Stuart Fisher
Whereas Babylon 5: A Call To Arms is the beginning of a new adventure in the Babylon 5 universe, Babylon 5: In the Beginning actually completes the epic story that is introduced to us in Babylon 5: The Gathering and then continued by the television series.Babylon 5: In the Beginning describes the events leading up to the Earth-Minbari war in context with everything we have seen in the TV show. For those of you that don't know, the Earth-Minbari war happened 10 years before the start of the time line of the show. The TV series then proceeds to tell the story of Babylon 5 year by year from then on.Babylon 5: In the Beginning has a fantastic story, and it introduces us to one or two wonderful new characters. It is brilliantly put together, but just like Serenity (The Firefly movie), Babylon 5: In the Beginning makes much more sense, and is much better, if you watch it after watching the TV show. I suspect that is why it has such a relatively low score here on IMDb; perhaps many viewers had not watched the TV series first.In the Beginning also contains spoilers for the TV series. Delenn, Sheridan and G'Kar's characters, for example, are very much in keeping with the characters as we know them towards the end of the TV series, not as they are in the first two seasons. You could argue this is a negative point but it falls within the scope of artistic license, and it is hard to imagine how it can have been done any other way. So I think you really need to have at least watched the first four seasons of Babylon 5 before watching In the Beginning, although personally I'd recommend watching everything from the TV show before watching this (don't forget to start with Babylon 5: The Gathering).
dslcobra
"In the Beginning" is a mark of brilliance...a perfect made for TV movie for the Babylon 5 series. It is the best of the B5 movies with the second being the pilot episode.ITB chronicles the genesis of the Earth Minbari war which was a holy war started by misunderstanding between Humans and a powerful alien race called the Minbari. In the struggle, a huge chunk of humanity is killed as the Minbari march towards Earth, destroying human colonies on the way.Since this movie comes near the end of the 3rd season and out of chronological order, it answers many unanswered questions that B5 watchers would expect to be answered from the 1st Season onwards.On its own, the story is PERFECT. There is plenty of CGI war scenes, plenty of dramatized war scenes and plenty of intrigue. A perfect reason to bother getting into the series itself if you weren't a fan.
FlipperPA
I will not try to sell you on Babylon 5. If you're actually reading this review, my guess is you have already seen the greatest sci-fi series of all time in one form or another.I am an ultimate Bab-5 junkie. I confess to the typical crimes: I own the pewter figures (both the black omega star fury and the space station) as well as the halloween outfits. I have taped each episode 4 times. Yes, I have the pilot with the original Stewart Copeland soundtrack, as well as the Chrisopher Franke version, tiwce. Before you ask, yes, I have the DVD version (which I finally saw tonight).Now, with all the formalities out of the way... let me tell you, in viewing the DVD for the first time, I feel like I've SEEN BAB-5 AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME!Coming from a viewer with a less than stellar cable company - in other words, my reception sucks - viewing it on DVD for the first time is a complete and total treat.Babylon-5 set a recent trend, which has been noticed not only by the viewers, but by everyone. It has set a new fad if you will; it transmits television in the widescreen format. In the modern television spectrum, such shows as Enterprise, Angel, and 24 are all shown in the widesreen format. Babylon 5 was the first to even contemplate this format.Now there are legions of fans demanding this format.I still find it amusing that the fact that in "The Gathering", the Babylon-5 pilot aired in 1994 (?) most of the concepts and graphics are far bayond what most sci-fi has achieved to date.Any way you look at this, whether Babylon-5 fan or not, this the best DVD released to date. Does it have an of those "extra features"? No. Does it have any of those "unreleased scenes"? No. However, does it have the best video and audio transfer, which you haven't seen, throughout the days of PTEN, TNT or the SCI-FI Channel? Yes. Buy it. For quality. Not for extras, simply for quality. It is that good, on its own. The quality of the story is that good; the quality of acting passes: and the innovation surpasses anything within the past 30 years.-Tim
delenn-11
Personally I loved "In the beginning" but I know the series off-by-heart, therefore I was able to see how important a part of the series this film was and pick up on all the clever bits in the movie that one-off watchers wouldn't pick up on.It's not my favourite movie as generally I feel "A call to arms" was more important and more in tune for all fans of the show. But as a part of the arc and probably even for performances this one if fantastic. Mira Furlan is absolutely magnificent and you can't help but think her lack of presence in the other movies is a bad thing for them.Very good.
AD
