Dacke
08-14-2007, 03:26 PM
In case the B5 fans around here didn't know, WB and JMS recently released part 1 of something called "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales." It's a DVD with two short stories on it (total length is about 75 minutes, so each story is a bit shorter than a full episode). Each of the two stories focuses on one character (Lochley and Sheridan), about 10 years after the series. About a week or two ago, I got to watch it, and here are my thoughts on them. I'll sblock things in this first post in case someone accidentally clicks, but feel free to do without spoilers in replies.
The first story is about (now) Colonel Lochley, who has called in a priest to investigate someone who, to all appearances is possessed by a demon. It turns out that he is, indeed, possessed, and apparently wants to be exorcised. There's some stuff where he taunts the priest, saying essentially "You could either show me off to the world which would start a revival of faith by showing that demons, and thus probably God, are real, but that would mean me getting to torment this poor soul; or you could exorcise me and save this man, but no-one would know and the faith would continue to decline." There's also some stuff about how the demon had to possess someone on Earth and then travel away, because demons are trapped on Earth by God - they can't go to the Heavens.
I was disappointed by this story. There was nothing particularly B5ish about it other than being set on the station, and the whole thing about proof of God felt very un-B5, given the attitude taken towards religions in the actual TV show. It felt more like a Twilight Zone episode (JMS is a big TZ fan) that just got some B5 window dressing.
The second story is about Sheridan, on his way to B5 for a celebration of the ISA's 10-year anniversary. There's a side story where he gets interviewed by an ISN reporter (played by Teryl Rothery, who was Dr Frasier on SG-1), and you get to see Sheridan's ship (a new Minbari cruiser) use "quantum space" which is supposedly a lot faster than hyperspace but which can nauseate those who aren't used to it.
Anyway, Sheridan gets a dream-visit from Galen (the technomage from Crusade), who shows him Earth getting devastated by a Centauri attack. Galen explains that this is the work of the future Centauri Emperor, Dius Ventari (who's third in line for the throne, after Vir Cotto). Galen tells Sheridan that this whole thing could of course, be averted, should Ventari die before reaching the throne. Ventari also turns out to be the son of Cartagia (he refers to Vir as "the villain who killed my father"). By "coincidence", Sheridan's ship is going to rendez-vous with a Centauri ship to pick up Ventari to bring him to the celebration - he doesn't want to go on a Centauri vessel out of fear of assassination (when asked who would want to assassinate him, he says "Well, numbers four, five, and six I'd imagine."). Anyway, this turns into a classical "Given the chance, would you kill a young Hitler before he commits those atrocities?" scenario.
I liked the second story a lot better. It's also a little Twilight Zone-ish, but has stronger ties to Babylon 5. There's also the matter that Sheridan is a better character than Lochley, and Sheridan does have a larger part in his section than Lochley does in hers.
The first story is about (now) Colonel Lochley, who has called in a priest to investigate someone who, to all appearances is possessed by a demon. It turns out that he is, indeed, possessed, and apparently wants to be exorcised. There's some stuff where he taunts the priest, saying essentially "You could either show me off to the world which would start a revival of faith by showing that demons, and thus probably God, are real, but that would mean me getting to torment this poor soul; or you could exorcise me and save this man, but no-one would know and the faith would continue to decline." There's also some stuff about how the demon had to possess someone on Earth and then travel away, because demons are trapped on Earth by God - they can't go to the Heavens.
I was disappointed by this story. There was nothing particularly B5ish about it other than being set on the station, and the whole thing about proof of God felt very un-B5, given the attitude taken towards religions in the actual TV show. It felt more like a Twilight Zone episode (JMS is a big TZ fan) that just got some B5 window dressing.
The second story is about Sheridan, on his way to B5 for a celebration of the ISA's 10-year anniversary. There's a side story where he gets interviewed by an ISN reporter (played by Teryl Rothery, who was Dr Frasier on SG-1), and you get to see Sheridan's ship (a new Minbari cruiser) use "quantum space" which is supposedly a lot faster than hyperspace but which can nauseate those who aren't used to it.
Anyway, Sheridan gets a dream-visit from Galen (the technomage from Crusade), who shows him Earth getting devastated by a Centauri attack. Galen explains that this is the work of the future Centauri Emperor, Dius Ventari (who's third in line for the throne, after Vir Cotto). Galen tells Sheridan that this whole thing could of course, be averted, should Ventari die before reaching the throne. Ventari also turns out to be the son of Cartagia (he refers to Vir as "the villain who killed my father"). By "coincidence", Sheridan's ship is going to rendez-vous with a Centauri ship to pick up Ventari to bring him to the celebration - he doesn't want to go on a Centauri vessel out of fear of assassination (when asked who would want to assassinate him, he says "Well, numbers four, five, and six I'd imagine."). Anyway, this turns into a classical "Given the chance, would you kill a young Hitler before he commits those atrocities?" scenario.
I liked the second story a lot better. It's also a little Twilight Zone-ish, but has stronger ties to Babylon 5. There's also the matter that Sheridan is a better character than Lochley, and Sheridan does have a larger part in his section than Lochley does in hers.