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Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
Aug. 20th, 2007 07:30 pmIvanova : "15 seconds. Captain, send or no send?"
Sheridan: "No send."
Ivanova : "Oh boy."
-- Babylon 5: "A Day in the Strife"
After years of trying to resurrect Babylon 5, JMS has decided to do a six part direct-to-DVD series. They are pretty low-budget, but the first one is actually pretty good. I was worried it would look a bit like the old Wing Commander 3 cutscenes, but it was quite a bit better.
Given the limited budgets, there's not a lot of set variety and even the effect-background camera angles are a bit limited. Most of the movement in the story is dialogue between two characters, a few monologues, and a few voice-overs. Compared to the original show, it's very 'low action'. Ironically one of the reasons Crusade was cancelled in the first place was because JMS wanted a more 'cerebral' series while TNT just wanted to see WWF in Space. Reviews about it are mixed on the internet, but I quite liked the first installment. I was never a huge fan of Tracey Scoggins' character, but Bruce and Peter are great to see back in costume. There's a whole bit about Pacmara humor that was a riot.
If you never watched the original show, this one isn't likely to make much sense to you. If, on the other hand, you are even a little bit sentimental about B5 and Crusade, then you'll probably like it. My favorite part of Crusade was Galin, so it was great to see him chewing up the scenery again. JMS' image of the Technomage is amazingly archetypal. Galin comes across like Gandalf in space in all the good ways that can be taken. I'm looking forward to the next part.
It is very sad that Andreas Katsulas passed away before this series came to fruition. G'Kar was probably the most amazing character arc in the whole show, and his 'off-screen' travels with Leta beyond the Rim of Known Space would've been great to see even in vignette.
I'd also love to see Bester again, as he was so much fun to hate.
Sheridan: "No send."
Ivanova : "Oh boy."
-- Babylon 5: "A Day in the Strife"
After years of trying to resurrect Babylon 5, JMS has decided to do a six part direct-to-DVD series. They are pretty low-budget, but the first one is actually pretty good. I was worried it would look a bit like the old Wing Commander 3 cutscenes, but it was quite a bit better.
Given the limited budgets, there's not a lot of set variety and even the effect-background camera angles are a bit limited. Most of the movement in the story is dialogue between two characters, a few monologues, and a few voice-overs. Compared to the original show, it's very 'low action'. Ironically one of the reasons Crusade was cancelled in the first place was because JMS wanted a more 'cerebral' series while TNT just wanted to see WWF in Space. Reviews about it are mixed on the internet, but I quite liked the first installment. I was never a huge fan of Tracey Scoggins' character, but Bruce and Peter are great to see back in costume. There's a whole bit about Pacmara humor that was a riot.
If you never watched the original show, this one isn't likely to make much sense to you. If, on the other hand, you are even a little bit sentimental about B5 and Crusade, then you'll probably like it. My favorite part of Crusade was Galin, so it was great to see him chewing up the scenery again. JMS' image of the Technomage is amazingly archetypal. Galin comes across like Gandalf in space in all the good ways that can be taken. I'm looking forward to the next part.
It is very sad that Andreas Katsulas passed away before this series came to fruition. G'Kar was probably the most amazing character arc in the whole show, and his 'off-screen' travels with Leta beyond the Rim of Known Space would've been great to see even in vignette.
I'd also love to see Bester again, as he was so much fun to hate.
