So, Babylon 5: The Road Home…

[FredH]

Do NOT read the spoilered bits below until you see the film.

It was fun, which is all I asked of it. I’ll leave detailed discussion of the plot to others, though I was annoyed by

Spoiler: Joe, really?

the American-TV mystical woo of the second half — I mean, when somebody onscreen tells you that everything boils down to one question, one single word, the next thing you hear is inevitably all the other viewers across the planet saying that word aloud with you. Likewise with you-know-what as the most important thing in the universe…

The ending does raise a how-did-this-all-happen question though:

Spoiler

If in the universe we’re left with in the final scene (once “our” Sheridan has vanished from it back to his place in the original TV timeline), the Shadows were simply never reawakened (yet), I can buy Delenn still existing (with very slightly altered genetics), but why does Earth presumably still exist? In the original TV timeline, the Minbari only stopped their genocidal assault on Earth because the Triluminary showed that Minbari souls were being reborn in humans (and/or, because humans had some Minbari DNA?), and that only happens because of who Valen turns out to have been. But if the Shadows aren’t stirring, there’s nothing to have led Sinclair to have gone back to become Valen — therefore nothing to trigger the Triluminary — therefore no reason for the Minbari not to have finished wiping out Earth. If there are any sequels, I’ll be curious to see how they address this.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

In a multiverse, everything that can happen, does happen in at least one branch. It is much harder to maintain logical consistency with multiverse stories than even with time travel stories. It can also become very bewildering to audiences and alienate them. Our brains have a hard enough time coping with the reality that we do experience. It takes a lot of talent to pull off a story such as Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, while maintaining the interest of the viewer. However, I do think there is a threshold beyond which many people tire of such stories and demand something else.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Do NOT read the spoilered bits below until you see the film.

Spoiler

The ending does raise a how-did-this-all-happen question though:

Spoiler

If in the universe we’re left with in the final scene (once “our” Sheridan has vanished from it back to his place in the original TV timeline), the Shadows were simply never reawakened (yet), I can buy Delenn still existing (with very slightly altered genetics), but why does Earth presumably still exist? In the original TV timeline, the Minbari only stopped their genocidal assault on Earth because the Triluminary showed that Minbari souls were being reborn in humans (and/or, because humans had some Minbari DNA?), and that only happens because of who Valen turns out to have been. But if the Shadows aren’t stirring, there’s nothing to have led Sinclair to have gone back to become Valen — therefore nothing to trigger the Triluminary — therefore no reason for the Minbari not to have finished wiping out Earth. If there are any sequels, I’ll be curious to see how they address this.

Spoiler

Spoiler: My response

It is possible that in that alternate timeline, the Human-Minbari war never happened at all. Remember the war happened because of the disastrous first contact between humans and Minbari. Maybe the humans never make fist contact with the Minbari or maybe the first contact happens differently and did not lead to war.

 

[FredH]

Spoiler

Spoiler: My response

It is possible that in that alternate timeline, the Human-Minbari war never happened at all. Remember the war happened because of the disastrous first contact between humans and Minbari. Maybe the humans never make fist contact with the Minbari or maybe the first contact happens differently and did not lead to war.

While that’s possible,

Spoiler

it doesn’t seem like there’s anything that would change how that original contact went? And new-timeline Delenn — apparently never Chrysalis’ed — is there on B5 with new-timeline Sheridan.

 

[Romulan_spy]

While that’s possible,

Spoiler

it doesn’t seem like there’s anything that would change how that original contact went? And new-timeline Delenn — apparently never Chrysalis’ed — is there on B5 with new-timeline Sheridan.

Spoiler

Sure there is. In a multiverse, there are all kinds of ways things could change. Maybe in this universe, a different EA ship with a different commanding officer made first contact with the Minbari. And this different commanding officer reacted differently, was more cautious, and did not open fire. Or maybe in this universe, it was a different Minbari ship, that was not controlled by the warrior cast so the ship did not open its gun ports per tradition of the warrior caste. As a result, there was no misunderstanding. or maybe in this universe, the Centauri agree to facilitate introductions between humans and Minbari so the misunderstanding is avoided. Or maybe the disastrous first contact did still happen but Dukhat was not on the ship. So Dukhat never died in Delenn's arms, so Delenn was never enraged and emotional about the death of her mentor, so when asked whether to withdraw or return fire, Delenn says to withdraw and war never escalated. There are lots of ways to explain how first contact could have happened differently and not led to war.

 

[Romulan_spy]

The story was fun. There was not really a plot per se other than the standard "hero has to get home", it was more of a fun romp through the B5 multiverse. The message was probably a bit forced. The animation in some places did not really work IMO. The animation of the B5 station was great. But some of the characters did not look at all like their live action version. And I know some of the main cast have passed away so they had new actors do their voices but it really showed. Some of the characters just did not look or sound like their live action version which kind of took me out of it.

Also,

Spoiler: Shadows

I noticed the Shadows had personal energy shields during the assault on B5 scene. That is a departure from the TV show. I wonder if that is something JMS wanted to do but couldn't do in the TV show due to budget constraints and limited special effects available at the time. We also see a whole swarm of Shadow creatures very reminiscent of the bugs in Starship Troopers. That is also something we never saw in the TV show.

Spoiler: Earth

It was a bit odd that the Vorlon planet killer destroyed the moon instead of just pulverizing the Earth directly. I think the movie said something about the Vorlons not having the energy needed to blow up the Earth and taking out the moon would destroy the Earth for less energy. But we've seen the Vorlon planet killer blow up large planets in the TV show. And Earth is actually not that big of a planet. Energy requirements should not be a problem.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The "making of" documentary Babylon 5 Forever specifically calls this animated movie a reboot, so my guess that any live action series might be based on this as well.

 

[FredH]

JMS has said elsewhere that the projects are unrelated.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Unrelated apart from using most of the same elements, I guess.

 

[tomalak301]

I wish this was streaming some place. It's hard to justify the $20 for something I have not seen. I wouldn't mind renting it.

According to Itunes, you can rent it starting August 29th. That's cool.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

It's $19.99 to buy on amazon.com Prime, which seems expensive given that it's only £9.99 ($12.73) on amazon.co.uk.

 

[Jim Steele]

Spoiler: Earth

It was a bit odd that the Vorlon planet killer destroyed the moon instead of just pulverizing the Earth directly. I think the movie said something about the Vorlons not having the energy needed to blow up the Earth and taking out the moon would destroy the Earth for less energy. But we've seen the Vorlon planet killer blow up large planets in the TV show. And Earth is actually not that big of a planet. Energy requirements should not be a problem.

Spoiler

Didn't Ivanova say something like "we're not worth the bullet"? The impression I got was that the Vorlons considered it less costly to throw the moon into Earth rather than destroy the planet directly, not that they were incapable of doing so.

Either way it's a stretch, obviously, but it wasn't inconsistent with the show imo.

 

[David cgc]

Spoiler

Indeed, the Vorlon Planet Killer having Death-Star-level firepower is something that was noted by tech-heads as inconsistent during the run of the show. When the Vorlons were rampaging through space, Ivanova's PSAs talked about survivor accounts and recruiting atmospheric shuttles to rescue people from the attacked planets, which doesn't make sense if they were utterly pulverized. And we never actually see one destroy a planet, we just see it charging up to fire and, later, moving through a cluster of asteroids that, presumably, used to be a planet. And then there was the staging of the scene of Londo seeing the Vorlons about to attack Centauri Prime, where the ship was pointed away from the planet, so as to more dramatically eclipse the sun.

It could be that smashing moons into planets, where possible, is the standard Vorlon Planet Killer M.O., and if there isn't a large moon handy, they can fire on the planet's surface directly and ruin it, but that doesn't send the same message as smashing an entire planet into rubble. It fits really well, it leaves the prospect for some planets to have survivors if they were attacked directly, and Centauri Prime had several moons, so maybe the Planet Killer was lining up to deflect one of them so it would collide with the planet (and also to terrify Londo, specifically).

 

[Unicron]

Perhaps there is a considerable mechanical difference in the Vorlon model compared to the planet killers used by the Shadows (which, IIRC, seemed to be like a web of massive artillery.) I don't think they directly destroyed a target either, but they could devastate it to the point of becoming uninhabitable as with Dureena's home world.

My memory is far from perfect, though.

 

[David cgc]

That's right; the Shadow Planet Killer was a scaffold that surrounded a planet then bombarded it with nuclear missiles that burrowed below the crust before detonating to trigger massive volcanic eruptions, and then the cloud of tech-stuff around it absorbed all the heat to power the machine, leaving behind an inert, cratered, radioactive rock, but the destruction was superficial, on a planetary scale, not like the full Death Star.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yes, it felt like an epitaph to me as well.

I burnt out on multiverse and crossover stories in about 1970. When everything that can happen does happen and no-one is unique, everything ceases to have any importance. Perhaps the only relief one can get from this existential crisis is to be found in cherishing the minutiae of one's local situation. I take that as the message of Everything Everywhere All at Once, but I don't think Babylon 5 needs to visit that same territory.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Very good, i enjoyed it.

 

[Nombrecomun]

I felt like it was a good send off. Like a "last hurrah" of sorts with the remaining cast. B5 has been unlucky in that perspective. So many gone.

If this is the last of B5 we see then I appreciate it for what it is. And if it opens the door to the possibility of more B5 then even the better.

 

[Orac]

I watched this after watching the first episode of the new Star Wars programme, enjoyed this one much more.