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5.0 out of 5 stars
More Ominious Signs and Portents of the Shadow War to Come, May 25, 2001
This review is from: Babylon 5 - Season 2 - Geometry of Shadows/Distant Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)
A splendid coupling of two of Babylon 5's best Season 2 episodes that offers viewers tantilizing glimpses into what is yet in store for the valiant crew of Babylon 5. In "Geometry of Shadows" Michael Ansara (better known to "Star Trek" fans as the Klingon Kang) is the technomage who delivers to Ambassador Mollari (Peter Jurasik) an ominious warning about his and the Centauri Republic's future. Meanwhile Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian) finds herself caught in a bizarre dispute involving two Drazi factions. In "Distant Star", Captain Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) comes to the aid of his old friend and mentor, Captain Maynard (Russ Tamblyn), and his EarthForce survey vessel, heading outward bound towards the mysterious Rim. A mysterious Rim which may be the source of large, almost unseen, dark starships lurking in hyperspace.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
More info on the future, April 22, 2009
This review is from: Babylon 5 - Season 2 - Geometry of Shadows/Distant Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Geometry of Shadows is forty-three minutes and thirty seconds long and originally aired on November 16, 1994. You have mainly two stories going on at once. First Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova is promoted to Commander and as her first task as Commander she is to find a peaceful solution to the Drazi conflict. Every five years the Drazi have a civil war. They are split into two factions; Purple Drazi and Green Drazi. It is unclear why they have a civil war every five years. Who ever emerges from the conflict is the ruling party for the next five years. The fights have gotten out hand. Commander Ivanova first tries to settle things by bringing both parties together to find a peaceful solution and try to understand the nature of the conflict. Things do not go well on the first try and she winds up breaking her foot. On her second attempt she is captured by the Green Drazis and is used as bait to kill Purple Drazis. However Mr. Garibaldi comes to the rescue and frees Susan. When they meet up with Green Drazis, Susan takes the sash of the leader and the Green Drazis declare her the leader. When she find out why she is the leader she sends the Green Drazis to the supply room to die all green sashes purple. The second story deal with Londo Mollari is seeking an audience with a Technomage. When Vir Cotto is sent to set a meeting with a technomage, Elric (the leader of the technomages) tells him he wants nothing to do with his master. When Vir tells Londo the message, Londo looks for another way to get that meeting. He sets it up with Captain Sheridan so Elric can be there. When Elric finds out that Londo is recording this meeting, he destroys the recording device and put a spell on Londo. Londo goes to the technomages to apologize. When he sees Elric at the docking bay waiting to board the ship Elric tells Londo he has remove the curse and give Londo his word or two to take home to the folks.
"Well take this for what little it will profit you. As I look at you, Ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds. The sounds of billions of people calling your name." - Elric
"My followers?"- Londo
"Your victims."- Elric
[...]
Elric and his people are allowed to leave the station. The Geometry of Shadows gets an AA++.
The Coming of Shadows is forty-four minutes long and was aired on November 23, 1994. Captain Jack Maynard is the captain of the EarthForce Explorer-class ship, the EAS Cortez. He is coming to Babylon 5 for needed supplies. Captain Sheridan throws a dinner party for his friend Stinky (Captain Sheridan is known as Swamp Rat). When the Cortez leaves, an explosion on board the ship happens and that causes it to lose navigation. They send out a distress signal and Babylon 5 receives it. Captain Sheridan sends out Zeta Squadron to rescue the Cortez. This is the first time we are introduced the Egyptian Prayer. The Egyptian Prayer would be repeated in later episodes. In the middle of the search and rescue, a Shadow ship is encounter. Lt. Galus' Starfury is destroyed and Lt. Keffer's engines are disabled. Lt. Keffer shoots in the direction in the way home in hopes that the Cortez can figure out what he is doing. They eventually do and the Cortez and three members of Zeta Squadron make it back to Babylon 5. Later on another Shadow is encounter and Lt. Keffer is able to figure the way back home. Back home Lt. Keffer is promoted to Commander of Zeta Squadron due to the death of his commander. In a lesser story Mr. Garibaldi is trying to smuggle supplies to make bagna càuda he makes only once a year in honor of his father. However, Dr. Franklin has put Mr. Garibaldi on a special diet. Dr. Franklin finds out about the food being smuggled aboard and confronts Mr. Garibaldi. Mr. Garibaldi explains the reason for doing so and Dr. Franklin allows him to make the dinner only if he is invited. In the next scene you seem the both enjoying bagna càuda. The Coming of Shadows only gets a B+ from me.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Ominous foreshadowing and comic interludes on "Babylon 5", June 5, 2004
This review is from: Babylon 5 - Season 2 - Geometry of Shadows/Distant Star [VHS] (VHS Tape)
After using the first two episodes of Season 2 of "Babylon 5" to put the pieces in place (new commander Sheridan, Garibaldi out of his coma, and Delenn transformed), "The Coming of Shadows" really begins with the first episode on this videotape. "The Geometry of Shadows" (Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Aired November 16, 1994) focuses on Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) and Ambassador Londo (Pete Jurasik), although in totally separate plot lines. Ivanova gets promoted by Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) and gets to deal with the diplomatic problem of the Drazi. It seems that every five years the Drazi divide into two camps and start fighting; whoever wins the most fights gets to rule the Drazi for the next five years. If you think this sounds rather stupid now, then wait until Ivanova tries to deal with these clowns (apparently it is not easy being green, or purple for that matter). Meanwhile Londo is trying to make contact with Elric (Michael Ansara), a Technomage who stays one step ahead of the ambassador and offers some ominous foreshadowing about the Centauri's future (It also occurs to me that somebody out there must be writing a comparison of Narn and Klingon opera). Clearly what is coming is not going to be pretty. "Distant Star" (Written by D.C. Fontana, Aired November 23, 1994) has Captain Maynard (Russ "Yes, I am Amber's father" Tamblyn), an old friend of Captain Sheridan visiting the station. But as soon as he leaves disaster strikes and the commander has to mount a rescue mission to do what has never been done before. The comic relief for the episode comes from Dr. Franklin (Richard Biggs) coming up with new diets for everybody on B5, whether they want it or not and Sheridan has his first interesting talk with Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan). This is a decent adventure episode, but it is really "The Geometry of Shadows" that is the important episode here and which compels me to round up on the rating.
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