As a new player that just hit 50, the questline requires you to run these. Not wanting to be the low person that held everyone back, I was prepared to skip the scenes, if necessary. It was a relief when I saw that you couldn't skip them. There was some people in chat wishing the scenes could be skipped but the most geared person in the group spoke up and said it's unfair to new players. It left the impression that if I'm in that situation, I'll gladly watch them again so a new player can experience it.