Babylon 5 on DVD: Vote with your dollars (1 Viewer)

[Steve Tack]

Most B5 fans that frequent this board are probably aware of this, but Warner has stated that they are going to use the sales of the first B5 DVD to determine whether or not to release the rest of the show on disc.

So if you want more B5 on DVD, be sure to pick up the first disc on Tuesday, Dec. 5 or shortly after.

I can't imagine a B5 fan not wanting In the Beginning and the pilot episode on DVD as soon as they can get it, but I just wanted to remind everyone not to put it off!

 

[Peter Overduin]

I will be buying the DVD, as I look forward to it even more than I did Star Trek. I am keeping my fingers crossed on the quality, however, having heard mixed reviews. B5 is the only Sci-fi series I would buy all episodes of.

 

[LarryH]

I hope Best Buy carries it so I can get it Tuesday. My favorite e-tailer (you know who you are) apparently is unable to supply it on schedule as they shipped my Dec. 4 titles today, with the exception of B5. :frowning:

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I bought it and I've never seen this series before. Always wanted too, though. I watched 'The Gathering' last night and part of 'In the Beginning'. I don't think these were mastered from film as my 'film mode' light never came on. The Gathering must be the LD transfer. Its Full Frame 4x3 and looks like LD quality on my 65" Mits 16:9. In the Beginning looked a lot better but still must have not been mastered from film, some shimmering and aliasing.

So far I think I like the B5 commander from the Pilot better. The new guy just reminds my of Scarcrow and Mrs. King!

 

[TheoGB]

Unfortunately, by watching In The Beginning you've ruined a chunk of the mystery from the first two seasons of the series. It's a shame that they decided to put it out in this way.
Michael O'Hare is a bit wooden but I think that's how JMS wanted the character portrayed. He is kind of like the old Action Man toy in that the eyes move and that's a bout it. I liked Sinclair over Sheridan, however, but I think I was in a minority. I was glad they swapped Claudia Christian in as the second in command - that woman was bloody awful in the pilot.:frowning:

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Damn! You mean In the Beginning wasn't the first Ep? Where does it fit in?

 

[Vincent Matis]

Damn! You mean In the Beginning wasn't the first Ep? Where does it fit in?

Mid-way through season 4... Although the story is set before the pilot...

Vincent

 

[TheoGB]

Actually that's when it was filmed but technically, given that it's a tale told by the ageing Londo Mollari it should either be viewed straight after War Without End (where we see that version of the character for the first time IIRC) or after having seen the whole of the five seasons.

It'a damn good TV series movie and I wouldn't worry too much Mark. There is still a lot of cool stuff in B5 even if you know the truth about why the war with the Minbari ended.

 

[Rob T]

It comes out on the 4th and I'm determined to get this disc. If Wal-mart or Zellers won't be carrying it then I'll be going to a store called That's Entertainment! in the city. I know they carry the original ST episodes so they should be carrying this as well.

 

[Norm Lalonde]

I've ordered it today, be in on Tuesday. Hopefully Warner will be happy with the sales and decide to release the whole series in season boxed sets.

Norm

 

[todd s]

I am curious as to what number of units (ie-5k,100k,etc.) would Warner consider a success? Does anyone have any idea?

 

[Matt G]

I'll be voting with my dollars. I've also told all my friends who are fans of the show about it. I would really love to see the whole series released.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

I got shipping notification from 800.com on Friday or Saturday.

What is even better news is that apparently Warner has already been processing the episodes for DVD, they are almost done with Season 3.

The source of that tidbit is from JMS on one of the B5 forums. I will print the entire quote when I get home.

 

[todd s]

Philip, That is great news if it is true. Wow, Star Trek:TNG, Batman Animated and Babylon 5. If this is all true I will be a happy and broke.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

What is even better news is that apparently Warner has already been processing the episodes for DVD, they are almost done with Season 3.

This would be great news, but color me skeptical. JMS posts in exactly two places that I know of: The moderated newsgroup (rarely since he's so busy with Jeremiah for Showtime) and the SF Media Forum at Compuserve (even more rarely.) I'm a member of both, and I haven't seen anything like this report. Nor has such a post been archived on the JMSNews site, which usually picks up any new posts from him within a few hours. I think this is another bit of wishful thinking or a rumor attributed to JMS to give it more credibility.
Regards,
Joe

 

[Alex Morrow]

I did my part with buying my copy of the disc. I'll probably take a quick look at it tonight or sometime this week. I would really like it if they included the information found on the Lurker's Guide to B5 from the web. I would watch an episode and then refer to that for an idea of what JMS was doing. Great food for the brain.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Oops, my bad.

DVD release of B5, JMS wrote this, on Oct. 10:
Actually, I checked with WB, and they say they've finished conforming all but 3 season 1 eps for DVD, and are still intending to go ahead.
jms

I read it late last night and got the 3 and season confused.
This from rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info, post "JMS Usenet Posts - 11/29/01"
At least it is looking like season 1!!!
I did my part and preordered 3 of tommorow's release

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Unfortunately rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info is not a usenet group that JMS actually posts to. He limits himself to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, where the folks who run the thing can protect him from seeing story ideas and, very rarely in the past year or so, to Compuserve.

The "info" group only posts occassional digests of his posts from the other group. I looked at the full message and can find all of the JMS messages that Dirk Loedding quotes (most of which I remember reading myself) on JMSNews.com and another archive except the one about the DVDs. Which I've definitely never seen. Given that JMSNews lists him as having posted a grand total of 6 messages in October, 5 in Novemember and 1 in December (like I said, he's busy) I don't think it likely that I missed one - especially since I'm all over every thread that mentions DVDs. Nor did he post this on Compuserve. In fact, he didn't post anything publicly on October 10th on either site that I can find. (Actually, he posted nothing at all between September 27th and October 14th.)

I also get copies of all his posts each week via e-mail - again, I haven't seen anything from him about WHV working on S1 for DVD. Seems strange that they would already be spending the money to prep them given their statement (right here on the live chat) that they had no plans to release any more discs if the first one didn't outsell the VHS tapes. The disc doesn't street until tomorrow. Why would they be investing time and money in working on S1 back in October if they knew they wouldn't be in a position to decide about releasing it until January at the earliest?

We will evaluate the first release's reception and hope it's great. Because if the DVD performance does not improve upon the VHS performance from a few years back, it will not continue. So please support Release #1.

All I can say is, I'm still not convinced.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Philip Verdieck]

Maybe they figure that regardless of region 1, they will sell in Europe. As I recall (and you will know doubt correct me if I am wrong ), they had strong sales of the tapes overseas...

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Maybe they figure that regardless of region 1, they will sell in Europe.

Maybe, but the only Warner DVD folks that JMS has ready access to are those from Warner Home Video in Burbank - and they're not responsible for releases in Europe, so they'd likely have no information about plans for them. The first R2/U.K. edition won't be out until March - they're releasing The Gathering and In the Beginning on separate discs. Amazon.co.uk just started taking orders (twenty pounds per disc, "discounted" to nineteen) and there are no technical specs available as yet, nor any word on extras. So there's even less reason for any Warner entity to be mastering the episodes on DVD for Europe in October if the first movie release won't happen until the following March.

Regards,

Joe