How did spoilers effect you?

[Capt.Montoya]

I started watching in late season 3 of the original broadcast, catched up with the Lurker's Guide.
In that sense I was thoroughly spoiled for what I later saw on the TNT re-airing of the whole show, but it didn't affect me, since I was able to pick up some details that get lost in transcription, and the knowledge of how hints fitted in the whole arc added some enjoyment... also is not like I remembered each and every detail I had read about S1-S3, only the general idea, and I also noticed that some things I was remembering wrong.

During most of the original run I had no idea what was coming, though I would go to the Lurker's guide after watching a new episode to see the notes and analysis (and of course, the JMS speaks section!). That added a further layer of understanding and enjoyment in most cases.

But I did spoil myself completely the watching of one B5 episode in the original run, a 4th season ep (can't or would rather not remember which one). You know what a rollercoaster that season was, I was too eager to know what would happen, so I peeked. Given that the Houston airing of B5 was on Saturday by Friday the Lurker's Guide page for the episode was quite close to complete.
And when I watched the episode on Saturday I knew too much.
At each commercial break I already knew what would happen in the next scenes.
It was still a good episode, just not one where I had the satisfaction of surprise and suspense... I had been self-spoiled.
So I remained spoiler-free for all the rest of B5 as I watched each episode as it was broadcast. (*)

And for the most part I have preferred it that way for everything else.


(*) If you want the whole story: I didn't have cable until the middle of Season 5 on TNT, so I again used the Lurker's Guide to know what had been going on, when TNT re-ran the episodes of S5 I had missed I had the same reaction as when I first watched S1-S3.5, I had an idea of what was coming but I could enjoy seeing how it all fit together and how the arc developed.

[LiderDeslok]

Unfortunately I had on B5 the worse case of spoliers with a TV series.

I starting to watch it from some VHS a friend had, I was very extited still on the second season, when another guy came up, and said: "Ahh you are watching B5, I love that show, I loved the fact that Vorlons and just like the Shadows they want to control but with order and not Chaos, and are not just good guys." From that moment I knew the biggest surprise on the series.

I almost punch the guy :kidding:

... I dont remember any other spolier that affect me that much.

Cheers.
Deslok

[grumbler]

Welcome Harrrdy, and your English is better than mine, so you will do fine.

[Woolie Wool]

I saw lots of spoilers--Delenn's transformation, Shadows and Vorlons and many of their ships and technologies, Sheridan's demise, etc. The one HUGE surprise for me was Garibaldi's fate. I was convinced that he would meet a tragic end. But instead he hooked up with Lise, became obscenely rich, and had a daughter.

[Harrdy]

As for the question: "How did spoilers effect you?"

Not at all. With some movies spoilers ruin a lot (eg. Memento), but with Babylon 5 the spoilers didn't do anything bad (for me) because I watched to see the story "unfold". One already said that knowing the fate of Londo didn't do anything "wrong", I would like to second that. Even when I know exactly what will happen in one story I still like to see everything. I also re-watch all DVDs from time to time, and always find something "new", some "background-element" not seen prior, some story-plot which I just now understood. Babylon 5 is much more than spoilers, it is an experience 9-)

Ok, this is my second post here, and as you might have noticed english is not my native tounge. So sorry for every wrong spelling and errors on the way, hope to be here a long time 8-)

PeAcE

[Kloreep]

And it was uphill both ways in blinding snowstorms...

Bare feet, don't forget.

[Jan]

Hats off to the original core of fans who had to put up with the interstices between seasons, production halts, and network changes.

Don't forget the uncertainty between seasons waiting to find out if there'd *be* a next season.

And it was uphill both ways in blinding snowstorms...

Jan

[modernmajorgeneral]

Believe it or not, I was able to enjoy B5 100% spoiler free. B5 began its run just as I was starting college, too busy to follow a new series. As the DVDs launched, I viewed the series in what I believe to be its ideal format. The DVDs made it very easy to follow the contunuity and plot twists. Hats off to the original core of fans who had to put up with the interstices between seasons, production halts, and network changes.

[Redrake]

Parts of "Signs and Portents" were also included in the preview movie for the game "Babylon 5". At that point the series were not yet broadcasted here, but I've saw them already at Pro 7 (in german), not all of them (only series 1-3).

[Kloreep]

Interestingly, I don't remember having that reaction to "Signs and Portents."

"And the Sky Full of Stars" was the first episode that convinced me there was something to Babylon 5 like I had been told. After that, I upped my expectations enough that I wasn't really fazed by anything until "Babylon Squared" and "Chrysalis" at the end of the season.

[grumbler]

I was lucky enough to have a video-junkie friend who taped all the episodes so i could watch them consistently. I lurked a bit in some of the discussion groups but didn't have any of the subscription services where JMS was posting, and I learned quickly that a lot of the "spoilers" people were posting were, at best, distoritions of what JMS was saying, and so they didn't much affect me because I didn't believe them!

And yeah, I would love to be able to go back to the day before I saw "Signs and Portents" just to get that jaw-dropping "We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto" feeling I had when we saw our first Shadow ship rip apart the raider ship. Like a lot of the fans, I was pretty confident up to that point that I had figured out what the show was about, and then I was as Straczynski-ized as the rest of them. It was one of my favorite TV moments.

[SpooRancher]

I tried to watch B5 on a consistent basis but the time slot kept moving around.

Now I just wish I could watch it again for the first time and feel that sense of awe. sigh!

I had the same problem. I watched the pilot (The Gathering) when it first aired, but was not able to catch season 1 until TNT reran them due to schedule jumping. I caught up with it on Season 2, but still had the problem with the time slot jumping around on the local station. Finally, when it moved to TNT, I was able to watch the first 4 seasons relatively regularly, but the prime time 5th season jumped around like frogs in a hot skillet. Pre-empted for a stroking dog show? What was that all about?

Suffice it to say that when the DVD's came out, I FINALLY was able to sit down and watch the story unfold the way it was meant to. And I began to love it more than I ever had before. I really did not get a feel for jms' dramatic storytelling until I was finally able to watch it regularly, which just never happened with the networks, both PTEN and TNT.

All in all, B5 was probably the most sabotaged series in history since the original Star Trek and it's schedule hopping at the hands of NBC.

So, did I ever really get to watch B5 spoiler free? I guess you could say no.

[Spoo Junky]

I tried to watch B5 on a consistent basis but the time slot kept moving around. The few episodes I did manage to see were towards the end of the third season so by then it was clear what the shadow war was about.

When the show was on five days a week in syndication, I was finally able to watch the whole thing. The first time I watched the show from start to finish, I can still remember feeling a kind of dread that something big was happening. Even though I knew what the outcome was, it still didn't take away from the show as a whole. Now I just wish I could watch it again for the first time and feel that sense of awe. sigh!

[alex_t]

I wasn't connected to the Internet until the end of Season 3 (in Russia it was in 1997). When I got connected I've seen a couple of news about future Babylon 5 - mainly that there will be season 5, and Claudia Christian will not appear there, but nothing else. So I saw almost all series without any spoilers (except TV films, that I saw in 2005 for the first time - And loved them BTW ).

[Michael Malloy]

I was really fortunate in having a friend get me started watching B5 without spoiling anything. When B5 was first aired in Columbus it was shown very, very, late at night after sports events. I'm talking about later than 12:30! Working full time I couldn't stay up that late and because the stupid sports events never ended on any schedule the start of B5 was un-predictable.

Eventually I was able to watch the show on a regular basis, but it was from season two forward. I didn't know what the heck was going on with Psi Corps or those black space spiders that destroyed anything they saw.

I guess in B5 I count myself lucky.

One of the better Star Trek Next Gen movies was plastered all over the internet before the film was released. I knew the whole story before I saw it. That feast tasted like straw because it was spoiled.