Watching Babylon 5 for the first time

[Joel_Kirk]

This is a series I watched aroudn 6(?) years ago and wasn't disappointed.(I did get disappointed with Crusade, the Rangers movie, etc....)

It definitely builds as the seasons progress. Interestingly, the main music theme changes each season as the story itself progresses!

 

[tomswift2002]

I'm still trying to figure out the history of this universe. The humans were in a war with the Minbari and Commander Sinclair fought them?

It was said in the episode that Babylons 1-3 were sabotaged and destroyed and Babylon 4 disappeared. Do I have that right? I'm hoping to find out more about the earlier stations throughout the show.

These are followed up in later episodes, and the various bits that do appear about the human-Minbari war were edited together with new footage in the telemovie "In The Beginning".

The visual effects are definitely the worst part of the show. They used early '90s CGI for the exterior shots and it shows. But it was a product of its time so I will easily be able to get over that.

That's all I can think of right now. But I hope to keep this thread going so I can discuss the show with some fans.

I've been re watching the series recently, as there's been nothing good on TV. However, with the CGI, aside from "The Gathering", which was not cropped due to Straczinski only having a budget to do a partial re-edit when he did the Special Edit for TNT. But the other other episodes were cropped, and the CGI was cropped from NTSC videotape, so you'll notice quite a few scenes where it goes soft, or I remember in the "Soul Hunter" episode there is one shot with the soul vacuum where Sinclair turns it and stands up, but because the shot was cropped from NTSC videotape, Sinclair's head gets chopped off at the bottom of his eye sockets.

 

[Forbin]

They didn't "use 90s CGI" on the show, they "INVENTED 90s CGI" for the show.

 

[diankra]

Yes, the early DVDs sometimes horrible shifts from talk shots that could be properly remastered, and live action-plus-FX shots that have been taken and cropped from the original tx copies. Sometimes quite awfully.
Still, appropriate in some ways, B5 always had problems like that: one episode went out in the UK (ahead of US tx) with Londo planning the ruin of worlds in front of a studio ladder (as the virtual set hadn't been added in) and the vhs of another had people spotting the crucial moment in surveillance footage while studying blank screens. Very intently.

 

[Marsden]

... and the vhs of another had people spotting the crucial moment in surveillance footage while studying blank screens. Very intently.

It's called ACTING! (read that in Calculon's voice, please.)

 

[RPOW0614]

I recently re-watched the entire series. I was like spending time with an old friend.
A few points:
Sinclair - Sorry but that guy was as wooden as a big old oak tree in season 1. He was much better in the "other" story arc.
CGI - It was great at the time. I watched the original airings on the PTEN network. The exterior (space) shots were on par with the best of trek. The interior shots were just horrible and obvious. JMS says so and apologizes on the commentary track. So bad.
Enjoy your time in their universe and watch the movies too. I bookended the series with "The Gathering" and ended with "In the Beginning". The other movies are stand alone stories.

 

[DonIago]

I've never been sure how much of Sinclair's character was done by intent and how much was the actor's choice, or perhaps limitations.

For who the character is I think his demeanor makes sense, but from the sense of an audience member trying to get into a tv show, Sheridan makes a better overall impression on me.

Not entirely unlike Pike vs. Kirk. The former seems like a deeper person who probably has an interesting backstory...but the question is how many people will want to stick around to learn what that backstory is.

 

[JoeD80]

However, with the CGI, aside from "The Gathering", which was not cropped due to Straczinski only having a budget to do a partial re-edit when he did the Special Edit for TNT.

Not budget related; it was that The Gathering was filmed in full-screen unlike the series.

 

[diankra]

Well, the entire series was shot in widescreen, but the CGI and edits were done 'square'. JMS hoped that the series would be future-proofed if they had widescreen live action masters onto which redone widescreen CGI could be added once the processor power doubling effect had made it much cheaper.
He didn't bargain on pc obsolecence, among other things.

 

[Jan]

Well, the entire series was shot in widescreen, but the CGI and edits were done 'square'. JMS hoped that the series would be future-proofed if they had widescreen live action masters onto which redone widescreen CGI could be added once the processor power doubling effect had made it much cheaper.
He didn't bargain on pc obsolecence, among other things.

It's actually come out (long after the show was over) that JMS was lied to about rendering the CGI. He was told it couldn't be done when, in fact, it would have cost all of about $75/episode to render the CGI in widescreen.

Jan

 

[publiusr]

If you like the CGI of that time, you might enjoy this DVD
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168124/