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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Science fiction is the only
place where you'll find an avowed atheist like
"Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski
exploring life after death. That's the nice thing
about fiction: you can dive into things, stir
things up and see what happens. Season 4 of "B5"
begins with an ending. Our main character, John
Sheridan, is dead -- having died on the enemy
world of Z'Ha'Dum. If there's any doubt, we're
reminded by a glimpse of the jump Sheridan made
when he had his ship, the White Star, crash into
the city of the damned. Sheridan jumped off a
balcony into the jaws of a pit two miles deep.
That's about as dead as it gets. So clearly
resurrection is the only option for Straczynski
and, not surprisingly, Sheridan does the only
other known resurrection since Christ. All isn't
as it appears, though, and if "B5" referenced a
popular religious figure, it wasn't in an attempt
to convert others to the cause against the
Shadows. Sheridan destroyed Z'Ha'Dum, killed a
large amount of human Shadow collaborators
(including his wife Anna Sheridan but...well she
wasn't his wife any longer but something else
entirely). So if the Shadow War appears to end a
bit prematurely forgive JMS; he got the feeling
that "B5" might not be renewed and, unlike some
series creators, he wanted to conclude his epic
even if it was premature. So Straczynski brings
his savior back to the nasty war being fought
against the evil Shadows; and he manages to
reunite a splintering alliance and convert those
characters still sitting on the fence about the
war itself.
That meant that Season 5 acted more as an extended
coda for the war demonstrating the aftermath.
Unfortunately, the dramatic conflict of a war is
difficult to compete against and Season 5 also had
4 previous well-received seasons to work against.
Nevertheless, Season 5 is worth picking up for a
number of outstanding episodes as well.
The highlights are many during Season 4 which is
probably the best season for the show. Highlights
include "The Big Burn" and "No Surrender, No
Retreat" (in which Sheridan takes on the corrupt
Earth government, continued in the story arc
episode "Rising Star" and "The Deconstruction of
Falling Stars.") The entire cast continued to give
strong performances and one of "B5's" strengths is
writer/producer/creator Straczynski. Although his
writing can occasionally be hackneyed during some
of the more routine episodes, he is, on the whole,
the best writer/creator since Rod Serling worked
in the television medium. The storyline he mapped
out for the 5 seasons of the series showed
considerable daring during a time when the only
science fiction television series considered
successful and worthwhile was "Star Trek: The Next
Generation" and its successor "Deep Space Nine."
The cast assembled for the show continued to
improve and gel with him. Once Bruce Boxleitner
stepped onboard the station, the series gained a
dynamic focal point.
I hate to say it but the transfer here actually
looks worse in spots than during Season 3. There
are numerous digital artifacts, edge enhancements
and the grainy, dark images only highlight the
weaknesses of this transfer. The opening episode
is among the worst with lots of grain problems
evident in just about every scene. However, the
image quality improves periodically throughout the
disc. On the other hand, "B5: Season 4" is matted
correctly (unlike Season 3 where the tops of heads
were lopped off and titles at the bottom of the
screen were cut in half). Clearly more care went
into the creation of Season 4.
On the plus side, the analog artifacts have been
reduced but it's not much of a trade off. It's a
pity since it's unlikely that Warner will do
another transfer of the series in the immediate
future. Reportedly, the discs were mastered from
new widescreen transfers (remember, it's not
anamorphic). On the whole, the series looks good
but it could have looked exceptional.
The optical effects vary in quality and this is
where the resolution and transfer problems are
more acutely evident. In some scenes they look
stunning while in others they are fuzzy. This is
particularly noticeable in scenes where there's
live action integrated with effects shots. I'm not
really clear if this is due more to the higher
frames per second "speed" for television or what
was considered acceptable resolution when the
series was produced.
The sound varies from fair to exceptional. I
noticed a considerable amount of compression
during some episodes which made the dialog
difficult to hear particularly, if you listen to
it in surround. The remix is flat and static and
the sound quality varies from episode to episode
with a lack of regularity.
The extras are just as nice as the previous boxed
sets We're treated to the season ending gag reel.
I wish more boxed sets had these. It gives the
viewer an inside peak into the fun and games that
occur during the production of a series. We also
get Data and Personal Files, similar to previous
seasons. They provide a bit of background on the
characters and situations. There is a "suite" of
the themes from Season 4 (the entire season was
entitled "No Surrender, No Retreat" as is linked
thematically to the war that began during Season 3
and concludes here). There is also a section
called Celestial Sounds.
Straczynski's introduction assumes you've watched
the previous seasons. He also provides a good
summary of important plot developments and what he
was trying to achieve within the series framework.
Although Conceptual Consultant and writer Harlan
Ellison doesn't appear in any of the extras, I
would have loved to hear an interview as to what
his input was on the series. Ellison's one of the
best critical thinkers working in the field. His
comments would have provided a complimentary --
and perhaps -- contrasting view to Straczynski's.
A big plus is the inclusion of a booklet with
credits for each episode. The guest cast is listed
and there is a brief written introduction by
Straczynski. I realize that the trend has been
toward eliminating these booklets but I find them
informative and it's much easier to look something
up than putting in the episode DVD.
There are two episodes with commentary tracks
provided by series creator Straczynski and one
with most of the regular cast. The former
commentaries are interesting but be warned that
Straczynski mentions a number of spoilers on
future episodes and the fifth season. The cast is
clearly having a ball ribbing each other, and
their fun is infectious -- the cast commentaries
aren't very informative but they do provide the
feeling that you're an insider on the series.
I'd recommend watching the episodes without
commentary the first time (particularly the ones
with Straczynski commenting). Curiously, there's
never been an episode with commentary by the
effects supervisors or directors. It would have
been interesting to hear about the creation of the
optical effects and how an episodic director
approaches an individual episode in a series. It
would probably be quite difficult to get the
series directors to comment without compensation
(they were just hired guns for each episode of the
series although I would have loved to hear Tony
"Leave it to Beaver" Dow's comments on directing
and acting). |
