Posible Spoilers

[Doktor]

Hi there.

Can anyone summarise the B5 novelisations for me, or point me in the direction of where I can find such a summary? Didn't buy them when they came out, and I gather most are now hard to find?

Thanks

[Joseph DeMartino]

Er, the novelizations pretty much follow the plots of the TV movies they novelize, while fleshing things out a little bit. So if you've seen the movies you already know anything that could be provided in a plot summary.

Or did you mean the original novels set in the B5 universe as opposed to the novelizations? (Which, by definition, are adaptations of a script or finished film into prose form.)

Regards,

Joe

[Doktor]

Or did you mean the original novels set in the B5 universe as opposed to the novelizations?

Sorry, yeah. My bad

[Dr Maturin]

Good question, though. Should I read ITB, ACTA and Thirdspace? I have seen ITB countless times, ACTA like once when it first aired in 97/98 (was it Dec. or Jan.?) and I've never seen Thirdspace. Do the novelizations add anything to the movies?

[Leto II]

Oh, most definitely. Particularly the novels of In the Beginning and A Call to Arms. The former adds some increased texture to Londo's overall predicament (enhanced further when one reads the "Fall of Centauri Prime" trilogy penned by...<gasp!> the same author), as well as further details, such as Sinclair's Minbari psi-probe and Sheridan's first kibitz with Anna.

The latter gets into the characters' heads and personal histories far more; you learn a great deal about Captain Anderson, who he is, where he's coming from, and what makes him tick. Thirdspace ain't too shabby either, except I thought that Mr. David spent more time on the Moron Brothers than was probably necessary (been several years since I read it, so I'm going from rote, here), but is otherwise worth picking up.

(On another note: would've been interesting to read that never-materialized David Gerrold adaptation of The Gathering...he probably would've worked in some War Against the Ch'torr references.)