Babylon 5: The Road Home - Blu-ray and 4K (2023)

[Faustus]

Babylon 5: The Road Home (2023)



Babylon 5: The Road Home Blu-ray

Babylon 5: The Road Home 4K Blu-ray


It's up for pre-order on Amazon. They list it as Region Free.

If it's successful (and good), hopefully there'll be more from the B5 universe.

[MarcelS1]

Thxs! Pre-ordered!

[roguejp]

Stop the presses!

It's even getting a UHD? What fantastic news!

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by roguejp

Stop the presses!

It's even getting a UHD? What fantastic news!

That shows a good level of confidence that wasn't really there for the LOST TALES release, which never even got a BD did it?

[CavebobSpongeman]

BABYLON 5's A BIG etc.

[drterror666]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

That shows a good level of confidence that wasn't really there for the LOST TALES release, which never even got a BD did it?

I thought a BD release for any of Babylon 5 is near impossible bacause JMS said that all the SFX would need redoing and it would be really expensive.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by drterror666

I thought a BD release for any of Babylon 5 is near impossible bacause JMS said that all the SFX would need redoing and it would be really expensive.

That's only on the assumption that they fully re-do the VFX, which they won't. They'll upscale them, but given the absolute mess they made of the VFX when they mastered it for DVD, even going back to the original 480i/4:3 VFX and upscaling is a huge improvement.

They've already done everything they need to do for a BD. They've re-scanned the OCNs in 4K (and downscaled it to 1080p) for the live-action, they've upscaled the VFX properly for the VFX/composite shots and there are resultant HD masters for the series that have already dropped on streaming services. It looks great! We just need WBs to put the masters on BD now, which theoretically is the easy part, they just need the will to do it.

[Endymion0000]

Babylon 5: The Road Home | Official Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment - YouTube

[drterror666]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

That's only on the assumption that they fully re-do the VFX, which they won't. They'll upscale them, but given the absolute mess they made of the VFX when they mastered it for DVD, even going back to the original 480i/4:3 VFX and upscaling is a huge improvement.

They've already done everything they need to do for a BD. They've re-scanned the OCNs in 4K (and downscaled it to 1080p) for the live-action, they've upscaled the VFX properly for the VFX/composite shots and there are resultant HD masters for the series that have already dropped on streaming services. It looks great! We just need WBs to put the masters on BD now, which theoretically is the easy part, they just need the will to do it.

What we need is an incredibly rich B5 fan to put a shedload of money into creating new SFX. Anyone?

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by drterror666

What we need is an incredibly rich B5 fan to put a shedload of money into creating new SFX. Anyone?

Ironic that it finds itself in the same hole that DS9's in......

[GreatUncleBaal]

Originally Posted by drterror666

What we need is an incredibly rich B5 fan to put a shedload of money into creating new SFX. Anyone?

JMS had someone willing to finance it about ten years ago,
but WB wouldn't allow it.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by drterror666

What we need is an incredibly rich B5 fan to put a shedload of money into creating new SFX. Anyone?

It'd be nice (and would allow them to use widescreen framing again but with a better film transfer this time) but it isn't going to happen when they have perfectly decent mixed HD/upscale masters currently.

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Ironic that it finds itself in the same hole that DS9's in......

Not really - B5 is far more fortunate in that it does have a HD remaster with genuine HD footage. DS9 is still stuck firmly in SD.

[davidthenikonuser]

Originally Posted by drterror666

I thought a BD release for any of Babylon 5 is near impossible bacause JMS said that all the SFX would need redoing and it would be really expensive.

The show has been remastered in HD. I'm watching it now on Tubi. It looks great. So a blu-ray is possable.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Not really - B5 is far more fortunate in that it does have a HD remaster with genuine HD footage. DS9 is still stuck firmly in SD.

I meant in terms of the VFX, but indeed, B5 is more fortunately placed than DS9, which is irony in itself given the history.

I think before WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND I’d have been perfectly happy had they gone down the B5 route of just upscaling the VFX, but damn those remastered VFX shots looked knockout! If it’s a case of upscaled VFX or no release then I’d take it, but what a missed opportunity that would be.

I’m confident we’ll get both, eventually. Looks like B5 first though, which is fine by me.

Incidentally, if anyone follows Joe’s YT channel he’s been uploading personal commentaries on a number of the show’s key episodes:

https://m.youtube.com/@StudioJMS2012

[cutback73]

The year is 2023... The name of the place. The Blu-Ray forum!

After the extreme excitement seeing this on the news page last night and at first thinking I don't remember that Episode, then suddenly realising this was new(!!!), I'm unable to sleep.

It's taken me instantly back almost 30 years to happy weekends at Wolf Events conventions meeting cast members in London.

Sad that so many of the cast are no longer with us but animation seems a good strategy enabling use of the remaining cast members in a believable way.

And some extremely promising news - this is currently number 3 on the Amazon dvd/blu ray list, with only John Wick 4 and Avatar 2 above it! Not bad in what 3 days of preorders?

[russgup]

I think it highlights that there is still a market and a demand for physical releases....imagine where The Mandaloarian would be sitting in the charts if Disney released it....

[harry o]

Originally Posted by cutback73

The year is 2023... The name of the place. The Blu-Ray forum!

After the extreme excitement seeing this on the news page last night and at first thinking I don't remember that Episode, then suddenly realising this was new(!!!), I'm unable to sleep.

It's taken me instantly back almost 30 years to happy weekends at Wolf Events conventions meeting cast members in London.

Sad that so many of the cast are no longer with us but animation seems a good strategy enabling use of the remaining cast members in a believable way.

And some extremely promising news - this is currently number 3 on the Amazon dvd/blu ray list, with only John Wick 4 and Avatar 2 above it! Not bad in what 3 days of preorders?

went to a few of those myself recall meeting Michael o hare and co at the London ones and watching some season 4 episodes in advance of the tv screening (quite a scoop back then !) plus one that stood out was an event at "pages bar" also.

[CouncilSpectre]

I only did the Blackpool conventions around that time (I was a poor student and Blackpool was closer!).

At the first one, Joe revealed the season 4 renewal, and honestly you'd think England had just won the world cup the way the hall erupted!

The second one, a year (?) later, I think almost everyone must have been there. Andreas Katsulas was great, but it was Rick and Jason that stole the show, they were absolutely on fire. I think of all the cons I've ever been to, Rick and Jason on stage together was just about the most fun I've ever had.

I'm not ordinarily a big "autograph" fan, but I did get Joe's, and Ed Wasser's (Morden was one of my favourite characters on the show at that point). Think I have Michael O'Hare's as well somewhere, although I don't remember it being from either of the Blackpool cons so for the life of me I can't remember where that would have come from!

[StarFuryG7]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

That shows a good level of confidence that wasn't really there for the LOST TALES release, which never even got a BD did it?

No, but times were different back then. It might have eventually had it gone over better, but even JMS was disappointed with it and didn't want to do another one after that release. He didn't feel it did the series justice.

[StarFuryG7]

Originally Posted by drterror666

What we need is an incredibly rich B5 fan to put a shedload of money into creating new SFX. Anyone?

I like the effects, bro. I realize that in Season 1 they were a bit rudimentary, but so what. They were pioneers, using technology that hadn't been used before for a television series in that manner. It's a part of television history, and was an emerging art form at the time. The work they did was pretty damn awesome, and I wish people could accept those special effects in the way that I also see them: as giving the show a comic book aesthetic and feel that works very well with it and compliments it.