Babylon 5: The Road Home - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Babylon 5: The Road Home



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Babylon 5 is considered one of THE quintessential science fiction shows of the 1990s. A show that braved the way for heavy serialization over episodic content. A show that had one of the most incredible casts and heaviest use of CGI (that was pretty top of the line at the time) ever seen, so I was more than a bit surprised and worried when it was announced that for the show’s 30th anniversary would herald a new remastered Blu-ray set of the original show (coming out in December, and I can barely contain my excitement), but also a brand new animated film in the universe. My first reaction was one of skepticism due to the fact that capturing lightning in a bottle twice is nearly unheard of, AND most “made for TV” animated films based off of live action Sci-Fi shows usually are pretty weak. However, Babylon 5: The Road Home is anything but a typical cash grab from studio heads, as the production is helmed by series creator Michael J. Stracynski himself, as well as featuring the remaining cast members who are still alive reprising their original roles. In short, this is an homage and love letter to one of the greatest sci-fi shows of our generation, and Michael J. Stracynski’s chance to pay homage to one of sci-fi’s greatest romances in one 30th anniversary celebration.

Half of the excitement for this release is the fact that The Road Home features all of the surviving main cast members with Claudio Christian, Peter Jurasik, Bill Mummy, Patricia Tallman and Tracy Scoggins all putting their voice skills into reprising their legendary roles. It’s amazing hearing those voices come through your speakers 25 years after the 5 season show ended, and you can tell that each one is having a ball with the trip down memory lane. Bruce is always great as Sheridan, but it’s really Peter Jurasik who completely throws himself into the character of Londo Mollari, bringing us back to the 90s when his rasping accent reverberated from our 4x3 TVs as he bickered with G’kar. Sadly, there are some huge gaps in the main cast, as Andreas Katsulas (G’kar), Jerry Doyle (Michael Garibaldi) and Mira Furlan (Delenn) and Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklin) have sadly passed away over the last couple of decades. The new voice actors do their best (with Phil LaMarr actually doing a really good job as Dr. Franklin), but those voices are so indelible that it’s nearly impossible to replace them, all good intentions aside.

The other half of the equation is that this story is an original tale by series creator and writer Michael J. Stracynski, so the story feels so incredibly familiar, fitting in with the original time line without feeling shoe horned or otherwise out of place. In fact, the short 70+ minute story is pure Babylon 5 to the core, and doesn’t step on any toes, or feel out of place in the slightest. In a matter of minutes of the movie starting I felt like a 17 year old kid in 1998 watching the show on my parents 25 inch 4x3 TV again. It’s naturally not perfect due to the fact that it’s a one off story some 30 years later, but the time traveling tale simply works as a slice of Babylon 5 at it’s peak.

The weird animation and short “one off” nature of the story is a bit weird compared to the live action, but it’s very obviously the best way of revisiting that era without a complete reboot of the series. Everyone does a great job bringing their old roles to life (and others stepping into VERY huge shoes), and the universe hopping tale of Sheridan (Bruce) being lost in time ties in perfectly to the overarching B5 lore to the point that I genuinely am glad that they attempted it. It’s not perfect (as said), but it fits in perfectly to what fans know without breaking continuity or ruining fans view of the canon. Simply put, this is a sweet and loving homage to one of sci-fi’s greatest shows by a creator and cast who still have that spark in their heart.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for some action/violence




4K Video: Video:

The animated feature film looked good on Blu-ray, but looks slightly better on 4K UHD. While it’s not going to blow you away with a night and day difference, the 4K UHD is more fine tuned, with less banding, and richer color saturation thanks to the HDR color tuning. The shows simplistic animation is roughly the same across both discs, but I noticed some better line art on the 4K disc, as well as decreased banding. I’m used to Warner Brothers animated films showing lots of banding in the Blu-ray disc, but much less (if not completely eliminated) in the 4K UHD. Here, though, there’s still a moderate amount of banding going on in the darker shots (such as Sheridan teleporting into the cargo bay) and some mild ringing around character outlines. All in all a decent looking 4K disc, and a moderate upgrade over the decent Blu-ray as well.








Audio:

The Blu-ray and the 4K UHD both sport the same 5.1 DTS-HD MA track, and that track is built to impress. Powerful and aggressive, it has a sweeping sound design using the original sound effects from the show, as well as old and new voices to fill it out beautifully. Old and new voices alike come through crisply and cleanly, while bass and surround usage is more than impressive with the space and hand to hand combat battles that Sheridan encounters in his universe hopping trip. The score is impeccably done, with a hauntingly familiar tone and a rich sound stage that makes good use of all channels. Honestly, out of all aspects of this home video release, the sound is probably the single best one out of the whole bunch.







Extras:

• Babylon 5 Forever (New Featurette) – join the cast and filmmakers as they reveal the process behind creating the first state-of-the-art, animated adaption of Babylon 5.
• Audio Commentary with creator/writer/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski, actor Bruce Boxleitner and supervising producer Rick Morales.

Final Score: ​

If you can’t guess by my review above, I’m a huge Babylon 5 nerd, and enjoyed this little animated film a lot more than than I originally expected to. I was worried for a cash grab, but was privy to instead a love letter to the past, as well as lubricating fans for this Christmas when they release the entire 5 season show in remastered Blu-ray. The 4K UHD is decent here, with the same 5.1 Lossless audio from the Blu-ray and moderately upgraded video. So whichever you choose, just allow yourself to get swept into the past where Captain Sheridan is head of the Earth Alliance, and all of our favorite friends are along for one more ride. Fun Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Paul Guyet, Peter Jurasik, Phil LaMarr, Andrew Morgado, Bill Mumy, Rebecca Riedy
Directed by: Matt Peters
Written by: J. Michael Stracynski
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 79 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 15th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch