how to convince a friend

remember i asked wether i should show my mate ItB well now he refuses to even try and watch any B5 the stubborn git won't go for it, does anyone know of a way to convince him, and i have already tol him how good the show is by using using comparisons with star trek and others.

Try reverse psychology? Make sure he knows that only really thoughtful, intelligent people would truly appreciate the show...so maybe it's just as well he doesn't want to try. <g>

Jan

My personal advice would be to let it be. Nothing is as interest-killing as people that just *won't* shut up about how great something is. I've never read the Lord of the Rings books, mostly because friends of mine just wouldn't shut up about how awesome-awesome-awesome they were when I wanted to read them.

Seconded.

Jan said:

Try reverse psychology? Make sure he knows that only really thoughtful, intelligent people would truly appreciate the show...so maybe it's just as well he doesn't want to try. <g>
.

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I like this approach. If you're watching one of the movies or something and he doesn't immediately recognize it and asks what you're watching, turn the TV off. Then explain that what you were watching isn't really his kind of thing, that he wouldn't "get" it - and ask if he'd like you to put in a Trek DVD.

If he eventually gets curious enough to ask to check the show out, say, "No. you wouldn't appreciate this kind of thing." Then "hide" your DVDs in some fairly obvious spot. He'll find them and watch the entire series just to spite you.

Regards,

Joe

Just let him be. I knew someone like this (a die-hard Trekkie). After a few months he watched ItB himself just to better inform his hatred. The last I heard he was watching through the whole series. If someone knows enough about something to have formed a strong opinion about it, odds are they'll feel a need to prove themselves right eventually. My brother has just read the whole of 'Northern Lights' in two days because he doesn't read books and doesn't like Philip Pullman..

the problem is he kind of gets how good it is, his older brother is really into it too, and his old room mate is as well. but as he said to me the other day " you introduced me to BSG and it was so good dude, now i have wasted all my free time catching up and i can't afford to waste any more free time watching 5 seasons and and a bunch of movies." however i had an evil thought, if i get him to watch crusade (after all that's only thirteen episodes) he'll be hooked.

Yeah, there's always Crusade.

Ranger1 said:

does anyone know of a way to convince him

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Have you tried cash?? Duct-taping him to a chair? It'll only take a couple of episodes and then he'll be hooked!

Seriously...how about a trade? Why not offer to watch something HE wants you to see in exchange for him giving B5 a try?

Boxie said:

Have you tried cash?? Duct-taping him to a chair? It'll only take a couple of espisodes and then he'll be hooked!

Seriously...how about a trade? Why not offer to watch something HE wants you to see in exchange for him giving B5 a try?

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In my experience, if someone really doesn't want to watch B5, then they won't.

I have a friend that I have dragged through to the beginning of season 4, and he still isn't hooked. Even the suggestion that he will like what happens to Marcus at the end of season 4 hasn't persuaded him to continue (He hates Jason by the way).

I really thought he would have liked it, being a big Dr Who geek. In reality, he stopped watching Sci-fi at the end of the eighties when Dr Who dropped off our screens. If it's not the Doctor, Blake's 7, or something from the mists of time, he's not interested.

But.....

He is the exception and I have converted another friend with very little trouble. It sounds, Ranger1, that your friend is not adverse to watching B5, just not a the moment. Give him some time, and I'm sure he will be begging for your DVDs.

I think I have an antisheepism gene... maybe your friend has too.

If people keep telling me something is good, I won't go near it for a long while. I have to decide to watch/read/listen to something on my own terms.

I love U2 but I wouldn't listen to any of their stuff for ages, because my friends did and kept insisting on how great the music was.

Same with Lord of the Rings.

I have yet to read Harry Potter.

I originally refused to watch Titanic because everybody on Earth seemd to be mass hypnotised into watching it. Now I won't watch it on DVD because it seems pretty nmuch a load of pants from what little I have seen of it.

Galahad said:

I think I have an antisheepism gene... maybe your friend has too.

If people keep telling me something is good, I won't go near it for a long while. I have to decide to watch/read/listen to something on my own terms.

I love U2 but I wouldn't listen to any of their stuff for ages, because my friends did and kept insisting on how great the music was.

Same with Lord of the Rings.

I have yet to read Harry Potter.

I originally refused to watch Titanic because everybody on Earth seemd to be mass hypnotised into watching it. Now I won't watch it on DVD because it seems pretty nmuch a load of pants from what little I have seen of it.

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It's an anticonformism, reflexive rebelling against authority gene, and some people need to get over it. I have the same tendency, but make a conscious effort to try other people's recommendations if my viewing schedule isn't already all booked up. I mean, there's a difference between being forced along by peer pressure or watching out of boredom, and sampling something based upon someone's recommendation and then deciding to stay with something or leave it. The latter is not sheepism.

Back in 1996, a friend who knew I was getting thoroughly fed up with Trek (DS9 and especially Voyager <ptui> ), casually recommended B5 to me as something I might be more interested in. He even let me borrow a few tapes he'd made (all EP, a smattering of non-consecutive episodes, and not very good quality recordings). To me, the difference in quality between Trek and B5 was like night and day. I was hooked on B5 and dropped Trek like a hot potato. Since then, I revisited Trek a few times for reruns of DS9 and Voyager, and Enterprise, and really couldn't care less if Trek ever comes back on with a new series or in movies.

BTW, Titanic did have those nice scenes of Kate Winslet.

I've got the anti-sheep gene, too. I resisted Harry Potter until I was paid to watch the first movie. I don't do soduku puzzles, or whatever they are, for the same reason.

Titanic was a perfectly acceptable disaster flick if you ignored the lead characters. But I have a nostalgic soft spot in my heart for the love story, because of a certain puppy-love incident that happened more or less simultaneously with Titanic's release...

Returning to topic, I nearly "unconverted" some of my converts by gushing about the show. I realized that they'd the show a lot more if I shut up: sobering, but I accepted it.

Personally, what I would do it just watch some of the better episodes whlie they are around, and don't say anything about it. If they're interested, they will watch, otherwise, forget about it. The show isn't for everybody.