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BABYLON 5-SEASON 1-5 (DVD/30 DISC)

$246.52

Availability: 59 In Stock
Condition: New

SKU: D34815D
UPC: 085393481520

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Product Description

Own all five seasons of the award-winning series about the space station that's the tumultuous center of the 23rd century's bid for peace among humans and aliens.

Director: J. Michael Straczynski
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0790793938
Language (Original Language): English
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-04-13
Running Time: 4818 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: 1994-01-26

Customer Reviews

Reviewed on 2008-05-17

Flawed, but Fantastic
Had I watched the pilot movie "The Gathering" before starting the series, I would never have started the series. Had I not been assured by a friend that the first few episodes were not on a par with the rest of the series, I wouldn't have made it past those first episodes. The opening of Babylong 5, I must say, is terrible. Everything from the writing to the acting to the music is truly second rate.

HOWEVER:

It plants the seeds of a story that was so well planned that throughout its entire run, everything remains consistent with the plot-points and characterizations that are established from the beginning.

Babylon 5 does what all the best science fiction (its rival DS9, the updated Battlestar Galactica) does: it lets the characters and emotions drive the story, even when the overall plot gets rather intricate. Stories play out over long stretches of time, characters grow and develop, relationships form and develop or dissolve. It is a testament to the strength of the characters that the final episode of the series is perhaps the finest of its whole run, built upon the powerful emotions that come with saying goodbye.

I have more criticisms of Babylon 5 than I do of any other show that I would consider top-tier. Like The West Wing, it is nearly entirely written by one man, and his voice - though it is of course the genius behind the series - can lead to a lack of diversity in conversational style. The acting ranges from excellent (the actors playing aliens are uniformly excellent, as is Bruce Boxleitner) to mediocre, to terrible (Michael O'Hare is one of the worst actors EVER; Jerry Doyle and Patricia Tallman are the primary offenders by the end). The show was forced to wrap things up in the 4th season, then was surprisingly renewed for a 5th season - had they known they had this season available, the Shadow War would have been brought to a more satisfying conclusion.

But the show survives my criticisms because of its strengths. The rise of G'Kar and the fall of Londo Mollarri is one of the most impressive pieces of storytelling ever committed to film. The flaws of the characters feel real and logical. The truly deep and original plotting sustains a very complicated story over five years.

The dvd set is well put together, with each disc well protected, and some very interesting commentaries from series creater J. Michael Straczynski. A word of advice: wait until after you've seen the whole series to view some of the featurettes, as there are occasional spoilers in the commentaries and special features.

Reviewed on 2008-04-05

Hi 5 to B5!!!
I first bought this show a few years back after watching the last 4 seasons on TV. For some reason, I had a momentary lapse of reason and sold them all!!! Few months back... could not resist, especially when I saw that they were starting to come out with movies like "The Lost Tales". Rebought the whole 5 seasons and the movie sets! Started rewatching with one of my daughters.. man, I'm like a kid with a new toy!!!

Reviewed on 2008-04-02

B-5 some incredible TV
My wife & myself just finished watching the 5 seasons of B-5 and all we could really say is... why did it have to end? We really had enjoyed the intense story line from start to finish, even tho' did it really end? There were so many unanswered questions. Oh well, keeps one thinking. I had seen 4 of the 5 seasons on TV so it was great to watch it without ads. This set of series blew Deep Space Nine out of the Galaxie.

If there were any short comings, it was the quality of the picture. The special effects shots out side of the station were awesomely clear but the shots in the station with the phony back drops was a little phony. This was a little annoying at times, but as I've said it was easily forgotten due to the intense story line.

I would easily recommend this Box Set Series of Babylon 5 to anyone who wants to see some real Sci-Fi. It is great.

,

Reviewed on 2008-03-12

An uneven series that at its best is very, very good indeed
Getting into the BABYLON 5 universe can be confusing for newcomers. To see everything you really need the DVDs in this box as well as all of the individual B5 movies and the single-season series CRUSADE. I'm going to give a simplified chronology. You can make it even more precise by putting one movie in between two episodes of a single season, but I don't think you gain too much by doing that. Except for THE GATHERING and A CALL TO ARMS, none of the movies rigidly require to be viewed at a particular point.

First watch BABYLON 5: THE GATHERING from this boxed set. To be blunt, it is not very good at all. It is basically a pilot and not an especially compelling one. We meet some -- but by no means all -- of the important characters of forthcoming seasons, and get a taste of the B5 universe, but this is just a dull, chatty, uninteresting debut. And the make up for G'Kar looked like it was in planning stages! Very, very different from how he looked on the subsequent series.

Next, watch Seasons One through Four of BABYLON 5 the series. The first season is slightly more interesting than the pilot, but not by much. Season Two gets slightly more interesting, especially near the end of the season when the Shadows plot really kicks into gear. From this point to the end of Season Four B5 is incredibly compelling. Just be patient watching the first two seasons. You'll start getting hints in Season Two of how good it will eventually get, but there will still be plenty of dullish episodes instead. The series is not terribly balanced because the network changed its plans a couple of times, first telling Straczynski that the series was going to wrap up at the end of Season Four and then, after he had collapsed two season's worth of stories into one, telling him that the show would be renewed for one more season. So much for planning.

Next, before watching Season Five, watch another movie in this set, IN THE BEGINNING. This is far and away the best of the B5 movies and is fully as good and as entertaining as Seasons Three and Four. It goes back before the beginning of the series, giving the details of the Minbari was. But the narrative assumes you've seen the first four seasons.

Next, watch Season Five of BABYLON 5. Because he really had a different story arc planned for Season Five one had to be created pretty quickly. The whole telepath arc simply never caught fire and it does not represent the best of B5. The last third of the season focuses on the decline and fall of Centauri Prime and this is B5 at its best. There are a string of very, very good episodes as well as a very beautiful series finale. Mention must also be made of a lovely episode in the first half of the season written by the great Neil Gaiman.

Season Five was actually broadcast in split seasons and a couple of the movies -- THIRDSPACE and RIVER OF SOULS -- were broadcast before the series actually finished. Your call. Neither is all that great and neither really requires to be seen at a certain point.

The next movie, however, BABYLON 5: A CALL TO ARMS, should be viewed after the end of the series and the previously mentioned movies, and before the series CRUSADE. This episode features Bruce Boxleitner very prominently as Sheridan and is probably his last great hurrah in the series. The movie introduces the new and highly advanced space ship Excalibur and deals with a Drakh attack on earth, infecting it with a slow-acting virus that will kill all life on earth if a cure is not found (but since B5 the TV series gave us multiple glimpses into the future, we know that doesn't happen). This required the need for a search for a cure for the virus, a search that was continued on the quickly cancelled CRUSADE. The show never really got off the ground, but it had some interesting characters (especially Galen, played by Peter Woodward, who also appeared in the films A CALL TO ARMS and LOST TALES). I do recommend that fans of B5 see CRUSADE.

The next movie was THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS: TO LIVE AND DIE IN STARLIGHT. Horrible. This is the worst of all the B5 movies, the worst thing ever done in the entire run of the show. I honestly don't even recommend this for fans of the show. The most I can say in support of it is that it is one's last chance to see Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. He died a couple of years later of lung cancer.

Last, and not quite least, there is 2007's THE LOST TALES. It is definitely not as bad as THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS, but not as good as IN THE BEGINNING. My reaction was that it was nice to see some familiar characters again (mainly just Tracy Scoggins's Captain Lochley, Bruce Boxleitner's Sheridan, and Peter Woodward's Galen). But definitely not B5 at its best. Most fans describe it as "chatty." There are entire scenes devoted to nothing but talk, and not terribly good talk at that.

A lot to see. For me the heart consists of the end of Season Two, all of Seasons Three and Four, the movie IN THE BEGINNING, and the last third of Season Five. My advice to anyone newly approaching B5 is to stick it out through it all. Much of it is dull, some of it even downright bad, but the best is very good indeed. If you are patient, you will find your patience rewarded.

Reviewed on 2008-03-09

help
So is this in widescreen or fullscreen??? Product description says aspect ratio is 1:33:1 which is fullscreen but the word description says its widescreen...Personally... I despise widescreen!! I always feel like I am watching through binoculars...If they really want us to see more, why not get rid of ALL the bars and have more perspective horizontally and vertically???