Babylon 5

[extrapenguin]

I've been rewatching Babylon 5 at a pace of ~4 episodes a weekend with a few friends, and I gotta say, it's one of the rare things that is even better on rewatch. It was definitely written and plotted as one thing. We just finished the War Without End two-parter, and I love the closed time loops – the big one, but also the few small ones they included.

Sheridan/Delenn is one of the few het ships I actually enjoy, since JMS actually put in the work of developing it so that it felt inevitable that they'd get together and now that they're officially together they're almost always holding hands or have arms around each other at important moments.

(My Marcus ship, OTOH, is not the canon(-ish?) Marcus/Ivanova, but rather Marcus/Steven. They spend a lot of time together and will pretend to be fake married for their trip to Mars! I also think, if crossovers are a thing, that Marcus Cole/Obi-Wan Kenobi should be a thing. They are both snarky with British accents, and the Jedi are basically telepathic Rangers. They'd get right along and annoy the fuck out of everyone in the vicinity.)

Really anticipating Lyta Alexander showing up more in s4. I think I recall casually shipping her and Ivanova, though idk if there was any basis to that beyond "mm hot".

Comments

[nnozomi]

I haven't actually watched B5 since college, but I remember ADORING it; the overall arc plot was absolutely gripping (Z'ha'dum! watching that with half a dozen other people in a darkened room and holding our breaths!), and there are so many good characters. I would say I don't mind Sheridan/Delenn, they're fine; I used to want to grow up to be Ivanova (gorgeous sarcastic competent Jewish bisexual lady, I mean, come on), and I remember the Marcus/Steven fake marriage and how amazing that throw-away line felt in, what, 1997? Much more fun together, as you say. Keep us posted on your ongoing thoughts?

[extrapenguin]

I think I binged it in my early teens over a summer, but this is giving everything a bit more of a chance to breathe and getting some fully adult memories and reactions to it now. And really, who doesn't want to grow up to be Ivanova?

I'll do my best to keep you posted as much as I remember!

[justanorthernlight]

B5 is such a great rewatch show.

There's a couple of good Lyta & Ivanova moments in season 4 (IIRC they have a late night talk during Hour of the Wolf, and Ivanova reaches out to her once during her issues with fake!Kosh) but I've always wondered if there would have been more in season 5 had Ivanova not been written out.

[extrapenguin]

Ah, so there was a basis to my ship other than "I like them both, they should mash faces and other bits"! IIRC the s5 teep colony plotline was supposed to be Ivanova's, so I assume Lyta would've been there to support her or talk about stuff – it would be the most logical choice.