Fiona wrote:

Neil spoke about how some people (himself apparently included) do exclude certain episodes they don't like from

their

own "altercanon."

Interesting why some people choose to exclude certain episodes, or indeed to like others. 'Dawn of the Gods' (which I think was the episode that Neil was excluding?) isn't one of my favourites (in fact I suspect it made it into my 5 least favourites) but I wouldn't see that as a reason to exclude it. I could see two different possible reasons: first, that the Auron background doesn't fit too well with 'Children of Auron', and second, that the science is cringeworthily appalling. However, if one excluded episodes on science grounds, then one would be left with a short canon indeed...

What I found in compiling my least-liked episodes list some time back now is that many, indeed most, B7 episodes have bits that I cringe over. However, nearly all of them also have bits that I enjoy. DotG has some great lines of dialogue here and there, it has some insights into particularly Tarrant's character, and then there are those trousers, I suppose...

I think different people cringe over different things. Personally I really hate the naff monsters and aliens. I find it hard to watch for example, 'The Web', 'Rescue' and 'Moloch', all of which have abundant good points, simply because of this. (In the case of 'Moloch', I hardly even *see* the rest of the episode because of anticipatory cringing over *that* thing.) I also find it hard to watch 'The Way Back', an excellent episode with so many implications for the kind of fanfic I'd like to write, simply 'cos it lacks my favoured character.

For whatever bundle of reasons, one ends up with a highly personal list of favourites and unfavourites, and (we've played this game on FC of late) no-one ever agrees.

I think there's truth in that, but I think there's something more subtle to it, in that in my experience people tend to watch the episodes they like over and over and not watch the ones they don't

like.

So in a sense, while I would include, say, "Stardrive" in the canon, and

if

it came up in the context of a discussion on canon I would use it, I have

in

a sense excluded it from my "altercanon" in that I watch it so little that it would probably be my *last* choice as an example in a discussion. Basically, I think Neil's right but that the same process is often subconscious.

I agree. People tend to see the series in terms of predominantly one axis, be it characters or science fiction or politics or action/adventure or whatever. They are bound to watch more of the episodes that they enjoy, because they feature that axis predominantly, and thus perhaps come to a distorted view of the series as a whole.

In the interests of trying to keep the whole series in mind and developing characterisations for fanfic based on the on-screen versions, I've watched the whole lot twice within the past year, but I must admit, in between the prescribed viewings, the episodes I really like just kept on creeping in (my 'Star One' to 'Animals' ratio is about 5:1).

Tavia