Babylon 5 Bonanza
Babylon 5: In the Beginning -- Peter David
The first time I saw ITB I couldn’t get through the first 15 minutes; the second time around, I loved it. Peter David’s novelization is everybit as enjoyable as the movie. The narrative voice is pure Londo - I could practically hear Peter Jurasik’s voice in my head (largely thanks to JMS’ screenplay, of course). David is an assured genre writer, and the author of two B5 episodes, and he does oa good job of expanding and fleshing out the story, like every good novelization should. He manages to retain Londo’s unique voice while also revealing the inner lives of other characters, which is a pretty neat trick. There’s a nice added scene between Sheridan and Sinclair that’s pretty typical of both men; it’s such a good scene that I can’t say I mind David’s convienent retconning (they both “forget” that they met by the time they’re involved in the Mars riots). I also liked the extra background we get for the two Centauri children in the frame narrative. Overall a good read, and a story worth revisisting.
Babylon 5: Thirdspace - Peter David
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about the novelization of Thirdspace. It’s one of my favorite B5 films, and I was really looking forward to the book, but it just doesn’t work as well on the page as it does on the screen. I gave up half-way through. There’s an added subplot that’s just irritating and boring, and the writing is really clunky and poorly paced. Every chapter ends with heavy-handed foreshadowing: “Little did they know, THEY WERE ALL ABOUT TO DIE!!” Which, by Chapter 9, is just annoying. Not even getting a glimpse of Lyta’s experience on the edge of Vorlon space could keep me interested. Definitely a let-down.
Babylon 5: The Gathering
Okay, so this is only for the truly die-hard B5 fan, but I gotta say, even though it’s kind of terrible, I enjoyed it. In a “it’s so bad it’s good” way. Nobody looks quite right, the woman playing Takashima is appallingly bad, and the Zocolo seemed to be a rip off of Quark’s bar. Also, there was a distinct lack of Space Jazz in the background (it’s just not Babylon 5 without Space Jazz). But Londo, as a character, was already there, even if his accent wasn’t, and G’Kar and Garibaldi were also fully realized. Lyta was fabulously dykey with that early 90s hair. Michael O’Hare, strangely, seemed more confident and relaxed than he does in the first season. Go figure. I kinda loved the Bladerunner feel that the pilot had, so different to the show. Darker, grungier, slower paced. It’s a shame they couldn’t keep that for the series itself.
Delenn’s makeup was ridiculous, but it made sense once I read on Wikipedia that they originally wanted her to be male in the beginning of the show, and have her emerge female after her transformation. WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME. Stupid wimpy tv studios. The fun part of The Gathering, with it’s multi-racial cast, intricate world-building, and subtextually transgender aliens, is seeing how ambitious JMS’ vision really was.