Babylon 5

[Dobber]

I was checking out prices on Ebay for B5 sets, and I see these Asian collectors edition sets for sale at $9.99!!!!! It says they are identical to the US release accept for some asian characters on the box itself. Has anyone seen these and are they any good?

Chris

[RTShark]

No idea, but my interest is piqued.

[Doktor Gonzo]

Ditto. B5 season sets for $9.95 apiece??!? I MUST know more!

[Chowser]

FYI, these are more than likely, bootlegs.

Quality varies.

My brother bought me Angel seasons 1-4 Asian release, everything's in english, cover art has some chinese characters.., whatever, they're bootlegs.

So far, I am into season 2, season one had disc 8 go bad, i had to rip it 4 times before i got it to rip right and reburned it onto a good dvd.

season 2, so far disc 2 has one episode that will not finish.

popped in disc 4, it's the austrailian release??? whatever. also

it's mix and match on what is fullscreen and widescreen. sheesh.

but hey, for $40, he didn't do too bad.

But I will be buying the R1 release of Season 5.

I'm sure the B5 sets are from the same source of bootleggers.

I'm interested in B5 as well, all my VHS tapes are going bad...

not to mention my Highlander tapes...

[Dynaman]

I'll resurrect this dead thread to mention that all of B5 is available for streaming (free, no commercials) on some site I never heard of before.  I checked the first episode and it works pretty well though it is widescreen and I thought that the SFX scenes were only done in 4:3 format even though the live action was shot in widescreen.  So perhaps the SFX is being chopped off at the top and bottom.

 

https://www.go90.com/shows/babylon5

[kajnrig]

bleh. wrong thread

Edited April 13, 2017 by kajnrig

[Mazinger]

Interesting, they have a bunch of shows I actually like.  Still pissed Fox killed of both Terminator Chronicles and Almost Human.

[mechaninac]

Dear lord, 23 to 18 years ago when B5 aired ; shocking when that realization mercilessly slaps you on the face.  Damn, I feel old now .  Thanks you so much for that...

 

[TehPW]

Poor Dear. Double upon your Prozac dosage I guess...  

[Dynaman]

Wow, I last resurrected this nearly six years ago to the day...

Animated B5 movie is done, just needing to be released.  A lot of the remaining original cast having VA roles in it.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/babylon-5-animated-movie-j-michael-straczynski-1235602391/

[Dobber]

Awesome! B5 is one of my all time favorites!

Chris

[Bolt]

Very cool. I'm looking forward to seeing what this is like. 

[Dynaman]

When JMS said they were doing a "special" project with the original cast I thought it would be some kind of lame cast reunion show, I never thought it would be an actual story of some kind.  Looking forward to it.

[technoblue]

I’m taking the cautiously optimistic approach with this news, although I would love for it to succeed and usher in more B5 stories of some sort.

[Big s]

Are they still planning a reboot show? 
there was talk about that only a couple months ago, so I was just curious if that’s still a thing in the works 

[davidwhangchoi]

pls restore original series

[Big s]

2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

pls restore original series

The recent talk I was hearing as far as live action was a reboot due to either deaths of original actors or in some cases inability for some actors to be able to work because of disabilities.

animation kinda takes out some of those problems, but I haven’t heard anything in the last couple months to confirm anything beyond the single animated movie. Maybe this is a way of testing out interest for either a reboot or continuation in some form or another 

[Thom]

A continuation series doesn't have to have all the original cast though. The premature passing of the actors can simply be written in as past history in-story while introducing newer characters.

[Mog]

I'd be curious to see what the original story was supposed to be with Commander Sinclaire as the main character.

Don't get me wrong:  it's amazing that he was able to adjust the story on the fly for certain actors leaving or not panning out.  But it'd be interesting to see what JMS' original ideas were supposed to be for Babylon 4, Sinclaire and Delenn, Susan Ivanova in Season 5, etc.

[F-ZeroOne]

"Babylon 5 is a big pile of <censored>!" 🙂

Sorry, unable to resist a line from the UK TV sitcom "Spaced" (essentially the launching pad for the career of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, among others). 😄 Babylon 5 was indeed great, and I don't envy the actors who are going to have to fill the shoes of some very iconic characters in any new productions.

[DewPoint]

Network executives who "know better" are going to ruin the show again. Just like they did the last time for every Babylon 5 series.

 

I also somehow have life long trauma from the show. Zooty, zoot, zoot! Has been burned into the back of my head forever.

[Dynaman]

The new TV show/reboot is still very much iffy at best.  The execs might be waiting to see how the animated movie works out (but maybe not). I am optimistic for the movie but cautiously so - Legend of the Rangers was dreadful and JMS did not say that was due to network interference when I saw him in an interview on it.

[Mog]

Not sure how accurate this is: 

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/synopsis-of-jmss-synopsis-of-the-original-arc-for-b5-spoilers.53739/

But it's interesting to see what the "original" plan was versus what we actually got.

Definitely prefer the order (explicit guidance) versus chaos (strengthened through conflict) idea, the Z'Ha'Dum plot threads and prophecies, and the execution of Londo's story that we got in the actual show versus what's surmised in that link.

[Dynaman]

I hate to say it but the loss of the Sinclair character ended up being a massive improvement if those notes are accurate (and if it had been kept to anyway, I would bet JMS was mulling some of these changes even before Michael O'Hare's illness became a problem)

[enphily]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/babylon-5-the-road-home-voice-cast-unveiled-1235483312/

[Big s]

I was excited about this until reading that it’s a multiverse thing. I might still check it out one day, but I think I just don’t care after hearing that news

[mechaninac]

36 minutes ago, Big s said:

I was excited about this until reading that it’s a multiverse thing. I might still check it out one day, but I think I just don’t care after hearing that news

There is a definite, and unimaginative IMO, infatuation with multiverse shenanigans in far too many franchises over the last few years, and rarely done well... most are so mediocre that the whole concept has become little more that a lazy gimmick and tired trope.  We'll see if JMS can pull it off...

[Big s]

48 minutes ago, mechaninac said:

There is a definite, and unimaginative IMO, infatuation with multiverse shenanigans in far too many franchises over the last few years, and rarely done well... most are so mediocre that the whole concept has become little more that a lazy gimmick and tired trope.  We'll see if JMS can pull it off...

I’m totally done with it, and I think I was done with it before it was popular. Anything time travel or multiverse is a real turn off

[Mog]

So, you didn’t like the Babylon 4 stories? 🤨

[JB0]

2 hours ago, Big s said:

I was excited about this until reading that it’s a multiverse thing. I might still check it out one day, but I think I just don’t care after hearing that news

A multiverse, hmmm? Maybe this is Stracynski's way of backdooring funding for that Captain Power remake he was pushing like five years ago!

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Mog said:

So, you didn’t like the Babylon 4 stories? 🤨

Not really. To be honest I don’t really remember them 

[technoblue]

11 hours ago, Mog said:

So, you didn’t like the Babylon 4 stories? 🤨

 

9 hours ago, Big s said:

Not really. To be honest I don’t really remember them 

Eh, it was just a central theme for the whole show. Who needs those episodes or those character arcs…or Zathras and Zathras…or Zathras?

[Dynaman]

On 5/11/2023 at 8:45 AM, technoblue said:

 

Eh, it was just a central theme for the whole show. Who needs those episodes or those character arcs…or Zathras and Zathras…or Zathras?

No no, it is pronounced Zathras, hear the difference?

As for the multiverse thing, B5 never really had that (it had time travel but it was a closed loop for the most part) but I will give it a watch.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Dynaman

[Bolt]

Multiverse is definitely over done. But it is the string theory of Hollywood and they're quite infatuated with it. 
In a practical sense though.. it is a way to reboot an IP and still milk both molds. And it makes for an interesting twist for the average bloke. And proven to be profitable. So..

I don't mind the idea as it's not a sacred cow to me. Even though they were running software on the Commodore Amiga graphics and animation at the time and that certainly had a lot to do with me buying all that gear in the early 90's.

[technoblue]

17 hours ago, Dynaman said:

No no, it is pronounced Zathras, hear the difference?

As for the multiverse thing, B5 never really had that (it had time travel but it was a closed loop for the most part) but I will give it a watch.

LoL!

With regard to the multiverse stuff, I would argue that folks are tired with how it has become a convenient trapping. Writing is hard but given how NuTrek, Marvel, and DC popularized the whole thing to reset those fantasies with a wave of the hand... It’s made this MacGuffin dull. 

Since Zathras was mentioned in the cast list, I am thinking the great machine may come back to life somehow. If anyone can make that work it’s JMS, but yeah…I’m still cautiously optimistic about it.