Post by @david_chisnall@infosec.exchange

2026-10-27 08:30 UTC

RE: https://aus.social/@skribe/117510274571019947 Wonderful homage. Chekov was a shallow rôle that didn’t give Koenig much scope to demonstrate talent and he squeezed far more out of it than anyone would reasonably expect. But he really shined as Bester. I’ve seen all of Babylon 5 at least four times and I’m still shocked reading how few episodes he was in: he felt like a main character in spite of appearing in only around 10% of the total episodes. I had no idea his first appearance as Bester was four weeks after a quadruple heart bypass operation.

Replies (2)

@stuartmarks@mastodon.social 2026-10-28 22:08

@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange Wow, I never knew any of this, having never watched Babylon 5. I’ll have to fix that now, given the JMS essay, Koenig’s presence, and yours and others’ comments. His character is named “Alfred Bester” after the golden age S.F. author.

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@synlogic4242@social.vivaldi.net 2026-10-27 09:00

@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange agreed. I'm in middle of my first watch ever of B5, and Bester is one of the most memorable roles. the show is a joy overall on many levels, from writing to visuals, to characters, to moments, atmosphere, even how many times actors "speak" with their eyes and face. the arcs of Londo, G'Kar... from afar the show seemed cheesey so I avoided it. hell now I cant get thru most episodes without replaying scenes, dialogues, without taking many screenshots just of the color/pattern/texture artistry in the span of each frame

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