Babylon 5 S1 & S2 - essential viewing

[kangeiko]

I'm visiting monanotlisa in a couple of weeks, and with me I shall take season 1 of The West Wing, and also Some Episodes of Babylon 5.

The goal is, of course, to get our lovely lady hooked on The Greatest Show of All Time (tm) before having to go back to rainy England. This must also be accomplished without spending every waking hour in front of the tv, as it's Karneval, and dancing must be had. Flist - I beseech you! Below you will find a list of all season 1 and season 2 B5 episodes. The ones in bold are the ones that we definitely have to see (for arc-purposes, or because they rock), the ones struck through are ones I definitely don't want to bother with, and the rest I'm not sure about. Help!! Opinions, thoughts, guidance - maximum b5-impact, with a bare minimum of 'filler' episodes. Possible??

Season 1
Midnight on the Firing Line - first episode, sets up the Narn/Centauri background, lots of new characters introduced.
Soul Hunter - Delenn's revelation. ETA: realised that it's recapped later on.
Born to the Purple - Londo, Adira.
Infection - because, no.
The Parliament of Dreams - more new characters, fantastic in general. One of my faves.
Mind War - Psi Corps, Talia.
The War Prayer
And the Sky Full of Stars - Sinclair.
Deathwalker - meh.
Believers - fantastic Franklin episode.
Survivors - never liked this one...
By Any Means Necessary - as far as I know, not remotely arc-relevant.
Signs and Portents - THE arc episode of season 1. Well. One of them.
TKO - god, no.
Grail
Eyes
Legacies - The last scene is crucial, and the Ivanova & Talia relationship is developed.
A Voice in the Wilderness Part 1
A Voice in the Wilderness Part 2 - The Great Machine. Also, great Londo. And, plus, funny.
Babylon Squared - just try and follow 'War Without End' without this one!
The Quality of Mercy - alien machine.
Chrysalis - ARC.


Season 2
Points of Departure - new characters.
Revelations - Delenn
The Geometry of Shadows - visions
A Distant Star - not a great fan of this one
The Long Dark - nor this one
A Spider in the Web - this was part of the aborted Talia arc, right? Not really that arc-relevant...
Soul Mates - because it has Timov.
A Race Through Dark Places - Talia, John, Delenn, Psi Corps.
The Coming of Shadows - OMG ARC.
GROPOS - it breaks my heart to omit this one, as it has the amazing Dodger, but there really isn't that much to it other than that.
All Alone in the Night - Delenn, Grey Council.
Acts of Sacrifice - I don't care for much of this episode, but it does have Ivanova's dance. Hmmmm.
Hunter, Prey - data.
There All Honour Lies - Pluses: Vorlon lessons, teddy bears. Down side: entire A-plot.
And Now for a Word - pluses: fab ep, IMO. Down side: does it give us any info that we don't already have?
In the Shadow of Z'Ha'Dum - arc.
Knives - fab Londo ep. Down side: not that relevant.
Confessions and Lamentations - OMG, break your heart.
Divided Loyalties - and again.
The Long, Twilight Struggle - and once more.
Comes the Inquisitor - and some more.
The Fall of Night - finishes you off.

Thoughts, comments? queenspanky, I am looking in your direction. I distinctly remember skipping several episodes from season 1 in order to get you embroiled in arc-heavy stuff, and then dangle season 4 in front of you, teasingly, listening to the pleas for mercy. Ah, good times...

Comments

[invisible-al.livejournal.com]

Spider in the Web - Has the first time Sheridan does his Conspiracy at the heart of EarthGov thing. But it can be missed.

There all the Honour Lies - Vorlon Lessons, worth it just for that.

And Now for a Word - now this does have a significant ammount of stuff, The "Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps." and the Orwell stuff going on with Minipax?

Knives - is a fucking excellent episode, try and include it if you can.

But you're pretty much spot on with the bold episodes, hmmm not much help am I :) Actually go for a season and a half, by the time they get to Coming of Shadows you'll have them. Then they'll just have to buy all the seasons and watch it all :).

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

I would show Eyes in so much as it's an excellent Ivonova and Sinclair ep and I think it shows some relevant power structure of Earth and well . . I like it.

Also, I'd show all of Legacy assuming it's the one I'm thinking of, with the little telepathic girl. If you're gonna she the ep where Talia leaves then I think you should show the Talia and Ivonova interaction in Eyes.

Errr plus, the last part of an ep just kinda sucks ^^

I'd drop Soul hunter. I never thought it was a strong ep and but I guess you need the background on th war. I don't know, if I was gonna show just any part of a en ep I think I'd just show a small part of that one.

But them i'm wierd. I'm the only person I know who liked TKO ^^
I'd strike through Deathwalker too. All it does is show that Earth is not trustworthy and neither is anyone else and the Vorlons don't want us to have immortality *yet*

Which I think is all covered elsewhere.

I just have the first season and it's been too long since I saw the second season for me to really comment ^^

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Drop Soul Hunter, include Born to the Purple. It is the first episode to flesh out Londo, and has so much important character stuff for him. The "washed up Republican, dreaming of better days" line. Adira, and Londo's love for her, which, you know, pretty crucial motivation for certain later events.

AND! "What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?" one of the classic Londo lines. Also the first ep where Vir serves jaala to Londo and gets told he's a treasure.

In short, a must.

[kangeiko]

Spider in the Web - Has the first time Sheridan does his Conspiracy at the heart of EarthGov thing. But it can be missed.

Isn't the conspiracy element covered in 'All Alone in the Night', with General Hague's visit? (I'm just so not a fan of this episode, I find it very dull)

There all the Honour Lies - Vorlon Lessons, worth it just for that.

Yes!

And Now for a Word - now this does have a significant ammount of stuff, The "Psi Corps is your friend. Trust the Corps." and the Orwell stuff going on with Minipax?

Hmmm, yes, good point...

Knives - is a fucking excellent episode, try and include it if you can.

It's big on the Londo-love, and I'm totally with that. I hope that she digs Londo as much as me... *crosses fingers*

Actually go for a season and a half, by the time they get to Coming of Shadows you'll have them. Then they'll just have to buy all the seasons and watch it all :).

Hey, worked with queenspanky! :)

[kangeiko]

I would show Eyes in so much as it's an excellent Ivonova and Sinclair ep and I think it shows some relevant power structure of Earth and well . . I like it.

It does have some excellent Psi Corps stuff, which could come in handy later... *ponders*

Also, I'd show all of Legacy assuming it's the one I'm thinking of, with the little telepathic girl. If you're gonna she the ep where Talia leaves then I think you should show the Talia and Ivonova interaction in Eyes.

Errr plus, the last part of an ep just kinda sucks ^^

Oh, yeah, totally - when I sad 'last scene', I just meant I'd show the entire episode, but mainly for the last scene, not that I'd show just that one scene! The end of 'Legacies' sent up Chrysalis, so...

I'd drop Soul hunter. I never thought it was a strong ep and but I guess you need the background on th war.

I was thinking - it has the Delenn "we were right about you" bit, but then that's recalled by sinclair later on in 'and the sky full of stars', so maybe we don't have to sit through it...

I'd strike through Deathwalker too. All it does is show that Earth is not trustworthy and neither is anyone else and the Vorlons don't want us to have immortality *yet*

Yes, I agree. :)

[kangeiko]

Drop Soul Hunter, include Born to the Purple. It is the first episode to flesh out Londo, and has so much important character stuff for him. The "washed up Republican, dreaming of better days" line. Adira, and Londo's love for her, which, you know, pretty crucial motivation for certain later events.

See, I was worried that I had too many 'character' episodes, and that I'd end up including all of the seasons' shows... then I thought - hang on, that's the strength of B5!

I only really included Soul Hunter because of the satai and 'we were right about you' comments, but i think that they're recapped in later episodes, so.... out it goes! *fling*