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Conversion ideas

Parliament of Dreams: A good all round explainer, but nothing outstandingly attention grabbing.
Oh, I don't know. That pan down the line of representatives of different Earth religions is an absolute stunner for a lot of people. (While not being *at all* the "typical SF" space explosion kind of thing.)

And it's got a great, entirely encapsulated, example of a subtle detail that isn't generally caught by first time viewers ..... but fits perfectly with the story. The first time that I caught G'Kar's hand come into the upper right of the screen and swap pieces of fruit with Ivanova ..... I about fell out of my chair.
 
P.S. I will give a full report, keep your fingers crossed fr me! Its very nerve-wracking, only having one chance to "sell" this show I love so much. How must "The Great Maker" have felt in all those TV execs offices?! Keep suggestions coming!

Are you sure you can't get this person to sit down to more than just one episode? If that's *all* they're willing to try, then they may not have their mind open to it.

Without commercials and not counting opening credits, an episode is approx. two-thirds of an hour. Most people just hanging out with friends don't mind watching a two-hour movie. That's the equivalent of three episodes.

Some of the episodes mentioned like By Any Means Necessary are about mundane things based somewhat on reality but in a futuristic setting. Episodes like Confessions & Lamentations are about extraordinary--yet believable--things in a futuristic setting. And, ones like Mind War are about truly fantastic and science-fictiony topics.

I would say a person would not get a good sense of Babylon 5 without a mixture. JMS himself has explained that Babylon 5 came from the merging of two separate concepts he had in his head. He was thinking about people living ordinary lives in a spinning canister of a space station, and he also had an idea for epic battles between ancient forces of good & evil (more correctly, order & chaos). It wasn't until he realized they were the same story that Babylon 5 was born. It's two shows wrapped up into one.

If you show your friend By Any Means, they'll see the mundane side of B5 but won't get the sense of wonder. If they see Mind War, they'll think it's all magic & psychobabble set in space with shaky cameras, special effects, and explosions.

If you show them one of each (with maybe a nice middle-ground episode like Confession & Lamentations as a third), I think only then will they get a good sense of the show and how good it is. Being willing to see only one ep isn't quite a fair shot. If after three, they still don't like it, then the show definitely wasn't meant for them.

-----

As an aside... Despite B5 being my #1 all-time favorite show and me doubting anything could ever beat it, I still haven't watched an episode of it in several months. It's always in the back of my mind to watch an ep or two for old time sake, but I also know the whole story already. Other people have mentioned this here before, but I kind of envy people seeing it for the first time. It'd be nice to be mind-wiped of all B5 memory so that I could watch for the first time all over again.

I'm curious to know if your friend believes B5 stands the test of time, especially since TV shows have matured lately and have been more willing to do arc storylines, something B5 paved the way for. Personally, I think Lost and Battlestar Galactica come close, arc-wise, but B5's blend of heart, humor, soul, and eloquence put it over the top in my book.
 
Ooh, I forgot another suggestion... There All Honor Lies

I can't remember every subplot in that episode, and it may not be entirely stand-alone, but I do remember that being the episode with a lot of humor. That's the one with the alien masks, the Londo action figure, and the Bearbylon 5 teddy bear with Sheridan's initials.

If humor could help make up your friend's mind, this one could work.
 
I think that B5 is a tough show to get into, but as for I hook episode, I would probobly just go with the first one, Midnight on the Firing Line.

By Any Means Nessisary isn't a bad choice either. Belives is to much loved it or hated it as someone said before. Mind War, or Signs and Portents, not a bad choice either. I would hesitate getting into season 2 and on, just because it might be confusing.
 
I think that B5 is a tough show to get into, but as for I hook episode, I would probobly just go with the first one, Midnight on the Firing Line.

By Any Means Nessisary isn't a bad choice either. Belives is to much loved it or hated it as someone said before. Mind War, or Signs and Portents, not a bad choice either. I would hesitate getting into season 2 and on, just because it might be confusing.

Why don't we put it up for a Vote (Poll), with a definite end date? Of the ones previously mentioned in this thread, everybody here gets to pick one, and the winner is the one that gets the screening.
 
Here are the choices, in chronological order, separated by season, with the ** BOLD ORANGE ones being the ones to include in the poll.

POLL QUESTION: What is the best Babylon 5 episode or movie to introduce a non-sci-fi fan to the show? (2 parters are considered as one ep.)

<font color="orange">**The Gathering</font>
<font color="orange">**Midnight on the Firing Line</font>
Soul Hunter
Born to the Purple
Infection
<font color="orange">**The Parliament of Dreams</font>
<font color="orange">**Mind War</font>
The War Prayer
<font color="orange">**And The Sky Full Of Stars</font>
<font color="orange">**Deathwalker</font>
<font color="orange">**Believers</font>
Survivors
<font color="orange">**By Any Means Necessary</font>
<font color="orange">**Signs and Portents</font>
TKO
Grail
Eyes
Legacies
<font color="orange">**A Voice in the Wilderness Parts 1 & 2</font>
Babylon Squared
The Quality of Mercy
<font color="orange">**Chrysalis</font>

Points of Departure
<font color="orange">**Revelations</font>
The Geometry of Shadows
A Distant Star
The Long Dark
A Spider in the Web
Soul Mates
A Race Through Dark Places
The Coming of Shadows
GROPOS
All Alone in the Night
Acts of Sacrifice
Hunter, Prey
<font color="orange">**There All the Honor Lies</font>
And Now For a Word
In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
Knives
<font color="orange">**Confessions and Lamentations</font>
Divided Loyalties
The Long, Twilight Struggle
<font color="orange">**Comes the Inquisitor</font>
<font color="orange">**The Fall of Night</font>


Matters of Honor
Convictions
A Day in the Strife
<font color="orange">**Passing Through Gethsemane</font>
Voices of Authority
Dust to Dust
Exogenesis
Messages from Earth
Point of No Return
Severed Dreams
Ceremonies of Light and Dark
Sic Transit Vir
A Late Delivery from Avalon
Ship of Tears
Interludes and Examinations
War Without End, Parts 1 & 2
Walkabout
Grey 17 Is Missing
And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
<font color="orange">**Shadow Dancing</font>
<font color="orange">**Z'ha'dum</font>

The Hour of the Wolf
Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
The Summoning
Falling Toward Apotheosis
The Long Night
Into the Fire
Epiphanies
The Illusion of Truth
Thirdspace
Atonement
Racing Mars
Lines of Communication
Conflicts of Interest
Rumors, Bargains and Lies
Moments of Transition
No Surrender, No Retreat
The Exercise of Vital Powers
The Face of the Enemy
<font color="orange">**Intersections in Real Time</font>
Between the Darkness and the Light
Endgame
Rising Star
The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

No Compromises
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
The Paragon of Animals
A View from the Gallery
Learning Curve
Strange Relations
Secrets of the Soul
In the Kingdom of the Blind
A Tragedy of Telepaths
Phoenix Rising
Day of the Dead
The Ragged Edge
The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father
Meditations on the Abyss
Darkness Ascending
And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder
Movements of Fire and Shadow
The Fall of Centauri Prime
Wheel of Fire
Objects in Motion
Objects at Rest
The River of Souls
<font color="orange">**Babylon 5: In the Beginning</font>
A Call to Arms
Sleeping in Light



Are there any others we should include in the poll? I'm tempted to include "The Geometry of Shadows" and "The Coming of Shadows."


FYI, I have the list saved in a TXT tile, where the only inclusion indicator is the leading **. I made them bold orange here only, so they'd stand out better.
 
POLL QUESTION: What is the best Babylon 5 episode or movie to introduce a non-sci-fi fan to the show?
In my opinion the real answer is: "It depends on the individual being introduced."

Since different people have differing tastes and preferences, different episodes, with different content, will apeal most to those varying tastes.
 
Which is why a poll wouldn't exactly work.

My first question reading this thread was: what does your friend like? What does your friend dislike?
 
Which is why a poll wouldn't exactly work.

Better than nothing, and a Poll could be applied, in general, to the sci-fi fan or non-sci-fi fan.

I'm thinking about this very subject because I'm in the middle of introducing a semi-mocking* sci-fi fan (somebody I work with now and then) to B5. I'm going with "Mind War" next.

* He seems to have an interest in B5, and is impressed with the quality of the effects given the years when the series was produced, but has had an adverse reaction to Centauri hair crests. So far, he's seen:

A Call to Arms (He watched a movie I was already watching.)
Midnight on the Firing Line
and
Soul Hunter.


Given the reduced prices for the DVD sets recently, I think he's going to buy the whole series.
 
Yes, Londo's hair looks awful at first site. But, honestly, there are so many other things in SciFidom that are truly horrid that don't seem to hold the fans away. Why is it specifically Londo's hair that keeps people from B5 (This is not even close to the first time I've heard Londo's hair as being the thing that keeps people from B5)
 
The Centauri looked different in season 1. The hair crest was more sparse- it was thin and had a lot of gaps in it. Also Londo and Vir both had fangs. None of this detracts from the story of course.
 
I agree with the "In the Beginning" choice. I saw that first when my (then) BF was trying to convert me. I loved it, but didn't know a lot about the universe it was set it. It made me want to know more and to understand. And, it didn't ruin anything for me. By the time I got to the major story points, I had forgotten a lot of it. So much happens in the movie that we all take for granted (having seen the movie a dozen times.) A newb might not catch on to subtle things that we know and understand.
 
Yes, Londo's hair looks awful at first sight. .... Why is it specifically Londo's hair that keeps people from B5 (This is not even close to the first time I've heard Londo's hair as being the thing that keeps people from B5)

I <u>never</u> had a problem with it, even in the beginning, before they had it perfected. The height of the crest is traditionally a sign of status; the higher the crest, the higher the status. Once I explained that, he was OK with it.

I guess certain things bug certain people. For me, it's things that shake like rubber (e.g. like rubber fishing worms). THAT stuff just looks soooo fake to me. e.g. Crusade - "Visitors from Down the Street" alien head prosthetics, and the alien from "Appearances and Other Deceits" (quivery rubber suit that was lit too bright). The Zarg and the Ikarran never bothered me because they were usually barely lit (a wise choice), and moved more stiffly (like the headgear on D'Argo on Farscape, which moved more like stiffer latex, not rubber).

The only other alien that didn't go over well with me was N'Grath.
 
I explained the Centauri hair by quoting JMS's comments on it -- namely, that it was pretty much an accident.
 
I explained the Centauri hair by quoting JMS's comments on it -- namely, that it was pretty much an accident.

:confused:

Please explain. I don't recall hearing this B5 story before. :)
I think that it had been mentioned somewhere before that, but it was a story told in the introductory section of one the JMS script books (as an aside, I have very few of the scripts because they generally differ very little from the shows that I already know so well; but the extended introductions and such are great fun to read).

Basically, this is something that goes way back to the initial makeup and hair tests before filming of the pilot was to start. The plan was for some form of hair fan but they hadn't decided how much it should be. They started by putting on about the highest longest hair piece that they could and were then going to work with it and cut it down until they got it right. JMS, as a fledgeling show runner not yet accustomed to juggling 5000 different approval decisions at once showed up in makeup just about the time that they were getting it teased up to its maximum height, but before they had started cutting it down.

He asked PJ what he thought. Joking, PJ said something like "Oh, I think that it's perfect just the way it is." JMS was preoccupied enough to not notice the sarcastic tone. He figured that this was what his actor was comfortable with for the character, so he said "OK, fine. That's what we'll go with then." And left the room to go deal the next of his 5000 decisions.

PJ didn't notice that JMS had taken him seriously until he (JMS) had already left. At that point, he was an actor with a new gig and producer that he didnt' know who had just issued the approval decree that this was the hair to use. He didn't want to risk rocking the boat over his hair for what was most like just going to be a pilot movie (as most pilots do end up being just a pilot movie).

So Londo ended up with the massively tall hair fan because JMS and PJ both incorrectly thought that was what the other wanted.
 

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