I watched 3 eps of B5 last night.

[eruthros]

And you can tell.

Just out of curiosity, I was trying to figure out how many characters you had to keep track of if you watched B5 start to finish.


First off, there are the main characters:

Sinclair, Sheridan, Ivanova, Lochley, Garibaldi, Zack, Franklin, Talia, Lyta, Delenn, Lennier, Londo, Vir, G'Kar, Na'Toth, Kosh, Ulkesh

The fact that there are so many of these is pretty much irrelevant. I mean, we see them so often that it's easy to keep track of them and figure out who they are.

And then the recurring characters. I can come up with 22 off the top of my head:

Catherine Sakai, N'Grath, Bester, Senator Hidoshi, Lt. Keffer, Morden, President Clark, Lord Refa, Marcus, Brother Theo, Zathras, Lt. Corwin, Lorien, Draal, Number One, Lise, Neroon, Emperor Cartagia, General Hague, Dukhat, Wade, William Edgars

I may have forgotten some folks; some of these people were only in 2 or 3 eps, sometimes separated by whole seasons, but the few they were in were key. Take Zathras: he was in a season 1 ep (B^2), two season 3 eps (WWE1 + 2), and a season 4 ep (CoI). That's a damn long time to remember a character. And since B5 doesn't do "previously on"s, nobody ever tells you "this is Bester, the bastard Psicop who...." You've got to know, or you've got to piece it together from tiny comments.



And people complain about Firefly. Pfui.

Comments

[sineala.livejournal.com]

You forgot Anna Sheridan. Who is sort of recurring, yes? What about the Day of the Dead returning people -- Adira and Dodger, I think, as well as Morden and Lochley's friend whatsername. Is the guy who shoots Garibaldi in Chrysalis recurring? I would class Marcus with the main characters, since he was in the opening credits.

Which episodes were you watching? I just finished "Believers," which, in addition to being the one with the operating on the alien kid, also has Ivanova's lines about walking to and fro and, surprise surprise, Kosh's "The avalanche has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote." I was not expecting this to be the one with that line.

I don't see why people complain about Firefly either. They've only got, what, nine main characters?

[eruthros]

Season 4. "Racing Mars" (410) to "Conflicts of Interest" (412), the one with Zathras. Which is what prompted me to write this.

I think I've got someone addicted! Finally. She really likes Delenn and Ivanova's kick-ass-ness.

I meant to classify Marcus with the main characters. Whoops.

I was thinking about Anna Sheridan, but I wasn't sure if she was really in enough episodes to count; she's more of a recurring concept than a recurring character. Hmmm. She's in "Revelations." Her voice is in "WWE." And she's in "Shadow Dancing" and "Z'ha'dum." I guess that makes her a recurring character.

The guy who shoots Garibaldi in "Chrysalis" is recurring, but he's The Man With No Name. He's "Garibalidi's Aide." So I didn't include him.

I thought about Adira, but I couldn't remember her name. So I didn't include her. She's in three eps, yes? Over five whole seasons. Rock on; that's a better example than Zathras. She's in "Born to the Purple" (104), "Interludes and Examinations" (315), and "Day of the Dead" (511). Wow.

And I totally forgot Dodger. She's in just two eps, tho, yah? "GROPOS" and "DotD." Lochley's friend is only in "DotD." So not recurring.

I liked "Believers," but I still totally wouldn't have remembered that it's the one where Kosh talks about avalanches. Who knew?