I've read all the other reviews and the one thing that glares out at me seems to have been ignored. In both tales there were at best only 3 major speaking roles. Added to that were a few paragraphs by one or two non essential characters and some nods of a head on an extra or two. In the past few years I did buy just about all the B-5 original series and spin-offs. I've even gone to the internet for the recommended viewing order. I held off buying the "Lost Tales" and "Legend of the Rangers" due to poor user ratings and until the price dropped considerably. I was so disappointed with "Lost Tales" I'm not decided if I should crack the seal on "Legend". It is a darn shame as I did enjoy the original series.

Babylon 5 got a brand new face and ships textures look pretty smooth - this is the good part. The bad part is the script, especially the pathetic way they try to connect religion, or their idea of religion, with space and science fiction. People do not mistake space to heaven. Faith is more than angels and heavens imagery brought to life by medieval priests with no education. I'm very disappointed by Straczynski McDonald image of religion and logical errors. No man is capable to interfere with God work and so the man will do the right/good thing without hesitation. As an atheist the same man will still do the right/good thing because he is a social and compassionate 'animal', capable to reason on his own, especially a man who saw, like another review mention here, Vorlons and Shadows. Plus telepaths, I may ad. The second part is slightly better, yet still religious somehow in his bones. Techomages are not omnipotent ad the way they run in the TV show, scared by Shadows invasion, tell something about their limitations. How one mage can predict the future 30 years before it happens ? Simulation software ? And how the Centauri acquired all that over the edge technology to destroy Earth ? Many unanswered question exchanged for some 'moral dilemmas' that sound old.

It was nice too nice to see B5 again. I was expecting more aliens, and spaceships. More of the old B5 seasons. Maybe a bit more action, but the story was good anyway.No new spaceships but, the new effects are really great! And that I was really expecting. But I have to be honest that I wasn't expecting them to be so good. Really impressive work.Hope to see it on Portuguese TV anytime soon. Usually watching it on cable without subs makes me lose some parts of the story;)I really hope to see more shorts movies or who knows a new season. Congrats to all B5 crew!

If one were to approach Babylon 5 The Lost Tales without watching the original series or even any of the movies, they wouldn't be lost in the plot, but as a seasoned and loyal fan of this series I found The Lost Tales to be a monumental waste of time and almost close to an embarrassment.The opening sequence throws the butterflies in your stomach into a dizzying whirl. The characters fly onto the screen in what I felt to be the most inspired title sequence since Season 5 (funny how each season's title sequence gets better) and some of the greatest music from Christopher Franke since the series' finale. However, once we finally dock with the Babylon 5 station and gawk at the tremendous size of the docking bay we are suddenly confined to quarters. In the original series there was a sense of size to the station. Here the station feels like a two bedroom apartment. We were confronted with a chorus of fascinating characters. Here the characters are few and they are all cardboard cutouts. What was once a thriving station seemed as if we are now watching everything after hours.Then comes the dialogue. JMS again proves his writing abilities are a cut above the rest however I found both plot lines to be rather dull and soulless. The first episode about demonic possession contain an interesting philosophy, but was soon crushed by Lockley's solution to the riddle that was presented to her and the priest. A simpleton plot found within a simpleton station. This rather minimalist approach to B5 was further annunciated by the second plot line. Are the actors so old as to remove any energy from the series? One has to admit that a lot of life from B5 was ejected the minute Season 5 started, yet, after watching The Lost Tales, Season 5 seems about as energetic as the rest of the series.Granted JMS gave nods to all characters not present and even gave a rather nice nod to Biggs and Kastulas, to go on with a series about characters when you have only two main characters from the show seems like a rather pointless venture, especially when The Lost Tales moves laterally. The plot lines don't even bring up unanswered questions from the original series except for perhaps Prince Vitari, the late emperor's son from Season 4.The Lost Tales is a grand idea in need of a few Red Bulls. Perhaps Copeland should just start a whole new series rather than straight to DVD movies. Introduce a new cast. Come up with a 5 year arc, with a few of the unresolved arcs from the last series. However rather than start 10 years later, why not start 15 years? That is, concentrate on David Sheridan as the main character, even though he is supposed to be 15 at the time. It seems from the original series, resolutions start to happen at around this time. David's 16th birthday is arriving, Centauri is about to be liberated, the IA could be shown as struggling and about to be crushed by the Drak. The telepath war about to take full force. Complete isolation from Earth due to the Drak Plague as a nod to the unfinished Crusade. So much material can be gone through and so much more could be accomplished. At this junction, I would be more excited to hear about this sort of series than the next installment of Lost Tales.