Babylon 5 - The Gathering (1 Viewer)

[Andy_Bu]

My wife and I watched this DVD the other night.

The DVD opened with a message saying that "the picture has been formatted to fit your screen", which I took to indicate that they were trying to adjust a widescreen aspect ratio into a standard 4:3 screen.

What confused me is that I though Babylon 5 - The Gathering was originally shot in 4:3 and not 16:9 like the main series was.

Any thoughts?

Andy

 

[MichaelGH]

Andy_Bu:
I can't say for absolute certainty but I've always heard the same thing: that "The Gathering" was shot in 4:3 versus 16:9 like the rest of the show. I'm of the opinion that Warner just threw that logo in there by mistake. It's not the first time this has happened on one of their titles (for some reason Full Metal Jacket springs to mine which is open matte versus pan&scan).

Michael

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I just started on Babylon 5, never having seen the program before, but having heard excellent reports.

I thought the pilot was just awful, with terrible acting throughout, especially from Michael O'Hare. Thankfully, the first four episodes of Season 1 (as far as I've gotten) are much more tolerable and O'Hare doesn't have the smarmy edge that I so hated in the pilot. So don't be put off by dislike of the pilot; it gets much better, quickly. I'm surprised something as awful as the pilot was picked up by anyone, though.

 

[Andy_Bu]

So don't be put off by dislike of the pilot; it gets much better, quickly. I'm surprised something as awful as the pilot was picked up by anyone, though.

Not sure if this was intended for me or not but seeing as Babylon 5 is both my wives and my favorite television series of all time, you should have no worries about the pilot putting me off.

Much like other grizzled Bab 5 veterens, the first time through the series, every one admits that season 1 was the weakest of the first four and yet we seem to enjoy season 1 more and more each time we see it.

Andy

 

[Mike Poindexter]

The pilot was shot in 4:3. The rest of the series was shot in 16x9 so that it would have better marketability for the future with HDTV. Unfortunately, it was shot on video camera, which makes it impossible to transfer to HDTV. Had it been shot on film, it could have been converted to full HDTV.

The only really major bummer is that they didn't sign Bruce Boxlitener (sp?) until the second season. That totally screwed up the timeline and killed what could have been this series chance to be the best written TV series ever from a critical timeline standpoint.

Sheridan and Sinclair were never originally intended to be two seperate characters. If they were, you wouldn't have seen Sinclair in the flash foward in the episode Signs and Portents in season 1, as that would have taken place when Sheridan was commander...

 

[Paul McElligott]

Sheridan and Sinclair were never originally intended to be two seperate characters. If they were, you wouldn't have seen Sinclair in the flash foward in the episode Signs and Portents in season 1, as that would have taken place when Sheridan was commander...

he still would have been on the station if the Shadows had attacked.

(Spoiler protection for those just discovering the series on DVD)

 

[Andy_Bu]

The pilot was shot in 4:3.

This is what I thought as well but I still wonder why does The Gathering come with an onscreen message of how it is being reformated to fit the tv screen?

Andy

 

[Paul McElligott]

Then why does The Gathering come with an onscreen message of how it is being reformated to fit the tv screen?

Because the people at Warner's were boneheads who didn't pay attention to what they were doing...

 

[Rob T]

Because the people at Warner's were boneheads who didn't pay attention to what they were doing...

Exactly. the pilot is made for 4:3.