Well, here's my e-mail:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>There are so many things wrong with the introduction to the review it is hard to know where to start.
1) The series didn't premier in 1993. The pilot aired then, a week or so after the "DS9" pilot. The series didn't arrive until 1994. There were no lawsuits.
Straczynski *considered* suing Paramount (he had pitched "B5" to then several years earlier, long before "DS9" was conceived, and they had a draft of the pilot script - several elements of which resembled things in "DS9", though some had been dropped from "B5" by the time the pilot was filmed.) He decided that the net result would be to get both shows delayed, and that it simply wasn't worth it.
2) The show was not "cancelled" after year three, there was no heated letter-writing campaign, and the show did not move to TNT in year four. The show aired on the "Prime Time Entertainment Network" - a hybrid syndication proto-network that Warner Bros. owned a piece of. "B5" was one of several series the studio produced for PTEN. By the beginning of S4 all the other shows had been cancelled, and PTEN was due to fold at the end of the year.
Stracyznski had planned for this contingency, and was prepared to wrap up the show in year 4, ending some plot threads, skipping others, and setting the series finale 20 years in the future so that we could see how everything turned out.
Late in S3 or early in S4 TNT made a deal to acquire rights to the reruns once the series was out of production, and to produce two original TV movies (NOT "episodes") to air with them. ("In the Beginning" and "Thirdspace.") They also put up the money to re-edit "The Gathering" into something closer to Straczynski's original script. (PTEN had forced him to rewrite it with a 9 act structure to fit in more commercials, and the director had dumped about 14 minutes of character and dialogue scenes in favor of pretty camera angles and SFX scenes that didn't quite work.)
3) After S4 finished shooting the crew went right back to work, filming the TV movies. It was only at *that* point, when they saw the footage from the movies, that TNT got interested in picking the show up for its fifth and final season. (Again, no letter writing campaign.) The deal was struck, almost literally at the eleventh hour, and S5 was set.
4) It's "Straczynski" <g>
As for the rest of the review:
"The Gathering" is of uneven quality because the original film elements were *not* properly stored. When they went back to do the re-edit they were severely limited in their choices because the negatives were water-damaged and had been gnawed by rats. They did the best they could. I suspect many
of the problems you noted go back to the source material. The Chris Franke score is new, so it isn't surprising that it sound better than the rest of the mix. The original cut had a score by Stewart Copeland, but he was not available to do the series. Since the re-edit included scenes that had never been scored (they were cut before the print was locked), while others
were rearranged or re-edited with different footage, a new score was mandatory.
The VHS sales tanked after WHV executive Mike Finnegan told Jeff McNeal of "The Big Picture" that "B5" *was* coming to DVD in 1999. Finnegan's statement was widely quoted on "B5" and HT fan sites, and the drop off in VHS sales followed almost immediately. They've never acknowledged this, but it is a matter of public record. The interview is still archived on TBP.
Not only did WHV never promise a widescreen release on laserdisc, they told Garret Lee of Image Entertainment that there *was* no widescreen version. They said any PAL widescreen masters were simply matted to 1.77:1. (Evidently they never bothered to check. They also never told JMS about
their licensing deal with Image. He found out about the laserdiscs when a fan posted a note about them on Compuserve.)
The contents of this disc are two stand-alone TV movies - not "episodes". "In the Beginning" was designed by JMS specifically* as a way to introduce new fans to the show, and to suggest the epic scope of the project (through the framing story.) Your review is curiously inconsistent: You complain
that "ItB" reveals the answers to mysteries, then complain that it raises questions in the mind of the viewer that it doesn't answer.
There are two ways to handle suspense: 1) You keep both the audience and the characters guessing. 2) You clue the audience in, but leave the characters in the dark. In its first run "B5" (and especially S1) played out like a mystery, using method 1. But on repeated viewings it works using
method 2. Watching "ItB" first merely puts the audience in the "superior position" and makes viewing S1 a different experience. It only "spoils" it if you treat the show as a mystery series like "Murder She Wrote" (which JMS also wrote for and later produced.)
Besides, what were WHV's other choices in introducing the series? Release *just* "The Gathering"? It is plot-heavy because (unlike the "DS9" pilot) it had to introduce a whole new universe, all the aliens, the station itself, and almost a dozen characters who were planned as regulars or recurring roles. Numerous changes were made to the show in the year between the broadcast of the pilot and the premier of the series - including almost the entire regular cast, several plot points, the weapons, costumes and makeup. As things turned out, "The Gathering" is actually a pretty lousy indicator of what *the series* is like.
"In the Beginning", written and produced as a stand-alone movie when no one expected there to *be* a season 5 - and therefore hardly a rushed "introductory episode" - uses the series regulars and the series makeup. It is a better film over-all, and a better indication of what the *series* is all about.
Including both on the same disc (for the U.S. market, where the show hasn't done well on home video) is actually a pretty smart move on WHV's part. In effect we're getting the second movie for free.
> Warner has put together this first "set" of Babylon 5 episodes <
NO, they *haven't* They have released two TV movies on one double-feature disc to find out if there is really an audience for the show on DVD. They did it as a barebones release to limit their downside risk. This is, in fact, exactly what I *suggested* they do in a letter to Mike Finnegan back in 1997 or 98. I've been lobbying WHV to release this series on DVD longer than anybody I know, and - all things considered - I'm pleased with this release.
(Also I have to say that on *my* system, "ItB" sounds better on DVD than it
does on LD. The bass is better and the dialogue less "flat" than the LD.
Your mileage may vary.)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
And an excerpt from his reply:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Yes damnit, I know eactly who you are. ;-)
Look, cut me some slack, I would be considered a casual B5 fan, so some of
the facts were mucked up, I'll admit it. We would have given the disc to someone else in our review staff, but it seems I'm the only one with any interest in the series.
I probably mixed up the letter writing campaign with Crusade, which I think was a series [that] TNT and WB cut short a year or so ago.
About the tanking of the VHS sales:
"They've never acknowledged this, but it is a matter of public record."
Public record? According to who, Babylon 5 fans on the internet? That is not
public record. Besides, B5's original release sales were most likely damaged
by the release pattern. Want some proof, check out the falling sales of South
Park since Warner started releasing them as "best of" set.
[J.D. NOTE: WHV did not, of course, release
B5 as a "best of" set, but in order within each season - though the seasons themselves were out of order to get S5 released early for fans who'd missed it. So this comparison is worthless.
And sales of the VHS tapes were evidently good for the first six months or so, since they weren't cancelled immediately.]
"Not only did WHV never promise a widescreen release on laserdisc, they told Garret Lee of Image Entertainment that there *was* no widescreen version."
I knew one of the production co-ordinators at Image at the time, and he knew damn well there were widescreen versions of the show in existence. Warner even talked to Image about it, plain and simple, Garret was covering his ass. I've meet many people at Image Entertainment, and let me say his first impresion wasn't too good. He's nothing more than thier marketing head, and
we all know what good marketing and PR people are.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
(The rest of the e-mail dealt with specifics of the wisdom of releasing the two films chosen.)
I acknowledged not knowing anything about the Image situation beyond what I'd heard from Garret Lee, so I stand corrected on that one. But this bit annoyed me:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>> Public record? According to who, Babylon 5 fans on the internet? <
No, according to an *on-the-record* interview with a DVD website/e-zine. The Big Picture interviewed Mike Finnegan and another Warner Bros. exec for an article they knew was going to be published on the 'net. When Finnegan was asked if "B5" was on the schedule he said, "Yes" When asked if it would be widescreen, he said "To be determined." There was nothing ambiguous about the questions or the answers and, as I noted, they are still archived on The Big Picture site.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
There is somethig of a rivalry between the major DVD websites, but here the critic from
The DVD File is acting as if he's never heard of
The Big Picture - an older and better established site. Which is a little strange to say the least.
Regards,
Joe
------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
