This is a great summary of season 1, Brent, especially for those who may want or need to skip it.

For those that want to skim through season 1 but not skip it altogether, it might still be a good idea to watch the following key episodes for the sake of better understanding the B5 universe & overall story arc:
– Mind War
– And the Sky Full of Stars
– Signs and Portents
– A Voice in the Wilderness – Parts 1 & 2
– Babylon Squared
– Chrysalis

Oddly, despite the importance of these episodes, they’re not all my favorites (especially Voice in the Wilderness which JMS, the show’s creator, wrote sick with a high fever and doesn’t remember writing). On a personal level, I’m very partial to Deathwalker & The Quality of Mercy.

Most people will probably tell you to skip TKO and Grail (JMS included), but Grail’s concept has some redeeming quality even if the execution is poor, and there’s a great Ivanova subplot in TKO well worth seeing even if you fast-forward through the A-plot. Soul Hunter and Believers are two of my *least* favorite episodes of the whole series. If you want to know what a Soul Hunter is, skip the episode and just read an episode summary online.