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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Hurried, 12 December 2005 Author: junk-monkey (liam@merriol.freeserve.co.uk) from Highlands of Scotland
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I'm a long time fan of Babylon 5 but watching this for the second time I am struck by how much clumsy exposition there is in this movie. So much back story is filled in by characters telling each other things that are (within the Babylon 5 universe) such common knowledge that it is absurd for people to talk about them (Dr Trent's conversation with her companion Bill Morishi about the history of the Jumpgate falls into this category) or characters tell each other things they already know (or think they know) just so we the audience can be told as well. Sorry I don't buy it - at one point one of the characters actually says "...as you very well know". This is soap opera writing. Does the job but it's hardly elegant.I don't know the schedule JMS was working to on this one but it looks like it was written in a hurry. The writing is no way up to the usual standard for this show. The humour isn't there either. Having said that the SFX are good...
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: A forgotten artefact half the size of the station casts a threat over the galaxy., 7 February 1999 Author: Mark Alan Jones (amib@ecn.net.au) from Brisbane, Australia
A full length film set outside the story 'arc' of the TV series, but still within continuity. The special effects are the best that television can produce - a Babylon 5 hallmark. The plot however is slightly plodding. Not quite enough story ideas to sustain the plot. The never ending fistfights on the station contrast the brilliant special effects battle outside the stations hull. For fans of the series there are some nice touches, but it can be watched without knowledge of what's gone on before, although no time is spent on establishing the major characters. The major cast are all comfortable with their roles and it shows, the acting is good for this style of film. A fantastic looking and sounding film but slightly slow in parts.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Not perfect, but certainly an enjoyable scifi romp., 22 December 2004 Author: casarbi from United Kingdom
A reasonable outing.B5 - and JMS writing in particular - works better when not contained to standalone episodes. Give him space to breathe, and his musing flows far better. He has room to comment, moralise and philosophise beautifully. Give him a single story and he tries to cram in too many explanations and plot movements which start to clog up the script. This is a pity as the script is what he is good at.So a nice story, but a little uneven. Sometimes continually underlines the same plot points over and over killing room for nice stand alone dialogue or character exposition. Other times, the character scenes (the lift scene ) are too long an neither help the story or offer any depth for their duration.That said, the SFX is very nice, the music from Franke is far more classically orientated than before and it's a nice chance to try and highlight some of the minor characters. The story idea is reasonable, if a little unusual in scifi tone for B5 (befitting Trek more) and it lacks some of the regular B5 heavyweight actors (G'Kar and Londo are sadly missing and Delenn has few scenes).Nevertheless, an enjoyable if a little vacuous compared to what one comes to expect from B5. The aural and visual experiences are good, the actors are solid and the story good enough to standalone. Not perfect, but still a good slice of pulp scifi action.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Diverting and mildly interesting but also pretty easy to skip, 28 June 2007 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
While in hyperspace, some of the fighters from B-5 find a huge ship that has been abandoned and lost there for who knows how long. It's obviously from a very advanced civilization--something way in excess of human technology. In addition, the ship is HUGE--so big that the jump-gates must be modified to allow it to pass through in one piece. Despite this being a super-important find, in the end it turns out that they have brought something back that was best left alone! There was one particular scene I loved and one I really hated from this movie. I really liked the scene with Zack on the elevator with Lyta--his pouring his heart out to her made a lot of sense, as in the regular series it was obvious he felt something but it never was pursued. How they handled this was pretty funny and clever. What I really disliked was the nuclear detonation scene. It APPEARED as if Sheridan detonated a nuke in pretty close proximity to him in space and he was only wearing a space suit--yet seemed to suffer no ill-effects!!! Come off it--this just made no sense, even if Sheridan IS "the chosen one".I am such a huge Babylon 5 fan that I have watched everything--all five seasons (even the poor final one), the spin-off series (CRUSADE) and the made for TV movies. So for freaks like me, this is a must-see movie. But I also realize that I am a freak and many more casual viewers will not necessarily NEED to see everything B-5. If this is the case, then this is definitely one of the more expendable Babylon 5 productions. That's because what occurs in this made for TV movie has no impact of the episodes of the show, nor is it alluded to in any way. Plus, oddly, the movie is missing some of the important character from the series--Garibaldi, Londo and G'Kar. And finally, the movie itself isn't super-exciting--watchable and mildly interesting, yes. A must-see, no.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A good adventure yarn, 18 November 1998 Author: Michael Rawdon (rawdon@msn.fullfeed.com) from Madison, WI
"Thirdspace" doesn't pretend to be anything other than light (or maybe dark is a better word) adventure, and it works fine on that basis. Admittedly, I have a weakness for "humanity finds a really old alien artifact out there and tries to figure out what it's for" stories. Such stories are often disappointing because we never find out what it's for; in "Thirdspace", we do find out, and then everyone rather wishes they hadn't.Sterling special effects and a good script make this the best of the B5 TV-movies so far (through "River of Souls"). The plot is a little dodgy in that the degree of control the denizens of Thirdspace exert over the gate to their dimension seems inexplicable great, but overall the tension is high through most of the episode, and it's good to see Ivanova again.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Symphonic film, 19 October 2006 Author: Patrick Borer (bakchu) from Switzerland
The basic story of "Thirdspace" is rather straight and simple, it could have been told in the time span of a regular B5 episode without being hasty. So, what makes "Thirdspace" interesting to watch, if you like this kind of sci-fi movie, more than the story or the not-too-overwhelming quality of acting, is its strong symphonic side - the synthesis of (CGI) images and Franke's score into a "space symphony" sometimes even resembling "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". It's not as elegant, though. "Thirdspace" is faster and somehow rougher, there is less sheer grandeur (well, it's a TV movie), but still... one can enjoy much of it indeed, literally, as a moving picture with music. What I also would like to mention, though, is Patricia Tallman's performance - distinctly more inspired and refined than what we saw in the preceding B5 episodes.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Babylon 5, a Lovecraft try., 18 February 2000 Author: Ragnark from Coldstream, Victoria, Australia
An interesting show, being slightly different than the normal series, in that it seems to be trying for a Lovecraftian theme, in the ancient all-powerful horrors from beyond space try to take over everything and kill all life. As in the series, great special effects, with the acting at the same good level.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Babylon 5 goes Lovecraft, 26 March 2000 Author: Juhana Uuttu from Helsinki, Finland
Holy Lovecraftian influence! Saw this on a b5-movie marathon between 'In the beginning' and 'River of souls', and this got me excited the most. Anyone who reads good ol' H.P. Lovecraft's novels should know why.The story at the beginning is like a sci-fied up of 'Call of Cthulhu', with the addition of all those inevitable B5-elements. However, in the latter part of the movie, the plot entangles to itself badly. Too much happening with so little time, leading to a slightly disappointing end. Oh well. At least it was enjoyable.
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: "Five Million Years to Babylon 5", 4 January 1999 Author: Gislef from Iowa City, IA
Oddly, Thirdspace comes across more as a remake of 5 Million Years to Earth (i.e., Quartermass and the Pit) than anything. There's an ancient alien artifact that turns humans against each other and causes psychic disturbances. Stracynski's attempt at a Lovecraftian tale is okay, but both somewhat at odds with B5, mildly redundant (aren't the Shadows Lovecraftian?), and at the end goes for a big battle/finish (complete with a "blow 'em up" bomb tactic). Within the limits of a 90 minute movie, and with the obligatory bows to the B5 universe, Thirdspace seems oddly truncated.
5 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Very unsatisfying!, 17 July 2005 Author: nicolosi81 from United States
I watched "Thirdspace" and had to come on to IMDb and read the comments to see if others thought it was as unsatisfying as I thought it to be... and I am glad to see I am in agreement with others.The plot is a good idea that was ruined by drawn-out segments that detracted from the flow of the story. The elevator scene was beyond ridiculous, too much fist-fighting, I never once saw a thirdspace ship destroyed before or after the climactic event, and you'd think that Sheridan might have once been rammed into by a passing ship! On the bright side, effects were solid, Ivonova still rocks, and the audio commentary was fun to listen to even though not enlightening. This is one of the movies I won't pop in too frequently in the future.
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