'Babylon 5: The Lost Tales' Trailer!

POSTED BY: cljohnston108
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 18:21
VIEWED: 5299
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CLJOHNSTON108

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 1:27 PM

I was worried that, without G'Kar, Dr. Franklin, or even Zathras, it wouldn't be Babylon 5.

Now I feel a little better...

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:17 PM

That trailer looks amazing.
As a dude that's never seen B5 at all, this looks like something I could get into...

Whadya think? Chrisisall

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:38 PM

GALEN!!

Wonder if they'll play up the "Last Technomage" thing.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

NXOJKT

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:41 PM

This could be a real test case for things to come.

Babylon 5 was a syndicated sci-fi show for 4 of its 5 seasons, and while it had a rabid fan base, it was never particularly large. It's ratings for Season 5 on TNT were okay... good enough for cable that TNT decided to take a chance on Crusade, its spin-off.

So here we are, several years down the road, and better than expected DVD sales numbers have the rights-holders thinking that a movie could be a success. Sound familiar?

If this straight to DVD movie thing works for Babylon 5 it could send a strong message to the studios that own "cult Sci-Fi hits" that this is a viable market. Other shows with similar fan bases could follow... shows like Farscape, Stargate, and a little thing called Firefly.

How much money "Serenity" made is a tough number to pin down. Wordwide box office gross came in at just under $39 million, and then there's the DVD sales and the sale to television, etc... But when you consider the budget, around $40 million, the movie was not, based on its cost, a resounding success. At least not enough of one that had the studio begging to put a sequal on the fast track.

But with the sales of the series on DVD, combined with the sales of the movie on DVD... is Universal taking a close look to see how this Babylon 5 direct to DVD project pans out? Certainly direct to DVD projects don't require $40 million budgets. They also don't require $5-10 million advertising budgets.

This DVD being a success certainly does nothing to guarantee any other titles being released in this way... the same way that it being a failure means no guarantee that some other studio won't try the same thing. But it would not surprise me at all to hear that other studios are watching, very closely watching, how this fares.

Having said all of that... Babylon 5 was a ground breaking show, one of the first to use long, season and series-long, story arcs. The special effects were, for their time, equally groundbreaking. The 1st season is a bit tough to get through do to some shoddy acting by the lead actor. But if you can get to the 2nd season, it is a very rewarding 5 seasons of television, with seasons 2, 3, and 4 feeling like 1 long episode. I don't know how this movie will play if you haven't seen the show... and the last B5 movie "The Legend of the Rangers" was not particularly good... so I hesitate to blindly recommend this movie. But I can recommend the series.

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by nxojkt:
I hesitate to blindly recommend this movie. But I can recommend the series.

I saw Peacekeeper Wars relatively cold, and had a ball with it. So I figure I'll buy this, so what if I miss some refrences? It looks GREAT!
And then I'll probably have to get the series....

Need to make more money Chrisisall

CLJOHNSTON108

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 2:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
As a dude that's never seen B5 at all...

The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html

B5TECH.COM - The Babylon 5 Tech-Manual
http://www.b5tech.com/

Babylonsounds.com - The Babylon 5 music archive
http://www.babylonsounds.com/en/index.html

Down Below Sound Archive for Babylon 5
http://b5.cs.uwyo.edu/bab5/

YouTube - Babylon 5 opening credits (all five seasons)

YouTube - Search Results for “babylon 5”

=

The Babylon Podcast: Our Last Best Hope for Babylon 5 Discussion
http://www.babylonpodcast.com/

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:09 PM

*In a Bill Murray voice*
I've been B5ed.

Chrisisall

CLJOHNSTON108

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
*In a Bill Murray voice*
I've been B5ed.

Chrisisall

Too much?

CHRISISALL

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by cljohnston108:

Too much?

Nah, just too much to get into all of this minute, thanks, bro!

Future B5 fan Chrisisall

CLJOHNSTON108

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Nah, just too much to get into all of this minute, thanks, bro!

Future B5 fan Chrisisall

Well, you've got the rest of your life to check it out (it ain't goin' anywhere), so no hurries!

I'd taped ALL the episodes when they aired on TNT, and started loaning 'em to a friend.
By the time he got to the end of the second tape, he was calling me up with, "Daaaaaang! "Star Trek" never had anything like this!"

A guy in a chat room once was saying, "Babylon 5 SUCKS!" but it turned out he'd only seen an episode here & there.
I told him to watch a week's worth on TNT, and he came back raving the following week!

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