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babylon5_loveHere be spoilers for the entire show, just to warn you!
One of the greatest pleasures of being a fan of Babylon 5 is seeing someone else watch the show for the first time. Between reading episode reaction posts from first-time viewers and subjecting all your friends to the DVDs, there's something about someone's unspoiled first viewing of some really good television which never gets old, no matter if they agree with your interpretation of the show or not. ("I really like Lyta and Byron's relationship," one of my first-time-viewers remarked in the middle of Season 5. I never took anything about Babylon 5 for granted again.)
Watching first-time viewings or tracking reaction posts, there seems to be a common thread: Season 1 starts and the viewer, especially if they're watching it now in the age post-BSG and New Who, complains about the special effects, the slowness of the arc, the bad acting... basically wondering where this spectacular television show everyone has told them about is. And depending on who you are, you'll either urge them to hold on until Season 2, or reassure them that there are some really good episodes in Season 1 and the acting gets better, or you say "Okay, you're right, let's just skip a bunch of episodes and I'll tell you what happens in them," or some combination of the above.
By Season 3, of course, they're crying and throwing things at the screen and yelling "LONDO! NOOO!" so there's that to look forward to.
If you've got someone's viewing experience under your control--they've finally acquiesced to your demands that they watch, and you own the DVDs and the remote control, for example--you want to make their first viewing as awesome as possible. And you're stuck with the following questions: What to do about Season 1? And what to do about Season 5?
I'm actually someone who will defend Season 1 to the death if I have to. I love Sinclair, I love the lightly-sprinkled backstory, I love the clunky acting and the too-dark too-spare sets and the dramatic pauses before commercial cuts and making problems-of-the-week feel like they're going to actually cause serious danger when they're going to get wrapped up at the 43-minute mark. I also seriously love the costumes, especially the Earthforce dress uniforms. But I am also aware that part of my love was bought by watching the episodes over and over and over again until paths were worn into my neurons. Season 1 is one of those things that improves greatly on re-watching: The contrast between how characters are portrayed in Season 1 and the rest of the show is greater than between any other two seasons, with Delenn, G'Kar, and Londo all going through moments of emotional and physical transition at the end, Sinclair being replaced and the other Human characters reacting to Sheridan's presence, Garibaldi being shot and getting far more paranoia in return... the S1 versions of the characters are almost startling when we return to them and remember how young they all were at one time, before five years of JMS hit them. But for a first-time viewer, without the benefit of hindsight, there is a lot to get through, and you don't want your friend to be discouraged.
So between all of the admitted flaws (oh, I love the flaws) in Season 1, your friend might get frustrated if you ask them to sit through too many episodes before they finally reach whatever makes them fall in love. There are a few strategies to dealing with this:
1) Drunken marathon. Insist they watch everything, but strategically allow drinking and sarcastic commenting during certain scenes. This can work, depending on your friend's patience and how long you have the TV for.
2) Watch the TV Movie "In the Beginning" first, with or without some kind of explanation of the context of the framing device. Hope they've forgotten that by the time you reach Season 3 and "War Without End". This has the advantage of starting off with one of the strongest stories produced by the creative team, and some of the best CG on the show itself. It also blows the secret of Season 1, which means that many of the arc episodes don't work as well.
3) Skip most of Season 1, watch several later episodes out of order with hurried commentary, only find "Comes the Inquisitor" running when you try to catch reruns on television, misplace your VHS of Season 2 episodes, and finally frustrate your friend to the point where she reads an episode guide cover to cover to try and figure out what happened. This happened to me, and I don't recommend it.
4) Watch an abridged Season 1, and come back to interesting episodes when your friend wants a break from the heavier episodes later in the arc, or when you're done with the entire show and are starting over.
I think most of us go for some variation of 4, if only to the point of leaving out the pilot movie "The Gathering," "Infection," and "The War Prayer." If you're going for the really quick version (like you're one of those people who would happily skip to Season 2, heretic) I think the minimum number of episodes you can manage is probably:
"Midnight on the Firing Line"--it's a good introduction to the show, much better than the pilot.
"And the Sky Full of Stars"--the forcing open of the Sinclair plot.
"Signs and Portents"--The introduction of the Shadows!
"Babylon Squared"--the first half of the Babylon 4 plot.
"Chrysalis"--Gotta have the season ender.
It's short! It's sweet! It's got most of the high points of the season. I'd hate to leave it that short, though. But if you really think it's best to skip all of it I'd argue for including at least those five episodes for your first-time viewer.
If I had a few more episodes, I'd add "Soul Hunter," "Parliament of Dreams," "By Any Means Necessary," and "Quality of Mercy" to those, just as far as quality and fleshing out of the universe goes. But there are a lot more good episodes in Season 1 or episodes that get referred to later which are worthwhile to hit on a first viewing.
The other issue when watching B5 is what happens when you get to the end of Season 4. Andraste has a fantastic defense of Season 5 which I hope will keep anyone from making the suggestion to leave it off entirely. Season 5 has a lot of great stuff in it and it's well worth watching. I really just advise people to slog through the first half, enjoying the high points and Bester, and tell people ahead of time that Byron's going to die in a fire.
But I also want to question where to watch Sleeping in Light. I know, I know, it's the best series finale of all time. But at the end of Season 5, it also comes at the end of a number of episodes all dedicated to saying goodbye--and if you're marathoning, that's a lot of farewells all at once. At least I felt that way the first time I mainlined Season 5 after not seeing any of the episodes for a few years.
I have successfully shown someone Sleeping in Light before Season 5. It worked rather well, actually. The episode was filmed at the end of Season 4 and it very much feels like a S4 episode. It doesn't need any context from S5 and it doesn't do too bad as a lead-in.
You can also make someone watch the end of Season 5, the TV movies, Crusade, Legend of the Rangers, and the two Lost Tales before watching Sleeping in Light in full chronological order. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
From doing this a number of times, what I've done that seems to work well is to just take a break after Objects at Rest. Take a few days or a week off the viewing party and come back to Sleeping in Light. It's a beautiful episode which won't be ruined by the time away, and it'll be a perfect capstone to your inductee's Babylon 5 experience.
Until you try to convince them to watch Crusade a week later.
One of the greatest pleasures of being a fan of Babylon 5 is seeing someone else watch the show for the first time. Between reading episode reaction posts from first-time viewers and subjecting all your friends to the DVDs, there's something about someone's unspoiled first viewing of some really good television which never gets old, no matter if they agree with your interpretation of the show or not. ("I really like Lyta and Byron's relationship," one of my first-time-viewers remarked in the middle of Season 5. I never took anything about Babylon 5 for granted again.)
Watching first-time viewings or tracking reaction posts, there seems to be a common thread: Season 1 starts and the viewer, especially if they're watching it now in the age post-BSG and New Who, complains about the special effects, the slowness of the arc, the bad acting... basically wondering where this spectacular television show everyone has told them about is. And depending on who you are, you'll either urge them to hold on until Season 2, or reassure them that there are some really good episodes in Season 1 and the acting gets better, or you say "Okay, you're right, let's just skip a bunch of episodes and I'll tell you what happens in them," or some combination of the above.
By Season 3, of course, they're crying and throwing things at the screen and yelling "LONDO! NOOO!" so there's that to look forward to.
If you've got someone's viewing experience under your control--they've finally acquiesced to your demands that they watch, and you own the DVDs and the remote control, for example--you want to make their first viewing as awesome as possible. And you're stuck with the following questions: What to do about Season 1? And what to do about Season 5?
I'm actually someone who will defend Season 1 to the death if I have to. I love Sinclair, I love the lightly-sprinkled backstory, I love the clunky acting and the too-dark too-spare sets and the dramatic pauses before commercial cuts and making problems-of-the-week feel like they're going to actually cause serious danger when they're going to get wrapped up at the 43-minute mark. I also seriously love the costumes, especially the Earthforce dress uniforms. But I am also aware that part of my love was bought by watching the episodes over and over and over again until paths were worn into my neurons. Season 1 is one of those things that improves greatly on re-watching: The contrast between how characters are portrayed in Season 1 and the rest of the show is greater than between any other two seasons, with Delenn, G'Kar, and Londo all going through moments of emotional and physical transition at the end, Sinclair being replaced and the other Human characters reacting to Sheridan's presence, Garibaldi being shot and getting far more paranoia in return... the S1 versions of the characters are almost startling when we return to them and remember how young they all were at one time, before five years of JMS hit them. But for a first-time viewer, without the benefit of hindsight, there is a lot to get through, and you don't want your friend to be discouraged.
So between all of the admitted flaws (oh, I love the flaws) in Season 1, your friend might get frustrated if you ask them to sit through too many episodes before they finally reach whatever makes them fall in love. There are a few strategies to dealing with this:
1) Drunken marathon. Insist they watch everything, but strategically allow drinking and sarcastic commenting during certain scenes. This can work, depending on your friend's patience and how long you have the TV for.
2) Watch the TV Movie "In the Beginning" first, with or without some kind of explanation of the context of the framing device. Hope they've forgotten that by the time you reach Season 3 and "War Without End". This has the advantage of starting off with one of the strongest stories produced by the creative team, and some of the best CG on the show itself. It also blows the secret of Season 1, which means that many of the arc episodes don't work as well.
3) Skip most of Season 1, watch several later episodes out of order with hurried commentary, only find "Comes the Inquisitor" running when you try to catch reruns on television, misplace your VHS of Season 2 episodes, and finally frustrate your friend to the point where she reads an episode guide cover to cover to try and figure out what happened. This happened to me, and I don't recommend it.
4) Watch an abridged Season 1, and come back to interesting episodes when your friend wants a break from the heavier episodes later in the arc, or when you're done with the entire show and are starting over.
I think most of us go for some variation of 4, if only to the point of leaving out the pilot movie "The Gathering," "Infection," and "The War Prayer." If you're going for the really quick version (like you're one of those people who would happily skip to Season 2, heretic) I think the minimum number of episodes you can manage is probably:
"Midnight on the Firing Line"--it's a good introduction to the show, much better than the pilot.
"And the Sky Full of Stars"--the forcing open of the Sinclair plot.
"Signs and Portents"--The introduction of the Shadows!
"Babylon Squared"--the first half of the Babylon 4 plot.
"Chrysalis"--Gotta have the season ender.
It's short! It's sweet! It's got most of the high points of the season. I'd hate to leave it that short, though. But if you really think it's best to skip all of it I'd argue for including at least those five episodes for your first-time viewer.
If I had a few more episodes, I'd add "Soul Hunter," "Parliament of Dreams," "By Any Means Necessary," and "Quality of Mercy" to those, just as far as quality and fleshing out of the universe goes. But there are a lot more good episodes in Season 1 or episodes that get referred to later which are worthwhile to hit on a first viewing.
The other issue when watching B5 is what happens when you get to the end of Season 4. Andraste has a fantastic defense of Season 5 which I hope will keep anyone from making the suggestion to leave it off entirely. Season 5 has a lot of great stuff in it and it's well worth watching. I really just advise people to slog through the first half, enjoying the high points and Bester, and tell people ahead of time that Byron's going to die in a fire.
But I also want to question where to watch Sleeping in Light. I know, I know, it's the best series finale of all time. But at the end of Season 5, it also comes at the end of a number of episodes all dedicated to saying goodbye--and if you're marathoning, that's a lot of farewells all at once. At least I felt that way the first time I mainlined Season 5 after not seeing any of the episodes for a few years.
I have successfully shown someone Sleeping in Light before Season 5. It worked rather well, actually. The episode was filmed at the end of Season 4 and it very much feels like a S4 episode. It doesn't need any context from S5 and it doesn't do too bad as a lead-in.
You can also make someone watch the end of Season 5, the TV movies, Crusade, Legend of the Rangers, and the two Lost Tales before watching Sleeping in Light in full chronological order. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
From doing this a number of times, what I've done that seems to work well is to just take a break after Objects at Rest. Take a few days or a week off the viewing party and come back to Sleeping in Light. It's a beautiful episode which won't be ruined by the time away, and it'll be a perfect capstone to your inductee's Babylon 5 experience.
Until you try to convince them to watch Crusade a week later.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 06:59 pm (UTC)(After Crusade, Though, I am starting to wonder what JMS has against archaeologists...)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 09:03 pm (UTC)(After Crusade, Though, I am starting to wonder what JMS has against archaeologists...)
As an anthro major, I've wondered the same thing. All things considered, I suspect an archaeologist must have teamed up with a reporter to crash his car, ruin his favorite t-shirt and drink all his beer.