In the mail today (well, yesterday by when you read this), I got the direct-to-DVD movie Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, which is the first in a planned series of new Babylon 5 stories on DVD.
It’s 72 minutes long and consists of two stories that occur simultaneously and interlock to some degree.
I won’t give major spoilers here, but here are a few brief comments.
Both stories are set in 2271, ten years after the events of the first Babylon 5 TV series finished. The first story focuses on Captain Lochley, who is still in command of Babylon 5,and the second focuses on John Sheridan, who is still president of the Interstellar Alliance. Also skulking around is Galen the technomage, but these three are the only regular characters featured in the movie (other past cast members are planned to appear in future DVDs).
The CGI in the video is much improved over where it was ten years ago, when B5 was on the air (basically, CGI was at the stage that video games are now; this DVD may give you an idea of where video games will be in a few years).
The two stories are focused on questions (which is normal for how Joe Straczynski writes). The Lochley story focuses on a theological question, and the Sheridan story focuses on a moral one. (Actually, they both have moral questions, but the first is predicated on a theological question in addition.)
Br. Theo and the other Dominicans apparently aren’t on Babylon 5 any more, so they aren’t there to help Lochley wrestle with the theological issue that is thrust forward. (Oh, BTW, the pope is a man again.) Early on in this story there is a conversation which, when I heard it, I thought, "Joe’s atheism is showing through." I thought it was an interesting conversation, but I was still disappointed. I did suspect, though, that he might be setting us up for a larger issue, and that was true in spades! I won’t say where this goes, but this has to be the most intensely theological thing that Straczynski has done on the show, and it ends in a way that is definitely respectful of religion.
The moral question at the heart of the Sheridan story is a variant of one that has been hashed over quite a number of times in science fiction, but it’s still a well-told tale with a nice resolution.
There are weak spots in the writing (e.g., the climax of the Lochley story is too talky and Sheridan says some things to an ISN reporter that no president trying to foster interplanetary relations would say to a reporter in a million years–BTW the reporter is Teryl Rothery or "Dr. Janet Frazier" from SG-1), as there often are with JMS’s writing, but the overall is interesting, entertaining, and it will definitely please the majority of B5 fans. (You can never please all fans, of any series, no matter what you do.)
There are also a lot of nice individual lines (JMS specializes in those), and a number of nice little touches that will please fans who know the background of the series.
GET THE STORIES.
NOTE: Please do not give significant spoilers in the combox (or I’ll delete them). In the future, after folks have had a chance to watch the DVD, I may come back to this and discuss the theological and moral questions the stories pose.
P.S. The featurettes are very nice. The memorial tributes to Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs are touching, and the Straczynski Diaries are hilarious.
I enjoyed the DVD and thought it was better than it could have been expected, after all the problematic things JMS has done since B5 proper finished up.
I did find the first one being a bit weak in JMS’s theological understanding (he should have read a bit of Lewis which asked the same question), but beyond that, it ended in a very positive fashion (respectful of religion).
The second was good, and well, Sheridan is Sheridan, he doesn’t care for reporters.
Oh, yes, we too were terribly excited… B5 /Excalibur freaks 🙂
Oh, yes, we too were terribly excited… B5 /Excalibur freaks 🙂
Oh, yes, we too were terribly excited… B5 /Excalibur freaks 🙂
The way that JMS treats the subject of religion is sometimes problematic but he flies far above most other science fiction writers by at least allowing human characters that hold religious beliefs – something the Star Trek universe precluded – and treating those beliefs with a certain respect. I became a regular watcher of the B5 series after seeing the episode, “Passing through Gesthemane”.
More to the point of my own concern is I thought Lochley was the worst character JMS introduced and could barely sit through any episode with her in it. The thought of watching any entire mini-movie that centers on her gives me pause.
What surprised me with the Lochley episode is it worked — as a whole it reminded me of a combination of “The Exorcist” with “Out of the Silent Planet.” Indeed, it is because it was an exorcist pastiche that I was able to accept some of the poor philosophical understanding of “the heavens” in the beginning.
I had heard that Babylon 5: The Lost Tales was in the works, but I didn’t know it was out yet. Thanks for the heads-up.
Also:
basically, CGI was at the stage that video games are now; this DVD may give you an idea of where video games will be in a few years
Actually, the CGI in the original Babylon 5 series is far, far more primitive than the graphics of most contemporary videogames. The Playstation 2 has more advanced graphics, as does the Playstation 3. Just check out this screenshot for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: Link.
I find such imaging capabilities trully advanced, especially when compared to this.
Whether or not the GCI in the new Babylon 5 Lost Tales is better remains yet to be seen. I will definitely have to check them out.
Thanks for the heads up, Jimmy! I just went to Netflix and put it at the top of my queue.
The way that JMS treats the subject of religion is sometimes problematic but he flies far above most other science fiction writers by at least allowing human characters that hold religious beliefs – something the Star Trek universe precluded…
No doubt. It was so flagrant, especially Next Gen, that they should have dropped the charade and just renamed the ship USS Humanist Manifesto II
allowing human characters that hold religious beliefs – something the Star Trek universe precluded
With the exception of Native American mysticism.
Re: Star Trek religion. There was an episonde in the Original series where Captain Kirk marries two of his crew members in a small Chapel on the Enterprise. Later, when the husband dies, the wife is shown praying in the same Chapel. IIRC, there was even a cross in the Chapel.
+J.M.J+
>>>No doubt. It was so flagrant, especially Next Gen, that they should have dropped the charade and just renamed the ship USS Humanist Manifesto II
Didn’t Data mention in one episode that some people on the ship were celebrating the Hindu festival of lights?
Hinduism and Native American religion si, Christianity no.
In Jesu et Maria,
In the original series, Kirk one time tells a Klingon to “Go to the devil!”. At the end of TNG, Wesley Crusher goes all new agey. The original series did not do away with religion entirely. It probably could not go so far in the ’60s. They even purposely kept the ratio of female and male crew members unequal so as not to create the impression that everyone was coupling.
But a new age spirituality, which in the mind of new agers includes Hinduism and Indian mysticism is not what I meant when I mentioned religion being precluded.
I thought Wesley became like, some hyperintelligent shade of the color blue or something. At any rate, it got him off the ship, so I didn’t ask too many questions. 🙂
I thought Wesley became like, some hyperintelligent shade of the color blue or something. At any rate, it got him off the ship, so I didn’t ask too many questions. 🙂
You only think it did. Remember: ascended beings are invisible in their natural state.
I love how they handled the untimely deaths of the actors who played G’kar and Dr Franklin, to bad they didn’t mention Zathrus.
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