Babylon 5: Previously unreleased concept art and interviews with 16 FX artists

[LoadWB]

Just posted today on /.

http://features.slashdot.org/story/13/04/09/1453238/interviews-ask-j-michael-straczynski-what-you-will

[Ilwrath]

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.    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.  

[Coolhand]

 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*

[Justicar]

I understand why it all went down the way it did. I was just daydreaming over what (I felt) would have been nice.

[RobertB]

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

[Coolhand]

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...

[RobertB]

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

[Coolhand]

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.

[Ilwrath]

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!)

[_ThEcRoW]

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.

[LoadWB]

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."

[TripleF]

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]

[RobertB]

...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