Just for fun! Your Top Three!

[Jonas]

This is almost impossible, but today I might pick:

Favourite episodes:
- Severed Dreams
- The Deconstruction of Falling Stars
- Sleeping in Light

Three introductory episodes:
- The Parliament of Dreams
- Passing Through Gethsemane
- Comes the Inquisitor

Favourite movie:
- In the Beginning (but The Lost Tales come close)

[Sinclair's Fan]

Favourite episodes:
- The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

If I recall correctly, Channel 4 didn't know that the show had been picked-up for a 5th year Stateside, and this was billed as the last instalment of the final series.

It's a very clever episode..., but you can imagine how (at the time) I thought "That's a Hell of an episode to end on!"

But then the show came back! And hopefully it will again!

[Melanie]

Favorite stories

The Narn-Centauri war and aftermath
Finding out more about the Earth-Minbari war
Day of the dead

Episodes I'd recommend

Parliament of Dreams
Signs and Portents
The Coming of Shadows

Favorite movie

Legend of the Rangers

[alpha128]

-What are your fave three stories from Babylon 5 or Crusade?

That one's easy. Because I recently posted my top five in another thread:

1. S03E10 "Severed Dreams": http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/054.html

2. S02E09 "The Coming of Shadows": http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/031.html

3. S02E20 "The Long, Twilight Struggle": http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/042.html

You can see the other two here:
http://jmsnews.com/forums/showpost.p...7&postcount=79

-Which three episodes would you recommend to someone who'd never seen Babylon 5 or Crusade?

Now this one is hard. I wouldn't recommend any of the above episodes to a newbie because The Lurker's Guide states for every single one of them: this episode is more momentous than most. What makes those episodes great is they're all paying off something that had been building for a long time. They wouldn't have the same impact without that buildup.

So I would stick with these episodes from Season 1:

S01E08 "And the Sky Full of Stars"
S01E18-19 "A Voice in the Wilderness" Parts 1&2
S01E22 "Chrysalis"

Although great, I would avoid "Babylon Squared" as I think it would excessively confuse new viewers.

And although "Signs and Portents" is absolutely essential viewing, I wouldn't use that as an introductory episode either. I think the reviewer at the A.V. Club raises a valid point when he wrote:

"In retrospect, it’s easy to call “Signs And Portents” an important episode of Babylon 5...

On the other hand, if... you sit down to try to describe “Signs And Portents,” then it doesn’t sound like much."

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/babylon-5-signs-and-portents-82655

[Looney]

I really don't know if I could ever honestly pick favorites, but I can pick 3 that might be most important to me for different reasons.

Points of Departure (2.1) because it locked me into the show for the long haul. Absolutely made me want to see more, more, more.

Z'ha'dum (3.22) Because it is the first time I ever remember freaking out at the season ending of a show and being depressed that I was going to have to wait for the next chapter.

Sleeping in The Light (5.22) because I think it is the best series finale ever.

[Looney]

I am VERY surprised I killed this thread. I really don't want to take Delenn_of_Mir's title.

[Dawnchild]

Kinda ‘resurrecting’ this thread I see Very difficult choices in a series with so much to love, but here are my choices below (similar to many others above, I see):

Favourite episodes:
- The Coming of Shadows (as others have said, this is when B5 reaches true sci fi-grandeur..)
- Z'ha'dum (more glorious stuff, and a good example of what I love(d) about B5..)
- Sleeping in Light (beautiful last episode.. but I can hardly bear to re-watch Sheridan’s parting scene from Delenn, it breaks my heart every time..)


Three introductory episodes:
- Severed Dreams
- Signs and Portents
- Chrysalis


Favourite B5-movie:
- In the Beginning (the standout B5-movie for me, simply awesome..)

[Jan]

Favorite Stand-Alones (such as B5 has...)

A Late Delivery from Avalon
Passing Through Gethsemane
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari

[Looney]

Favourite B5-movie:
- In the Beginning (the standout B5-movie for me, simply awesome..)

I agree with that.

I think my second would be A Call To Arms followed by Thirdspace then River of Souls.

Here is an interesting question. Does everyone consider The Gathering to be a movie, in so much as ranking it with the other movies? I do not.

Favorite Stand-Alones (such as B5 has...)

A Late Delivery from Avalon
Passing Through Gethsemane
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari

"(Such as B5 has...)" Very true. I don't know if any episode can truly be called a "Stand-Alone", but I do love your thinking. I have two in mind, but I need to ponder the the third before I post.

[Dawnchild]

I agree with that.

I think my second would be A Call To Arms followed by Thirdspace then River of Souls.

I agree, my second is also "A Call To Arms". The other two are a bit weaker (though, of course, enjoyable) imo.

Here is an interesting question. Does everyone consider The Gathering to be a movie, in so much as ranking it with the other movies? I do not.

For me "The Gathering" is the Pilot-episode and I don't either see it as a 'movie' like the other B5-movies. Interesting though with the two 'versions' of "The Gathering".

[Jan]

Here is an interesting question. Does everyone consider The Gathering to be a movie, in so much as ranking it with the other movies? I do not.

Yup. Because it *is* a movie, every bit as much as any of the others. The fact that it's also the pilot for the show doesn't change that.

[JDSValen]

-What are your fave three stories from Babylon 5 or Crusade?

In the Beginning
War Without End
In the Face of the Enemy

There's a LOT of Crusade that I love, but none pops into the top three when combined with B5.

-Which three episodes would you recommend to someone who'd never seen Babylon 5 or Crusade?

When introducing a show to someone, I'm a big fan of just having them start from the beginning, but that's a little tricky with B5 because of the lead change in Season 2.

I would start with The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line in the same sitting. If they like it, great! If not, I would skip to Points of Departure to have them get a feel for what the show is like with Sheridan.

If that still doesn't grab them, I would show them In the Beginning. I feel that it works much better as an epilogue than a prologue, but it's probably one of the best episodes/movies of B5, so it that doesn't grab them, nothing will.

-What's your fave B5 TV Movie?

In the Beginning, but they're all pretty solid.

[Looney]

Yup. Because it *is* a movie, every bit as much as any of the others. The fact that it's also the pilot for the show doesn't change that.

I DISAGREE!!! (Runs away) . . . . . .Sorry, but I still see it as a Pilot Episode. That is what it was originally meant to be, correct? They weren't setting it up to be a series of movies. Plus structurally speaking it can be broken into a two part Pilot Episode; Episode One ending with Lyta pointing to Sinclair. The timing is almost exact and that moment would have been a heck of a cliffhanger to end a first episode on.

I would start with The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line in the same sitting. If they like it, great! If not, I would skip to Points of Departure to have them get a feel for what the show is like with Sheridan.

I think showing The Gathering and Midnight on The Firing Line in the same sitting is a great idea. Of course if they don't care for it I am not skipping ahead, despite the fact I originally started with Season Two having only seen bits and pieces of Season One. Over the years I have come to LOVE Season One too much to think about skipping anything, but that is just my opinion.

[Jan]

I DISAGREE!!! (Runs away) . . . . . .

That's cool. But that doesn't change the facts.

Sorry, but I still see it as a Pilot Episode.

It was a pilot. It was a movie. They could have made an hour-long pilot or a half-hour-long pilot and it still would have been a pilot. The length is what determined that it was a movie in practical as well as contractual definition.

That is what it was originally meant to be, correct? They weren't setting it up to be a series of movies. Plus structurally speaking it can be broken into a two part Pilot Episode; Episode One ending with Lyta pointing to Sinclair. The timing is almost exact and that moment would have been a heck of a cliffhanger to end a first episode on.

What does 'setting it up to be a series of movies' have to do with defining it as a movie? That would mean that 'Forest Gump' isn't a movie because it wasn't setting up a series of movies. Structurally speaking, it was set up to air on television with set act breaks. The fact that it might be broken into two episodes doesn't have anything to do with it being a movie, either.

Anyway, JMS says it is;

It was our initial thought to begin with either one or two television
movies, and then proceed onto the series. The reason for the movies had to do with 1) a desire to bring down the per-show budget by building the lion's
share of our sets via the movie(s), and 2) because we wanted to hit the
airwaves with a big story, more an event via a movie than the series pilot,
which at one hour would probably get lost.

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-21388

[Looney]

HAHA! You over explained yourself!!!!

I made it a question with "correct?", which meant all you needed to do was point out that JMS said, "It was our initial thought to begin with either one or two television movies." That would have put the debate to rest. Just think of the extra wear and tear you put on your fingers doing all that extra typing. (I am right about the structure though. Lyta pointing out Sinclair comes pretty exactly halfway through. That would have been the cliffhanger ending of Episode One.)

Okay with the re-qualification of The Gathering as a movie I now have to compare it to other movies. To do that I would have to decide which cut I prefer, which might be impossible - both versions have qualities I like and dislike that the other version doesn't have. I guess I have more pondering to do.