When's the Blu-Ray !?

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

I wouldn't put it passed WB to release the DVD transfers on Blu-Ray discs and hope we are too stupid to notice the lack of difference.

Lucas did the same thing when he released the Laserdisc transfers of the 'unspecial' edition Star Wars trilogy (sure you wouldn't get far trying squeeze a Laserdisc into a DVD player but that was the only difference of note).

[Zoltan]

Sounds like minimal work was done solely for the purpose of squeezing more money out of the consumer. That would be the Warner way for B5 BD as well. (C'mon, what's your gut tell you? You know it's true.) I look at my B5 DVDs as the best I'm ever likely to get.

But even if they did release the DVD material on Blu-ray, it wouldn't sell well because:
a) it's an older series never widely known or popular (though, the DVD sales said something different but the question is, compared to *what*: low expectations from Warner in the first place? I could be wrong about this though)
b) those who would be interested in (I mean us, hanging on a B5 board years after the series ended) would not get it because we would be informed sooner or later (more like sooner ) that it doesn't have upgraded picture quality.

And now I will let you guess what Warner would do as a consequence of that to B5...

[Sidrack Marinho]

In other words, unless another B5 movie is made and doesn't flop in the theaters (instead of being released directly to the video market), making some good profit for WB, while creating a new fanbase, the chances of seeing all B5 material re-released (not only for Blu-ray, but restored for DVD) are slim to none...

I quoted Friends some posts ago but forgot to mention there are reports saying they were working on a Friends movie after the release of the Sex and the City film in 2008, which proved to be a success at the box office. I guess this is the only motivator in 99% of those cases.

CBS & Paramount worked hard to release all 3 seasons of Star Trek: TOS and all previous 10 movies (doing a lousy job on the BDs, I might add, making clear they will re-release them when the next movie hits the theaters either to improve the BD image or release the DC versions) only because the new Star Trek movie (2009) was being developed. If there wasn't any plans of doing a reboot at the time I doubt they would have bother. Unfortunatelly they forgot the other shows from the franchise (specially Enterprise which is totally ready for a BD release).

[JoeD80]

(though, the DVD sales said something different but the question is, compared to *what*: low expectations from Warner in the first place? I could be wrong about this though)

They were/still are a high-selling TV series DVD compared to other TV series on DVD. As other shows come and go off the shelf, Babylon 5 has remained as a steady seller. It's one of the higher grossing TV DVD sets.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

In other words, unless another B5 movie is made and doesn't flop in the theaters (instead of being released directly to the video market), making some good profit for WB, while creating a new fanbase, the chances of seeing all B5 material re-released (not only for Blu-ray, but restored for DVD) are slim to none...

Putting my commerical head on for a second, if (as JoeD80 says) the series is still selling steadily on DVD as it is, what would be the point of WB spending money to restore or improve the picture quality in order to re-release it?

It is unlikely that many of those who have purchased the DVD sets over the years would bother to buy the same thing all over again just because the picture was a bit better, so how do you justify the cost?

Personally, the only improvement I would be desperate for is the facility to have each season on one disc to save some space.

[DGTWoodward]

...It is unlikely that many of those who have purchased the DVD sets over the years would bother to buy the same thing all over again just because the picture was a bit better, so how do you justify the cost..?

Sorry GH but are you serious?

The arguments that go on about double-dipping over on the various AV forums I read are legion!

I do not know anybody that would easily DD for an HD version of a show they already have in SD....But plenty of people would still do it.

Me included.

The number of people that were not interested in the then HD DVD only ST:TOS season one because astonishing cost and because they already had bought this several times over the years...but then crumbled and bought it anyway.

I think you are underplaying the real desire people have of seeing their faves in 1080p loveliness.

Give us a B5:TLT Bluray starter disk. It might not be much but it would be a beginning. It looked LUSH!!!! You could see everything. Even down to the weave of the fabrics in the actor's costumes.

[KoshN]

Putting my commerical head on for a second, if (as JoeD80 says) the series is still selling steadily on DVD as it is, what would be the point of WB spending money to restore or improve the picture quality in order to re-release it?

It is unlikely that many of those who have purchased the DVD sets over the years would bother to buy the same thing all over again just because the picture was a bit better, so how do you justify the cost?

Personally, the only improvement I would be desperate for is the facility to have each season on one disc to save some space.

Personally, I'd like to see all of the dust, scratches, hairs, ink splotches and film defects ("And The Sky Full of Stars" across Benson's neck), defects that never should have made it onto the DVDs, CLEANED UP.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Sorry GH but are you serious?

The arguments that go on about double-dipping over on the various AV forums I read are legion!

...

Give us a B5:TLT Bluray starter disk. It might not be much but it would be a beginning. It looked LUSH!!!! You could see everything. Even down to the weave of the fabrics in the actor's costumes.

There doesn't seem to be any good reason not to release TLT on Blu-Ray, I agree.

But the point I was making was not about the issuing of genuine HD content ... clearly there is a big argument there in favour of re-issuing the show in genuine HD quality, but with the loss of the original CGI files, and the need to re-do the entire shows FX, do the potential sales justify the massive expense? I don't know, but given WB's history with B5, the chances of them ponying up the cash seem to be somewhere between slim and none.

Cleaning up the image a little and upscaling it for re-release doesn't really seem like too much of an improvement, especially since people who own such things (which I don't) tell me that Blu-Ray players make a pretty good fist of upscaling ordinary DVDs already.

Much as I love B5, and have bought plenty of related stuff over the years including all the script books as well as the entire series first on VHS and then on DVD, I wouldn't shell out more money for a slightly improved version of the show on DVD when I already have an acceptable copy on the shelf.

A full HD version, I would probably buy even if I didn't yet own a player.

[Lope de Aguirre]

I for one sold ALL my B5 DVDs but would buy them on BD if the quality wasn't too disappointing especially if they would create new SFX!

[Jan]

When JMS shared photos of his new home theater on the Fans of J. Michael Straczynski Facebook page recently, the Rlu-Ray treatment of B5 came up and JMS replied:

You really couldn't do a blu-ray of B5 unless you went back and seriously uprezzed the original and redid the CGI which was cropped, and I don't know that that's feasible.

Jan

[Jonas]

I think it will be feasible someday - at the rate technology is improving, it might be done by the fans - but not quite yet, especially as long as there isn't an obvious financial motive. (I actually think they could turn B5 from a good-selling property to an enormous hit, but that takes a type of initiative that we shouldn't really expect.)

[Lope de Aguirre]

When JMS shared photos of his new home theater on the Fans of J. Michael Straczynski Facebook page recently, the Rlu-Ray treatment of B5 came up and JMS replied:

Thanx for the quote but the points JMS is making are old news for us (me).

I still keep my faith up... you know someone said faith manages.

[Whyruss]

Ah - the series is fine as it is. I don't need a BR edition. WB should spend the money on a B5 feature film instead ;-)

[Lope de Aguirre]

Ah - the series is fine as it is. I don't need a BR edition. WB should spend the money on a B5 feature film instead ;-)

Can't they do both?

At least produce a feature film and if it's successful bringing the original show to BD.
Or bringing the show to BD and if it's successful do a movie?

It's allowed to dream isn't it?

[Doom Shepherd]

It's allowed to dream isn't it?

Huh.

Londo just popped into my head and said "There's dreaming, and then there's drinking the funny-tasting... what do you call it? ... Kool-Aid."

I mean nothing by this, (I'd probably buy a BR of B5 myself, if it came out... and if I owned a Blu-Ray player...) but that's what happened. Funny.