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What season one episdoes are essential?

F

Frizzell

Beyond the rim
I am currently in the process of introducing a friend of mine to Babylon 5. She has only seen six episodes so far, “Mind War” being the last.

Her reaction so far has been favorable. She thinks Londo is humorous and likes PJ’s performance. She has been blown away by AK and absolutely loves G’Kar. “The Parliament of Dreams” has been her favorite episode so far.

However, she finds the human characters to be lackluster as a whole. She is warming up to Garibaldi, but she has developed a definite dislike for Sinclair. She almost cringes when he is on screen. (Her loathing for Sinclair is hard for me to understand because I really enjoyed O'Hare's performance, but to each her own.)

Due to my enthusiasm when trying to lure her into watching, I have already told her that the character of Sinclair leaves at the end of season one. Therefore, she would like to know which season one episodes could be skipped? She realizes that this season is laying the foundation for those to come, but she cannot get past her dislike for the character of Sinclair and wants to see as little of him as possible.

What episodes do you deem as necessary to form a good grasp of the story?

Thank you,

Frizzell
 
Personally, I can't think of a single episode to skip since there are small theads in each that tie together in later seasons. I would explain, though, that it took (again IMO)most of Season One for the actors to become comfortable with their roles and to develop their character's personality.
 
Since she's only seen up to "Mind War," I wonder if your friend's opinion of Sinclair would change after seeing "And The Sky Full Of Stars," "By Any Means Necessary," and "Eyes," which, to me, are really strong episodes for Sinclair's character.

I would personally say to not miss "Deathwalker" or "Believers" since they are both episodes that don't take the traditional easy way out to resolve the episode's conflict setting them apart from many other science fiction shows where everything always ends up flowery in the end.

"Signs And Portents" definitely cannot be missed because of how much it starts the ball rolling on the Shadow story arc and introduces Morden.

If your friend is enjoying the Garibaldi character, "Survivors" would probably be an episode she'd like seeing since he has a large part it in. It also touches on the whole Earth government story arc, so it could also be seen as important from that angle.

If your friend has enjoyed the telepath elements to the show so far, "Eyes" and "Legacies" and maybe even "The Quality of Mercy" would be good episodes to watch. "Eyes" presents a likable person from PsiCorps. "Legacies" has the fun diametrically opposite possitions of Ivanova and Talia in dealing with the young girl that suddenly goes from being a latent telepath to a full-blown telepath. Add in the Minbari storyline in "Legacies" and Delenn's part in it, it helps set up Delenn as a person who will go against her own people on something she feels is right hinting at what will come from Delenn in later seasons.

"A Voice In The Wilderness Part One" and "Part Two" introduce the Great Machine of Epsilon 3, Draal, and helps add more tension to the Earth government story arc with the Earth Destroyer captain trying to take control of the situation away from the actual regional commander (Sinclair).

Similarly to how "Signs And Portents" shouldn't be missed, neither "Babylon Squared" nor "Chrysalis" should be missed. Both have massively impacting stories, though "Babylon Squared" has much more set up than pay off, but it makes Sinclair's return in season three have much more impact.

I guess when it comes down to it, "TKO" and "Grail" are the only two episodes I would say could be skipped without much of an impact. Though, "Grail" does have some wonderful G'Kar parts to it, and "TKO" does have some nice Ivanova moments, but neither are all that crucial.

Overall, I'm pretty sure I've said a lot of stuff in this post but ulimately have given little to no advice whatsoever. But maybe you'll get something out of it.
 
Blatantly Crucial to the Arc
-----------------------
And The Sky Full of Stars (for Sinclair backstory)
Signs and Portents (for Shadows setup)
Chrysalis (for rise of Clark & start of Delenn's change; link to season 2)

Helpful in Understanding B5 Universe and/or Characters
------------------------------------------------
Midnight on the Firing Line (for Narn/Centauri friction)
Parliament of Dreams (for alien cultures)
Mind War (for telepaths, Psi-Corps & Bester)
Legacies (for telepaths & alien cultures)

Just Really Good Storytelling
------------------------
Deathwalker
Babylon Squared
The Quality of Mercy


Most Easily Skipped (But Not Necessarily Bad)
---------------------------------------
Soul Hunter
Born to the Purple
Infection
The War Prayer
Believers
Survivors
By Any Means Necessary
TKO
Grail
A Voice in the Wilderness 1
A Voice in the Wilderness 2


You guys are right, it's hard to narrow it down. I'm not a huge fan of season 1, but there are still bits and pieces of arc story & character development sprinkled in even among the lesser episodes. I could only narrow it down to 10, and that's still almost half the season.

Some of my picks might be controversial. To me Babylon Squared makes a good story, but the only part of the arc it contributes to is setting up WWE1 & WWE2 from season 3, and those two episodes do most of the work (either way, it's still in the top 10). Voice..Wilderness 1/2 might help explain Epsilon 3, but Epsilon 3 doesn't factor into the arc that much, and it drags taking two episodes to tell the story.

Parliament of Dreams is worth it just for the last minute or two of the episode, if nothing else. Despite being stand-alone episodes, Deathwalker is hard to pass up, and Quality of Mercy is a good morality play with a good guest star, June Lockhart.

Like 'em or not, if Infection, Believers, TKO, and Grail were lost, never to be broadcast or recorded to tape or disc ever again, it wouldn't be a huge loss in the grand scheme of things.
 
The problem with S1 is how many little hints and clues are sprinkled in amongst the garbage. For example, TKO is one of the weakest episodes, but there's Walter Smith's "Watch your back" line to Garibaldi; personally I never really liked Soul Hunter but Delenn's lines at the end are a magnificent tease.

Personally I'd move Babylon Squared from Good Storytelling to Arc-Crucial, but other than that Ninja Squirrel's list is about as good as any I've seen.
 
You could insert a Season 2 episode agter ever second Season 1 episode. As the song puts it "A Spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down".
 
Wouldn't that blow a few surprises? Such as Delenn's transformation... I admit it's not that much of a secret, but even still, I like my newbies to see things in the right order.

At least there's some consolation that Sheridan's a more interesting/better acted character, at least to my mind. And both Londo and G'Kar become far more interesting... so there's really no danger of this particular newbie losing interest in the show entirely.
 
"A Voice in the Wilderness Pt. 1 & 2" are not episodes that can be skipped. They introduce:

Draal and the Great Machine
The situation on Mars
The relationship between Garibaldi and Lise
The "favor" that Delenn owes Londo
Earth's (unhealthy?) thirst for new technology

And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. :p

"AVITW" is kinda crucial, arc-wise. It is also a nice piece of story-telling.

And the same goes for "Babylon Squared". Fun to watch it pay off two seasons later.
 
I would like to thank you all for your responses. I have not given up hope of convincing her to watch all of season one. My question was more of a worst case scenario. I have tried to impress upon her the necessity of watching them all to catch the tasty morsels hidden in even my least favorite episodes. (I disliked TKO.) Perhaps she will listen, but if you do not mind, I will print out your responses as a backup plan.

Thank you,

Frizzell
 
For episodes like TKO and Grey 17 is Missing there is a way to watch them quite comfortably given you are watching a recording. You simply skip/fast forward through the crap. Only watch the Ivonova half of TKO. One of the beauties of DVDs is making this exact thing easier. This technique allows me to watch Star Wars episode one and two and enjoy them both. Not only don't I hear about how sand is rougher than purty girl skin but I have more free time as well.
 
Earth's (unhealthy?) thirst for new technology
Click to expand...

This idea is not introduced in "A Voice in the Wilderness". It is implicit throughout the much-maligned "Infection" and made explicit in the tag, where Ivanova and Franklin muse on the madness of pursuing such things and - presto! The Earth Force Bio-Weapons division shows up to confiscate the whole kit'n'kaboodle. It was one of the redeeming moments of an otherwise pedestrian episode. (Not a horrible or incompetent, one, in my view. Just a routine one, a story that could be - and has been - done by just about every other SF show in the history of television.)

BTW, don't you ever wonder about the "coincidence" of the Ikarans getting wiped out by their experiment in biotechnology just about the time of Valen's Shadow War? I wonder if they had any "help" creating that armor...

Arc? What arc? No arc here. :)

And yes, fast forward and chapter stops make episodes like "TKO" and "Grey 17" infinitely more tolerable. "Grey 17" can be enjoyed for the wonderful and plot-critical Delenn/Neroon/Marcus arc (which starts Neroon down the path that leads to the Starfire Wheel) without the distraction of the silly Zarg. Maybe now people will start appreciating what a great half episode this really is, and forgive JMS for the rest.

Regards,

Joe
 
I have tried to impress upon her the necessity of watching them all
Click to expand...

Force her to keep watching through "And the Sky Full of Stars". That tends to be a "grabber" even for the Sinclair-averse, and you may find you meet with less resistance after that. From there it's only a few strong stand-alone episodes (which spotlight other characters) to "By Any Means Necessary", a very good showcase for the commander. Next up is "The Parliament of Dreams" which ought to make anyone who watches it sufficiently intrigued by Sinclair's place in the arc that they won't want to miss any other episodes for fear of missing the tiny clues that JMS is so fond of planting in the most unlikely places. :)

Regards,

Joe
 
I enjoyed the Ivanova story about sitting shiva for her dad in TKO. I think it really helped flesh out her character.

And the Neroon/Marcus/Delenn part of Grey 17 is just brilliant!

Thank goodness for the skip and search functions :)
 
BTW, don't you ever wonder about the "coincidence" of the Ikarans getting wiped out by their experiment in biotechnology just about the time of Valen's Shadow War? I wonder if they had any "help" creating that armor...

Arc? What arc? No arc here. :)
Click to expand...

Ah, the Ikarans. I wondered about that organic tech ever since the one Ikaran we see shouts "Great Maker!" Now perhaps that's just a basic translation, but the Centauri use that phrase -- and it's been hinted more than once that the Shadows and the Centauri go way back.

If indeed the Shadows helped the Ikarans, I imagine was rather like the deal struck with Earth: a race tired of being inferior, tired of being invaded, willing to make a deal with the devil to get ahead... and behold, this nice smiling man shows up with highly advanced technology, all available for just a few favors....
 
I wondered about that organic tech ever since the one Ikaran we see shouts "Great Maker!" Now perhaps that's just a basic translation, but the Centauri use that phrase
Click to expand...

Worship of the Great Maker is not limited to the Centauri. Many aliens have what are called "Maker Religions", which vary in detail but have certain things in common. We hear Bakiri among others use the term "Great Maker" and Garibaldi talks about the nature of Maker religions when he works a case involving a stolen idol during his "private eye" phase in S4. So I don't think we can draw any conclusions about the Shadows from the Iakarn religion.

Regards,

Joe
 
I personally don't think that any episode can be skipped, because each episode is a part of the story. All the episodes, and movies, are tied in with one another. Leave one episode out, and it's like skipping a chapter in a book. But that's just my humble opinion. :)

Rommie :D
 
Not adding much new to the list here. Obviously, the hooks in Soul Hunter (You would do such a thing? THEY'RE USING YOU!), And the Sky is Full of Stars, Signs and Portents, and Babylon Squared (Great War, but great hope of peace, I tried to warn them, but it all happened just the way I remember it) and Chrysalis are utterly indispensable and made me keep coming back.

I must confess, I've been an avowed anti-Sinclair fan, but the strangest thing happened when I watched the DVD, I realized I missed the damn guy! He still had some real quirky ways of acting, but he wasn't nearly as bad as I was remembering, and certainly not as bad as he was in "War Without End". All in all, I think it was the right decision to bring in the Bruceleitner, but I did enjoy Sinclair his time around.
 
I am late in posting this I know but your friend cannot miss any of season one it is all crucial to the overall storyline of Babylon 5.
 
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