Story: Gropos
Written By: Lawrence G. DiTillio
Season: 2
Babylon 5 gets invaded by 25,000 Gropos (which is slang for Ground Pounders, who are essentially Marines) and has to house them before their big dangerous mission to help a planet in civil war. The main story involves the commander of this infantry and his difficult relationship with his son, who just happens to be Dr. Franklin. The B-story involves a tough female Gropo trying to get it on with Garibaldi. There's also a minor story involving this pilot who is in the credits but I keep forgetting about because he is hardly in the show, and some Gropos he is forced to share his quarters with. This last story is cool only because it involves Ken Foree from "Dawn of the Dead", but because I have no idea who this pilot is beyond a smiling face in the opening and some possible forgotten earlier appearance, I found it hard to connect.
Dr. Franklin has a difficult relationship with his stern military dad, and it is fairly standard fare. They always argue, they find it difficult to talk to one another, and in the end they seem to resolve their issues and hug and say they love each other. It isn't terribly executed, but you've probably seen this story before. The Garibaldi story is also not terribly special, but they try to give a little bit of character reflection for Garibaldi, so good for it.
While this episode is not terribly special, it has a powerful ending in noting that all these Gropos we've met pretty much croaked on the mission, with the exception of their leader, Franklin's dad. I'll give it this much...I was at least watching it without getting too bored or frustrated by it, so maybe this show can execute mundane storylines and not make you hate it. That's a plus from what I got used to on "Star Trek: Enterprise"
NEXT TIME: Delenn's Fate with the Council
Written By: Lawrence G. DiTillio
Season: 2
Babylon 5 gets invaded by 25,000 Gropos (which is slang for Ground Pounders, who are essentially Marines) and has to house them before their big dangerous mission to help a planet in civil war. The main story involves the commander of this infantry and his difficult relationship with his son, who just happens to be Dr. Franklin. The B-story involves a tough female Gropo trying to get it on with Garibaldi. There's also a minor story involving this pilot who is in the credits but I keep forgetting about because he is hardly in the show, and some Gropos he is forced to share his quarters with. This last story is cool only because it involves Ken Foree from "Dawn of the Dead", but because I have no idea who this pilot is beyond a smiling face in the opening and some possible forgotten earlier appearance, I found it hard to connect.
While this episode is not terribly special, it has a powerful ending in noting that all these Gropos we've met pretty much croaked on the mission, with the exception of their leader, Franklin's dad. I'll give it this much...I was at least watching it without getting too bored or frustrated by it, so maybe this show can execute mundane storylines and not make you hate it. That's a plus from what I got used to on "Star Trek: Enterprise"
NEXT TIME: Delenn's Fate with the Council
Comments
Post a Comment