Babylon 5

Well, today I acquired the second season of Babylon 5. I've seen most of the later episodes, but not many of the early ones. The thing that I like about B5 is that it's got a continuing plotline through all the episodes. Each episode will have its own focus and storyline, but parts of it will relate to the overall story arc.

However, I must admit that the first episode of Season 2 was horribly written. Redundancies, awkward lines, heavyhanded character development... The most amusing redundancy was when Captain Sheridan indicated that he was going to take a shower before meeting the rest of the crew. A logical response would be: "Enjoy your shower, Captain. I'll see you on the bridge." Instead, Ivanova made an excuse to leave and whatever the excuse was would take her twenty minutes, at which point she would meet the captain on the bridge. Obvious case of the writer not knowing how to end a scene. Also, the plot was poorly structured. Five minutes of Sheridan reminiscing vs. two minutes for the 'climactic' lack-of-battle-scene.

The second episode was much better. Some of the foreshadowing was still heavyhanded, but there was a natural flow and a sense of urgency throughout. Still, J. M. Straczynski, or however you spell that, needs to work on subtlety as a writing skill. I don't remember the latter seasons suffering as much from heavyhandedness, so either he improved or someone else started doing the writing. Or possibly I wasn't as picky when I was watching them. :-) Anyway, I'm enjoying the episodes.

An observation about myself: I analyze plot structure the most when the writing is poor. When the writing is good, I'm too busy enjoying myself to analyze much of it.