Connections *spoilers*

[OmahaStar]

What was your first big "holy shit!" moment in Babylon 5? A moment when something "minor" happened that made you sit up and then pick your jaw up off the floor and your arms full of goosebumps?

For me, the first big one was in The Long, Twilight Struggle. It's a throwaway line that really, really wasn't. Draal has just given needed information to Sheridan and crew. He's down in the machine, completely alone, and calls out for Zathras.

Wait, what? Zathras? That's the guy from Babylon Squared. He's that creepy little critter that was trying to steal Babylon 4. Draal and Zathras are working together? Woah.

So what was your "holy shit" moment?

[Jan]

What was your first big "holy shit!" moment in Babylon 5? A moment when something "minor" happened that made you sit up and then pick your jaw up off the floor and your arms full of goosebumps?

I had caught any number of moments of foreshadowing before but the one that blew my mind completely was right after "Sleeping in Light" aired. As some may recall, TNT was running an episode every afternoon and the day that I saw Lady Ladira share her vision with Sinclair I almost fell out of my chair. *There*, just past the first half of the first season was the *actual* final fate of the Station that I'd just recently seen in SiL.

Gobsmacked. No other word for it, I was gobsmacked.

Jan

[Dan Dassow]

"Believers" was the first episode that truly impressed me. I knew that Joe was willing to take on difficult issues in Babylon 5 when the parents killed their son because they believed he had become a hollow shell after having surgery.

Over the years, I've come to appreciate that the B-plot in "TKO" was a foreshadowing of "Sleeping in Light". Susan Ivanova sat shiva for her father in "TKO"; we collectively sat shiva for Babylon 5 in "Sleeping in Light".

[DaveNarn]

Don't have a combined minor jaw-dropping wow moment but one of each...

A minor wow moment was in 'Signs and Portents', Kosh encounters Morden in a corridor, and commands him to leave, telling him that "they are not for you"(goosebumps).

Big wow moment was the end of 'Death Walker', when the Vorlon ship emerges from the Jump Gate and blows away Jha'dar's ship. Whoa! (jaw-on-floor).

[Jonas]

For me, the first big one was in The Long, Twilight Struggle. It's a throwaway line that really, really wasn't. Draal has just given needed information to Sheridan and crew. He's down in the machine, completely alone, and calls out for Zathras.

That's a great moment. So simple - it just takes one word to change our perception of what we're seeing - but so powerful.

[WorkerCaste]

What was your first big "holy shit!" moment in Babylon 5? A moment when something "minor" happened that made you sit up and then pick your jaw up off the floor and your arms full of goosebumps?

For me, the first big one was in The Long, Twilight Struggle. It's a throwaway line that really, really wasn't. Draal has just given needed information to Sheridan and crew. He's down in the machine, completely alone, and calls out for Zathras.

Wait, what? Zathras? That's the guy from Babylon Squared. He's that creepy little critter that was trying to steal Babylon 4. Draal and Zathras are working together? Woah.

So what was your "holy shit" moment?

Oddly enough, that was the first big one for me that I remember. I actually had to pull out my VHS tape and make sure I was remembering the name correctly. It was a lot of fun.

[David Panzer]

Definitely Believers for me. That was not only a jaw dropper there, but finalized the deal in making me a B5 fan forever.

Comes the Inquisitor had a couple jaw-droppers for me. When Delenn admitted that she has thought that she might be wrong, far too often I had seen (not in this series but in others) where the main characters were always sure of themselves. We saw the opposite with our characters in B5, but Delenn was the stand-out one that told me "If she's not sure, then no one really is". Damn good storytelling there.

The other from the same episode was Sebastian's "just a man named Jack". Episode-wise a biggie, but arc-wise maybe. But I still got the chills there. Not only from Jack the Ripper getting the attention of the Vorlons, but making my mind explode with Who else in Earth's past has grabbed the attention of the Vorlons, Did someone in Earth's past grab the attention of the Shadows, Has either race made a covert presence on Earth before the series started, What events on Earth could have been influence by either race, etc. etc. etc.

In the end, some scary good storytelling is all over Babylon 5. Especially when it's on multiple viewings

[Ubik]

I think (retrospectively) 'Signs and Portents'. Every time I re-watch this episode it makes me smile. Everything so neatly in place from the go-get.

Also, 'Dust to Dust', for the intense Londo / G'Kar scenes. Some of the reveals are just wonderful.

[DGTWoodward]

Definitely the first, and only partial, sighting of a Shadow vessel.

[Marsden]

I want to post the moment I really felt B5 was something better, something beyond what I'd seen previously, but I'm not sure that it fits with this thread. My moment was in All Alone in the Night, actually that whole episode really is a standout for me, but the key moment was when the Strieb spaced the captives and Ivanova ordered the Agamemnon to take em down. And, to borrow from a later episode, Ivanova and the EA were the good guys and they were the bad guys and they made a satisfying explosion when they blew up. There was no, "oh, I guess we've all learned a lesson and hope this won't happen again" crap, no "I protest this action and I'm going to have someone write a nasty letter" or other silliness certain bald captains have done. This episode totally and finally killed all competition and really made B5 the absolute must watch for me. I didn't really care for anything else afterward.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

For me, there were two, slightly different moments ...

The first was in Babylon Squared, when "The One" took off his helmet to reveal that it was an aged Sinclair, that was a real "WTF?" moment that just left me desperate to see how the other side of that story played out.

The second was in Chrysalis, which was playing out as an impressive yet run-of-the-mill "Our heroes save the day" kind of story until the last 5 frantic minutes leading to the moment that they didn't save the President at all and the whole feel of the series changed.

Sinclair got it absolutely spot on; "Nothing's the same anymore".

Same with the ending of Confessions and Lamentations, but by then I was more used to the way B5 worked. It was still pretty ballsy to kill off an entire race, though.

[pascalahad]

There were many moments I liked during season 1, that made me say "it's a great show". That became "the greatest show ever" when I collected my jaw on the floor after seeing The Coming of Shadows. Whaow. That's when the show really became a serial. And then The Long Twilight Struggle with that simple speech G'Kar gives to Londo, robbing him of his glory moment effortlessly.

But the biggest jaw-dropping of all occured after The War Without End part 2... I was like "what did I just saw???" and felt numb for days. That was the single greatest acrobatic-screenplay feat I ever saw in any medium, and still is.

Sleeping in Light just made me cry.

[Sebastian]

I feel the same as GaribaldiÆs Hair. The season 1 finale was my first ôoh shitö moment, or more properly, ôshit just got realö. I was shocked that GaribaldiÆs aide (who had been a recurring character) was not some ôred-shirtö guy who was fodder for a death scene down the road. He was a mole all along and shot Garibaldi in the back. Then, there was no way I thought Santiago was going to die. I figured Garibaldi would drag himself back just in time for Sinclair to get a message off to Earth Force 1 and all would be well, just like he had done in Survivors (beating the clock with 1 second left and all).

Then Delenn in the cocoon, Jack smugly watching over comatose Garibaldi in medbay, GÆkarÆs message to NaÆtoth (ôTell the commander he was right. We were at a crossroads. Expect meàwhen you see me.ö), and SinclairÆs final statement of, ôNothingÆs the same anymore.ö You said it, Jeff.

And just think: all of that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

My biggest O.S. moment was KoshÆs death. By that point in the show I figured I wouldnÆt be caught off guard again, but I was oh so wrong. I didnÆt realize what was going to happen until Morden walked up to the door of KoshÆs quarters. I may have yelled ôNO!ö at the TV a few times. Possibly.