Babylon 5: Thirdspace

[Brian G Turner]

I don't think I've seen this movie tie-in with the Babylon 5 TV series, but I can't find any dedicated discussion of Thirdspace on chrons. Anyone seen it? Impressions? Tempted to buy or rent this out if it's decent enough. For reference I loved Babylon 5 seasons 1-4, enjoyed In the Beginning, but found Call to Arms dull and cliched.

 

[Foxbat]

I have Thirdspace but it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen it. From what I recall, it has an almost Lovecraftian feel to it. A mysterious ancient artifact opens a gateway to a race even older than the Vorlons and they’re hell bent on exterminating everything in sight. It’s probably worth a watch.

 

[JunkMonkey]

My IMDb review from 2005:

I'm a long time fan of Babylon 5 but watching this for the second time I am struck by how much clumsy exposition there is in this movie. So much back story is filled in by characters telling each other things that are (within the Babylon 5 universe) such common knowledge that it is absurd for people to talk about them (Dr Trent's conversation with her companion Bill Morishi about the history of the Jumpgate falls into this category) or characters tell each other things they already know (or think they know) just so we the audience can be told as well. Sorry I don't buy it - at one point one of the characters actually says "...as you very well know". This is soap opera writing. Does the job but it's hardly elegant.

I don't know the schedule JMS was working to on this one but it looks like it was written in a hurry. The writing is no way up to the usual standard for this show. The humour isn't there either. Having said that the SFX are good...

 

[Glaysher]

It could have been an okay filler episode.

 

[Rodders]

I don't remember it being any good, to be honest.

 

[BAYLOR]

I don't remember it being any good, to be honest.

In Hyperspace a gigantic Vorlon artifact is found and brought to Babylon 5 for analysis . What begins to happened is people on the station start to get affected , they exhibit strange behavior and some have dreams of a world cities and beings that resemble something out am H P Lovecraft story . What they doing is using the gas t cotnrill who open the gate and let them in want the gate to opened so they can come and wipe all life in galaxy like they've don in thrown The Vorlons built the gate with intend of traveling to other dimensions but in Third space they found horror an enemy more power then themselves. This enemy thorough their power telepathy got control of some the Vorlons ,but the most Vorlon resisted and beat bad the enemy but before thye could destroyer the gate it stolen by the mind controlled Vorlons who ditched it back in ot hyperspace. Eons later , humans have found it and again thye and the rest of the lacy are face peril on a grand scale . and it will take another fierce space battle to keep the menace from Third space at bay.

 

[Foxbat]

I’ve just rewatched Third Space and I would say that I agree with those giving it a lukewarm reception. It’s okay. It’s watchable, but it’s nothing startling. There is, indeed, a bit of extremely clumsy exposition - especially the scene where two members of Interplanetary Expeditions who, despite them both having used and understood jump gates for many years, suddenly feel the need to explain the history of these gates to each other.

 

[Rodders]

With the exception of In The Beginning, i found each of the TV films to be a bit "meh". They were each enjoyable enough, but I think that telling stories outside of the main arc wasn't the best thing.

 

[Foxbat]

I also didn't feel there was much jeopardy or story in the movie.


Find an ancient artifact that threatens the very existence of humanity. Go in and nuke it. The end.
Also, when the nuke goes off, Sheridan in a flimsy spacesuit survives the shockwave but two enemy (anti?)Vorlon ships are clearly seen being destroyed by it. Didn't make any sense to me.

 

[KGeo777]

I watched the original series but never got to the other ones. Laziness. Apathy.
As a "soap opera" sci-fi I thought it was pretty good-especially since they knew where they were going with it.
Babylon Squared was really clever and I liked the time travel stuff about the unseen "David" and G'kar/Londo.

The spy story was a surprise--when they revealed who the sleeper agent was.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Babylon 5 Controversy

 

[Brian G Turner]

Watched this. Thirdspace was okay. Not great, but okay.

I think a couple of issues were:

1. Missing cast - Londa, G'Kar, and Garibaldi are all missing due to their storylines in the series, which makes the show feel smaller than it normally is;
2. Missing tension - there's no real tension underpinning this episode, something that was normal with the main show episodes due to multiple plotlines in development.

Aside from that it wasn't too bad, though it sometimes felt a little cliched, and Sheridan travelling in just a spacesuit through a space battle was a bit daft.