I think the disc art is just a classic screw-up, and so kind of charming. They obviously mocked up some labels based on the S5 discs to play around with the colors and get approval for the over-all design. Then they either forgot to redesign the "character band" for each one or they
did and just forgot to attach the new artwork file to the label lay-out file. And nobody caught it because disc art is so small and so unimportant generally.
I've now seen
TG and
ItB once each, with commentary and subtitles (because I recently restarted watching the series in order and therefore had watched the double feature disc not long ago.) Last night I watched
The River of Souls all the way through for the first time since the night it premiered, when I found it very disappointing. Since that impression was echoed by so many other fans I really haven't bothered watching it since, except to play it in the background until the Lochley holo-brothel shots came up if I happened to stumble across a rerun on TNT or Sci-Fi.
I have to say now that I was wrong. The movie is better paced than I recalled, Martin Sheen's performance is better and less odd, the humor works better. Maybe the fact that I was hoping for something different, that it originally aired in the middle of S5 and seemed more like an interuption than a bonus, or the fact that I watched it in a hotel room outside of St. Louis midway through a 15 day business trip the first time I saw it made it seem worse than it was. But having actually
seen The River of Souls for only the second time last night, I have to say I
liked it. Lochley in the pink teddy is no longer the film's only redeeming contribution to the
B5 canon in my eyes. (Although those scenes are certainly very nice additions. And Jerry Doyle's reaction to her is priceless) I watched it again tonight with the commentary track and I think I like it even better now.
Later tonight:
Thirdspace
Regards,
Joe