Product Details

• Actors: Bruce Boxleitner, Mira Furlan, Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik
• Directors: Michael Vejar, Richard Compton
• Writers: J. Michael Straczynski
• Producers: Douglas Netter, J. Michael Straczynski, John Copeland, Robert Latham Brown, Susan Norkin
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: December 4, 2001
• Run Time: 185 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005NTNP
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,672 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Television > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Babylon 5

• For more information about "Babylon 5: The Gathering/In the Beginning" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
In spring 1993, a year before the Babylon 5 series was launched, the two-hour movie and series pilot "The Gathering" staked out the initial territory, introducing primary characters (some of whom would never appear again) and sketching the alliances and rifts in interplanetary diplomacy. The central story involves the attempted assassination of the newly arrived Vorlon, the mysterious Ambassador Kosh, at the hands of (perhaps) Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare). This is the reedited cut released on video, a stronger, more engaging film than the original, but still a broad first stab at characters that would be redefined through the course of the show's run.

"In the Beginning," produced between the fourth and fifth seasons, packs all the history alluded to in "The Gathering"--and more--into a prequel stuffed to the hatches with the epic doings of Earth, Minbar, Narn, and Centauri in the days before the Babylon stations were built. Infused with epic sweep and storytelling confidence by producer-writer Michael J. Straczynski and his cast and crew, it's an elegant, compelling addition to the Babylon 5 universe and a dramatic highlight of the series. It's not an ideal introduction, though, as it gives away the shadowy history slowly revealed through the first three seasons. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description
The long-running, Emmy-winning TV series launches onto DVD with two feature-length adventures about an outer-space weigh station. In the series pilot "The Gathering" (1993, 89 min.), an interstellar summit strives to negotiate a lasting truce, if an assassin's agenda doesn't have the opposite effect. Set primarily in the decade before the orbital station existed, the prequel "In the Beginning" (1998, 100 min.) depicts the tumultuous events of the Earth-Minbari War, which shaped interstellar events and paved the way for the construction of the universal safeport.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars And So It Begins ..., October 30, 2001

By	Stephen C. Smith (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reportedly the version of the two-hour pilot movie "The Gathering" on this DVD will be "Version 2.0", if you will.

The version that aired in 1993 was considered by many to be dull and muddled. B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski later placed the blame on director Richard Compton, who he felt chose the wrong takes in an attempt to emphasize the station itself rather than the actors' performances.

"Version 2.0", released in 1999, was heavily revised by JMS and producer John Copeland. They tightened up the storyline, upgraded the effects and, most importantly, dug up from the archives alternate takes that showed stronger performances by the actors. Some scenes that slowed down the pacing have been dropped, while other scenes that emphasized the characters and the plot have been restored.

If you can get hold of the original version, compare it to "Version 2.0" and enjoy a clinic in the right (and wrong) way to edit a movie.

Like any pilot, though, the actors have yet to find their characters and the writer/creator is still finding their voices. That's the point of any pilot, so don't unnecessarily bash it just because the look of some aliens changed later in the series. A pilot is supposed to sell the show as a series, and that it did. But "The Gathering" is also important because of B5's unique structure -- a five-season "novel for television", and "The Gathering" is the opening chapter. Plot lines established in this episode resonate throughout the next five years, sometimes not even paying off until late in the series.

If "The Gathering" is Chapter 1, "In The Beginning" is the prologue. Told in flashback by one of the primary characters years after the events seen in the series, the story takes place ten years before the events seen in "The Gathering". Throughout the B5 saga, we hear about the Earth-Minbari War and even see snippets of flashback. But this film finally lets us take the ride in total.

Another interesting advantage of comparing these two films is to observe how JMS's storytelling skills improved with experience. Early in the series, episodes tended to bog down with expository narrative as he struggled to find an effective means of planting with the viewer certain information that would be needed down the line. (In fact, if you go back and watch the first season episodes, virtually every one contains some plot point that pays off down the line in future seasons.) With four years under his belt -- and freed of the need to story arc plot points -- he's free to tell a whopper of a story.

"In The Beginning" does have some inconsistencies with what was established in the series -- in particular, a rather improbable adventure involving several of the series' regulars who don't seem to have any memory of it when they reunite years later on the station -- but in typical Straczynski fashion we're entertained while at the same time reminded of the conseqences of our own human foibles and arrogance.

Finally, I'll chip in with a message for WB. As others have posted, I've held off on buying the VHS series because I was waiting for DVD. Please, release the series season-by-season in box sets. With commentary by JMS. His people are waiting.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is the Studio Business Section Listening???, September 30, 2001

By	Terry Wayne Hancock (Fowler, IN United States) - See all my reviews

My wife and I were really impressed by the Babylon 5 series. We caught it as a Turner rerun on satellite. We followed each and every section in proper sequence, which is the ONLY way that this wonderful screenplay can be seen. We want our son to see it the same way, only with the benefit of DVD.

Thus, are you listening? We and, apparently many others, will pay for the complete boxed set of the entire story. What do you want $130, $150, $200? Do you understand that we, in the most expansive plural, want every piece of the puzzle, not some edited best of compilation...

It truly is amazing what your company is wasting VHS tapes and DVDs on, when Babylon 5 is a "sure thing". I will only buy the DVDs. And I would buy all, including sections edited out of the original, in the case of Babylon 5. I can think of no other movie or series where I would do this!

72 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best TV Sci-Fi, January 17, 2002

By	Russell (West Valley, UT United States) - See all my reviews

Babylon 5 represented some of the best television science fiction ever available. At it's worst, it was merely mediocre. At it's best, it was absolutely amazing. On the average, it was excellent.

I think this DVD represents some of the best of Babylon 5, and some of the... well, not the best. The pilot episode, while much improved with it's "special edition" release, is still less than a perfect example of what the series was able to do. But it's still better than any Star Trek series pilot ever did :) It wraps the feel and background of the series in a murder mystery that sets the pace for the action and political intrigue that was to continue for the run of the series.

"In the Beginning" is something of a spoiler for first-time B5 viewers, so beware. Many of the surprises of the series are re-revealed here, along with many new discoveries. However, it also represents Babylon 5 at its best. It's a thrilling re-telling of the backstory of the Babylon 5 universe, as told by a dying emperor, full of regrets, many years later. One of the axioms of the TV series was that "nobody is ever exactly who they seem," and in this made-for-TV movie, this hits home very squarely. It's an action-packed two hours that remains fun after repeated viewings.