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Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007)

Three out of Five Stars

I am sad to say that mediocrity was the call of the day for this direct to DVD release. The first episode was the worst television I've seen in a very long time. Indeed, this segment didn't even rise to the level of the worst episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" and this is a phenomenal accomplishment that would have even made Ed Wood blush.

There were glaring continuity problems, right from the beginning, most notably the scene in the overused CGI landing bay, where commentary was made about going through customs. An odd scene, given that I've never encountered an airport where customs was on the airplane tarmac. While the CGI special effects were superb, some of the shots were wanting. Poor use of green-screen was obvious and can be attributed to the Director, not the FX department. Of all things, I think it was the CGI modeling which was the most fantastic technical aspect of the show. Unfortunately, special effects were done so at the expense of the shows sets.

One need only look at the interior shots, the sparse and baron looking sets, poor use of props, and the plain and desolate floors where the show was filmed, to find this episode wanting. It was so obvious that we were on a sound stage it ruined one's ability to get into the scene. More care should have been taken by Unit Production Manager to to make sure the set designer had the materials he needed to make the scenes look believable. At the very least the director should have shot them more tightly to hide the fact that the floors were baron and the room they were filming in looked like someone's garage.

JMS, who made the mistake of actually directing, demonstrated conclusively that writers should not direct. Executive Producers should not direct, either. It is a well known fact that when Creators, Producers and Executives micro-manage a project to the point of jumping into the Director's chair, their selfish choice always hurts the production. The incredibly poor directing scene in this film is proof of said axiom. JMS's attempted to hide his inability to direct a scene, by simply tilting the camera back and forth... over, and over, and over again, was enough to give the audience motion sickness. If you get car sick, this is not the show for you.

Straczynski was obviously going for some sort of dark and creepy "horror movie" feel in this pedantic re-dress of the Exorcist and failed miserably in the attempt. Worse, and I think this was the ultimate failure of this production, was that all this effort to make it look creepy simply made it look corny and amateurish. An even bigger problem can be found in the dialog, which was stilted and hackneyed.

The unyielding and excessive number of "Voice Overs" was bordering on the criminal. Their excessive use made the whole episode feel like highlights of a real story, rather than an actual episode and made one feel like they were watching a live-action comic book than a film or feature. To say that this episode was "disappointing"... doesn't quite seem to cover it.

The second episode on the DVD was far better than the first. "Over There" felt much more like the real Babylon 5 seen in the 1990s. Use of dialog, sets, and the on-screen environment was far superior then what had been seen before. Quantum Space seemed like a radical departure from what was seen in the original series and is sure to send sci-fi fans into an uproar.

The sets in this story looked much better then those in the fist episode titled "Over Here." I think this is due in large part to the fact that we were aboard an alien ship, not the more human Babylon 5 which fans know backwards and forwards. The Minbari's minimalist stance erased any doubts for this episode and, frankly, I think the set work here simply looked fantastic, demonstrating a wonderful use of color, shapes, patterns and both positive and negative space.

Loved it.

Budget constraints were an obvious problem but, an even bigger problem was the amateur-hour directing by series creator J. Michael Straczynski. This film cost roughly $3.5 million but, by the look of it, the show only looks like it cost about one-million dollars to produce. Not a good sign. I find it quite unfortunate that the disastrous mistake of the Executive Producer seizing the Director's chair was ever made. A better director could have made this DVD "LOOK" like they'd had a budget of $10 million.

"Over Here", the Lochley story, got 1.5 out of 5 stars.

"Over There", the Sheridan story, got 4.0 out of 5 stars.

If anyone should read this, I advise you to ONLY watch "Over There" and never, ever, EVER click on the other one.

Ever.

It will significantly reduce the level of disappointment you will endure by making this purchase.