this and the remaining four episodes in the season all aired earlier here in the UK than they did in the US, which is a rare and beautiful thing. In fact it was the last time it ever happened for Babylon 5. Though we still got them in the wrong order.

According to the airing and DVD order I should be watching War Without End right now, which is a huge two-parter I'm eager to get to. But Walkabout was originally supposed to be aired first and the season apparently works better if it's moved before it. At least according to the Lurker's Guide Master List, which has this block of episodes looking like this:

14 - Ship of Tears
15 - Interludes and Examinations
18 - Walkabout
16 - War Without End, Part 1
17 - War Without End, Part 2

So this review won't have any SPOILERS for War Without End, but I will be going through all of Walkabout scene by scene and I'll probably end up spoiling some of the episodes leading up to it as well.

Star Trek: Picard 1-01: Remembrance (Quick Review)

Episode:

1

|

Writer:

Akiva Goldsman and James Duff

|

Air Date:

23-Feb-2020

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's a surprise review of Star Trek: Picard's first episode! Only a short one though. And rushed!

When Star Trek's 50th anniversary went by a few years ago I was a bit disappointed with how little fanfare there was, especially after all the love that Doctor Who got. They could've at least promoted Star Trek Beyond! But it's turned out that the 50th anniversary was the explosion that's created a million new TV series: Discovery, the Lower Decks cartoon, the Section 31 series, another cartoon, possible Pike and Starfleet Academy shows... and Picard. It's just been kind of a slow explosion.

Anyway, it's been two years, and we've finally got the second full-length Trek show of this era! The Deep Space Nine of its time, with any luck. Though it's been considerably longer than that since Picard himself made his first appearance back in Encounter at Farpoint, so I had to check if Patrick Stewart has broken any records here. Turns out he's played his character for a longer span than Shatner and Doohan now, despite their appearances in Star Trek: Generations, but he's 15 years short of beating that cameo in Star Trek Into Darkness.

What do I want from this episode? Well being better than Batman & Robin would be nice, but you never know with Akiva Goldsman writing. I also want it to continue the story of 24th century Trek without being all 'everything you know is wrong' or fan filmy about it. I'm pretty sure it's going to look slick at least, with Discovery director Hanelle Culpepper coming over to kick things off and establish the show's style, and I know for a fact there's at least one person in the writer's room who's actually seen Next Gen.

This is going to be one of those spoilery reviews so expect huge SPOILERS for this episode and maybe a couple of relevant Trek episodes that came before it. No recap this time though I'm afraid, as that takes ages and I'm in a hurry.