[Franco McNeil]

My new girlfriend is a big ST:TNG fan and I'm determined to get her into B5.  Where would you think would be a good starting point to get her hooked?

I wouldn't say the pilot, this it isn't all that great and Sinclair can act his way out of a wet paper bag.

I'm leaning toward the In the Begining movie or the Coming of Shadows from season 2.

Something that doesn't require me to give her a whole lot of back story would be best.

[Fury]

In the Beginning.

[karajorma]

JMS himself said that Passing Through Gethsemane was a good stand alone episode.

There's virtually no backstory required and the episode is actually somewhat similar in style to ST:TNG's habit of making episodes with a moral to them. (In fact the episode could probably have been made for ST:TNG with only a few minor alterations).

In the Beginning may seem like a good point to start but it spoils a fair bit of season one so I can't recommend it. It's f**king brilliant but it's probably better for someone who you probably won't pursuade to watch the whole show but want to pursuade that B5 is a good show.

Midnight on the Firing Line isn't a bad start. There are a few references to Kosh's attempted assassination but it generally requires no knowledge of the pilot episode.

Just don't pick Infection. That was the first one I saw and it put me off of B5 for two whole seasons until I learned from a friend that it was actually one of the poorest examples of the show.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Mr. Fury
In the Beginning.

In the beginning is good. Of course, it's the only B5 I ever saw...

[karajorma]

Okay I edited my comments about ITB while Goober was posting but it kind of proves them right

[IPAndrews]

I would have said Midnight on the Firing Line, but you don't want to show her the whole of S1. Some of those episodes stink (Infection). Instead pick and choose episodes that are important to the overall story arc. So for S1 that would be, I guess, Mind War, Sky Full of Stars (love that one, Chris Neame is great), Signs and Portents... etc... I'll stop there because once she should be hooked by then.

[Franco McNeil]

I'm trying to avoid season one, since S1 is why I didn't watch B5 for years.   I saw Grail, and didn't try again until The Fall of Night, which was good.  Of course, it was much, MUCH better to everyone who had been watching, since Kosh was just another character to me at that point.

Perhaps Signs and Portents...

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by karajorma
Okay I edited my comments about ITB while Goober was posting but it kind of proves them right

At one point I was thinking about using my first paycheck to buy all the Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Mr. Bean DVDs.

I decided to use it to pay my rent.

[Roanoke]

Originally posted by Franco McNeil
My new girlfriend is a big ST:TNG fan and I'm determined to get her into B5.  Where would you think would be a good starting point to get her hooked?

I wouldn't say the pilot, this it isn't all that great and Sinclair can act his way out of a wet paper bag.

[lowblow] Well, if she tolerated ST:TNG I doubt if fine acting is something she's gonna be concerned about[/lowblow]


yuk yuk

[Trivial Psychic]

A good stand-alone episode of Season 1 is "By Any Means Necessary"  not a lot of action, but it gets both tense and funny.

[Deepstar]

I think "The Gathering" is the best Starting Episode

Or "Midnight in the Firing Line",
ITB have to many B5-Spoilers IMO and all other Episodes are not good Starting Episodes.


Or you try "Warzone" from B5 Crusade

[PSI-KILLER]

TKO should be on the NO list, she may not be your girlfiend for long after seeing that.   Its ike a blood sport in space opera odd plot with a subliminal Zima commercial thrown in.

[IPAndrews]

So what did you go with in the end Franco and did it work? Oh and on the subject of NO lists, well you could add quite a few to that one. Born to the Purple and Infection did a good job of turning people off to B5 very early in S1. Exogenesis is a bit dodgy, but oh my god, GREY 17 IS MISSING! We have a winner.

[karajorma]

One thing I like about JMS is that he's honest when he gets it wrong. HE's pretty much flat out stated that Grey 17 worked on paper but didn't work once filmed.

That said the B plotline about Marcus Vs Neroon is pretty good.

[ShockWave]

I quite enjoyed "Born to the Purple", myself...


ShockWave

[Franco McNeil]

I went with The Coming of Shadows.  I figured that one didn't need much back story and it was an award winner, it would be a good one with which to start.

Before we started, I gave her a brief explaination of the Earth Minbari war, and discribed Mr Morden's arrival in Signs and Portents.

The only part she didn't understand was the Ranger* and his message for Garabaldi from Sinclair.  After the ep, I went ahead and explained Sinclair and the Battle of the Line to clear that up.

After it was over, she said she liked it.  Then she said "it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be".  Ouch.  But, she also said she'd give it a few more episodes before passing judgement.

I think I'll go with And Now For a Word or In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum next.  I don't want to go out of order and don't want to waste the "few more" on episodes that are just ok.  I think if I can get her to hang in until Comes the Inquisitor and The Fall of Night she'll be hooked.  I'm really hoping so, because I want her to see Severed Dreams, one of the best ever.


*She asked "is his name Aragorn?"  I had to address the Lord of the Rings connections before she had a chance to balk at the name Z'ha'dum...and hoped she never asked to see the other movie with the acronym LotR...


edit - and I like Born of the Purple too, but that may have been my thing for Winnie Cooper coming back.  

[-Norbert-]

Any episode with Bester would be a good idea.
That way they can see that Walter König is actually a very good actor and just didn't get a chance to show it as Chekov (however that name is written).

You definately shouldn't leave out "From dust to dust".

Oh and don't forget "the long twilight struggle". One of my most favourite episodes.
And maybe you should make a brief jump back to "Crysalis", that is a great episode too.

Edit: Aragorn? pfft..... Marcus is much cooler!
Ivannonva: "At least we know they understand our language, their just not willing to use it."
Marcus: "Who knew they where french":lol:
-"Voices of Authority"

[Ace]

In the Beginning or the first actual episode are good little introducers.

Of course it also helps if a buddy of yours has also seen the show and you keep making jokes about Bush's dealings with the Shadows, Night Watch, etc. That piques the curiosity to see those episodes followed by the "Oh yeah, I bet that Mr. Morden does hang around Karl Rove..."

[Sigma957]

Show her Severed Dreams, one of the best eps out, once she's seen that she would want to watch the episodes before that to catch up on the story and then she will want to watch the rest to see how the story ends and before you know it she's watched all the episodes.

[madaboutgames]

I would suggest letting her watch in the begining aswell.  This will help clear up many questions while watching other episodes and reveals a lot about the B5 universe.