Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: TripleF on June 04, 2012, 04:54:29 AM
-
Hi,
Given the obvious connection with the Amiga getting the whole thing started (and it’s mentioned in a couple of the interviews with the co-founders of Foundation Imaging) I’m surprised I never posted about this on here when it was first put together. I checked with the site mods before posting who suggested this forum.
So, as there’s no easy way to introduce this subtly.
After contacting Ron Thornton, to find out who designed one of the ships on Babylon 5, one thing led to another, and a quick exercise in learning how to code up a web page turned into a unique reference site. (5 years, 15 FX artists and one producer later). Among those contacted included Steve Burg, Everett Burrell, Eric Chauvin and Kevin Kutchaver.
The site isn’t going to stay up forever, It was just a hobby, a one off, so I made it downloadable for anyone to keep – no strings, popups, adverts or anything else attached. Just a lot of frank, revealing, wide ranging and occasionally funny interviews from a bunch of artists with enough Emmys between them to field a couple of football teams (that answer a lot of questions and bust a few myths) and a fair bit of previously unreleased concept art, like this.
(http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb358/Triple-F/ArtSamp.jpg)
It’s not so much about the show, but the artists, the art and the technology. Steve Burg (who recently designed the Prometheus for the Ridley Scott movie) described what we talked about as the most in-depth examination of his methodology and approach to design ever carried out. Which, considering Steve’s career, came as a bit of a surprise.
This is a link to a facebook page highlighting the site.
http://www.facebook.com/B5Scrolls (http://www.facebook.com/B5Scrolls)
If you read the top post you’ll see why I joined FB and set it up that FB page, and why I’m pointing there. It’s far from ideal (a lot of folks aren’t on facebook), but it was the best idea I could think of to let as many know as possible, before the site disappears.
If anyone’s curious, and ain’t on facebook, here’s a link to the website itself.
http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm (http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm)
Though if you can ‘like’ that Facebook thing, that would be helpful in letting others find the info a month from now.
Cheers
Tom
-
How coincidental; I was just reading a post over at the onion av club where they've started a subforum just for watching B5 beginning to end, with recommendations by one of the "TV Club" reviewers.
(He recommends skipping lots of episodes in the 1st season, and rightly so...)
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-gathering,75659/
-
There’s a not so long story attached to why season 1 was a bit different from the others. ; )
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, that came under the heading of off the record. Can I recommend you take a shifty over this. It’s the first of a two part review that you might find of interest, and explains one part of that story.
http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5 (http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5)
-
Their Amiga's had 2meg!!
-
There’s a not so long story attached to why season 1 was a bit different from the others. ; )
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, that came under the heading of off the record. Can I recommend you take a shifty over this. It’s the first of a two part review that you might find of interest, and explains one part of that story.
http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5 (http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5)
Thanks for this.
I recommend B5 to a lot of colleagues who are into sci-fi but missed out on its original airing as I did. Personally, I have a habit of picking things up late and really liking them: "Babylon 5," "Stargate SG-1," "Battlestar Galactica," which I started watching in the fourth, eighth, and second seasons, respectively. I never got to see earlier seasons of B5 until just recently when Hulu and then The WB had them online. I really wish I had gotten to see the series in its entirety back in the 90s. (I've recently been secretly watching for a chance to buy the DVD collection on the cheap.)
But, yeah, the first season was just harsh. Differences between 90's and today's visual effects qualities notwithstanding, I imagine it would have not survived the first season these days.
But I'm glad it did. And reading this article on the first season births in me deeper thoughts on the series as a whole. I find it to be a treasure as it touches and excites me deeply. Though I am slightly disappointed with the accelerated ending to the series and the giant leap forward in time. And I have to say that I was rooting for Lando and hoped he would find a way to break free to save his people rather than sacrifice himself as the galactic face of evil.
-
Nice! B5 rules.. I've just been watching the whole series all over again last year. It's still better than most of the crap on tv nowadays.
-
There’s a not so long story attached to why season 1 was a bit different from the others. ; )
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, that came under the heading of off the record. Can I recommend you take a shifty over this. It’s the first of a two part review that you might find of interest, and explains one part of that story.
http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5 (http://www.republibot.com/content/hidden-evolution-babylon-5)
Thank god they did what they did, although at least that take on it would have spared us the dreadful 5th season, made all the worse by the introduction of the "Byron" character. Ugh, ugh ugh. Just...bad. Blech.
-
Yeah, the plans for the show that were kicking around during season one were pretty dire. But it at least explains a few things. I just wanted to kick ‘Byron’, repeatedly. As well as Steve Burg, another B5 connection with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is the guy who played Byron, played the voice of the ship’s computer.
-
Just a FYI type thing. Those hosting the site renewed their agreement last year, so it should stay up for the next two. Plus I just added an update, new interview as well as new production concept art.
[FONT="]The links at the start of this thread still work. ; )[/FONT]
-
I wish they'd release the series on BluRay.....some of the DVD5 versions are of extremely poor quality.
-
Thanks for this.
. (I've recently been secretly watching for a chance to buy the DVD collection on the cheap.)
Keep an eye on Best Buy. I managed to get the entire series at $20/season over a period of time by waiting for sales. Haven't seen it there recently, but it may still be around.
-
Keep an eye on Best Buy. I managed to get the entire series at $20/season over a period of time by waiting for sales. Haven't seen it there recently, but it may still be around.
Roger that. Thanks. I'm keeping an eye out for B5 and ST:TNG everywhere. Sam's Club had all but one seasons of B5 for $15 each and three movies together for the same, but I missed out due to end-of-year money blues.
-
I would like to have seen the Vorlon/Shadow War take all of Season 4, the Earth Civil War take all of Season 5, scrap just about everything done with the produced/aired version of Season 5, and had Season 6 deal with Londo's salvation.
-
I would like to have seen the Vorlon/Shadow War take all of Season 4, the Earth Civil War take all of Season 5, scrap just about everything done with the produced/aired version of Season 5, and had Season 6 deal with Londo's salvation.
I can dig this. The story line ended rather abruptly for my liking.
-
Just posted today on /.
http://features.slashdot.org/story/13/04/09/1453238/interviews-ask-j-michael-straczynski-what-you-will
-
I would like to have seen the Vorlon/Shadow War take all of Season 4, the Earth Civil War take all of Season 5, scrap just about everything done with the produced/aired version of Season 5, and had Season 6 deal with Londo's salvation.
Yeah, well, like they said, it didn't look like Babylon 5 would get renewed for the 5th season. So the story wrap up got crammed into the 4th season, preparing for the very real possibility that would be the end of show. They actually filmed "Sleeping in Light" as episode 423, the series finale, fit to air as the last episode of season 4. When they learned they got season 5, they held that episode back and it became 523.
The only real reason I'd re-watch season 5 is Garibaldi. Corporate leadership suits him very well. :D Otherwise, if ya wanna skip the resolution to the telepath storyline, slap "Sleeping in Light" at the end of Season 4, and you're all good. :)
-
Otherwise, if ya wanna skip the resolution to the telepath storyline, slap "Sleeping in Light" at the end of Season 4, and you're all good. :)
hmm, i went from thinking it the best thing ever to really disliking the show in season 5... I have 1-4 But I may have to buy the final box-set one day just to be able to do this.
Anyone ever manage to get through the legend of the rangers series? (not that there's much point as it made a one-way trip to cancellation city), and what about the new direct to dvd episodes released a couple of years ago?
*goes back to watching Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors*
-
I understand why it all went down the way it did. I was just daydreaming over what (I felt) would have been nice.
-
Anyone ever manage to get through the legend of the rangers series?
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers was not a series but just a pilot movie. Do you mean Crusade?
what about the new direct to dvd episodes released a couple of years ago?
Do you mean Babylon 5: The Lost Tales? I have that DVD. Of the two episodes on The Lost Tales, I prefer the second one, "Over There", to the first one, "Over Here". The second seemed to be stronger in its storyline.
Celebrating 20 years of B5 at the Phoenix ComicCon,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 27-28 Commodore Vegas Expo v9 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
-
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers was not a series but just a pilot movie. Do you mean Crusade?
oops, thats the one, I did find it somewhat forgettable.... I quite liked all the TV movies though. Just realised I haven't even seen the Legend of the Rangers, is it worth a look? not sure if LotR (LotR? hmm) was meant to be a pilot of a series or a one off movie like the other longer productions.
Do you mean Babylon 5: The Lost Tales? I have that DVD. Of the two episodes on The Lost Tales, I prefer the second one, "Over There", to the first one, "Over Here". The second seemed to be stronger in its storyline.
Sounds about right, I remember one of them being quite good, the other with Lochley (yawn) and the monk, priest, whatever, a bit dull.
I was hoping that they'd expand on the effects work and redo some (all) of the shots for the old series.
IIRC, they shot the live action in widescreen but rendered the Lightwave effects out in 4:3, so not only do the CG effects shots look old, they also had to crop the top and bottom off the frames so everything looks even nastier and chunkier than it did before. I'm halfway surprised that an amature or hobby team hasn't picked up the baton...
-
oops, thats the one, I did find it somewhat forgettable....
Actually, just like season 1 of Babylon 5, Crusade was slowly building up to be just as mysterious and complex as B5. Then it was cut down. :(
Just realised I haven't even seen the Legend of the Rangers, is it worth a look?
Not really. Except for G'Kar, it's pretty far removed from B5 and Crusade.
Celebrating 20 years of B5 at the Phoenix ComicCon,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 27-28 Commodore Vegas Expo v9 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
-
As a fan of the genre itself its a shame it wasn't given more of a chance, I don't think it would have been as good by a long way though. Its like a level of magic and greatness that is fleeting - it just happens and when forced to extend a series further it just loses something... As well as series cut too early, we can probably all think of shows that just should have ended way sooner than they actually did.
There's a real magic to those first 4 seasons that was lost when all the mysteries were wrapped up, everything since that tried to take the series in new directions just felt like something bolted on, lacking the same wonder, mystery and characters that made it so compelling beyond iffy sets and other cheesiness thats part and parcel of 1990's tv show.
In terms of characters there's nothing that came since that compares to the fantastic arcs of G'kar and Mollari. Also Sheridans arc of discovering who the masters are, what the game is really about and leading the rest of the noobs to kick them out of the galaxy... Great stuff, and a very tough act to follow.
-
In terms of characters there's nothing that came since that compares to the fantastic arcs of G'kar and Mollari. Also Sheridans arc of discovering who the masters are, what the game is really about and leading the rest of the noobs to kick them out of the galaxy... Great stuff, and a very tough act to follow.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more, there. So much of the story played out through G'kar and Londo. It really anchored the story in a way that made people understand and care about the B5 universe. Almost to the point that I don't see how you could possibly do another large Babylon 5 universe story without G'kar.
I was really surprised to see how little of that was in the suspected original storyline referenced earlier. You could tell early in the show that they were building toward the fall of Babylon 5, and switching to Babylon 4, but I just figured that plan got scrapped when they needed a convenient place to send Sinclair off to. (Write the whole station swap off as an alternate future that didn't happen.) But I figured the rest of the story was pretty much as planned aside from a bunch of season 5 content getting crammed into season 4. But that outline showed something quite different. (And I agree, the Babylon 5 we got was a LOT better than that outline!)
-
Why people who says first season is crap, like the 5th?. I liked the first season, and the rest, but 5 was crap from my point of view.
-
Why people who says first season is crap, like the 5th?. I liked the first season, and the rest, but 5 was crap from my point of view.
I liked the first season, it was just difficult to get through. I can deal with the lengthy introduction to characters as almost absolutely necessary for a story this complex. But even once most of that was done, the character development was awkward, the acting was pretty bad, and the make-up artistry was pretty sophomoric.
A lot of people who just want explosions and shyt would have, did, and still tune out. I held on and was richly rewarded. But, hey, I watched all of "Dune" and "Lawrence of Arabia." :D
-
A remastering of the original FX isn’t going to happen – there was more FX shots in just the first 3 seasons of Babylon 5 than there was for the original Star Trek and TNG combined. And B5 has nothing like the same fan base.
Something new in the universe being made in the next few years. . . . . . . well, that’s a whole different kettle of fish. ; )
BTW. Among the stuff put up on that facebook page was basically a summery of what was said on a couple of the interviews concerning the Amiga.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=326847880736945&set=a.283248628430204.70587.178490865572648&type=3&theater
Oh yeah. And this. :-)
[FONT="]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392281787526887&set=a.283248628430204.70587.178490865572648&type=3&theater
[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT]
-
...the character development was awkward...
For which characters?
...the acting was pretty bad...
To which actors do you refer?
...and the make-up artistry was pretty sophomoric.
Of whom are you speaking?
Celebrating 20 years of B5 at the Phoenix ComicCon, http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 27-28 Commodore Vegas Expo v9 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex