I think that the three things I loved most about Babylon 5 were: 1. The epic story arcs.
2. The profound philosophical examination of the human condition.
3. The characters whom I came to know and love, and consider to be my friends.
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark did an exceedingly good job of meeting thing-I-loved number 2, kind of met number 3, and hardly met number 1.
Voices in the Dark had two plot lines (as I'm sure anybody who had been greatly anticipating it knows.) The first one dealt with a maintenance worker who was possessed by a demon. Seriously, that's what it was. OK, so I was ticked off a little (meaning I was banging my head into the floor) by the plot... But then again, it carried a lot of philosophical meaning, and I think, that if I had paid attention to that alone and forgotten about the plot, I would have enjoyed it much better.
The second plot involves Galen warning President Sheridan that a certain Centauri would grow up to be ultimate-mojo-interstellar-Hitler. Like the first, it also did a good job of having interesting philosophical/ethical dilemmas, though the plot line has much more potential... Assuming they make another one of these, which I kind of hope they will. Despite the slightly unsatisfied feeling I got at the end from underdevelopment of the second plot line (though I'm sure that they will develop it more later on...)I enjoyed it much better, and the second story has some awesome special effects that look REALLY cool.
However, the thing that I think would make it feel more like the old show I loved is to get more of the characters. One of the major things that made Babylon 5 good was not characters developing on their own, but characters developing through interaction with other characters. They can't do a lot of that anymore with only three of the original main characters...
So JMS has a little work to do... is it worth seeing the next one? I think back to the beginning when we see Babylon 5 again for the first time in years. It'll be a while before it's back to that which I once loved, but I look forward to the beginning of beginning it again.
2. The profound philosophical examination of the human condition.
3. The characters whom I came to know and love, and consider to be my friends.
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark did an exceedingly good job of meeting thing-I-loved number 2, kind of met number 3, and hardly met number 1.
Voices in the Dark had two plot lines (as I'm sure anybody who had been greatly anticipating it knows.) The first one dealt with a maintenance worker who was possessed by a demon. Seriously, that's what it was. OK, so I was ticked off a little (meaning I was banging my head into the floor) by the plot... But then again, it carried a lot of philosophical meaning, and I think, that if I had paid attention to that alone and forgotten about the plot, I would have enjoyed it much better.
The second plot involves Galen warning President Sheridan that a certain Centauri would grow up to be ultimate-mojo-interstellar-Hitler. Like the first, it also did a good job of having interesting philosophical/ethical dilemmas, though the plot line has much more potential... Assuming they make another one of these, which I kind of hope they will. Despite the slightly unsatisfied feeling I got at the end from underdevelopment of the second plot line (though I'm sure that they will develop it more later on...)I enjoyed it much better, and the second story has some awesome special effects that look REALLY cool.
However, the thing that I think would make it feel more like the old show I loved is to get more of the characters. One of the major things that made Babylon 5 good was not characters developing on their own, but characters developing through interaction with other characters. They can't do a lot of that anymore with only three of the original main characters...
So JMS has a little work to do... is it worth seeing the next one? I think back to the beginning when we see Babylon 5 again for the first time in years. It'll be a while before it's back to that which I once loved, but I look forward to the beginning of beginning it again.