I saw the new direct-to-video Babylon 5 production, Babylon 5 -- The Lost Tales this evening. I will try to give no spoilers other than what are shown on the cover of the DVD.

The DVD contains two minimally-related stories. The first focuses on Lochley, and the second is primarily a Sheridan / Galen piece. The stories themselves are a bit on the short side -- what would normally be one of two storylines in a full episode. That actually worked better than I was expecting. True, it means the story feels a bit short, but it also avoids the [often annoying] hopping between storylines.

The opening credits are great. Fans of the show may cheer aloud. Really, really nicely done.

The music is done by Christopher Franke, who did the music for the 5 seasons of B5. It is immediately familiar... almost too much so. Most of the music seemed to be mere variations of existing tunes rather than new music. I guess I'm spoiled, but that was a bit of a let-down for me.

The Lochley story did not seem very B5-ish at all. More like what I'd expect from a lesser SciFi show trying to do a Halloween episode. It was fairly well written (except for the ending lines -- could have been better), and decently acted, but it just didn't feel like B5 to me.

The Sheridan / Galen story was better. It started in a way that made you suspect it might be a stale rehash of the plot from A Call To Arms, but they quickly steer you to an interesting twist on that. You'll probably figure out the plot twist at the end, but that makes it no less enjoyble. This felt more like B5 then did story 1 for a variety of reasons:


Video quality, especially CG, is improved over the series (as one would expect). Audio is English 5.1 only. No commentary track. The DVD extras are reasonable, considering it is a direct-to-DVD release. The tributes to Biggs and Katsulas were well-done. Joe's "diary" portions were kinda lame.

I'd give this a 7.5 out of 10. It's better than Legend of the Rangers. It's a LOT better than River of Souls (but then again, I've had sneezes more entertaining than River of Souls...). Not as good as A Call To Arms or ThirdSpace, IMHO.



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