Re: "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales" - A Review

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:12:26 -0700, StarFuryG7@xxxxxxx wrote:

On Aug 7, 2:27 pm, Josh Hill <userepl...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In all fairness (since I'm guilty of raising the A/B plot issue),

If you've brought it up here already, I haven't seen your
post. I've avoided all posts and/or reviews of this movie up to now,
and will only start reading them from this point on.

Interesting then that we're on the same page about the A/B plots.

I don't read reviews before I see a movie anymore -- they give
too much away.

I stopped reading reviews before the movie when they tipped me off
about the alien emerging from the stomach. *#^(@Q(& for ever and
eternity.

JMS
wrote that he decided on a "short story" format rather than
conventional episodes while he rethought the series in light of the
unfortunate deaths. So the format choice constitutes both a practical
limitation and is a creative premise.

I've heard about his rethinking his approach, but the sad fact
is that in relation to this project, both of these stories could have
been intertwined and edited together without it having changed
anything about the two respective stories necessaily. As I said, I'd
like to edit this movie myself and combine it in the manner I think it
should have been done, though right now, at this moment, I simply lack
the necessary equipment to do it. That will change soon enough
however.

I'm looking forward to seeing the result.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who was impressed by the accent. I
thought Keegan Macintosh did a wonderful job overall.

I'll have to check out your review at some point. What Topic
header did you post it under? Or should I just pull up all of your
messages to find it? I guess that would be easier for us both.

I didn't actually post a full review here, just made some remarks
about some other people. Probably in the TLT spoilers thread, but I'm
not sure.

One of the
reasons the scene worked so well is that although he's still in his
20's, according to IMDB, he's able to transform his expression in a
wink of the eye from boyish innocence to Cartagian malignancy. A
bravura performance, as I thought was Boxtleitner's (what is it about
B5 and hard-to-spell names, anyway?). Like a fine wine, he seems to
have improved with age.

Yeah, Bruce really struck me as having never left the role at
all, which is kind of amazing because it has been nine years after
all. I think he's really missed playing this character.

He mentioned how easily he fell into the role in the extras.

Yeah, that was a weak point for me as well. I mean, if I guess how a
show's going to end, you know it's a cliche . . .

Exactly --saw it coming a mile away, as would anyone familiar
with B5 and Sheridan.

A few other things that bothered me:
Why was Galen able to see thirty years into the future even
though he's a techno-mage?

JMS explained that yesterday --

I don't follow this group closely and have a lot of catching
up to do in relation to this movie here, which I'll try and do
somewhat at some point, but I just don't have much time for this kind
of stuff anymore.

time travel is, in the B5 universe,
scientifically possible.

It may well be scientifically possible, but that doesn't
explain why Galen was poking around and looking at what'll happen
three decades down the line. Some kind of an explanation would have
been nice.

I hate speculating on what authors are thinking because 90% of the
time it makes you look the fool, but I think the idea here is that
Galen's techniques (and those of the technomages in general) are
supposed to remain mysterious. We discussed that here a while back,
and JMS alluded to it in the DVD extras. The books tell us though that
they use Shadow tech.

Wouldn't Sheridan have some apprehension about taking the
Centauri Prince into his home knowing what Galen said he saw as his
future?

Murder and the destruction of New York are pretty powerful motivators.

Yeah, but living with a monster up close would be a bit
unsettling for most people. Yes, it would be worth a try, but it would
be hard not to think about what he develops into when in his presence
and trying to change him.

Sheridan does say he'll off him if it doesn't work out well. Lots of
story possibilities there . . .

Overall Grade opinion: B-

While I agree on the whole with your review, I'd assign it a better
grade. Partly a gut feeling -- the Lochley story didn't transcend the
OK, but the Sheridan story had I thought moments of intense power.
Partly it's that I think it should be compared to what's out there,
rather than the very best of B5.

Actually, I thought I graded it quite fairly, and on a slight
curve at that given the time restrictions and budget limitations that
Joe and company found themselves up against, which I took into account
in my evaluation. In fact, I wondered if I should have listed the
letter grade as a B-/C+ instead after posting. I think most people,
not familiar with the series, but who give this movie a look, would
see it along the line as the latter grade: C+

Doesn't mean they can't do better if they keep it, though.

Well, personal reaction, and I can't claim to be unbiased. I just hope
most people grade it better than that, because I want people to buy
the next one in the series to keep it going, and if they're
disappointed by the first that's less likely to happen. In any case,
I've no doubt that there will be improvements in the next -- I believe
that one of the reasons JMS pushed the Garibaldi episode back into the
second DVD was that it was more complex than the others, and they'd
have amassed more sets and CGI by then.

--
Josh

"Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is
good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
-- Samuel Johnson

.

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