ATTN JMS: "The Ragged Edge" and Season 5 Comments

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: fruit13 at aol.com (Fruit13)
Date: 11 Apr 1998 22:12:15 -0600
Lines: 64



*Spoilers for "The Ragged Edge:"
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   That should be enough of that.
Well, let me say first, "The Ragged Edge" was amazing from all views. FX,
music, sript, drama, acting, etc. I really liked it.

   When I heard you were planning this virtual set stuff for the episode, I was
not looking foward to it (I was not extremely impressed with the S4 Mars
shots). But, man oh man, Netter Digital did a great job with this one. It
looked *very* real. For once, we finally see A SPACEPORT. Normally, when we see
a planet on Babylon 5, it's from a distance so we don't get to see what they
have in the way of satelittes and spaceports. But the Drazi homeworld looked
very busy. Very nice.

   This episode hit me emotionally more than most tend to. The Garibaldi scenes
especially. I loved the symmetry in his conversation with Stephen alluding to
S3 when Michael was trying to help him with his stim problem. That was painful.

   Another scene I noticed was sad, but maybe no one else did was the scene
when Stephen comes to talk to Sheridan about leaving for Earth. Sheridan looked
like he was having a hard time getting the words out, like it was hard for him
to tell Stephen that he was a friend. Was this intended as a reminder of
Sheridan's new militant personality? Or am I noticing something that's not
there?

   I was also noticing Londo's clothes. Now that he appears to be on a slow
path to redemption, were you planning on having him begin to wear lighter
clothing again? I know you played with this in Season 2 when his clothes began
to get darker, so why haven't they changed back now? Or is this an indication
that he can never escape his dark destiny?

   I've also noticed a distinct change in musical stylings for the show,
particulary in this episode. There's been more delicate keyboard/acoustic
guitar work with strings this year. No more big rousing horn sections. I'm
quite enjoying it.

   All in all I LOVED this episode. It is my new favortie S5 ep. I am *very*
much looking foward to what's in store for us in the rest of 2262 and 2281 and
how it will affect our charecters. Thanks for a great episode.

Jeff Allen
Fruit13 at aol.com 

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 13 Apr 1998 16:55:17 -0600
Lines: 15

Thanks...after our last stand-alone this coming week, they're all on a par with
"Edge" or better, frankly.  

As for the virtual sets stuff...yeah, some of the early Mars stuff was iffy, I
agree.  That's part of the experimentation process, you never hit it dead-on
the first time.  We learned each time we did something like that, and continued
to experiment until we could more carefully and completely integrate the CGI
virtual sets with the live action, and we're continuing to get more ambitious
about it.  

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
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