Thank you for the information. Still thinking on things right now, but for the moment-
(My comments apply to Region 1 USA DVD Sets only.)
How do you tell if you have the "slimmer version"? It will lack some kind of book that the other version had?
The original packaging was like a book and measured 7-5/8" x 5-7/16" x 1-9/16" with three disk pages each, each page measuring 7/16" thick, per Season Set (6 DVDs) or Movie Collection Set (5 DVDs). The disk pages are made of hard plastic. These sets also contained a booklet that described the episodes or movies in the set. See pictures.
My Season 3 DVD Set as it arrived in the mail from Amazon.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/DSCN3730.jpg
My Babylon 5 and Crusade DVD Collection (including the replacement packaging that I carry it in. Season 1 shown.)
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/DSCN3738.jpg
Babylon 5 Season 1 Hub Close-up (original packaging)
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/DSCN3730.jpg
Babylon 5 Season 1 Hub Close-up (replacement packaging)
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/DSCN3742.jpg
Crusade DVD Set Hub Close-up
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/B5-Crusade/DSCN3735.jpg
I have never seen the new Babylon 5 slim packaging, either in person or online. When I was last in Best Buy (Monroeville, PA) on November 12th, they had no Babylon 5 sets of any kind. However, if it's like most slim packaging, the material of the disk pages is usually softer than the original B5 hard plastic and more pliable, ....more like polypropylene (like the Stargate SG-1, Criminal Minds, Monk, Firefly slimsets, or a book type design like the replacement packaging pictured above and The Mentalist slimsets.), and the surface of the material is smooth and not likely to scratch anything.
Looking at the disks now, I see some marks on them that I think are some kind of scratches or marks, especially the last disk. How do I know if its enough to effect the viewing without trying to view the whole disk?(I don't want to spoil things and view episodes out of order)
First of all, realize that we're talking about two different kinds of marks,
first the physical imperfections on the
DVD read surface that can cause skipping, freezing, and could be bad enough to make the DVD unplayable AND
second, the imperfections in the
image on the screen which Warner Home Video never had cleaned up/retouched, e.g. dust and hairs on the film, ink splashes on the film, scratches in the film, and what looks like a film processing error (the strange, jagged greenish mark horizontally across Benson in "And the Sky Full of Stars"). The
first kind of defect can show up on any DVD, but regarding B5 and Crusade, is most likely to show up in B5 Season 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Season Sets in the original Region 1 packaging or the B5 Movie Collection Set in the original Region 1 packaging. The
second kind of defect is most prevalent in B5 Season 1, and the defects get less numerous and less severe as you go from Season 2 to Season 5 and the movie collection.
Regarding scratches on the DVD read surface, short, light, radial scratches (i.e. straight scratches that are perpendicular to the direction of rotation), are not bad. Long, deep scratches in the direction of rotation are the worst. Those arc-like scratches on my Season 3 DVDs:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/b5s3disc4scratches.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/b5s3disc5scratches.jpg
....are probably what caused most of the skipping and freezing on those disks.
KoshN:###### said:
It was probably there, unless the pirates retouched the images (highly unlikely).
I think they used a different source, I remember some kind of watermark in the corner, I think it was taken off of cable or something, (if cable showing of the season have that garbage too, then maybe recorded off it before these started showing up) but maybe I am thinking of something else. Or perhaps it was just so small on my small PC screen that I missed it. The only way to know for sure is to see if I still have them on my hdd somewhere, or can find it to redownload it.
...or you could watch from a legit source (Hulu?), or from legit DVDs. Was the image 4:3 or 16:9? If 16:9, it's from the Sci-Fi Channel commissioned pseudo-widescreen version and is the same as what's on the Warner Home Video Region 1 DVDs. All stuff from that master will have the same
second kind of defect as the DVDs. If it's 4:3, then it came from the 4:3 master that was aired from 1993 to 1998 in syndication and on TNT, before the Sci-Fi Channel commissioned pseudo-widescreen master was made. The 4:3 stuff is cleaner than the 16:9. I guess they took better care (cleaned for dust & hairs.) when they made the 4:3 master, and the film was in better shape then (no scratches and ink splotches).
I say "pseudo-widescreen" because while the live action was widescreen, all of the CGI or Composite CGI (live action with CGI) scenes were from the 4:3 CGI, which was then top & bottom cropped and then enlarged until the image covered the left and right edges of the 16:9 frame. Alternatively, you can think of it as the 4:3 CGI image enlarged until the image covered the left and right edges of the 16:9 frame, and what was at the top & bottom overflowed the 16:9 frame and was lost.
See pictures.
Laserdisc 4:3 CGI vs. Sci-Fi Channel/DVD Pseudo-widescreen CGI
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/B5fswscomp.jpg
The Journey from Super35 Film and 4:3 CGI to 4:3 B5 & Crusade to Pseudo-widescreen DVD
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd61/KoshN/Babylon 5/b5wscomparison.jpg
When was season 1 originally made, 1994? How did they keep the film that it would get scratched/damaged like that? Why couldn't they digitalize it then? I don't think that was unheard of in 1994.
Yes, Season 1 was made in 1994. How did they keep the film that it got damaged by water and rats? I would guess,
carelessly. Why couldn't they digitize it in 1994? What, so there'd be a backup of what was on film? 1. It would've cost money
, and these people are loathe to spend money on anything Babylon 5. They have no faith in Babylon 5 and constantly underestimate it's worth and ability to generate income. 2. They probably would've cheaped-out and not scanned it at a high enough resolution. 3. These numbnuts would've probably lost the backup, just like they lost all 5+ years worth of Babylon 5 & Crusade CGI files.
KoshN:###### said:
Not lame. No big deal. The B5 movies are in the Babylon 5 Movie Collection (which does not include the Legend of the Rangers Pilot/TV Movie (and I view that as a good thing.) or the "Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales" Direct-to-DVD (a single DVD of two 36 minute episodes) which is available separately.
Not a big deal, but definitely lame.
The Babylon 5 pilot/TV movie and Season were separated by one full year, and
many changes took place between the pilot and Season 1. With some pilots (e.g. Firefly's pilot), the pilot and the episodes look the same (same weapons, same make-up, same characters, etc.). That is not the case with Babylon 5. Going from "The Gathering" to "Midnight on the Firing Line." the hand weapons changed both in the look of the weapon, weapon sound, and weapon projectile look. The look, sound and sex of Delenn changed drastically. The look of G'Kar also changed (coloring less severe). A lot of the more Star Wars bar scene aliens were GONE, and more were phased out as Season 1 went on. Takashima was GONE. The actor who played Geurra ( a C&C Earthforce officer or enlisted person) became Mr. Morden, the Shadow thrall. In "The Gathering," a whole Vorlon fleet had its weapons trained on Babylon 5, when all that would be needed to destroy Babylon 5 would have been one Vorlon Transport.
The key thing here that makes it most lame is, to call a series episode like that, a movie. You can just tell they aren't movies because the structure is very different then a real movie. Series episodes, even if they do call it a movie, still run like episodes. Little is wrapped up, alot of introductions and little resolution, other basic structural differences that are hard to put a finger on. It is much different then real movies based on the same series. Also of course episodes are made part of the story, usually starting or resolving (if they call the last episodes of a series a movie) it, where as a real series movie is usually set a bit outside the series storyline. A pilot like that would likely help give appreciated exposition to the series which makes it absurd to not be included like that.
IMHO, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. A pilot, by its very nature sets things up for the Season 1. However, in Babylon 5's case, they're not really a good fit together. A pilot is also where a lot of stuff is tried, and the not so good stuff is tossed. "The Gathering" (pilot) and "Midnight on the Firing Line" (Season 1 Episode 1) just do not look good next to each other. There are too many jarring differences. So, it's good that they're not in the same DVD set.
How many other "movies" in that "movie" collection, aren't really movies like that? Is there some kind of indication on the other movies, when you should watch them? Where they fall into the series storyline? As in, after what episode/season they fall into?
There is an order on "The Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5" called the Master List, which puts the movies where they should be watched in the series.
"The Lurkers Guide to Babylon 5" Main Page:
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/lurker.html
Episode List (B5 grouped together, movies grouped together, Crusade grouped together, etc.):
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/eplist.html
[Size=+1]Master List:[/size]
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/master/eplist.html
There is some controversy about where "In the Beginning" should be watched. "In the Beginning" tells the story of the Earth/Minbari War of 2245-2248,
BUT it is told via flashbacks by a certain character
in 2278. It also includes some important events from 2278. So, I think it is best viewed immediately before Season 5 Episode 22 (2281).
