Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales

[CamFraser]

On July 31st, the first of what may become many Babylon 5 direct-to-DVDs will be released.

Why? The bean counters noticed the DVDs of the series had grossed more than half a billion dollars.

If this release goes well, there will be more. And this bodes well for other quality science fiction series like...
oh, I don't know...
maybe..
um...
Firefly! :yeah:


There's an official trailer at www.babylon5.com and several other trailers and such are floating around youtube and elsewhere.

*** warning! spoilers! ***
CGSociety is running a behind the scenes series (with spoilers - did I mention that?):
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3971
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4102

My favorite quote was:

We were working on Amigas, Video Toasters, which were massively primitive.” Straczynski, never at loss for a story, went on to elaborate.
“The initial render farm consisted of several Amiga’s linked together with wires that ran through the apartment of the guy who initially did the FX. The wires also ran through his rabbit cages. Every so often, in the middle of a render, a rabbit would chew through a wire. They would call me to tell me they had a rabbit crash. And now here we are today.”

Ever since then, my spouse and I have been substituting "rabbits" into the famous Firefly quote about space monkeys. :P

[Kevin]

I really loved Babylon 5. It is still one of my all time favorites. I will be watching this new movie as soon as it comes out.

I actually rank Babylon 5 higher than Firefly but I strongly suspect that if Firefly had lasted longer it would have been better. We will never know though since the network morons canceled it.

I also really wish that the Crusade spinoff series had gone farther but unfortunately it was killed off just as quickly as Firefly and the long running plot line had barely even gotten started :(

BTW, another series to check out is Jeremiah (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290966/). It is a completely different kind of show than Babylon 5 however it has a very similar writing style (same writer/creator) and it has many of the same messages. It was a Showtime show back when they were still making Stargate SG1. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they ever made a DVD release for the second season which is the better season. :(

The first season of Jeremiah is kinda like the first season of Babylon 5 where everything is disorganized and there are a few long running mysteries that need to be solved. The second season is more like the 4th season of Babylon 5 where a bunch of different groups have to come together to fight a common enemy.

[Mandi]

I'm gonna have to give Babylon 5 another chance. I think I was impatient and distracted when I first tried to be a viewer.

[Kevin]

Babylon 5 is a 5 season long story. It wasn't completely written before they started filming but the general outline of it was. That long very intricate plot line with several different messages is what made Babylon 5 good. If you came in in the middle you would miss much of that and if you didn't watch till about the middle of the second season you didn't get to the good part.

[Mandi]

No, I think I ordered the S1 DVD's off Netflix, and was just . . . meh, these don't grab me.

But in the interim, I've become a bit more of a sci-fi enthusiast, so I'd like to try again; they are always list-toppers when people discuss favorites. I suspect I just didn't give it enough episodes to get into the saga of it.

[Kevin]

If you aren't hooked by the time the first of 7 (IIRC) wars starts you aren't going to be.

[Kevin]

BTW, the pilot movie "The Gathering" is not part of the season 1 DVD set. Also the prequel movie "In the Beginning" should be watched anytime after season 4 and the other movies go at the end.

[Mandi]

See, I can't even remember what you're referencing, so I clearly didn't give it a fair shot.

I am unexpectedly free through August (no summer classes for me after all, wheeee!) and so among my loftier personal plans . . . I'm bumping up my Netflix rotation to 5 at a time :P.

[Bruce]

BTW, the pilot movie "The Gathering" is not part of the season 1 DVD set. Also the prequel movie "In the Beginning" should be watched anytime after season 4 and the other movies go at the end.Not quite (although when one should watch the movies is a matter of debate)... There were 6 movie-length productions (in order they were produced):
"The Gathering" was the pilot episode, and is set shortly after the station was opened, and before the main series. "In The Beginning" is set (mostly) before the Babylon 5 station was created, and explains some of the back-story, although it makes significant references to things that happen during the 4th season. "Thirdspace" is set sometime between the 4th and 5th seasons, and doesn't really play into any plot lines at all. "The River of Souls" is again set sometime between the 4th and 5th seasons, and doesn't really play into any plot lines at all. "A Call To Arms" is set after the 5th season, and was designed as a lead in to the follow-up season, "Crusade". "The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight" is similarly set after the 5th season, and was designed as a pilot for another new series (which never materialized).

[Kevin]

Actually...

Thirdspace is set during the 4th season between the shadow/vorlon war and the earth civil war. There is a reference to the Vorlons leaving so it is after that and it is before the earth civil war really starts since B5 is independent but not actually fighting anyone at the time.

The River of Souls is set sometime after the 5th season because it happens after all of the original characters have left the station in the last regular episode of season 5. Garibaldi is there but he is returning for a business visit not serving any of the jobs he had during the series.

I say that In the Beginning should be watched after season 4 because otherwise there are spoilers (like what really happened to Sinclair and what Sheridan's new job title is).

There is also a few weird things in the pilot movie that don't really line up with the rest of the series. The three that I can think of are that Delenn looks completely different (I read somewhere that they hadn't decided yet if she would be male of female), the actor who plays Morden is playing one of the crew members in the control center, and the woman who is second in command isn't Ivonova yet has the exact same personality. The movie is still a good introduction to the station and what is going on.

BTW, there is actually a major spoiler in the pilot movie. Kosh's very first words give away a very big surprise that doesn't really come out till mid season 3 (War Without End). Of course Kosh always speaks in riddles so nothing he says makes much sense until you are watching the series for the second time.

[Bruce]

Thirdspace is set during the 4th season between the shadow/vorlon war and the earth civil war. ... The River of Souls is set sometime after the 5th season because it happens after all of the original characters have left the station in the last regular episode of season 5.*sigh* It's obviously been too long since I've watched these.

I say that In the Beginning should be watched after season 4 because otherwise there are spoilers (like what really happened to Sinclair and what Sheridan's new job title is).True, however watching "In the Beginning" makes some parts of the first seasons make more sense.

[Kevin]

True, however watching "In the Beginning" makes some parts of the first seasons make more sense.

Yes, however knowing what REALLY happened to Sinclair would make the 1st season less interesting. It is presented as a mystery with new pieces of the puzzle added to it every few episodes. Then there is the story that the Membari are willing to admit to in the beginning of the second season and then there is the REAL story that you don't find out until the middle of season 3. One of the things I really liked the first time I watched the series was the sudden realization at the end of "War Without End" when all of the mysterious stuff that had happened suddenly made perfect sense.

[CamFraser]

I actually rank Babylon 5 higher than Firefly but I strongly suspect that if Firefly had lasted longer it would have been better. We will never know though since the network morons canceled it.


I agree!

Babylon 5 had epic sweep. It was the greatest science fiction TV series of all time. Kind of like Star Wars for adults.

Firefly was/is great, but never aspired to that level. It was a warm, stimulating place to visit, but wasn't epic (though the first movie moved in the right direction).

'Course, its CGI also wasn't sabotaged by space rabbits, some terrifying space rabbits that maybe got loose. :P

Mandi, yeah, give it a shot, and stick with it, in order. The payoff is worth it.

A big bonus is that it's something you can watch as a family (rugrats no, middle schoolers and up yes). We've been rewatching it and having a blast. :)


P.S. Two days to Joss Whedon's birthday! To celebrate, there's charity showings of Serenity, worldwide.

[Mandi]

I watched the first episode last night and accidentally fell asleep - I was kind of :ytthud: by the time I settled into bed with the DVD remote. I'll start it over tonight; that shouldn't be taken as a comment on how compelling the series is or isn't LOL!! I'm alternating DVD's of Big Love, Season 1 with Babylon 5.

I don't Gaps in the Saga that are explained better by Backstory type episodes later on. I'm thinking of Out of Gas episode in Firefly - it was somewhat like that.