Brent Watches A Call to Arms - Babylon 5 For the First Time | The Movie | Reaction

NOTE* The audio in this one is not up to our standard. We are aware and have fixed the problem. However, we chose to give you the original first watch, even with the bad audio, than try to re-record and give you an insincere first watch.
Join Brent as he does his first watch of the Babylon 5 movie, "A Call to Arms." In this one, technomages return, Garibaldi shows his management style, Sheridan gets a new haircut, and the Drahk set up a new spin off series. So join Brent as he dives into his first watch of this movie.
And be sure to catch our main show, Babylon 5: For the First Time, when Brent is joined by Jeff to take a deep dive into the episode, searching for those Star Trek-like messages, and seeing if they should have watched it sooner. New Episodes drop on Mondays.
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[@chrism7395]

Peter Woodward (Galen the Technomage) was definitely channelling Nicol Williamson (Merlin from the movie Excalibur) in his performance! Edit: IMO Evan H Chen's soundtrack one of the primary problems with the movie

[@Asehpe]

Hey, but you already knew Garibaldi wasn't going to die! He was at Sheridan's farewell banquent, right before Sheridan's death, which is 20 years after the end of the Shadow war. Since this is the 5th anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance, they're only 5, 6 years into this stretch -- Garibaldi has plot armor here!

[@kirishima638]

Brent is not the sharpest tool in the box

[@MattLathrum]

@@kirishima638 So rude.

[@mountainsofelysium7379]

I love the fact Garibaldi's threat "If this doesn't work, your going to get out and push" was followed by Drake standing on the bridge in an E.V.A. suit ready to actually be sent out to "push"... the look on Garibaldi's face meant he was semi serious

[@kirishima638]

Sees mimbari cruiser. Sees mimbari flyer. Sees Whitestar. Brent: ‘WhErE aRe ThEy?!’ 😅

[@Henrik_Holst]

also sees minbari everywhere :)

[@kirishima638]

@@Henrik_Holst autocorrect

[@FallenHellscape]

Dude, Garibaldi was in Sleeping in Light, as you know.

[@Smileybeeblevrox]

The lead in for Crusade, an underrated show that received a bit of Firefly treatment with episode order, and the bad score choices

[@iain_grant]

The music really does kill the film. The lack of Christopher Franke's iconic scoring for B5 is very obvious in this outing.

[@txheadshots]

The music kills the series, too

[@iain_grant]

@@txheadshots Franke's scoring is amazing so I'm no sure what you're responding to.

[@txheadshots]

@@iain_grant I was referring to the music in Crusade. It's awful

[@chrism7395]

Pity it's not possible to get Christopher Franke to rescore it like they did with The Gathering

[@iain_grant]

@@txheadshots Thanks for the clarification. I never watched Crusade.

[@lakephillip]

You aren't the first to succinctly describe this film's problems. Evan H. Chen, wrote the music, not Christopher Franke , so many people have said the same as you. I can see your points very much. Back in 1999 it felt, meh. We didn't have as much choice back then (Only very few people had PC's, they introduced WebTV to get online) but, it still wasn't easy so, any Babylon 5 was, still Babylon 5, and I'd take anything B5.

[@hyloguy6847]

Yes, the change in composer for this movie and Crusade may have been JMS' biggest mistake. Evan Chen's soundtrack might be great for studying math or doing Pilates, but it just does not work for the pew-pew space action-adventure genre. That's the thing about making bold choices: sometimes it can lead to breakthrough success, but there's also the risk that it can flop spectacularly. That said, there are a couple of Crusade episodes in which it works a little better.

[@lovipoekimo176]

My favorite part of this film, oddly enough, is the defensive turrets on the Shadow Deathcloud that look like hands. I love the fact that each finger fired Shadow slicer beams, and when the fingers joined together they unleashed a super slicer beam. Very cool ImHO

[@welshlad691]

Yeah the music is awful, I like the new destroyer design but i've watched this with the sound off and subtitles on to avoid the damn music. Its the setup for Crusade, but suffered from weird pacing and music that makes you want to switch it off

[@tyranusfan]

This movie suffers from a few things, the biggest of which (in my opinion) is the music score. They changed composers to give this, and the new show a different feel, but the new music was lame.

[@weirds0up]

One of the criticisms that was aimed at Crusade, and it fits here too, is that they didn’t bring Christopher Franke back to do the music. It just doesn’t have the same weight as the B5 music

[@Petrosman]

First time Brent, first time I agree with your disappointment. Yep, the score to Call to Arms (and Crusade) is awful. I really enjoy the intro to Crusade and the music there, but the score overall just sucks. It's boring. And it's one of the main reasons why people don't like Crusade and Call to Arms. And why B5 is praised for having an amazing score throughout, since season 1 all the way to season 5.

[@lionofhighpark]

The change in composer was a contentious issue back when this originally aired and it's still an issue today. It really was an unfortunate choice that never really worked.

[@HobbyView]

Yup, I remember. Folks on the usenet dragged JMS hard on the music. I understand JMS wanting to try something different, but this was a bridge too far.

[@CurtisAST]

The Excalibur is cool.

[@Matej_Sojka]

Yeah music and editing in this film are a huge letdown. Though I do not think it should have been exciting, this was not about adrenaline in battle, this was about the desperation to protect your home.

[@7WhitePhoenix7]

Brent's reaction is 💯% the same as mine when I watched it back in fhe 90s. Half of a good movie.

[@TheFireMonkey]

I hear you on your complaints and yes, I think the music is a major issue here. The series would have been great, I think, if the network didn't interfere so much. That said, I feel JMS did mostly manage to do a good job in spite of network execs but in the end, he killed the show because the execs told him they wanted to add a bunch of beautiful women who are wearing very little to boost the rating - he was actually told they wanted to make it "Bay Watch to the Stars" and when it became clear that is what would happen, he did the only thing he could to save the concept and that was to pull out and since he had exclusive rights to the story concept, when he walked away, the show ended. Now, in spite of all the meddling, JMS says he was ok with all the episodes except one which was forced on him - and honestly, that one wasn't horrible. The 1st 8 episodes where all forced on him but he managed to make them work and I actually liked most of it a lot, episode 9 was what was supposed to follow the movie but the execs felt it was too unconventional to start there. I think that JMS would have been perfectly happy doing those extra episodes AFTER episode 9, because the stories do in fact work into the overall arc.

[@dewaynejelks9088]

I liked "A Call to Arms" and "Crusade", I did not like the musical score. They could have done so much better. Give me a Golden Dragon on that one.

[@stevecollette6831]

Not a spoiler…..really. JMS said that just like B5, the real story of Crusade was not just finding the cure for a plague. He talked about how he had a series of twist and wrinkles that would have made it much more like seasons 3 & 4 of Babylon 5. Alas to might what might have been. 😔

[@hornorsilk2901]

we do have clues what that would have been, and it was a cool twist

[@neilbiggs1353]

@@hornorsilk2901 Having watched the R Knights guys, they've been making certain statements/predictions that were very much in line with the speculation of what Crusade would have lead to. Really big missed opportunity...

[@chrism7395]

I really would much rather see a reboot of Crusade over a reboot of B5, unfortunately I read somewhere that someone else holds the rights to it and they're not letting it go without a lot of money changing hands

[@praiha]

All things seem to point that the cure was to be found early on, and most of the 5 year story would have been spent on other stuff. It would have been like the hole in Sinclair's mind in B5... It's the starting point, but only that.

[@la_scrittice_vita]

Not really. Crusade was the price to get Season 5 made without studio interference. Suits had to hold their tongues and all of their notes would be used in a series that was TNT's own. It is a receptacle of dumb and the audience knew it and bailed. The fans who romanticize it as a lost treasure are guilty of the nerd fallacy: everything cancelled was great and should be brought back.

[@camsully7325]

Completely inaccurate on the music part but glad it was overall enjoyable.

[@NathanielMiller]

Trivia: The Charon/Victory's XO you might not recognize, but you know him as one of Trek's frequent aliens. The best-known of his characters are probably Tosk from DS9, and Commander Dolim on Enterprise.

[@TriColoredTiger]

It's 100% the music.

[@MattLathrum]

Very few people like the music. It affects the whole film negatively. And, unfortunately, it's the same music in Crusade 😒

[@jamesbell7696]

I feel like this was the worst time to introduce experimental music to the B5 universe. I'm not saying Christopher Franke could have saved Crusade single handedly, but he definitely couldn't have hurt. I actually like the strangeness of Evan Chen's soundtracks, but I totally understand how they can be off-putting to most viewers.

[@Eric-cp2kt]

I agree with the others about the music - it really disconnected me from whatever was on screen. The music can be different, but anything with "Babylon 5" in the title should also be familiar. It's as if a Star Trek show decided to go with kazoos. Each Star Trek show had a different theme to be it's own thing, but it was still familiar (bzzzzz).

[@martintoggweiler2343]

At first exposure I found the cacophonous music to be a big problem. More exposure lessened it as the brain anticipates the experience. JMS wanted to try something new but he ultimately concluded that it wasn’t effective for the task.

[@jonjohns8145]

Yep ... This Movie and Crusade's biggest problem is that AWEFUL AWEFUL music.

[@exile220ify]

*awful

[@Psi105]

Evan H. Chen did the music on this one instead of Christopher Franke. That's why it's all wrong and not up to B5 standards. Agreed, A Call To Arms starts good and just falls apart. imho the only thing worse than A Call To Arms is the season 1 episode TKO.

[@tjtenser7828]

I do get a little tired of people constantly rubbishing Evan Chen's score for this and Crusade. I've always really liked both and the different feel it gives them and I'm in the support camp for his stuff. Gives both this TV movie and the spin off series its own unique atmospheric and very cool identity. Unfortunately there are some in fandom who want everything to stay the same and push back against something bold and new. This is definitely the best of the B5 TV movies for me.

[@johnbarleycorn_]

Crusade was marred by studio interference, so it's possible that it may have extended to this as well. As for Evan H. Chen's music, it does have it's moments and it does have its supporters, but, by and large, it tends not to fit its setting particularly well. This is particularly evident in action sequences, although using montages with just the music and no dialogue doesn't help either. Chen only has two other credits on IMDB besides this and Crusade so I presume most of his work was outside of film and TV.

[@sergioaccioly5219]

I might be the only fan to like the music choices for Crusade. Oh well... Before watching the 1x01 episode of Crusade, please be advised that many of the crappiest scens in the episode are due to studio interference, they were not in the original script. Be kind.

[@la_scrittice_vita]

As with Byron, your disappointment is not unique. Recognize that boredom in the middle and letdown with the end is why Crusade failed (and why the fans who talk about it like some lost treasure should be ignored.)

[@MarvinNoFun]

Dude, Garibaldi was in Sleeping in Light, which is much later in the timeline, so it's really weird to think he would die in this movie.

[@msjogren1]

I don't know why they couldn't get Franke to do the music for A Call to Arms and Crusade but it's a major loss for sure

[@Smileybeeblevrox]

They could have. JMS wanted a new direction in music for the new show, he wanted organic metallic music for Crusade, something he later said was a big mistake, that he should have just stayed with the orchestra he had in B5

[@hugueslepeltier8931]

This movie is supposed to be the first one à the babylon five spin off. But it was canceled before the end of the first season.

[@CaptFalcone]

Are you going to watch Legend of the Rangers?

[@KeithDCanada]

The music of this film ruined anything I may have liked about it. I just don't understand after 5 seasons of show, at two studios, why they decided to change the music of the series. You also liked the first half of the film WAY more than I did. This was like watching a badly run D&D game.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

It was a shift in music done during the series when the technomages came on the station the first time. It was in season 3 you can check it and even the end credits of the episode was one of the rare alternate scores. Other famous score changes was the singer Franklin hooked up with, No hiding place and Marcus doing the song from HMS Pinafore. Each one had a special side plot.

[@hornorsilk2901]

Too bad no one called "Technomages" for this one....

[@kuragari85]

the music of Call to Arms and Crusade has been criticized since its broadcast. JMS tried to get a composer who was nothing like Christopher Franke, to set it apart from B5, he might have gone too far. over time, i come to apreciate this music more, but i can understand your feelings. and yes, the second part of that movie draws out way too long, it would have been better if could have made it a 75 minute movie. but with two parters, the second part is often less tight than the first.

[@Babylon5FortheFirstTime]

We applaud the effort to go for something different. But it just didn’t work in this case.

[@kuragari85]

@@Babylon5FortheFirstTime well, you're not alone in that assessment.

[@silviadragoness5904]

You left out Dureena's extended disarming sequence? That's the best part of her introduction!

[@MattLathrum]

I was looking forward to that as well.

[@gordon861]

You know who died before this because you have seen the end of S5 and 20 years in the future.

[@Petrosman]

I absolutely love the Excalibur. My favorite ship in any scifi show. It's huge, badass, looks like a Jaffa Staff weapon on steroids. I once built my own Lego model as a kid (just copying what I saw on screen, didn't have a manual or anything). Was a fun time. Peter Woodward is here! Yey! Technomages are back! And he will be in Crusade too! Galen is such an interesting character. It's a shame we didn't get to see more of him and his character because Crusade got canceled.

[@sergioaccioly5219]

I have problems with the interior setss oftheship. Her hanger bay looks more like a showroom than a maintenance space for the fighters, and the turbolifts are... weird. But the ship itself is good, yes.

[@praiha]

A Call to Arms could maybe have bern better, if Sheridan didn't have such a major role in it. It may have been a slightly better movie than The Gathering, but as a pilot, it wasn't as good. If it already had more of the Crusade cast in it, maybe we would have gotten less studio meddling when the actual series started.

[@charlesmaurer6214]

Think he missed the point of the score. It is techno music theme of the technomages introduced in the series.

[@Dreamfox-df6bg]

Agreed, this should have been better. Others have mentioned that the network meddled with Crusade. Personally I believe it started with 'A Call to Arms'. The music alone...

[@maddiemares2313]

I was honestly surprised at how much Brent liked A Call to Arms at the beginning, especially since I remembered it being so bad despite not remembering much of the plot. Then he got to the end. And it was so so bad. That saying "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," was spot on. Not only was the conclusion of the film bad, but any redeeming quality it had in the first half was undone by that ending. And it's that terrible ending that is ultimately the thing that is remembered about this film.