Starting B5 for my wife
06-12-07, 12:46 PM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Starting B5 for my wife
As a B5 junkie, I've wanted to find a way to share the show with my wife. I turned her on to 24, House, and Firefly, and she's come to respect my recommendations enough to give me the benefit of the doubt. But the prospect of starting on a 110-episode journey to Epislon 3 and beyond has always been just a little too daunting for her, and difficult for me to fit in to our busy schedules.
Until now.
With all of our regularly-Tivoed shows now on season hiatus, there's literally nothing on broadcast TV that counts as "must see" in our household. So I asked her if she was ready to give B5 a try. She agreed, and for the past week we've been working our way slowly into the B5 Universe. And as a bonus, I get to watch the entire series from jump - something I've not done in a very, very long time.
We started with =The Gathering= (of course), which dragged in places, but she was a trooper and gave it her undivided attention. When it was done, her first question was, "What happened at the Battle of the Line?". The hook was being nibbled.
She also liked the bit about the nano-tracer Sinclair slipped into G'Kar's drink.
=Midnight on the Firing Line= After G'Kar's antics in the council chambers in the pilot, she wasn't surprised to first see him pull Karn Mollari's video out of his bag of tricks to discredit Londo. But he got his comeuppance when Sinclair produced the Narn "advisor" captured from the Raider's C&C ship. She's starting to figure out that G'Kar and the Narns are bullies.
=Born To The Purple= I swapped the order of this episode and the next one since it allowed us to continue to focus on Londo. Also to show early on that Ivanova isn't just a machine.
=Soul Hunter= To introduce the notion of Minbari souls and how important they are. My wife didn't skip a beat and caught the foreshadow references in the lines spoken to Sinclair by the Soul Hunter ("They're using you!") and Delenn ("We were right about you.").
=Infection= Skipped. I gave her the synopsis verbally, and told her that the important arc points were that IPX is a corporation that is also a front for EarthGov that explores uncharted space looking for opportunities to exploit technologies or raw materials to further EarthGov's aims. Oh, and there's such a thing as "organic technology".
=The Parliament Of Dreams= Na'toth and Lennier show up, hot pink is definitely G'Kar's color, Sinclair "tastes of it", and we get to see G'Kar get beat up by his aide. Good stuff!
=Mind War= Introducing.... the Psi Cops! And there's something odd going on out at Sigma 957. G'Kar surprises my wife by sending a rescue party to ensure Catherine's safety, but on deeper analysis she understood that it was self-serving as there would be no advantage to the Narns by allowing her to die, while saving her might court favor with Sinclair (and indirectly, EarthGov).
=The War Prayer= skipped. We may go back and watch it to fill in some background, but there wasn't any real "pow!" in this episode. For the record, I'm also planning to skip TKO and Grail when they come up. She knows that if she has spare time during the day she can watch any of the skipped episodes without me.
=And The Sky Full Of Stars= The Battle Of The Line - explained. At least, explained enough for now. She's hooked.
=Deathwalker= During Jha'Dur's final talk to Sinclair ("...you will become us!"), my wife lets out a "bitch!" I'm so proud.... Also, she agreed that Jha'Dur could use an Epilady.
=Believers= (last night's episode) As Sinclair informs Franklin of his decision, she tells me that she can see it in the Doctor's eyes -- he's gonna do it anyway! And later, when the parents mention the Traveling Robe, she hopes she's wrong about what they mean. She wasn't, and there were tears in the household.
Tonight we'll be watching =Survivors= and if time permits =By Any Means Necessary= I hope we can get both in, because I'm eager for the episode that follows (=Signs and Portents= POW!!!) to be a standalone episode tomorrow night.
Until now.
With all of our regularly-Tivoed shows now on season hiatus, there's literally nothing on broadcast TV that counts as "must see" in our household. So I asked her if she was ready to give B5 a try. She agreed, and for the past week we've been working our way slowly into the B5 Universe. And as a bonus, I get to watch the entire series from jump - something I've not done in a very, very long time.
We started with =The Gathering= (of course), which dragged in places, but she was a trooper and gave it her undivided attention. When it was done, her first question was, "What happened at the Battle of the Line?". The hook was being nibbled.
She also liked the bit about the nano-tracer Sinclair slipped into G'Kar's drink.=Midnight on the Firing Line= After G'Kar's antics in the council chambers in the pilot, she wasn't surprised to first see him pull Karn Mollari's video out of his bag of tricks to discredit Londo. But he got his comeuppance when Sinclair produced the Narn "advisor" captured from the Raider's C&C ship. She's starting to figure out that G'Kar and the Narns are bullies.
=Born To The Purple= I swapped the order of this episode and the next one since it allowed us to continue to focus on Londo. Also to show early on that Ivanova isn't just a machine.
=Soul Hunter= To introduce the notion of Minbari souls and how important they are. My wife didn't skip a beat and caught the foreshadow references in the lines spoken to Sinclair by the Soul Hunter ("They're using you!") and Delenn ("We were right about you.").
=Infection= Skipped. I gave her the synopsis verbally, and told her that the important arc points were that IPX is a corporation that is also a front for EarthGov that explores uncharted space looking for opportunities to exploit technologies or raw materials to further EarthGov's aims. Oh, and there's such a thing as "organic technology".
=The Parliament Of Dreams= Na'toth and Lennier show up, hot pink is definitely G'Kar's color, Sinclair "tastes of it", and we get to see G'Kar get beat up by his aide. Good stuff!
=Mind War= Introducing.... the Psi Cops! And there's something odd going on out at Sigma 957. G'Kar surprises my wife by sending a rescue party to ensure Catherine's safety, but on deeper analysis she understood that it was self-serving as there would be no advantage to the Narns by allowing her to die, while saving her might court favor with Sinclair (and indirectly, EarthGov).
=The War Prayer= skipped. We may go back and watch it to fill in some background, but there wasn't any real "pow!" in this episode. For the record, I'm also planning to skip TKO and Grail when they come up. She knows that if she has spare time during the day she can watch any of the skipped episodes without me.
=And The Sky Full Of Stars= The Battle Of The Line - explained. At least, explained enough for now. She's hooked.
=Deathwalker= During Jha'Dur's final talk to Sinclair ("...you will become us!"), my wife lets out a "bitch!" I'm so proud.... Also, she agreed that Jha'Dur could use an Epilady.
=Believers= (last night's episode) As Sinclair informs Franklin of his decision, she tells me that she can see it in the Doctor's eyes -- he's gonna do it anyway! And later, when the parents mention the Traveling Robe, she hopes she's wrong about what they mean. She wasn't, and there were tears in the household.
Tonight we'll be watching =Survivors= and if time permits =By Any Means Necessary= I hope we can get both in, because I'm eager for the episode that follows (=Signs and Portents= POW!!!) to be a standalone episode tomorrow night.
06-12-07, 06:46 PM
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by dstrauss
I'm slowly working my way through the series with my daughter. We're up to "Acts of Sacrifice."
Boom-shaka-laka-BOOM-shaka-laka....
06-13-07, 06:48 PM
#7
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
=Survivors= My wife thought that maybe Kemmer was Garibaldi's ex. Watching him slip of the wagon was tough for her - her dead first hubby had a problem with alcohol and drug addiction before he took his own life. She did think that it was nice that the station was getting a new batch of Starfuries - but, she observed, "shouldn't they beef up the defense grid too?" (foreshadowing S2's =Gropos= perhaps?)
=By Any Means Necessary= G'Kar is revealed to be a spiritual leader, which shocked my wife based on his brinksmanship in the first episodes. And the Londo-G'Kar thread starts taking on some new twists. Oh, and there was a docker's strike... she predicted the 'suprise' ending to =Believers=, but she didn't see Sinclair's solution coming. JMS 1, Wife 1.
Tonight we gets =Signs and Portents=. I'm lookin' forward to seeing Mr. Morden again... it's been too long, pal.
=By Any Means Necessary= G'Kar is revealed to be a spiritual leader, which shocked my wife based on his brinksmanship in the first episodes. And the Londo-G'Kar thread starts taking on some new twists. Oh, and there was a docker's strike... she predicted the 'suprise' ending to =Believers=, but she didn't see Sinclair's solution coming. JMS 1, Wife 1.
Tonight we gets =Signs and Portents=. I'm lookin' forward to seeing Mr. Morden again... it's been too long, pal.
06-13-07, 06:54 PM
#8
DVD Talk Special Edition
Originally Posted by kenbuzz
Ah, another Ivanova quote involving "boom"
Boom-shaka-laka-BOOM-shaka-laka....
Boom-shaka-laka-BOOM-shaka-laka....
06-20-07, 08:21 AM
#9
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
It's been a week, and we're very nearly through Season One.
=Signs and Portents= got its standalone night, as I was hoping it would. The scene with Morden and Londo waiting for/in the elevator was great, but Londo's exasperated answer about wanting to take his people back to the stars.... I got goosebumps. I checked my wife for reaction... she was leaning forward, completely engrossed in the scene. I think she could sense how important it was to the overall story arc.
Accelerating to two episode a night...
=TKO= Skipped
=Grail= Not much story arc progress here, but we got to see a Nakaleen feeder. The 'funny music' during the scene with Londo receiving Gajic was an unfortunate choice. I read in the Lurker's Guide where JMS had a talk with Chris Franke after that, and it would never happen again.
=Eyes= My wife wonders why Ivanova was so dead set against being scanned by Mr. Gray. I mean, sure, her mother was a telepath and she wants to cherish those memories, but to throw away her career, the career she built to honor her brother and to spite her father? Seems a tad much. Must be someother reason. Hmmm....
Sunday Night...
=Legacies= Yaaay! It's Neroon! "You talk like a Minbari, Commander"... great line, and since I know where the arc is going, I completely understand the significance. My wife, however, is just now starting to see the puzzle pieces and how they fit together - I can't expect her to notice every line and every nuance... I think this one slipped under the radar for her. Of course, she caught the obvious foreshadowing at the very end, when Alisa tells Sinclair that Delenn was thinking of a single word - Chyrsalis - but then quickly covered it up. And the Lenier/Garibaldi/Motorcycle C-story was cute.
=A Voice In The Wilderness (Part 1)= Hey, lookie, the planet... it's shooting at us!!!
Wife temporarily hated me for breaking a two parter over two nights, but it got her ready for Monday night's Babylonathon:
=A Voice In The Wilderness (Part 2)= A heavily-armed Epsilon 3, plus an ally running the Great Machine, all bodes well for the station's defense in the future should it become necessary. But Garibaldi's revelation regarding his lost love Lise Hamilton - moving.
=Babylon Squared= POW!!! Right between the eyebrows! I can't say much, except that my wife understood as the episode was unfolding that it was circled in red ink, with underlines and three big stars next to it. She liked the line "...either way, it is bad for Zathras", and correctly predicted who was wearing the space suit. Atta girl!
Last night (only one episode)
=The Quality Of Mercy= Lennier learns more about Londo's physiology than he probably wanted to know, and what will Dr Franklin do with that machine... will we ever see it again? My wife wondered why Lennier and Laura Rosen didn't get any scenes together - it would've been an interesting =Lost in Space= reunion.
Tonight... =Chrysalis= Bada-boom! Mr Morden's associates, Delenn and Kosh, Delenn and that thing she's been building in her quarters, EarthForce One.... Sinclair's closing line tells it all... "nothing's the same any more"
=Signs and Portents= got its standalone night, as I was hoping it would. The scene with Morden and Londo waiting for/in the elevator was great, but Londo's exasperated answer about wanting to take his people back to the stars.... I got goosebumps. I checked my wife for reaction... she was leaning forward, completely engrossed in the scene. I think she could sense how important it was to the overall story arc.
Accelerating to two episode a night...
=TKO= Skipped
=Grail= Not much story arc progress here, but we got to see a Nakaleen feeder. The 'funny music' during the scene with Londo receiving Gajic was an unfortunate choice. I read in the Lurker's Guide where JMS had a talk with Chris Franke after that, and it would never happen again.
=Eyes= My wife wonders why Ivanova was so dead set against being scanned by Mr. Gray. I mean, sure, her mother was a telepath and she wants to cherish those memories, but to throw away her career, the career she built to honor her brother and to spite her father? Seems a tad much. Must be someother reason. Hmmm....
Sunday Night...
=Legacies= Yaaay! It's Neroon! "You talk like a Minbari, Commander"... great line, and since I know where the arc is going, I completely understand the significance. My wife, however, is just now starting to see the puzzle pieces and how they fit together - I can't expect her to notice every line and every nuance... I think this one slipped under the radar for her. Of course, she caught the obvious foreshadowing at the very end, when Alisa tells Sinclair that Delenn was thinking of a single word - Chyrsalis - but then quickly covered it up. And the Lenier/Garibaldi/Motorcycle C-story was cute.
=A Voice In The Wilderness (Part 1)= Hey, lookie, the planet... it's shooting at us!!!
Wife temporarily hated me for breaking a two parter over two nights, but it got her ready for Monday night's Babylonathon:
=A Voice In The Wilderness (Part 2)= A heavily-armed Epsilon 3, plus an ally running the Great Machine, all bodes well for the station's defense in the future should it become necessary. But Garibaldi's revelation regarding his lost love Lise Hamilton - moving.
=Babylon Squared= POW!!! Right between the eyebrows! I can't say much, except that my wife understood as the episode was unfolding that it was circled in red ink, with underlines and three big stars next to it. She liked the line "...either way, it is bad for Zathras", and correctly predicted who was wearing the space suit. Atta girl!
Last night (only one episode)
=The Quality Of Mercy= Lennier learns more about Londo's physiology than he probably wanted to know, and what will Dr Franklin do with that machine... will we ever see it again? My wife wondered why Lennier and Laura Rosen didn't get any scenes together - it would've been an interesting =Lost in Space= reunion.
Tonight... =Chrysalis= Bada-boom! Mr Morden's associates, Delenn and Kosh, Delenn and that thing she's been building in her quarters, EarthForce One.... Sinclair's closing line tells it all... "nothing's the same any more"
Last edited by kenbuzz; 06-20-07 at 08:38 AM.
06-20-07, 08:31 AM
#11
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Nope, not a clue.
I'm debating whether tonight will be a 1-fer or a 2-fer night. =Chrysalis= deserves to be a standalone episode, I think, because of the sheer weight of circumstances and the major plot points established. But leaving Garibaldi and Delenn's situation in the air, and not introducing her to John Sheridan, might make =Points Of Departure= more confusing... .except for the speech Lennier gives the command staff related to the Battle of the Line.
I don't know. I guess there's no harm doing it either way, so perhaps I'll just let her decide whether she wants more or if she needs time to digest =Chrysalis= first. Either way, it's all good.
I'm debating whether tonight will be a 1-fer or a 2-fer night. =Chrysalis= deserves to be a standalone episode, I think, because of the sheer weight of circumstances and the major plot points established. But leaving Garibaldi and Delenn's situation in the air, and not introducing her to John Sheridan, might make =Points Of Departure= more confusing... .except for the speech Lennier gives the command staff related to the Battle of the Line.
I don't know. I guess there's no harm doing it either way, so perhaps I'll just let her decide whether she wants more or if she needs time to digest =Chrysalis= first. Either way, it's all good.
Last edited by kenbuzz; 06-20-07 at 08:38 AM.
07-03-07, 11:35 AM
#14
DVD Talk Legend
Yes! Updates? B5 is a way awesome show, even though season 1 has a few stinkers in it....over all, it's really good.
Btw, if any of you B5 fans are not too busy, feel free to stop into Otter and toss Kitty a vote for prez: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....=1#post7976610
Thanks,
Your fellow B5 fan
Kittydreamer
Btw, if any of you B5 fans are not too busy, feel free to stop into Otter and toss Kitty a vote for prez: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....=1#post7976610
Thanks,
Your fellow B5 fan
Kittydreamer
07-03-07, 11:45 AM
#15
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Kittydreamer
Btw, if any of you B5 fans are not too busy, feel free to stop into Otter and toss Kitty a vote for prez:
07-05-07, 07:42 AM
#17
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It's nice to see a fervent fan of a show admit that a substantial number of eps are just filler. Don't get me wrong, B5 is on my list of shows to collect. It's just that often a fan adopts the "my show is so great there are no bad eps" attitude (see Whedon-drones), making their recommendations suspect. I find your approach refreshing and am enjoying the play-by-play.
BTW: Kitty got my vote!
edited to add: I strongly believe that the season set approach to watching shows will breathe new life into them. Case in point Enterprise. When the show debuted I caught a few eps but rapidly lost interest and let it slide, mourning the passing of the ST franchise into a pit deeper than Voyager. But then SciFi started showing 4 eps each Monday, IN ORDER! I set the DVR to series record and dove in, watching the story arcs unfold and characters develop in a matter of weeks. While still not my favorite (TOS and DS9 are tops for me) I found myself really enjoying the show.
BTW: Kitty got my vote!
edited to add: I strongly believe that the season set approach to watching shows will breathe new life into them. Case in point Enterprise. When the show debuted I caught a few eps but rapidly lost interest and let it slide, mourning the passing of the ST franchise into a pit deeper than Voyager. But then SciFi started showing 4 eps each Monday, IN ORDER! I set the DVR to series record and dove in, watching the story arcs unfold and characters develop in a matter of weeks. While still not my favorite (TOS and DS9 are tops for me) I found myself really enjoying the show.
Last edited by AGuyNamedMike; 07-05-07 at 07:54 AM.
07-05-07, 09:55 AM
#19
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by AGuyNamedMike
It's nice to see a fervent fan of a show admit that a substantial number of eps are just filler. Don't get me wrong, B5 is on my list of shows to collect. It's just that often a fan adopts the "my show is so great there are no bad eps" attitude (see Whedon-drones), making their recommendations suspect. I find your approach refreshing and am enjoying the play-by-play.
