A recent conversation has brought up an interest in seeing the human encounter suit and ship from B5's "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars". So, I was wondering if someone on this board has the episode on DVD and would be willing/able to snap some shots? Many thanks.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
And that, right there, is an example of why I requested new screencaps. They so tiny! Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Jumpnow.de's aren't much better, sorry. If you haven't sourced anything by tonight I'll get some from the DVD, which happens to be on my desk at home at the moment. In fact, I think "Deconstruction" was the next ep I was due to watch before I got distracted by Firefly. . .
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I wonder why the style of encouter suit was essentially reused 1,000,000 years after Vorlons were seen? A fundamental requirement of the design? They just wanted to let people realise what it was exactly by making it a familiar shape?
Was the actor that played the human supposed to be anyone i.e. like a cameo from someone who is normally under makeup or something?
Why is he in Cerebro? Posted by FawnDoo (Member # 1421) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: I wonder why the style of encouter suit was essentially reused 1,000,000 years after Vorlons were seen? A fundamental requirement of the design? They just wanted to let people realise what it was exactly by making it a familiar shape?
I always put it down to the encounter suit bearing a superficial resemblance to the species that created it, to be honest. Before they became all glittery, floaty and generally Tinkerbellish that is. The Vorlon one no doubt bore a slight resemblance to the Vorlons themselves when they had physical bodies.
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: Was the actor that played the human supposed to be anyone i.e. like a cameo from someone who is normally under makeup or something?
I don't think he was - I had a quick look about and I think it was this guy who played the future human. According to his imdb entry the B5 gig was his last work.
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: Why is he in Cerebro?
What, evolved humans a million years in the future can't be X-men fans? From what I recall he is in there downloading the entire body of human knowledge so it can be moved to a new homeworld before the sun goes nova. That's one hell of a USB drive for that one.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Yeah, and why they hell is he the ONLY person to do it, RIGHT BEFORE the sun goes nova? Isn't that sorta... y'know... dangerous? Or at the very least quasi-dumb-yet-dramatic in typical Straczynski style?
Mark
Posted by FawnDoo (Member # 1421) on :
Well you know what it's like when you're moving home. Fridge? Check. Computer? Check. TV? Check. Collected human knowledge of a million years of development and evolution? SHIIIT! Cue hurried stuffing of things into boxes. I'm sure we've all been there.
...or yeah, it could be JMS and his usual brand of "pull a situation out of thin air and resolve it the same way" writing. A plot so hackneyed I believe it would make Stan Lee blush. Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Considering that our sun isn't supposed to go nova at all, especially not a mere million years from now, I think something else was going on there. They may not have had much time at all.
B.J.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
If that were the case, then the bald guy wouldn't have spent the whole hour watching TV before leaving. No, I'm sure it's just jms's mediocre plotting again... Given that this episode was shoehorned into the arc when TNT appropriated the show, I think it suffers even more from less- polished scripting than than his usual writing. Seriously, it's what happens when you write two and a half seasons of a show ON YOUR OWN.
You gotta admire what the man did with Babylon 5, but I really can't dig his writing and especially his hackneyed dialogue. Same boat as Lucas, IMHO.
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
JMS' responses from the Lurker's Guide: ---------------- # "My personal nit is that JMS has the sun going nova in only a million years. This seems several orders of magnitude too soon for me."
Actually, the computer voice specifies that it is continuing to note atypical solar emissions...atypical meaning something unusual is going on.
# And what if you, say, interfered substantially with the mass of the sun by, say, causing a series of jump points to open up *inside* the sun across several days?
# You'd also substantially decrease the mass of Sol, which as I understand it, would result in the sun going nova. ----------------
I'm not sure what he was going for by destroying the sun, but he at least understood that what he was doing was not a natural occurrence.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I've no issue with that - just wondering why they woudl wait until the last minute to back up the file server, and if it WAS an urgent thing, why the guy would be searching through reruns. Like FD said - creating a silly situation out of nowhere, and then resolving it with the same panache.
Mark
PS - In Stargate, they once dumped an active gate into a star and dialled a black hole, which caused enough mass to be drawn through the gate before it was destroyed and triggering a nova in the process - destroying Apophis' fleet. It was a little less hackneyed in this instance. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Not really impressed with any of the shots I could get of the ship, it's moving so fast they're all blurred. It's green and swirly, has a coupla nacelly wing things, and the Ranger symbol on the side. I think that it might be intended to imply that maybe he isn't just a Future Human, but a Future Human/Minbari.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
So why would he pop out of his Twiki outfit to watch TV? Would the ancient Betamax computer system only respond to physical human commands?
Mark
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
It could be that these humans/Minbari/what-have-you (and possibly the Vorlons as well) come out of their encounter suits when they're on their homeworld. I mean, it was specifically mentioned numerous times that precious few were allowed on the Vorlon homeworld. Presumably they are allowed to see the Vorlons in their natural form, thus no need for an encounter suit.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Lee: I also always assumed that the character we saw was supposed to represent the "final" (so to speak) blend of the Human and Minbari races.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Can you imagine that committee meeting? "So, we're agreed - the Minbari will lose the head-bone, the Humans will lose their hair. Except facial hair because, well, y'know. The 'women to haver four breasts' motion is rejected as it would mean re-designing the encounter suit. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm attending a seminar on 'Speaking Enigmatically To The Younger Races.'"
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