Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Almost a decade after his cult sci-fi series "Babylon 5" left the air, writer/creator J. Michael Straczynski revives the franchise with a made-for-DVD feature that catches up with a few key characters in a pair of connecting stories. Current station commander Col. Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) presides over an interstellar take on "The Exorcist" in the first, and President John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) finds a modern humanist solution to a potential tragedy right out of Greek drama in the second story. Straczynski is a better writer than director – he's far less deft and nuanced than his regular series directors – and despite the fine visual effects it all feels constrained by the low budget. Straczynski hopes to launch a whole series of original DVD features. This is a modest first effort, but it does have some enjoyable supplements, notably 20 minutes of "The Straczynski Diaries" (in which he pitches his sock-puppet incarnation of "B5"), and nice memorials to actors Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs, who passed away since the end of the series. Also includes interviews with Straczynski and actors Boxleitner, Scoggins and Peter Woodward, and the Q&A "Fireside Chats" with Straczynski answering fan questions.