The TNT TV Movies & Lochley

[Crusader]

I've just watched "The Movie Collection" again and i must say alot of these are still very good. I do have to say that River of Souls is my favourite. Between Soul Hunters, Martin Shenn and Scoggins being allowed to shine this a great movie. Anyone else think this was the best one? and i do think season 5 could have been improved had Lochley been given more screen time.

 

[vacantlook]

RoS is probably my least liked of the movies, honestly.

 

[Crusader]

RoS is probably my least liked of the movies, honestly.

Really? Any particular reason?

 

[GKarsEye]

I am currently rewatching the series and am up to season 5. However, I have no plans to rewatch River of Souls or A Call To Arms. I just don't like the former and the latter is more like a pilot episode for a failed sequel series.

I will always, however, defend Lochley. She's not the reason I don't like River of Souls. I think she would have been awesome in Crusade. I just think the plot is stupid and I don't care about it.

 

[vacantlook]

When I originally watched the series, I didn't like Lochley, but I've come to like her plenty over the years rewatching the show. As for RoS specifically, it's hard for me to put into words why I don't like it all that much. The general idea of the story I like well enough, i.e. the evolving species erroneously thought to be dying out by the Soul Hunters and thus captured and imprisoned. But there's something in the execution of the story that feels kind of empty to me. When I watch it, I come away from doing so feeling like there was just something missing. And I don't know what that something is. Maybe it's the casting arrangement and the lack of major alien players in the story, with the exception of the Soul Hunter. I never really liked the Soul Hunters much, so maybe that's it. I don't know.

 

[KoshFan]

I've never even seen River of Souls or Call to Arms. 'Cause frankly, I saw Thirdspace and wasn't impressed.

 

[GKarsEye]

I never liked the Soul Hunters either, but during my current viewing of the series I really enjoyed the soul hunter season 1 episode for some reason. I was just in a mood to enjoy that ridiculous character's dialogue.

ha... cho... RI... cho...
classic stuff


Thirdspace rules! Ok maybe not but I really enjoyed it during my most current viewing, admittedly in large part because it was the first thing I played on my kick-ass new receiver/amp and USB-DAC. But it's Lovecraftian, which is... you know, a thing. Stuff blowed up! I dug it much. And of course that elevator scene between Zack and Lyta... ooof, that hurts every time I watch it.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

I do have to say that River of Souls is my favourite.

I know that River of Souls gets dissed a lot, but I like it, at least as well as any of the movies, except for In The Beginning. I do like Martin Sheen, and it reminded me a bit of the Marvel comic Adam Warlock, because he was a soul hunter, and had a "soul gem" in the center of his forehead.

Third Space puts me to sleep...

 

[Galahad]

I never liked the Soul Hunters either, but during my current viewing of the series I really enjoyed the soul hunter season 1 episode for some reason. I was just in a mood to enjoy that ridiculous character's dialogue.

ha... cho... RI... cho...
classic stuff

I actually rather like that early episode... it's just a little unfortunate that the Minbari term for "Soul Hunter" in colloquial British English makes them sound like they are paedophiles - "shak tot" sounds an awful lot like "shag tot".

 

[KoshFan]

And of course that elevator scene between Zack and Lyta... ooof, that hurts every time I watch it.

That, I will grant you, was amazing.

 

[vacantlook]

And to think that the Zach and Lyta scene was only written and added at the last minute because of the runtime being short.

 

[GKarsEye]

I didn't know that.

So when in doubt, torture poor Zach. mfers

I just watched the scene from one of the last eps where Lyta and G'Kar go off to their wacky adventures and she looks around, thinking no one say to came goodbye, and when she leaves there's Zach...
Falling in love in space does not look like fun.

 

[KoshN]

I've just watched "The Movie Collection" again and i must say alot of these are still very good. I do have to say that River of Souls is my favourite. Between Soul Hunters, Martin Shenn and Scoggins being allowed to shine this a great movie. Anyone else think this was the best one?

The River of Souls was my least favorite until the Rangers pilot came out. However, now I'd rank the movies & pilots from best to worst as follows:

In the Beginning: 10 out of 10
A Call to Arms: 9.5 out of 10
The Gathering: 8 out of 10
The River of Souls: 7 out of 10
Thirdspace: 5 out of 10
To Live and Die in Starlight: 2 out of 10 (and it only got as much as a 2 because of Dulann, Na'Feel and Firell.)

In The River of Souls, I thought Scoggins did a good job as Lochley, and Ian McShane was very good. In fact, the only letdown for me was Martin Sheen, because he came through too recognizably as Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now (1979), The Final Countdown (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), Firestarter (1984)). When I hear him speak, it makes me think New England, and what are the odds that a Soul Hunter came from New England?

 

[GKarsEye]

When I hear him speak, it makes me think New England, and what are the odds that a Soul Hunter came from New England?

I dunno, the same as the odds that Minbari are British (same actor that played Byron) or Jewish (Theodore Bikel from In the Beginning, same guy that played Ivanova's Rabbi).

 

[KoshN]

I dunno, the same as the odds that Minbari are British (same actor that played Byron)

...or Robin Sachs who played Grey Council member Hedronn in "Points of Departure" (the Trigati ep.).

Maybe the one who taught them english was English, and they picked up the accent. Remember, English was the language of commerce (per Delenn), and and so she learned it. However, her teacher obviously must've had a different accent. I dunno, for me, Martin Sheen breaks my suspension of disbelief in The River of Souls whenever he's talking. I hear him just like he was in the movies that I listed.

or Jewish (Theodore Bikel from In the Beginning, same guy that played Ivanova's Rabbi).

No, he was from Earth. That accent makes sense.

 

[GKarsEye]

No I meant he played a Minbari also in In the Beginning (the head of the Rangers) and Theodore Bikel didn't really successfully hide his Jewish accent.

Of course I'm messing around.

Despite what I said earlier I'll probably end up watching River of Souls again.

 

[KoshN]

No I meant he played a Minbari also in In the Beginning (the head of the Rangers) and Theodore Bikel didn't really successfully hide his Jewish accent.

OK, I see what you mean.

Of course I'm messing around.

Me too.

Despite what I said earlier I'll probably end up watching River of Souls again.

It's worth it, even if only for the scenes (both CGI and live action) on the Soul Hunter planet at the beginning, and the Love Bat scene with the lawyer near the end.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

I thought the movies were a mixed bag at best. My problem with most of them was that they felt like normal hour-long episodes padded out to twice their run-time. This wasn't a universal problem - "A Call to Arms" was great - but I think it adversely affected "Thirdspace" and "River of Souls," whcih is easily my least favorite of 'em. I thought "In the Beginning" was a little bit disappointing, for no reason I can ever quite define, probably just a case of my expectations being different from what we got, though there's a lot of scenes in it that I like. "Legend of the Rangers" has grown on me, but I feel it suffers from being a bit too obviously "Piloty."

As to Lochley, I've always liked Tracy Scoggins, but I'm of two minds about Lochley: On the one hand, I really love her in Crusade, "Arms," "Lost Tales," and she's the only good thing in "River," but I really don't care for her in Season 5.

 

[KoshN]

I've just watched "The Movie Collection" again and i must say alot of these are still very good. I do have to say that River of Souls is my favourite. Between Soul Hunters, Martin Sheen and Scoggins being allowed to shine this a great movie. Anyone else think this was the best one?

Nov. 24, 2009 perspective:

My favorite? No. I used to think that "The River of Souls" (TRoS) was the worst movie of the collection, until "The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight" came along and made TRoS look like an Emmy Winner by comparison, and "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" came along and made TRoS look like it had a "Titanic"(1997) sized budget by comparison, and time was kinder to TRoS than "Thirdspace."

Now, I look back on TRoS fondly (Ditto for "Crusade.") and I can only wish that we could have something B5/Crusade at least that good out of JMS ever again.

My favorite B5 movies rank as follows, from best to worst:

Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1998) (TV) 10 out of 10
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999) (TV) 9.5 out of 10
Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993) (TV) 7.5 out of 10
Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998) (TV) 7 out of 10 (up from 4 out of 10.)
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark (2007) (V) 5.5 out of 10 (Over Here: 4. Over There: 7.)
Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998) (TV) 5 out of 10 (down from 6 out of 10) Nice CGI, but that's about it. Shari Belafonte (Elizabeth Trent) and the Trent/Ivanova fight scene drag it down. This movie reminds me of the B5 Novel Dell #5 "The Touch of Your Shadow, The Whisper of Your Name" (tied with Dell #4 "Clark's Law" as the worst B5 novel, IMHO.) in that both threats seem out of place, and disconnected from the show, and are never heard of again, like they're something that an outside writer tried to stick into B5.
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002) (TV) 2 out of 10 (Take away Dulann, G'Kar, Na'Feel and Firell, and this'd be 1 out of 10.)

.... and i do think season 5 could have been improved had Lochley been given more screen time.

Season 5 would have been improved if Ivanova was there instead of Lochley.

 

[KoshFan]

Say what you like about "Thirdspace," the elevator scene was hysterical.