B5 on SciFi channel

[Joseph DeMartino]

No big deal. Quantum Leap used to air at 8 p.m. daily. Then it was removed. Then they put in on the weekly 11-4 marathon slot.

They did the same with B5 - brief hiatus followed by new time slot. The current situation is different. Their exclusive contract for the show has run out and not been renewed, as they told a fan in response to a query. Whether that was Sci-Fi's choice or Warner Bros. (on the theory that the property will be more valuable once some new projects are in the pipeline) is unclear. In any event the series can't return to U.S. TV until Sci-Fi or somebody else is given a license to air it. WB may prefer to keep it off the air for a time to help DVD sales, although you'd think the broadcast rights might pay more

Regards,

Joe

[RCmodeler]

Originally posted by The One to come
we can only hope I been starving for B5 to come back to TV

No big deal. Quantum Leap used to air at 8 p.m. daily. Then it was removed. Then they put in on the weekly 11-4 marathon slot.

That's how things work. They run a show for a while until it burns out, let it rest until fans yearn to see it again, and then put it back.

[jal]

i assume the scene from ITB was the one where Sinclair is at the battle of the line, where his fighter flight gets destroyed and he attempts to ram the Minbari cruiser, that was copied entirely from the season one episode "And The Sky Full Of Stars".

the same goes for the scenes taken from "Late Delivery From Avalon" and "Points Of Departure", all were included in the later TV movie, ITB.

colonyearth wrote:

I personally, would LOVE to get my hands on a copy of the original version of the pilot! I've always wanted to see it again, to hear Copeland's score, everything. As a filmmaker, it's a curiousity to see what was changed and why, as well as to simply compare.

As a fan, I would love to have it for no other reason than to have it in my collection.

the score is ok, though a bit unoriginal and conveys very little of the depth and mood that Chris Franke was able to impart on the redone version.

back in 1993- 94 i used to work in a video store and the manager let me have a hand at choosing some ot the new vids that he was going to put on the shelves, while looking the catalogue i though the premise of B5(original pilot) sounded good so i suggested that he take a chance on it.

needless to say i saw the pilot and was hooked from the start, after a few months i bought it off him, still have it and i aint selling it!

[CRONAN]

Hmmm. Well I did watch ITB first, so to me that wasnt my impression : /

[Kevin]

Originally posted by CRONAN
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For instance, a scene from the B5 TV movie ITB is now included in one of the episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Huh? ItB was shot after the fourth season was completed. Many shots that are in the TV movie were originally in various episodes. ("And the Sky Full of Stars", "A Late Delivery from Avalon" and "War Without End" all come to mind.) There are no shots that originally appeared in ItB that were subsequently added to S1 through S4 episodes after they first aired.
----------------------------------------------------------------

If you are not aware of the scene I'm refering to, isn't it better to ask, rather than automatically disregard my statement?

Go back and check out the S2 episode ''Points of Departure'' on the DVD. The scene where Lennier confides to Sheridan a reason behind the minbari surrender. It's the shot where Delenn and another Grey Council Member are aboard the flagship, in which Delenn suggests/demands to bring one of the earth fighters in for questioning. Delenn has a line not included in the DVD version of ITB, to say the least.

That was most certainly in the episode originally, not added after ItB aired.

And Kathryn Drennan is JMS's wife

[Capt.Montoya]

Kathryn

Drennan

(That's a great line, which I've used a few times in conversation, I've always had to give credit after the positive comments, but usually stop at saying it's from B5... I must confess I sometimes forget is from his wife, not from the Great Maker)

[CRONAN]

Reading through the POD page at the lurkers guide, I came across this:

BTW, and just for the heck of it...the line about paying off karma at an accellerated rate is something Kathryn has been muttering for ages; I popped it into the script for fun.

Any idea who Kathryn is?

[colonyearth]

Re: B5 on Bravo

Originally posted by Spoo Farmer
[B]Bravo showed the redited pilot just this Monday at 9am. I just caught the last 20 minutes, darn it! Can anyone tell me if the UK DVD version is the reedit? I've looked over the box a few times but it just has the feel of the original.

I personally, would LOVE to get my hands on a copy of the original version of the pilot! I've always wanted to see it again, to hear Copeland's score, everything. As a filmmaker, it's a curiousity to see what was changed and why, as well as to simply compare.

As a fan, I would love to have it for no other reason than to have it in my collection.

CE

[grumbler]

Originally posted by CRONAN
Go back and check out the S2 episode ''Points of Departure'' on the DVD. The scene where Lennier confides to Sheridan a reason behind the minbari surrender. It's the shot where Delenn and another Grey Council Member are aboard the flagship, in which Delenn suggests/demands to bring one of the earth fighters in for questioning. Delenn has a line not included in the DVD version of ITB, to say the least.

I am pretty sure that what happened was that the PoD scene was not completely shown in ItB. My tapes show that scene in PoD, and the tape was made (I am almost certain) when B5 was still on PTEN.

[Edit: typos]

[CRONAN]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For instance, a scene from the B5 TV movie ITB is now included in one of the episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Huh? ItB was shot after the fourth season was completed. Many shots that are in the TV movie were originally in various episodes. ("And the Sky Full of Stars", "A Late Delivery from Avalon" and "War Without End" all come to mind.) There are no shots that originally appeared in ItB that were subsequently added to S1 through S4 episodes after they first aired.
----------------------------------------------------------------

If you are not aware of the scene I'm refering to, isn't it better to ask, rather than automatically disregard my statement?

Go back and check out the S2 episode ''Points of Departure'' on the DVD. The scene where Lennier confides to Sheridan a reason behind the minbari surrender. It's the shot where Delenn and another Grey Council Member are aboard the flagship, in which Delenn suggests/demands to bring one of the earth fighters in for questioning. Delenn has a line not included in the DVD version of ITB, to say the least.

[Andrew_Swallow]

Re: B5 on Bravo

Originally posted by Spoo Farmer
Bravo showed the redited pilot just this Monday at 9am. I just caught the last 20 minutes, darn it! Can anyone tell me if the UK DVD version is the reedit? I've looked over the box a few times but it just has the feel of the original.

If you see Sinclair place Lyta by the wall whilst he catches a drug smuggler then you are watching the reedit.

[Spoo Farmer]

B5 on Bravo

Bravo showed the redited pilot just this Monday at 9am. I just caught the last 20 minutes, darn it! Can anyone tell me if the UK DVD version is the reedit? I've looked over the box a few times but it just has the feel of the original.


Ohh and I happen to like the Channel 4 censorship of B5, it gave a feeling of danger and mystery when I was buying all those videos.

For years I strongly believed knives couldn't hurt anybody, sure as hell no one ever got stabbed! In "Shadow Dancing" I assumed Franklin just burst! And Prime Minister Malachi died when someone stood on his toe I think.

Lord Refa died of heart attack most likely caused by being chased up and down a cave by Narns, he sure wasn't bludgeoned! No sir! Not on my channel!

No one calls Shadows any bad names in "Walkabout", not even Leta when she wants them to quote "BURN!"

The pre titles hook for "Phoenix Rising" had all that tense music because Bester getting into an elevator. Beacuse Bester changing floors is the stuff of nightmares! I think it's high unlikely anyone was hanging up there crucified! It was a Sunday morning! People don't want to be seeing that sort of thing just after church!

And "TKO" NEVER happened! It's a dirty rumour and I always hum real loud when people talk about it.


I live in a safe world here! Don't shake it!


PS: First time poster long time fan. I saw the pilot on rental and formed an opinion. I saw the first series and revised my opinion.

[Joseph DeMartino]

And on another topic raised in this thread, from the JMS Speaks section of the "Comes the Inquisitor" page at The Luker's Guide to Babylon 5 :

Censorship by C4 in Great Britain

They SNIPPED the shot of G'Kar slicing his hand? You're kidding! I find that quite astonishing; it was done discreetly. I'm dumbfounded. No wonder there was confusion about that scene.


You're right, btw; I was informed in another message here that they did snip that piece of G'Kar's action. Suffice to say I had *no* idea, and now that I *do* have an idea...I'm simply wog-boggled.

Regards,

Joe

[Joseph DeMartino]

For instance, a scene from the B5 TV movie ITB is now included in one of the episodes.

Huh? ItB was shot after the fourth season was completed. Many shots that are in the TV movie were originally in various episodes. ("And the Sky Full of Stars", "A Late Delivery from Avalon" and "War Without End" all come to mind.) There are no shots that originally appeared in ItB that were subsequently added to S1 through S4 episodes after they first aired.

I know here on the uk satellite, it has more recently been shown on the Bravo channel. Perhaps this suggests the rights have been passed on (from the Sci-Fi Channel.)

The U.S. and U.K. versions of The Sci-Fi Channel have been owned by different companies for several years and are not affiliated in any way. Even when they were affliated, deals for programs were made separately for each network because of differences in local markets and other issues.

The "uncut" business refers to minor violence trimmed from the show when it aired earlier in the evening than SFC UK (there's a set of initials to conjur with ) showed it. There was a really nice promo (I just to have a copy as a Quicktime file) that showed a strategically posed and seemingly nude Claudia Christian touting Sci-Fi's airing as including "all the good parts" that British fans hadn't been able to see before.

Also, in Inquisitor Sheridan now says East, but lip-mimes West. Scary stuff.

Actually that is NOT a correction made for the DVDs. J

JMS typed "West End of London" where he meant "East End" when he wrote the script, and Bruce Boxleitner recorded it that way. JMS was aware of the error before the episode first aired in the U.S. but he was reluctant to have Bruce Boxleitner "loop" it to the correct word because (a) the performance was so good and (b) he said the word looking right at the camera in a close up - and it would be (and is) obvious from the way the mouth movies that he was saying a different word.

But after that initial airing they took a shot at it and the result was good enough that the corrected version was used for the first U.K. broadcast and for every subsequent U.S. airing, IIRC. (There is a slight chance that they pulled the clip with the wrong word when they first remastered the series in widescreen and then went back and pulled the right one. That sort of thing happened in couple of other cases, but in that case it only would have aired one or two more times in the Sci-Fi Channel rotation before being fixed.)


Regards,

Joe

[Andrew_Swallow]

Originally posted by Vir
I know here on the uk satellite, it has more recently been shown on the Bravo channel. Perhaps this suggests the rights have been passed on.

Also, when the sci-fi channel showed it, they advertised it as Babylon 5 'Uncut'. Does anyone know what the difference is, and which version is on the Dvds ?

Minor edits were made for violence to reduce the show to "PG". The DVDs are uncut.