Science Fiction Double Feature

Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales (2007)

A wiser man than I once said that you can’t go home again, and when your home is a five mile long space station in neutral space populated by diplomats, scoundrels, Earth Alliance Military, and wanderers he couldn’t have been more right.

Babylon 5, The Lost Tales is the third attempt to rekindle the magic that was the 5 seasons long run of the groundbreaking science fiction television series known as Babylon 5. Bab5 was known for it’s impressive costumes, CGI, characters, dialogue that burnt into your soul, and a chaotic disjointed storytelling style that seemed more authentic then anything that ever took place on any of the ships helmed by Roddenbury. Bab5’s stepchildren, Crusade,and The Legend of the Rangers died lingering deaths of obscurity.

JM Strazynski’s dialogue and characters continue to be impressive and draw your attention to the screen, but it was obvious that Warner Brothers did not wish to commit to this production. The Lost Tales are two short stories set 10 years after the last major story arch of the series. Three of the original characters return to the screen, and three new characters are introduced to us. But Bab5wasn’t only about the characters that received screen time; it was about life on the station and how people interacted with each other. In this attempt to rekindle the interest of Warner Brothers in the franchise, there were no extras wandering the station, no crowded market place, and we only saw empty hallways. There was no sense of life to in this visit to the station.

The two stories are self contained and aired separately, which does not fit the frame work that the original series excelled at. Stories would intertwine; characters would pass by each other, discuss their lives, and return to their separate plotlines. It gave the stories an air of credibility and realism that Lost Tales was missing. It seemed to me that a can of story was opened, spooned onto my dinner plate and for dessert I received a nice back up story. There was no chemistry inherent here, no hook to draw me back to the spinning metal station all alone in the night. But this DVD did make me want to break out my boxed sets of the original series and visit with some old friends again.

If the fans of Bab5hoped this series would rekindle Warner Brothers interest in the series, they are as wrong as the fans of Firefly who thought that movie ticket revenue would inspire Fox to listen to their excessive whining. This was a nice nostalgia piece, I enjoyed it, but it does not contain the draw to create new fans, and will only be viewed by fans of the original series.


The Black Hole (1979)

In 1977 the release of Star Warschanged everything, and a giant entertainment empire spawned on the labors of a cartoon mouse quivered in its boots. Disney saw the vision of George Lucas, and decided that the only way they could survive his new vision of cinematic science fiction, was to meet him in battle at the box office.

To this end, Disney dusted off the script of their previous blockbuster film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, added the star power of Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, and modeled their cinematic counter attack after Stanley Kubricks’ classic film, 2001 A Space Odyssey. Disney, hoping for a successful movie toy tie in, enlisted an ally in their war against the Sith, the toy empire known as MEGO that had dominated the 1970’s action figure industry. Expanding the cinema war to the pockets of parents and the hands of children. MEGO was already engaged in hostilities with the Sith Empire, and was on the losing side of the action figure battle. MEGO adapted their tactic of using only an 8inch action figure, and released a 3inch action figures for the Black Hole to compete with the toys KENNER released for the Sith.

Disney made a crucial blunder in their war they copied the cute human like robot concept from the Sith Empire. V.I.N.C.E.N.T., O.L.D. B.O.B., and Maximillion were thinly veiled copies of C3P0, R2D2, and Darth Vader, and it wasn’t a weapon strong enough to counter the advance of the Sith into the hearts of children everywhere. It didn’t help that the MEGO made toys were not as sturdy as the KENNER made toys. And we all know what a parent does with a broken toy, they throw it into the trash, never buy another from that line again, and the children quickly forget it even existed.

Disney pushed hard, drove their troops to the breaking point and released a movie with incredible visual affects. We all know what happens when Disney throws money at a project it gets results, and Disney threw lots of money at the special affects for this film. Exploding asteroids, hovering cute robots, spinning blade weapons, zero gravity, energy weapon target practice, and the black hole itself out shone any visual affect Disney had ever accomplished before, and possibly since.

What Disney did not spend money on, was the script. The dialogue seemed drawn directly from the 1950s, and the ending of the film left a lot to be desired. Despite a budget that only Disney could muster, impressive visuals, and a toy tie in, this movie was simply a copy of movies that had already been made, and a large-scale flop. The Sith triumphed, over the Mouse, KENNER put MEGO out of business, and this movie was Disney’s last foray into live action science fiction.