Is Byron a sissie of what?

[Towelmaster]

A nice provocative title like that should get attention.

I'm watching season 5 for the second time(yeah I know, I know, I just never could get my hands on it before). Of course I heard about the storylines and this 'Byron-character'. Having watched S5 I wonder; is there anyone else who just doesn't really like the character? Of course there are good intentions, there is the messianic pain of not being understood, etcetera. But after a while his agonizing gets on my nerves a bit. He looks like Marcus without BEING Marcus, without the indestructible optimism that he radiated. Good thing Lyta is there in a lot of the scenes because she definitely makes up for a lot.

It's just that I find Byron to be a bit unlikely, a man with that vision who doesn't know how people will react?

For the rest S5 is very good. Londo's storylines(and G'Kar's too obviously) are great again. And one of the highlights for me is the growing friendship between those two, you can see it in the small gestures and moves. I find that great acting. They definitely don't go around slapping each others shoulder all the time, it's done nice and subtle.

But Byron, well; I think two episode with him would have been enough.

Anyone else or is it just me(could very well be of course).

[Spoo Junky]

The Byron character seemed kind of flat to me. He believed in his cause, but I didn't think his passion came across so well. Maybe it's the because of the acting or directing, I don't know.

I sort of felt the same thing about Sinclair. I just found that even when it was an action moment he was sort of deadpan. I know he was supposed to be a Jesuit(?) student and was all about the calm, cool thing. I just wanted to see him really freak out just once, let his hair down, wear some multicoloured striped socks - just have a little more personality. (I hope I don't get into too much trouble )

A not-so-exciting character in the first season and a not-so-exciting character in the last season. Very sad beginning, very sad end, but at least in that, there is symmetry.

[Ranger1]

When S5 was aired i didn't like Byron at all,it kept the B5 action side of things on hold,but as an arc you can really see why Lyta gone Coocoo.

[Harrdy]

Byron is IMHO a flawed hero, and I think that his flaws where the reason for the "bad end" (burning up and stuff). He was so sure that his message will live in every Teep that he was totaly surprised his fellow telepaths used violence. Kind of Ghandi without his (Ghandis) reasoning and tactical capability, flat out: without people knowledge (I hope the meaning transfers to english). And in that view I think his character workes quite well... of course I could be delusional again, where are my pills again? *g*

PeAcE

[Shadows the first ones]

[QUOTE=Spoo Junky]
I sort of felt the same thing about Sinclair. I just found that even when it was an action moment he was sort of deadpan. I know he was supposed to be a Jesuit(?) student and was all about the calm, cool thing. I just wanted to see him really freak out just once, let his hair down, wear some multicoloured striped socks - just have a little more personality. (I hope I don't get into too much trouble )QUOTE]




actualy if you rimember kosh telling Delen was it?? that sinclair is a close cuircet and that he hase done that for iternaty timeless maybe that hase some sorta effect on him. And how would you react if you knew you have to go back in time leave evrything you know behind for some sorta destany that you never chosen for your self???

[Towelmaster]

And how would you react if you knew you have to go back in time leave evrything you know behind for some sorta destany that you never chosen for your self???

Actually, I think he didn't know that until after he went to Minbar as the Earth representative(after season 1)... I think...

[Spoo Junky]

This sounds stupid even as I write it, but if Michael O'Hare moved his eyebrows more when he spoke, he would add more feeling to the character. For the longest time I couldn't figure out quite what it was about him, but I think that's it.

Is it just me?


I think Byron's character may have worked better if Claudia C. had stayed for Season 5 (or another charcter like her). When he got too whiny, she could have slapped him upside the head and got him feeling less sorry for himself and being more pro-active with his vision for telepaths. Since Lyta was in the same boat as Byron, she sympathized too much instead of giving him a kick in the right direction.

[Towelmaster]

When I first saw these Byron-episodes I expected Lyta to go all out with those weird Vorlontalents of hers... But jms waited with that until later on.

[Shadows the first ones]

biggest sissy in the world from the moment i seen him i wanted to knock his lights out.

[David Panzer]

If JMS and all the others responsible for making B5 didn't have the pressure in wrapping things up in Season 4 since PTEN was going down, Byron would have been introduced in Season 4 sometime after the Shadow War. At least, I've gotten that from reading the archived comments.

Having 11 straight episodes with Byron and his melancholy group of runaways does get very tiring. If what happened to Byron was shown stretched out over several more episodes instead of bunched together, he wouldn't strain the enjoyment of the viewer. If Brother Theo and his merry band of monks were shown in 11 straight episodes, he would be equally as annoying.

My apologies for the overuse of "If"

[Jan]

One thing I noticed the last time I watched Season 5 was that there really wasn't much difference between Bester's outlook and Byron's. Both believed that telepaths were superior to normals. Both bought into the 'all teeps are family'. I don't even think the pacifism was all that different. How many Psi Corps members probably saw violence regularly? I'd think that it would have to be something that they would need to train to cope with-emanations of pain and violent thoughts would have to be painful to them. The main difference was that Byron wanted to get completely away from normals and Bester wanted to dominate them.

I agree with WillieSAH that part of people's dislike of Byron stems from overexposure to him.

Jan

[Capt.Montoya]

actualy if you remember Kosh telling, Delen was it?? that Sinclair is a closed circuit and that he has done that for eternity, timeless, maybe that has some sort of effect on him. And how would you react if you knew you have to go back in time, leave everything you know behind for some sort of destiny that you never chose for yourself???

Sinclair assumed his destiny and accepted it, he chose to take it even if he didn't choose the path.
The concept that Sinclair is a closed loop is not to mean that he has relived such experience so many times. Proof of that is that IIRC canonical information ("To Dream in the City of Sorrows") has him surprised at learning that he has to go back in time and become Valen (as Towelmaster pointed before).

The real-world truth about Sinclair being so calm and mature in his outlook is that he already was what Sheridan became at the end of Season 5, thus JMS decided to replace him with a character that would grow to become a leader.

_____________

Interesting point you raise Jan. Seems right to me, Byron rejected Bester's dream of domination over the mundanes, but being his star pupil Byron kept the main "Besterian" concepts of teep superiority... maybe even without realizing it.

P.S. (on edit)
I also see a real-world explanation behind Byron being so hard to like: he was underdeveloped since JMS was already tired almost to death from writing all by himself and producing so many episodes.

[Sherlock]

The first half of season five is terrible. Byron is a crappy Fabio wannabe who would have been better served being a spokesperson for "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter."

There is nothing more cringeworthy in all of Babylon 5 than when they keep repeating "remember Byron."

[Shadows the first ones]

well thx to them basterds i can forget that play boy wannab i mean plz for one the actor looks like his the next legolas "i know b5 was made long b4 Gaylass there but still" with that long hair that looks totaly inpractical, and i hate what "he" done to lyta as carecter turned her totaly teep happy and blah di blah di blah

[Laiden]

Byron is a pussy . . . because he was written that way. I liked the character because he thought that telepaths were being mistreated by normals and that they should be able to live with them as equals, not segregated like they are now. He was different from bester, not similar. He didnt want to be what the corps tried to train him to be. . . so he chose non-violent methods. However, he did take action when action was needed.

as my brother just said, "the corps is mother, the corps is father, and Byron is a Pussy!"