Babylon 5... movies?!?

[js]

Ensign_Redshirt wrote:

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It should be perfectly fine to watch between S4 and S5.

As for the recommendations to watch it between "Objects at Rest" and "Sleeping Light"... well, I guess that's because "In the Beginning" (or at least its framing story) takes place between these two episodes. And thematically (as well as emotionally) it fits very well with the series finale.

Well, now I'm wondering if maybe he'd get more from it if I saved it for watching between Objects and Sleeping. Hmm... decisions, decisions!

Thanks for the info!

[Jan]

js wrote:

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Well, now I'm wondering if maybe he'd get more from it if I saved it for watching between Objects and Sleeping. Hmm... decisions, decisions!

Thanks for the info!

For a first viewing, I strongly recommend that you don't allow anything to interrupt the emotional momentum of watching "Objects in Motion", "Objects at Rest" and "Sleeping in Light" in a row.

Jan

[Cary L. Brown]

Hirogen Alpha wrote:

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"The Gathering" is the original pilot. It takes place before season one. It's not required viewing, but it does add a few extra layers to things. There's no reason you can't watch it now.

"Thirdspace" takes place between "The Illusion of Truth" and "Atonement in season four. It's not necessary to watch i then, however. You could just as easily watch it after finishing the series.

"River of Souls" takes place six months after "Objects at Rest." Its entirely standalone, and, quite frankly, pretty bad. Watch it, if you must, after you've finished the series.

"In The Beginning" is a prequel to the series, but it is built around a framing sequence that takes place in 2277. I wouldn't watch it until you've finished everything but the final episode, "Sleeping in Light." I think it fits well between "Objects at Rest" and "Sleeping in Light," actually, but you may want to hold off until you've finished the series.

"Call to Arms" is a Babylon 5 movie, but it is also a sort of pilot to Crusade. Watch it before you watch the episodes of that short lived series, if you plan to.

"Legend of the Rangers" was a failed pilot movie. It's not as bad as detractors would claim, but it's not very good, either. It takes place after "River of Souls" and before "Call To Arms," but there's really no reason you should have to watch it then. Save it for after the series.

"The Lost Tales" take place ten years after "Objects at Rest," but due the the main titles, I feel they're very much intended to be seen after you've watched everything else, or in the very least after you've watched "Sleeping in Light" (the series finale).

I agree with everything he's said here, except that I'm one of those who thinks that it always works best with "Sleeping in Light" being the very last thing you watch, period... it's the ultimate "wrap-up" to everything in the series (including the movies, and, I think, the spin-off series).

[Harvey]

Cary L. Brown wrote:

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I agree with everything he's said here, except that I'm one of those who thinks that it always works best with "Sleeping in Light" being the very last thing you watch, period... it's the ultimate "wrap-up" to everything in the series (including the movies, and, I think, the spin-off series).

That's why I've put In The Beginning in between "Objects at Rest" and "Sleeping in Light." It makes sense chronologically and thematically.

I've excluded River of Souls and Legend of the Rangers because they're, well, not very good, and as standalones entirely inconsequential.

Thirdspace and the Lost Tales both begin with a sequence that places them in a certain time, but from the perspective of looking back after having finished the series (and "Sleeping in Light").

"A Call To Arms" and "Crusade" are more of their own thing. If the series ran for a full five years, I might think differently of it, but as it stands I think it really messes up the momentum of the final stretch of episodes with its total lack of resolution.

It might be fun to watch everything totally chronologically at some point, but it doesn't make much sense for first time viewers, or the best thematic sequence. All IMO.

[Neroon]

I tend to favor watching "In the Beginning" as I first saw it, late season 4. By that point, all of the elements which the movie addresses have been seen prior in the series. Waiting until after "Objects At Rest" feels as if it's too long. Chronologically, with the way "In the Beginning" ends it fits. But for my taste I enjoy it placed close to the events which it references.

[js]

*swings back and forth, back and forth, indecisively*

Too many good arguments both ways!

Ah, well, I have another week to decide.

js

[Neroon]

Meh.... all it means is you're in good shape no matter which way you go.

[FamilySlitheen]

In The Begining is set in between War Without End Part's One and Two. If this is your first viewing of the mighty B5 then, yeah, don't watch ITB first, it WILL ruin the suprise.

[Neroon]

Mmmmmm.... yes and no.

The movie begins and ends during the timeframe of WWE. However, in the in-between time you go quite a bit farther back. If jms himself thinks it's fine to watch it first, that will probably hold true for a great many otehr folks. I'd still disagree with them.

[Colonel Midnight]

No matter when you decide to watch it... Be sure to tell us what you think of the montage right before the end of the movie, with the music, etc.

Great Maker, that is STILL just one of the best moments of B5.

Cheers,
-CM-

[Cary L. Brown]

Neroon wrote:

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Mmmmmm.... yes and no.

The movie begins and ends during the timeframe of WWE. However, in the in-between time you go quite a bit farther back. If jms himself thinks it's fine to watch it first, that will probably hold true for a great many otehr folks. I'd still disagree with them.

Well, for anyone not really familiar with what the episode titles mean...

"In the Beginning" is set roughly... 18 years?... after the final "regular" episode of Babylon 5. But it's a narrative, and most of the events being discussed are set about 10 years prior to "The Gathering" (the pilot movie).

The very final episode of B5, "Sleeping in Light," is set 20 years after the final "regular" episode of the series.

SO... if you're like me and prefer to watch things in the "in-fiction" chronological order, that's why I recommend "Sleeping in Light" as the last thing you watch.

[DWF]

Cary L. Brown wrote:

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Well, for anyone not really familiar with what the episode titles mean...

"In the Beginning" is set roughly... 18 years?... after the final "regular" episode of Babylon 5. But it's a narrative, and most of the events being discussed are set about 10 years prior to "The Gathering" (the pilot movie).

The very final episode of B5, "Sleeping in Light," is set 20 years after the final "regular" episode of the series.

SO... if you're like me and prefer to watch things in the "in-fiction" chronological order, that's why I recommend "Sleeping in Light" as the last thing you watch.

Chroniclogically speaking The Deconstruction Of Fallen Stars is the last one since it's set one million years in the future.

[Neroon]

Cary L. Brown wrote:

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SO... if you're like me and prefer to watch things in the "in-fiction" chronological order, that's why I recommend "Sleeping in Light" as the last thing you watch.

That's precisely the way I prefer to watch the series as a whole. DWF is right technically, as he says, but "Sleeping In Light" is the perfect, if not outright necessary, capper

[Reverend]

Well technically, if you're watching chronologically shouldn't that last thing you watch be "Deconstruction of Falling Stars"? The reason should be obvious to those that know, but for the sake of the OP I won't spoil the surprise.

[Tulin]

Somebody already did.