Babylon 5-A Call to Arms (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Introduction-J. Michael Straczynski And Various Cast And Crew Audio Commentary-J. Michael Straczynski And Michael Vejar (Director ) Featurette-Babylon 5: Creating The Future
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	89:50
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Michael Vejar
Studio Distributor	TNT Warner Home Video	Starring	Bruce Boxleitner Jerry Doyle Jeff Conaway Carrie Dobro Peter Woodward Tony Todd Tracy Scoggins Tony Maggio Michael Harris Scott MacDonald Wayne Alexander Carlos Bernard Burt Bulos
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Evan H. Chen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English German French Dutch Finnish Swedish Czech Greek Turkish Arabic Croatian Slovenian Portuguese English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The final TV-movie bridging Babylon 5 and Crusade, A Call To Arms really serves as a set up and bridging piece, but also the final adventure of the Babylon 5 crew.

    Set shortly after The River Of Souls, in between the end of the fifth season of Babylon 5, The Wheel Of Fire, and before the events in the episode Sleeping In Starlight, A Call To Arms involves an attempt by President Sheridan to prevent an attack on Earth by the Drakh, an evil race that aligned itself with the Shadows in the past.

    I really like this TV movie, and find it an effective bridge between the two series. It does take a bit to get used to, particularly the score given that Christophe Franke’s trademark score was substituted for the change of composers going into Crusade.

    While not really a standalone in any respect, this serves its purpose well, being both an entertaining film in its own right, as well as a conduit towards a bigger story. Indispensable.

Video

    Transferred in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced, this is the best of the TV-movies in terms of video transfer.

    Colour is outstanding, picture definition is excellent, graininess is much reduced, bordering on non-existent, and shadow detail is great.

    There is virtually nothing in the way of transfer artefacts, although you will spot some aliasing in the CGI sequences if you go looking. There are no MPEG artefacts.

    Dirt is extremely minimal here, but you will spot a bit if you go looking.

    Subtitles are available in plenty of languages (listed above) in white with a black border, clear and easy to read, following the dialogue fairly closely.

    Again, the dual-layer pause on this is just too quick and I keep missing it. If anyone comes across it, let me know.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is another rip snorter of a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack here, along with a German 5.1 Dolby Digital track and a French 2.0 Dolby Surround track.

    Dialogue reproduction is again right on the money, with no visible sync issues, or at least none that I found distracting.

    The range is better than the previous movies, and there seems to be a more subtle flow of surround information. That might just have to do with the fact that this is a more action driven movie, but I think the sound mixing is overall a little better.

    The music by Evan H. Chen takes a little getting used to, but once you know what to expect, it flows along quite nicely, and again blends very well into Crusade.

    The subwoofer is put to good use once more, although not quite as much of a work out as it got in Thirdspace.

    The foreign language soundtracks aren’t as full by comparison, but are nevertheless adequate.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with the score in 2.0 Dolby Surround.

Introduction (3:39)

    Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is an introduction to the movie with the cast and crew, predominantly Straczynski.

Audio Commentary

    Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, this commentary is by J. Michael Straczynski and director Michael Vejar. Another good commentary to round out the series of TV movies.

Featurette – “Babylon 5: Making The Future” (8:38)

    Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is a look at the production design for the series and how Straczynski drew from history to project where humanity would be in two hundred and fifty years in order to keep the show realistic.

    The R1 release of this movie in this set looks to be identical to the R4 release, barring NTSC coding and region coding. Without a copy I cannot give you an exact comparison.

    A Call To Arms serves as a very effective bridge between Babylon 5 and Crusade. While an enjoyable movie on its own, it is incomplete without the follow on series, and for that reason it is hard to describe it as anything other than a bridge.

    Video is the best of the TV movies.

    The 5.1 Dolby Digital remix is excellent, although it takes a little getting used to the music change with the old cast still present.

    The extras are again minimal, but what little there is here is interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall