Crusade DVDs announced

[Recoil]

They main problem with the CGI shots is the anamorphic enhancement. A standard letterboxed transfer of the CGI shots looks much better with the only problem being the cropping of the image to 16:9.

This is %110 true!

Have any of you guys noticed (those that have 16:9 TVs) that when you are watching the Introductions on the various sets...and they show CGI scenes from the episodes how RIDICULOUSLY crisp they look? Did you also notice the 1" black area on top and bottom noting a letterbox format? That is because those shots arent anamorphic but standard letterbox (like your DVD movies come in).

Frankly, I wouldnt have minded at all if B5 came out of the box with a letterbox format on a 16:9. Many movies are in this format and I think it looks just fine. On a widescreen TV you dont see much of the box (not nearly as much as on a 4:3) and it would have made the CGI better.

Oh well its really not that big a deal, and in later seasons the CGI transfers seemed to go MUCH better.

 

[macmaccaman]

Great Christmas present for me in UK... in 2005 I guess.

 

[kin_of_zathras]

Well I have all the B5 sets but I'm still undecided on buying this one, I'll just have to look at the full list of extras.

One thing nobody has spoken about is the sound. 5.1 yippee.
They could very easily have shafted us with Dolby stereo.
After watching Call to Arms I'm quite certain Crusade was also done with 5.1 in mind. Not just remixed from the old stereo track like the B5 series.

The price is a bit high though. For a 4 disc set probably it should be closer to the price of Firefly [RRP $49.99] which should end up at $34.99 at Amazon.com.
Instead its likely to be the same as the Movies collection. Greedy bastards!

 

[KoshN]

Well I have all the B5 sets but I'm still undecided on buying this one, I'll just have to look at the full list of extras.

I'm not the least bit undecided. I'n getting it the first day it's out.

The price is a bit high though. For a 4 disc set probably it should be closer to the price of Firefly [RRP $49.99] which should end up at $34.99 at Amazon.com.
Instead its likely to be the same as the Movies collection. Greedy bastards!

Not really.


Title, MSRP, Wal-Mart price, Runtime hrs., $/hr.
Babylon 5 Season 5 DVD Set, $99.98, $79.96, 16.13, $4.96
Babylon 5 - The Movie Collection DVD Set, $59.98, $47.97, 7.33, $6.54
Crusade DVD Set, $59.98, $47.97, 9.53, $5.03

The Crusade DVD set and the Babylon 5 DVD sets are similarly priced, $5.03/hr. vs. $4.96/hr. Close enough in horseshoes and hand granades. Certainly, the Crusade set costing 1.52% more per hour of show time, is nothing that rates WHV being called "Greedy bastards!" Do the math.

 

[Azahgiya]

Longtime lurker, hehe, signing in.

Since they're so close to X-Mas, just going to put on my list for my wife to get me, since she always screams @ me to stop buying things for myself at that time of the year. Couple more weeks shouldn't hurt

 

[KoshN]

The picture of Gideon on the cover is gorgeous! And I'd much rather have had Max on the cover than Galen

In all seriousness, how can they possibly mention Peter Woodward before Gary Cole in that summary?

Oh, <raspberries, a.k.a. Bronx cheer>, I want 'em both on the cover. Your anti-PW streak is showing.

It's a mile wide, so hard to hide

Eh, you're too hard on Peter Woodward . Cut him some slack and I'll try to do the same for Robin Atkin Downes.

 

[Recoil]

I will say this about the B5 sets as a whole, regarding 5.1 sound.

The 5.1 in the B5 (and I am assuming Crusade will be the same) isn't really THAT impressive. There are some episodes where it does really shine ("By Any Means Necesary" comes to mind, when Sinclair is talking to the crowd of dock workers, GREAT surround effects) but many, you rarely notice its there. I do believe that going to 5.1 cleared up some of the dialogue and made effects sounds and voice sounds easier to seperate which helps a lot. But overall they are far from really showing off great "surround" effects let alone the sub woofer (although Season 5 improved the bass a lot).

I have seen some other sets, like Farscape, where the 5.1 is considerably better, but I believe that has more to do with how it was originally done versus the DVD transfers. I believe they have made the DVDs as good as they can be, its just not as impressive as others.

So 5.1 is great to have, but it isn't as huge a deal as it could have been. Better than 2.0 though.

 

[ibwolf]

I will say this about the B5 sets as a whole, regarding 5.1 sound.

The 5.1 in the B5 (and I am assuming Crusade will be the same) isn't really THAT impressive. There are some episodes where it does really shine ("By Any Means Necesary" comes to mind, when Sinclair is talking to the crowd of dock workers, GREAT surround effects) but many, you rarely notice its there. I do believe that going to 5.1 cleared up some of the dialogue and made effects sounds and voice sounds easier to seperate which helps a lot. But overall they are far from really showing off great "surround" effects let alone the sub woofer (although Season 5 improved the bass a lot).

I have seen some other sets, like Farscape, where the 5.1 is considerably better, but I believe that has more to do with how it was originally done versus the DVD transfers. I believe they have made the DVDs as good as they can be, its just not as impressive as others.

So 5.1 is great to have, but it isn't as huge a deal as it could have been. Better than 2.0 though.

The 5.1 sound in Farscape is the original mix. Not a remix of an older 2.0 one. That is why it sounds so good. Now unless I'm very much mistaken, both A Call to Arms and Crusade were produced with 5.1 audio tracks, not 2.0 like the rest of B5. Thus the 5.1 tracks on the Crusade DVDs (and ACtA I imagine) should be better then the B5 5.1 remixes.

 

[Demon]

Eh, you're too hard on Peter Woodward . Cut him some slack and I'll try to do the same for Robin Atkin Downes.

They're as bad as each other :devil: Both pompous prats

 

[Recoil]

That might explain it ibwolf, thanks. Yea it does sound like all of B5 is 2.0 remixed to 5.1. It sounds better than 2.0, but not as encompassing as an original 5.1 source --- at least to me. You might be right about Crusade in that case.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

B5 was Dolby Surround, matrixed to 2 channels. (No TV show of the time was "2.0" strictly speaking. That is a designation that only applies to digital sound formats, and braodcast TV - HDTV aside - is purely analog.) So there are limits to what the sound guys could do with the original source material.

JMS has said that starting with A Call to Arms they started producing full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mixes, and down-converting them to matrixed Dolby Surround 2-channel for broadcast. So both ACtA and Crusade (and presumably the Rangers pilot) should be true DD 5.1 derived from the original sound mixes. (And mark the first time anyone oustide WB and the networks has ever heard the original soundtracks they way they left Babylonian Productions.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Cerberus]

I with KoshN, I haven't went out the first day and bought any of the B5 sets (though I have them all now); however, I will buy this the first day out and watch most all of them with in a few days. I think I liked Crusade better than B5, maybe because it was never finished and I don't know where it was going. It had so much promise, I will forever be pissed at TNT they fth uped a great show.

 

[Recoil]

I will forever be pissed at TNT they fth uped a great show.

You know I think there is one thing people like you always tend to forget. You are forever pissed at TNT for "ruining a great show" but you tend to forget that TNT is the one who SAVED A GREAT SHOW. If not for TNT we would have no Season 5, no In the Begining, no Thirdspace, no River of Souls and no A Call to Arms. If not for TNT, Babylon 5 would have been over at Season 4. No one seems to be willing to thank them for that, apparently not even JMS these days, because of what happened to Crusade. Thats just pretty sad...

 

[KoshN]

Eh, you're too hard on Peter Woodward . Cut him some slack and I'll try to do the same for Robin Atkin Downes.

They're as bad as each other :devil: Both pompous prats

You're one tough Demon (i.e. tough crowd). For me, likeability-wise, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. I'd go out of my way to see PW, but you'd have to pay me to watch RAD if there weren't other mitigating factors (like the rest of the B5 actors on the S5 DVDs and ItB).

 

[KoshN]

I will forever be pissed at TNT they fth uped a great show.

You know I think there is one thing people like you always tend to forget. You are forever pissed at TNT for "ruining a great show" but you tend to forget that TNT is the one who SAVED A GREAT SHOW. If not for TNT we would have no Season 5, no In the Begining, no Thirdspace, no River of Souls and no A Call to Arms. If not for TNT, Babylon 5 would have been over at Season 4. No one seems to be willing to thank them for that, apparently not even JMS these days, because of what happened to Crusade. Thats just pretty sad...

Well, there's TNT-LA and TNT-Atlanta. They're different entities. Yes, TNT as a whole, managed to do some good things, when TNT-Atlanta pretty much kept its hands off the B5, but once TNT-Atlanta went "hands-on" (after they got their survey results), things went to Hell. That's when TNT-Atlanta started acting poorly, showing their true colors. Yes, the B5 universe benefited from the benign neglect of TNT-Atlanta, but what counts in this case is what they did once they started paying attention to the show. That shows intent. For that, I will be forever pissed at TNT-Atlanta.

 

[vacantlook]

If not for TNT, Babylon 5 would have been over at Season 4.

And with how many people dislike a large portion of season five, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't have minded it ending with season four.

And as KoshN, when TNT stepped in and took on Babylon 5 for the fifth season, they didn't have their little survey thing telling them that people who tuned in to watch B5 didn't stick around much to watch anything else and that everyone else who watched TNT tuned out when B5 came on. But they did have the information of that survey thing when Crusade was being produced, which is why they decided to screw Crusade into the ground.

 

[B5_Obsessed]

And with how many people dislike a large portion of season five, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't have minded it ending with season four.

That'd be me.

 

[Mike G]

And with how many people dislike a large portion of season five, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't have minded it ending with season four.

That wasn't TNT's fault.

 

[Sindatur]

And with how many people dislike a large portion of season five, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't have minded it ending with season four.

That'd be me.

Does that mean you haven't or won't be buying the 5th Season box set? If the only thing I was interested in from Season 5 was Sleeping in Light, I certainly wouldn't pay $70.00 (US) just for that one episode, I'd just keep my VHS recording. I feel from what I've read and heard that no more than 7 episodes are very different (because of the departure of Claudia Christian) or filler (because of closing up threads early due to uncertainty of Season 5). So, that's still 15 episodes that are at least very close to what would've happened (although some things may have started a little earlier or a different character may have said specific lines). Also, Deconstruction of Falling Stars would probably not have been made if Season 5 was certain, or if Season 4 had been the end.

I personally am very happy we were blessed with a Season 5.

 

[Recoil]

And with how many people dislike a large portion of season five, I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't have minded it ending with season four.

You know what? I call bullshit!

Don't even TELL me that you would rather it ended after Season 4. If B5 had ended, people would have bitched like when Farscape got the axe, about the ending being rushed and a big letdown after 3+ seasons of buildup. It really easy for you guys to sit here now and say that, but you all know damn well if B5 HAD been cancelled people would have been disappointed, and you would have been too, so dont try to tell us otherwise. Look at what you would have missed:

1) The GREAT finish to the Londo/GKar story
2) Fall of Centauri Prime
3) Garibaldi's rise to (after his fall) to Edgars Industries
4) The great Season 5 character sendoff by Sheridan at the end of Objects at Rest
5) None of you would have had "In the Begining" or the others if B5 wasnt saved.

Please. Just because the Bryon stuff was a bit annoying doesn't mean that we all would have been better off without it. There was just WAY TOO MUCH good storytelling near the end of Season 5 to even think otherwise. And ending after Season 4 would seem so abrupt and would have made the story about the 2 wars, NOT about the characters, since it would have ended right after we got Earth back.