A Klingon, A Ferengi, A Hologram, and YOU!

[Orac Zen]

Posted by Aatrek:
Convince me, people!

Heck, it's up to you.

All I suggest to people wanting to try B5 is that they watch the first season. Stick with it, regardless of how slow it sometimes seems (after all, it's establishing an entire "new" universe, so to speak). If you don't find something to like about the show after the first season, then it's possible you never will. Give it another go.

 

[meowwwwwww]

I've always heard people describe B5's first season as barely watchable, but I didn't find it that bad myself. In fact the first season of DS9 freaked me out more. But you just gotta stick with it to rip the benefits of a masterpiece as a whole.

 

[The Evil Dead]

It was the tv movie In The Beginning that got me into Babylon 5. I know some people strongly advise not watching this one first, because of spoilers. But there is one dramatic strength to watching this first - you learn something the characters themselves don't know. Which is one dramatic technique for building tension, ie. in the play, Juliuas Caeser, we know Caeser is going to be killed by Brutus, but it's still exciting when it happens. JMS endorses this option as well on In The Beginning commentary.

Yeah, I didn't get the big pay off in season three, but obviously it didn't hurt my overall love of Babylon 5 because, well... here I am. When I first started watching B5 when it debuted in 1998 on TNT, In The Beginning was exactly what I needed to draw me in. An epic tale of heros and villains, desperate battles and hints toward what's to come. Had I left it up to The Gathering and season one to draw me in, I'd have tuned out and stuck with DS9. Getting a taste of where Babylon 5 was headed though... I stuck it out. I wanted to see this Sheridan guy again, I wanted to learn more about the Shadows, I wanted to see Sinclair discover the truth.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Posted by Aatrek:
I tried to get into B5 about a year ago. I got through the first episode, and I was bored out of my mind. I never got motivated enough to pick it up again... maybe I'll try it again, since I had the same reaction with Firefly (since I now looooove FF), but no guarantees, I suppose.

Convince me, people!

Aatrek...I was once in exactly your spot. When B5 first came on TV, I watched a couple of episodes, thought Michael O'Hare's acting was wooden, thought Claudia Christian's wasn't much better, and thought Centauri hair looked DUMB. I turned it off, and didn't look at it again until a little over 2 years ago, when I was convinced by some folks in SFF to give it another try.

They told me that if I would give it to the end of season 2 and not give up on the show, if I didn't like it then, I could quit and never look back.

I figured that I could give any show that many hours of my time if it got the rave reviews B5 did. So I started watching when B5 started over again on the SciFi Channel that spring.

The first season was kinda slow (although after you have seen the whole show, season 1 becomes ALOT better cus you can see alot of forshadowing of what is to come)...but the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2 hooked me. And the show kept on getting better and better - seasons 3 and 4 are absolutely spectacular!!!

Now, B5 is my second favorite show, right after DS9. And the margin between them is so narrow that it's barely distinguishable. I absolute *adore* this show...and am so glad I made that agreement with those posters in SFF. I would have hated to have missed B5 - it totally rocks. IMO, it has the best character in all of Scifi in it. And season 3 of the show is my favorite single season of ANY scifi show out there!


And Steven....now you are getting into the stuff that makes Londo my favorite character in all of Scifi. You are gonna LOVE the ride him and G'Kar have together throughout the rest of the series!!!!!

 

[eastman23]

A few days ago I said that it's nice to know that humans still screw each other over in the future. As an addition to that, let me say that it's nice to know that the media is still full of manipulative scumbags in the future. Interesting episode though...

[edit]
Just watched In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum...

When Sheridan and Garibaldi were discussing the Icarus early in the episode, and Garibaldi was looking at the crew list and stopped for a minute, I instantly thought "Morden was on that ship". Lo and behold, the camera pans over a couple seconds later...

Question: Why didn't Delenn and Kosh bring G'Kar in on the secret too? He's had the most experience (aside from Londo) with the Shadows lately. And do Delenn or Kosh know about Londo's association with Morden?

On the Earth Alliance front... "Ministry of Peace"? Sounds a bit 1984-ish...

 

[Orac Zen]

^
***...must not spoil...must not spoil...must not spoil...***

Those are really good questions, Steven, and they will be answered. Just keep watching.

It's also a really good observation you make about the Ministry of Peace. Be patient, and you will be rewarded. That's another of the really great things about this series.

Incidentally, "GROPOS" was the episode that really hooked me on B5. (I managed to miss "The Coming of Shadows" first time around. ) The closing scenes are crushing, and I admire JMS very much for actually taking that step. It was when I saw those scenes that it really connected for me that this show was way out of the ordinary.

 

[eastman23]

To hell with spoilers!

GROPOS was pretty good. It hit me in a lot of the same way that The Siege of AR-558 did.

 

[Orac Zen]

Posted by Steven:
To hell with spoilers!

Well, I love 'em myself. But B5 really ought to be experienced as spoiler-free as possible. Some of the payoffs are mind-boggling, and you deserve to enjoy the full impact.

 

[mrcoaster]

Babylon 5 is tasty sci-fi television. It must be savored and enjoyed. You can't just take a nibble. Stick with it and it will pay off. Pay off huge.

I needed a second go-round with Firefly and SG-1 to really get into them and I've been quite happy that I gave them a second chance.

 

[BigFoot]

Alright, I don't have a lot of time so I'm gonna be quick. I've watched quite a bit of Farscape over the last couple of days. I just finished watching the "Look At The Princess" three-parter and I really loved it. While some parts of the episodes were a little slow, they still kicked some frelling ass. I do think they could have dropped the whole Moya's builders bit and edited out a some other stuff and just have a two-parter. But I'm not complaining.
Pretty much every scene with John and Aeryn was great, same with the rest of the Moya crew, and also the end with John's kid.
Oh yeah, that peacekeeper agent was sooo damn hot.

Anyway... I really gotta go, I'll post more thoughts later.

 

[kevsthaman]

I'm trying to remember a show I've given a 2nd chance to and enjoyed it more on the 2nd try. I can't think of one. Well, Seinfeld has kinda grown on me, but I won't plop down and watch it with any real excitement.

Firefly for me was one that might have received my hate (mainly cause Fox chose to use it to replace Dark Angel ). Plus, it was from the creator of Buffy & Angel, two shows that get none of my appreciation to this day (sorry, that's just how I feel) But I was glued to it after the first ep ("The Train Job").

Some shows I hear getting rave reviews around here - ex: B5, Farscape, Stargate SG-1 - are shows I simply didn't find interesting. But I'm willing to give them a second try based on good reviews from people who seem to share my feelings on many things, love for DS9 in particular

 

[eastman23]

/\ You haven't watched B5 yet? Should I stop posting so many spoilers in here?

Oh, and as a note to everyone, I think I'm watching a bit too much B5. Earlier, as I was leaving the office, I made a remark to a co-worker about the computers in the office. And the way I said it (hand gesters and all), it sounded so much like Londo...

 

[The Evil Dead]

^
Did you call him, "Meester Gar-ah-baldy"?

 

[Montresor]

How did you like "Out of Their Minds," BigFoot? I know mind-swapping has been done so much in sci-fi, but I loved how it was done here. It's one of my favorite outright comedy episodes; it was eerie how well the actors played each other's characters!

And Chiana-D'Argo attempting to seduce Rygel-John was so disturbing...

 

[BigFoot]

Posted by Montresor:
How did you like "Out of Their Minds," BigFoot? I know mind-swapping has been done so much in sci-fi, but I loved how it was done here. It's one of my favorite outright comedy episodes; it was eerie how well the actors played each other's characters!

And Chiana-D'Argo attempting to seduce Rygel-John was so disturbing...

Yeah I was actually going to comment on "Out of Their Minds" yesterday, but I didn't have the time. Basically, it was an awesome body-swapping ep. The whole ep was just so frelling funny. There were a couple of times in the ep where I was just laughing my ass off.

And yeah, that seduction definately was disturbing. It would be fun to see some extras about that, at least a short comment by Ben and Anthony.

 

[Orac Zen]

"Out of Their Minds" = Best Body Swapping Episode Ever.

I laughed until I hurt. Full of absolutely priceless moments - and fabulous performances. Makes an SF cliche wonderfully funny and memorable.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Posted by SB:

Posted by Steven:
To hell with spoilers!

Well, I love 'em myself. But B5 really ought to be experienced as spoiler-free as possible. Some of the payoffs are mind-boggling, and you deserve to enjoy the full impact.

Yep...I agree SB...B5 should really be watched spoiler-free. Especially once you get to the part that Steven is watching now!

 

[eastman23]

/\ I'm beginning to see that. Especially after watching Confessions and Lamentations last night. I already told SB this through PM, but the end of that episode just really hit me. It wasn't a usual "end of the episode so everything is wrapped up nicely" ending that you'd expect from say, Star Trek.

I'm really beginning to appreciate how different this series is from Star Trek.

 

[mrcoaster]

"Out of Their Minds" is definitely a favorite Farscape episode of mine. They did it so damn well. Ooo, makes me want to watch some 'Scape. Of course, I need to watch some B5, some Galactica, some SG-1, some Trek...I need WAY more hours in the day to watch all this stuff.

Something tells me that I may not get as much show watching in this weekend as I would if I were in a hotel room.

 

[kevsthaman]

Posted by Steven:
/\ You haven't watched B5 yet? Should I stop posting so many spoilers in here?

Post all you want man! I barely read the B5 reviews anyway. Not that I'm not interested, I just don't have a point of reference (I do remember a couple characters' names though). I'll probably forget it all anyway

If I finally get to ATL & watch B5 with Vash, I'll have to come back here & see if I agree with what was posted. Maybe this thread won't be dead & purged by then