2023/12/17
On Monday December 11th I received my copy of Babylon 5 - The Complete series. My excitement I had the last few months regarding this release, had already tempered somewhat because I learned that the UK set had awful packaging. The Blu-ray's are stacked 2 to 3 upon each other. It is a mess to just to take out a Blu-ray you want to see. This is the same kind of set like the DVD re-releases of the various Star Trek shows. The box itself is not in Blu-ray format, but in DVD format, like with the Stargate releases from VEI.
I was expecting separate seasons because of the backside that was shown on Amazon. It showed the five seasons with the cover art of the earlier DVD sets. It all seems a bit like flawed advertisement to me. The slipcover is also a flimsy thing, no artwork on the inside, it gives no protection whatsoever to the set itself. When it arrived from Amazon.co.uk, it was in a carton which was too big, there was no protection inside the carton. It was a wonder that the set wasn't severely damaged. Three of four Blu-ray discs had come loose.
Where the re-releases of the various Star Trek releases are budget releases, Babylon 5's first release already is a budget release, which is a big disappointment to me. But at least it has been released on Blu-ray.
As you may know, the Babylon 5 movies aren't in this set, except for the pilot movie "The Gathering". I haven't yet seen it myself but I've read/heard that it's (the pilot) more like SD quality instead of HD. The seasons itself are a big improvement. Although Babylon 5 was presented in widescreen back in the day, the BD release unfortunately is 4:3 ratio, which means that you will see black bars on the left and right side of you TV screen. There aren't any extra's on it, it's a bare bones edition, no commentaries or deleted scenes. No booklet either! Yes the episodes are on the back of the cover but to get there you will have to do a lot of work, take out 3 or 4 discs. Really disappointing.
Video
- Codec: TBA
- Resolution: 1080p
- Aspect ratio: 1.33.1
Audio
- English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles
- English SDH
Discs
- 21 Discs (4 BD-50, per season + Pilot)
Packaging
- Slipbox - A big plastic case, Discs Stacked upon each other
Region Code
- 2K Blu-ray: Region B (region A & C not tested)
Extra's
- No Extra's
Final Word:
As I said, I am very disappointed with this set. Yes, Babylon 5 is awesome, I love it, but the Blu-ray treatment it has gotten is just sad to be honest. Especially because in 2024 it celebrates its 30th anniversary, you would expect the studio would make it more special or something. Take for instance the celebration Blu-ray release for Farscape's 25th anniversary! Now that is how you release an anniversary of an iconic TV series. If you still want this set, I would like to advise you to purchase the US set, the discs are packaged much better. Of course, if you purchase it from Europe, it will be +/- €35-40 more expensive.
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