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I might next year as I plan to rewatch (maybe actually gif things this time? It would be pretty awesome. There's all these moments I always wanted gifs and gifsets of but nobody ever made them because they didn't feature actual cast characters) but here's some thoughts I wrote in March when I still thought I would have time for it, which believe it or not was actually about Garibaldi.
idk man the muse struck and I followed it. He is not a character I think about or write about a lot. Actually I'll be even more honest: I don't like Garibaldi. I don't like the character, I definitely don't like the actor (and since the actor's vibes and values do slip through - and this was on purpose - it is even less easy to separate the art from the artist than usual), and I don't like the s5 ending of "space capitalism wins the day". I don't mind giving Garibaldi a happily ever after, I just don't like that particular HEA. Quite frankly I think Lise can and should do better.
But I don't want to not-like Garibaldi, necessarily. There are elements of his character and arc that are very powerful, and very well-done. Sometimes his dialogue can be witty. I don't mind procedural storylines, and I don't mind cops in fiction, especially when on occasion the narrative holds them accountable for the stark reality of their rightwing worldviews which Babylon 5 has a better track record of doing than idk NCIS. Actually, I really adore everything about the S4 Garibaldi arc and I wish it doubled down harder than it did in S5. So I've always wanted to look for ways to keep what I like and be able to softly explain away the things I don't like.
Every time I rewatch S1, there's two episodes that stand out for me as just.... very boring, and they are TKO and Survivors. Are these in and of themselves bad episodes? Probably not, but for me they are, because they're Garibaldi episodes. Most of the time in S1 when we see Garibaldi, we're also seeing him with Sinclair, and he's more of a supporting character in Sinclair's story. This is more satisfying to me: their relationship on-screen as characters is extremely meaningful for both characters. But now that I'm rewatching the series with the high quality blu-ray (it was worth it, oh my god it was so worth it) I find myself being more forgiving, and more open to exploring ideas, especially for episodes and characters I'd originally written off. Like Garibaldi.
So here's ( my Garibaldi backstory theory, and here's how I think TKO and Survivors could both have been made much stronger episodes for its inclusion... )
idk man the muse struck and I followed it. He is not a character I think about or write about a lot. Actually I'll be even more honest: I don't like Garibaldi. I don't like the character, I definitely don't like the actor (and since the actor's vibes and values do slip through - and this was on purpose - it is even less easy to separate the art from the artist than usual), and I don't like the s5 ending of "space capitalism wins the day". I don't mind giving Garibaldi a happily ever after, I just don't like that particular HEA. Quite frankly I think Lise can and should do better.
But I don't want to not-like Garibaldi, necessarily. There are elements of his character and arc that are very powerful, and very well-done. Sometimes his dialogue can be witty. I don't mind procedural storylines, and I don't mind cops in fiction, especially when on occasion the narrative holds them accountable for the stark reality of their rightwing worldviews which Babylon 5 has a better track record of doing than idk NCIS. Actually, I really adore everything about the S4 Garibaldi arc and I wish it doubled down harder than it did in S5. So I've always wanted to look for ways to keep what I like and be able to softly explain away the things I don't like.
Every time I rewatch S1, there's two episodes that stand out for me as just.... very boring, and they are TKO and Survivors. Are these in and of themselves bad episodes? Probably not, but for me they are, because they're Garibaldi episodes. Most of the time in S1 when we see Garibaldi, we're also seeing him with Sinclair, and he's more of a supporting character in Sinclair's story. This is more satisfying to me: their relationship on-screen as characters is extremely meaningful for both characters. But now that I'm rewatching the series with the high quality blu-ray (it was worth it, oh my god it was so worth it) I find myself being more forgiving, and more open to exploring ideas, especially for episodes and characters I'd originally written off. Like Garibaldi.
So here's ( my Garibaldi backstory theory, and here's how I think TKO and Survivors could both have been made much stronger episodes for its inclusion... )
