Fascinating.

As I have gathered from previous conversations with Angel and from reading between the lines I assume that a lot of what went on in this episode will become clearer in future episodes.

It was another well written and well acted story with another good pretitle sequence. The main story was fascinating and provided a little more information about Talia. It was also great to see WALTER KOENIG again, I am afraid it will be a long time (if ever) before I dont think "oh look there is Checkov" though.

The second story while not as interesting a least provided a little more insight into the NARN and in particular G'Kar and twice he mentioned that no-one on the station is what they appear as if in some way to double highlight how important that piece of information is.

Oh and any episode which has Catherine in it is fine by me, although I assume she wont be in the series any more after whatever happens to Sinclair at the end od the series?

Another good episode, infact both this weeks have been, roll on next weekend!!!

Walter Koenig's long since held the belief that Bester's his favourite and most important role that he's played. It's so far different from Chekov, and he plays it superbly. You really do believe that the little sh*t's evil :lol:

Yeah, unsurprisingly, this one's pretty important, or is it ?? You never know with Joe, he puts little red herrings in there every now and then to keep you on your toes :lol:

Again, more after I've watched the episode in question.

The only other thing to note at this point; I loved the soundtrack for this episode :thumbsup:

Amusingly, I had the opportunity to meet Koenig a few months ago (sadly we had other priorities at the time :)), and all I could think was 'ooh, we're going to meet Bester!' :)

Bester's such a great character. Walter Koenig gets more to do with him in one episode than he managed in two seasons as Chekov.

I NEVER said that BESTER is not a great character, even after this one episode he obviously is, but I just will always think of him as CHECKOV thats all.

And isn't it strange, I (initially) kept expecting him to break into the faux Russian accent :lol:

The thing is, the character just gets better and better. The Bester/Garibaldi dynamic becomes one of the most fascinating on the show ultimately.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Good episode this one :)

A bit weird to see Koenig as Bester but he seems to be quite good in the role.

Nice to see the Psi-corp starting to make an appearance.

As a side note this was another episode I looked at as being distinctly Trek like in the ultimate evolution of the telepath. Obviously not as good as Trek at doing it though ;)

Oh Dave, don't make it that easy for us.... :lol:

Not once did Bester sense 'incredible anger/pain' :lol:

Aahh! But he did do the put hand on temple and stare stupidly whilst slightly scrunching face up thing though didn't he? Classic Trek stuff ;)


Liking season 2 BTW, I think S3 will have to bought when I get paid at the end of the month :thumbsup:

:lol: Fair point. Although I'd contest that not being so much classic Trek, as classic Shatner/Kirk, especially the face-scrunching ;)

If it's Season 1 that hooks you, it'll be Season 2 that reels you in. Look out for the last 6, they're monumental. Although The Coming of Shadows ain't no slouch either, it won the Hugo Award :thumbsup:

Avoiding the ovbious Bester comments, which everyone has already said (yes, he's wonderful :thumbsup: ), this episodes is a severe letdown, if only for Ironheart's horiffic dialogue! When I hear his lines like 'I look at you Commander, and see not a man', or 'I will see you again, in a million years', it does make me wince. When JMS is great, he's superb, when he's bad he's cringeworthy.

Aside from that, this episode does that age-old Season 1 thing in setting up more than one would think.

And it seems that evil, malicious G'Kar isn't as bad as we seemed, with his genuine worries for Catherine leading to his sending someone to save her.

Plus, it introduces that infamous line:

No-one here is exactly what he appears

Probably one of two lines which sum up Babylon 5 :D

Can't argue with that one bit. You have to wonder what kind of show they'd put out there should ever Joe and Joss get together sometime :o

Some of Joe's dialogue has to be heard to be believed ;) When he comes to the 'big' stuff, he seems to go from one extreme to the other. It's a good job he has saving graces :lol:

It's difficult to dispute Phillips point regarding some of the dialogue, it clearly is a weak point. :rolleyes:

Looking beyond that though, I don't see the episode as a let down. I'd still name this as one of the more important episodes of the season. One thing that struck me once again whilst watching it, there's so much more going on here than at first you see. Just odd lines that ultimately prove to be prophetic. The most obvious one as Phillip points out;

G'Kar: - "No one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not even Sinclair, and not me."

He's right on all four counts there, although not in ways that first viewers will have a clue about just yet ;)

The episode opens up with a little Garibaldi humour again to further the Garibaldi/Talia arc. Is this a theme ?? Start an episode with Garibaldi cracking a few jokes ?? :lol:

It's interesting to also see Joe's sleight of hand. The juxtaposition between Bester's obvious entrance onto the series, contrasted with another character's understated debut. A character that will prove to be pivotal in events surrounding the season finale. And if that's not a wink to those in the know I don't know how else to point them out without giving away too much :lol:

Bester, is a great role for Koenig. It's as far from Chekov as you could ever want to get. He's smarmy, condescending and has a massive superiority complex. But, he's great to watch :lol: As for his partner, Kelsey, what the hell was going on with her lips ?? She was shaping all the words as she spoke them. If you didn't notice watch again, it's hilarious.

Ivanova has little input in the episode, but once again her disliking of the Corps is reiterated with her hostility towards the Psi Cops. All the moral fibre of Jack the Ripper :lol: Indeed. If only they knew..... ;)

There's also the beginning of another of the show's great dynamics, that between Bester and Garibaldi. Anatomically impossible Mr Garibaldi, but feel free to try. Hmm.

There are a few seeds sewn here as well. We find out that Psi Corps are moving beyond their mandate, seeking out control. Superceding government ?? Foreshadowing for the future perhaps ?? They're conducting experiments to further their telepathic abilities ??

Ironheart: - "Whoever has the strongest telepaths wins."
Ironheart: - "We use telepaths for control. They use telepaths to block us. We need telepaths to cut through the block."

Why ?? Prophetic again perhaps ??

What the hell was that big ship at Sigma 957 ?? Well that's definitely what I was wondering when I first saw the episode. It also draws a loose parallel towards the main story as well though. Jason 'becomes'. Becomes what ?? One of the Numero Unos ?? Is that where Jason goes ?? Is that why he'll see us again in a million years ?? When the events at the end of DECONSTRUCTION take place ??

Bags and bags of questions thrown up with this episode. More than I originally anticipated.

Other things to note; Why if Sinclair wants all the coridors to the launch bay cleared discreetly so that Bester won't know, why put it out over a tannoy announcement ?? :rolleyes:

There was also the first use of Bester's "Be Seeing You" homage to The Prisoner. A shame Joe could never get McGoohan to appear.

I also liked Sinclair in this episode. One of his better ones. And G'Kar as well. Quite a change for him in this episode. G'Kar being helpful ?? I liked his ant analogy at the end. Almost makes up for Joe's Ironheart dialogue. Almost. And we get the first airing of "There are things in the universe much older than our races" spiel ;)

And we're left with the question, Who walks by Sigma 957 ??

Great stuff.

So, The War Prayer and And The Sky Full of Stars next week. The latter's particular important.

If I watch this programme to the end of time itself I'll still see things I hadn't noticed. How can I not have spotted 'Be Seeing You' until now. Me. Of all people.

So, the start of the Psy Corps, the mystery of what's around Sigma 957 and nobody being exactly what they appear. I just notice more strands every time I watch and this is only epiode six. Shame Trek couldn't be this good after episode six.

What else is there to say about Bester? WK must have given thanks for the role, instead of just saying 'Shields, Keptin' and wondering where the nuclear wessels were.

Walter Koenig was initially due to play Knight One (or was it Knight Two) from the episode And The Sky Full of Stars. Due to ill health at the time however he couldn't appear (Stars was shot before Mind War). Joe wrote the role of Bester for him. Rather fortunate in the end. Bester has iconic status on the show. The impact of the other character wouldn't have been as profound.

On the 'Be Seeing You' front; I'm shocked. I took it for granted that you knew Tony :lol:

I hang my head in shame. :cry:

The only thing in my defence is that, when I first saw B5 I hadn't realised that JMS even knew of a little British cult series from the 6O, far less pay homageto it. I didn't realise a lot more about JMS homages.

Joe's a big fan of both B7 and Dr Who IIRC ;)

He wanted to get Patrick McGoohan on the show at some point but never managed it.

Again, not much to say about this one.

Speaking as a B5 veteran...I loathe Bester. :D Always did. There's an arrogance, a sliminess about him that rubbed me the wrong way from day one. The character is so well-written and Walter Koenig demonstrates that given decent material he can do much, much more than scream and wear a crappy wig. ;)

Psi Corps' priorities and attitudes are demonstrated very clearly here. Ironheart is a commodity - or, even more accurately, a lab rat gone wrong. Dealing with him by whatever means necessary is all that matters to them. Non-telepaths are completely irrelevant.... ;)

There is some more setup - namely, the mysterious ship Sakai encounters...

All told, "Mind War" has predictable elements, but is worth the effort.

I think that's the whole point though isn't it ?? Bester's just a character we love to hate.

The closest comparison I could find, and it's surprising given the quality of the show the comparable character was in, is Agent Sandoval from Earth Final Conflict. Slimey buggers with their own agendas :lol:

You're quite right - that is the point of the character. It's not often that they succeed as spectacularly as Bester, though.

Then again, B5 has at least one more character that fits into that category.... ;) For me, anyway.

You've got me racking my brain now. The only two I can possibly think of are Clark or Neroon. Neroon got better over time, for me anyway ;)

Who are Clark and Neroon, James :whistling:

:lol: :lol: :P

It's neither of those...but Neroon makes three. :D

Ah but by the time they come to the fore it won't matter ;)

The only other one I can think of is B. Although I wouldn't describe him as someone I love to hate, just someone who should never have existed in the first place :lol:

This one of the eps that I can see when watched now with full B5 knowledge will become infinitely more intriguing which considering that it stands on its own as quality isn't bad.

As you all know I'm not a big trek fan but if pushed would say I did enjoy TOS a lot. However Walter Koenig will always be Bester to me (sorry Ken :P )

I think I'm actually more tolerant of the sometime cheesy dialogue you all seem to dislike - I thought considering what was happening to him Lionheart should sound pompous (then again I never had a problem with THE line from Into the Fire either so that shows how bloody tolerant I must be :))

Bester's fellow Psi Cop was weird - I couldn't tell if it was just that she was the worst actor ever or she was just deformed :)

I think this was the ep I've enjoed the most so far.

(a couple of points to follow in the spoiler thread)

As far as cheesy dialogue goes I never had a problem with Any of John J's :whistling: Probably because BB made it sound better than it actually was.

Just watched this. Bester was very creepy, particularly during the mind scan. And I didn't suffer from the problem of seeing him as someone else, cos I've never seen him in anything before, and I've no idea who else he plays. I take it it's a Trek thing though. :rolleyes: ;)

James, I did notice the female psi cop's lips - very odd. :lol: She reminded me a bit of Ronnie Ancona's impression of Sharon from Eastenders - lots of pouting. :lol:

Interesting points about "no-one here is as they seem". Although I'd kinda got that impression already. But anyway, yeah, I liked it. And if it wasn't 2am and I didn't have to be up and out the house by 10.30 tomorrow, I'd want to go onto the next one, but as it is, I'm off to bed. Night... :yawn:

:lol: I knew I'd seen something like that somewhere else. Now I know where :thumbsup:

Walter Koenig (Bester) is famous for playing Chekov on the original series of Star Trek ;)

:fear: Please don't mention that person in my presence. Possibly the worst character I've ever seen in any SF series...and perhaps any series, period. :P

Perhaps if you joined in with one of his sing-songs you'd appreciate him so more ?? :lol: :lol:

An OKish ep, made great by the introduction of Bester. For me Koenig will forever be Bester first and Chekov second.

Having only just watched this after reading the previous comments I couldn't help but notice the overacting lips of the female Psicop :lol: :lol:

I still don't particularly like eps in which Talia has a large roll, I think it's her voice, but she just grates with me. :unsure:

I remember not liking Pat Tallman's Lyta Alexander in The Gathering, so for me, Talia wasn't that bad. :unsure:

Good one, this. Of course, it introduces the wonderful Bester and his rather gorgeous (if short-lived) cohort Kelsey. When I first saw this I thought Walter Koenig's acting was pretty poor, maybe because he wasn't putting on an over OTT Russian accent and wearing a rejected Monkees wig, but having seen Bester's subsequent appearances I realise what he's trying to achieve, and he's excellent, slimey, sinister, and with a nice dollop of sarcasm that amuses me no end :lol:

Does the mind scan remind anyone else of the very first Vulcan mind meld back in Dagger of the Mind?

It's interesting that telekinetics are so rare within telepaths, and that Psi Corps have been experimenting (admittedly on volunteers) to try and produce more.

In the subplot department, Catherine ( <_< :lol: ) scuttles off to Sigma 957 against G'Kar's advice and encounters something very large there (one of those "tingle down your spine" B5 moments that hints at so much more going on in the universe than our minor squabbles). I like the final scene, where she asks G'Kar what it was...

"There are things in the Universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless, and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried and we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on. They are a mystery and I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the Universe, that we have not explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957 and they must walk there alone."

Good one :thumbsup:

Re Kelsey, what the hell was going on with her lips. Look how she tries to enunciate her words, it's so funny !! :lol:

Great episode this one, both the main and sub plots, and of course another appearance for Sakai :wub: :drool: :p

Who was listening to her anyway? :drool: :ph43r: :lol:

You're a sick, sick man James :lmao: ;)

I can't believe I'm getting involved in a discussion about Sakai vs Kelsey :lmao:

Hey I didn't turn it into one of those :p

Re Kelsey, it's the woman in uniform thing for you isn't it Steve ?? :lol: