Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

Finally got around to posting a review:

http://dvdsam.blogspot.com/2007/08/d...ost-tales.html

I liked it, although I agree with everyone's point that Lochley's portion was kinda weak. Still, it was great having B5 back, and the extras make it sound like JMS and Warner plan to continue to keep it going.

 

[Chris Roberts]

Finally got around to watching this last night. Lochley and Galen are my two least favorite characters in the franchise so it had a hurdle to overcome right away. I'm not really into the God debates so the first episode was kind of boring for me. It did feel like a short story set in the B5verse rather than an episode which I guess it what JMS was going for (only Joe DeMartino can scan his mind to know for sure). So going into the second episode I knew more of what to expect. I liked it better than the first episode, but only marginally so. It felt like an irrelevant story to a timeline that I still want to see the major events from (the telepath war, the plague cure, etc). Like a filler episode except there's no plot-heavy episode coming next week.

So overall I wouldn't say I wasted my time, but I'd only recommend this to hardcore fans. Hopefully there will be more to criticize in the future.


As for a movie not working with non-fans. The show gave all the backstory needed in its opening credits every season. Beyond that it could work like any other movie that introduces characters and gets a plot going.

 

[JediFonger]

perhaps there is a reason why these are the "lost" tales.... shouldn't they stay lost?

 

[Scott-S]

So, has anyone heard if the powers that be were happy with the sales of this DVD? Will they make more?

 

[Qui-Gon John]

My problem with the second one was, supposedly JMS has to approve story elements, for this, as well as any of the B5 books. Well this did not gel with things we know from the Centauri trilogy bookd by Peter David.

In this, this Prince mentions that Vir is next in succession to the throne, but in those books, Vir was never next in succesion, (just Londo and a few others knew about Lady Morella's prophecy). Vir worked underground and behind the scenes to expose the Drakh, and only when that came to fruition, did Vir come out as the next probable Emperor. This all much later than the time-frame we see in this short story episode.

 

[JediFonger]

isn't that technically the next in succession no matter how it went? JMS had to have approved those novels to be "canon" in someways. i'd love to know how Lost Tales went as well. i want the NEXT ONE I WANT MORE B5!

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Not really. As that prince was describing it, was like it was common knowledge, almost the way our succession to the presidency is.

For a long portion of that trilogy, Prime Minister Durla would be the most likely successor to Londo. At least among the Royal Court and the heads of the major houses.

 

[KoshN]

The order quoted above is not the order I'd use.

Babylon 5, Crusade, Rangers and Lost Tales DVD #1

1) The Gathering - Pilot (2257)

2) Season 1 (2258)

3) Season 2 (2259)

4) Season 3 (2260)

5) Season 4 Episodes 1-8 (2261)

6) Thirdspace - Movie (2261)

7) Season 4 Episodes 9-22 (2261)

8) Season 5 Episodes 1-21 (2262)

9) A River of Souls - Movie (2263)

10) Legend of the Rangers - Movie (2265)

11) A Call to Arms - Movie (December 2266 - January 2267)

Crusade (planned for January 2267 - December 2271)
12) Crusade Season 1, the 13 episodes that we got. (January 2267 - ~July or August 2267)

13) The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark (2271) - or right around the planned end of Crusade.

14) In the Beginning - Movie (The events of 2245-2248 as told by Londo in 2278). The burning ruins of Centauri Prime, that we see in this movie are not the scenes we see in "The Fall of Centauri Prime" (Season 4 Episode 18), but are rather from the Legions of Fire novel trilogy, specifically Book #3.

15) Season 5 Episode 22 "Sleeping in Light" (2281)

 

[GregC]

If the opportunity for a feature film develops, I hope that the Telepath War is NOT the theme. I just don't see that as a possible commercial success.

The only part of the telepath arc that really interests me is the Lyta/Garibaldi transaction and the personal story of each of them after Lyta returns. Would like a Lost Tale to tackle that one.

Now the Valen story, with lots of huge space battles, might have a shot at being popular with every studio's "target audience" ... teenagers.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I still think the Legions Of Fire Centauri Trilogy would make a great mini-series. Of course, you'd have to have a new G'Kar and Franklin, difficult but doable, like they had to replace Dumbledore in HP.

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

I can't imagine JMS ever ever considering recasting either G'Kar or Stephen Franklin.

 

[Paul McElligott]

JMS has gone on record saying he will never replace Richard Biggs or Andreas Katsulas.

 

[KoshN]

The Passing of the Technomages would make a great mini-series, and for that you don't need Dr. Franklin or G'Kar.

 

[MarkHarrison]

I'm actually reading that trilogy right now. And I have a question.

We all know what happened to Kosh on the show. The book goes into a little more details and says that he broke the rules of engagement and joined the battle with the younger races. It seems that's a big no-no. They're just supposed to guide the younger races and not join the fight themselves. We saw essentially the same thing on the show.

So why aren't the shadows restricted from joining in the fight? They were always going after shadow vessels in the series. Why the double standard?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Kosh broke the rules by having Vorlon ships directly attack Shadow ships. In all the cases of Shadow intervention you are thinking of, it was Shadow ships fighting the younger races. There was no direct Shadow-Vorlon fighting. It is something like the Cold War rules of engagement between the Soviets and the Americans. In their various proxy wars there were no open, direct, confrontations between U.S. and Soviet forces. No Russian divisions fought against their American counterparts in Vietnam, where U.S. forces were in the field. Similarly the Americans supplied intelligence and logistical support to the anti-Soviet movements in places like Afghanistan (where Soviet forces were on the ground) but did not take an active combat role in the war.

The Shadows have openly fought alongside their allies more often than the Vorlons have in the many thousands of years of their struggle, in part because they are more numerous, but that, too, was a matter of attacking the allies of the other party, not head-to-head fighting between the First Ones. Even in those cases the First Ones seem to have kept the gloves on to some degree. They didn't unleash weapons that could destroy whole planets on the allies of their rivals, or try to totally exterminate any races who had the nerve to join the other side, much less try to wipe our their rivals themselves. Kosh's action in support of Sheridan changed that and made his war different from all the wars that had gone before it. (And therefore opened up the possibility of its having a different outcome than all the others.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[KoshN]

You didn't have any questions about Book II pages 318-321 ???

 

[MarkHarrison]

Care to refresh my memory? I don't have the book sitting in front of me right now.

 

[Scott-S]

Did anyone know the answer to my original question?

Were the "powers that be" happy enough with the sales of "The Lost Tales" to go forward with the next edition?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

All of the studios are shy about releasing sales data, and I'm not aware of any hard numbers leaking out. I think JMS said that WB was pleased the initial U.S. sales, but I have a feeling that they would also want to look at the international numbers before making a decision. These productions have to pay for themselves strictly on retail disc sales - there's no domestic or international network licensing fees or future syndication revenue, so WB would want to judge their worldwide appeal.

But even if WB wants more Lost Tales, it will be some time before there can be any. First there is JMS's hellacious schedule (he's got several feature films in progress, not to mention a ton of comicbook work and a new TV series he has in development.) Then there's the looming writers' strike. By the time early sales figures came in JMS was finishing up The Changeling (now shooting with Angelina Jolie) for Clint Eastwood and starting up on the zombie film World War Z, the Vietnam-era They Marched Into Sunlight and the upcoming Silver Surfer solo feature. By the time he's turned in a draft or three on all of those, he'll probably be walking a picket line and unable to discuss further Lost Tales until the strike is over.

I wouldn't expect to hear anything about more installments - yea or nay - until the first part of 2008, at the earliest.

Regards,

Joe

 

[BrianW]

Joe, I'm pretty sure you were speaking in the context of First Ones vs. First Ones, but in case others thought you were speaking in the context of First Ones vs. the Younger Races, the Vorlons did unleash planet killers targeted at those who dared to side with the Shadows.