Introductions before we start

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Sunday is here and it's time to get this thing on the road. The response to b5_revisited has been amazing with over 100 people watching the community already! Thank you to all the people who have pimped the community.

While we wait for the discussion posts to go up (or you wait and I make the posts), how about some introductions first.

I'll go first: ( how your friendly neighbourhood mod became a B5 fan )

How about you? Are you an old fan from the first age of usenet, or a newbie watching the show for the first time? How did you first heard about the show? Where do you hang out, what are your other fandoms?

And remember, no spoilers! Because one of the best parts of Babylon 5 fandom is, after all, watching the reactions of the unspoiled newbies when they reach that episode where that character does that thing and it is revealed that the thing is actually a thing. You know that thing I mean ;)

The Gathering discussion [spoilers]

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This is the discussion post for the pilot movie The Gathering. Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Some extra reading material to spark the discussion:

The article for The Gathering at Lurker's Guide.

JMS's archived Genie posts from before and around The Gathering's release at JMS News.

The Gathering discussion [spoiler-free]

[ruuger]

This is the spoiler-free discussion post for the pilot movie The Gathering. No spoilers beyond the episode currently being discussed are allowed here (this includes icons).

There exists two different versions of the pilot movie, the 1993 original, and JMS's 1998 re-cut. There are no major differences to the story, but scenes have been cut and added in the new version, but it's worth mentioning which version you're talking about. The easiest way to tell which version you have watched is to check if the music was by Stewart Copeland (original) or Chris Franke (new version).

Because the article for "The Gathering" at Lurker's Guide (THE B5 site on the web, if you haven't heard of it) contains spoilers, I'm copy-pasting here some interesting quotes from Straczynski about the episode:

( JMS speaks )

The Gathering fanworks

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Here you can post your fanworks about The Gathering - icons, fanart, fanfic, vids - or recommend fanworks made by others. You can also suggest fic-prompts, for example "I would like to see a Carolyn/Sinclair story about their first meeting".

(Remember to read the posting rules in the community profile!)

No spoilers are allowed in the the comments here (including in any possible fic prompts), but they are allowed in linked material (for example, you can link to a fic that's set during The Gathering, but contains references to later storylines) as long as they're clearly marked.

In the following weeks I'm hoping to find the time to make screencaps of the episode for iconning and such, but this week you'll have to settle for some promo pics I found from the depths of my HD:

( 5 thumbnails )

If you have screencaps or promos from The Gathering (or any of these ones in better resolution), please do share :)

And if you make any fanart/icons with these images, remember to post them in the comments here for all to enjoy:)