It’s been a while since I’ve made a posting on the personal blog here. Much of my time and resources have been tied in completing Afterhell Volume 2, which is finally done. Then came a slight rush of attention when “The Sonic Society” broadcast the pilot ep, “Dark Descent.” Last week Eddie, one of our cats, had a bloody but fortunately minor crisis with one of his paws. That required a few harried rides to the vet and the first of many pills for the poor guy.
As soon as all that was sorted out, my body practically crashed. One bright side of that is, since I have to take a lot of rest, it gives me a chance to catch up on Old Time Radio shows and podcasts. I’ve been listening to everything from TWiT to the 1950’s Nightwatch.
Of course not every podcast is ultra-shiny. Once in a while, you find a popcorn kernel that didn’t pop. Sometimes you find out that’s irritatingly awful. So what have we got here in my big bag o’ podcasting.
This one is golden, fluffy, and buttery. Here’s another. This one too. Now how about–ooh, here’s a bad one. The Babylon Podcast, Show #5.
Wait, I hear you say, it’s a podcast about Babylon 5, one of the best TV shows evar!  How can it possibly be bad?
I impart a sad truth, grasshopper. There’s always someone ready, willing, and able to ruin a good thing.
Anyway I tried Babylon Podcast #5. I downloaded it months ago, but didn’t get a chance to go over it until this week. And as starting points go, it’s a fitting one, I suppose. (I R so clevar, R I not?)
BP#5 features an interview with Kurt DeFilipps, who was an assistant propmaster on the Babylon 5 series. I figured, “They’re gonna talk about props. Nothing controversial there, just a mess of trivia and a few laughs. An easy listen fer sure, dude.” It starts out well. It’s a fun interview. The end of it fizzles out, the way people keep talking long after they’d run out of things to say.
But it’s a fan-run operation. These things happen. With a little practice in front of the mike and behind the controls of a sound editing program, it gets sorted out eventually. Same thing with the opening — they do their own self-indulgent version of the Season 1 B5 titles (“It was the dawn of the Third Age of podcasting….”) God, it’s so childish. Embarrassing and totally pointless. But hey, they’re having fun. It’s cute. You cop it to enthusiasm and move on.
The rest of the podcast, however, is like passing a stone the size of a bowling ball. Left to their own devices, podcasters Tim Callender and Summer Brooks lay into the pilot ep, “The Gathering.” What’s the fraggin’ point in that? It’s an easy target. The pathetic, misshapen thing can’t even defend itself. Everyone knows how bad it is, even with the TNT edits. No great challenge to attack. No real insights to offer, either.
It’s one thing to discuss or study the ep, but it’s another to just rag on it. Tim Callender and Summer Brooks don’t bring any hard info to bear for context –like the fact that the production process on the pilot ep was a mess, low on money, short on time, director Richard Compton being forced to maintain order on his own, all facts documented by jms himself at conventions when he was promoting Season 1. Instead they griped about the things they didn’t like. Delenn’s ring. Stewart Copeland‘s music. The props. The sets. How various plot elements didn’t mesh well with the rest of the series. How telepathy was handled. How the Vorlon ships has logos on them (?). How we didn’t see the Centauri Republic in the series resemble a tourist attraction as described in the pilot.
They can’t even respond to criticism with any semblance of credibility. People were a little surprised by their criticism of Stewart Copeland’s music. Granted, his score for the pilot didn’t resemble Christopher Franke‘s “Requiem for the Line” motif or anything. But jeez! Tim Callender snarked at a comment on the Babylon Podcast blog, “Yes, I was aware of Copeland’s pedigree (I also like his Klark Kent stuff). And the Police recorded ‘Walking On The Moon’, so I suppose there’s an SF connection in there somewhere. 🙂 “ So he likes Stewart Copeland’s bloodline. Nice thing to say, I guess. And somehow a strawman in desperate need for an SF connection wanders into discussion on his way to see the Wizard…
Meanwhile Summer Brooks simultaneously backpedals and slags in the same posting: “I didn’t think I ripped Copeland’s score at all… I just thought that the music changed the tone being set for the story. […]but honestly, does it stick in your soul like Franke’s theme does?” Translation: I didn’t rip Copeland’s score, but since I didn’t, I’ll take some time to do that now. And of course the soul is an objective standard for anything. Ugh. It’s like watching Barry Bonds dig himself in deeper.
Jeez, did they like B5 at all? Yes, they did like the fact that G’Kar didn’t cry out, how “he didn’t make a sound!” when he was being crushed by Delenn’s ring. Even though he did.
They’re doing the best they can, I guess. I mean, they confuse “Hunter, Prey” with “Points of Departure,” “Walkabout,” and “In The Beginning.”  Or nitpick things to death and call it geeky fun. But they’re doing what they can.
Okay. Fine. Just keep me out of it.
By virtue of jms’ writing, Lawrence DiTillio‘s writing, Ardwright Chamberlain‘s voice work, and Jeffery Willerth‘s forebearance, one of my favorite characters on the show once said, “A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles.”
After this, I have a much more clear, much more bitter understanding. [sigh] Let’s head back to the barn….