tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post2919239464429901262..comments2024-03-27T08:49:38.786-03:00Comments on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery: Babylon 5 #85: Intersections in Real TimeSiskoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-11731738792424073682014-10-01T20:22:53.825-03:002014-10-01T20:22:53.825-03:00This is another in JMS's continuing series abo...This is another in JMS's continuing series about "the banal face of evil (usually wearing a cardigan), which also included Justin and Edgars. It was an episode that I was both really looking forward to rewatching, and dreading. And I kinda agree with everyone... if you're looking at it simply as a show about Sheridan being tortured, then it doesn't quite work. If you're taking it as a show designed to show people working slowly and methodically to break Sheridan's mind, and him managing to resist (for now), it works brilliantly. Maybe I'd have added Sheridan getting beaten after he was captured to the flashback at the beginning to remind people he'd already been physically abused.<br /><br />Ryan: "I'm not sure where the statement that this was going to be the ending comes from, as in the script volumes he says he'd planned for a while to make it the first episode of season 5, with the hiatus giving the impression that Sheridan had already been going through this for months.<br /><br />It comes from the Lurker's Guide.<br /><br />JMS: "if I had known *with absolute certainty* that there would be a season 5, then season 4 would have ended with 418, 'Intersections in Real Time.'"<br /><br />I believe that in the US, WB had a habit of holding back the final 4 episodes of any season and showing them just before the next. JMS's comments seem to indicate that they did so for this episode, which means it did kinda function as a cliffhanger.<br /><br />I do wonder... was Sheridan getting to the first interrogator by the end, or was everything an act? Or does it even matter?LiamKavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01996095233681105682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-83358231964727460912014-10-01T20:20:21.336-03:002014-10-01T20:20:21.336-03:00This comment has been removed by the author.LiamKavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01996095233681105682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-3922206225855137502014-10-01T04:13:49.460-03:002014-10-01T04:13:49.460-03:00Just on the general note of horrifying interrogati...Just on the general note of horrifying interrogation, have you ever read "Darkness at Noon"? Classic of the genre. Prisoner in (not named, but pretty clearly) Soviet Russia, a former prominent member of The Party, is imprisoned for his supposed sins.<br /><br />I think it's a relevant reference here especially as 1984 has Winston clinging to objective outside truth as his shield (Not very well, mind), while the protagonist of Darkness at Noon fundamentally agrees with his captors on a number of levels from the start. It's brilliant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-82197354358899480612014-09-30T12:33:54.610-03:002014-09-30T12:33:54.610-03:00Another post of mine disappeared; any help?Another post of mine disappeared; any help?Ryan Lohnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-41437358910694725472014-09-30T11:06:11.391-03:002014-09-30T11:06:11.391-03:00I don't think of B5 as realism, I think of it ...I don't think of B5 as realism, I think of it as parable. The interrogation episode isn't an exploration of torture and human rights abuses, but rather a meditation on the fluidity of truth. It's an intellectual exercise, just like the works it poaches the most from.<br /><br />I reserve the right to take issue with how little this experience seems to impact Sheridan later, of course.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-10875965978411249722014-09-30T10:51:16.370-03:002014-09-30T10:51:16.370-03:00I'm not sure where the statement that this was...I'm not sure where the statement that this was going to be the ending comes from, as in the script volumes he says he'd planned for a while to make it the first episode of season 5, with the hiatus giving the impression that Sheridan had already been going through this for months.<br /><br />JMS actually completely chicken out in his original script, becoming very insecure about his ability to sustain the concept, so he threw in a lengthy extra scene outside the room, giving himself all kinds of excuses about how it was thematically complementary. And then a funny thing happened: due to the various pauses to add to the theatrical feel of the interrogation scenes, the episode ended up coming in a full eight minutes too long. And then as fate would have it, the episode right after it ended up coming in eight minutes short, so JMS suggested simply transposing the outside scene wholesale, and it ended up matching TO THE SECOND. Atheist or not, sometimes you get the feeling the man really was on a mission from god.Ryan Lohnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-56631993144489066402014-09-30T10:42:38.093-03:002014-09-30T10:42:38.093-03:00"This one was hyped for weeks as a brutal, un..."This one was hyped for weeks as a brutal, unprecedented confrontation with the issues of torture and political oppression"<br /><br />I'm glad I didn't see the hype then, because if I take it just as an episode where Sheridan is being interrogated and they're trying to play with his mind, it works quite nicely.<br /><br />"some fanboys' main reaction was "I could have toughed that out better than Sheridan did. A bit of puking and that's all?""<br /><br />I can totally relate -- one time my 9th level ranger was being tortured but all he did was laugh as they cut off body part after body part. Sheridan is a pansy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-21794135632045678592014-09-30T09:16:27.294-03:002014-09-30T09:16:27.294-03:00Personally, I think this is probably the best Baby...Personally, I think this is probably the best Babylon 5 episode, and I don't think it's pretentious at all. I think it says some very incisive, and very correct, things about the terrible actions average, "normal" human beings are willing to do to another. Chain of Command and this episode are doing two different things, in my opinion. This episode is, I believe, about the torturer, while Chain of Command is about the victim. I find them complementary, rather than contradictory.<br /><br />Madeleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-52377834704986242102014-09-30T09:09:19.867-03:002014-09-30T09:09:19.867-03:00Is it too aggressive to say that I think this epis...Is it too aggressive to say that I think this episode is a dreadful disappointment and pretentious, cowardly grandstanding about a very serious issue?<br /><br />This one was hyped for weeks as a brutal, unprecedented confrontation with the issues of torture and political oppression, but when it was actually shown, some fanboys' main reaction was "I could have toughed that out better than Sheridan did. A bit of puking and that's all?" You can blame 1990s US mainstream TV's standards for on-screen violence if you like, but the much-despised-by-B5-fans "utopian kiddy show" <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> produced something much more disturbing five years before in their "Chain of Command" two-parter.<br /><br />I have other very serious criticisms, but they're unfortunately too spoilery to mention for a while.<br /><br />Incidentally, according to JMS, this episode was originally intended to be the cliffhanger ending for the fourth season, if it had been produced as planned, which might have given it a bit more impact.LondonKdShttp://londonkds.dreamwidth.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-66321822905172628752014-09-30T08:44:06.529-03:002014-09-30T08:44:06.529-03:00Goddamn, Sheridan. Goddamn, Boxleitner. Goddamn,...Goddamn, Sheridan. Goddamn, Boxleitner. Goddamn, JMS. (The "goddamns" here are expressions of amazement.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com