BABYLON 5- THE COMPLETE
FIRST SEASON:
SIGNS AND PORTENTS
Right
up front, let me state that I am a big BABYLON 5 fan, and if you
are reading this review, I am going to guess that you are one too. I
remember the challenge of watching BABYLON 5 when it appeared on
television in first run syndication. In my local market, the show's time
slot seemed to be perpetually changing, plus episodes were continually
being preempted by some sort of sporting event, which shifted its showing
to ridiculous late night hour. Was it any wonder that the show always
seemed to be on the verge of cancellation? Fortunately, the show had
devoted fan base, which helped take it from its irregular first run
broadcast schedule, to a regular time slot on the TNT cable network where
it finished out it five season run.
For
those unfamiliar with BABYLON 5, the television series was created
and largely written by J. Michael Stracznski. Set in the middle of the
twenty third century, the basic premise of the show involved human and
alien interactions on a space station named Babylon 5. Across its
five-year story arc, there were numerous political intrigues, as well as a
great war that united both humans and aliens against a common foe. Since BABYLON
5 went off the air, devotees of the show have longed for the episodes
to come to home video. For various reasons, both the VHS and Laserdisc
release of BABYLON 5 turned into abortive affairs. Well, after a
long gestation period that was filled with rumors and disappointments,
Warner Home Video has issued BABYLON 5- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON:
SIGNS AND PORTENTS ($100) on DVD in a six disc set that features all
twenty-two year one episodes, along with supplemental materials.
Disc
one contains the episodes Midnight On The Firing Line, Soul
Hunter, Born To The Purple and Infection.
Midnight On The Firing Line serves as a reintroduction to
the characters and involves Narn attack on a Centauri outpost, which
manifests itself on Babylon 5 through a conflict between the Narn
Ambassador G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) and his Centauri counterpart Londo
Mollari (Peter Jurasik). In Soul Hunter, Babylon 5 Station
Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) must decide what to do with an
alien who is purported to steal a person's soul at the moment of death. In
Born To The Purple Londo finds himself seduced by a
beautiful dancer, who is after some politically embarrassing files in his
possession. Infection involves an alien relic from a
xenophobic society that transforms an archeologist into a living weapon
that destroys anything not from that world.
Disc
two contains the episodes The Parliament Of Dreams, Mind
War, The War Prayer and And The Sky Full Of
Stars. In The Parliament Of Dreams, Babylon 5 hosts
a festival for alien religious diversity that brings an assassination
attempt of G'Kar's life, as well as the arrival of Lennier (Bill Mumy),
the new aide to Minbari Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan). Mind War
involves the arrival of "Psi Cops" on Babylon 5, that are in
pursuit of a rogue telepath, who happens to be the former lover the
Station's resident Licensed Commercial Telepath Talia Winters (Andrea
Thompson). In The War Prayer, the station's alien populace
find themselves under attack by a human hate group, just as Babylon 5's
second in command, Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) greets
a former lover. And The Sky Full Of Stars finds Sinclair
kidnapped and interrogated by agents determined to find out what happened
to him when he disappeared during the final battle of the Earth-Minbari
war.
Disc
three contains the episodesDeathwalker, Believers,
Survivors and By Any Means Necessary. Deathwalkerbrings a war criminal to Babylon 5, who may escape punishment for
genocide, when it is learned that her "research" has yielded the
secret of immortality. In Believers, Dr. Franklin must
choose between saving a young boy’s life and honoring the religious
beliefs of his parents, who don’t believe in medical intervention. In Survivors,
Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) is blamed for an explosion
on board Babylon 5, just prior to the arrival of the Earth Alliance
President. By Any Means Necessary finds the station’s
dockworkers engaging in a strike, just as an impending Narn religious
holiday re-ignites the ill feelings between ambassadors G’kar and
Mollari.
Disc
four contains the episodesSigns And Portents,TKO,GrailandEyes. Signs And Portents
is one of the most significant episodes of the first season, because it
gives clues into some of the events that will occur during the course of
the series five year run. Within the episode, future events are foretold
to Ambassador Mollari, who also lays the groundwork for an ill-advised
alliance with a human named Mr. Morden and his mysterious alien
associates. TKO finds a friend of Security Chief Garibaldi
arriving on the station to participate in an alien sponsored fight, while
Ivanova’s uncle comes to Babylon 5 to help her deal with the death of
her father. In Grail, a member of a religious order comes to
Babylon 5 in search of the legendary Holy Grail. Eyes brings
a member of the Earth Force Internal Affairs division to the station, with
the agenda of investigating the Babylon 5 command staff.
Disc
five contains the episodesLegacies,A Voice In The
WildernessPart 1,A Voice In The Wilderness Part 2andBabylon Squared. In Legacies, the body
of a Minbari leader disappears, while elsewhere on the station, a recently
discovered telepathic orphan is given the choice of entering the Psi
Corps, or developing her skills on the Narn or Minbari home worlds. A
Voice In The WildernessPart 1 opens with an investigation
into the seismic disturbances on the planet around which Babylon 5 orbits;
however the survey ship activates an automated planetary defense system
that could threaten the station. A Voice In The Wilderness Part 2
resolves the situation on the planet below, thanks to the intervention of
Ambassador Delenn’s former mentor. Babylon Squared is
another season one highlight, which involves the reappearance of the
Babylon 4 station, which mysteriously disappeared twenty-four hours after
it became operational.
Disc
six contains the episodesThe Quality Of MercyandChrysalis.
The Quality Of Mercy features a guest star appearance from LOST
IN SPACE alumnus June Lockhart, who portrays a doctor using an alien
healing devise to help impoverished individuals that are lurking in the
down below areas of Babylon 5. In Chrysalis Delenn begins a
strange metamorphosis, while at the same time Mollari takes another step
down a very bad road, by asking for a rather large favor from Mr. Morden
and his unseen associates.
Warner
Home Video has made all of the episodes from BABYLON 5- THE COMPLETE
FIRST SEASON available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide screen presentation
that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 displays. Although BABYLON
5 was filmed with the intention of being compatible with the aspect
ratio of high definition televisions, the presentation is something of a
mixed bag because of the show’s computer generated special effects. It
would seem that all the film footage from every episode has been newly
transferred in the proper aspect ratio. However, the special effects
sequences would appear to have been taken from the 4:3 broadcast masters
and digitally reformatted to 16:9, instead of being recreated from the
original computer files in the correct format.
Since
all of the special effects shots have been digitally "blown up"
and then matted to fill the dimensions of wide screen televisions, they are somewhat soft
and fuzzy looking. Film sequences appear sharp and well defined, although
occasional blemishes and scratches do crop up on the elements themselves.
There is also a bit of grain here and there, but there is nothing
objectionable in that department. Colors are generally well saturated and
attractive, although the reformatted special effects shots can look a bit
duller. Backs appear solid and contrast is good on the newly transferred
film sequences. The six dual layered DVDs don’t display any appreciable
signs of digital compression artifacts.
The
soundtracks for all of the episodes have been upgraded to 5.1 channels of
Dolby Digital surround sound. Considering that the original elements were
recorded and mixed for television broadcast, these 5.1 channel tracks
sound terrific. There is very good channels separation across the forward
soundstage, plus there is a strong usage of the rear channels for ambient
sounds, spaceship engine rumble and occasional active effects. Dialogue is
very cleanly rendered and always fully understandable. The bass channel is
solid and fairly deep, but doesn't come anywhere close to ground shaking.
A French language track is also present for the episodes, while subtitles
are offered in English, French and Spanish.
Animation
and sound serve to enhance the DVD's interactive menus. Through the menus,
one has access to standard scene selection and set up features, as well as
some nice supplemental features. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski is
on hand for an introduction to the DVD set on disc one, as well as
offering audio commentary on Signs And Portents and Chrysalis.
The Making Of Babylon 5 is a nineteen-minute television
documentary from series first season. Hosted by Walter Koenig, the program
features interviews with the cast and crew, as well as a look at the shows
computer special effects that were generated on the Amiga computed
platform. Back To Babylon 5 is a new thirteen-minute
retrospective documentary that features members of the production team and
a couple cast members. The Universe Of Babylon 5 is an
interactive tour of the future created by J. Michael Straczynski, which
looks at the Babylon 5 station, its personnel, other future technology, as
well as the alien races that inhabit this future. Biographies for J.
Michael Straczynski and producer Douglas Netter close out the supplements.
A
proper release of BABYLON 5 in some home video format has been a
long time in coming. Warner Home Video's DVD release of BABYLON 5- THE
COMPLETE FIRST SEASON: SIGNS AND PORTENTS offers fans just about
everything they could possibly want. The episodes generally look very good
and are in the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. However, I wish that the
special effects work could have redone, since they are the weak link in
the presentation. Still, fans will most definitely want to own this DVD
set, and will be looking forward to seasons two through five of BABYLON
5 to appear on disc sometime soon.
Right
up front, let me state that I am a big BABYLON 5 fan, and if you
are reading this review, I am going to guess that you are one too. I
remember the challenge of watching BABYLON 5 when it appeared on
television in first run syndication. In my local market, the show's time
slot seemed to be perpetually changing, plus episodes were continually
being preempted by some sort of sporting event, which shifted its showing
to ridiculous late night hour. Was it any wonder that the show always
seemed to be on the verge of cancellation? Fortunately, the show had
devoted fan base, which helped take it from its irregular first run
broadcast schedule, to a regular time slot on the TNT cable network where
it finished out it five season run.
For
those unfamiliar with BABYLON 5, the television series was created
and largely written by J. Michael Stracznski. Set in the middle of the
twenty third century, the basic premise of the show involved human and
alien interactions on a space station named Babylon 5. Across its
five-year story arc, there were numerous political intrigues, as well as a
great war that united both humans and aliens against a common foe. Since BABYLON
5 went off the air, devotees of the show have longed for the episodes
to come to home video. For various reasons, both the VHS and Laserdisc
release of BABYLON 5 turned into abortive affairs. Well, after a
long gestation period that was filled with rumors and disappointments,
Warner Home Video has issued BABYLON 5- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON:
SIGNS AND PORTENTS ($100) on DVD in a six disc set that features all
twenty-two year one episodes, along with supplemental materials.
Disc
one contains the episodes Midnight On The Firing Line, Soul
Hunter, Born To The Purple and Infection.
Midnight On The Firing Line serves as a reintroduction to
the characters and involves Narn attack on a Centauri outpost, which
manifests itself on Babylon 5 through a conflict between the Narn
Ambassador G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas) and his Centauri counterpart Londo
Mollari (Peter Jurasik). In Soul Hunter, Babylon 5 Station
Commander Jeffery Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) must decide what to do with an
alien who is purported to steal a person's soul at the moment of death. In
Born To The Purple Londo finds himself seduced by a
beautiful dancer, who is after some politically embarrassing files in his
possession. Infection involves an alien relic from a
xenophobic society that transforms an archeologist into a living weapon
that destroys anything not from that world.
Disc
two contains the episodes The Parliament Of Dreams, Mind
War, The War Prayer and And The Sky Full Of
Stars. In The Parliament Of Dreams, Babylon 5 hosts
a festival for alien religious diversity that brings an assassination
attempt of G'Kar's life, as well as the arrival of Lennier (Bill Mumy),
the new aide to Minbari Ambassador Delenn (Mira Furlan). Mind War
involves the arrival of "Psi Cops" on Babylon 5, that are in
pursuit of a rogue telepath, who happens to be the former lover the
Station's resident Licensed Commercial Telepath Talia Winters (Andrea
Thompson). In The War Prayer, the station's alien populace
find themselves under attack by a human hate group, just as Babylon 5's
second in command, Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) greets
a former lover. And The Sky Full Of Stars finds Sinclair
kidnapped and interrogated by agents determined to find out what happened
to him when he disappeared during the final battle of the Earth-Minbari
war.
Disc
three contains the episodes Deathwalker, Believers,
Survivors and By Any Means Necessary. Deathwalker
brings a war criminal to Babylon 5, who may escape punishment for
genocide, when it is learned that her "research" has yielded the
secret of immortality. In Believers, Dr. Franklin must
choose between saving a young boy’s life and honoring the religious
beliefs of his parents, who don’t believe in medical intervention. In Survivors,
Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) is blamed for an explosion
on board Babylon 5, just prior to the arrival of the Earth Alliance
President. By Any Means Necessary finds the station’s
dockworkers engaging in a strike, just as an impending Narn religious
holiday re-ignites the ill feelings between ambassadors G’kar and
Mollari.
Disc
four contains the episodes Signs And Portents, TKO,
Grail and Eyes. Signs And Portents
is one of the most significant episodes of the first season, because it
gives clues into some of the events that will occur during the course of
the series five year run. Within the episode, future events are foretold
to Ambassador Mollari, who also lays the groundwork for an ill-advised
alliance with a human named Mr. Morden and his mysterious alien
associates. TKO finds a friend of Security Chief Garibaldi
arriving on the station to participate in an alien sponsored fight, while
Ivanova’s uncle comes to Babylon 5 to help her deal with the death of
her father. In Grail, a member of a religious order comes to
Babylon 5 in search of the legendary Holy Grail. Eyes brings
a member of the Earth Force Internal Affairs division to the station, with
the agenda of investigating the Babylon 5 command staff.
Disc
five contains the episodes Legacies, A Voice In The
Wilderness Part 1, A Voice In The Wilderness Part 2
and Babylon Squared. In Legacies, the body
of a Minbari leader disappears, while elsewhere on the station, a recently
discovered telepathic orphan is given the choice of entering the Psi
Corps, or developing her skills on the Narn or Minbari home worlds. A
Voice In The Wilderness Part 1 opens with an investigation
into the seismic disturbances on the planet around which Babylon 5 orbits;
however the survey ship activates an automated planetary defense system
that could threaten the station. A Voice In The Wilderness Part 2
resolves the situation on the planet below, thanks to the intervention of
Ambassador Delenn’s former mentor. Babylon Squared is
another season one highlight, which involves the reappearance of the
Babylon 4 station, which mysteriously disappeared twenty-four hours after
it became operational.
Disc
six contains the episodes The Quality Of Mercy and Chrysalis.
The Quality Of Mercy features a guest star appearance from LOST
IN SPACE alumnus June Lockhart, who portrays a doctor using an alien
healing devise to help impoverished individuals that are lurking in the
down below areas of Babylon 5. In Chrysalis Delenn begins a
strange metamorphosis, while at the same time Mollari takes another step
down a very bad road, by asking for a rather large favor from Mr. Morden
and his unseen associates.
Warner
Home Video has made all of the episodes from BABYLON 5- THE COMPLETE
FIRST SEASON available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide screen presentation
that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 displays. Although BABYLON
5 was filmed with the intention of being compatible with the aspect
ratio of high definition televisions, the presentation is something of a
mixed bag because of the show’s computer generated special effects. It
would seem that all the film footage from every episode has been newly
transferred in the proper aspect ratio. However, the special effects
sequences would appear to have been taken from the 4:3 broadcast masters
and digitally reformatted to 16:9, instead of being recreated from the
original computer files in the correct format.
Since
all of the special effects shots have been digitally "blown up"
and then matted to fill the dimensions of wide screen televisions, they are somewhat soft
and fuzzy looking. Film sequences appear sharp and well defined, although
occasional blemishes and scratches do crop up on the elements themselves.
There is also a bit of grain here and there, but there is nothing
objectionable in that department. Colors are generally well saturated and
attractive, although the reformatted special effects shots can look a bit
duller. Backs appear solid and contrast is good on the newly transferred
film sequences. The six dual layered DVDs don’t display any appreciable
signs of digital compression artifacts.
The
soundtracks for all of the episodes have been upgraded to 5.1 channels of
Dolby Digital surround sound. Considering that the original elements were
recorded and mixed for television broadcast, these 5.1 channel tracks
sound terrific. There is very good channels separation across the forward
soundstage, plus there is a strong usage of the rear channels for ambient
sounds, spaceship engine rumble and occasional active effects. Dialogue is
very cleanly rendered and always fully understandable. The bass channel is
solid and fairly deep, but doesn't come anywhere close to ground shaking.
A French language track is also present for the episodes, while subtitles
are offered in English, French and Spanish.
Animation
and sound serve to enhance the DVD's interactive menus. Through the menus,
one has access to standard scene selection and set up features, as well as
some nice supplemental features. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski is
on hand for an introduction to the DVD set on disc one, as well as
offering audio commentary on Signs And Portents and Chrysalis.
The Making Of Babylon 5 is a nineteen-minute television
documentary from series first season. Hosted by Walter Koenig, the program
features interviews with the cast and crew, as well as a look at the shows
computer special effects that were generated on the Amiga computed
platform. Back To Babylon 5 is a new thirteen-minute
retrospective documentary that features members of the production team and
a couple cast members. The Universe Of Babylon 5 is an
interactive tour of the future created by J. Michael Straczynski, which
looks at the Babylon 5 station, its personnel, other future technology, as
well as the alien races that inhabit this future. Biographies for J.
Michael Straczynski and producer Douglas Netter close out the supplements.
A
proper release of BABYLON 5 in some home video format has been a
long time in coming. Warner Home Video's DVD release of BABYLON 5- THE
COMPLETE FIRST SEASON: SIGNS AND PORTENTS offers fans just about
everything they could possibly want. The episodes generally look very good
and are in the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. However, I wish that the
special effects work could have redone, since they are the weak link in
the presentation. Still, fans will most definitely want to own this DVD
set, and will be looking forward to seasons two through five of BABYLON
5 to appear on disc sometime soon.
