Group Watch: Soul Hunter

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Now this one's one of the very interesting episodes of babylon 5, in that it's so stand alone that it really doesn't impact anything until River of Souls. JMS actually rewrote this one because it was "too much like star trek" which he was trying to differentiate the show from.

Knowing that it was filmed prior to Midnight on the Firing Line..and watching it again, you can really tell. The kinks aren't as well worked out as Midnight, and after watching that ep in such close of a time period, Soul Hunter really seems to be sub-par. I might be one of the few, but I never really liked this episode too much to begin with. Really cool concept, I just don't like the execution so much, though it does have its high points. I honestly drifted off and got other things done while this ways playing in the background so I don't have too much to say heh. I think River of Souls is definitely the pay off for this episode though.

[Kevin]

You know, for all the stuff this episode does in setting up a bunch of foreshadowing for Sinclair that really pays off later... I just can't stand this episode.

And I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it. It's not that I hate or dislike the concept of Soul Hunters; I actually think it's a nifty, very unique concept for an alien race. But both this episode and River of Souls are just entities in B5 I don't enjoy watching, at all.

I think in this episode, it's just too slow, and intense as well, and when you're doing an intense episode, the pace should not be slow. It's just draining and it can be hard to keep your attention focused.

You'll notice there's no B-story in this episode, but in the script there originally was; and it wasn't too bad either. I think the lack of a B-story rather hurts the episode because the story on it's own just isn't enough to carry the entire episode for me.

But I think you make a good point; I don't think they'd quite found the finger tips of the show by the time they made this one, and it took a little more doing until they got on their path. (But on the same point I'd say Midnight still has plenty of kinks as well )Still, the story is significant for it's plot reasons, and the amount of stuff set up for Sinclair this early on is pretty cool.

Just on a side note: When I was trying to get my significant other to watch this show many years ago, I decided I didn't want to show her In The Beginning, because the mystery of Season 1 is something I felt was one of the niftiest things in the show, and I didn't want to ruin that for her. At the same time, there was no way I was going to show her The Gathering, because I know when I first saw that I thought it was just abysmal (nowadays I'm not so harsh). So I decided to just jump into the show... MotFL didn't really do it for her, and then we jumped into this sucker and... well, she just never wanted to watch the show ever again

Fortunatly for me, she was bored enough one night that she was willing to give it another shot, and at that point I adjusted my strategy and decided to just go for the good and necessary stuff in Season 1&2, and went with The Parliament of Dreams. And after that she was *quite* hooked, and all damage done by this episode was forgiven.

But I'll talk more about that one when we get there.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

[QUOTE=Kevin;37230]
Just on a side note: When I was trying to get my significant other to watch this show many years ago, I decided I didn't want to show her In The Beginning, because the mystery of Season 1 is something I felt was one of the niftiest things in the show, and I didn't want to ruin that for her. At the same time, there was no way I was going to show her The Gathering, because I know when I first saw that I thought it was just abysmal (nowadays I'm not so harsh). So I decided to just jump into the show... MotFL didn't really do it for her, and then we jumped into this sucker and... well, she just never wanted to watch the show ever again

Fortunatly for me, she was bored enough one night that she was willing to give it another shot, and at that point I adjusted my strategy and decided to just go for the good and necessary stuff in Season 1&2, and went with The Parliament of Dreams. And after that she was *quite* hooked, and all damage done by this episode was forgiven.
[QUOTE]

Yup...that's the problem with trying to hook a new person on the show. The mystery of season one is something you can only appreciate *after* you get through it and find out what the mystery was haha. Until then you just have to keep saying "Trust me..you just gotta keep powering through it." I usually try to start eople off kinda mid first season with maybe midnight and the gathering to introduce.

[vacantlook]

I'm also not a fan of this episode. It is slow; it just feels like it meanders about for most of the episode. I always have trouble watching it and usually end up with my attention diverted elsewhere whenever I try to make myself watch it.

[DeMonk]

Before this episode, Delenn seemed just as "one of the embassadors". It made me wonder why she was the one he specifically wanted. From then on I paid more attention to Delenn: she had to be important to be singled out in the second episode.

[Lope de Aguirre]

I liked SOUL HUNTER especially the actor of this guy.

I think it's one of better episodes of the first season.


Granted MIDNIGHT ON THE FIRING LINE, SIGNS AND PORTENTS + CHRYSALIS are better but there are many episodes I enjoy lesser than this.

[RMcD]

I don't really have a problem with Soul Hunter, although I'm generally very, very lenient on the early B5 eps because of what comes after - as long as they aren't actually unpleasant to watch I'm fine with them.

This one seems to showcase a lot of B5's strengths. It opens with what felt at the time like a pretty lengthy and innovative effects sequence with Sinclair grappling the alien ship, introduces Franklin who makes a good first impression, builds some ongoing mystery ("why would a member of the ruling body be assigned to ambassadorial duties? That's like assigning the vice president") and features a commanding performance by William Morgan Shepherd, who played the Soul Hunter. He has some well-written dialogue, and a lot of his lines are memorable because of the way he delivers them.

Then there's the whole philosophy of the soul thing, and the ambiguity of it, which lays all the groundwork for the revelations over the Battle of the Line and Minbari souls passing to humans.

I'd describe this as a 'classic' B5 episode - classic in the sense that its one of the most memorable early episodes and feels weirdly timeless, as though it could have been made in the 60s or 70s as easily as the early 90s, and feels a whole universe away from season 2 and onward.

[Babylon5fan07]

I just finally got the chance to finish Soul Hunter with my wife and all together seen this episode about 5 times including when it first came on tv on tnt. My wife liked the episode. I asked her to comment on it but she really didn't say much but she liked it. I think overall I have to agree with most of the comments made. Overall Morgan Sheppard does a great job with the acting job and also have to agree with the concept of the show but there are times this felt gloomy and slow. I would have to say the 2nd half of this episode was the most interesting and exciting but majority of the first half is painful at times. Overall River of Souls is the better of the 2 Soul Hunter stories...my wife and I have to finish Born to the Purple hopefully either tonight or tomorrow I will review it.

Alex