Movielogr
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark (2007)
Directed by J. Michael Straczynski, Sara Barnes
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
This latest installment of Babylon 5 is in two parts: the first, is about an entity that has possessed a worker. It wants to be exorcised but Col. Lochley prevents the priest & sends it & the host both back to Earth. The second is about Galen trying to dupe President Sheridan into assassinating the future Centauri President to stop him possibly attacking Earth in 30 years time.
Rated PG | Length 75 minutes
Actors
Bruce Boxleitner | Peter Woodward | Alan Scarfe | Teryl Rothery | Keegan MacIntosh | Craig Veroni | Tracy Scoggins | Bruce Ramsay | Allison Warren
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/06/2007 | TV | DVD | Owned | 2.5 stars |
| (Average) 2.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
This originally appeared as a DVD review for PopSyndicate.com.
Give me what Babylon 5 used to be.
It’s been nine years since the end of Babylon 5, J. Michael Stracyznski’s science fiction epic that ran for five years. It was a show that I could only watch sporadically since it did not air in my hometown, but I fell in love with it instantly like its space-station counterpart Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (the best Trek to date). I consumed as much as I could through reruns but when the series and tv movies ended, I fell away and to this day have not watched anything since Thirdspace.
When I heard that Babylon 5: Lost Tales would be coming out, I was ecstatic. Not only is this project a reignition of a stalled universe, but it should give hope to nerds everywhere that not only might more B5 movies emerge, but other short-lived series like Firefly or Space: Above and Beyond could see new life in the future if this experiment goes well financially.
Lost Tales is a duology dealing with one theme: choice. The stories both hinge on a choice that could change the galaxy, one which could lead to evil, another that would ensure the greater good.
Voices in the Dark: Over Here
It is 2271, nine years after Captain Sheridan left the station to become President of the Alliance and roughly eleven years before Babylon 5 will be decommissioned and destroyed. Colonel Susan Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) is still in command of the station (mid-1990s hair still in place) and she encounters a crisis of faith when a man claiming to be the Devil, or at least a demon, is trapped aboard the station, asking to be exorcized from the body of Simon Burke. At this point in Earth’s history, the existence of God has been disproven as the Vorlons (who looked like angels) were proven during the Vorlon-Shadow war to be nothing more than aliens. As such, the need for religion has fallen quickly across the galaxy and the priesthoods are in fading into the history books when Lochley asks one to the station to do the exorcism. The priest faces a crisis of concience when the demon attempts to strike a bargain with the priest, guaranteeing that his faith’s power will be restored if he is let out of the man’s body.
This first tale brings to bear two of Straczynski’s recurring themes: religion and light versus dark. The story is light on special effects, but they’re not needed with an interesting, if intimate tale that examines why God (if he/she/it exists) would allow evil to occur. Would you allow evil to gain power to guarantee your own importance? The biggest problem with the episode is the lagging, obtuse soliliquoy performed by Lochley in her bedroom. In sci-fi or any ultra-modern, realistic fiction, the soliliquoy has to be dropped like Britney Spears’ pants unless it’s used as voiceover or irony or the character is neurotic. Soliliquoys lend a classic theatre flair and Scoggins’ acting chops aren’t anywhere up to par to make something like that sound genuine; sequences like that are where JMS’ directing inexperience rears its ugly head.
Voices in the Dark: Over There
At the same time Lochley is dealing with the demon, President John Sheridan is headed to Babylon 5, reporter in tow (a luscious Teryl Rothery from Stargate SG-1), for a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the founding the Interstellar Alliance. ““Over There”” is the more mythos-oriented of the two, as technomage Galen, from the short-lived series Crusade, appears to Sheridan to warn him about an impending Terran apocalypse oriented around a young Centauri prince that will be attending the meeting. Sheridan has a choice to make: kill Prince Ventari or live with the knowledge that he grows into power and destroys Earth thirty years hence.
There’s no doubt that of the two pieces of the duology, ““Over There”” is the better of the two given its larger historical ties and heavier effects budget; it’s also better acted. Bruce Boxleitner fits like a glove into his role as the gruff Sheridan; it’s like the show never ended. Unfortunately we don’t get to see any other characters, though we’re given brief explanations about their abscence: Garibaldi is dealing with a situation on Mars, Franklin and G’Kar are off exploring beyond the Outer Rim (sniff), Londo is depressed, and Delenn has ““other duties”” on the set of Lost. There’s no mention of Zack Allan, Ivanova, Lennier or any of the telepaths.
B5 was always an effects-heavy show and was a pioneer in using full-scale computerized effects instead of models. While the old series looks dated in a charming way, the new stories are just as gorgeous as Battlestar Galactica, which is probably its closest comparison. Unfortunately the practical sets that have been built look cheap and the CG sets are almost fuzzy and disconcerting; people look out of place and feel almost weightless in the environment. Still, it’s absolutely fascinating what can be done with a small budget.
There are a wealth of special features, the highlight of which is a short interview between Boxleitner and Stracynzki where Boxleitner’s love for the old series shines through. Tracy Scoggins also gets her piece where she makes it clear that she is more proud of B5 than just about anything else she’s done and Peter Woodward gets to expound upon B5 and being a technomage. There are also touching memorials to Andres Katsulas (G’Kar) and Richard Biggs (Franklin), who died earlier this decade. Straczynski’s production video diaries are also packaged, wherein Joe makes three too many jokes about sock puppets. The real bonus are the ““Fireside Chats,”” where JMS answers fans’ questions about the B5 universe.
Babylon 5: Lost Tales would have been better served by making it an epic, the start to one, or a giant hint at one that might be coming later pending financial success. That’s what I expect out of the Babylon 5 universe and J. Michael Straczynski, even given an extremely small budget. What we’re served instead are two nicely parallel stories that are good, but not great, standalone regular series episodes that do not serve a DVD movie adequately. Give me sacrifice, give me war, give me love, and give me death. Give me what Babylon 5 used to be.
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