*SPOILERS* B5: TLT: Voices in the Dark - *SPOILERS*

[Joe Nazzaro]

'Speaking of which, I'm kind of curious how Joe Nazzaro feels it fits into the progression that has often been made regarding B5 spin-offs and TLT: Season 1-5, TNT movies of the week, Crusade, LotR. How much did you like those, and how does TLT compare when put at the end of that list? I'm guessing its returning more to the original show's tone than any of the previous projects, but I'm curious what Joe thinks about that.'



To tell you the truth, the Sheridan/Galen story felt much closer in tone to the original B5, as well as chronology. In some ways, I could almost look at it as a companion piece to æA Call to Arms,Æ but that just may be the Sheridan/Galen dynamic. The Lochley piece just felt too isolated to really tie into anything. As IÆve mentioned before, the lack of extras almost made it feel as though Lochley was on an empty station, which is sort of weird when you think that everybody should be gearing up for a tenth anniversary party, attended by dignitaries from a hundred worlds None of whom we see, by the way).

I think the thing that lends itself somewhat to an overall sense of disconnection is just the lack of cast members. WhereÆs Garibaldi? Oh, heÆs got a problem on Mars. Delenn? IA stuff to deal with on Minbar. Franklin and GÆKar? IÆm not going to give that away here, but suffice to say, every time a major character is mentioned to tie them into the continuity, we also become aware of their absence. Believe me, I realize this DVD is being done on a budget, and IÆm certainly not advocating a much bigger cast, but every once in a while I got this feeling that these stories took place within B5 continuity and yet apart from them somehow. ItÆs a very difficult feeling to put into words, and I will be interested to hear how other people feel about it.

I donÆt know if that answers your question Shabaz, but just to go a bit further, most of the other B5-related projects felt like a progression, with the exception of The Rangers, which felt more like B5-reloaded to me. I think I have to get my head around The Lost Tales still; maybe if I thought of B5 and Crusade as a pair of novels, the TV movies and Rangers as novellas and The Lost Tales as short stories, thatÆs probably the best parallel I could make. IÆm not sure if weÆll ever see another ænovelÆ again, so maybe we should just enjoy what we get.

[Shabaz]

Thanks for the thorough reply. Your comments about how the combination of few extras and the lack of an ensemble cast makes it feel a bit disconnected are interesting, and I'm very curious how that will work for myself. I can't say it's a surprise, since individual character focussed anthology was the pitch from the start. I hadn't considered how a lack of extras could also play into that though. And it seems that JMS still wanted to have some Big Plotpoints, with the anniversary and the possible Centauri bombing (going by the CGSociety article spoilers), which with the lack of the whole ensemble could create a somewhat jarring contrast.

JMS seemed to always have prided himself in that with B5 he created a format that both allowed him to do genuinely new things, but also on a very low budget by design. The TLT format seems to have both concerns in mind again, but maybe it will take a bit for JMS to comfortably write to the scale and scope that can be achieved in the new format. Having to scrap the Garabaldi section for this disc seems to indicate he may have overshot what was realistically possible during writing there at least.

I really do hope he gets the chance to fine tune though, and very curious to see how the scale and 'connectedness' works out for myself. And the simple fact of having more of them, possibly dovetailing on previous episodes' plotpoints, might help too. E.g. a total guess, but it seems possible the whole Vintari character and his storyline could be used to lead into a Londo section that Peter Jurasik got a call about.

[Shabaz]

Another review from a website called "The Cinema Laser". They focus a bit more on the technical aspects of the disc, and overall is really positive.

I also saw another review over here, which doesn't really go too deep into its criticism. It's point mostly seems to be that it doesn't work that well for someone unfamiliar with B5, like the reviewer, kind of echoing what Joe said in the AICN review. Somehow he still manages to end up with a 91% B+ rating, which seems to be kind of odd with the criticism write up. They are really positive about the technical aspects of the disc too though, and its audio and video quality.

I also listened to the Babylon Podcast feed. Only Summer watched it yet, and she seemed really positive about it in the few comments she made. From the top of my head, she said it was ten times better than LotR, felt most like ActA to her (which she liked), and quality wise totally on par with the original episodes, more specifically somewhere around season 2. As for the two segments, she really liked the second one, and wasn't sure where the first was going, but there was some sort of twist there that did make her really like it too.

[tarasis]

It would seem that B5:TLT has now appeared on at least 1 torrent site. Call me tempted to grab it, even though I am buying the DVD as soon as it hits, eventually, Germany / UK.

[Carfin]

It would seem that B5:TLT has now appeared on at least 1 torrent site. Call me tempted to grab it, even though I am buying the DVD as soon as it hits, eventually, Germany / UK.

No piracy of B5!!!!!



Less sales, less profit = less chance of more following.
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CBR600RR

[SmileOfTheShadow]

It would seem that B5:TLT has now appeared on at least 1 torrent site. Call me tempted to grab it, even though I am buying the DVD as soon as it hits, eventually, Germany / UK.

Don't do it. Thanks.

[b5finland]

Couple hours ago i found nice brown package in my mailbox from DVDpacific and watched dvd just moment ago. I ordered 3 dvd's more for my friends from play.com but it hasnt arrived yet. Im sure that retailers thought Finland is so far away so they sendit the dvd little bit earlier

Nice little movie... I didnt like Lochley episode so much but Sheridan episode was great. Im going to re-watch in the morning. I hope JMS can expose possible continuation to this dvd at Comic con. It's great to have B5 back even though i wanted more tv-series but every new B5 stuff is welcome for a fan.

Gotto go sleep now because its so late.....

[raw_bean]

No piracy of B5!!!!!



Less sales, less profit = less chance of more following.

Not to promote piracy or make any kind of endorsement or anything, but he did say he was going to buy it anyway, so unless he went and hosted it for others to get hold of he wouldn't actually be reducing the sales by anything.

As someone living in the UK, even though I've ordered three copies (gonna give some to some friends) to help increase the odds of future productions I'm still going to have to face down some major temptation to wait 5 weeks while everyone over the pond enjoys it when there'll be copies available to me illegally in the interim. One of the negative consequences of the global culture the internet fosters is when it connects to other formats that aren't so global in their availability.

[Carfin]

Not to promote piracy or make any kind of endorsement or anything, but he did say he was going to buy it anyway, so unless he went and hosted it for others to get hold of he wouldn't actually be reducing the sales by anything.

As someone living in the UK, even though I've ordered three copies (gonna give some to some friends) to help increase the odds of future productions I'm still going to have to face down some major temptation to wait 5 weeks while everyone over the pond enjoys it when there'll be copies available to me illegally in the interim. One of the negative consequences of the global culture the internet fosters is when it connects to other formats that aren't so global in their availability.

As far as I know once a download of a torrent begins does it not automatically share the parts which you have taken already?

So whether hosting or not, anyone who steals this would be contributing to its illegal distribution.

I live in the UK too and the extra wait for us guys is a bit harsh but we've been years without anything new, so a a few more weeks won't kill me........

I hope.


________
Yamaha DT250

[raw_bean]

Actually that's true, I hadn't thought about how torrents work.

I could always absent myself from spoiler areas and try and divert myself with something else for the next 5-6 weeks, but I'll probably just end up completely spoiled from ravenously devouring reviews and discussions.

[RMcD]

I wish it would show up on Amazon.co.uk.. Play.com has had it listed for September 3rd for ages, but I've known them to pluck release dates out of the air in the past, and as they seem to be the only ones listing it anywhere at the moment there's no independent corroboration. If it showed up on Amazon with a September 3rd release date I'd feel a lot more confident that's when it's actually coming out.

[Morden]

Want to take a look at the German Amazon website, in case it doensn't show up at amazon.co.uk during the next weeks?
They say it'll be shipped on August 24, and as it contains full english language and subtitles, you'd just have to live with the German cover.

[tarasis]

No piracy of B5!!!!!

Regardless of whether I joined in or not it is being pirated. It doesn't make it right but B5 is being pirated every day, currently at least 355 people have downloaded a 47gb package of everything B5.

Less sales, less profit = less chance of more following.

Certainly from me there would not be one less sale. I am purchasing the DVD as soon as the damn thing is available.

I could quite easily buy the DVD from the states (my various DVD players are region free) but I want to get it here to a) show Warners et al that there is interest for B5 still outside of the US b) have pal.

That said, I don't like stalled releases when there is no need for it. This isn't like a cinema release, they could quite easily do simultaneous releases for a DVD in all regions but they don't.

<mini rant>
Basically if you aren't in the US you tend to get stung.

1) late releases (if at all, TV shows like Pinky And The Brain have yet to get a DVD release here. Hell it took a little while before the Looney Tunes collections where available in limited places in the UK -- note both Warners)

2) Exclusive content, like the cast commentaries for Hero's available on the shows website, the Battlestar Galactica webisode again only for the states. Various soundtracks that are no longer for sale as a CD that are only available on iTunes US.

3) Restricting trade so that you can enforce higher prices, for instance Shure restrict US companies from selling internationally their headphones so they can protect their market rates. So for instance Headphones that in the us cost $449 dollars cost €498 in Germany; a $230 dollar mark up.
</mini rant>

--- edit ---

I should also add that circumventing reigion protection on DVD's in technically illegal though many of us do it because DVD's are cheaper in a different region or because something we want isn#t available. Also circumventing region protection to watch a DVD on a linux based PC is illegal, even if you are in the region you bought the DVD because there is no santioned decoder available. You can get around it with DeCSS but ...

[tarasis]

<snip> you'd just have to live with the German cover.

Cool, plus at least it is no longer called Spacecenter Babylon 5.

*slaps forehead*

[frulad]

OK... First off, my heart goes out to you non-US folk who have to wait longer for your DVD region's release of TLT.

HOWEVER- Even though there's no specific rule I could find in the FAQs regarding the subject, the idea of discussing piracy, specifically where to go to find pirated material is frowned upon here.

I know that some of you folks have stated you will be buying a copy (or two or three) of the disc when it hits your market, but that still doesn't make downloading it right.

Jan (and Joe and others) are off at the San Diego Con right now having a good time, but also bringing us the latest JMS news straight from the horse's mouth. (Look at SFTV's post about standing there as JMS got a cell call telling him that some project had just been given the go ahead. You don't get much more Johnny-On-The-Spot than that!) Let's not kill her buzz by having them have to put on the moderator hat when she gets back to her room.