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I've just seen LotR for the second time. The first time was a bit of a dissapointment but I guess the novelty of a new Babylon project prevented me form totally disliking it.
This time I gringed almost all the way through it.
The characters were dull, some of the acting was amateurish at best, the set design was terrible, the plot was (for JMS) definatly not upto standard and the dialogue was smothered in exposition.
The alien rangers spoke in the same patronising faux reverential fashion that native American characters used to use in really bad westerns. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the punch/kick weapons interface is totally silly, it neither looks good or makes sense. And loosing the original B5 CGI models is no excuse for the lack of continuity in design. If the Minbari city models and Interstellar Alliance models were not to hand why not rebuild them rather than totally redesigning them?
As much as I love Andreas, G'Kar was just a camp after-thought in this film. And the back story to the villains, I know some people have claimed that given time and a chance it would have evolved into something different, but as a stand alone story it threw all the menace and wonder of the First Ones from B5 onto the floor and did unspeakable things to it from a great height. Crusade (even when horribly messed about by TNT) had believable performances and storylines that drew one in and a look and feel which, though fresh and new,had enough of the old to carry the bright flame of B5 forward. LotR looks like a very bad episode of Andromeda minus the style and wit (Marge! in case you didn't notice I was being ironic). I really hope JMS gets the film right . It would be a shame if this was the shape of things to come, and not as I hope a 'Grey 17 is Missing' sign of an overworked writer. (I understand JMS was very busy at the time of writing LotR and it shows) I've heard it said that pilots are often not brilliant, but this isn't a total start from scratch story. It is a continuation of a show with a long and successful heritage. The project when announced really got my hopes up for a revival of the B5 universe after the sad loss of Crusade and the few iffy episodes of season 5. If tMoS fails it would pretty much end all hope of any new B5 projects. I have my fingers knees teeth and eyes crossed that it is a success.
This time I gringed almost all the way through it.
The characters were dull, some of the acting was amateurish at best, the set design was terrible, the plot was (for JMS) definatly not upto standard and the dialogue was smothered in exposition.
The alien rangers spoke in the same patronising faux reverential fashion that native American characters used to use in really bad westerns. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the punch/kick weapons interface is totally silly, it neither looks good or makes sense. And loosing the original B5 CGI models is no excuse for the lack of continuity in design. If the Minbari city models and Interstellar Alliance models were not to hand why not rebuild them rather than totally redesigning them?
As much as I love Andreas, G'Kar was just a camp after-thought in this film. And the back story to the villains, I know some people have claimed that given time and a chance it would have evolved into something different, but as a stand alone story it threw all the menace and wonder of the First Ones from B5 onto the floor and did unspeakable things to it from a great height. Crusade (even when horribly messed about by TNT) had believable performances and storylines that drew one in and a look and feel which, though fresh and new,had enough of the old to carry the bright flame of B5 forward. LotR looks like a very bad episode of Andromeda minus the style and wit (Marge! in case you didn't notice I was being ironic). I really hope JMS gets the film right . It would be a shame if this was the shape of things to come, and not as I hope a 'Grey 17 is Missing' sign of an overworked writer. (I understand JMS was very busy at the time of writing LotR and it shows) I've heard it said that pilots are often not brilliant, but this isn't a total start from scratch story. It is a continuation of a show with a long and successful heritage. The project when announced really got my hopes up for a revival of the B5 universe after the sad loss of Crusade and the few iffy episodes of season 5. If tMoS fails it would pretty much end all hope of any new B5 projects. I have my fingers knees teeth and eyes crossed that it is a success.
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