|
|
 |
|
02-25-2004, 01:26 PM
|
#61 of 120 
|
|
Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Local Time: 05:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 802
|
The only reason I ask is that when I saw ITB first it really pulled me in and made me want to see the whole series. I think I'll save ITB for later though, thanks for the input.
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
02-25-2004, 02:54 PM
|
#62 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Dec 1969
Local Time: 05:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 7,405
|
It is really a toss-up, despite the passion of those who think that the only way to watch the show is to go in knowing nothing. That is to treat it as a mystery, which it really isn't. Granted there are things that neither the audience nor the characters know at the beginning of S1, and the experience of watching the show is different if you know them and the characters don't, but it isn't necessarily a worse experience.
JMS himself assumed that by the time In the Beginning first aired (the night before the 1st season reruns began on TNT) that most of the people checking it out would have seen at least a few episodes of the show, probably from the later seasons (since the audience built year to year) and therefore that "spoilers" weren't the most important consideration. He designed ItB precisely as a way to introduce the characters, the backstory and the epic sweep of the series in one film to new viewers. It is actually a much better introduction to the series than The Gathering, which concentrates on characters who either never appear again or disappear after the first season, and which even in its recut form is so different from the series that it is liable to alienate as many new viewers as it draws into the show.
If you want to avoid spoilers, I'd start with "Midnight on the Firing Line", which is a terrific introductory episode. (Because it had been a year since the pilot aired, the show had been significantly retooled, and there were no plans to re-air the pilot, it had to be.)
After you show her eight or ten episodes to get her settled into the B5 universe, show her the pilot, with an explantion of how it was made and why it differs from the series. (But why events and characters in the pilot are still parts of the on-going story.) But don't start anyone with The Gathering.
If you don't care about spoilers, do what JMS did (via the scheduling on TNT) - start with ItB, then go to TG (with the caveats above), then go into the series proper.
Each approach has its good and bad points, and you'll have to decide.
Regards,
Joe
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
02-25-2004, 10:15 PM
|
#63 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Local Time: 06:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 2,102
|
I agree, don't start with In the Beginning due to the spoilers. Best saved for later. Spoilers bad.
Waiting for the news like everyone else. I've done a lot of lurking over at B5tv.com where Joseph moderator-ates reading speculation 
Matheson- "There are probably some who'll say that by doing this, we are interfering with their culture."
Gideon - "Probably. Screw them."
-Crusade, Visitors from Down the Street
|
|
|
|
|
02-25-2004, 10:26 PM
|
#64 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Local Time: 05:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 802
|
Thank you Joe. I appreciate your answer and your reasoning. I'll see how she is before we even watch one episode. If she seems a little standoffish about it, I'll show here ITB to get her into it. ITB is almost non-stop action so it may interest her more going in that way. If I have to tie her down, she'll watch B5 one way or the other.  lol j/k |
|
|
|
|
|
|
02-27-2004, 10:09 PM
|
#65 of 120
|
|
Member
Location: New Zealand
Join Date: Mar 2003
Local Time: 11:10 PM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 2,917
|
Quote:
|
But don't start anyone with The Gathering.
|
I started with The Gathering. My friend told me going in that it wasn't great, but it should be watched. So I went into it with lowered expectations, and found I ejoyed it. Not B5's best moment, but I liked it.
On the new series - from JMS News
Quote:
Subject: jms update v1.0
Y'know, if there's anything more annoying than having to sit on good news, I can't think of what it might be. Well, okay, being staked to an ant hill at high noon is a pretty obvious one, but you get the idea.)
The only things I can say right now about B5:TMoS is that now that all the correct agreements have been signed, sealed and delivered, the draft has gone in, met with great enthusiasm all around, notes have been received, and the next draft is in process and has to be delievered within two weeks so that certain other steps can be set into motion.
I still can't tell you what it *is* because that has to come from the proper people through the proper channels at the proper time...but I can tell you a few cases of what it *isn't*...it isn't a novel, or a short story, a comic, an animated series, a radio drama or a stage play. Beyond that, deponent sayeth not.
Except to say that it's pretty cool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
03-01-2004, 11:17 AM
|
#66 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Local Time: 04:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 3,020
|
Quote:
|
but I can tell you a few cases of what it *isn't*...it isn't a novel, or a short story, a comic, an animated series, a radio drama or a stage play.
|
I couldn't help but notice the words "movie" and "series" were both missing from that statement. Hmmmm.... curiouser and curiouser...
|
|
|
|
|
03-01-2004, 12:11 PM
|
#67 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Local Time: 05:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 2,721
|
JMS did say circa 1999 that he'd wait about 5 years, or until the Star Wars prequels were finished dominating the sci-fi film market, before getting to a B5 feature film.
|
|
|
|
|
03-01-2004, 01:33 PM
|
#68 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Mar 2003
Local Time: 04:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 643
|
Quote:
|
I couldn't help but notice the words "movie" and "series" were both missing from that statement. Hmmmm.... curiouser and curiouser...
|
Noticed that huh? How Koshian of him .... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
03-01-2004, 06:57 PM
|
#69 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Dec 1969
Local Time: 05:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 7,405
|
JMS had ruled out a series in a previous post. Apparently he specified "animated series" because there has been some speculation about that in the interim. (Based on the fact that he had already ruled out a "series".  )
And he didn't say that he wanted or planned to wait until after the Star Wars films before doing a B5 feature. What he said (in 1998 when Warner Bros. was actually interested in doing something about a B5 feature film and had him kicking ideas around) is that he was in no hurry to make a film (since Crusade was just getting off the ground) and that with the new Star Wars trilogy on the horizon that it might make sense to wait rather than try to compete with the Lucas hype machine. But that isn't why we've never seen a B5 feature. The real reason is that Crusade was scrapped by TNT after only 13 episodes had been shot (and six months before any of them aired) and as far as Warner Bros. was concerned, the "franchise" seemed to be dead.
Folks are interested in a new project now, possibly a feature film, because the DVDs have sold so well, not because some mythical embargo set by JMS has been lifted. He didn't and doesn't have that kind of power over B5. WB pays the bills. If they'd wanted a B5 feature in 1999 JMS would have found a way to do it, Crusade or no Cruade. If WB didn't want a new B5 project today JMS wouldn't be writing one - even if he had said what he was supposed to have said in 1999.
Regards,
Joe
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
03-02-2004, 11:33 AM
|
#70 of 120
|
|
Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Local Time: 04:10 AM
Local Date: 11-18-2008
Posts: 3,020
|
Okay, so if not a series, we're talking a feature or at the very least a made-for-TV movie, perhaps?
Dammit... I wanna KNOW!
|
|
|
|
|
03-02-2004, 01:37 PM
|
#71 of 120
|
|
| |
