How to start my GF out on B5

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Okay..here's some background on the girl. She's intellectual, likes to read a lot..I've explained the arc and how well written it is and all, so she said 'fine, I'll watch an episode.'

My gut response is "start her from the beginning...she's gotta start from the beginning," because it makes the show that much better. However, I know the first season or so isn't the most exciting of tv, and based on aesthetics, the CGI and the makeup and all that really wasn't perfected yet, so it doesn't look as great.

From there..I'm not sure where to start that wouldn't ruin the impact if she did decide to watch the whole show. I don't want to show sleeping in light because that really needs the whole show to make that impact, though it's my favorite episode.

She's a psychology major, and likes to analyze characters and situations..so my next thought is the episode where Sheridan is held and interrogated because it's so beautifully done and it's a mind tirp for sure. I forget the title of it. What do you guys think?

[Jan]

If you're only going to get *one* shot at it...if she won't commit to at least 6-8 episodes...I say start her out with In the Beginning. Yeah, I know it spoils some things but it's better than not hooking her at all, imo.

Jan

[SLerman]

I basically just forced my girlfriend to watch it from the beginning (i.e. The Gathering) and go straight through in order. It may take well into Season 2 to get her really addicted. If necessary, tell her it's just like a novel; the beginning of the story has to be relatively slow in order to establish the universe and characters.

As a happy ending to my story, my girlfriend has since gotten her mother addicted to B5. They're almost done with Season 5.

[WorkerCaste]

One episode is really hard! I always tried to get a 4 ep commitment from my converts.

[rallytbk]

"Parliament of Dreams" would be my episode of choice for a babylon 5 first season eye opener. While "In The Beginning" would show all the action and suspense Babylon 5 has to offer IMHO it just gives too much away for a first time viewer.

Plus Londo's drunken state and Delenn's "Red fruit ceremony" really brings out the characters

[Joseph DeMartino]

My best friend, Rich, saw the B5 pilot when it first aired (it was not yet called The Gathering) and was intrigued by it. I missed it. A year later he started watching the series. I wasn't interested and didn't go out of my way to find out what station in my Florida town might carry it. I ran across it by accident, once, and it looked like a poor-man's Trek. The other shows that ran on this "PTEN" thing didn't exactly inspire confidence, either. I continued to ignore the show. Practically every phone call, letter and e-mail I got from Rich in New York would include some mention of how good this show was. Finally, during one of the rerun blocks late in S1, he said this: "Watch the show for four straight weeks. Don't judge it. Don't analyze it. Don't critique it. Just watch four episodes in a row and tell me you don't see what's different about this show." So I did. And I got hooked.

Mind you, my local PTEN affiliate made it as difficult as possible to stay hooked, moving the show around the schedule at random, causing me to miss most of the key S1 episodes (I didn't see "Babylon Squared" until TNT picked up the reruns) and chunks of S2 - but from about mid-season on I was hooked and only missed an episode when the VCR screwed up or I was travelling on businesses. (Naturally those time included the first airing of "War Without End Part 2". I ended up spoiling them by reading the synopsis for it and "Babylon Squared" on The Lurker's Guide just so I could watch the second half.

So it is possible to get hooked at later part of the story and then go back and pick up the rest. The Gathering has enough weaknesses, even in the revised cut, and the cast is so different, that I think it is a poor introduction to the show. It is worthwhile watching when someone who is already intrigued goes through the series in order, because the plot information it contains is important, but it is better to watch it when you already like the show and are more willing to forgive its flaws and accept it for the pilot film that it is.

In the Beginning makes a good introduction if you've only got one shot, because it features the main characters from the bulk of the series and because the story not only gives the background to the five year arc but also because the flashback structure gives the viewer a sense of the scope of the series.

The "spoiler" issue depends your point of view. If you see B5 as a mystery to be solved, this is a problem. But if you see it as a drama to be experienced, knowing things that the characters don't could add to the enjoyment. I'll never know what it is like to watch the growing relationship between Sheridan and Delenn knowing that she was the one who ultimately gave the order that started the Earth-Minbar war, or that they had briefly met before. I can't assume that this experience of the show would be inferior to my own. (Besides a lot of people will either forget or not quite understand many of the spoilers in the film by the time they get to the point in the series where they matter.) If you've only got one shot, though, I'm with Jan, this is the one.

If one hour is all you've got I have three suggestions: "Parliament" is a good character story. "And the Sky Full of Stars" has lots of background and a develops the both the Earth politics and the Minbari mysteries. "Signs and Portents" both a cool stand-alone episode and a window into the larger arc. I can't imagine anyone watching this and not wanting to see more. At that point start her with "Midnight on the Firing Line" (a good re-introduction to the show, almost a second pilot) and throw in The Gathering after she's had a chance to get her bearings in the first season.

Otherwise pick a good four to six episode run from early in S1, then go back to The Gathering and run the shows in order (skimming through the first 4 just to as a refresher.)


Regards,

Joe

[prometheous]

Dont bother, my girlfirend's fairly bright, well read and a law student. as a geeky engineering student i tried to get her onto B5 to no avail...got her into Neil Gaiman novels tough

[grumbler]

For my money, the best single-episode intro to the show is "Passing Through Gethsemane." It has acting, writing, and directing that is as good as it comes, and it does not spoil anything.

[Lunan]

to me it should start with the gathering, in the begining should wait till at least the middle of season 3 or it just takes too much away, far far too much

[grumbler]

Just jooked another fish last night with PtG. She was a Deadwood fan, though, so the idea that B5 recognized Brad Dourif "early" was probably a big sell.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Welp..I tried to go for the gathering...I was so excited, just got my scriptbook..and I wanted to watch it...and....she got about 40 min into it and said "I'm bored." That was the end of that. : /

[Ulkosh]

Agh, the Gathering was a TERRIBLE choice, it was a desperately weak beginning, and even the revised version doesnt help much.

Damn why wasn't i paying more attention to the boards, i'd have pleaded with you not to start with The Gathering.


For anyone in the same position...
In the Beginning is the way to go. It gives a LITTLE away but i don't feel its too much at all, often people having seen it will forget little details, and then seeing the hints it brings back memories and lets them see just how it would all fit together.

Sometimes knowing where you're going, but not knowing how you're going to get there is better than knowing nothing.

[grumbler]

...In the Beginning is the way to go. It gives a LITTLE away but i don't feel its too much at all, often people having seen it will forget little details, and then seeing the hints it brings back memories and lets them see just how it would all fit together.

Sometimes knowing where you're going, but not knowing how you're going to get there is better than knowing nothing.

Disagree. The whole impact of so many things (like Delenn's forced confession to Lennier in Atonement that she had cast the deciding vote that started the viciousness of the Earth-Minbari War) would be missed if you knew the facts already by watching ItB.

Passing Through Gethsemane works, I tells ya!

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I think that looking back after all that happens, the Gathering really makes a lot more sense and it's good in context. However, as a stand alone, it really isn't so exciting. So for someone who actually will watch the whole series and is dedicated, it's best to begin there, for someone you want to "check it out real quick" it was a bad call. My girlfriend still won't watch b5

[Shabaz]

How about Believers as a starter? It's first season, so if they do decide that this B5 thing is neat and they want to commit to watching more in order, first season B5 will already be nice and familiar; it's not part of any of the big arc stories and very nicely stands alone; and is (IMO) one of the more powerful stories in early B5.

It's basically what hooked me, as far as story telling capability goes. And the Sky full of Stars, and Signs and Portents convinced me that there is something more going on in the background here, and that there is a lot of long term ambition in this show, but as far as raw story telling power, I really like Believers.

And I'm one of those people that would say, stay away from ItB as a starter. I've had people tell me they confused it as the pilot (instead of the Gathering), and after watching it cold were utterly confused by it, and I personally think it works way better when you have the bagage of the first four seasons behind you. And at the same time it spoils a ton of things that, to me, were a great strength of the show. That feel of mystery, and the great reveals that make the hair on the back of your neck stand upright, while JMS's storytelling is 'whamming' you on the head.

I know that JMS has said he feels that the ItB can work as a starter, and that it has a 'bomb under the table' appeal to it then, rather than the mystery appeal it had without ItB at the start. But I personally prefer the mystery and reveals appeal to the bomb under the table appeal for the things that ItB would spoil, and I think those work better that way, since it was written with certain things being a mystery in mind.