New B5 movies dvd!

Having commentaries on every movie is great, the menu is beautiful bit but not having ANY trailers is pretty disapointing, you think theu would be consistent.

The TNT trailers produced were so cool its a shame we'll never get to see them...

There was also a 30 behind the scenes B5 special they could'have included but it almost seems like TNT lost all their B5 stuff...from what I was told the season 5 episode previews are not the same that TNT aired...

Does anybody knows whats up with TNT?

My best guess, TNT doesn't own B5, WB does. TNT screwed the B5 universe with the whole Crusade debacle, and there's been talk about the Crusade DVDs having controversy surrounding them because JMS wanted to set the story straight and detail exactly what happened with Crusade and TNT on the DVD set, so TNT is no friend to B5 anymore (they gave us a Season 5 we may never have gotten without them, so they do deserve some praise) but, after that, they have shown no support for B5, so, I wouldn't expect anything B5 related that is owned by TNT to ever surface on a JMS or WB project. Perhaps, if TNT sees money flowing to the B5 Universe, they'll drag out what they have, and show it themselves (if there's no contractual negatives to it), but, don't count on TNT to do anything that doesn't directly put money in their pocket.

Anyone else mildly annoyed by the artwork on the disks themselves? I have not had time to confirm it yet, but it looks like they just cut-and-pasted the Season 5 disk artwork, Photoshopped it to a teal tint and then stuck the movie name at the bottom. It would not have taken much time for the booklet artwork to be adapted for the disks, but that didn't happen. Oh well, at least my two floaters (as always) weren't badly scratched.

I am only about 45 minutes through The Gathering, so all I can say so far is that John Iacovelli can sure ramble.

Has anybody else read the introduction in the booklet that JMS wrote?

Jan

Yes. As soon as I bought the set, I opened it in the car. I noticed the non-movie artwork on the DVD labels, and I read the booklet.

It's nice that he dedicated the set to Rick Biggs.

I thought it was nice that he dedicated the set to him also. Didn't notice the artwork thou, as my "In The Begininng" disc was off the holder and had 2 lovely gouges in it. Back to the store tomorrow.

Hmm, haven't been following all the threads, but damn, all retailers in my area caught wind of the supposed release date change and are holding the product until NEXT week!

That is, West Coast BC, Canada, Region 1, August 17th -> August 24th.

Hmm, haven't been following all the threads, but damn, all retailers in my area caught wind of the supposed release date change and are holding the product until NEXT week!

That is, West Coast BC, Canada, Region 1, August 17th -> August 24th.

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Ah, that would explain why my Canadian import has been in "Processing" for the last week. I'm working my way through my Crusade VHS tapes to tide me over until it arrives...

Yes. As soon as I bought the set, I opened it in the car. I noticed the non-movie artwork on the DVD labels, and I read the booklet.

It's nice that he dedicated the set to Rick Biggs.

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I wonder why they didn't have movie art on the discs...kind of annoying.

Yes, it was good to see the dedication to Biggs.

I think the disc art is just a classic screw-up, and so kind of charming. They obviously mocked up some labels based on the S5 discs to play around with the colors and get approval for the over-all design. Then they either forgot to redesign the "character band" for each one or they did and just forgot to attach the new artwork file to the label lay-out file. And nobody caught it because disc art is so small and so unimportant generally.

I've now seen TG and ItB once each, with commentary and subtitles (because I recently restarted watching the series in order and therefore had watched the double feature disc not long ago.) Last night I watched The River of Souls all the way through for the first time since the night it premiered, when I found it very disappointing. Since that impression was echoed by so many other fans I really haven't bothered watching it since, except to play it in the background until the Lochley holo-brothel shots came up if I happened to stumble across a rerun on TNT or Sci-Fi.

I have to say now that I was wrong. The movie is better paced than I recalled, Martin Sheen's performance is better and less odd, the humor works better. Maybe the fact that I was hoping for something different, that it originally aired in the middle of S5 and seemed more like an interuption than a bonus, or the fact that I watched it in a hotel room outside of St. Louis midway through a 15 day business trip the first time I saw it made it seem worse than it was. But having actually seen The River of Souls for only the second time last night, I have to say I liked it. Lochley in the pink teddy is no longer the film's only redeeming contribution to the B5 canon in my eyes. (Although those scenes are certainly very nice additions. And Jerry Doyle's reaction to her is priceless) I watched it again tonight with the commentary track and I think I like it even better now.

Later tonight: Thirdspace

Regards,

Joe

I watched Thirdspace for the first time with this set, and I didn't like it. I thought it was cheezy. However, I did watch A Call to Arms and I enjoyed it much better this time around. Even the music (which I absolutely hated the first time) sounded better.

One of the disc label art issues that I find hillarious is the art for the first disc of the season one set. The soul hunter on the first disc of season one is the Martin Sheen's soul hunter from RoS. For some reason, it makes me laugh that it's him on that disc instead of either of the soul hunters from the season one episode.

As for RoS itself, I like it, just not as much as I do the other movies. I do enjoy RoS more than the episode "Soul Hunter." For me, the episode "Soul Hunter" never came off as good as the script itself was. I like the plot of the episode, just not all the dialogue and performances. Of the three soul hunters we've seen, I like Martin Sheen's best. I wonder if that character in RoS had been performed by some rather unknown actor if RoS would have seemed weaker than it does to me with it being such a big name if the performances had ended up identical.

I, personally, really like Thirdspace. Though I've never read any Lovecraft stories, I still feel the same kind of energy behind the Thirdspace aliens as is behind Cthulhu and it's ilk in the Lovecraft stories. Maybe I should read some Lovecraft; anyone have any suggestions where I should start in his works? I also love the Zack-Lyta interaction in Thirdspace. That elevator scene between the two is probably my favorite Zack moment (and it makes that look from him when Lyta leaves the station at the end of season 5 mean so much to me).

I don't know if you've listened to the commentaries yet, but I learned something new: Martin Sheen was originally approached to play the archaeologist, but when he read the script he thought it would be more interesting to play the soul hunter and called Netter and Straczynksi to tell them so.

The elevator scene is a classic and hysterically funny. The cast thought so, too, according to the commentary track.

Regards,

Joe

I don't know if you've listened to the commentaries yet, but I learned something new:...

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I watched RoS with commentary last night, if I remember my skewed time recognition correctly. But I too had never heard what you mentioned before. I have to agree with Sheen though, the soul hunter in RoS is a more interesting/complex character than the archeologist. For me, I see the archeologist as someone who just falls apart when he encounters something he doesn't understand. The soul hunter Sheen played is a character that has to deal with confronting making a mistake, which to me is dramatically superior to just falling apart. Dealing with the self is a tough thing to do for any person, and as such, confrontation with the self that Sheen's soul hunter goes through in RoS is more complex in my opinion.

The elevator scene is a classic and hysterically funny.

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One of the things that gets me about the Thirdspace Zack-Lyta elevator scene is that up to that point, I pretty much saw Zack as being a character of size but still of background/accesory quality. Zack was there to help other characters reach prominence. The elevator scene caused me to see Zack as a character in his own right and of himself; he no longer was there for other characters but became a fully complex and real character himself.

Yeah, even though it wasn't my favorite movie, the elevator scene was freaking hilarious!

I got my set the other day and have watched TG commentary and the movie as well as ITB commentary.Not the flick yet I may watch that today.It has really been goog having commwntary on all the movies but for some reason I thought ITB's was more informative.At least to me .

I found most of the movies more informative with the commentaries.

Regarding the labels...I didn't even notice it until someone mentioned it on this board, so I can see how the mistake could be made, and it really doesn't bother me because its so insignificant.

I agree with you Joe about River of Souls. I was never a fan of it, but enjoyed watching it on the DVD set. Previously I think I have seen it once...maybe twice.

I don't think the Zach elevator scene is "hysterical" more or less, makes you cringe. Zach has always been your blue collar guy, and Jeff Conaway nailed the character during series. He wasn't the dashing security, and wasn't exactly a ladies man. I think his portrayal of that scene in the elevator was PERFECT. Every guy who has ever tried to talk to a girl at some point has felt like Zach. Watching him do that scene made me uncomfortable just watching him, about how he got nervous when she wasn't responding, and started rambling on, his relief at when the elevator started moving, his forgetting where he was going, it totally de-railed him. It was a great character scene and something that was done incredibly well.

You are right on the commentary they said they gave Jeff that script for that scene the night before, he did the entire thing all the way through on the first take and the rest of the cast and crew were so blown away by his performance they applauded when he finished. It really was one of the defining moments for Zach in the series, and I am glad JMS was able to work that scene into Thirdspace.

I agree with everything you wrote about Zach. And it is precisely because I have been in situations like that and because Conaway did nail the scene so perfectly that I was laughing as well as cringing all the way through it. But then, I can laugh at myself, too.

I really wish they had dumped the coverage and just let the two-shot play out for the entire scene. I think it would have made it even funnier (and more cringe worthy.) I think Conaway got the script pages (via fax) late on the day before they shot the scene. (Which was right at end of the schedule when they were assembling a rough cut of the footage and realized they were about 3 minutes short. They had already dismantled most of the sets - clearing the decks so they could start building the sets for In the Beginning - and finished the scenes for most of the actors, who had gone off on vacation or to start other jobs. JMS therefore had to write a scene around the sets he had - the elevator and some corridors - and the actors on hand - of whom Jeff and Pat were among the few left. Jeff had to memorize the scene overnight and shoot it the next day along with some pick ups, inserts and retakes on otherwise finished scenes.)

Regards,

Joe

While Thirdspace had its flaws, the elevator scene and the bits with Vir made it all worthwhile.