Babylon 5

[Kai "the spy"]

Using JMS' own description of the B5 TV show as a serialized novel on TV, "In the Beginning" adds to that novel, "A Call to Arms" and "Legend of the Rangers" set up unfulfilled sequels, and the rest are using the established characters and universe to tell self-contained stories. If you approach it like that, even something like "River of Souls" has merits.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Do the novels explain how Londo’s actions expelled the Draak as opposed to just that one keeper? How was Vir able to avoid getting a keeper?

 

[DonIago]

Spoiler-free version: Yes

Let me know if you want more info.

 

[tomswift2002]

“In The Beginning” is more of a clip-show as it actually takes footage from previous episodes and strings them together with additional footage shot just for the movie (I.e, all of the scenes involving Commander Sinclair come from the flashback scenes that were shot for the various Season 1 episodes. Michael O’Hare did not shoot anything in 98 when the movie was being shot.)

“The Gathering” is the actual Pilot for all of B5. Events from it are linked to in the main series.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

“In The Beginning” is more of a clip-show as it actually takes footage from previous episodes and strings them together with additional footage shot just for the movie (I.e, all of the scenes involving Commander Sinclair come from the flashback scenes that were shot for the various Season 1 episodes. Michael O’Hare did not shoot anything in 98 when the movie was being shot.)

That's a pretty big exaggeration. Yes, it takes some footage from previous episodes, but those amount to less than five minutes in a 90-minute film. It is very much its own film only using some footage either to call back to the show, like when they cut to Michael York firing that first shot at the Minbari, or because the actor for a crucial part of the story wasn't available anymore, as was the case with O'Hare.

 

[tomswift2002]

That's a pretty big exaggeration. Yes, it takes some footage from previous episodes, but those amount to less than five minutes in a 90-minute film. It is very much its own film only using some footage either to call back to the show, like when they cut to Michael York firing that first shot at the Minbari, or because the actor for a crucial part of the story wasn't available anymore, as was the case with O'Hare.

I’m pretty sure it’s more than 5 minutes, as they reused every single piece of film that they could. But they weren’t flashing back to the show as they were placing the already revealed portions in their proper place. When you think of the Grey Council scenes, a lot of that had already been shot and shown in the shows (there were a few new shots that were inserted with a stand in for O’Hare to make it work, but otherwise it was mostly recycled footage)

 

[Booji]

I’m pretty sure it’s more than 5 minutes, as they reused every single piece of film that they could. But they weren’t flashing back to the show as they were placing the already revealed portions in their proper place. When you think of the Grey Council scenes, a lot of that had already been shot and shown in the shows (there were a few new shots that were inserted with a stand in for O’Hare to make it work, but otherwise it was mostly recycled footage)

All of those scenes are in a brief sequence during the Battle of the Line. It's maybe 5 minutes tops .

 

[DonIago]

If you go into ItB hoping to see a lot more Sinclair then you're going to be disappointed. But then, nothing in the series would lead anyone to believe he played more of a role in the Minbari War than is shown in the film in any case.

 

[JD]

I watched all of the movies except Legend of the Rangers, and as far as I can remember, I liked them all to one degree or another.
EDITED TO FIX CONFUSING WORDING

 

[Marsden]

I watched all of the movies except Legend of the Rangers, and as far as I can remember, I liked them all to one degree or another.
EDITED TO FIX CONFUSING WORDING

That sums it up for me, but I watched LotR. I wanted my 90 minutes back after that one.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

That sums it up for me, but I watched LotR. I wanted my 90 minutes back after that one.

Lost Tales isn't a whole lot better.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ At least it doesn't have a ship with a weapons system powered by punching and kicking.

 

[DonIago]

...I was trying to avoid going there when I discussed LotR...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Too lazy to get a Kickpuncher image for this.

You mean the rangers can punch, with the power of a kick?

 

[tomswift2002]

Hang in there, it gets better. It's one of those shows that you kinda need to make it through the first season, but once you're hooked, you're hooked and a second viewing has it suddenly all make way more sense.

I know it's academic for anyone viewing it for the first time now, but while the CG VFX started out looking crude for their, they actually look *worse* on most modern copies of the show due to a number of clumsy/lazy methods of transferring the show from 4:3 to widescreen. You may note a very drastic shift in picture quality during comp shots (shots that have both life action and CG elements.) The full CG shots aren't quite so bad, but what they did to fit it into a letterbox format is still basically like zooming in to far on a low resolution image. Makes it look way more pixelated that it used to.

Another option is to watch it on an old 4:3 CRT TV where the DVD player or digital device sends out a Letterbox 4:3 image as it presents the CGI in its original resolution. It’s like taking the Full 4:3 image and slapping black bars on the top and bottom and the exporting it as a Letterbox video, rather than Anamorphic video.

 

[Tim Walker]

I have come across web site which made similar speculations about reverse engineering UFOs. With a given piece of machinery you would need to: 1 figure out its purpose 2. figure out how it works 3. figure out how to build it.
Even if a genius can figure out 1 and 2, how do you figure how to build it? As an example, computer chips are made in factories with high tech machines-you would likely need to reverse engineer those machines to make chips. But you can't reverse engineer those machines because they are back at the factory.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TechnologyUplift

Actually, I am wondering if you could skip number 2, if you could-number 3-figure out a way to make a copy of the item.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackBox

 

[tomswift2002]

Recently I’ve been watching Season 4 and one thing that I keep wondering is, if Mollari is Prime Minister of the Centauri Republic, why is he constantly on B5 as an ambassador? Shouldn’t he be on Centauri running the government? (I realize that it was done because Peter Jurassic was a main cast member).

 

[David cgc]

Recently I’ve been watching Season 4 and one thing that I keep wondering is, if Mollari is Prime Minister of the Centauri Republic, why is he constantly on B5 as an ambassador? Shouldn’t he be on Centauri running the government? (I realize that it was done because Peter Jurassic was a main cast member).

The explanation Londo gave when he left Centauri Prime was that some people in the government thought his coup against Cartagia was an attempt to undermine the foundations of the Republic as a whole, and that he decided it'd be safer for him to dedicate himself to foreign policy on Babylon 5 where he'd be harder to assassinate, and let the Regent handle things domestically.

Honestly, it kind of brought him up to par. Delenn and G'Kar were both top officials in their own government, and God only knows how much pull Kosh had in whatever system the Vorlons used, but he never seemed to have much trouble getting his way. Sinclair/Sheridan and Londo were the outliers in being low-to-midlevel careerists. By season 4, Sheridan was the most influential guy in the galaxy (and Delenn had traded her job as co-president of Minbar for being head of the most powerful paramilitary organization in the galaxy, not too much of a demotion), G'Kar probably got his position in the Narn government back since he was the only one from the pre-occupation government still alive, so Centauri Prime sending their Prime Minister to Babylon 5 isn't out-of-proportion. And the Centauri didn't even have a Prime Minister at all for a year and a half.

 

[BlueStuff]

I too have just started the show for my first viewing. Began with "The Gathering" and am going to go through it all in order (I can't imagine skipping episodes that aren't "essential" to the plot). I'm happy to have a brand new, complete story to delve into with fresh eyes.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I too have just started the show for my first viewing. Began with "The Gathering" and am going to go through it all in order (I can't imagine skipping episodes that aren't "essential" to the plot). I'm happy to have a brand new, complete story to delve into with fresh eyes.

There are two versions of The Gathering, of course -- the later version contains a spoiler, although it's not very obvious.

It would be interesting to know your opinion of each episode, even just as a score out of five or ten. Also, how do you find the special effects in a show that's over 20-years old and only available in SD? They looked impressive on a 22" CRT TV but modern TV tech makes them look more dated than good model work from the same period, such as on DS9.