the lost tales

[Mariel]

Well I pre-ordered mine from Amazon but when I looked in my Sunday paper I noticed that Best Buy had it with an exclusive comic. So yes, I rushed out to Best Buy this morning just so I could have that comic. It's a 6 pager that fits in the DVD box and is a tribute to Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas. I also enjoyed the DVD with all its extras. Well worth the price in my opinion.

 

[Melanie Nilles]

I like it, but both my husband and I are frustrated that it's only one episode that leaves things hanging. As he discovered, though, putting out more depends on the sale of this first one. If you want to see more, tell your friends to buy it! Support more Lost Tales, so we aren't left wondering what happens next.

 

[mogora]

I was rather disappointed.

I really disliked the first episode. JMS originally wrote this as a short story not set in the B5 universe. Just changing the setting to B5 didn't make it feel like Babylon 5. But then, I thought the original story was ridiculous in the extreme to begin with. I'm supposed to buy demons and exorcists in space without even a twitch of incredulity?

The second episode with Sheridan was much better but predictable. I knew what Sheridan's solution would be the moment Galen posed the problem. However, at least my eyes weren't rolling out of their sockets like in the first episode. I did enjoy this one, despite the lack of tension over what Sheridan would do.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Got to admit, I'm very reserved about these - JMS seems to have been going downhill in terms of creativity since Season 3 of B5.

Season 5 as a rush job perhaps has an excuse, but I've had serious difficulty enjoying any of the B5 films released since. One I can't remember the name of, other than it was bloody awful and couldn't give it away fast enough. In the beginning was okay, but filled with plot discrepencies with the original B5 storyline.

 

[Melanie Nilles]

About the first episode or rather, the first part...is this some sort of actual demon or a remnant of the allies of the Shadows? If the latter, it would make more sense and follow with the original B5 story. THAT is what I want to know.

 

[JFLewis]

About the first episode or rather, the first part...is this some sort of actual demon or a remnant of the allies of the Shadows? If the latter, it would make more sense and follow with the original B5 story. THAT is what I want to know.

I think that was my main issue with the first section. If Angel sightings, in the B5 universe, have throughout history been Vorlon sightings (which I think the series intimates) then why are there real demons? It would make much more sense for them to be some kind of agents of the Shadows.

The second part was great for me. The sets didn't feel as small and we *gasp* had three actors from the series on screen at one time! The interplay between Galen and Sheridan felt just like the original series at its best.

I'll definitetly buy the next set. I hope they give JMS the budget to do the Garibaldi story as he envisions it.

The tributes to Andreas Katsulas and Michael Biggs were particularly touching.

 

[Gothic_Angelica]

I just got round to watching the lost tales and I was a little disappointed. It was just a random story about nothing.

Ah well, never mind. I liked some of it and it is nice to see B5 looking better than ever.

 

[sassy nation]

yea, i was gravely disappointed with the dvd stories. and the original cast, few. the first story, oh it was horrid. and not buy-intoable. i am now trying to watch Jeremiah, and found the pilot boring.

 

[doctorwhen]

I, too, was a bit disappointed with the storylines. The whole devil in space thing was an interesting concept, but it didn't really fit into the whole B5 universe in my opinion. As I think someone else mentioned, it was a non-B5 story JMS wrote - and you can tell.

As others have mentioned, the other story's ending was a bit vague.

Nice try, but you're going to have to try a lot harder to beat or even equal the original series: My girlfriend and I are huge fans and watch B5 on rotation (we watch the whole arc back-to-back and it takes us a good year each time!) - and we're still finding new things.

The only redeeming feature was that the CGI was updated, and the "look and feel" of the whole thing was much better using the new technology.

 

[judge_mel]

All in all, I found it enjoyable to spend some time back in the B5 universe, and while the stories were little more than interpersonal set pieces to be played out predictably, I'm not unhappy about watching them.

As for plot and dialogue, Straczinski continues to demonstrate both his strengths and weaknesses. He's great as usual with his portentous dialogue, still rather clunky with his normal speech, and his characters tend to be designed to play out the game he's having in his head with these two stories. The only major flaws I found annoyed me were the gloating and petty maliciousness on the part of Lockley and Sheridan especially. I guess they haven't had much fun in the intervening years.

 

[Rodders]

Not a lot of people rated this too highly. But what can you seriously expect? For a stand alone episode, it's never going to have the complexity that the series had. Personally, I thought that it was pretty good. Three new stories for Sheridan. I particularly enjoyed the one about the supposed demon banished to earth. Although it did raise some questions. The station looked superb compared to the 90s effects. Crystal clear and much more detailed.

Am i right in saying that there were supposed to be a story for each of the main characters initially? Sales must have been pretty good as I know that WB were interested in doing more of these, but JMS refused as he didn't want to keep doing the show injustice by releasing [Relatively] cheap shorts that don't do B5 any justice. He's holding out that WB will investo in a B5 movie. I don't hold out much hope, but i will keep my fingers crossed.

 

[zorcarepublic]

I watched it and didn't really enjoy it. I watched both episodes together, and the first one was cringeworthy. The second one, not too bad. But nowhere near the quality of the series.

 

[wookie8472]

the lost tales were simply awful. i own all the b5 stuff and even got crusade, which should have continued, like so many other sci fi series. i think the budgets got redirected to fund the terrible films of the past 20 years instead of the series that should have been made, like firefly, for instance.

 

[Interference]

Agreed.

Sometimes, I truly despair at the vast quantities of moolah thrown at a franchise that has no more value than a toenail clipping while others languish, loved and remembered, in the vaults of heavenly might-have-beens. I don't know if it was always this way, but surely quality used to count for something.

 

[kd5]

I didn't think The Lost Tales added anything important to Babylon 5. It was almost sad to see them after having watched the series. -kd5-

 

[Rodders]

I thought it was a positive step. B5's been off air for some time and Warner Bros commission the Lost Tales. Again, one DVD is not a committment and that's something that's always let B5 down. I would've loved to seen how a series of 4 or 5 releases would have turned out.

 

[primalscream]

In many ways I can't help but feel that the Lost Tales would have worked better as one joined episode (the events on B5 acting as the B-plot to Sheridan's technomage problem). The second episode made me think of B5 when it was at its best. The only difference was very much that this looked like a start of an arc, but one which there was no planned continuation.

I'd love to have B5 or a sequel series back - I've very much felt that Crusade and Legend of Rangers/lost tales were never given the time to grow (like many cancelled series these days). B5 took its time to become really good and I think these would have too given the chance.

ah well! Perhaps at the least we might one day get more novels or graphic novels!

 

[Rodders]

Novelisations would be the way forward IMO.

 

[Roxy]

Although I really enjoyed both stories, based on what I was reading before hand from Joe Straczynski I was expecting them to be connected to parts of the story arc of the original show, rather than stand alone stories. Noticed some strange inconsistencies with the original series as well – Earth being the only people to have defeated the Centauri in the past, ships “warping” in!!? But the lack of cash was really the biggest problem.

 

[corwin of amber]

I didn't think The Lost Tales added anything important to Babylon 5. It was almost sad to see them after having watched the series. -kd5-

I've been bad and deleted the additional tales, but there was one other that had 3 segments to it. One where Delenn at and advanced age for a Minbari showed up to refute a ISN special trashing Sheridan, segment 2 was a tale put together from snippets and Sheridan, Delenn, and Garibaldi
were recreated as holograms for a talk show while Earth was trying to worm out the ISA thinking they could go it alone and Garibaldi sabotaged everything by reprogramming the Earth computers with his technosavy even as a hologram and final the last short segment where a human was talking with an encounter suit in the back ground talking about human history and the last scene showed him turning into a bolt of energy and entering the suit. These shorts made the lost tales worth watching it, I'm sorry that a crashed drive cost me these last little pieces.