morriscroy

This is a very good point.

If I'm only going to watch it once or not right away, then I won't bother buying it. Eventually the "not right away" becomes a "never" watching the disc at all.

Meathead

5-10 years ago I would have had my pre-order in the second I could... but I can't see the set doing anything but collecting dust on the shelf next to the DVDs. I have the HD version thru iTunes and I can be watching an episode before I even get the discs out of the case.

DJariya

Maybe if you're going to invest the money to own it, make the time to do a re-watch right away than throw it into the closet as a new closet ornament?

If you barely have time to keep up with new content, then maybe you should save your money?

BackStJoe

Just an FYI…in the 4-5 years I’ve ordered from Bullmoose there was one ordered cancelled, a rare import CD I finally had to order directly from the artist. Every other CD/Blu-ray/box set I’ve ordered from them usually shows up on or a day before release.

morriscroy

Even if one doesn't have a huge backlog (or none) to finish, in practice I found very few of my bluray complete series sets are viewed more than once or twice. This goes back to stuff like Fringe, Person of Interest, Nikita (reboot with maggie q), etc ... where I either watched a bluray season set before a then-new season started, or I watched the entire series again only once shortly after the show ended and went off the air.

This is the primary reason why I passed on the complete series bluray sets of shows like Smallville, Supernatural, etc ... and also recent complete series dvd sets of some long running shows such as the revived Hawaii Five-0. No current interest in revisiting these shows.

Josh-da-man

I bought too many tv series on DVD back in the 00s, and most of them I've never rewatched. Lost, Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Tru Calling, Dark Angel, Alias, and a bunch more like those... at least most of them were bought at bargain prices. Always meant to do a re-watch on Lost, but can't seem to find the time.

The only complete long-form tv series I have complete on blu-ray are the ones that have replay value: Star Trek TOS, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek Enterprise, X-Files, Twin Peaks, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. I would gladly add Babylon 5 to that list. Buffy and Angel, as well, but only if they're re-remastered.

Oh, and I also have that big plastic Dexter head set because I got it dirt cheap. Haven't watched much of it, though. It is actually sitting in its box in a closet because it's just so damned big.

kenbuzz

I concur with most of y'all when it comes to watch/rewatch frequency (if at all). However, I am hopeful that by getting this I'm helping convince Warner that there's money to be made in future B5/JMS projects, and that my hundred dollar investment to finally replace the crappy DVDs will pay dividends in terms of new future content.

kenbuzz

I get it. Not slamming your retailer, just pointing out that the wording on their preorder page isn't exactly a confidence builder.

BobO'Link

Gruv ships free. That must be sales tax... something many of those vendors will charge depending on your location.

dvd-4-life

How many original cast members that are still alive?

kenbuzz

Yup, you're right. I'll go update that post.

kenbuzz

Just a quick whiparound on prices this morning, from DVDPriceSearch and Froogle, sorted from least- to most-expensive w/shipping.

$99+0 Bullmoose
$100+0 Gruv (updated 7-31-23,free shipping)
$100+5 Deep Discount
$108+0 Movies Unlimited (price dropped)
$118+3 ImportCDs (price dropped)
$115+9 CCVideo
$130+4 Best Buy
$132+5 FYE
$141+3 CD Universe
$153+0 Amazon
$??? DVD Empire (not yet listed)
$??? WalMart (not yet listed)

MSRP = 99.99

+x = Shipping
Prices shown do not include tax and are rounded to the nearest buck.

Josh-da-man

Of the main cast (in the opening credits, listed in order of the number of seasons they appeared in):

Andreas Katsulas (59)
Peter Jurasik
Jerry Doyle (60)
Mira Furlan (65)
Richard Biggs (44)
Stephen Furst(63)
Bill Mumy
Bruce Boxleitner
Claudia Christian
Jeff Conaway (60)
Patricia Tallman
Andrea Thompson
Jason Carter
Michael O'Hare (60)
Tracy Scoggins
Caitlin Brown
Robert Rusler

What's particularly odd is that five of the seven actors who were regulars in all five seasons died young.

Of the main characters, I'd say that only Boxleitner, Christian, and Jurasik are the only ones left. The other seven surviving cast members were in more of supporting roles.

Josh-da-man

Is there a reason that these prices are significantly over MSRP? Is the $99 actually MSRP, or is a MAP? Historically, places haven't charged more than MSRP.

kenbuzz

Beats me. All I know is that all of the announcements quoted $100 before the retailers started taking orders:
https://www.tor.com/2023/07/18/babyl...he-first-time/
https://www.engadget.com/babylon-5-i...093539925.html

DJariya

For those who are low on shelf space and want to save some money, the entire complete series remastered in HD on digital for $40. You just won't get any bonus material.

https://fanflix.co/c/1j4iuzjw92s84-w...-Dng%3D.VXnyvG

kenbuzz

Nice find.

Vudu wants $50, which is a sale price... Not sure what Vudu's regular price is but they ask $13 for each season and have 4 of the 5 seasons (all but S4) on sale for $10. So one can pick specific seasons, get the bundle for $50, or get the code from fanflix (which should redeem on Vudu) for $40.

The coming Blu Ray set does not seem to include digital versions.

Follow up: This deal was also linked to on SlickDeals - turns out it's part of a promo where you need to buy THREE titles from the list provided on the page to get the discounted price. Most of the items listed are $4.99 movies - the deal is advertised as "Three Or More Starting At $4.99 ea", even though they've included the B5 set as one of the available titles. To get the $40 price, you have to add that and at least two other movies to your cart, making the entire price $50. One way to look at it is that you're paying the regular $50 price but getting two movies for free. There are several decent movies, including North by Northwest and Blazing Saddles, but depending on how large your digital library already is you may have difficulty finding two movies you don't have that you want.

Inhumans99

Thanks for the details on the deal kenbuzz. My inclination would be to buy the series on iTunes, but the problem is that iTunes lists way too many versions of the complete series to purchase making it hard to pick the right one.

By going with this deal, it sounds like you get the most up to date remaster of the complete series, and I can live with having to go to Vudu to watch. Vudu has proven to be a survivor when it comes to the digital film and tv marketplace and I am not overly worried that my Vudu purchases will disappear due to the them going bankrupt or something like that.

Using a gift card, I just picked up the Complete Farscape on iTunes, another beloved Science Fiction series, and am working through Farscape as quick as I can. Babylon 5 is the other science fiction show that I always meant to watch when it first aired but for one reason or another my viewings of Farscape and Babylon 5 did not happen.

It will be nice to have the entire series available to watch whenever I have the time. Fun fact, J. Michael Straczynski was at a Loscon way back in the 90s where he was on a panel and folks were given a glimpse at some production artwork, etc., from this little show J. Michael Straczynski was about to have hit the airwaves. Who knew it would become a massive fan favorite series. When googling his name to confirm the spelling, I even found a link to a Twitter comment from April of this year where he remembers his time at the Loscon show.

My brother and I (my sister usually stayed home, not her cup of tea) used to tag along with my Dad to quite a few Loscon shows back in the day because they were in Burbank, CA or other places not far from the San Fernando Valley. It was fun meeting folks like Alex Ross and not having deal with a mob of folks waiting to see him. At Comiccon a panel with Alex Ross as a guest would fill up a big room well before it starts (I presume, having never been to Comicon), but at Loscon you could come in a minute before the panel starts and sit close to Alex Ross and even have time to chit chat for a wee bit, those were the days.

Oops, I am going off on a tangent, but to tie this post back to Babylon 5, yes...it was quite cool to be on a panel and get a nice glimpse into the concept art/pitches for this show well before it had actually aired. I will probably try to take advantage of this deal sometime today after work.

dex14

You can use the 20% sign up code on Gruv to knock it down to $79.99 before tax too.

MoviesUnlimited has a $30 off orders of $100+ so it would be $77.99.

kenbuzz

Disregard - Fanflix voided that code and sent me one for Godzilla v Kong.

So apparently I'm an idiot.

I decided to go ahead and get the series in digital form from Fanflix, and I found two $5 movies to go ahead and get to activate the "buy 3" deal - two of the recent Godzilla films. Wanted to get Godzilla vs Kong and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but I apparently put Godzilla (2014) in my cart - I already own that - and stupidly checked out without verifying my purchase. Of course since these are digital codes, they can't refund. And email to Fanflix to see if they can rescind that code and re-issue the right one have fallen on deaf ears.

Not their fault, completely mine.

But what it means is I now have a code for Godzilla (2014) that I paid five bucks for that I can't use. I can go over the the Codes For Sale thread of course, but if any B5 fans in this thread wants it I'd be willing to make a deal.

kenbuzz

Great info!

I just emailed DDD's customer service ([email protected]) seeing if they would price adjust my preorder to the $80 Gruv price, or cancel the preorder outright.
​​​​​​
Never bought from either Gruv or Movies Unlimited before, but MU's website looks an awful lot like DDD's. If I didn't know better I'd think they were the same company. If so, they'd probably NOT price adjust, hoping I would cancel and reorder from MU (at they're a couple of bucks cheaper than Gruv). We'll see .....

dex14

They are both owned by DirectToU, LLC.

lwhy?

The complete series remastered is on sale at iTunes for $19.99 if anyone wants to pick it up. I've never watched it, but I've heard good things. I might blind buy it. $20 for 5 seasons is a good price. Here's the listing: https://tv.apple.com/us/season/seaso...dqb1oj05bhxhq0

kenbuzz

Amazon just dropped their price to $100

Price info from DVDPriceSearch and Froogle, sorted from least- to most-expensive w/shipping.

$99+0 Bullmoose
$100+0 Gruv ($80+0 w/20% discount code available for first-time signup)
$100+0 Amazon (price dropped, "sale")
$100+5 Deep Discount
$108+0 Movies Unlimited ($78+0 w/$30-off code - anyone have specifics?)
$118+3 ImportCDs (price dropped)
$115+9 CCVideo
$130+4 Best Buy
$135+0 WalMart (new listing)
$131+6 Hub City Vinyl (new listing)
$132+5 FYE
$141+3 CD Universe
$??? DVD Empire (not yet listed)

MSRP = 99.99

+x = Shipping
Prices shown do not include tax and are rounded to the nearest buck.

lwhy?

I ended up getting the complete series on iTunes for $19.99. I don’t usually buy many tv series these days, but I spent $60 this month on Northern Exposure and Babylon 5.