showing a newb SiL first (seriously)

[themaninbetween]

It must sound crazy, but some of the people I want to introduce B5 to aren't going to fall for great sci-fi, but they're going to fall for tear-jerking, masterpiece, heart-wrenching storytelling. Sure, we get spoilt as to what happens to Sheridan (though it's hinted at in DoFS), lorien, surviving the shadow war, etc, but I doubt that once I get my target audience hooked, they're going to forget these details. Honestly, before watching it myself, I watched "hour of the wolf-into the fire" and "no surrender, no retreat-rising star" (actually saw DoFS first), and even on a 12 foot screen, did get a bit bored of battle scenes - though the intrigue with Catargia in the royal court had me hooked in those segment. Heck, SiL had me the closest to cracking a tear in 15 years, and my eyes don't leak easily at all. I'm hoping that someone seeing SiL will think "this JMS is a genius, I MUST see more!"

Opinions?

 

[Jan]

As dearly as I love 'Sleeping in Light', I can't help but wonder if it would have the impact it does without the background of the series behind it.

If it's "tear-jerking, masterpiece, heart-wrenching storytelling" you want to show them, I'd go for 'In the Beginning'. Yeah, it spoils some things but if their hearts don't break at Londo's narration of the Human's nobility and the President's plea for pilots to join the Line...well, B5 may not be for them.

That's the way I'd go.

Jan

 

[fisheggs]

Gotta agree with Jan. You shouldnt "read" the epilogue before the story. When rewatching the series I started with "In the Begining" as there were no plot spoilers at that point for me. For me, one of the special aspects of B5 is the unfolding of the story: IMHO, it is a video novel and needs to be treated as such, so unless you're the type to skip to the end to see what happens.:angel: Personally. I'd start with "The Gathering", which happened to be the pilot..

 

[Jade Jaguar]

As dearly as I love 'Sleeping in Light', I can't help but wonder if it would have the impact it does without the background of the series behind it.


Jan

I agree completely. With no prior appreciation of the characters, I think SIL would come off as over-drawn, and syrupy. SIL means something to you, because the characters mean something to you.

 

[raw_bean]

^^ What they said.

 

[Kaz]

That's what my dad showed me when I asked him to introduce me to the show & I've been hooked ever since. I've actually gone back & watched all of the other episodes, but even when I'd never seen the show before & I watched SiL, it still brought a tear to my eye as the music was astoundingly haunting yet elegant. That's thye mark of a good show, when you're still moved to tears yet you have no idea what's happening or why.

 

[KoshFan]

From my standpoint, SiL is the last, achingly beautiful note of a symphony. Sure, you might convert a few people just by playing that note... but why on earth would you deny them the pleasure of hearing that note in its proper place at the very end of the whole piece?

 

[Elipsis]

I wouldn't.

 

[mattikake]

Nah, it just wouldn';t have the same effect. The reason it's so sad (and is emphasised by JMS in the audio commentary) is that you care for the characters by this point. You feel massively sorry for... well, everyone and it's sad to see B5 be destroyed and the series end.

I HAVE used 2 episodes very successfully to get people hooked on B5. Confessions and Lamentations and And now for a word. Ok ANFAW lets the small secret of the Narn-Centauri war out, but watchers soon forget and see them at each others throats by the start of series 1 anyway. It's always a head-fcuk to anyone getting introduced to 15 characters and 6 races all at once as well... ANFAW has good drama, action, direction and is a clever report-style epiode also explaining a bit about the B5 universe...

CAL is more emotional and even a bit shocking.

CAL I use for the women. ANFAW I use for the boys.

Then I skip them a few series 1 episodes and let the rest tend to itself, as JMS may say...

 

[RW7427]

There's not much I can add to what the others have said. I agree that SiL just doesn't have the same effect if what leads up to it isn't seen first. The person viewing it could be crying just because it's a touching episode, but they wouldn't be able to appreciate exactly WHY they're crying.

 

[hypatia]

Consider the rest of the series to be one big flash-back then. Actually, that's what it ended up being, didn't it?

Nah, though, I do agree with the others. I think the episode would come off rather sappy without knowing, for example, the dead friends they are toasting.

"Who's this Marcus that two of them mentioned?".

Not exactly how I'd want the episode viewed, if I'd written it.

 

[mattikake]

Not to mention that you're going to know in advance that a load of main characters die.

 

[Boxie]

To me, it's like reading the last page of a book first. It just would take away so much for me to see SIL first.

 

[dkone]

In general, I concur that starting with 'In the Beginning' or 'The Gathering' would be the best place. However, I've experienced people who did not have the attention span to watch the series long enough to appreciate the depth of the story arcs. Perhaps for someone like that, seeing SiL and then one of the early stories and seeing the distance the story covers would better whet their appetite.

 

[mattikake]

Dunno. I'd say people like that are never going to appreciate B5 and should stick to watching a nice soap like one about benders from the east or something.