I, for one, really enjoyed this episode. Not only for the actual stories found within but also because of the continuing snipets of information you keep learning about the individual cultures and personel aboard Babylon 5.

The fact that Malcolm was involved in the Home Guard was hardly a suprise but if no other episode had shown it before this one definately showed we are not in Roddenberry's Ideal future.

The main cast are all nicely gelling together already and I loved the line,

"what has love got to do with marriage?"

An excellent episode.

I happen to like this one as well. It's gets a bad rap from time to time, but contrasted with some of the previous episodes it's rather good. Not in the same league as the next episode, but ok nonetheless.

I rather liked this one too :)

Probably deliberate with a bit of hindsight but I really warmed to Londo in this one as well :ph43r:

Nothing too exciting but certainly useful as a story builder and what not.

Again not the greatest ep, the main revalation you could see coming a mile off!

What saves it are the character moments for Londo and G'Kar.

The main story in this episode feels much too linear compared to what I'm used to - bad guys are attacking aliens -> Ivanova' ex-boyfriend who is leading the attackers arrives -> Sinclair goes undercover to expose them -> bad guys get caught.

It also seems clichéd that they guy in charge just happens to be Ivanova's boyfriend - and it would have been nicer was that he was working undercover and trying to find potential troublemakers before they strike rather than just being the guy in charge. And didn't he stop and think that the Medlab (with security cameras) wasn't the best place to ask 'hey, do you fancy killing aliens?'

Sadly the music was a big let-down as well - the Centauri scenes were filled with some very annoying music that felt so out-of-touch with usual B5 :)

What saved this episode were (as Ken said) the insights into the B5 universe - such as the Centauri attutude to marriage, and Sinclair's musings over the crew departures post-The Gathering. Alos, it seems G'Kar has gone back to being the evil loud-mouth - it seems that all his scenes were to paste him in a bad light. Interesting, especially compared to his actions in the last episode...



An interesting behind the scenes note - as this episode was being produced, DS9 managed to create a dilemma by broadcasting The Homecoming, in which Quark at one point gets branded in an identical way to Delenn's friend. Apparently JMS was going to digitally remove the brand, but decided against it. It does, however, make the reaction to FRanklin asking 'do you want it removed' that more poignant though :)

Obviously the human race hasn't progressed as much as Roddenbery would have liked. Good to see we still have the same old racism and bigotry. (And good to see Ivanova in a little black number but I've told you before I'm shallow) Granted the story is a bit cliched and David Blunkett could have seen the ending coming but I still enjoyed it. Having not seen the pilot it was interesting to see what I presume were references to it.

Also interesting to see how often Londo and G'Kar alternate positions. This week it was Londo's turn to be sympathetic and G'Kar's turn to shout a lot.

Looking forward to Sky Full of Stars tonight :)

It's quite easy to overlook this one as being unimportant. The only really disappointing element to this one is 1) the 'shock' ending and 2) the intelligence of the villain of the piece. As Phillip mentioned earlier, hello ?? let's just plan on killing us some aliens right here in the middle of Medlab :rolleyes:

It's more the ideas here than the action. The very concept of a Homeguard lays seed the belief that not all is well and dandy back in Blighty. We're told that Pro Earth groups are growing both in number and support. Shocking yet further is that at least some of these groups appear to have ties to Earth Force to some small degree. They use stealth technology apparently supplied by unofficial Earth Force channels. Hmm, hello ?? Don't those Stealth nets look a bit like someone else's technology ??

Plus we have Londo, again painted as a figure of tragedy. His good deed of the episode coupled with that generates sympathy on the viewer's part. And again, G'kar the rabble rouser. Although this one was at least more due to a stance of idealism rather than doing it for the sake of doing it. Interesting signs for both Londo and G'kar in this one. There's also the first glimpse of three other important characters; Death, Famine and Pestilence :lol:

There's also good continuity here as well. The Vorlon Encounter suit problem is addressed and there's an update on what happened to Dr Kyle and Lyta Alexander.

There's also the question of why Kosh was studying Humans/Earth.

One final thing of note; probably nothing, but possibly not, I'll address this further in the spoiler thread; when Londo was talking about arranged marriages for the Centauri he mentioned that it came to be tradition a thousand years ago. That's an awfully convenient figure.

Sinclair came across better in this one, a little more dimensional, however Biggs bought the act a little too easily it has to be said. Bad ass Sinclair was certainly interesting.

And, possibly the most important line of the episode, when discussing Pro-Earth hate groups;

"There's too many who agree with them, and more who don't give a damn."

The concept of the few becoming the moral driving force of the whole.

On the surface, basic, the deeper you look at this episode though, the more there is there.

That pesky hindsight means I saw this more as laying seeds rather than there for pure enjoyment but it was okay if a tad simplistic.

I noticed a little more on painting Londo as a tragic romantic. and G'Kar as a troublemaker.

Looking forward to the next one - probably at the weekend.

There isn't anything terribly innovative about "The War Prayer", but it makes for good viewing nonetheless.

The character moments are what make it work. We learn Delenn is a loyal friend who has a somewhat idealistic view of the universe, and is disappointed and shocked when others don't live up to her ideals. (It's more complicated than that, but I'm avoiding spoilers :D). We learn Mollari has a cynical streak, tempered by compassion that appears at the oddest times. We learn G'Kar likes to stir things up. :D We learn various...interesting things about the major races. ;)

We learn lots of interesting things about humans in the B5 universe, too. They're idealistic, they want peace and progress, but the rough edges have most certainly not been smoothed. The elements who insist they are superior - for whatever reason - are still present and have loud voices. Yes, it's a cliche that Ivanova's ex happened to be the ringleader, but the relevant factor is that such attitudes exist at all....

All told, this is another decent character piece that I enjoy very much, but I can see why it's not for everyone.

I thought it wasn't too bad an episode. I liked how they went back to discussing events from The Gathering, and it seems very likely that something will unfold from the events in that episode.

I did think Malcolm trusted Sinclair and Ivanova a bit too quickly though. The commander of a space station devoted to helping humans and aliens live together, and Malcolm instantly believes Sinclair would share his viewpoint? :rolleyes:

Malcolm = Muppet :rolleyes:

So we start to learn about the Home Guard and the pro-Earth movement. I have to wonder how stupid Biggs is to think that Sinclair really is interested in joining forces, because Sinclair is so over the top he could be wearing a sign saying "Look, I'm putting on an act to catch you" and it wouldn't have been more obvious :lol:

I like the subplot with Vir's cousins turning up looking for "Ambassador Coto". Some of Stephen Furst's expressions are priceless :lol:

I also love Londo's description of his three wives, Famine, Pestilence and Death :lol: :lol:

The end, where Ivanova tells Biggs that the aliens she deals with daily are more human than he is, is very good :thumbsup:

Another decent episode :)