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Previously on this forum, I discussed the possibility of showing B5 to some non-science fiction fans (henceforth referred to as "C" and "T"). I presented the forum with a condensed list of twelve episodes and asked for comments.
My pitch to these mystery fans of "From the producer/writer of 'Murder She Wrote'", combined with, "We watched 12 episodes of 'Sherlock' give me twelve episodes of 'Babylon 5'" worked. And on May 28, 2017 we sat down to view the first episode.
In this thread I'll be sharing observations as we watch the twelve episodes on my "revised list", starting with...
Midnight on the Firing Line
During the opening credits C said, "I don't know who any of these people are." That is, until she got to Bill Mumy's credit and said, "I know him! 'Danger! Danger!'"
Although they seemed to have no difficulty grasping the science fiction concepts of Jump Gates/Hyperspace and Telepaths, it quickly became apparent that they're not used to watching space-based science fiction. During the scene where Garibaldi surveys the damaged supply ship T said, "I don't know how that can stay in the air." To which I replied, "It's space, there's no gravity."
Along the same lines, C recognized that Londo was assembling a gun from the various pieces in his quarters, but T did not.
Some of the humor clicked. T chuckled at some of Londo's lines and the "Duck Dodgers" coda.
I had told them going in that the series finished its run nearly twenty years ago. And at the end of the episode, C said, "I can tell it's old. The graphics are so much better these days." That lead into me explaining about the DVD rendering, i.e., how the live action is in 16:9 but the special effects are blown up 4:3. The CGI sequences did look somewhat blocky and pixilated on their big screen TV.
Overall, they seemed to think it was OK. There were no real complaints, but they didn't seem that engaged either. I explained that the first few episodes were introductory, and that they wouldn't get a sense of the overall story until later. And, on the next day we watched...
The Parliament of Dreams
I set up this episode by saying it introduces more characters and that it has a bit of a "Person of Interest" type plot. There wasn't a lot of commentary from them during the episode, but they both seemed to be more engaged by this one than "Midnight on the Firing Line". C happened to say, "I still haven't seen Bill Mumy yet" right before Lennier came on the station, and I said, "That's him right there."
C also mentioned that she didn't think that Michael O'Hare was as good looking as either Jim Caviezel ("Person of Interest") or Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock"), the leads in the previous two series we had all watched. I mentioned that there will be some cast changes in the future, without saying what they were.
T noticed the red eyes of the Narns in this episode and asked if they were achieved with contact lenses, which I confirmed.
At the end, T said that the episode was "pretty good", while C said without elaboration that it was "a little over the top".
My pitch to these mystery fans of "From the producer/writer of 'Murder She Wrote'", combined with, "We watched 12 episodes of 'Sherlock' give me twelve episodes of 'Babylon 5'" worked. And on May 28, 2017 we sat down to view the first episode.
In this thread I'll be sharing observations as we watch the twelve episodes on my "revised list", starting with...
Midnight on the Firing Line
During the opening credits C said, "I don't know who any of these people are." That is, until she got to Bill Mumy's credit and said, "I know him! 'Danger! Danger!'"
Although they seemed to have no difficulty grasping the science fiction concepts of Jump Gates/Hyperspace and Telepaths, it quickly became apparent that they're not used to watching space-based science fiction. During the scene where Garibaldi surveys the damaged supply ship T said, "I don't know how that can stay in the air." To which I replied, "It's space, there's no gravity."
Along the same lines, C recognized that Londo was assembling a gun from the various pieces in his quarters, but T did not.
Some of the humor clicked. T chuckled at some of Londo's lines and the "Duck Dodgers" coda.
I had told them going in that the series finished its run nearly twenty years ago. And at the end of the episode, C said, "I can tell it's old. The graphics are so much better these days." That lead into me explaining about the DVD rendering, i.e., how the live action is in 16:9 but the special effects are blown up 4:3. The CGI sequences did look somewhat blocky and pixilated on their big screen TV.
Overall, they seemed to think it was OK. There were no real complaints, but they didn't seem that engaged either. I explained that the first few episodes were introductory, and that they wouldn't get a sense of the overall story until later. And, on the next day we watched...
The Parliament of Dreams
I set up this episode by saying it introduces more characters and that it has a bit of a "Person of Interest" type plot. There wasn't a lot of commentary from them during the episode, but they both seemed to be more engaged by this one than "Midnight on the Firing Line". C happened to say, "I still haven't seen Bill Mumy yet" right before Lennier came on the station, and I said, "That's him right there."
C also mentioned that she didn't think that Michael O'Hare was as good looking as either Jim Caviezel ("Person of Interest") or Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock"), the leads in the previous two series we had all watched. I mentioned that there will be some cast changes in the future, without saying what they were.
T noticed the red eyes of the Narns in this episode and asked if they were achieved with contact lenses, which I confirmed.
At the end, T said that the episode was "pretty good", while C said without elaboration that it was "a little over the top".
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