Any chance of a Babylon 5 DTV??? (1 Viewer)

[nolesrule]

Well, you're looking at a very small, low-res version of the CGI.

If you watch some of the video diaries, the one on FX specifically stated they were able to use some of the models that they managed to recover from the original show for pre visualization, which pretty much implies that they weren't good enough quality for the final product.
I'm sure the FX this time around were done for HD.

And from what I saw in the trailer, at least the shots of B5 look much more detailed.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

What he said!

The FX were deliberately designed to resemble the original show, because JMS wants to maintain continuity with the past while using newer tech to its fullest. That's why the new disc was shot on HD video and the FX are being done in HD, even though the initial DVD release will be SD. And the B5 model is clearly much more detailed, even in the lo-res web shots.

I anticipate good things.

Regards,

Joe

 

[nolesrule]

It's kind of a catch 22. You obviously need to advance the FX, but you have to keep it somewhat like the TV show for continuity.

I remember all the discussion when the jump point effects were changed for Crusade. "Wow, that looks cool" vs. "it's changed too much from the B5 tv show".

 

[JediFonger]

yeah the CG is so much better than square boxes! . have you looked @it recently? i think it's a nice mixture.

i'm SO EXCITED! i hope they keep the season1 B5 score theme. s2-s5's themes sucked compared to s1's main title. it's what i hum whenever i think of B5!

i really can't wait! it looks awesome! i'm going to buy one for myself and one for my local library so other people can enjoy it and get hooked!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Well I expect the show had kinda weak CGI at times due to Money and Technology constraints in 1994. Today I would imagine the only constraint is Money holding back the effects so maybe they should've thrown somemore money at the project, as by today's standards it looks kinda cheap. Now of course, it's all about the story, but still I would think a Direct to DVD Budget to be slightly higher than 2 episodes of a regular series.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Dave:

1) You're still only looking at tiny compressed files on a website, so how you think you an judge what the final effects are actually going to look like is beyond me.

2) The other constraint on all TV and movie projects is time, so sometimes simply throwing money at something doesn't help. (Unless that money buys you more time, and when you're up against a carved-in-stone release date, for a feature or direct-to-disc project, it doesn't)

3) While it is probably true that the DTV disc has a budget higher than two ordinary episodes in 1994 it is also true that a million dollars (which is a tick above what an episode of B5 cost back then - at a time when TNG and DS9 were spending at least twice that) doesn't go as far now as it did then.

When the series was in production WB was assured of breaking even the first time each episode aired, because the network/syndication fee was slightly higher than the budget. (This was something the studio required of all the PTEN shows, which is why they had such low budgets.) So they were essentially risking nothing. In this case they are making their first attempt to do a direct-to-DVD continuation of a long-since off the air TV series, something nobody has ever done before. I'm sure they've crunched the numbers and are confident that they'll break even, based on the sales of the series sets, but the fact is this is a huge gamble and nobody can be certain it is going to work. Certainly last summer when they approved the project and set the budget they were basically guessing, so it would make sense for them to budget as conservatively as possible for disc #1 and hope to do better on later discs. (Which is, in fact, one of the reasons the Garibaldi story was dropped from disc 1 - too much CGI, too many virtual sets, it would have busted the budget.)

I'll wait until I see the actual disc before I decide they didn't spend enough.

Regards,

Joe

 

[TheLongshot]

I wonder, as a byproduct of this effort, if this is going to lead to an eventual re-creation of the effects of the original series. I'm thinking of the fact that all the digital work for the original series was lost at some point, and that we have to live with the NTSC rendered effects shots that we have for the DVD.

Now, I know that just having new models is a long way from being able to recreate the FX, and probably would require a financial commitment from Warner Bros to happen, but I can dream, can I?

Jason

 

[Scott-S]

You might be able to get all the fans to donate to the cause to cover the costs.

Now that I think about it, since a lot of fans are "purist" they probably would say that it would a bad thing. Sort of what the Star Wars fan-boys are saying about the new versions of episodes 4-6.

I would like to see it, but I bet if you took a poll, we would be in the minority.

One think that might prevent this is the fact that some of the normal scenes are pretty bad quality (mainly in season 1). It would look funny having nice, crisp cgi, then cut to the real grainy stuff.

 

[Scott-S]

This DVD is still in the Amazon top 25. I find this amazing considering it is only pre-orders and there has been no advertisement that I can think of.

I really wish there was a way we could get actual sale numbers from places like Amazon. I would love to know how many units this dvd has sold via pre-ordering.

 

[NeilO]

One thing about Amazon pre-orders is that they aren't actual sales until the item has actually shipped. People can cancel such an order at any time before that.

Neil

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Recreating the original effects and composite shots exactly as they were, except in widescreen at higher resolution to enable a hi-def release, is not the same as Lucas's wholesale revisions of the original (and only) Star Wars, and I object to the use of the term "fan-boy" to describe those who dislike Lucas's ham-fisted approach to "improving" his earlier work. For one thing, JMS always hoped to be able to redo the FX shots for widescreen, although he also hedged his bets by making sure that they were designed so they could be cropped from 4:3 to 16:9. (Which actually works very well the pure CGI shots. The problems on the current DVDs are all on the composite shots, which includes composites where they cut back-and-forth with 100% CGI too quickly to make the adjustment.) In any case, I don't think there would be any serious objection to doing what I've suggested above.

Having said that, I would also say that there is pretty much zero chance of WB spending the kind of money it would take to recompose, recreate and rerender not only every single 100% CGI shot, but also to do all of the above for the CGI elements of all the live action/CGI composite shots, then remaster all the live action film and finally digitally recomposite all those CGI/live action shots. This would not be a trivial undertaking and would not be cheap, not for 110 episodes and 6 TV movies, not at this point in the product life cycle for hi-def DVD. There is virtually no chance that WB would sell enough copies on HD-DVD and/or Blu Ray disc to turn a profit on a B5 release. And I don't think a fan "bake sale", donations or subscriptions would be the answer, either.

As for B5: TLT, Microsoft may or may not want to kill hi-def DVD, but Warner Bros. certainly doesn't, so there is no way in the world that the Xbox 360 deal is anything other than temporary. In fact, I rather suspect (based purely on my own speculation - no inside info here) that B5: TLT will be among the first, if not the first, title released on WB's TotalHD disc, which is set to debut shortly after the SD-DVD release of TLT, probably right after the likely Xbox exclusive expires.

Regards,

Joe

 

[JediFonger]

when is it expected to expire?

PS i may have mentioned this before but i bought 2copies. one for myself, one for my public library to borrow to patrons =P. spreading the B5 love.

 

[John Swarce]

Anything up with more B:5 DTV movies? I thought we would have had more in the pipeline. Did The Lost Tales tank, so we get no more movies? Anyone know? (Calling Joe DeMartino!!!)

--John

 

[Dave Jessup]

Google "JMSNews" and look for the July 13 2008 message titled "from jms: an update." Briefly, his position is if there's to be any more B5, it should be something that adds to the story (and the legacy of the show), rather than detracts from it.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

I wouldn't call it untimely:

Richard Biggs died of this ~

Aortic dissection is a tear in the wall of the aorta that causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart.[1] Aortic dissection is a medical emergency and can quickly lead to death, even with optimal treatment. If the dissection tears the aorta completely open (through all three layers) massive and rapid blood loss occurs. Aortic dissections resulting in rupture have an 80% mortality rate, and 50% of patients die before they even reach the hospital. If the dissection reaches 6 cm, the patient must be taken for emergency surgery.

ANdreas Katsulus died of lung cancer.

 

[Sam Favate]

I think he meant "untimely" in the sense that both were relatively young men, who died well before their time.

As for the question of more DTV titles, the answer seems to be no. JMS said recently that B5 would only be back when Warner decided to put up the money for a feature. He wants to do it right or not at all.

A shame, because I recall reading there were more Lost Tales on the drawing board.

 

[todd s]

Exactly, what I meant.

 

[JediFonger]

just WOW!


Warner Bros May Be Ready To Bring Babylon 5 To The Big Screen. :: Skewed & Reviewed

 

[Sam Favate]

Well, that's impressive. Let's hope it happens and comes to be.

 

[JediFonger]

me2!!!

although personally, i'd want to see a brand NEW storyline. i think the whole mythos on TV should be as is.

but a whole new storyline set IN the B5 universe is still good.