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Episode order

Recoil

Recoil

Regular
OK,

Someone explain this to me because I am stumped. Here is a post from KoshN from another thread:
Well, a cool, attractive cover will stand out to people browsing in stores.

I just hope the episodes are in an order where you can watch the DVDs 1 thru 6 and see all the episodes in order, not like Season 1's jumping around:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
20
14
15
21
16
17
18
19
22
Click to expand...
My question is this. WHAT jumping around?!? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

From looking at the Lurkers Guide, it seems that KoshN's "order" is the production order of the shows for the most part. That, however, is not the order the episodes are listed in on the Lurkers Guide or the order in which Sci-Fi has shown them in. I thought the Lurkers Guide and Sci-Fi order was the order that JMS intended. It seems to me the order the DVDs in are a spot on match for the order we are all used to seeing them in. The episode numbers even match the DVD order, just not the production numbers.

I am assuming that KoshN's order, and the production order, probably reflects something about the order of how they originally aired during their first run. But I thought that JMS changed the order a bit to make it flow better and make more sense when it went to Sci-Fi. That order was posted on Lurkers Guide, and thus, used for DVD.

Anyone know the real deal here?
 
Lurker's Guide Master List
Season One ("Signs and Portents") and how the episodes would have been on the DVDs if they'd been in order (so you could watch 'em straight through):

01. Midnight on the Firing Line
02. Soul Hunter
03. Born to the Purple
04. Infection

05. The Parliament of Dreams
06. Mind War
07. The War Prayer
08. And The Sky Full Of Stars

09. Deathwalker
10. Believers
11. Survivors
12. By Any Means Necessary

13. Signs and Portents
14. Grail
15. Eyes
16. A Voice in the Wilderness part 1

17. A Voice in the Wilderness part 2
18. Babylon Squared
19. The Quality of Mercy
20. TKO

21. Legacies
22. Chrysalis

...and as they are on the Season 1 DVDs:

01. Midnight on the Firing Line
02. Soul Hunter
03. Born to the Purple
04. Infection

05. The Parliament of Dreams
06. Mind War
07. The War Prayer
08. And The Sky Full Of Stars

09. Deathwalker
10. Believers
11. Survivors
12. By Any Means Necessary

13. Signs and Portents (OK, up to here.)
20. TKO
14. Grail
15. Eyes

21. Legacies
16. A Voice in the Wilderness part 1
17. A Voice in the Wilderness part 2
18. Babylon Squared

19. The Quality of Mercy
22. Chrysalis

See? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Now that's odd. I agree that TKO may be a little out of order, but I'm pretty sure that Quality of Mercy has always been second to last.

Really, I don't think it matters, plot-wise . . . but it's something worth looking into.
 
KoshN, where did you get your second list, the one you say is "in order?" Because I just sat down with the DVDs in one hand and Lurker's Guide in the other. The order is exactly the same. Now, I'm not saying that the Lurker's Guide is the final word on this, but it's the best word I know of. Say more!
 
KoshN, where did you get your second list, the one you say is "in order?"
Click to expand...

The second list isn't in order. That's the order that they are on the DVDs (at least according to the DVD insert, the booklet).

Because I just sat down with the DVDs in one hand and Lurker's Guide in the other. The order is exactly the same. Now, I'm not saying that the Lurker's Guide is the final word on this, but it's the best word I know of. Say more!
Click to expand...


There's this Lurker's Guide Episode List (generally the order in which B5 has been aired)

and THIS LIST Lurker's Guide to B5 (Master Episode List, the preferred viewing order) .

I'm using the The Master List.
"Due to production constraints and other factors, several episodes during the run of the series were delayed, shown later in the sequence than originally intended. The effect isn't major in most cases, but there are minor things that make more sense if the episodes are viewed in the intended order. JMS has given the ordering for seasons one and two his blessing.

This list also inserts the TV movies into their proper chronological order; for example, "Thirdspace" takes place in the middle of season four.

Departures from the original US airing order are emphasized."
 
I didn't see anything "out of order" when I watched the DVDs... What were you referring to exactly? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I can't remember why the Master list got JMS's blessing for the preferred viewing order in the first season. I'm much more familiar with why it's better in Season 5 (with respect to the location on Londo & G'Kar).
 
If that second one is indeed the "JMS preferred" list, then

a) Why is it that Sci-Fi channel is running it in the other order.
b) Why is it that the DVDs also came out in the order of Sci Fi channel.

One would think JMS would have had input there, and probably did. I think the "master" list is the ORIGINAL INTENDED viewing order, and it has since changed to the way it is now. I imagine that the blessing they are talking about is for JMS to use the newer order.

Just one example of why the DVD/Sci-Fi order is a bit better IMO, is the fact that the episode JUST before Chrysalis is Legacies. Legacies is the one where it ends with the girl telling Sinclair that there was one word in Delenn's mind...Chrysalis. It is MUCH better having that episode a few before the finale so it improves the forshadowing a bit and gives the viewer time to think about it, as well as even forget about it, until the finale hits.

The Sci-Fi/DVD order seems to be the way it was intended to be viewed.
 
I confess I just checked the main list and not the master, but still, for season one I don't really think it's a problem -- the order is fine as is. With the exception of "Knives" in S2, I think the only season the order really got messed up was S5. If they put the episodes in the better order for that, I'll be pleased, but that's a ways off.
 
The second list is the order that my videos are in.

I personally don't see a problem as there are so few arc episodes in season one. I don't remember any internal continuity mistakes, unlike the season two videos.
 
It's barely wrong at all, really -- during one of Sheridan's hallucinations, he sees the Icarus exploding, even though in the previous episode In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum he learned the truth. As that's easily explained (he WAS hallucinating, after all) it's only a minor glitch. I never would have caught it if someone hadn't pointed out that Knives was supposed to air before Shadow of Z'ha'dum but for one reason or another was pushed back.
 
Remember that the creature that was in Sheridan in Knives was trying to access his thoughts (pain, home, etc), the Icarus exploding being Pain.

It could VERY easily be argued that the REASON Sheridan hallucinated the Icarus is because it was at the very top of his mind considering he just learned the truth AND just saw the image of it that Kosh had given him in SoZHD (if that episode was just before it). So it totally makes sense that way too. The alien picked up on his surface thoughts, and since he just learned the truth and saw the vision from Kosh, it was right there.

In fact, I think it works better that way.
 
I can't comment on the Master List as I don't know anything about it. All I can say for sure is that my UK S1 VHS tapes are in this order:

01. Midnight on the Firing Line
02. Soul Hunter
03. Born to the Purple
04. Infection

05. The Parliament of Dreams
06. Mind War
07. The War Prayer
08. And The Sky Full Of Stars

09. Deathwalker
10. Believers
11. Survivors
12. By Any Means Necessary

13. Signs and Portents (OK, up to here.)
20. TKO
14. Grail
15. Eyes

21. Legacies
16. A Voice in the Wilderness part 1
17. A Voice in the Wilderness part 2
18. Babylon Squared

19. The Quality of Mercy
22. Chrysalis
Click to expand...

This is also the order S1 is generally shown on UKTV, it was the case when shown on C4, and seems to hold for Bravo's current stripping of the show.

(The one exception with C4 was "TKO" which was shown out of order, late at night, due to the violent content as at that point C4 still seemed to think it was a kid's show).

I don't honestly see why either of these orders would necessarily be better than the other in continuity terms, but I do that VITW, B2, QoM then Chrysalis makes for a more intense close to the season. Better still if QoM were before VITW.

Just $0.02.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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