What would you like to experience again for the first time?

[DeafPoet]

This thread is brought to you by this Onion AV Club article.

What was so awesome and defining for you that you wish you never heard of it? If only so you could do it again. I've got four:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

This is the greatest series of words ever committed to paper. I didn't grow up in Alabama. In fact, my own experience is very far removed from the story. But it's real. It's a testament to how humanity should be. Atticus Finch is the real Superman.

2) Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine

This song changed my life. I was into rock music before but this is the song that inspired me to create it. Me and my buddy Sean were up in our tree fort that overlooked the highway. We were shooting at cars with paintballs from a slingshot and he popped in a cassette (!) on his battery operated boom-box. The next four minutes were wicked. That riff is the hardest thing ever written.

3) "Pilot" from Lost

This is the gaping mouth of the Rabbit Hole, isn't it? There are two kinds of people: those who haven't seen Lost and those who love it. There's not much I can say about this without delving into metaphysics. so I'll just quote Charlie: "Guys. Where are we?"

...and finally.

4) Star Trek: The Next Generation

I was born in '84 so I didn't see Trek on first run. I vaguely remember seeing it in re-runs when I was very young. But TNG is my Trek. My very first memory is watching "The Royale" with my Dad. I was fucking transfixed. It was too awesome for words. Of course I know now that it wasn't a great episode but I was fucking four years old. Before I became jaded. TNG shaped my blatant liberalism and pretty much all my political and sociological views. I just watched it so damn much!

What do you guys have? What was so transcendent that you wish you forgot about it so you could do it again?

 

[Othello]

Oh lord.. thi could be a VERY long list!!!

1- the 1992 Royal Rumble- I am a HUGE wrestling fan and more specifically an INSANELY HUGE Ric Flair fan. I constantly got into arguments with people about who was better, Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan and the NWA vs the WWF (BTW_ knew it was fake but still a fun argument to have) and was watching the Rumble with friends. Ric Flair came out in the #3 spot and all my friends started giving me shit about how Flair was gonna lose when he came in #3 of 30. Over the course of the next hour between my friends givign me grief and Gorilla Monsoon giving grief to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (managing Flair at the time but in the broadcast booth) there was nothing sweeter than seeing Flair dump Psycho Sid (Sid Justice at the time if memory serves me correctly) over the top rope to win his first WWF World heavyweight title AND hearing the crowd go nuts for Flair and then boo Hogan for being such a piss poor loser.


2- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine- my favorite of all Treks- Easily the best of all the Treks. None of the others even coem close. In the Pale Moonlight is the best hour of TV I have ever seen. Would love to watch ti from the beginning to the end for the first time again. Elim Garak is one the best best characters of all time.

3- Smallville- Lionel an Lex Luthor are two more of the best characters of all time. Would love to watch the show fresh an experience the Luthor greatness once again for the firt time. An I NEVER get tired of watching Kristin Kruek.

4- The Sword of Shanarra- Bought the book when I was 7 or 8 years old and read it in a day as we were crossing Lake Michigan in our sailboat. It's like an 8 or 9 hour trip and I sat down and read ti cover to cover a we crossed. Couldn't put it down and have love the series ever since. it REALLY got me into fantasy books. To me, Allanon kicks Gandalf's ass ten ways to sunday. :>))

5- Dragons of Autumn Twilight and the Chronicles Trilogy- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_of_Autumn_Twilight

The first of over a hundred Dragonlance books I've read since they first started being published in 1984. I love the setting, the characters, and the pure fantasy of it all.

5a) Time of the Twins and the Legend trilogy- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_of_the_Twins

While the above may be the first this trilogy is the best followed closely by the Elven Nations trilogy. I loved the twins and their tortured relationship. Raistlin is an amazing character who I love to read about followed closely by Tasslehoff Burrfoot.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Oh, to watch the original "Planet of the Apes" as an adult with no knowledge of the ending...

 

[Mistral]

I'm a bit older so this takes some thought. So many things to choose from.

the Xmen comics Days Of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills. I read #141-142 when they came out and they changed the way I looked at the Xmen. The other was a graphic novel I borrowed from a friend-it moved me beyond belief.

Babylon 5. If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't-God, I envy you. You can buy the box sets and watch without the season hiatus or week-to-week delays I had the first time.

Harry Turtledove's In the Balance series. Aliens invade Earth right in the middle of WWII. How much fun is that?!?

Allen Steele's Innerspace novels. Clarke County, USA is the first of several novels set in a near-future anyone could relate to and see developing out of our current sociological paths. The series culminates in The King Of Infinite Space-and any scifi novel that opens at Lalapalooza has got some seriously "cool" chps, IMO.

Santiago-A Myth Of the Far Future by Mike Resnick. One of the most original and entertaining scifi novels I've ever read. Finding out who Santiago is and where he came from is at the heart of this mystery/roadtrip/saga based loosely on The Canterbury Tales(or at least inspired by the same). One of those novels where I got to the end-and wished I could do it all over again.

The MASH finale. If you watched it that night, you know why. It holds up well as a re-run, but if you grew up watching the show when it was new the impact is doubled or trebled.

The 1980 Winter Olympics gold medal hockey game. Game 4 of the 1993 NBA Finals.
The first because it was possibly one of the proudest, most patriotic moments in modern American society. The second because I'm a life-long Suns fan and that may have been one of the most heroic efforts any pro b-ball team has ever put out. KJ played 62 minutes, Oliver Miller blocked Michael Jordan in overtime, and Sir Charles Barkley put up a huge amount of points to steal the win and keep the Suns going.

September 10, 2001. Just so I could have one more day of (relative) innocence.

 

[DeafPoet]

Babylon 5. If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't-God, I envy you. You can buy the box sets and watch without the season hiatus or week-to-week delays I had the first time.

My fellow nerds across the internet are always espousing its greatness but I watched the first four or five episodes and I was bored to tears. I realize I'm probably not giving it a fair shake but I just can't bring myself to delve any deeper.

The 1980 Winter Olympics gold medal hockey game. Game 4 of the 1993 NBA Finals.
The first because it was possibly one of the proudest, most patriotic moments in modern American society. The second because I'm a life-long Suns fan and that may have been one of the most heroic efforts any pro b-ball team has ever put out. KJ played 62 minutes, Oliver Miller blocked Michael Jordan in overtime, and Sir Charles Barkley put up a huge amount of points to steal the win and keep the Suns going.

Speaking of awesome hockey games, I'll take the 2002 Olympic gold medal game. It's weird to think that Canada, the hugest hockey nation in the world, went 50 years without a gold medal. I called in sick to work that Saturday (or was it a Sunday?) So did the rest of the country.

 

[Starbreaker]

Dune by Frank Herbert. Wow. Just wow.
The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson. Another book I gaped in awe at.
The Lord of the Rings (movies)
Lost. Maybe in 50 years I'll be able to get a brainwipe and watch it all over again.

 

[stoneroses]

Music:
The Beatles
The Stone Roses
The Libertines
Oasis

Books:
A Tale of Two Cities
Crime and Punishment
1984
Down and Out In Paris and London
Captain corelli's mandolin

Movies:
The Shawshank Redemption
Star Trek II
The Green Mile
Jaws
Star Wars
Scum
Westworld
Superman 2
Amercan Beauty

TV:
Star Trek (all)
Dr who
The Prisoner
One Foot In The Grave
Porridge
The (origional) Twilight Zone
Columbo

 

[Hermiod]

1- the 1992 Royal Rumble- I am a HUGE wrestling fan and more specifically an INSANELY HUGE Ric Flair fan. I constantly got into arguments with people about who was better, Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan and the NWA vs the WWF (BTW_ knew it was fake but still a fun argument to have) and was watching the Rumble with friends. Ric Flair came out in the #3 spot and all my friends started giving me shit about how Flair was gonna lose when he came in #3 of 30. Over the course of the next hour between my friends givign me grief and Gorilla Monsoon giving grief to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (managing Flair at the time but in the broadcast booth) there was nothing sweeter than seeing Flair dump Psycho Sid (Sid Justice at the time if memory serves me correctly) over the top rope to win his first WWF World heavyweight title AND hearing the crowd go nuts for Flair and then boo Hogan for being such a piss poor loser.

I have that on the first Ric Flair DVD set. That was possibly the best Rumble ever and Heenan and Monsoon are just at their absolute best. I've always been an old school Heenan fan but he outdid himself that night.

My answers.

- Babylon 5. I hate knowing that I can never watch it again the way I did the first time.

- New Avengers. In particular New Avengers #31. "Hold on, why is she green ? Is that a Skrull ? Elektra's a Skrull ? ELEKTRA'S A F**KING SKRULL ?!?!"

- Arsenal vs Middlesbrough from the 2004/05 season. For the uninitiated, Arsenal had gone the entire previous league season unbeaten. Avoiding defeat in this match would mean that Arsenal would match Nottingham Forest's record unbeaten streak. I was at the game. Arsenal went 1-0 up but ten minutes in to the second half we found ourselves 3-1 down. Dennis Bergkamp made it 3-2 and then Robert Pires made it 3-3. Before the stadium announcer had even finished announcing who had scored, while we were all still celebrating, Arsenal went on the attack again and Jose Antonio Reyes made it 4-3. Complete strangers in the crowd were hugging and kissing, yes kissing, each other.

 

[Aragorn]

I wish I could've seen The Sixth Sense before Rosie O'Donnell spoiled it for me.

 

[Mistral]

I wish I could've seen The Sixth Sense before Rosie O'Donnell spoiled it for me.

I wish I could have seen television before Rosie O'Donnell spoiled it for me!

 

[Orac Zen]

Babylon 5. There are probably other things but it was the first that came to mind when I saw the thread title. This post speaks for me as well:

Babylon 5. If you've seen it, you know. If you haven't-God, I envy you. You can buy the box sets and watch without the season hiatus or week-to-week delays I had the first time.

My fellow nerds across the internet are always espousing its greatness but I watched the first four or five episodes and I was bored to tears. I realize I'm probably not giving it a fair shake but I just can't bring myself to delve any deeper.

No, you're not really giving it a fair go. Even a lot of of its fans agree that the first season is kinda slow - setting up a universe takes time, I suppose - but it really picks up in the last few eps. If you watch the first season - especially those last few eps - and still don't like it, it's not for you. And that's fair enough - no show appeals to everyone, after all.

 

[Shurik]

Books - A Song Of Ice And Fire series, Hyperion series.
TV - Farscape, Babylon 5.

 

[Ethros]

I don't see the logic, as if you wouldn't remember watching it, then you wouldn't remember loving it, so you wouldn't get any added bonus from it than what you did the first time.
So what's the point?

 

[Othello]

I don't see the logic, as if you wouldn't remember watching it, then you wouldn't remember loving it, so you wouldn't get any added bonus from it than what you did the first time.
So what's the point?

The point is to let other people know about the sheer joy you got from the experience and wistfully wish you could have it again cause you enjoyed it so much.

 

[Icemizer]

Star Trek the Motion Picture. Specifically the first fly by of the refit Enterprise. Absolutely had my heart in my throat for that ship in that sequence.

2005 White Sox World Series Win

Mans first step on the moon.

and for the previous Flair fans I will never forget Heenan that night either. How many times did he say "be Fair to Flair: it was a great rumble.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

1- the 1992 Royal Rumble- I am a HUGE wrestling fan and more specifically an INSANELY HUGE Ric Flair fan. I constantly got into arguments with people about who was better, Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan and the NWA vs the WWF (BTW_ knew it was fake but still a fun argument to have) and was watching the Rumble with friends. Ric Flair came out in the #3 spot and all my friends started giving me shit about how Flair was gonna lose when he came in #3 of 30. Over the course of the next hour between my friends givign me grief and Gorilla Monsoon giving grief to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (managing Flair at the time but in the broadcast booth) there was nothing sweeter than seeing Flair dump Psycho Sid (Sid Justice at the time if memory serves me correctly) over the top rope to win his first WWF World heavyweight title AND hearing the crowd go nuts for Flair and then boo Hogan for being such a piss poor loser.


I'll never understand what the Fed was thinking here. I remember them repeating the mantra "it's every man for himself" constantly for weeks before the event. So why try and develop and angle out of Sid looking out for himself, perfectly legally ousting Hogan, having Hogan whine like a bitch about it, and then have all the announcers act like Sid did something wrong? They must have needed an alternate plan really badly when Hogan bailed on doing a job for Flair.

 

[Goliath]

What was so awesome and defining for you that you wish you never heard of it? If only so you could do it again.

Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals World Series victory.

 

[kitkat]

DeafPoet, I echo your sentiment about To Kill a Mockingbird. What an absolute masterpiece. I cried when reading it. Atticus Finch is the kind of man that people should aspire to be.

The MASH finale is definitely up there with me too. I'm too young to have watched it the first time around but my parents loved the show so much that I watched repeats growing up, pretty sure I've seen all the episodes. And that finale was fantastic!!

The Beatles music. Again, I didn't experience them when they first came out but no matter. I listen to them on a daily basis. Something about their music keeps me sane....or relatively so. Paul McCartney is the awesomeness.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

DS9, Dexter, Lost and S1 of Heroes.