Thanks all. The ambiguity irriates me in this case. i know they're trying to link it in with the "maybe God is protecting Baltar" thing, but for us literal-minded types it's hard to swallow a coincidence that big. That out of a huge fleet, it's the one ship the Cylons are using the track them that get left behind?

Wait, what am I becoming a part of here?

OK, so there's one plot point that this newcomer didn't quite get. Was the Olympic truly left behind by mistake? Or did the Cylon agent(s) on board deliberately keep it back to load nukes and go after the fleet?

Cogito ergo DOOM

Dammit, I knew using a sentient AI as my nom de guerre was a bad idea!

NEWBIE NOTES - a spoiler-free zone

I've been refreshing the page every 33 seconds waiting for this to post. Maybe *this* time…

Lochley's absence doesn't bother me. She and Sheridan didn't work together that much (from what we could see) and she certainly didn't go through the Shadow War with him. Plus, she likely took another posting 2-3 years later and wasn't even a huge part of Bablyon 5's (the station, not the show) history.

[clutches necklace] No!!!!

I definitely meant the Centauri/Drakh part of S5 as the possible Scouring equivalent. Sleeping in Light is more in Frodo goes to the Grey Havens territory. But as I said, it may not hold up.

Absolutely. I just can't tell whether JMS was making that point on purpose or accidentally.

You can really taste the Kale!
—Woody Boyd

Something that struck me on the rewatch (my first of S5 since it aired) is that Sheridan isn't that great at being President, at least not yet. He falls back on shouty speeches and giving orders, which worked when he was in a chain of command or in direct conflict with others.

I think you've touched on the main issue with season 5. The Drakh and the Telepath War could have become "the spine of something interesting", but that's not what the last season of a show should be doing. JMS kept saying this was a self-contained 5-year story, but then he spent the last year of it setting up…

I think it's worth sticking it out to the end, but I'm one of those people who really liked Sleeping in Light.

Totally. I'm glad they got someone who *looks* like she could be a trouble-making pilot for the role, rather than a Sarah Michelle Gellar type. I don't buy the guy playing Lee Adama as a pilot, but Sackhoff sells it.

That's the good thing about watching for the first time along with these reviews: it forces me to ration (just like the characters!).

NEWBIE NOTES

I have those DVDs but haven't watched the films with the commentaries. I started watching one of the extras with Insdorf and something about her ostentatiously stylish outfit and the way she started in with "Even I — such a great friend of Kieslowski — didn't think these films would be so beloved" set me on edge…

It depends…do you have a beard? (Also: that sucks.)