News post: B5LR.com review of the telemovie!

[gkarfan]

Oh, good--Antony liked the movie. Big sigh of relief.

As for whether reviews are all that important, Max Headroom got great reviews in 1987, bu it wasn't enough--ABC got rid of it after less than a year on the air.

And about the lousy acting from the "guest-star captain"--B5 has a history of lousy performances from some of the actors with small, almost insignificant parts. So this isn't really unusual.

Tammy

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"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation

 

[gkarfan]

Should have a smiley after that "big sigh of relief" part--

Tammy

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"We're in here! Can anyone hear us?"
"I hear you." [giggle, laugh]
"In here!"
"We are here." [giggle, laugh]
-- Londo and G'Kar in Babylon 5:"Convictions"

Tammy's Station
http://community.webtv.net/gkarfan/TammysStation

 

[hypatia]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gkarfan:
And about the lousy acting from the "guest-star captain"--B5 has a history of lousy performances from some of the actors with small, almost insignificant parts. So this isn't really unusual.

Tammy

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I, too, was relieved to see Antony felt it was a good movie of the week. He isn't one to automatically support something even if it turns out to be trash.

As far as the lousy performances from guest stars, this is the year for that it seems to me. Enterprise has had a few bad moments (mostly in its premier episode I think) of that, too. I guess this is a difficult kind of genre to just step into as a guest star.

On the other hand, I think some of the best performances I've ever seen have also been from B5 guest stars (like the Waiting for Gesthemene episode which I'm not even going to spell check, I know I always spell it wrong). (Oh, and the Centauri emporer that wanted to see a vorlon and apologize to a narn, he was very stubtle and extremely effective. And, of course, the technomage was just perfect! Equation spells, now that's a trick I simply MUST learn.)

I ramble, so I'd better go. Nothing worse than a hype on vacation.

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Galileo:
"I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense,
reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."—Galileo

hypatia@b5fan.b5lr.com

 

[B5_Obsessed]

Straying off topic. I think one of the best guest performances is the Minbari Ranger in "Severed Dreams" who is injured and carried by G'Kar to Medlab. His small performance is very moving and effective.

But by and large, B5 walk-ons are bad.

I wonder if the bad-acting Captain is the famous Captain Gregg, named after the winner of the SciFi contest last year.

Good review Antony (needs a few spell checks)

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"Draal gave Zathras list of things not to say.
This was one. No.... *tsk tsk*
No. Not good.
Not supposed to mention... "one", or... THE one.
Hmmmm.
You never heard that."

 

[PsionTen]

Anthony, Drakh isn't playing fair. Don't I have an exclusive contract to play the role of the Big Bad this season?

Good review.

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"Dawn's in trouble? Must be Tuesday." -- Buffy Summers, "Once More With Feeling."

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wyvern:
I'm a touch confused by this statement - I don't think that it was a question of whether or not it "would" be reviewed. As far as I know, almost everything is reviewed. The point was that the reviews - good, bad, or indifferent, don't make much difference.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

1.) I was responding specifically to Dylan's statement that he didn't think the movie would get reviewed by the publications I had mentioned with a historical statement that B5 films *had* been reviewed.

2.) I disagree that reviews are irrelevant. Positive reviews have been known to get shows of marginal ratings performance re-newed. The most famous case is Hill Street Blues. During its first season, the ratings were awful, but the reviews were great. NBC renewed it and it eventually became a hit. A current example is '24'. The ratings have been disappointing, but the positive reviews helped get it a full season run. So, I think good reviews can help a show if it has marginal ratings. Networks have been known to give well-reviewed programs more chance to find an audience that badly reviewed programs.

On the other hand, I agree that bad reviews don't necessarily hurt a show if its ratings are great.

It all comes down again to what ratings B5:Rangers will get. If the ratings are super, it won't matter what the reviews are. On the other hand, IMO, if the ratings are marginal, it wouldn't hurt to have a good review on hand.

That's just my opinion. Everyone and I mean *everyone* is welcome to disagree with it.

I hope that clears the confusion.


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[hypatia]

Oh, I think I forgot to mention: THANKS for the no-spoilers policy. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only person in the world anymore who actually wants to be surprised.

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"I do not believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense,
reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."—Galileo

hypatia@b5fan.b5lr.com

 

[AntonyF]

Drakh, I told you to quit it and you carried on. A moderator brought up what I said, and you carried on. It just seems you want the last word in the matter, but I do when I say you're now officially warned. 3 warnings = ban, I know you won't get that far. I don't want topics like this dragged off topic.

Back to topic, I forgot something else in my review (you can see I did a rush job on it). Christopher Franke's music. Superb to "hear from him" again. Sometimes the music was more striking than others, and fans will get a kick out of the music in the last scene. He also created a wonderful theme for the telemovie. The first time I heard it, it was all in mono. But on a better VCR, in stereo, it was so much better.

I also didn't give any mention to Mike Vejar. But I'm not going to make out that I can "absorb directing". Directing is often intagible, you can't point something out, it just make it work. In other ways it is, camera angles, style etc. When I watch TV etc. I never notice anything special, so can't point out anything in particular for the telemovie, whereas directing fans will poitn out a lot. That's just me, as a viewer I suppose. Very rarely do I go "Wow, who's this director." Roxann Dawson was the last director that illicited that response from me.



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"You're going to die screaming and I'm going to watch."
-- Charlie, The Long Kiss Goodnight.

 

[whitestar90]

Having read the review now all I need to do is watch the movie

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"When it is time, come to this place, call our name, we will be here" -Walkers of Sigma957

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Roxann Dawson could illicit a response from me pretty easily too, but I think you mean elicit, Antony. Good review, it has really whetted my appetite to see the film, not that I really needed whetting! And I do follow direction as best I can, and think that Mike Vejar is one of the two best B5 directors of B5, with the other being Janet Greek, so that's just another reason to look forward to seeing it.

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Finally, I forgot to post something very important in my review. If I had heard "We live for the one, we die for the one" one more *$£"!*&$£ time I would have gone mad. Way, way overused.

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<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When you have produced the final version of the review, you may wish to wait 2 days and post a copy on the moderated newsgroup so JMS can read it.

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Andrew Swallow

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Drakh:
I don't get this. I was trying to convey to channe that what that what she interpeted as an insult was meant as a compliment.

Who would be sereved by letting that misunderstanding remain?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe I have a wierd perception of the english language compared to other people, but I pretty much knew what he meant the whole time, though he wasn't perfectly clear, I don't see anything that I would think deserves everyone being pissed at him.(or warnings)

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[channe]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Caanon:
Maybe I have a wierd perception of the english language compared to other people, but I pretty much knew what he meant the whole time, though he wasn't perfectly clear, I don't see anything that I would think deserves everyone being pissed at him.(or warnings)

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can we just shut up about it, please?

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS

 

[bakana]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> I'm just waiting for SF to become, in academia, a subject that's not too taboo or too laughable. When it does, I'll wave around my senior thesis, and reviewers of my work will say that I was... ahead of the crowd. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Would it help to tell you that MIT offers a Course in Science Fiction ??
Taught by long time SF Writer Joe Haldeman.

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The 3 most common elements in the Universe:
Hydrogen, Greed, Stupidity!

 

[PsionTen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Maybe I have a wierd perception of the english language compared to other people, but I pretty much knew what he meant the whole time <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


For somebody that's only posted 5 times you sure catch on pretty quick. I've been here nearly a year and I still don't know what most people mean in their posts ... that's public school education for you.

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"Dawn's in trouble? Must be Tuesday." -- Buffy Summers, "Once More With Feeling."

 

[channe]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bakana:
Would it help to tell you that MIT offers a Course in Science Fiction ??
Taught by long time SF Writer Joe Haldeman.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, yes, it's very cool. But one course at one college does not an academic subject make. Other universities do have courses, yet, but for the most part, when I told people my thesis title, the reaction was a smirk.

It's come a long way. But it still has a long way to go.

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS

 

[GaribaldisHair]

A few years ago the University of York, here in good old Blighty, actually ran an academic conference on B5. I'm sure that I have the name of the paper being discussed somewhere, and if I locate it I will post it here.

IIRC, the reference to the University of York during the academic discussion in Deconstruction of Falling Stars was a tribute to said event.

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DaveC
"Want to talk socks?"

 

[MartinRoth]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SavantB5:
On the other hand, IMO, if the ratings are marginal, it wouldn't hurt to have a good review on hand.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Certainly wouldn't hurt, but probably wouldn't help much, unless the ratings were right on the edge of acceptable and they decided to use good reviews as a "tiebreaker".

As for the Hill Street Blues example, I think that Fred Silverman's personal fondness for the show that helped more than the reviews when he renewed it on his way out the door -- combined, of course, with the fact that so many of NBC's shows had such terrible ratings that they reportedly couldn't afford to develop enough new series to replace them all...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>That's just my opinion. Everyone and I mean *everyone* is welcome to disagree with it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Of course. Did you think it would stop any of us if you said we weren't welcome to disagree?

(And of course, all of that is just my opinion. I've been wrong before. Remember, just because I'm a know-it-all doesn't mean I actually know everything.)


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-- Marty

 

[PMvanova]

Gee...that was exciting!
(the little back and forth that just happened.)

Excellent review, I did notice you forgot to mention the music. That was the one thing that was noticeable right away with Crusade.
I jumped out of my chair when I found out they got Franke back to do the score. I think if he had done the music for Crusade, it might have been a saving point.
Meanwhile, back at the topic...

I was always impressed with the way the crew and cast got involved with fans on B5, I'm happy to see Dylan 'lurking' around here. Perhaps later we'll see others add their voices to our inane chatter. (just kidding!! put the ppg's and pikes down okay!

)
I'm sure someone out there has already said it, but Welcome Dylan, I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks on the screen. I hope you become a part of our lives like the original characters have. (besides being a regular paycheck for you

)
On a side note,
Channe!!! How's your writing going and how did you like the end of B5????? We have a lot to catch up on!
Tammy..LTNS, we'll talk later.

Reviews do hold weight, but it's as Dylan said, numbers are what networks and suits look for. And brother have we got numbers on our side!
(if there were 33 million people watching Witchblade..we have got them knocked down!)
So, if you're watching it at a friends house, make sure to tape it at yours and about three other peoples. Stuff the ballots people!
Whoops, did I say that?

PM

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PM
"Babylon 5 was the last of the Babylon stations. There would never be another. It changed the future .. and it changed us."
--General Susan Ivanova
Sleeping In Light

 

[Lyta]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PMvanova:
I'm happy to see Dylan 'lurking' around here. Perhaps later we'll see others add their voices to our inane chatter. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Heh, well I think that wish has already been granted since most of the cast (and some of the crew) have posted here at some time or another. In fact, one even got involved with some fanfic (as Channe can attest to).

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Monica Hübinette | monica.hubbe.net | The Abyss : B5
It is an infinite helix, the dance of two souls resonating, like the twist of DNA, like the vast universe. --Banana Yoshimoto (Lizard: Dreaming of Kimchee)