Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (DVD) Spoilers

1778 Views 21 Replies 13 Participants Last post by kmcorbett, Aug 8, 2007

Sirius Black

Discussion Starter · Aug 1, 2007

It was suggested that we make a separate discussion for this. So here it is. I haven't seen it yet. Looking forward to it, of course.

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

gchance

· #2 · Aug 1, 2007

Interesting. Haven't seen it, yet you want spoilers.

I do have a question, although if I wasn't half asleep while watching I probably would have figured it out. Who's 2nd in line for the Centauri throne? Londo's emperor, Vir's first in line, and Cartagia's son is 3rd. Either I missed something, or they didn't mention it.

Greg

Mr_Bester

· #3 · Aug 1, 2007

I think you are just misunderstanding. Londo is first(on the throne) Vir is second, Prince is third.
Dug

gchance

· #4 · Aug 1, 2007

Mr_Bester said:
I think you are just misunderstanding. Londo is first(on the throne) Vir is second, Prince is third.
Dug

You sure? Londo wouldn't be "in line", he'd be there. Not that it matters of course; it would make sense that the kid would be next after Vir, since he wants to off him to ascend. How he would find out Vir murdered Cartagia is anybody's guess, unless in all the scuffle in the palace there was a witness somewhere.

BOY, Delenn sure is understanding. Letting Prince live with them. Yikes, I wouldn't want a Centauri living in my house, especially if I was Minbari. Nossireebob.

Greg

gchance

· #5 · Aug 1, 2007

I just checked, there's now a Lurker's Guide entry for The Lost Tales! Just like the old days of the Republic.

Greg

Mr_Bester

· #6 · Aug 1, 2007

gchance said:
You sure? Londo wouldn't be "in line", he'd be there. Not that it matters of course; it would make sense that the kid would be next after Vir, since he wants to off him to ascend. How he would find out Vir murdered Cartagia is anybody's guess, unless in all the scuffle in the palace there was a witness somewhere.

BOY, Delenn sure is understanding. Letting Prince live with them. Yikes, I wouldn't want a Centauri living in my house, especially if I was Minbari. Nossireebob.

Greg

I think it was just poorly worded in the script. My understanding was he is where the speaker of the house is. If something happened to the Pres and Vice Pres, then he'd be in charge.
Dug

J4yDubs

· #7 · Aug 1, 2007

Mr_Bester said:
I think you are just misunderstanding. Londo is first(on the throne) Vir is second, Prince is third.
Dug

This was my understanding as well.

One thing I wish the this DVD did better was explain where at in the time line we are. Yeah, I know it's 10 years since the alliance was formed, but what major events have happened? Is this before or after Crusader?

I'll be a good little B5'er now and go look up that info (but I shouldn't have to is the point). Thanks for the link to the lurker guide.

John

Edit: To answer my question, it's after. Seems that everything is OK on earth now. Would like to see how that happened...

Sirius Black

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 1, 2007

gchance said:
Interesting. Haven't seen it, yet you want spoilers.

A place was needed for discussion other than the thread about the general return of B5 where spoilers are not appropriate.

I have a question though... Is the last season of Babylon 5 required viewing to enjoy this anthology? Other than the one (?) major cast replacement than happened at the beginning of season 5, is there anything from that season (plot/story related) that would keep me from understanding what is going on here?

Mr_Bester

· #9 · Aug 1, 2007

No

J4yDubs

· #10 · Aug 1, 2007

Sirius Black said:
I have a question though... Is the last season of Babylon 5 required viewing to enjoy this anthology? Other than the one (?) major cast replacement than happened at the beginning of season 5, is there anything from that season (plot/story related) that would keep me from understanding what is going on here?

Nothing that would keep you from understanding these shows, but there are a couple of small references that you won't get.

John

JustAllie

· #11 · Aug 2, 2007

Wow.

They didn't have a big budget, did they?

Or rather, they spent it all on CGI, and had little left over for actors, sets, any sort of action whatsoever, or... frankly, writing staff. (OK, there were a few good speeches, but they seemed canned.)

dfreybur

· #12 · Aug 3, 2007

Sirius Black said:
It was suggested that we make a separate discussion for this. So here it is. I haven't seen it yet. Looking forward to it, of course.

Mine was scheduled to arrive today. Time to get a package of Swedish meatballs from Ikea to have while I watch it tomorrow ...

kmcorbett

· #13 · Aug 4, 2007

I enjoyed "Lost Tales" but I don't think it is brilliant. It adds up to two B5 episodes, loosely strung together, both about average, solid but not brilliant. It felt too short. Not short like "Crusade" (ended before it could get going) - I mean it felt short like a 75-minute made-for-TV movie. (That old joke: The food wasn't great, and such small portions!)

I'm struggling to put into words why I wasn't more, um, thrilled. OK, the original was a tough act to follow, but I was prepared to be blown away. Yes they had better fx, and JMS is in control. This should have been wonderful.

I think it comes down to this: we only got to see 3 of the original characters, none of whom were in my top 5. (Galen I can do without entirely.)

Which brings me to my chief complaint: both episodes rely too much on supernatural elements, without showing anything new and different. (OK there is one very cool [or should I say hot] scene, but I won't spoil it for anyone.) The blend of sci-fi and fantasy was a strong point of B5. The supernatural stuff felt earned, never gratuitous. When it's done well, the magical and exotic elements serve the purposes of the story, as backdrop for issues of faith, purpose, character, and relationships. This felt like familiar territory. But there was so much else that just seemed to be missing.

In particular, there was very little conversation among the characters, most of it not very interesting. And very little that was truly alien and exotic.

Grade: B+. Give me a few more of these, bring in more characters, new and originals. Most of all show me more of life on B5, or go deep into IA politics, or, something... *worthy*.

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JMikeD

· #14 · Aug 4, 2007

JustAllie said:
Wow.

They didn't have a big budget, did they?

Or rather, they spent it all on CGI, and had little left over for actors, sets, any sort of action whatsoever, or... frankly, writing staff. (OK, there were a few good speeches, but they seemed canned.)

No writing staff, JMS does it all. And it's the same actors used on the various series, but sure weren't any extras to speak of. Pretty sparsely populated. I agree that it was pretty talky.

The chances of there being anymore of these seems to have been reduced by increased visibility of JMS as a screenwriter. Good for his career, but not so good for B5 fans.

MMG

· #15 · Aug 5, 2007

It stunk! I didn't like it!

kmccbf

· #16 · Aug 5, 2007

I liked it - But.....

It seemed like two episodes unfinished. Each segment needed to be about 10 min. longer.
I hope the next two are better.

JMikeD

· #17 · Aug 5, 2007

MMG said:
It stunk! I didn't like it!

Not arguing with your assessment, but why didn't you like it?

wallace

· #18 · Aug 6, 2007

I did not like this one at all! I was extremely disappointed after viewing it.

The first major thing that bothered me about this was that it seemed to be missing that wonderful relationship between the characters that I loved so much in the original series. Ok, so they were missing some of the main characters that were usually the most charismatic and interesting I will admit that. However, even without them the relationships and interactions of those in these episodes seemed so impersonal and awkward.

The second major thing that I did not like about this was the settings that all of the scenes took place in. I wasn't even aware this was a low budget thing before I watched it but I instantly started questioning it while I was half way through the first episode. Every non CGI set was so bare and boring it drove me crazy. Not only did they seem to use as few different sets as possible, but they did not have anything at all from the original series to give me that emotional tie in to the original storyline world. A simple scene in the main promenade or C&C would have sufficed, I just wanted something to show me a link to the original sights we expect to see on B5.

This is the first time I have ever commented on a tv show or movie in this detail, so don't go thinking I know much of anything about this stuff. I just know how I felt as a fan after waiting with anticipation only to get this show. In my opinion, these episodes only had one impact on me, which was to actually have put some doubt into me as to whether I would bother watching the next DVD

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Sirius Black

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 6, 2007

I guess I'll be netflixing this. Doesn't sound that great.

Marc

· #20 · Aug 6, 2007

Sirius Black said:
I guess I'll be netflixing this. Doesn't sound that great.

I'm not sure that it'll even be worth that! Well, I hear the extras on the disc are good.

I rented it on the Xbox 360 and was very disappointed with both story lines. The strength of the series was the complex character interactions, and there were basically no serious interactions at all. It was almost as if each half of this movie could have been done as a monologue. It felt as if the stories were just a series of monologues.

This "Babylon 5" feature seemed more like the Guitar Hero songs that are done by a different artist and labeled "as made famous by".

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