I was the Creative Director for the game. I'm glad you are enthusiastic about what this game could have been, but like so many other things that never saw realization, there is a lot of myth built up around it. Your take on this weaves together what is known publicly but weaves a strange amount of assumption and interpretation of those bits into something i don't quite recognize as the way it was.
Hi Marc. I have sent you a connection request on LinkedIn (Matthew S. Smith). While I am not working on any videos related to your past projects right now it’d still be great to connect. That way, I can ping you for comment in any future projects you worked on.
I actually tried this game during the E3 in Atlanta. It was just a dogfighting scenario where you were in a Starfury taking on other fighters. You could see Babylon 5 and the planet in the background. Was very basic, but you could see the potential. Actually had quite the shock when Mira Furlan came up and asked if she could try the game. Later on they had most of the cast in a room and had a question and answer session and allowed us to go up and get some swag and autographs.
The all too common "Nah, we're going to dump this into the trash. Oh, you wanna buy it and continue it? Nope, it's ours, we can't allow you to even _possibly_ make any money with it!" mentality is just one of the most horrible, stifling things of corporate bullsh*t... 🤬
Also stupid, since by doing so, they denied themselves money as well, since selling the licensing rights would have earned them money, while holding them and not using them earned them nothing at all. So I really can't understand why anyone would do it for any reason the sheer spite.
Any Babylon 5 fans wanting to play a B5 game should check out Babylon 5: I've Found Her and the Freespace 2 total conversion The Babylon Project. The Babylon Project is more arcadey while I've Found Her has a trickier Newtonian flight model. The Babylon Project has a lot more content from the Earth- Minbari war to the Earth Alliance Civil War.
are the other campaigns downloaded separately? i played the babylon project a few years back but it only had some pirate story. at least thats all i could find but maybe i was being dumb
I Found Her was genuinely one of the best space combat sims when it was first out, and it was a fan project. Unbelievable work, I loved it. Thanks for reminding me about it, apparently there's a bunch more content that's been added since I last played it, so I can check that out now.
@@TheFloorface There's a downloadable Minbari war campaign, I know that much. And a sort of greatest hits one, for other battles. Plus Shadow's Children?
A real problem with expansions, is that it is hard to spin off a new story in the B5 universe without focusing on B5 itself. The entire franchise revolves around this one station in space. If the B5 universe had a more generic title maybe it would have a bit more room to grow.
lol, not really. You literally could make spin offs of the different races ansome story about them. About different clashes, wars between the different empires... About the ancient races... About the different cycles a la mass effect, with the old races leaving not the youngers ones... About different stories from the characters in the Show. About the secrets in the universe, who made the gates... Etc. In fact Babylon 5 was inspired by many sci fi media books, movies, etc. and also inspired hundreads of games, movies, books, etc. THink about galaxy on fire, or mass effect, Star trek deep space nine, etc.@@nolan4339
@@nolan4339 I extremely disagree and am disappointed in your comment as the B5 universe had much growing space. The issue had to have been money inside Babylonian production inc. Something happened that caused Crusade to get cancelled along with a large number of other spin offs which have also not seen much of the light of day. This video truly did not show the scope of attempts to revive this series. The series left us off deeply at a cliffhanger with the onset of the telepath wars, Earth Alliance civil war, the formation of a new Alliance of many species that was replacing B5. For instance, how was that alliance going to work and where would the politics take place. Of course, I'm referring a bit to Minbar where the head courters were built. There simply was a large brand and still is with my opinion standing that its worth billions if anyone were willing to properly pick it up and continue the story. NOT REMAKE IT... Never remake a masterpiece
@@zombwars7749 Feel free to dispute the comment, but to be disappointed would mean that you hold all fans to some high expectation level of reverence. As the name implies, B5 is about the stories that revolve around this station. Yes, you can utilize and expand upon the story world with or without much direct reference to the original, broadening the world's scope, but each would likely dilute the fandom and require a new explanation to build out the world. A better branding name may have been able to better bundle these products together for building the brand. It is a shame that the efforts to build the brand has stalled out for so long and I'll be glad to see additional works, but I still think the B5 brand is a bit lacking once you start branching off into other story arcs. As for a remake, personally I am hesitant to support it as it would need to be an absolute masterpiece or risk forever being compared to the original.
@@nolan4339 technically you have 20 some more seasons you could produce revolving around the station where each year is a season like the original. Telepath war could especially be centered around Babylon 5. The Earth Alliance civil war maybe not because you're talking many years later after the station is destroyed. The idea though that stepping away from the station would dilute the story is preposterous because the Babylon 5 series was never actually about the station but the political battleground that happened on the station. It's like Disney today which thinks Star Wars was all about good versus evil and Jedi versus Sith when in reality Star Wars is about politics where the good guys live long enough for their judgements to be clouded and become the villains. In retrospect star wars has nothing to do with the Jedi and Sith that give it character and uniqueness. The same thing with the Babylon 5 universe except the uniqueness is not the station but the fact the story has a beginning and an end that leaves you satisfied because it doesn't go on for eternity. The second part of the B5 series is that it keeps you focused on a single group of people the whole way through the series not jumping to other perspectives but only this small group. For example you never see Morden's perspective whenever he shows up, however you do see him afraid when he's about to be beheaded. This is something I don't think modern writers can capture nor even understand. George Lucas I think put it best when Star Wars was ruined by Disney. This generation and the coming generations have no clue. The reason I am using Star wars as an example is due to the story similarities between Star wars and B5.
In my opinion, Christopher Franke is the best musician of the 20th century. All the music he made for Babylon 5 is his masterpiece. It's a total shame that he's so underrated and unappreciated as a musician.
life is already so depressing, i really didnt need to know i missed out on a game like this. i hope there's a better time line out there where this gem was finished and we all got to play it.
I've always wondered if they actually filmed the cast / live action sequences for this game. You can actually find Christopher Franke's music for the game on various sites around the web. It's clearly inspired by what he was writing for the show / films, and can be quite enjoyable.
i got it to work about 15 years ago. was a good level of skill and shooting from what i remember and the physics were fun felt more like a flying game than most
The game screwed over by executive decisions, just like the show was (it's the reason why Babylon 5 didn't have any other related shows or movies for 26 years due to one executive who had a grudge against the show. The only reason why we got the recent animated film, Babylon 5: The Road Home, is because that executive no longer worked there and some new executives who were fans of the franchise approached the show's creator for it). I honestly could see a new game being done (especially with the setup of the events of The Road Home's ending).
Babylon 5 (and perhaps the greater universe around it would have been a great foundation for a licensed game, it is a shame it was killed off. Babylon 5 generally has been cursed by corporate interference both on tv, possible films and video games... the problem is that "the powers that be" just don't "get it."
And there were more than a few jealous CEO's at tnt and warners' that refused to do anything with the property... We still don't have a darn blu-ray! Every other show has one...
My wishlist is to have a B5 strategy game. It may be a tall order to have different eras or DLCs to progress through. Have space and ground combat LIKE but better than Star Wars Empire at War, the strategy thinking of Stellaris, Homeworld and Wargame. Fleet Action and Gropos pretty much. Eras like Earth's First Contact, the Dilgar War, Minbari War, Civil War, etc. Just my wishes.
I am not much of a gamer, but I _LOVE_ *BABYLON 5.* I remember hearing about this game. THEN I remember hearing about this game getting cancelled. *_I WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER._*
Same thing happened with Stargate, there were 3 games in development & 2 were nearly done, but corporate bullshit got in the way & all 3 never released. I know Stargate Alliance was closer than even B5 Into the Fire was to release & the other Stargate game in beta can be seen being played by Eli Wallace in the 1st episode of SGU...
Despite, you can get the soundtrack that Christopher Franke made for the Babylon 5 PC game Into the Fire. One of the pieces of music from the soundtrack is my wake-up music.
I remember going to Game in the Bentalls Centre in Kingston every week hoping it had been released. But nothing. And as we didn't have Internet access at home, it took me a couple of years to find out it had been indefinitely shelved
I was never into sci-fi too much, so I never heard of this, but I always had a soft spot for Sierra, because, y'know, Kings Quest. This looks fun though, I should check Wing commander or something.
@@computergamingyesterday Freespace was (and still is) the best. And I know I'm massively biased since I ended up working on later releases but TBP, the FS2-based B5 game always gave me the best feeling of playing a B5 game.
@@Karajorma I agree with you. FS2 Open Babylon 5 Project is the bomb! I just streamed it on Twitch yesterday, although some of the missions cannot be done because it's difficult to disable the freighter engines without destroying them when you don't have a disrupter cannon to inflict only damage to the subsystems....
IFH was pretty good, but the physics took over too much of the game play, & the last battle in hyperspace, while not super difficult, can get you lost PERMANENTLY in the void of subspace if you lost the nav tracking beam!
Honestly, the whole Newtonian physics thing was probably the biggest threat to the official game's popularity if it had come out. It's a fun idea but also incredibly difficult for a player to wrap their head around. But who knows - maybe they had cracked it!
@@computergamingyesterday MANTIS 5700 was LIKE that also! The game had a lot of potential in that genera, & did FMV BEFORE WC3 did, tho it was limited! I had to return my copy back in the early 90s as the game was faulty and would just keep crashing or refusing to load after a certain amt of missions! Shame, it was good!
@@DMSProduktions Are you talking about XF5700 Mantis Experimental Fighter? If yes, that game was a remake of Warhead, a title I used to love on my Atari ST. It used Newtonian physics and the fighter had four "wings" to mount weapons on: one on either side, one on top, and one on the bottom. Like a Starfury, it was launched from a space station and never entered atmosphere. There were computer shortcuts to help you deal with the Newtonian physics: stop spin, stop all, point at target, point away from target, match speed of target, etc... It worked really well.
I was very poor, back then, but I would have coughed up the cash to buy this game. Now days, you have to buy a computer with the very latest processor and a ginormous video card, to play a games that are duller than dishwater.
As a long time B5 fan, I feel that the franchise died a quick death in 1998/99. The last season was mediocre. The TV movies were pretty bad. Crusade was awful and...we don't talk about Legend of the Rangers. This wasn't entirely a studio thing either: I don't know if JMS was just burnt out had lost too many key people but the writing and general quality really took a nose dive. Lost Tales, an attempt to reboot interest, was no better either. The game would have been released at the same time as all of this and would most likely have flopped, especially with 3D space shooters very much on their way out.
The last season was a mix of the mediocre/bad Kelly Famil...sorry, telepath stuff, and the great (just not as awesome and tightly packed as the fourth season of course) Centauri/Drakh arc. _Some_ of the movies weren't all that good (Thirdspace being the low point), but some were awesome (In the Beginning being the high point). Crusade had it's moments and was building up to something - of course just half of a first season _is_ bad, look at B5's first season, look at any Star Trek first season, ... (Firefly probably being one of the rare exceptions). Oh, and it was called Legend of the _Rangers._ Yeah, maybe it would have become good, but as it is, that one pilot is just not worth checking out.
I remember downloading and playing "B5 Danger and Opportunity" about 20+ years ago. It had a handful of missions and terribly amateur voice work probably done by the devs and their friends. The flight physics could be toggled between arcade-ish and newtonian
I was a dev at Yosemite entertainment. it was a shame what they did to our game. but as frank Sinatra said that's life!!
Is there any chance to leak some of the FMV or at least what the story would have been about?
I was the Creative Director for the game. I'm glad you are enthusiastic about what this game could have been, but like so many other things that never saw realization, there is a lot of myth built up around it. Your take on this weaves together what is known publicly but weaves a strange amount of assumption and interpretation of those bits into something i don't quite recognize as the way it was.
Hi Marc. I have sent you a connection request on LinkedIn (Matthew S. Smith). While I am not working on any videos related to your past projects right now it’d still be great to connect. That way, I can ping you for comment in any future projects you worked on.
Can you be more accurate about the myth? Like what was the story about and were the FMV ever done?
@wesp5 mainly the state of completion. We had a lot of systems to implement and balance. We were not almost done with it.
I actually tried this game during the E3 in Atlanta. It was just a dogfighting scenario where you were in a Starfury taking on other fighters. You could see Babylon 5 and the planet in the background. Was very basic, but you could see the potential. Actually had quite the shock when Mira Furlan came up and asked if she could try the game.
Later on they had most of the cast in a room and had a question and answer session and allowed us to go up and get some swag and autographs.
That sounds awesome!
I was there too, the line was so long and I never got the chance to play. I figured, that's ok, I'll play it when it gets released...
The all too common "Nah, we're going to dump this into the trash. Oh, you wanna buy it and continue it? Nope, it's ours, we can't allow you to even _possibly_ make any money with it!" mentality is just one of the most horrible, stifling things of corporate bullsh*t... 🤬
a scorched earth policy... as president Clarke would have it...
Also stupid, since by doing so, they denied themselves money as well, since selling the licensing rights would have earned them money, while holding them and not using them earned them nothing at all. So I really can't understand why anyone would do it for any reason the sheer spite.
@@Norbert_Sattler Who wants free money anyway...? Haha........ha.....WHY?!
If the remake goes well, a game for B5 made with todays tech Unreal Engine, etc would be stunning. Lets hope :)
Any Babylon 5 fans wanting to play a B5 game should check out Babylon 5: I've Found Her and the Freespace 2 total conversion The Babylon Project.
The Babylon Project is more arcadey while I've Found Her has a trickier Newtonian flight model. The Babylon Project has a lot more content from the Earth- Minbari war to the Earth Alliance Civil War.
are the other campaigns downloaded separately? i played the babylon project a few years back but it only had some pirate story. at least thats all i could find but maybe i was being dumb
I Found Her was genuinely one of the best space combat sims when it was first out, and it was a fan project. Unbelievable work, I loved it. Thanks for reminding me about it, apparently there's a bunch more content that's been added since I last played it, so I can check that out now.
@@TheFloorface There's a downloadable Minbari war campaign, I know that much. And a sort of greatest hits one, for other battles. Plus Shadow's Children?
They brought it to an E3 once. I played it over and over, and won some cool swag.
B5 fans keep getting the short stick
A real problem with expansions, is that it is hard to spin off a new story in the B5 universe without focusing on B5 itself. The entire franchise revolves around this one station in space. If the B5 universe had a more generic title maybe it would have a bit more room to grow.
lol, not really. You literally could make spin offs of the different races ansome story about them. About different clashes, wars between the different empires... About the ancient races... About the different cycles a la mass effect, with the old races leaving not the youngers ones... About different stories from the characters in the Show. About the secrets in the universe, who made the gates... Etc.
In fact Babylon 5 was inspired by many sci fi media books, movies, etc. and also inspired hundreads of games, movies, books, etc.
THink about galaxy on fire, or mass effect, Star trek deep space nine, etc.@@nolan4339
@@nolan4339 I extremely disagree and am disappointed in your comment as the B5 universe had much growing space. The issue had to have been money inside Babylonian production inc. Something happened that caused Crusade to get cancelled along with a large number of other spin offs which have also not seen much of the light of day. This video truly did not show the scope of attempts to revive this series. The series left us off deeply at a cliffhanger with the onset of the telepath wars, Earth Alliance civil war, the formation of a new Alliance of many species that was replacing B5. For instance, how was that alliance going to work and where would the politics take place. Of course, I'm referring a bit to Minbar where the head courters were built. There simply was a large brand and still is with my opinion standing that its worth billions if anyone were willing to properly pick it up and continue the story. NOT REMAKE IT... Never remake a masterpiece
@@zombwars7749 Feel free to dispute the comment, but to be disappointed would mean that you hold all fans to some high expectation level of reverence.
As the name implies, B5 is about the stories that revolve around this station. Yes, you can utilize and expand upon the story world with or without much direct reference to the original, broadening the world's scope, but each would likely dilute the fandom and require a new explanation to build out the world. A better branding name may have been able to better bundle these products together for building the brand.
It is a shame that the efforts to build the brand has stalled out for so long and I'll be glad to see additional works, but I still think the B5 brand is a bit lacking once you start branching off into other story arcs.
As for a remake, personally I am hesitant to support it as it would need to be an absolute masterpiece or risk forever being compared to the original.
@@nolan4339 technically you have 20 some more seasons you could produce revolving around the station where each year is a season like the original. Telepath war could especially be centered around Babylon 5. The Earth Alliance civil war maybe not because you're talking many years later after the station is destroyed. The idea though that stepping away from the station would dilute the story is preposterous because the Babylon 5 series was never actually about the station but the political battleground that happened on the station. It's like Disney today which thinks Star Wars was all about good versus evil and Jedi versus Sith when in reality Star Wars is about politics where the good guys live long enough for their judgements to be clouded and become the villains. In retrospect star wars has nothing to do with the Jedi and Sith that give it character and uniqueness. The same thing with the Babylon 5 universe except the uniqueness is not the station but the fact the story has a beginning and an end that leaves you satisfied because it doesn't go on for eternity. The second part of the B5 series is that it keeps you focused on a single group of people the whole way through the series not jumping to other perspectives but only this small group. For example you never see Morden's perspective whenever he shows up, however you do see him afraid when he's about to be beheaded. This is something I don't think modern writers can capture nor even understand. George Lucas I think put it best when Star Wars was ruined by Disney. This generation and the coming generations have no clue. The reason I am using Star wars as an example is due to the story similarities between Star wars and B5.
I played the game at Gencon in 1999 and it was AMAZING.
In my opinion, Christopher Franke is the best musician of the 20th century. All the music he made for Babylon 5 is his masterpiece. It's a total shame that he's so underrated and unappreciated as a musician.
I had discovered him via Tangerine Dream in the 80s when I was a sonar tech in the Navy during the mid 80s. Still a huge fan after all these years.
I completely agree, and the leaked music from the cancelled game is fantastic!
life is already so depressing, i really didnt need to know i missed out on a game like this. i hope there's a better time line out there where this gem was finished and we all got to play it.
I remember being a bit hyped when hearing about this game at the time and was quite disappointed when it never came out.
I've always wondered if they actually filmed the cast / live action sequences for this game.
You can actually find Christopher Franke's music for the game on various sites around the web. It's clearly inspired by what he was writing for the show / films, and can be quite enjoyable.
I remember those days. Instead of Into the Fire, Sierra gave us Professional Bull Rider.
i got it to work about 15 years ago.
was a good level of skill and shooting from what i remember and the physics were fun
felt more like a flying game than most
The game screwed over by executive decisions, just like the show was (it's the reason why Babylon 5 didn't have any other related shows or movies for 26 years due to one executive who had a grudge against the show. The only reason why we got the recent animated film, Babylon 5: The Road Home, is because that executive no longer worked there and some new executives who were fans of the franchise approached the show's creator for it). I honestly could see a new game being done (especially with the setup of the events of The Road Home's ending).
Babylon 5 (and perhaps the greater universe around it would have been a great foundation for a licensed game, it is a shame it was killed off. Babylon 5 generally has been cursed by corporate interference both on tv, possible films and video games... the problem is that "the powers that be" just don't "get it."
They do "get it" that's why they hate it.
And there were more than a few jealous CEO's at tnt and warners' that refused to do anything with the property... We still don't have a darn blu-ray! Every other show has one...
I really enjoyed I have Found Her. Great story and game play was fantastic.
You can also get the Babylon 5 Extended Sierra Game Theme
The Sierra closure was such a mess. I remember loving the old A10 Warthog Dynamix games sigh
My wishlist is to have a B5 strategy game. It may be a tall order to have different eras or DLCs to progress through. Have space and ground combat LIKE but better than Star Wars Empire at War, the strategy thinking of Stellaris, Homeworld and Wargame. Fleet Action and Gropos pretty much. Eras like Earth's First Contact, the Dilgar War, Minbari War, Civil War, etc. Just my wishes.
Wasn't there a B5 mod for one of the Homeworld games?
I would love a B5 game in VR along the lines of Ender's Game...
Am I the only one to notice the Mad Cat / Timber wolf from Mechwarrior here ? 6:35
Nice you gave a shout out to the mod makers.
Babylon 5 mods are the best!
I am not much of a gamer, but I _LOVE_ *BABYLON 5.*
I remember hearing about this game.
THEN I remember hearing about this game getting cancelled.
*_I WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER._*
The shadow wars were great Al seasons 3-4.5
Lackley was a terrible actor and character. Destroy the show due to her
I still have the framed promotional poster that they were selling off right after it was cancelled.
Same thing happened with Stargate, there were 3 games in development & 2 were nearly done, but corporate bullshit got in the way & all 3 never released. I know Stargate Alliance was closer than even B5 Into the Fire was to release & the other Stargate game in beta can be seen being played by Eli Wallace in the 1st episode of SGU...
Stargate, another great franchise for a video game. Maybe I should do a video on those someday.
Maaan, I was so ready for that game, too.
Remember looking forward to this game so much.
Despite, you can get the soundtrack that Christopher Franke made for the Babylon 5 PC game Into the Fire. One of the pieces of music from the soundtrack is my wake-up music.
The show's CGI was famously created using Amiga's .
I remember going to Game in the Bentalls Centre in Kingston every week hoping it had been released. But nothing. And as we didn't have Internet access at home, it took me a couple of years to find out it had been indefinitely shelved
fugg yeah. wing Commander 3 was like a digital culture shock for me back then. i only knew super Nintendo and Gameboy games at the Time
I was so looking forward to this game. Sad I was never able to play it.
I was so looking forward to this game before it was cancelled. I even had the poster for it. Stupid corporate BS.
Thanks for making this. I had seen the trailers and was so amped for this games release.....then nothing.....screw sierra!!!
I was never into sci-fi too much, so I never heard of this, but I always had a soft spot for Sierra, because, y'know, Kings Quest.
This looks fun though, I should check Wing commander or something.
I need to play all the way through the older Wing Commander games. They were a little uh...before my time. FreeSpace was my jam.
@@computergamingyesterday Freespace was (and still is) the best. And I know I'm massively biased since I ended up working on later releases but TBP, the FS2-based B5 game always gave me the best feeling of playing a B5 game.
@@Karajorma I agree with you. FS2 Open Babylon 5 Project is the bomb! I just streamed it on Twitch yesterday, although some of the missions cannot be done because it's difficult to disable the freighter engines without destroying them when you don't have a disrupter cannon to inflict only damage to the subsystems....
Wing Commander III is my all time favorite game :)
Yep i was about to buy it at the time. I was really not happy!
I have the Babylon 5 mod for Star trek - Armada, its great.
So sad to have, by some accounts, a game six months away dying because management and location changes, among other factors.
By now, I am a FIVER!
Oh man I would have loved this game so much
Jesus, I would've played the hell out of this game.
IFH was pretty good, but the physics took over too much of the game play, & the last battle in hyperspace, while not super difficult, can get you lost PERMANENTLY in the void of subspace if you lost the nav tracking beam!
Honestly, the whole Newtonian physics thing was probably the biggest threat to the official game's popularity if it had come out. It's a fun idea but also incredibly difficult for a player to wrap their head around. But who knows - maybe they had cracked it!
@@computergamingyesterday MANTIS 5700 was LIKE that also! The game had a lot of potential in that genera, & did FMV BEFORE WC3 did, tho it was limited!
I had to return my copy back in the early 90s as the game was faulty and would just keep crashing or refusing to load after a certain amt of missions! Shame, it was good!
@@DMSProduktions Are you talking about XF5700 Mantis Experimental Fighter?
If yes, that game was a remake of Warhead, a title I used to love on my Atari ST. It used Newtonian physics and the fighter had four "wings" to mount weapons on: one on either side, one on top, and one on the bottom. Like a Starfury, it was launched from a space station and never entered atmosphere. There were computer shortcuts to help you deal with the Newtonian physics: stop spin, stop all, point at target, point away from target, match speed of target, etc... It worked really well.
@@Bucketroo That's IT! Mine did not! Game was faulty!
@@Bucketroo Warhead was amazing. Still one of the best space sims ever. The whole bezerker plotline was great.
We still are waiting for the game... but yeah it would have been succesfull at the time. But they were just too afraid..
Well I feel silly; good work
Haha, still a good suggestion! I only stumbled on it in the last quarter of making this video - had to rearrange a bit as a result.
They had the rights to LotR and...dropped the ball? Wonder how they felt after the movies came out.
Freespace was awesome!
At least there was Homeworld, a place to call home... Hi.... oh wait ...Jokes aside, here's hoping.
I was very poor, back then, but I would have coughed up the cash to buy this game. Now days, you have to buy a computer with the very latest processor and a ginormous video card, to play a games that are duller than dishwater.
A missed opportunity to be sure.
I still have my mousepad from the game but the game never followed
I am definitely jealous of folks who have swag from the game. IIRC Metal Jesus Rocks has a poster of it.
I've never heard about this. Absolutely crazy (and disappointing).
Just one of many disappointments for OG B5 fans.
it's rough. maybe the upcoming reboot will be good...maybe...?
@@computergamingyesterday if it happens.
@@computergamingyesterday there strong chance it will since Michael Straczynski is suppose to be running things
As a long time B5 fan, I feel that the franchise died a quick death in 1998/99. The last season was mediocre. The TV movies were pretty bad. Crusade was awful and...we don't talk about Legend of the Rangers. This wasn't entirely a studio thing either: I don't know if JMS was just burnt out had lost too many key people but the writing and general quality really took a nose dive. Lost Tales, an attempt to reboot interest, was no better either.
The game would have been released at the same time as all of this and would most likely have flopped, especially with 3D space shooters very much on their way out.
Books are actually pretty decent. At least those retained the show`s quality.
The last season was a mix of the mediocre/bad Kelly Famil...sorry, telepath stuff, and the great (just not as awesome and tightly packed as the fourth season of course) Centauri/Drakh arc. _Some_ of the movies weren't all that good (Thirdspace being the low point), but some were awesome (In the Beginning being the high point). Crusade had it's moments and was building up to something - of course just half of a first season _is_ bad, look at B5's first season, look at any Star Trek first season, ... (Firefly probably being one of the rare exceptions).
Oh, and it was called Legend of the _Rangers._ Yeah, maybe it would have become good, but as it is, that one pilot is just not worth checking out.
@@Wolf-ln1ml damn auto correct
I put a few links in for a big collection i havecon ebay. Please delete and except my apologies if not allowed.
I remember downloading and playing "B5 Danger and Opportunity" about 20+ years ago. It had a handful of missions and terribly amateur voice work probably done by the devs and their friends. The flight physics could be toggled between arcade-ish and newtonian
Reboot? :O