B5: "The fall of Centauri Prime" rewatch
Jun. 29th, 2009 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amataraI should mention - I am not the crying type of person. Or, well, I am in real life sometimes, but fictional things like novels or films hardly ever draw a tear from me. Not that I'm unmoved by them, oh no - I get as choked-up as anyone by those good ol' tragic scenes. It's only that the tears fail to come, which is, in fact, more of a nuisance than one would imagine. I can hardly count the times I have sat in the theatre surrounded by a half-dozen friends, all blubbering like there was no tomorrow, while I'm sitting, dry-eyed, passing out handkerchiefs, and looking for all the world as if I'm made of stone. Believe me: it takes less to make you feel the odd one out.
[Embarrassing side-note: the one single movie I once cried for was 'Titanic', for reasons I still cannot and steadfastedly refuse to comprehend. And I might have shed a tear for 'Finding Neverland', which was nothing compared to the deluge my friends were causing in the meantime.]
As a consequence, I am probably the single person in the universe to never have cried over B5's written-to-kill 'Sleeping in Light', or the even more shattering (to me, at least) 'Fall of Centauri Prime'.
Incidentally, I re-watched just that episode, 'The fall of Centauri Prime', yesterday. Now that in itself would be less than remarkable, given that it's the episode I grab for every single time when I need another B5 (or, more specifically, Londo and G'Kar) fix. Well, every single time I feel like I can handle the tragedy, at least; when it's comfort food I'm yearning for, I tend to go for the early-S4 Cartagia arc... Which is in itself a choice worth analyzing, given the amount of sadism and torture involved - but Londo chewing scenery with Cartagia, oh hell, that makes me feel better every time!
Anyway, the special thing about this re-watch is that I was joined in it by my parents. Over the past months, I have been studiously converting them to B5-dom, even to the point where each phone conversation with them ended by "So, what's the latest thing happening on the station?" In this way, I learned that they were just about to watch the "ZOMG-Londo-and-G'Kar-are-going-to-hug-each-other-but-at-the-last-second-they-just-take-each-other's-freaking-arm" favorite ep of mine, and so I just - well - invited myself in. Which was how, for the first time in my life, I got to watch this episode in the company of an unspoiled pair of fans. And - oh, the nostalgia! Each frown, each head-shake, each puzzled look of theirs, I could practically remember making myself. And when, at the start of the final scene with G'Kar, I elbowed them and whispered "shhh!", I was rewarded by their absolute and reverent silence. Great Maker, that made me feel so glowy inside.
My parents are not great criers eather, certainly not over sci-fi, so it was hardly surprising that, just like my first time (and all subsequent ones) watching, I did not shed a tear. Which is horrible, now that I think of it, since there are so many moments in the story that deserve being sobbed, wailed and blubbered over... So, to make up for that, I decided to collect them in a post.
Ten moments I wanted to cry during 'The Fall of Centauri Prime', but couldn't (in chronological order) :
(1) Londo parking a semi-crushed G'Kar onto a chair, stuffing a pillow (a pillow, of all things!) behind his back, and then nearly breaking the remainder of his ribs with that reassuring thump on his chest. By the way: the Dutch subtitles wrecked this scene entirely, translating Londo's "You will be all right!" as an icy "Do not concern yourself, Sir" (but then in Dutch *g* ), which I spent five entire minutes cursing the translator for.
(2) The Regent's deadpan "It's all very clean that way. Once I'm gone, you can blame me for anything you want; I won't mind, really!" Incredibly, he is smiling during all of this, but it's the kind of smile that leaves you pulling the hairs out of your head in empathy.
By the way: does his character even have a name in the series? I've never heard one mentioned, which is in fact incredibly sad once you start thinking about it.
(3) "I have been silly. I have been quiet when I should have spoken. I have been foolish; and I have wasted far too much time. But I am still Centauri, and I am not afraid." The Regent's final words to Londo, which do the character more justice than all his previous scenes combined. Or how, in a crisis, when things truly matter, we are all so much stronger than we think; and how dignity can lie in the most unexpected places.
(4) Londo's and G'Kar's last carefree moment together. "Do I not keep my promises? Where you go, I go, hmm?", and then they chuckle, so awkwardly and sweetly, as if don't really feel like laughing but want to anyway, knowing that this is their final chance to do so.
(5) Londo: "And I just... I - I wanted to..." I don't think we've ever heard Londo stuttering before, and the fact that he is doing so in this scene, and averting his eyes, and that G'Kar doesn't even act surprised to see him like that... Well, I rest my case. *g*
(6) G'Kar: "Mollari. Understand, that I can never forgive your people for what they did to my world. My people can never forgive your people. But I... can forgive... you." This one doesn't need any words, so I won't add any.
(7) Londo: "I'm ready". And that he is, indeed, ready, for that sacrifice; but also plain horrified, at what it implies. Which makes it an even braver thing to do, because true courage is not the absence of fear, but taking your fear and making it your strength.
(8) The most logical (my inner Vulcan speaking; sorry) thing to mention from the beautiful Delenn/Lennier subplot would be the "I love you." "I know." Except that that other exchange, which they had some minutes before, captures the essence of these two people far better, in my opinon, for its subtlety.
Delenn: "Perhaps it's not so bad to go off the beacon... no one knows what's out there. Maybe we'll find a million-year-old jumpgate left behind by the first ones. That would be amazing, wouldn't it, Lennier? I would, of course, expect you to get it working in a timely fashion." Lennier: "I will do my best."
(9) Londo: "Vir, I have never been surer of anything in my life", as he makes Vir the new Ambassador, and then proceeds to usher him away before he gets hurt. And knowing that he means all of it, and that the certainty was both hard-won and painful.
(10) That sweet montage of Londo, with bells tolling and the music swelling in the background: passing out drunk on the banquet table; passionately kissing Adira; his look of horror as G'Kar drinks with him to the health of their emperor; watching the bombardment; Delenn's embrace; his death at G'Kar's hands. This, even more than the "I can forgive you", I cannot watch without forgetting to breathe.
[Embarrassing side-note: the one single movie I once cried for was 'Titanic', for reasons I still cannot and steadfastedly refuse to comprehend. And I might have shed a tear for 'Finding Neverland', which was nothing compared to the deluge my friends were causing in the meantime.]
As a consequence, I am probably the single person in the universe to never have cried over B5's written-to-kill 'Sleeping in Light', or the even more shattering (to me, at least) 'Fall of Centauri Prime'.
Incidentally, I re-watched just that episode, 'The fall of Centauri Prime', yesterday. Now that in itself would be less than remarkable, given that it's the episode I grab for every single time when I need another B5 (or, more specifically, Londo and G'Kar) fix. Well, every single time I feel like I can handle the tragedy, at least; when it's comfort food I'm yearning for, I tend to go for the early-S4 Cartagia arc... Which is in itself a choice worth analyzing, given the amount of sadism and torture involved - but Londo chewing scenery with Cartagia, oh hell, that makes me feel better every time!
Anyway, the special thing about this re-watch is that I was joined in it by my parents. Over the past months, I have been studiously converting them to B5-dom, even to the point where each phone conversation with them ended by "So, what's the latest thing happening on the station?" In this way, I learned that they were just about to watch the "ZOMG-Londo-and-G'Kar-are-going-to-hug-each-other-but-at-the-last-second-they-just-take-each-other's-freaking-arm" favorite ep of mine, and so I just - well - invited myself in. Which was how, for the first time in my life, I got to watch this episode in the company of an unspoiled pair of fans. And - oh, the nostalgia! Each frown, each head-shake, each puzzled look of theirs, I could practically remember making myself. And when, at the start of the final scene with G'Kar, I elbowed them and whispered "shhh!", I was rewarded by their absolute and reverent silence. Great Maker, that made me feel so glowy inside.
My parents are not great criers eather, certainly not over sci-fi, so it was hardly surprising that, just like my first time (and all subsequent ones) watching, I did not shed a tear. Which is horrible, now that I think of it, since there are so many moments in the story that deserve being sobbed, wailed and blubbered over... So, to make up for that, I decided to collect them in a post.
Ten moments I wanted to cry during 'The Fall of Centauri Prime', but couldn't (in chronological order) :
(1) Londo parking a semi-crushed G'Kar onto a chair, stuffing a pillow (a pillow, of all things!) behind his back, and then nearly breaking the remainder of his ribs with that reassuring thump on his chest. By the way: the Dutch subtitles wrecked this scene entirely, translating Londo's "You will be all right!" as an icy "Do not concern yourself, Sir" (but then in Dutch *g* ), which I spent five entire minutes cursing the translator for.
(2) The Regent's deadpan "It's all very clean that way. Once I'm gone, you can blame me for anything you want; I won't mind, really!" Incredibly, he is smiling during all of this, but it's the kind of smile that leaves you pulling the hairs out of your head in empathy.
By the way: does his character even have a name in the series? I've never heard one mentioned, which is in fact incredibly sad once you start thinking about it.
(3) "I have been silly. I have been quiet when I should have spoken. I have been foolish; and I have wasted far too much time. But I am still Centauri, and I am not afraid." The Regent's final words to Londo, which do the character more justice than all his previous scenes combined. Or how, in a crisis, when things truly matter, we are all so much stronger than we think; and how dignity can lie in the most unexpected places.
(4) Londo's and G'Kar's last carefree moment together. "Do I not keep my promises? Where you go, I go, hmm?", and then they chuckle, so awkwardly and sweetly, as if don't really feel like laughing but want to anyway, knowing that this is their final chance to do so.
(5) Londo: "And I just... I - I wanted to..." I don't think we've ever heard Londo stuttering before, and the fact that he is doing so in this scene, and averting his eyes, and that G'Kar doesn't even act surprised to see him like that... Well, I rest my case. *g*
(6) G'Kar: "Mollari. Understand, that I can never forgive your people for what they did to my world. My people can never forgive your people. But I... can forgive... you." This one doesn't need any words, so I won't add any.
(7) Londo: "I'm ready". And that he is, indeed, ready, for that sacrifice; but also plain horrified, at what it implies. Which makes it an even braver thing to do, because true courage is not the absence of fear, but taking your fear and making it your strength.
(8) The most logical (my inner Vulcan speaking; sorry) thing to mention from the beautiful Delenn/Lennier subplot would be the "I love you." "I know." Except that that other exchange, which they had some minutes before, captures the essence of these two people far better, in my opinon, for its subtlety.
Delenn: "Perhaps it's not so bad to go off the beacon... no one knows what's out there. Maybe we'll find a million-year-old jumpgate left behind by the first ones. That would be amazing, wouldn't it, Lennier? I would, of course, expect you to get it working in a timely fashion." Lennier: "I will do my best."
(9) Londo: "Vir, I have never been surer of anything in my life", as he makes Vir the new Ambassador, and then proceeds to usher him away before he gets hurt. And knowing that he means all of it, and that the certainty was both hard-won and painful.
(10) That sweet montage of Londo, with bells tolling and the music swelling in the background: passing out drunk on the banquet table; passionately kissing Adira; his look of horror as G'Kar drinks with him to the health of their emperor; watching the bombardment; Delenn's embrace; his death at G'Kar's hands. This, even more than the "I can forgive you", I cannot watch without forgetting to breathe.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-29 10:26 pm (UTC)I’m not the crying type either, most of the time. The only times I ever cried while watching TV were, like everyone else, during “Sleeping in the light” and “The fall of Centauri Prime”. (I may have cried at the end of Brokeback Mountain, too, but that’s another story.)
I agree with all your 10 moments, though I didn’t actually cry during all of them. 3, 5 and 10 are the ones that kill me the most.
My comfort episodes, when it comes to Londo and G’Kar, are the earlier ones, before it all went to hell. “Soulmates” in season 2 and that episode in season one where they fight over a flower. Sometimes I go for the few happy moments of season 5, too. G’Kar acting as Londo’s bodyguard always makes me smile.
According to wikipedia, the Regent’s name is Virini. He even has his own wikipedia page –how cool is that?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-30 11:03 am (UTC)Re Brokeback Mountain: don't know if you're aware of it, but there is this perfectly sweet Londo/G'Kar fanvid on youtube named "Brokeback Babylon" that does a great job of collecting all the subtext from the series (including the "body-guard" thing :) ).
Love your icon, by the way, and it makes me think of something. Have you ever read this (http://centauridelegation.homestead.com/safetyinnumbers.html) fic, by
Virini... I could swear I've heard that name before, but I'd always thought it was fanon, not canon. Good to know that he isn't nameless in the show, after all!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-30 08:16 pm (UTC)Yes, that's what I'm saying. Though I should add Spock's death in "Wrath of Khan" to the list. I do cry sometimes, but not in front of my TV. Don't know how "normal" that makes me. :)
I know about "Brokeback Babylon", yes. It always makes me smile, and yet I always feel a bit misty-eyed watching it, as B5 and BBM are my two favourite tragedies. This vid sends mixed signals to my brain.
I've read
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-30 10:07 pm (UTC)That does complicate, things, however. I guess it means you also know all those other great fics out there... So I can't just assume you'll like everything I write, since obviously you have standards (kakodaimon comes to mind)! And I who thought I'd met a fellow newbie I could easily impress. ;)
All silliness aside, though - thanks for being my very first regular (as in: you've commented on more than 1 post) reader! I will do my utmost to keep you happy (and hopefully pick up some more people along the way). *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-07-01 09:02 pm (UTC)I can't remember when I first started lurking on LJ, but my journal (in which I don’t actually post, but hey) was created in 2007.
As for my standards, don’t worry. I like what you write just fine.
Go on and impress me! I have full confidence you can do it. :)