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Babylon 5 randomness
I rewatched Neroon's introduction episode last night (and then a few more across his arc). It's so fascinating going back to season one now!
I was actually just going to watch his introduction scene, but ended up watching his whole first episode and then the rest of his scenes throughout the series,because I hate joy. I wish we'd had just a couple more episodes with him, and I can't believe what a turnaround on him I did, after being completely indifferent to him at first! Honestly I feel sorry for him in that first episode, in which he's not only the recipient of Delenn's body-snatching bait and switch, but when she does get the upper hand, she then proceeds to grind the boot on his face as hard as possible. Anti-human racism aside, no wonder he was so willing to throw her to the wolves in season two.
He has an absolutely badass introductory scene, though - that slow march with the banners and honor guard.
That first episode - 1x18 "Legacies" - really brings home how much more messed up with PTSD and generally distrustful of the Minbari Sinclair is compared to Sheridan later. I know part of this is simply because Sheridan stepped into season two of Sinclair's character arc, so they didn't want to rehash the same territory with both characters. But they are very different, and it's fascinating to me that Sheridan, whose main wartime claim to fame is killing a lot of Minbari, is actually somewhat more easygoing about them in general than Sinclair is. Of course, they're different people, and it also makes psychological sense that Sinclair - who doesn't remember what he did in the war, and came out of it in a much more weird and ambiguous position - has more conflicted feelings than Sheridan, who had a fairly straightforward role and came out of it a war hero (and also dealt with the fighting in a less up close and personal way than Sinclair - commanding a battleship vs being a fighter pilot, basically). So I do feel all of that tracks, but it's still interesting to see how much wariness Sinclair has about them.
"Legacies" is also the episode with the teenage telepath, which has one of my least favorite bits in all of season one, that line about Na'Toth's mind being "cold, ugly, and alien." I had nearly forgotten what absolute dicks everyone was to the Narns in season one - Ivanova trying to argue her out of going to the Narn homeworld by pointing out that it's a barren wasteland and the money they're offering her isn't worth being surrounded by Narns all the time! That's going to be pretty different later on, too. I do wish Na'Toth had been able to stick around, and now I crave a fanfic in which the girl (Alisa) meets other Narns, maybe even Na'Toth again, when she's been on Minbar for a few years and isn't quite as put off by aliens as she was here ...
Anyway, then I also watched the Neroon scenes in season two (honestly pretty forgettable, he's a one-note asshole here, though as noted above, not entirely without cause) and season three (the episode where he does his heel face turn, not incidentally the point when I started liking him; Marcus making him laugh is such a great bit) and season four (❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭). I can't believe he's only in five episodes; he has such a solid character arc and seems like so much more a part of the show than he really is.
I was actually just going to watch his introduction scene, but ended up watching his whole first episode and then the rest of his scenes throughout the series,
He has an absolutely badass introductory scene, though - that slow march with the banners and honor guard.
That first episode - 1x18 "Legacies" - really brings home how much more messed up with PTSD and generally distrustful of the Minbari Sinclair is compared to Sheridan later. I know part of this is simply because Sheridan stepped into season two of Sinclair's character arc, so they didn't want to rehash the same territory with both characters. But they are very different, and it's fascinating to me that Sheridan, whose main wartime claim to fame is killing a lot of Minbari, is actually somewhat more easygoing about them in general than Sinclair is. Of course, they're different people, and it also makes psychological sense that Sinclair - who doesn't remember what he did in the war, and came out of it in a much more weird and ambiguous position - has more conflicted feelings than Sheridan, who had a fairly straightforward role and came out of it a war hero (and also dealt with the fighting in a less up close and personal way than Sinclair - commanding a battleship vs being a fighter pilot, basically). So I do feel all of that tracks, but it's still interesting to see how much wariness Sinclair has about them.
"Legacies" is also the episode with the teenage telepath, which has one of my least favorite bits in all of season one, that line about Na'Toth's mind being "cold, ugly, and alien." I had nearly forgotten what absolute dicks everyone was to the Narns in season one - Ivanova trying to argue her out of going to the Narn homeworld by pointing out that it's a barren wasteland and the money they're offering her isn't worth being surrounded by Narns all the time! That's going to be pretty different later on, too. I do wish Na'Toth had been able to stick around, and now I crave a fanfic in which the girl (Alisa) meets other Narns, maybe even Na'Toth again, when she's been on Minbar for a few years and isn't quite as put off by aliens as she was here ...
Anyway, then I also watched the Neroon scenes in season two (honestly pretty forgettable, he's a one-note asshole here, though as noted above, not entirely without cause) and season three (the episode where he does his heel face turn, not incidentally the point when I started liking him; Marcus making him laugh is such a great bit) and season four (❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭). I can't believe he's only in five episodes; he has such a solid character arc and seems like so much more a part of the show than he really is.