Babylon 5 - The Gathering (Series Pilot Film)
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Babylon 5 - The Gathering (Series Pilot Film) - VHS Tape

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Babylon 5 - The Gathering (Series Pilot Film)

List Price: $9.98    Our Price:

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VHS Tape - 25 August, 1998
Warner Home Video
Availability: Used and ThirdParty

Director: Richard Compton

Number of Media: 1
Features:

  • Closed-captioned
  • Color
  • NTSC
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VHS Tape Description

In the early spring of 1993, a year before the series was launched, the two-hour movie and series pilot Babylon 5: The Gathering appeared. This proto-Babylon staked out the initial territory for the series (some of which would change by the first episode), introducing primary characters and sketching out the alliances and rifts in interplanetary diplomacy. Some of the primary characters bowed out after their initial appearances (Tamlyn Tomita's Lt. Commander Laurel Takashima and Johnny Seka's Dr. Benjamin Kyle never returned; Patricia Tallman's telepath Lyta Alexander made periodic revisits beginning in the second season, eventually rejoining the cast permanently). Set on the first anniversary of the Babylon 5 (none of the first four stations survived even a month), the central story involves the attempted assassination of the newly arrived Vorlon, the mysterious Ambassador Kosh, at the hands of (perhaps) Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare). Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle, a smart-aleck tough guy in the Bruce Willis vein) investigates and uncovers a web of conspirators, a portent of things to come. When TNT picked up the series for the fifth season Straczynski reedited the pilot, weaving back in a dropped subplot while cutting the rest of the film more tightly, tweaking special effects, and commissioning a new score from Christopher Franke. This is the cut released on video, a stronger, more engaging film, but still a broad first stab at characters that would redefine themselves through the course of the show's run. --Sean Axmaker


Selected Customer Reviews

no longer needed

With the release of the sixth Babylon 5 boxed set you no longer need this disk. After all the movie edition has a better sound track and better videa quality leaving this DVD in the dust.

Even at $5.00 Bucks it is still not worth it. Caughf up the $45.00 for the B-5 movie edition boxed set and get this episode and all the movies.

Safe travels:

David

This isn't the original pilot as the package claims

I bought this DVD thinking they had finally released the original pilot shown in 1993 (as the package says) with Stewart Copeland doing the music... it isn't. It is the same version as the one included with IN THE BEGINING.

Having said this, even if the package is deceptive, it is still a well made murder mystery. It takes you on a tour of the station, and introduces all the characters without too much standing around talking as most pilots have.

It is a good start for the series... I just wish it was the original version... my recording of the original pilot on VHS (I took it off the television) is showing it's age!

Not as advertised, not the best

As you have no doubt already read, this is *not* the premiere movie from 1993 but rather the 1998 TNT version. That irked me, and I hope that the distributors of this movie and amazon.com correct this mistake.

This DVD literally contains an ad for Season 1 on DVD and the TNT version of "The Gathering". Nothing else. There's not even a menu on this DVD. This is as bare-bones as it gets, but then again, you are paying a few bucks for it so you get what you pay for.

The only reason this merits two stars is literally the content. This is a editing of the movie that started it all for Babylon 5, laying the groundwork for a five year storyline. While it can seem a bit drab and drawn out, if you watch the show you will return to this movie and see things you never saw before.

For completists, get this. For everyone else, wait until the Babylon 5 movies set comes out and buy that instead. You will get a much better experience with the same movie as part of that set.

 

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