Spotlight Reviews
 Two reasons to get this collection.
Number one is "A Call to Arms" - Other than the "The Gathering" and "In The Beginning", which have already been released, this is by far the best of the remaining movies.
Number two is the inclusion of commentaries. JMS's commentaries are some of best, so even if you had the first movie disk, this collection has something to offer. I, for one, am glad that "The Legend of the Rangers" is nowhere near this collection. Makes it easier to pretend that atrocity never existed.  And so it concludes :-)
I first bought the double sided disc of The Gathering and In The Beginning right here at Amazon. I then bought Season 1 New elsewhere, 2 and 3 from a used/new store in my neighborhood (well 3 from their sister store near Baltimore), and 4 and 5 from reliable Amazon Marketplace clients. It stands to reason, that I should get this final box set (well maybe next to last if Crusade comes out soon) directly from Amazon especially at the preorder price showing as I write this. It completes the cycle of what is probably the best scifi series of the 90s, and shows not everything is in Gene Roddenberry's universe (although I do like Trek and other stuff of his). Joe Michael's universe is just as wonderful, and these 5 films help explain it as well as (if not better) than the series. However, the other reviewers are right, if you haven't seen the hour long episodes, get them first before you buy this set, or buy (or maybe borrow) a copy of the fore mentioned double sided disc (I'm giving mine away as soon as this set hits my mailbox). Once you have all 6 sets, sit back and enjoy a gourmet selection of Babylon 5. You'll be glad you did.:-)
WELL Worth Waiting For - Count Me In!
J. Michael Straczynski (jms) created the space station Babylon 5 and spent years getting it produced and on the air. It premiered about the same time ST: Deep Space Nine did, and for a while, fans compared the two. It was almost "apples & oranges" time, but it was tried. As a long-time Trek fan, I was surprised when I first saw the pilot ("The Gathering") in 1993. I was absolutely stunned. It was marvelous - a space station as a port of call and hope for interstellar peace with resident alien ambassadors who really looked ALIEN not just odd noses and hair. I had to recognize the wonderful character actor, Andreas Katsulas, BY VOICE! And why Babylon 5, not just Babylon Station? Well, #s 1 - 4 were sabotaged & destroyed; # 4 disappeared after going on-line. (Disappeared? It's 5 MILES LONG, for crying out loud!) Word was that this would be an on-going, progressive five year story arc, the likes of which hadn't been done before on US television. Risky. Okay, jms had my attention. When the series finally made it to the air, I (being cynical of tv production in general) figured it wasn't going to stay as good. It didn't. It steadily got better. I repeat, I speak as a long time Trek fan (beginning with the original series - skip Voyager, I did). B5 is one of the best televison series ever produced. Note I did not say "science fiction series." (It is THE best s/f series ever put up to the audience.) I introduced several non s/f fans to the series, as a dramatic series and they all loved it. (So much for "only for space opera hounds.") Crowd scenes were, well, crowded, with humans of all types and aliens as extras wandering through scenes. (The aliens, by the way, are much more than odd skin colours, strange noses and "hair.") The station wasn't pristeen, the population wasn't always picture perfect. We have shysters, homeless, personal problems, espionage, humour, betrayal, relationships, and deaths (being in the opening credits did not guarantee survival, and it didn't always happen at the end of a season). The plotlines are tight, and the threads are woven into five years of shows. The special effects are believable. (Yes, you could "hear" space battles, but hey, cut them some slack - NASA asked for plans of the Starfuries for reference for future space station repair vehicles.) B5 was the first show to rely on CGI effects, born out of budget necessity. More than once, watching the show, I found myself pounding the furniture with excitement - and we won't go into (here) what I did during series finale "Sleeping in Light." Sinclair, Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, G'Kar, Londo, Lennier, Vir, Na'Toth, Talia, and Lyta came into our home as people with problems. The characters grew and changed and made choices and dealt with the consequences of those choices for good or bad. G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) put it best: no one on Babylon 5 is exactly what they appear. There is no clear deliniation of good guys and bad guys - mostly it's all shades of grey. Acting (with the exception of one season five regular) is superb. What more could you ask! For the first four years, the hardest part of being a B5 fan was FINDING it. (Our local station played ping-pong with its time slot.) To own uncut, widescreen versions on DVD of the whole story arc was a dream we had. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THIS SERIES NEEDS TO BE SEEN IN ORDER, STARTING WITH "THE GATHERING" AND MOVING FORWARD THROUGH THE SEASONS. (Don't worry about where the movies fall in the arc just yet, and STAY AWAY from "In the Beginning," "River of Souls," and "A Call to Arms" until you have viewed the series through "Objects at Rest.") It IS a total story. Now the episodes and movies (all but the series "B5: Crusade" and "Legend of the Rangers," which are not integral to the main storylines) are available. This movie set is a "must-have" for any B5 fan. |
Based on 7 reviews.