How do you coax them through the unevenness of Season 1 though?
just make sure they start it with low expectations, sell it to them as a fun sci-fi opera with a few truly great episodes and memorable characters, provide a lot of snacks, make a little project out of watching it together, just an episode or two a week, not binging it, don’t force it, get them to talk about each episode after you watch and coax them into some fun speculation about what they’re liking so far and where they think things might go
don’t tell them season one is patchy and ‘it gets better I promise’, just let them enjoy it on it’s own terms
afterwards, ask them who their favourite character is, ask them what their favourite episode was, ask them what questions they hope get answered about the world and what mysteries they’re looking forward to seeing more of, ask them what they didn’t like, ask them what came as a surprise
then hit them with season two, watch as the arc unfolds, step it up to one or two episodes a day, but not any more than that, keep them wanting more as the pace of the plot ramps up, discuss every new twist, tell them what you thought was really going on when you watched it for the first time
after season two, all bets are off, let them watch the rest at whatever pace they want, draw it out week by week or binge the whole thing
remember that it’s not perfect, but it is really really GOOD, and it is beloved for a reason; you don’t have to overhype it, you just have to ask people to give it a chance
but most of all? talk about it with them
talk about Passing Through Gethsemane, talk about Londo Mollari, talk about the Clark administration, talk about the telepaths
let them know how much fun you’re having seeing their reactions, hearing about their theories
Babylon 5 is a show meant to be talked about, meant to be enjoyed together. It’s a show made for discussion, theorising, debate and interpretation, even the weaker episodes and weaker seasons have a lot of interesting things to unpack, or standout moments that are very much worth watching
don’t sell it as a masterpiece; just have fun
and remember the most important thing of all to tell them is this:
There is only one thing better than watching Babylon 5 for the first time – watching Babylon 5 for the second time. And the only thing better than that is watching someone else watch Babylon 5 for the first time
The best show in existence is now on Amazon Prime streaming! Babylon 5,
despite being from the 90s, has a very timely story with fantastic
characterization/character development, epic space battles, and cool
aliens. Obviously, I highly recommend it. If you watch it, please let
me know so we can nerd out together.
I’ve got the entire series on DVD, but for those of you who don’t, go watch this. It was a great series.
Even if you have it on DVD please watch it on prime, so Amazon and WB can see that there’s still an audience out here for B5. It might be the only way we see a bluray release or other refreshments. Prime is exciting, even more than that it’s an opportunity!
The first character I first fell in love with: I think it was Garibaldi for most of Season 1??
The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Londo. Like. Actual love of my life, space husband, tragic disaster, and reason I spent two hours straight sobbing on the couch at the completion of his arc.
The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Marcus. Like, I like the dude, but never got the obsession.
The character I love that everyone else hates: I mean, a lot of people hate Londo?
The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I love early season Garibaldi, but his later arc got really flubbed for me and I KNOW the extenuating circumstances but they made him SUCH a jerk during it that I lost a lot of my initial love for him, even if usually it’s the kind of arc I would eat up with a spoon.
The character I would totally smooch: Londo. G’Kar if I need to pick someone else because our lizard boy is smooooth.
The character I’d want to be like: In terms of moral courage, Vir. In terms of “get-shit-done badass”, Susan.
The character I’d slap: Byron, duh.
A pairing that I love: Londo/G’Kar
A pairing that I despise: It’s not really out there, but Londo/Vir because… no. Vir is his son. And also it’s good to point out when people accuse slash fangirls of just wanting every male character to get together. I absolutely never want to see Londo and Vir together lol.
Mass Effect 3 really captures the feeling of the first half of season 4 of Babylon 5, right down to recruiting allies for the big final battle and making unbearably hard choices. I can’t even go over all of the parallels without spoiling how B5’s Shadow War is resolved. Point is, my love for one franchise only feeds my love for the other, which creates an endless cycle of enthusiasm.
Are any of you folks Babylon 5 fans? Because I love Babylon 5 and don’t know why it hasn’t retained the popularity of other space franchises of the same time period and it makes me sad.
Also if you like Mass Effect, the entire plot of Mass Effect is just like… wholesale lifted from B5? The first time I watched B5 I hadn’t played Mass Effect yet, but watching it again now with Dan it’s like OH MY GOD THE SHADOWS ARE THE REAPERS AND THE VORLON ARE THE PROTHEANS AND THE CENTAURI-NARN CONFLICT IS THE QUARIAN-GETH CONFLICT DOWN TO MOLARI AND TALI HAVING THE SAME DAMN ACCENT
Also Will Robinson from Lost in Space plays a bald man with a bone in his head and Chekov plays a megolomaniacal psychic sleazeball and Tron is the captain of the station
It’s such a good show and all the characters are so incredibly well-written and it’s so earnest in its progressiveness and the women are all so great and there are so many sympathetic terrible people and it actually wraps up its story and wasn’t either cancelled or allowed to drag on until it died and YOU SHOULD ALL GO BUY THE ANCIENT DVDS THAT ARE THE ONLY WAY TO WATCH THE SERIES OTHER THAN TORRENTING IT
So I can cry together with you all instead of alone with Dan
Avelera 