Babylon 5: The Road Home appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. I felt consistently pleased with this strong presentation.
No issues with sharpness emerged. The movie always came across as tight and well-defined, so don’t expect any signs of softness.
Jaggies and moiré effects also remained absent, and the image lacked edge haloes or artifacts. In addition, print flaws were a non-factor and didn’t appear at any point.
In terms of colors, Road went with a lively palette that favored purples, blues, yellows, greens and reds. The tones looked solid, as they showed positive richness and vivacity. HDR added range and impact to the hues.
Blacks were deep and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity. HDR gave whites and contrast extra oomph. Across the board, the image worked well.
I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Road opened up the sci-fi material well. With plenty of action, the mix added pizzazz to the program.
The forward channels brought out the majority of the material. Music presented strong stereo imaging, while effects cropped up in logical spots and blended well.
The surrounds also contributed good information. For the most part, these reinforced the forward channels, but they also brought us a fair amount of unique material, instances that mainly occurred during bigger action scenes. The back speakers brought out a nice sense of space and environment.
Audio quality always satisfied. Speech was warm and natural, without edginess or other issues. Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition.
Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved a “B+”.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical audio.
The 4K’s visuals got a minor boost in terms of delineation, but the use of HDR became the most impressive, as that technique offered a nice upgrade for colors and blacks. The 4K didn’t blow away the Blu-ray, but it became the more satisfying version.
On the 4K disc, we find an audio commentary with creator/writer J. Michael Straczynski, actor Bruce Boxleitner and supervising producer Rick Morales. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific look at connections to the series, story and characters, cast and performances, and art and animation.
That sounds like an appealing mix of topics, but unfortunately, the end product becomes sadly low on actual insights. Though we get occasional nuggets, mostly the participants praise the film and all involved, so this turns into a less than informative chat.
On the included Blu-ray disc, Babylon 5 Forever spans 17 minutes, 57 seconds. It offers notes from Boxleitner, Straczynski, Morales, director Matt Peters, and actors Claudia Christian, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins, Patricia Tallman, Rebecca Riedy, Andrew Morgado, Peter Jurasik, and Anthony Hansen.
“Forever” looks at the franchise and its adaptation to this format, cast and performances, set/vehicle design and art, animation, story/characters, and connected areas. Like the commentary, it offers occasional useful material but it can feel heavy on happy talk.
A reintroduction to the TV series’ universe, Babylon 5: The Road Home probably works better for knowledgeable fans. Still, even as a neophyte, I think the film offers enough excitement to make it fairly entertaining. The 4K UHD brings very good picture and audio as well as a commentary and a featurette. This becomes a fairly brisk action tale.
To rate this film, visit the original review of BABYLON 5: THE ROAD HOME