Lost Tales - What did you think? (SPOILERS!!)

[Locutus9956]

Well I finally saw this last night and I must say I personally was pleasently surprised.

It wasnt amazing and if you're not already a B5 fan then I seriously doubt this will convert you but I still enjoyed it.

The first half was a bit irrelevant with the whole 'excorcist' thing but it was an interesting story nonetheless (not a great deal to do with B5 I'll grant you but I liked it still).

The second one was much more of a proper B5 episode and I think opens up possibilities for a really good story arc. The only downside is that the battle sequence I was looking forward to from the trailers is just a little 'flashforward' dream sequence and isnt much longer than in the trailer

Neither are up there with the best of B5 but they are both way better than crusade imo and whoever it was who said it was worse than... that other B5 Movie.... must be mad! I would personally rate about the same as most of season 5. Not great but its still B5 and thats better than no B5 from where Im sitting.

The one thing I would LOVE to see done is to have all the original B5 series done over with the new CGI (dont touch the shows just replace all the CGI with modern versions to the same standard done in Lost Tales, that would be AWESOME!!!!)

I can dream

 

[eek]

Agreed, they were well worth getting, and felt pretty much like regular B5 episodes.

The first was a bit odd, bit I think it fits in which the whole "Vorlons as holy figures" thing. Maybe not specifically Vorlons as such (although it's possible, since Thirdspace tells us of rogue Vorlons) but some other kind of alien parasite trapped on Earth perhaps.

Hopefully this does well enough for JMS to explore the story that the 2nd part could open up.

 

[Poi]

I picked this up on Saturday, and enjoyed it a great deal.

Typical B5 stuff, here's hoping that it's done well enough for a volume 2.

The exorcism story had a very B5 type ending.

Price Ventari has to make a reappearance, if only to prove Galen wrong in a follow-up.

 

[Locutus9956]

Actually the more I think about it the more I long for them to redo the CGI in the originals now....

Imagine the Long Twilight Struggle with those graphics.... or Severed Dreams.... Or Endgame.... Or Into the Fire...

[Homer] mmmmmmmm..... spaceships (drool) [/Homer]

 

[Locutus9956]

Price Ventari has to make a reappearance, if only to prove Galen wrong in a follow-up.

Agree, he was quite a good new character with plenty of intereting options story wise. It took me a while to think back and realise 'hang on, hes right, technically Vir DID murder his father'

 

[tneva82]

Price Ventari has to make a reappearance, if only to prove Galen wrong in a follow-up.

I actually thought Sheridan nailed it in head and Galen had this precicely planned with plan B of Sheridan actually killing listed as "acceptable solution"...

If Galen would really have wanted to get Vintari killed I doubt he would make such a slip of tongue(plural instead of singular). He seems smarter than that. I think he specifically put that plural form there and trusted on character judgement on Sheridan.

Why go through this? To ensure Sheridan knew well the risk and price if he would fail and so would make double sure he would NOT fail...Also element of "I told you so!" might be added to Sheridan's motivation.

Dunno. Galen seemed to surrender too easily in the end and felt...too happy that makes me think he wasn't aiming to kill Vintari in a first place(also B5 characters aren't always so straightforward ;-)

=====

Anyway I really, really, really enjoyed watching the film. Sure it wasn't best of B5. No new Z'Ha'Dum or something like that. Sure station felt empty. Sure it felt bit short. But concidering how long break there has been and probably less than generous budget bloody good start for hopefully long series of lost tales. And it FELT B5. Never felt like spinoff serie that tries to be B5 but felt B5 from the get-go.

In part definetly helped to have Franke do the music again. I just love music he does for B5! I started to get good vibes about the film when I heard he would do the music score and good to see(or rather hear) he didn't dissapoint ;-)

And unlike some I didn't mind shortness of space battle sequence but then again space battles was never the thing for me in B5(and actually these days are most boring parts, the ones I'm most likely to skip). Not that I hate them but for me B5 is more than space battles ;-)

Oh and also loved how both episodes tossed moral dilema for viewer. Definetly what I enjoyed about original show.

What more? Good to see Sheridan and Galen in action again. Loved the Galen in Crusade, good work here too.

All in all don't feel dissapointed at buying DVD and soundtrack(and if they would have released say lost tales script book alongside that too. Every penny toward WB I can to do my little part in convincing them to green light more of these). Now anxiously waiting about further lost tales. Green? Red? Give us a word!

 

[tneva82]

Actually the more I think about it the more I long for them to redo the CGI in the originals now....

Imagine the Long Twilight Struggle with those graphics.... or Severed Dreams.... Or Endgame.... Or Into the Fire...

[Homer] mmmmmmmm..... spaceships (drool) [/Homer]

Oooh yeah. Too bad it's unlikely to happen(imagine the costs...) but if they would I would buy new set in a heartbeat. Wonder how technology has gone forward in mere 10 years.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Loved the NY bit that was funny.

 

[tneva82]

Loved the NY bit that was funny.

"Look familiar? No? Of course. My mistake. It's the dust you see..."

JMS seems to have...fondness...to blow American cities. First San Diego, now NYK. Wonder which city is next in line ;-)

 

[Tankdriver]

Swindon

 

[Da Boss]

nice start sequence - did not like the first episode at all - really enjoyed the second

 

[JayRaider]

On reflection, disappointing.
Told 2 stories that nobody except JMS wanted to see. (as usual)
All in all, another wasted opportunity.

 

[Shadow Queen]

Hope they are going to do a Claudia on her Warlock

 

[emperorpenguin]

Hope they are going to do a Claudia on her Warlock

now there's an image! :lol:

 

[Mr. Neutron]

Message to Warner Bros: Whatever happens, please do not let JMS direct anything ever again. The direction was so bad I was yelling at the screen. Tracey Scoggins has become an even worse actor, (and I am not sure how that was possible) and the lack of people in the scenes was disturbing.
That was the least populated space station ever. And there was what, 7 speaking roles in the entire thing?
The Lockley ep was terrible from beginning to end, and the Sheridan one was saved only by Bruce's commitment to the part. Both eps had the depth and subtlety of a Brittney Spears video. And I have seen Bazooka Joe comics that were less predictable.
The only good thing on the DVD was the tributes to Andraus and Richard. And seeing the Warlock shoot. And the pak'ma'ra joke.
I give it a big thumbs down.

 

[lastbesthope]

That was the least populated space station ever. And there was what, 7 speaking roles in the entire thing?

People keep raising this point or variants thereof, now admittedly the stgation might have benefited from having a few more extras in the background, but as I recall we weren't often in very populated or central areas of the station. Also the priest was trying to keep some semblance of secrecy about the whole affair.

But as to people's complaints about the low number of speaking parts, please at least give a reason why that is a bad thing in and of itself, I mean, look at Intersections in Real Time, very few speaking roles, but a very strong episode. I'm not saying that's what made it strong, but neither is the small cast likely to be what makes TLT weak, if that is your opinion of it.

LBH

 

[Mr. Neutron]

That was the least populated space station ever. And there was what, 7 speaking roles in the entire thing?

But as to people's complaints about the low number of speaking parts, please at least give a reason why that is a bad thing in and of itself, I mean, look at Intersections in Real Time, very few speaking roles, but a very strong episode. I'm not saying that's what made it strong, but neither is the small cast likely to be what makes TLT weak, if that is your opinion of it.

LBH

You mean that the President arriving on the station would not have 90 security guys, 50 reporters, 400 sightseers, ambassadors from every race, and a couple of protesters at the bay? One of the things that made B5 so realistic was that there were always a LOT of people around. In any static installation such as a station or ship, you can't walk 20 yards without seeing somebody else. And even if in the Lockly ep, even if you want to keep it quiet, there should have been a doctor around, a couple of nurses, and a LOT of guards. Having it so sparse made it look like a community theater production. And with the way Centauri politics works, the Prince would have been surrounded by advisors, guards, and sycophants.

I just found the writing to be very weak. I think the directing responsibilities distracted JMS too much, and the story's suffered. And the directing was amateur at best.

 

[Iain McGhee]

I'd not call the writing weak, especially in the second story. Lots of great dialogue, easily as good as anything JMS has done before. And as for the station being underpopulated in TLT - as LBH said in the first story Lochley was trying to keep things quiet so there'd be as few people around as possible and in the second you only saw part of a docking bay, so other than a few techs there wouldn't be that many folk around. The Prince was wary of assassination attempts and Londo entrusted him to Sheridan's care, so no entourage.

 

[Locutus9956]

Also when alls said and done they havent got a massive budget for these, Actors cost money, even extras. And before anyone says 'oh but Im sure hundreds of B5 fans wouldve done it for free', frankly most B5 fans (myself included) are somewhat crazy sci fi geeks and would be an absolute menace on the set

 

[emperorpenguin]

Well I finally bought this while out shopping today and I only watched the Vintari episode, but boy am I disappointed!

The thing was so short! The episode barely got started before it was over.

a C- and must try harder from me