Babylon 5 - I'm finally going to do it

[Reverend]

Which should I work on first after Thirdspace? The Lost Tales or Crusade or does it matter.

Also, I've been doing some reading that there was a planned B5 movie that fell through in 2005. That kinda sucks because seeing a full length B5 (In the same vain as Serenity) would have been cool.

From a plot/spoiler POV it makes no odds either way. The only returning characters in 'Lost Tales' are Sheridan, Lochley & Galen and there's nothing that particularly requires you to have seen Crusade first, everyone is more or less where they were 5 years ago and Galen (typically) give no hint as to his activities since 'A Call to Arms'.

Having said all that, it's probably best to save 'Lost Tales' to last. Just don't expect much in terms of epic greatness, it was just a pair of very small stories with a bare handful of characters, a couple corridors, a room and lots of green screen. Still good mind, it's just some people go into it with too high an expectation. The effects however are of course very up to date and the Starfury never looked better!

 

[Jan]

^^ I'm not sure how accurate or not the Sizemore rumor might have been. Bottom line with it was that the entity that optioned the movie rights from JMS (and commissioned the TMoS script) was never able to put the financing together in the year that the option ran with JMS even extending the optionwithout charge.

Where WB was involved is that they wouldn't fund & distribute the movie without name stars so while the article makes it look like it was a WB project, it never really got that far.

Jan
ETA: That was replying to chrisspringob's post.

 

[tomalak301]

Thirdspace

Well, that was an interesting movie, but a little slow. I couldn't help but wonder if they could have fit the whole thing to an hour because it really took a while to get going. I understand the need for set up, but the first hour was really studying the artifact and Trent holding information from Sheridan. The final 34 minutes was really what brought this movie up from just average for me. Finding out it was a mistake by the Vorlons to create this device in the interest of Pride and what it can do telepathically. In fact, if there is one complaint I had against this one, it's I wish it focused more on the that side of the story instead of just being the "revelation." It could better fit into the B5 mythos and probably be a whole lot more interesting and entertaining than what we got.

On a whole though, I liked it. I was wondering where Garibaldi and G'Kar were, and wish there was an onscreen explanation for that (Given this episode takes place after Into the Fire and maybe before Atonement, they would be still on the station). I really liked the battle sequence and actually thought this one was better than the one in Call to Arms but barely. At least with this one I could actually see it and with the device in the backround, that was some good filming. Also, was it just me or was Sheridan's "Space walk" almost taken from Star Trek The Motion Picture. In fact there was a scene where the shield closed and you could see the effect with Sheridan in the front, and I was like "Hey, that's like Spock with V'Ger" Despite not getting G'Kar or Garibaldi, it was great to get Ivanova back for one more, but I couldn't help but thing this was one of Christian's poorer efforts in the role. It almost reminded me of Season 1, even though the scene with her wanting to kill 6 of the scientists was pretty funny and classic Ivanova. Also loved the conversation between Zack and... Zack in the elevator.

Anyway, now that I've seen the 5 original B5 movies (And yes I know there is still Legend of the Rangers and Lost Tales), if I were to rank these from favorite to least favorite:

Call to Arms
In the Beginning
Thirdspace
The Gathering
River of Souls

Now on to Crusade I guess.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Your rankings match my own pretty well... Although I would put the Gathering above Thirdspace. For sentimental reasons perhaps.

 

[Jan]

Also loved the conversation between Zack and... Zack in the elevator.

Trivia: At one point JMS was told that the film was coming in long and had to shave a few minutes from the script. Then, with shooting almost over, he was told that it was running short and had to come up with the elevator scene overnight.

Jan

 

[Forbin]

Glad you liked the elevator scene too. Aside from the sheer entertainment value of it, it gives me five solid minutes to look at Pat's wonderful face.

 

[Mr Light]

Here's another random thought; why in the world didn't we see General Franklin (Franklin's dad) during the Earth Civil War? How cool would it have been if he was the commander of the Earth forces in the final episodes?

 

[Joe Washington]

In case anyone's interested, I've posted the first part of my Babylon 5 remake pilot in the Fanfiction section. Comments are welcomed.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Zach's elevator scene was my favorite part of Thirdspace.

It made the whole movie memorable for me.

Ranking:
In the Beginning
A Call to Arms
Pilot
Thirdspace
River of Souls
Legend of the Rangers

I have the Lost Tales DVD, but I am ashamed to admit that I have yet to watch.

 

[RandyS]

Zach's elevator scene was my favorite part of Thirdspace.

It made the whole movie memorable for me.

Mine too, and it did the same for me.

 

[Reverend]

Here's another random thought; why in the world didn't we see General Franklin (Franklin's dad) during the Earth Civil War? How cool would it have been if he was the commander of the Earth forces in the final episodes?

As I recall JMS did discuss the possibility at the time, not sure why it never panned out though. At a guess I'd say that Paul Winfield may have simply been unavailable.

 

[tomalak301]

Well, this week I made a decision to actually buy the series next month. It's relatively not expensive on Amazon (And free shipping is nice) and my next paycheck will be a pretty good one. I really loved it that seeing it on TV on DVD will probably be even better.

Anyway, I haven't forgotten about Crusade. I actually have Disc one, but waiting for another disc to ship (When that will happen I don't know) and then getting into it. Hopefully in the next few months I will be completely done with Babylon 5 on TV, movies and all.

 

[Harvey]

I look forward to discussing Crusade. It's certainly a pain in the ass to watch on DVD, given how tremendously frustrating the viewing order is (not that any viewing order would be otherwise), so its hard to get people into the series, especially as they're renting it.

As to buying Babylon 5, I don't think you'll regret it. I do sometimes wonder why I invested in all the (failed) spin-offs, but they have their moments, especially Crusade.

 

[tomalak301]

I've been thinking also about getting the movie sets, but I have a question. Does the Season 1 box set include The Gathering? That might be the deciding factor if I want the 5 movie set or not.

 

[Harvey]

Season one doesn't have The Gathering, sadly.

You have to purchase that either in the box set, or on that old double-sided The Gathering/In the Beginning disc.

It's a real pain, too, because the movie box set has the same retail price as the season box sets, but for half the content (five two-hour movies=ten episodes vs. 22 episodes). One of those is River of Souls, which I'd just as soon forget. And it never, ever seems to go on sale. I bought it for 32 bucks at Deep Discount back in the day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's still a deal on that set, even when the seasons are selling for under 20.

 

[tomalak301]

Season one doesn't have The Gathering, sadly.

You have to purchase that either in the box set, or on that old double-sided The Gathering/In the Beginning disc.

That sucks, and very surprising given it's the pilot and all.

 

[Harvey]

Well, Crusade doesn't have A Call to Arms, either. And the movies box set doesn't have Legend of the Rangers. It seems like all the sets are missing something key. Alas.

 

[Seven of Five]

The UK Movies boxset was useless. We only had Thirdspace, River of Souls and Call to Arms in it, so everything else is seperate. And then after seeing The Gathering I decided that it would be good to see the newer cut with new music etc. So there are another 5 discs floating around besides the boxsets! Never mind.

Tomalak, been following your lovely thread with interest - your early comments reminded me of how I felt when I first watched, so I felt inspired to go off and do my third Babylon-rewatch. I'm now about halfway through Crusade, with LotR and Lost Tales left. It's the first time I've actually seen Crusade and I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm using the viewing order from Lurker's Guide, which isn't perfect, but it enhances the show in a way the DVD order doesn't.

Spoiler: Viewing order

If anyone else can help here I'd appreciate it. I watched 'Each Night I Dream of Home' last night, and Gideon seemed to already know Lochley, but it was her first appearance for me. Is there some better order I don't know about or is this the best one to use?

Racing the Night
The Needs of Earth
The Memory of War
The Long Road
Visitors from Down the Street
The Well of Forever
Each Night I Dream of Home
Patterns of the Soul
The Path of Sorrows
Ruling from the Tomb
The Rules of the Game
War Zone
Appearances and Other Deceits

I think it's JMS's preferred order.

 

[Reverend]

Plus for some reason, we never got the commentary track for "In The Beginning". Region 2 can be a real pain sometimes.

 

[David cgc]

Spoiler: Viewing order

If anyone else can help here I'd appreciate it. I watched 'Each Night I Dream of Home' last night, and Gideon seemed to already know Lochley, but it was her first appearance for me.

Just ignore it. It was originally written as their first meeting, but when that episode was moved back, they looped in Gideon's "Good to see you again" line.