Babylon 5 4-14: Moments of Transition

Episode:

80

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

Tony Dow

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Air Date:

19-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've written words about another episode of Babylon 5 for you. This is season 4, episode 14, Moments of Transition, which has to be the least evocative title since Interludes and Examinations last season. You can just tell that nothing interesting or game changing is going to happen here.

The title comes from a monologue by G'Kar in the episode Z'ha'dum, in which he explained that life is made from moments of transition and moments of revelation. So I suppose we can at least be sure there won't be any revelations in the episode.

Though I do have a revelation for you of my own: this is episode 80 of Babylon 5, which means that this is the point where the series had officially overtaken the original Star Trek's episode count. Even if you count Trek's unaired pilot episode, The Cage, Babylon 5 has its own pilot movie, The Gathering, to put it one story ahead again.

I should warn you that there's going to be so many SPOILERS after this point. I'm going to ruin the whole damn episode. But if you're watching through the series for the first time you've got nothing to worry about as I won't even hint at what happens next.

Doctor Who (2005) - New Year's Day 2021: Revolution of the Daleks

Episode:

862

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Writer:

Chris Chibnall

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Director:

Lee Haven Jones

|

Air Date:

01-Jan-2021

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Doctor Who again! I felt like I was probably done with the series after that last season, at least until Chris Chibnall stepped down as showrunner, but I needed to write about something new to break up all the Babylon 5 I've been reviewing and this one-off special aired at just the right time for me.

I mean I didn't hate series 12, but every now and then Doctor Who makes a real effort to sever my emotional investment in it and The Timeless Child did a better job than most episodes. Plus after two seasons of Chibnall Who I'm well aware of what to expect from it and I know it's not really my kind of thing.

Revolution of the Daleks is following in the tradition of classic 'R of the Daleks' stories like Resurrection of the Daleks (Davros tries to cure a Dalek virus), Revelation of the Daleks (Davros runs a funeral home) and Remembrance of the Daleks (Dalek vs Dalek in WW2 London). But not the last New Year's special, Resolution, as they forgot to include the 'of the Daleks' part for that one. Its title was announced before it aired, but it wasn't shown in-episode until the end credits so it seemed like they were going to reveal it was really Resolution of the Daleks... but it wasn't.

This time the title's up at the front of the episode, where it usually is, and... that's about all the trivia I can think of to write about here. Anyway, this I'm going to do the full recap and commentary thing with this one, so there'll be SPOILERS for the entire story, and perhaps other stories too.

Babylon 5 4-13: Rumors, Bargains and Lies

Episode:

79

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Mike Vejar

|

Air Date:

12-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Rumors, Bargains and Lies, the 79th episode of Babylon 5.

It was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski, who was about two thirds of the way through his unbroken streak of scripts by this point, and it was directed by Mike Vejar, finally making a reappearance after skipping the first half of the season. He hadn't directed an episode since War Without End, Part 2 back in season 3, so it's nice to have him back.

I'll be recapping the whole episode and sharing my thoughts as I go, so there'll be huge SPOILERS for this episode and earlier ones. But you'll be fine if you've been watching through the series for the first time.

Babylon 5 4-12: Conflicts of Interest

Episode:

79

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

David J. Eagle

|

Air Date:

05-May-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the 79th episode of Babylon 5, titled Conflicts of Interest. For whatever reason they decided to render the station from the back instead of the front for this shot, so there's a close up of B5's ass behind the title. It's also episode 12 of season 4, which means I'm in the second half of the season now. I'm 7/10ths through the show!

Conflicts of Interest was directed by David J. Eagle, who was the only Babylon 5 director to ever have a bird-related surname. He directed episodes like Severed Dreams, And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place and Falling Toward Apotheosis, so he preferred to hang around at the top of people's episode rankings, but this could be the episode where it all started to go wrong for him. We're in season four, so probably not, though it's been a while so I can't actually remember if this one's any good or not.

Here's some more trivia for you: the episode came out on May the 5th, the day after Star Wars Day. I don't think Babylon 5 ever got its own day, but I suppose the 5th of the 5th isn't the worst date you could pick for it.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to go through this episode scene by scene spoiling the events with my recap and spoiling the story by nitpicking everything as I go. I'll even spoil episodes that came before it! But I won't spoil anything that comes after it, so this is safe for first time viewers.

Babylon 5 4-11: Lines of Communication

Episode:

77

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

John C. Flinn III

|

Air Date:

28-Apr-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, another episode of Babylon 5.

Lines of Communication was written by showrunner J. Michael Straczynski and directed by director of photography John C. Flinn III, a pair of people who clearly must have had more hours in their days than the rest of us get. This was the last episode Flinn directed this season but he did a couple more for season 5. He didn't direct any of the spin-off series Crusade afterwards though weirdly, or anything else for that matter.

I feel compelled to warn you that there will be SPOILERS for this episode below this point, because I'm going to go through the whole thing basically scene by scene. I'll not be spoiling anything past this episode though, so if you're watching through the series for the first time you'll be fine.

Babylon 5 4-10: Racing Mars

Episode:

76

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

|

Air Date:

21-Apr-1997

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I'm pretty sure that's a spaceship in that screencap up there, but are those glowing panels supposed to be windows? Their polygon budget must have been really tight.

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about another episode of Babylon 5! This episode's called Racing Mars, which is a play on the phrase 'racing cars'. Actually I don't know what it means, it's mysterious. Sounds good though.

It's the fourth of five episodes directed by Jesús Treviño, and he's been doing alright so far with episodes like Sic Transit Vir and Interludes and Examinations. He also directed the movie Thirdspace and came back after the series to direct an episode of the spin-off, Crusade.

I'm going to go beyond your recommended daily allowance of SPOILERS here, as I'll be spoiling this episode scene by scene, and any stories that lead up to it. But if this is your first time watching the series you don't have to worry about me ruining anything that happens afterwards. I won't even spoil Thirdspace, even though the events probably take place before this story.

Babylon 5 4-09: Atonement

Episode:

75

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Director:

Tony Dow

|

Air Date:

24-Feb-1997

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about more Babylon 5! The episode Atonement to be specific, which was the 9th story in season 4.

This means I'm finally going to have to face one of the biggest mysteries in the entire Babylon 5 saga: where the hell does the movie Thirdspace fit in? Some people say watch it before Atonement, some people suggest watching it right after it. Some even suggest starting the episode, getting up to a certain point, then switching over to watch Thirdspace instead for a bit. And some people, perhaps more sensible people, suggest just watching it in the order it aired in.

I'm just going to put the episode on and see if I can spot any point where you could interrupt the action with an entire film without it being weird.

Oh by the way, BABYLON 5 FINALLY GOT REMASTERED! Holy crap, I can't believe it. Okay it's not a full Star Trek-style HD remaster where they rescanned the original film and replaced the effects, I think they've just gone back to the original 4:3 broadcast masters, but it looks a lot better. Unfortunately I don't have any of these remastered episodes so all my screencaps are going to be from the widescreen DVDs.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to assume you've seen all of Babylon 5 up to and including this episode, but I won't spoil anything that comes after. I won't even spoil Thirdspace, even though it apparently chronologically takes place here.