Babylon 5 DVD news from Usenet (1 Viewer)

[Lee Jamilkowski]

I'd buy B5 on DVD in a New York Minute (hopefully, we will get Thirdspace, The River of Souls, A Call to Arms and The Legend of the Rangers "To Live and Die in Starlight" sometime down the road, too).
Not to mention Crusade.
I just wonder how long between the release of each box set? One month? Two months? Six months? A year?

 

[Michael Sliger]

Lee, despite wanting all the episodes in my DVD collection yesterday, I really hope Warner takes their time with future releases. The Sci-Fi Channel broadcast masters are unfortunately not at an archival quality due to dirt on the film stock and a large drop in resolution quality during any scene with CGI present. The first issue can be fixed with film cleaning followed by some Scratchbox(TM) work (both which are time consuming for 110 episodes). The second issue is probably not solvable if Warner is to make a profit since recomposition of the CGI work would be necessary. I would love to see some of the mixed live-action/CGI scenes recomposed as the double cropping (16x9 cropped to 4x3 cropped to 16x9) looks horrid (Act 4 of "The Fall of Night" is a good example of this). This sort of thing has been done for television product on DVD (the Doctor Who story "The Ark in Space" has branched CGI scenes replacing the model scenes), but not at this kind of scope.

 

[Matt G]

JMS just confirmed in a post this afternoon that all the episodes are getting 5.1 remasters as well.
It sounds like there giving this release the full treatment

 

[Brian E]

By the time it got one (season five) it was sort of too late for newcomers to latch on.

Plus that stable time slot, except for the NBA finals, was on TNT and not a regular network so people without Cable or a dish were out of luck.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Quote:

Have you ever been to a Star Trek convention - or tried to have a rational discussion with some of the more extreme Space: 1999 or Battlestar Galactica fans out there?
Given that this is a thread devoted to celebrating the release of the show on DVD, I'm really not sure I understand the point of your posts. Why come here and knock the show and insult its fans. Isn't there a rule against this kind of thing?
Regards,
Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The only thing sweeter in JMS's note would have been an anamorphic confirmation.

I don't think there is any reason to doubt that the episodes will be anamorphic. The fact that ItB was tells us that the new widescreen masters are suitable for anamorphic DVDs. Since there seems no good reason for WB to have processed the movies differently from the episodes (the whole point was to have a full widescreen set that could be used for HDTV someday), I would think that everything was done in hi-def. If you're working from a hi-def master, there is no reason not to do an anamorphic transfer.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Ric Easton]

Blake who? Twilight what?

Seriously, Joe is right. I check the Scifi.com B5 boards from time to time,(mostly looking for news of a DVD release!) and it is obvious that the show is constantly picking up new fans. I of course am proud to have enjoyed the show since the pilot. At the time, this was my favorite show on television... I just can't wait to get my hands on these babies!

Ric

 

[TheoGB]

I think of B5 as sort of the Marillion of SF TV, with a *very* devoted hard-core fan base amidst mainstream indifference, bewilderment, ignorance and/or hostility

I could never subscribe to that since I find Marillion awful in the extreme.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I like the Marillion analogy. Small devoted following, and completely misunderstood by most people.

Theo, have you heard their more recent material or are you thinking of the old-school 80s stuff?

I also think B5 fans get a bum rap. Most are quicker than others to pick at its many low points and failures, but recognizing it as a generally successful and original accomplishment.

As for the acting, I don't think I've seen performances more compelling, creating characters more interesting, than G'Kar, Londo, and Bester on TV. Yes, some bad performances by supporting actors. Eh, you can't have everything.


Anyway, enough of that. DVDs- yay!
So, we're looking at 5.1 sound mixes, commentaries, and anamorphic transfers. Freakin' A. I'm going to buy myself an extra-special Christmas present this year.

 

[Paul P]

Mike,

I think all the bad acting was in season 1(including the leads). Everything got steadily better from there.

 

[TheoGB]

Theo, have you heard their more recent material or are you thinking of the old-school 80s stuff?

It's just not my sort of thing, mate.

 

[Craig S]

I think all the bad acting was in season 1

It always seemed to me that the actors playing the aliens (Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik, Mira Furlan, Bill Mumy, etc.) always fared better than those playing humans (Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Patricia Tallman, Jerry Doyle, etc.). I suspect the problem may have been in JMS's dialog writing as much as the talent of the actors. The alien characters were inherantly more interesting and perhaps he invested more time in crafting their words.

I have gone on record in previous B5 threads with my opinion that Claudia Christian in particular was perhaps the worst actress on TV during B5's run. But I caught her guest shot on the season finale of "NYPD Blue" a few weeks back and she was quite good. So now I'm more inclined to point the finger at JMS. Thinking back, Ivanova was given quite a lot of awkward or even downright embarrassing things to say.

I don't mean to rag on JMS too much - all in all B5 is an amazing accomplishment, especially considering he wrote every word of every script for at least 2 of the seasons. I think he's a great storyteller. But some of those scripts sure could have used a dialog polish.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I agree that Christian was the most painful main character to watch. I haven't seen her in other things, so maybe it was the writing.

As for pointing the finger at JMS, it's important to remember what he did and didn't write (though in the end, one will look to him because he had to approve the scripts). He wrote some of seasons 1 and 5, a lot or most of 2, and I think all or almost all of 3 and 4. Basically, the arc-heavy stuff was his.

Some people give the guy that played Byron flack. But in this case, I think the fault lied in the writing and the fact that the arc was moved away from its original intent, and Byron and the first half of season 4 suffered.

Mira Furlan took some time adjusting to her role as Delenn. She was OK in season 1, and then got better throughout. G'Kar and Londo were fantastic throughout the whole series.

Michael O'Hare (Sinclair) got a lot of criticism. I didn't like him when he had to be excited or angry, but he played the solemn introspective aspect of his character well. However, I think Boxleitner was an improvement, even if he was a bit more of a conventional Kirk type.

As for the telepaths, I thought Andrea Thompson as Talia did a better job than Pat Tallman as Lyta, despite the fact that Lyta was a more interesting character.

So, overall, I don't think the acting quality really changed much. Given the consistently wonderful performances of Furlan, Jurassic, and Katsulas, the decent performances of Doyle, the captains, the doctor, and the telepaths, and the questionable quality of Christian and some of the guests actors, I feel it levels out to above-average, about the same level as Star Trek: the Next Generation.

 

[PhilipG]

I think Michael O'Hare is tremendously underrated, and unfairly berated by B5 fans. The problem is (all together now): "The Script, The Script, The Script", and in particular, JMS's incredible talent for bad dialogue. But hey, I probably wouldn't enjoy B5 nearly as much as I do without laughing at his dialogue - same goes for Jeremiah; it's half the fun of watching.
Oddly enough I think season one is by far the best, and the show got steadily worse from there on, with a surprisingly good return to form with "In The Beginning". As for acting, let me just say that IMHO, Bruce Boxleitner's acting is cheesier than an Edam convention.
As for the DVDs, will I buy widescreen season boxsets with 5.1 sound and commentaries? Abbsa-fraggin-lutely, dammit!

 

[Simon Massey]

I agree that Christian was the most painful main character to watch. I haven't seen her in other things, so maybe it was the writing.

Oh God. I just remembered the episode where she "pretends" to have sex with an alien. The horror, the horror!. I have never cringed so much in my entire life.

 

[TheoGB]

I don't know what people have against Claudia Christian. She's definitely one of the best things about B5 and her leaving was one of the main reasons Season 5 felt so flat for me.
But, hey just think if we'd ended up with that woman who played Tanaka in the pilot!!
The guy who played the doctor was probably 'worst' of the cast but frankly I think it was JMS and it was the fact that the humans were generally less interesting characters.
I also liked O'Hare's more measured commander compared to Boxlightener's 'gung ho' style.
Jerry Doyle is easily one of the best actors on the series...

 

[Mike Broadman]

don't know what people have against Claudia Christian. She's definitely one of the best things about B5 and her leaving was one of the main reasons Season 5 felt so flat for me.

True, but I would say that isn't because her acting was missed (at least no by me), but because her character was supposed to be crucial for season 5. Without her, the season's story arc suffered for the first half-dozen episodes.

Dialogue: some of it is painful. But, some of it is really great. The exchanges between Garibaldi and Bester, especially later on in the series, were really cool. In general, I would say that the dialogue was good when it remained subtle and part of the story, but could get awful when they tried to get "crazy" and outlandish.

 

[todd s]

Off the cast discussion for a second.
Shall we start our predictions about when this fall the show will be out? I say October 15.

 

[David Lambert]

True, but I would say that isn't because her acting was missed (at least no by me), but because her character was supposed to be crucial for season 5.

Funny, I didn't follow the show too much at the time, but I always thought that her presence was missed because she was a babe.

 

[TheoGB]

She was a good character. It's nothing about pivotal. They replaced her with (admittedly) a less good-looking actress, but more importantly with a fairly bland copy that didn't have her history.
She always had some great lines and delivered them well - essentially Claudia was much of the comic relief in the 'human' camp and that was definitely what went missing in Season 5.
People tend to say her acting sucked but they don't give examples. The 'alien sex' thing is not an example - that's a script for you - you're meant to cringe...I still say she was good. The scripts always have some rough edges. At the very least Claudia gets kudos for her answer to a question about Katherine Janeway: "Hmm. Well I guess they must have helium on the bridge of Voyager!"