Babylon 5 Lost Tales in 720p HD

[Snatcher42]

It is nice to see the non-blurry EFX for once!

Indeed. The blurry picture would even spoil the story sometimes. You'd always know a few seconds before someone fired a gun or some other magic event happened, because the picture would suddenly get worse. I'm a few episodes in and really enjoying this Netflix re-watch. Everything seems so much more solid and integrated, like the soul globes and laser in soul hunter. Film grain and scratches are much less noticeable too. Simply put, I think this is the best the series has ever looked, certainly much better than on DVD! Though I should note that I have a fast internet connection able to stream at max quality. Others' mileage may vary.

[vakie]

Simply put, I think this is the best the series has ever looked, certainly much better than on DVD! Though I should note that I have a fast internet connection able to stream at max quality. Others' mileage may vary.

That's what I suspected. Now if only it would be available to people outside US...

[JoeD80]

Been through season 1 on Netflix now and have noticed that Grail and Survivors are switched on the list, and for some reason TKO is in the widescreen version even though the other episodes are full screen.

[ILUVJOHNSHERIDAN]

OK tell me again why B5 isn't being release in HD? I just seen 2001 A space Odyssey on Blue Ray and it looks a lot crisper than our DVD copy. More of the Details stand out so I am confused about this whole subject.

[Whyruss]

I guess bc of the CGI - u would have to do them all again for a better resolution. 2001 doesn't have any CGI.

[Reverend]

Yeah, it's because of the CG work. They were never rendered into widescreen so what you see on the DVD is basically a cropped picture and since it was rendered in what would today be considered a very low resolution, it looks pretty bad.

Doing the same thing in BluRay would look even worse as the contrast between the nice HD quality live action footage and any scene with CGI (that includes composite shots) would be all the more stark.

The only way to release B5 in HD is to go back and re-render and re-composite every single CG shot. It'd be a huge amount of work as it would also entail rebuilding all of the assents up to HD standard and from what I gather, at the moment and for the foreseeable future that is just too expensive.

I suppose it's possible WB might spring for doing one of the movies ('In The Beginning' perhaps?) as a test to see if it can be done at a reasonable price and how well it might sell, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

[ILUVJOHNSHERIDAN]

OK. I see now. Too bad thuogh, it would be kiss ass in HD

[Garibaldi's Hair]

The only way to release B5 in HD is to go back and re-render and re-composite every single CG shot. It'd be a huge amount of work as it would also entail rebuilding all of the assents up to HD standard and from what I gather, at the moment and for the foreseeable future that is just too expensive.

It is even worse than that, in fact ... as WB have lost all of the original CGI files, not only would they have to be re-processed to HD resolution, every CGI shot across all 110 episodes plus The Gathering, plus movies would need to be re-built almost from scratch. Some models were built in HD for The Lost Tales, but that only constituted a very small proportion of the models required for a full re-CGI of the show. They would also then have to painstakingly re-build every single FX shot to fit with what was in the original show.

Just imagine how much work was involved in building some of those epic space battles in the first place. Now imagine having to re-do those scenes (not as a new space battle, but shot for shot the exact same scene) from scratch, ensuring that you don't accidentally omit an iconic moment, or subtle background detail, that the fans love.

No pressure, huh?

It would have to be done shot for shot too, as otherwise the sound effects and music wouldn't fit and would also need to be re-done/re-editted, thus further adding to the time and expense of the venture.

[Snatcher42]

I think it's safe to say HD isn't happening. If it was up to me, the DVDs wouldn't even be widescreen! Anyway, my re-watch continues with another interesting Netflix tidbit for those feeling nostalgic: Convictions in season 3 starts off with a PTEN logo!

[Reverend]

It is even worse than that, in fact ... as WB have lost all of the original CGI files, not only would they have to be re-processed to HD resolution, every CGI shot across all 110 episodes plus The Gathering, plus movies would need to be re-built almost from scratch. Some models were built in HD for The Lost Tales, but that only constituted a very small proportion of the models required for a full re-CGI of the show. They would also then have to painstakingly re-build every single FX shot to fit with what was in the original show.

Just imagine how much work was involved in building some of those epic space battles in the first place. Now imagine having to re-do those scenes (not as a new space battle, but shot for shot the exact same scene) from scratch, ensuring that you don't accidentally omit an iconic moment, or subtle background detail, that the fans love.

No pressure, huh?

It would have to be done shot for shot too, as otherwise the sound effects and music wouldn't fit and would also need to be re-done/re-editted, thus further adding to the time and expense of the venture.

Oh I know they lost the files too, but to be honest, given how much software and hardware has changed in the intervening years I seriously doubt it'd be as simple as re-rendering all the old scene files even IF that stuff hadn't been lost. They'd still have to remodel, re-texture and relight everything just for starters and I'm not sure if the old scene and animation files would load properly anymore, so you'd have to either find a way to convert or recreate it anyway.

As for the other points, I wouldn't expect any theoretical HD recreation to EXACTLY recreate the original shots. I mean what difference would it really make if (for the sake of argument) in Scene 21, Shot 3, Starfury #3 is further to the left and a bit higher than it was in the original version? Not much is how much.
Indeed, I'd fully expect any such attempt to improve upon the original scenes wherever appropriate. If nothing else they can correct that Agrippa/Roanoke mix up!

Bottom line; it'd be a lot of work no matter what, but I wouldn't permanently discount the possibility of it happening down the road a ways. I'm sure as soon as WB home video thinks that they'd make a profit on it in BluRay and/or download sales, they'd cough up the dough in a hot second.

[vakie]

Bottom line; it'd be a lot of work no matter what, but I wouldn't permanently discount the possibility of it happening down the road a ways. I'm sure as soon as WB home video thinks that they'd make a profit on it in BluRay and/or download sales, they'd cough up the dough in a hot second.

I suppose it's not totally impossible, Paramount/CBS did do it for Star Trek TOS. But of course ST is in a different league compared to B5 in DVD/BR sales. But it wouldn't be totally out of the question for WB to test the waters, like you already said, with maybe one/few of the TV movies. If they make enough profit, compared with the costs, it might be feasible, some years down the road. It's basically money for old rope, studios love that. A succesful B5 feature film might increase the chances of that.

[Lope de Aguirre]

I also believe that B5 will be released eventually.
I mean if WB does a feature film and it is succesful or when Blu-Ray is spreaded enough in many countries and shows like the Trek ones get redone SFX (and that WILL happen with TNG and probably also with DS9 + VOY).

[ILUVJOHNSHERIDAN]

If there is a big screen B5 movie, do you think it would be the OLD charactors, or new ones like the new Star Trek movie?

[Jan]

Recently at Comic-Con Brube Boxleitner reported that JMS told him about an idea he had for a feature film so my guess would be that at least some of the original cast would appear.

Jan

[Lope de Aguirre]

If there is a big screen B5 movie, do you think it would be the OLD charactors, or new ones like the new Star Trek movie?

I share the thoughts of Jan on that but in the end how can we know.
I for myself think a B5 movie eventually isn't THAT uznlikely but it can be that there will never be one.
And if there will be a movie it can also happen that they use new characters or replace the/some actors for the roles.