Your Favorite B5 Episodes

[filkertom]

A couple threads down, as we all wax poetic about Firefly, per_solo started waxing nostalgic about Babylon 5.

Cut-and-pasted from that thread are per_solo's choices, at least three of 'em:

• GROPOS - You spend the whole episode getting to know the Gropos, and the last shot of them, all having been killed, just stuns you.
• Confessions and Lamentations - Similar...but, I think mainly for the John/Delenn buildup, and that haunting scene of her calling him by his name for the first time. Starts the goosebumps, just thinking of that scene.
• Z'Ha'Dum - Anna's Scream...the 30 seconds before and after...I was with friends while watching this, and we all were silent at that scene.

Mine:

• The Coming Of Shadows -- Andreas Katsulas turns in one of the finest performances ever. For progression of both character and story, nothing compares to this.
• And The Rock Cried Out, "No Hiding Place" -- except maybe this. The death of Rifa is simply amazing, and the romance between Delenn and Sheridan is just gorgeous.
• Intersections In Real Time -- gripping, vicious, nasty nasty nasty. Wonderfully written and acted.
• Into the Fire -- the big finale to the Shadow War, and it does not disappoint... especially the capper on Centauri Prime. Who'd have ever thought Londo would be willing to sacrifice himself?
• Sleeping In Light -- heartbreaking. This gets me almost as badly as does Frodo going to the Grey Havens.

And andamaroo supplied:

• Chrysalis - this was the first BEST episode I saw. Maybe other episodes were better later, technically speaking, but it was this episode that told me, THIS SHOW IS NOT LIKE OTHER SHOWS. Look, things change, and big stuff really happens. Big stuff that matters. Stuff that can't be resolved two episodes into next season.
• The Long Twilight Struggle - The scene with Londo reluctantly calling for G'Kar's head in council chambers might be my favorite from the entire series.
• The Coming of Shadows - I love a good tragedy, and Londo is my favorite character from the series.
• Interludes and Examinations - The shadows start attacking openly and the drama just goes sky high, plus the shadows kill Kosh. Can't get better than that.
• Dust to Dust - I always liked the idea of Londo knowing what was coming for him, but I really like the idea of G'Kar knowing it too. I love that after Dust to Dust they both know how they're going to die, but G'Kar also knows not only what Londo has done to get things to this point, but also why. This is where G'Kar really starts down the new path.

So... what and why are your five favorite B5 episodes?

Comments

[holzman.livejournal.com]

You've got my favorite right there: The death of Rifa.

Also the Techno mage to Llondo:
"I hear billions of voices calling your name."
"My followers?"
"Your victims."

[andamaroo.livejournal.com]

Now my typos are there for all to see!

*proud*

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Sorry 'bout that. I think I got you fixed right up, now.

[andamaroo.livejournal.com]

I should have proofed in the first place, but thank you none-the-less.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Here are two of favorite scenes from the entire series (both from outstanding episodes):

"No Hiding Place" -- the death of Rifa. This was actually the first I saw in the series, and I couldn't NOT see more after that.

"Into the Fire" -- Vir fulfills his promise to Morden, looking up at his head on a pike and waving. Laughs and tears and that feeling you get when All is Right, all at once.

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite scenes was the promise itself -- and the way the wave subsequently gets used out of context in the title sequence to keep up the facade of inconsequential silly person. (Partway through B5's first season I moved someplace where it wasn't showing until another season or two in, and even then seldom at the same time twice -- so when I finally started watching it again I'd missed that scene with Morden and thought the wave in the title sequence was just Vir being silly as usual...)

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

Two come to mind for me. The first was Londo's heartattack ("The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari"). The second was the episode where Bester reveals to a hypnotized Garibaldi that he's been playing him like a fiddle ("Face of the Enemy").

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

The entire Bester/Garibaldi plotline was fantastic. I can only hope Walter Koenig had as much fun playing that part as we had watching him.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

You know, it says a great many things about B5 that when you call for lists of best episodes, almost no one's lists over lap. Too many excellent shows.

[baristagoddess.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a whole FIVE eps, but I really like:

Comes The Inquisitor -- Hokey as it is, there are bits of this episode that have really stayed with me through the years... and as far as the narrative, the sets, everything else, it's so sparse, almost like a theatrical performance.

Believers -- I know it's depressing, but it asks some of the most interesting questions in the show, too -- how far does freedom of religion go, how and where do you overpower it, and how much can you be responsible for someone else's life?

Iconlove!

[almeda.livejournal.com]

*giggles hysterically, falls off chair*


*sheepishly crawls off, not having anything useful, really, to add*

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

FIve favourite eps? From each season? no? Forthe whole thing? Couldn't do it. Five? Hold one I've got it....... Season One, season Two, Season three, Season Four, and Season Five. I tink Four was my favourite followed by three. Five was my least favourite.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Ack. Too long since I watched them, can't recall titles, but in no particular order:

"Rising Star." Marcus is an arrow. He does what he wants to with his life, for the best reason in the world.

The one where Delenn is a hostage. Marcus, Lennier, and Sheridan all being magnificent, and the ceremony at the end.

The one with Sheridan chuckling to himself and not explaining why.

Ivanova being diplomatic with the Draazi.

"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars." A wonderful final episode. Even if it wasn't final.

[skipjim.livejournal.com]

How about

1). Mind War - It introduces you to Bester, and sets up the idea of the Ancient Races being infintely more powerful than humans.
2). Believers - Come on they sacraficed a child! Show me better TV than that I dare you? (Ok last week's Boston Legal when James Spader's character refered to something as a klingon in front of Shatner's character came close).
3). Eyes - Quite an interrogation scene.
4). Babylon Squared - If not for Zathras then for the whole Fasten then Zip conversation between Garabaldi and Sinclair.
5). In the Shadow of Za'Ha'dum - By this point you're starting to get an idea about what the rest of the series is going to be and how weird things are really going to get.
6). The long Twighlight Struggle - Just for the scene of Mollari standing in the viewport watching the asteroids rain down on Narn.
7). And the Rock Cried out, No hiding place - The death/singing scene was wonderful.
8). Shadow Dancing - When the Narn Ship appeared just in time to spear that Shadow Vessel I just about jumped out of my seat.

That five isn't it? For very large values of five. I've got a math degree, trust me. =]

[mrteapot.livejournal.com]

"A View From the Gallery" makes Season 5 woth watching.

[zillafan.livejournal.com]

I will not go into an episode-by-episode commentary but need to share with you all my great satisfaction at being able to share the DVD sets as they were released with my Father.

Being 40 years old now these memories of sharing Babylon 5 with my Father for me are priceless!

I literally would have Amazon express them to me and have my old man demand we watch as many discs as possible the evening they arrived!

[mhookermyers.livejournal.com]

That is really wonderful.

A View from the Gallery

[gclectic.livejournal.com]

I second mrteapot. I really wanted to found a Mack and Bo fan club, or maybe demote the rest of the crew and stick with the custodial viewpoint for the rest of the series. (Okay, maybe we could keep G'kar too. How is that a man who's face we never see can still out-act most of the rest of the [darned fine] cast?)

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

I loved "Sleeping in Light", but it really belongs at the end of season 4, because it ties together the season 4 threads without touching any of the season 5 ones (unsurprisingly).

I also was disappointed with "Into the Fire" because the resolution of the Shadow/Vorlon situation felt to me like a copout, and the fact that the involvement of the other First Ones served simply to buy our friends an extra five minutes for two utterly opposed philosophies to have a nice chat and realize that it's not important felt like an especially egregious copout. But I'm not sure how I would have done it better.

That said, I love B5. I have a special fondness for the "Babylon Squared"/"War Without End" thread, but there are too many good episodes to list them all.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I can understand that, although to me it doesn't feel like a cop-out precisely because the First Ones buy our friends that extra five minutes. In a lot of ways, it's like a married couple arguing violently about a kid's future, one wants him to go to college and the other wants him to get a job, and the kid can't get a word in edgewise amidst all the shouting and throwing things, so they call in a neighbor to get the warring parents to sit the fuck down already for five minutes and find out what the kid thinks, which is maybe to start his own business.

It wasn't supposed to be a major battle; it was supposed to be rising above that obvious ending to a different solution, kind of a galactic political Gordian Knot sort of thing.

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

It wasn't supposed to be a major battle; it was supposed to be rising above that obvious ending to a different solution, kind of a galactic political Gordian Knot sort of thing.

Having just seen it again (we've been Netfilixing 'em), the resolution worked a lot better for me this time.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Into The Fire was meant to be a two-part episode, but when renewal looked a little sketchy, JMS compressed it into a single episode so he'd have enough time to deal with the other subplots. It felt rushed when I watched it, and even JMS has said that the episode suffered due to the compacting.