Babylon 5 : The Complete Universe [£64.58 @Amazon.co.uk]

Ruu_Old

It is nearly a steal at this price. link here. 41 disc set, its Region 2.

Capt'n Midnight

Signed up for the free DVD rental scheme to get an extra 10% off.
NB. the DVD rental is a subscription which will cost you £'s if you don't cancel ASAP, and you can only get the rentals posted to a UK address.

Amazon.co.uk Order Summary
Items: £54.44
Postage & Packing: £1.88
Promotion Applied: -£5.44

Total before VAT: £50.88
VAT: £10.69
Order Total: £61.57

mcgovern

I'm very tempted, but not having seen it before I don't want to waste 100+ eurons on something...

Ruu_Old

Nice Capt'n Midnight, must have a root around for some money off vouchers, every little helps.

Capt'n Midnight

mcgovern wrote:

I'm very tempted, but not having seen it before I don't want to waste 100+ eurons on something...

€92 actually

forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=638

http://www.horus.at/~bjelli/bjelli/b5vsst.html

Why Babylon 5 is better than Star Trek

A Bab5 episode isn't neatly ended in the last 5 minutes
Relationships on B5 last more than one convenient episode.
The characters and Voyager change so little, they might as well be in stasis.
Babylon 5 has romance. vs. Voyager is Puritans Lost in Space.
People stay dead on B5.
B5 has computer generated graphics vs. Voyager has a computer generated Plot
You will never see the head of a voyager character on a pike....Wave.
B5 characters evolve over time. vs. ST characters devolve, then recover, in a single episode.
B5 has Bester vs. ST has Chekov.
One word: Revolution.
The characters on B5 are anatomicaly superior (just ask Londo)
the good guys and girls wear black.
On B5 Marcus is a virgin and it's a big deal. vs. On -any- ST show, they never admit to having sex.
ST: Dragging it's butt on putting in GLBT characters. vs. B5: Ivanova and Talia.
In B5 the dock workers actually go on strike.
Star furies do excellent 3D manouvers with realistic inertia. vs. Voager kinda sits there and fires.
Babylonian Productions actually likes the idea of fans vs. Paramount likes only the idea of more money. (see the Online Freedom Federation on Paramounts attempts to shut down Star Trek Websites run by fans)
B5 characters are spurred to action by their principles vs. V'ger characters just hide behind them.
Ships that have (gasp) momentum!
Sheridan: Sees a less-developed planet under attack, starts a war with a vastly superior race. vs. Janeway: Sees a less-developed planet under attack, and uses the Prime Directive to cover her ass.
On voyager, everybody listens to Neelix. vs. On B5, nobody ever listens to Zathras !
Plot complexity : On b5: you miss one line and you are confused for the rest of the season. vs. On voyager: you catch last 5 minutes of the episode and you already understand the entire episode.
ST: Last minute solution saves the race. vs. B5: last minute solution too late, race dies.

gerryo

mcgovern wrote:

I'm very tempted, but not having seen it before I don't want to waste 100+ eurons on something...

I can say without reservation, it would not be wasted money.
I would also say that once you start watching it, you will wonder why it was not shown on more channels or why $ky has endless StarTrek re-runs, but never B5.

(Not bashing ST, just B5 was a way different type of show- very ahead of it's time in many ways, very underrated)

I should also point out, I'm not a B5 fanboy, just think it's a great series.

steve 0

Newer complete version with The Lost Tales disc for just £64.58 including VAT and delivery http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WDSRG4/dvdcol-21

psicic

Awww, wow! I used to love this - wasn't so keen on how Channel 4 used to stick it on at awkward times. I had to enlist a sparse rotation of video tapes to keep up with episodes shown at weird times on a Saturday/Sunday - I probably still have the video tapes crammed with bits of old episodes somewhere.

steve 0 wrote: »

Newer complete version with The Lost Tales disc for just £64.58 including VAT and delivery http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WDSRG4/dvdcol-21

This version is out of stock - so any order you make goes on backorder. Does that lock in the price, or is it liable to go back up? The one mentioned in the OP's post is still in stock - and I'm very tempted to go for it instead of waiting.

Now.... off to trawl the internet to see if Ivanova and Lyta Alexander (last season with the red hair) are as hot as I remember...

Picked this up years back and love it so. Easily my favourite DVD and in my opinion the finest TV show ever produced. For less than a 100 euro you really can't go wrong.

Supercell

Have this already, have watched all five series from start to finish several times..once the first few shows are watched..you'll have wished you'd booked time off work to finish the whole lot. Yes B5 is that good

Cactus Col

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

€92 actually

forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=638

http://www.horus.at/~bjelli/bjelli/b5vsst.html

that link compares babylon 5 to Star Trek Voyager! Not Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which would be the more similar programme (seeing as they're both set on space stations and first started airing around the same time)

machalla

Cactus Col wrote: »

that link compares babylon 5 to Star Trek Voyager! Not Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which would be the more similar programme (seeing as they're both set on space stations and first started airing around the same time)

Completely off topic, but many years ago Orson Scott Card (sci-fi author) was telling a bunch of us how Babylon 5 was originally pitched at paramount who turned it down. Then a year or two later Deep Space 9 appeared... We all drew our own conclusions.

Great series, especially if you can watch it season by season. Its one reason you don't see it played over and over on tv as its not episodic. It depends on events in previous seasons and episodes. A bit like "The Wire" which I've only started watching recently and been amazed by.