all my life down at heel

[pensnest]

I think I may have discovered the most intelligent commentariat on YouTube. I somehow found my way to Dr Octavia Cox, and also to Sick of Reading, and thus to the discovery that there is a little enclave of smart women doing video essays about Jane Austen's characters (etc). How delightful!

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I also had two nice surprises today: £25 from Ernie, and a magnificently cheerful pair of socks from the lovely turlough.



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Our devouring of Babylon 5 has slowed down somewhat as my BIL is staying this week, so meals are taken in a civilised way at the table instead of in front of the telly! We've just watched Walkabout, the comparatively uninteresting one (I just can't bring myself to care about Stephen) that follows the two-parter involving Babylon 4. And I don't have the spare mental capacity to do a lot of thinking about the episodes, hence, not posting about them. Which is a pity, as it's still well worth discussing.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

My B5 rewatch stalled with the last disc of season 2 to go. My DVD player in my TV absolutely refuses to accept the disc and I have nothing else to play it on. Frustrated doesn't begin to describe how I feel. Every time I put the disc in, it's immediately spat out again. Other DVDs seem fine, I've watched several, it's just the B5 ones it suddenly won't play, and I have no idea why. Sometimes I really hate technology.

But yes, Walkabout isn't exactly a scintillating episode. Stephen can be rather arrogant which annoys me. I do like him some of the time, but he's a little too full of himself for me to sympathise with.

[pensnest]

I find Stephen the least likeable character (despite Londo!). He's 'real' just as the others are, but his particular brand of masculinity just doesn't appeal to me, and I don't really care about his quest to 'find himself'. There are just too many other, more interesting personalities!

[badly_knitted]

Yes, of the core group I'd have to agree, he's the one I can't really identify with in the slightest, although I understand the actor himself wasn't like that at all. My penfriend met him once and said he was sweet, charming, and very modest.

Londo is a mess, his ambition ruling over common sense, and yet I still feel for him. He just keeps making such bad choices, digging himself in deeper until there's no way out.

[pensnest]

There's a kind of nobility to Londo even though he makes such bad choices, and we've seen his, hmm, 'humanity' already, we understand why he chooses the way he does.

[badly_knitted]

Exactly! He might be misguided, but he just wants what's best for his people, even if he goes about things the wrong way. He's a sad figure in a lot of ways.

[dine]

what terrific socks! those are really great - and getting an extra £25 isn't bad either.

[pensnest]

They are very fabulous, are they not! Love your icon. I should perhaps make some sock icons of my own.

[dine]

you should totally make some sock icons! this one was snagged from an offer a million years ago - it's fun to use randomly (and sometimes it actually matches content)

[frausorge]

Those are awesome socks indeed! What a pretty pattern, and nicely colorful for spring.

[pensnest]

Funnily enough, they remind me very strongly of Christmas!

[rikes]

Thank you for the YT recs!

What a delightful pair of socks!

[pensnest]

Enjoy the YT stuff - the comments are really interesting (I haven't watched many of the video essays yet).

[watervole]

Four colour knitting - I'm impressed! And they look great too!

Babylon 4 was fascinating.

I too prefer Londo to Stephen. Londo will stay in your brain forever. Stephen will fade.

[pensnest]

Londo is wonderfully complex, and it's really interesting to see why he made the choices he made, and the way he feels about them afterwards. With Stephen, it's a much simpler story, far less compelling. I quite approve of having 'smaller' stories (Peter Jackson, note: not everybody needs an arc), and really, we have *so* many wonderful characters in B5, someone has to be at the bottom of the list!

[turps]

What lovely socks.

I really enjoy when Turlough has sent off her socks and seeing the resulting posts and thanks. It's like she's sending happiness worldwide.

[pensnest]

Quite so! My feet have been very happy wearing them.

[turlough]

I'm glad I could give you a nice suprise!

Stephen is one of those characters I have trouble remembering when they're not onscreen.

[pensnest]

They are so cheerful! And also, completely comfortable.

I think Stephen's arc is so small and self-contained, that contrasted with the world-bending arcs most of the others have, it just isn't particularly engaging. (I just wanted to smack him when he abandoned his post just about when the war would be bringing in so many casualties.)