Spoiler Space:


























Well, I finally gave in to curiosity and bought the Lost Tales DVD (on
Amazon for 11 bucks).  I did not have high expectations for its level of
quality, and yet I was still disappointed.

The space CGI looked awesome, of course.  Bruce Boxleitner still has a
commanding screen presence that I regard highly, and I enjoyed watching
him.  The lighting in some scenes was outstanding.  Franke's music is,
of course, wonderful.  I was moved by the nod to G'kar and Franklin,
though it's hard to imagine them as a duo exploring space; they had
little to do with each other during the series, one being concerned
mainly with the soul and the other focused on the body.  Still, fare
well, travelers.

But just about everything else left me cold.

I already hated Scoggins, and her episode did not change my mind, but I
managed to put that aside and not let it color my opinion of the show.
My main problem was with the vast *emptiness* of the station.  I got
absolutely no sense that anyone else was aboard her but the three people
that were the focus of each story.  Scoggins' episode was little more
than talking heads shot in Batman tilted-camera style.  As for the
second episode, not for a second did I believe that Sheridan would
actually kill the Centauri, so there was no suspense for me in the
slightest.  It got wearisome as I waited for its conclusion.

And all the sets, even the CGI creations, looked *cheap*.  Bland.  Like
it was built for a High School play.

The hamhandedness of the writing did not bother me as much as the
hamhandedness of the direction; I'm already vaccinated against JMS'
writing after five years of B5.  But things in the direction, like the
repetition of the "close up on a sleeping eye which suddenly opens
wide", which happened in each segment (twice in the second, for a total
of three times, I believe) and the repetition of the wide shot of the
hanger bay, these stood out in a stark manner which drew me out of the
narrative.  The Batman-tilting of the first segment was interesting at
first, but then it just went on and on, and I began to feel queasy. 

If plans to make more of these actually come to fruition, I hope they
throw a few more bucks into the production budget, and distract JMS with
something shiny while someone else directs it behind his back.


** 
Captain Infinity
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32