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Seeing the original cut of "The Gathering" for the first time
David of Mac
Elite RangerCa
in Babylon 5
Well, I had an iTunes gift card and remembered that I had noticed that the version of the Babylon 5 pilot episode "The Gathering" on the iTMS was the original cut, which I had never seen before, so I bought it as a curiosity. Long story short, I think that the 1998 reedit was superior in every way. Music, editing, special effects, even the cases where alternate takes were used. I took notes while watching of my observations on it, as compared to the version I was familiar with. Without further ado...
That was some pretty rough editing, like the overlong black screen at the intro, the long establishing shots or pauses within scenes where nothing happens, and occasional rushed patches of dialogue. Example: When Delenn gives Sinclair the information on the Vorlons and tells him to "say it fell from the sky," he asks "Why" too quickly. It gives the impression that he's asking why he should lie about its origin, whereas the followup explanation (and the special edition) make it clear he's asking why she's taking a chance giving it to him in the first place. Another such odd pause is when Garibaldi spends about ten minutes staring at Kosh's suit after being told not to open it before finally deciding that he can't tell if the ambassador is alive or dead.
What's with Sinclair grabbing Lyta by the arm to show her too her room? And good call on eliminating the "Zoo" sequence from the alien sector walk. Even watching it with JMS's explanation in mind that it was the hostile environment version of folks sitting on the front porch, it still seemed like a freak show. I've also noticed a lot more freaky aliens in this version. My guess is that, since not one of them was ever seen in the series proper, it would be better to downplay them in the pilot reedit, which I think was a good call.
Ooh, Laurel's voice is so obviously dubbed. The other alternate performances are weird, too, but her voice is off in every scene (not to mention that she's frequently shoved off-screen while speaking, presumably because the lips didn't sync correctly).
The original 3D mesh of the Garden was... wow. I realize it was 1993, and that there was a tremendous advance just at the first season (including such things as multiple types of lens flares, and motion blur), but that was not pretty. Even in design: way, way too many blinky lights everywhere, and far too much water. Of course, it was also probably a rush job. I remember reading that they wanted to film the Garden as a miniature, and even built it, before making a CGI version. I'm glad that replacing all the shots where we could see the inside of the station's carousel with the high-detail model they made for the season 2 finale (which still looks pretty damned good) was a high priority. I think I understand why there were only a couple of new space shots in the reedit, and most of it was stock footage from the series or kept from the original, since this needed most of the attention.
Also, now that I've seen the original version of Kosh's ship exiting the jumpgate, I understand why Dean Scott's Lightwave model of it from way back when had thrusters that grew, shrank, and spewed blue fire. Another element that didn't survive into the series.
The first full deleted scene, with Laurel, Sinclair, and Garibaldi on the core shuttle... well, I can see why it was cut, especially with the clunky "energy dampeners at the jumpgate" line. Still, fun to learn that Londo snubbed G'Kar when he arrived. Oh, those two wacky kids.
Speaking of which, I noticed the first, last and only on-screen mention of Mrs. G'kar (aside from G'kar saying he should be with his family when Narn was bombarded, and a novel and short story) in a small section trimmed from G'Kar's attempts to buy Lyta's telepath DNA. The privacy effect was much more over the top than I imagined when I read about it (if you're enabling it, I imagine you wouldn't want the entire room to see you did). This was also the scene where I really noticed how audible the background voices were in this cut. Did I hear something about Babylon 5's [i]mascot?[/i]
Also, the fact that there's no music in the comedy scenes really makes them play strangely. G'Kar seems creepy instead of humorously lascivious. In fact, a lot of scenes were oddly without scoring. And the places where there was music often clashed with the mood of the scene. And the source music is... jeeze. I could've swore I heard a bit from the "Dead Like Me" theme when Londo was explaining to Garibaldi why he voted to send Sinclair to the Vorlons. I could just have been imagining it, since I knew it was the same guy who did the music for that show and this pilot.
A lot of the scenes in the original edit were oddly cut, as well. Coming into the middle of the Battle of the Line scene, with Sinclair's girlfriend gawking at one of his medals for no readily apparent reason. And the scene at the end where the assassin drags Garibaldi into the alien sector, only for him to be saved by Delenn is also missing, leading one to wonder why she suddenly appears with Garibaldi after the bomb goes off. Come to think of it, was there ever an explanation for why she was hanging around Down Below near the assassin anyway, and running into hostile environments rescuing security chiefs? Maybe she was tracking him down on her own, from the rogue Minbari angle. An interesting thought.
Dr. Kyle's computer with the touchframe interface was pretty neat. That's about the only thing I liked. Also, cutting straight from Delenn giving Sinclair the file on the Minbari assassin to him slipping G'Kar the nonexistent transmitter helped give the impression that that information pointed him in G'Kar's direction. I had always had the impression that the data that Delenn gave Sinclair was a big old orphan from the pilot, since he never demonstrated any obscure, secret minbari knowledge about either the Vorlons or the Wind Swords. In hindsight, I should've made that connection much earlier, but I was a bit of a lazy viewer when I first saw the show, and never looked at it another way until now.
So, those are my thoughts on it. Even though, it was kind of nice to see semi-new Babylon 5. Got me keyed up for seeing The Lost Tales... in eight months. Yeesh.
That was some pretty rough editing, like the overlong black screen at the intro, the long establishing shots or pauses within scenes where nothing happens, and occasional rushed patches of dialogue. Example: When Delenn gives Sinclair the information on the Vorlons and tells him to "say it fell from the sky," he asks "Why" too quickly. It gives the impression that he's asking why he should lie about its origin, whereas the followup explanation (and the special edition) make it clear he's asking why she's taking a chance giving it to him in the first place. Another such odd pause is when Garibaldi spends about ten minutes staring at Kosh's suit after being told not to open it before finally deciding that he can't tell if the ambassador is alive or dead.
What's with Sinclair grabbing Lyta by the arm to show her too her room? And good call on eliminating the "Zoo" sequence from the alien sector walk. Even watching it with JMS's explanation in mind that it was the hostile environment version of folks sitting on the front porch, it still seemed like a freak show. I've also noticed a lot more freaky aliens in this version. My guess is that, since not one of them was ever seen in the series proper, it would be better to downplay them in the pilot reedit, which I think was a good call.
Ooh, Laurel's voice is so obviously dubbed. The other alternate performances are weird, too, but her voice is off in every scene (not to mention that she's frequently shoved off-screen while speaking, presumably because the lips didn't sync correctly).
The original 3D mesh of the Garden was... wow. I realize it was 1993, and that there was a tremendous advance just at the first season (including such things as multiple types of lens flares, and motion blur), but that was not pretty. Even in design: way, way too many blinky lights everywhere, and far too much water. Of course, it was also probably a rush job. I remember reading that they wanted to film the Garden as a miniature, and even built it, before making a CGI version. I'm glad that replacing all the shots where we could see the inside of the station's carousel with the high-detail model they made for the season 2 finale (which still looks pretty damned good) was a high priority. I think I understand why there were only a couple of new space shots in the reedit, and most of it was stock footage from the series or kept from the original, since this needed most of the attention.
Also, now that I've seen the original version of Kosh's ship exiting the jumpgate, I understand why Dean Scott's Lightwave model of it from way back when had thrusters that grew, shrank, and spewed blue fire. Another element that didn't survive into the series.
The first full deleted scene, with Laurel, Sinclair, and Garibaldi on the core shuttle... well, I can see why it was cut, especially with the clunky "energy dampeners at the jumpgate" line. Still, fun to learn that Londo snubbed G'Kar when he arrived. Oh, those two wacky kids.
Speaking of which, I noticed the first, last and only on-screen mention of Mrs. G'kar (aside from G'kar saying he should be with his family when Narn was bombarded, and a novel and short story) in a small section trimmed from G'Kar's attempts to buy Lyta's telepath DNA. The privacy effect was much more over the top than I imagined when I read about it (if you're enabling it, I imagine you wouldn't want the entire room to see you did). This was also the scene where I really noticed how audible the background voices were in this cut. Did I hear something about Babylon 5's [i]mascot?[/i]
Also, the fact that there's no music in the comedy scenes really makes them play strangely. G'Kar seems creepy instead of humorously lascivious. In fact, a lot of scenes were oddly without scoring. And the places where there was music often clashed with the mood of the scene. And the source music is... jeeze. I could've swore I heard a bit from the "Dead Like Me" theme when Londo was explaining to Garibaldi why he voted to send Sinclair to the Vorlons. I could just have been imagining it, since I knew it was the same guy who did the music for that show and this pilot.
A lot of the scenes in the original edit were oddly cut, as well. Coming into the middle of the Battle of the Line scene, with Sinclair's girlfriend gawking at one of his medals for no readily apparent reason. And the scene at the end where the assassin drags Garibaldi into the alien sector, only for him to be saved by Delenn is also missing, leading one to wonder why she suddenly appears with Garibaldi after the bomb goes off. Come to think of it, was there ever an explanation for why she was hanging around Down Below near the assassin anyway, and running into hostile environments rescuing security chiefs? Maybe she was tracking him down on her own, from the rogue Minbari angle. An interesting thought.
Dr. Kyle's computer with the touchframe interface was pretty neat. That's about the only thing I liked. Also, cutting straight from Delenn giving Sinclair the file on the Minbari assassin to him slipping G'Kar the nonexistent transmitter helped give the impression that that information pointed him in G'Kar's direction. I had always had the impression that the data that Delenn gave Sinclair was a big old orphan from the pilot, since he never demonstrated any obscure, secret minbari knowledge about either the Vorlons or the Wind Swords. In hindsight, I should've made that connection much earlier, but I was a bit of a lazy viewer when I first saw the show, and never looked at it another way until now.
So, those are my thoughts on it. Even though, it was kind of nice to see semi-new Babylon 5. Got me keyed up for seeing The Lost Tales... in eight months. Yeesh.
Comments
[B]I've got to see this some time. [/B][/QUOTE]
no, you don't... ;)
[B]no, you don't... ;) [/B][/QUOTE]
I'd definitely recommend seeing it. I saw it when it originally aired, and although the re-edit is much better, it's essential viewing for the Babylon 5 completist.