Welcome to Show #52!

Whoops. This is what happens when you do too many shows per week. Sometimes, you forget to create an important segment… like the opening and closing segments of this week’s Babylon Podcast.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer (along with studio guests Brian and the other Tim) move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “A Race Through Dark Places”, another Season 2 episode with layers and subexts that aren’t fully revealed until later.

A rogue telepath is being interrogated by the Psi Cops, and at the moment of death he gleans a clue to where he might find more runaways: Babylon 5.

Bester arrives on B5, looking for Talia’s help in uncovering the rogue telepaths and bringing them in from the cold. Before he can completely convince her to help him, he’s attacked by the rogues and they take Talia away with them.

We learn which member of the command staff has been helping those telepaths inclined to do so escape the far reach of Psi Corps, and we see a familiar Lurker come to the forefront, learning once again that not everyone is exactly what they seem.

We also discover that there may be quite a bit more to the gifts Talia received as a farewell from Jason Ironheart, and that those undiscovered talents help tip the balance in a telepath battle for survival on the station.

Delenn asks Sheridan out to dinner, in order to begin learning more about each other, and become a better bridge between humans and Minbari, as she wants. Sheridan and Ivanova also deal with an inconvenient bit of bureaucratic red tape regarding budgets and allowances for their quarters, which is resolved in a familiar manner.

Episode order for this section of Season 2 is also discussed.

“A Race Through Dark Places” is available for download at iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and the Lurker’s Guide

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Sevylon 5
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Support TD-0013 in the MS Walk

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #52 [30:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4884)

Welcome to Show #51!

Tim, Summer, a contemplative Jeffrey, and a wisecracking Michael spend the warm-up cracking themselves up. We are so damned easily amused. This is what happens when you stay up late at night and geek on Babylon 5. Don’t try this at home kids!

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer (along with studio guests Brian and the other Tim) move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “Soul Mates”, one of the better episodes of Season 2, rife with intrigue, hidden agendas and sly humor.

Londo Mollari has been granted a wish from the Emperor, in honor of the 20th anniversary of his Ascension. He has requested a divorce from his three wives, and has summoned them to the station so he can choose which ones he’d like to excise from his life.

At the same time, Matt Stoner arrives on the station and immediately sets Garibaldi on edge, and during the course of reporting his odd encounter, discovers that he and Talia had a previous relationship, one which wasn’t pleasant for Talia.

Is there a direct connection between Stoner’s arrival on the station, and Londo’s wife Mariel, and her purchase of the dangerous-to-Centauri artifact that he brought on board? Is there a deeper relationship between Mariel and G’Kar, knowing where Stoner found the artifact in the first place? None of these questions are resolved completely, and the possible iterations of who-knew-what-when and who-knew-whom can be argued in circles for a long time.

We also see a side story with Delenn dealing with the unexpected physiological changes she’s undergone because of her transformation into a human-Minbari hybrid. Her asking Ivanova for help and their interaction and female bonding makes for a very amusing break from the emotions of the Garibaldi-Winters-Stoner triangle.

“Soul Mates” is available for download at iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Jeff and Mike abuse Summer and her geek girl shopping habits; Haiku: Zathras; Lambeau from Houston has B5 Limericks for us; Chris from Detroit thought that Robin’s interview was parody; Walter from LA on Show #46, and compares it to Wingin’ It; Jeffrey lays down the snark on Mike regarding Martian property sales. Tim reads an email from Sean on the Drazi conflict from “Geometry of Shadows”.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Sevylon 5
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: The Butcher Block

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #51 [1:02:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4624)

Welcome to Show #50!

Wow. 50 episodes. Milestone time! But are the ratings good enough for us to get picked up for our second season? Never fear…

Tim recounts an Apollo 12 Tim Conrad anecdote, from Andrew Chayken’s “A Man on the Moon”, in honor of Jeffrey’s gift last week, and musings about our return to the moon. Jeff recounts an interview with Buzz Aldrin about going back out there, and we all wistfully gaze out into space, and stare at the acreage Michael owns, both on the moon and on Mars.

Pay no attention to the flurry of domain registrations.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “Spider in the Web”, another in the line of setup episodes, where some of the threads reach deep into future seasons, and some threads tap dance away, exiting stage left never to be heard from again.

Learning more about the political situation on Mars, and what Taro Isogi and Amanda Carter are hoping to achieve by creating an independent Mars, colors many events later that directly and indirectly affect life on the station and the lives of many of our characters. It’s the first example where we see Sheridan dealing with lies told to him by government officials, and exposure Psi Corps conspiracies and experiments that come back around again.

It’s also the first in what could be considered a Talia Winters trilogy, so to speak, since she’s a major component of these episodes, as well as her relationship with Psi Corps as more questionable Corps behaviors and practices are revealed.

“Spider in the Web” is available for download from iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Trampas lets us know about his Koshmas holiday wishes to get more B5, which he received; Randy from Atlanta comments on Show #45, wanting to know if Tim is the most eclectic geek there is; what does count as good SF cheese these days? Jarsto wants Tim and Jeff to do a Bad Puns podcast so they wouldn’t have to do it here, and maybe the creature entered the coordinates for Z’ha’dum into the guidance system of the Copernicus; Edmund tests his microphone and sumbits praise to Michael’s audio editing prowess (check out Podholes if you want to improve your podcasting); Gary from Jacksonville asks if Tim will be updating the podcast intro for our Season 2, and wants to know what Jeff’s been drinking so he can have some.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Lunar Embassy
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Speaking of Beer
Promo: Technorama

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #50 [1:03:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4577)

Welcome to Show #49!

This week, Tim, Summer and Jeff talk about the New Year, Jeff’s awesome new gift, and some starship geeking. Also, Summer did find that there was a second image that did indeed include the large Vorlon ships, so don’t send her any emails about it. Jeff also experienced his first online viewing of a Babylon 5 episode over at AOL’s In2TV.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer continue episode analysis with “The Long Dark”, a slightly uneven show that features a wonderful performance by longtime character actor Dwight Schultz (The A-Team, ST:TNG)

In talking about another weaker episode, they understand where the story was supposed to be taking the characters and the viewers, but some minor things done didn’t ring quite true. We loved Amis, we see how Garibaldi goes straight for the obvious solution, we get to enjoy Franklin warming up his social skills, and seeing Sheridan taking command in the council chambers with members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

Why didn’t the Shadows send transportation to some of their minions that wouldn’t be able to get back home as quickly or at all? How did the Narn know what that beast looked like in order to leave a record of it in the Book of G’Quan? Were the Shadows planning to move far slower than intended, or were they undone by their desire to move faster on Earth?

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Thomas from Flagstaff on the B5 Christmas parodies, and the dangerous ground it can lead to; Jarsto brings home a theorized conspiracy theory on links between the Wind Swords and the Shadows, and Kosh’s poisoning being a direct Shadow attack, but his evidence falls apart from being based on the assumption that Morden was the character seen in C&C in “The Gathering”; Jarsto sends kudos for the holiday clips selection; Trampas from The Signal wants to hear more of Mike’s newbie perspective in the Deep Geeking segment; Matt in Michigan comments on Robin’s perspective, and Jarsto’s segment. Tim reads emails from Katrina about Robin Atkin Downes, and from Martin about Jeff’s Modern Marvels “Snow” episode, and Vorlon footprints.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Starship Dimensions
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Speaking of Beer
Promo: Technorama

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #49 [1:03:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4785)

Welcome to Show #48!

More Happy Holidays from The Babylon Podcast!

This week, Tim, Summer and Jeff continue to present some of the “Best Of” moments from 2006, and boy did we have a lot of highlights (and alcohol) to go through.

Yes, we were still drinking. A lot. You have no idea.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Link: Babylon 5 Fans
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #48 [1:00:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4104)

Welcome to Show #47!

Happy Holidays from The Babylon Podcast!

This week and next week, Tim, Summer and Jeff present some of the “Best Of” moments from 2006, and boy did we have a lot of highlights (and alcohol) to go through. Yes, we were drinking.

Honestly, I thought there’d be more B5 winter holiday parodies out there, but alas, my searches came up short. All I found was Troy’s Very Drazi Xmas. Seriously, why aren’t there any Koshy the Snowman images, or Father Londo-mas, or any other creatively humorous holiday interpretations of our favorite characters? I expect this to be resolved in time for next winter, people!

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Link: Babylon 5 Fans
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #47 [54:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4749)

Welcome to Show #46!

Stream of Consciousness Chat: Robin Atkin Downes (”Byron”)

Jeffrey sends out his heartfelt thanks to all the fans who responded to our call for donations to Pat Tallman’s “Be A Santa” charity program. The successful fruits of that effort went to make Christmas a little happier for the children of Penny Lane.

Jeff also tells us what he can about “The Lost Tales” progress, relaying some of what Bruce Boxleitner could tell us about the filming and working with everyone again, and how completely impressed he was by the script and everything about his experience climbing back into the Babylon 5 universe. This DVD is so going to rock!

We present for your entertainment and edification a rather interesting and amusing chat with Robin Atkin Downes, during his and Pat Tallman’s meandering search for an Italian restaurant.

It’s an interactive slice of life in Los Angeles, and words truly cannot describe the experience. Don’t worry… we’ll get Robin back, later, when he’s less distracted.

Listener Feedback: Jarsto really calls in and wanted to hear more from Kim Holly about Peter Woodward’s leather pants in “Crusade”; Gary comments on Show #44 with a Keffer tidbit; Doug comments on Show #44 with some detail on one reason why The Cortez may have run afoul of a Shadow vessel.

Haiku: This week, Hilary’s haiku pays honor to Cmdr Susan Ivanova. But we still had to explain it to Michael before he remembered.

We so need a B5 holiday season collection of quotes and song variations.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless plug: Summer contributed an essay to the essay collection, So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica, now available at your local bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Promo: Chuck Chat Technorama
Promo: Chuck Chat: The Gmail Podcast
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #46 [56:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4537)

Welcome to Show #45!

Interview: Kim Holly, Costume Supervisor

After relaying some updated “Lost Tales” news, Tim, Summer and Jeffrey welcome Kim Holly, costume supervisor for the entire series save “The Gathering”. Kim’s work was pivotal in making the look of the uniforms and costumes match up with the creative visions of JMS and Anne Bruice, as well as making them fit all the cast comfortably and colorfully.

Kim tells us about the creative process behind designing and piecing together the various costumes for the different races seen on the show, about the complaints about the original Earthforce uniforms, of the special designs for Michael York and Wayne Alexander, of the amusement from poking Jeff Conaway with a needle on camera, and more.

Listener Feedback: We revel in another B5 Haiku from Hilary; Trampas from The Signal chimes in with the suggestion that Jedi are telepathic enough, and that the Shadows wouldn’t get along with Darth Vader, which leads to a tangent on Huttese; Jarsto expounds on the quality and quantity of his voicemails, and one reason why the Shadow vessels didn’t bother destroying Keffer’s Starfury; Jarsto again, with a new B5 Haiku. In email, Gabriel disagrees with Tim on the myth vs tech argument; Miles adds to the comments on the inclusion of technomages in the B5 universe.

We so need a B5 holiday season collection of quotes and song variations.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless plug: Summer contributed an essay to the essay collection, So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica, now available at your local bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Promo: Chuck Chat Technorama
Link: Smart Pop Books
Link: JMS’s “Lost Tales” photographs

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #45 [1:01:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4323)

Welcome to Show #44!

The holiday season is upon us all, and Santa Kosh has begun checking his lists to see who’s naughty, who’s nice, and who’s really really nice. The chatroom chimes in with a cornucopia of Santa Kosh and B5 related Christmas jokes.

Listener Feedback: In voicemail, Iron Eagle comments on “Geometry of Shadows”, and responds to Jarsto; Jason in KC comments on character theme music possibilities; Mark from Lowell on Show #34 and what the Grey Council learned when about Valen/Sinclair; comment on Tim’s complaints about technomages; Thomas from Flagstaff welcomes Jarsto as a show addition; Jarsto likes hearing project updates from B5 alumni; Jarsto comments on “Geometry of Shadows” and highlights a rift between fans for and against technomages, and how the Drazi method of leadership selection might work on current-day Earth; Edmund from Greeneville on the possible improvements for any future All Boys geeking shows; CA in Phoenix enjoys the show so far, and wants more fun interviews. Tim reads an email from Edmund about the escalation of the Drazi fights in “Geometry of Shadows”, and wonders if the Shadows might have influenced the escalation of violence in the Drazi Purple/Green conflict.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer continue episode analysis with “A Distant Star”, and given that Russ Tamblyn was featured, Tim and Summer ask Jeff what it was like to work with some high profile guest stars over the years in the show.

In talking about an episode that they both consider to be one of the weakest of Season 2, despite the fact that D. C. Fontana is credited with writing it, the dialogue seemed to be less than optimal in flow between characters and seemingly incongruent confluence of unlikely events.

Would the Shadows have left the Starfuries alone, or would it really have gone back and made sure that they hadn’t survived to talk about their existence? Or were there just too many little things that needed to be setup in this episode that the weight caused the structure of the actual episode to collapse? The technobabble runs fast and deep here, and having all that happen just to give Keffer a search for truth and meaning this season seems a little weak.

How did this episode influence JMS in his resulting feat of writing all of the episodes of Seasons 3 and 4, or was it even an influence at all? We may never know.

images courtesy italway.it and babylon5.ru

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless plug: Summer contributed an essay to the essay collection, So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica, now available at your local bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Buy “A Distant Star” via iTunes

Promo: Mur Lafferty’s Geek Fu Action Grip
Promo: Chuck Chat Technorama
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #44 [1:01:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4370)

Welcome to Show #43!

On a rare instance, Jeffrey is already home enjoying a concoction when he joins Tim and Summer to chat. He’s still going on about the snow. We have to find snow for this man, and soon.

Tim reads an email from a confidential informant, giving us details on some of the effects work being done and minor changes in which stories will be shot for Vol 1 and Vol 2 of The Lost Tales, and Jeffrey gives us a minor lesson on the business of runaway production, and one possible way it could impact the historical continuity of the crew involved then and now.

Deep Geeking: It’s been a while, but we’re getting back into episode discussion! Tim and Summer delve into “The Geometry of Shadows”, the first of many WHAM episodes to hit us in Season 2.

We talk about Lord Refa, and his ambitions to gain favor in the court, and his hopes that an alliance with Londo would vault him into the line of succession to the throne. We disagree about the introduction of technomages into the B5 universe, because Tim prefers rocketships and Summer prefers sword-n-sorcery. We talk about Ivanova’s promotion and her trial by fire introduction to the careful dance of diplomacy with the Drazi and their ritual of dominance (in consideration of her broken foot). We talk about Garibaldi’s doubt in himself and his ability to continue to do his job in light of being ambushed and betrayed by his former second-in-command, Jack.

The “Purple-Green” machinations provide much geek fodder, touching on the diplomatic, the political, the humorous, the devious, the scheming and the counter-scheming, between both Drazi factions, and the humans trying to maintain some semblance of order and preventative furniture care. And the rules change committees.

Tangents traveled include wondering how the Drazi method might work out in our own political systems; Galen having a bigger impact on Tim than Elric; more musings about human-alien interactions in terms of species specific information sharing.

images courtesy of The Lurker’s Guide, and Gateworld

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Listener Feedback: In voicemail, Jarsto submits another B5 Haiku (RevolutionSF has Sci-Ku’s as well); John from Dispatches from Tuzenor chimes in on the B5/BSG debate; Jarsto comments on Mike’s newly found appreciation for B5, and on Jeffrey’s anecdotal contributions to the show; Iron Eagle responds to a live stream comment on Captain Janeway’s real contribution to the Trek universe; Jarsto calls in with yet another instantly inspired B5 Haiku.

Shameless plug: Summer contributed an essay to the essay collection, So Say We All: An Unauthorized Collection of Thoughts and Opinions on Battlestar Galactica, now available at your local bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Buy “The Geometry of Shadows” via iTunes

Promo: Variant Frequencies: Audio Dramas and Fiction
Promo: Slice of SciFi: SF TV and Movie News and interviews
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #43 [1:05:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4277)