Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales [2007] (DVD)

Very dissapointing Babylon 5 is a must see for anyone who likes science fiction, what ever you do do not watch this as an introduction to one of the most inventive thought provoking sci fi series ever. This first 'tale' is very bad and should of been left on the cutting room floor, the second 'tale' is the only reason I didn't give this zero stars (not that you can). At times there are brief glimpses of what B5 used to be but they are fleeting and far too few.

Very disappointing For a time, B5 was unmissable stuff with plot twist and depth that you would not expect. It was on a tight budget and it showed, but it focused squarely on the characters unlike the competing Star Trek franchise at the time which was very shallow and caught up in technobabble. But this didn't last. Season 4 was awesome but rushed and season 5 was, frankly, an embarrassment. Just when it seemed B5 was dead we were treated to 3 mediocre films and a spinoff (Crusade) which might have gone somewhere but was doomed from day one by 'executive' meddling. Then we had Legend of the Rangers, which must rank as one of the most awful pieces of garbage ever to have the 'B5' name and it was a stinker. Alas, Lost Tales continues this trend. To its credit, the travesty that was Rangers is forgotten, along with it's weird re-interpretation of the Membari and terrible special effects. But Sheridan is the only cast member present and I could never stand miscast-Lockley with her so-insincere dialog. It's obvious also from the commentary that none of the original B5 assets exist anymore and the few new physical sets look cheap and foreign. The only thing that survives from the original show is the StarFurry CGI model, which is used a little too heavily in the few CGI scenes (what happened to the Thunderbolt?) The stories did nothing for me. The first one is a metaphysical mess and the second one, about signs and portents, has been done to death before by JMS (although kudos to the actor who played the Centauri prince who did a brilliant job). I just felt disappointed by the anti-climax of it all. I guess it's nice to see another glimpse of the B5 universe and what it might had look like if they'd had today's technology back in '93, but really, the franchise is dead and this just proves it.

Should of been better The lack of money and tight acting spoils what should of been another good foray (and money earner) to the B5 world...pity, I was looking forward to this since finish...sooo long ago. The stories lacked depth and......a story and the usual twists. One major plus was the poignant (but short) tributes to the two main cast members who recently passed away in real life to 'beyond the rim'. The time and effort to do this shows the close ties that remained far after the series had finished, and added a bit of quality to the production...although a couple of short 'best' clips would of made it far far better.

a good start its a nice addition to the b5 universe,i understand some of the criticisms of the reviewers but you have to take into account the restrictions with which jms had to work. the budget is very obviously very small and as such i believe he has done a good job how do you write and produce a good sci fi on a shoestring if you look at the majority of the big american sci fi series and then compare it to what he had to work with on the original series and even more so on this,i defy anyone to do a better job i feel that these days most people want to see action and fast punchy story lines all the time ,b5 was always a bit different becuase although it had action there was always a cerebral quality to the stories. these stories are just a natural continuation of that and im disappointed with some of the reviewers lack of insight on this why does everything thing have to be scintillating and fantastic - why cant people enjoy things for what they are,they are lost tales - not b5 episodes,why does everything have to be the best thing you have ever seen or complete rubbish,ant some things just be good. there is also an experimental aspect to this as the short tales have been put out there to see how they will do and as such im hoping not just for more tales, but a higher budget and bigger storylines and one last rant ,i dont understand reviewers complaining about the religous overtones of the tales, jms and bab5 has always done this -what are the stories of soulcatchers about if not religion, nimbari souls being reborn into humans the second maybe a but of a thin example but with a bit of thought i could come up with many other storylines that could be construed as religous to one extent or another jms has never shyed away from difficult or taboo subjects i enjoyed the lost tales for what they are,unexpected bab5 bonuses after several years that we did not know were coming and i hope for as many more as possible

Lost... Babylon 5 was such a brilliant series that I always have high expectations of it. Sadly, The Lost Tales disappoints. B5's one distracting flaw, for me, was its uncritical approval of religion and faith, but in the series it was always pretty much under control and acceptable. Here it becomes embarrassingly intrusive in the banal first tale of Satan attempting to escape his Earthly prison by hijacking a ride in the body of a B5 security guard. The second tale is a little stronger, thanks to a nicely judged performance from Bruce Boxleitner and an interesting moral dilemma for Sheridan to solve. I suppose the problem here is in my expectation - that the grand sweep of B5 can be captured in two bite sized stories spanning little more than an hour. In the end, what we get is some tantalizing glimpses of the B5 universe, but little real substance. Some nice things to look at, though, I suppose - a stunning view of B5 amongst them. All we can hope is that any further episodes have more of the energy and humour of the original.