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Welcome to Show #222!
Tim relays a cryptic message from JMS, responding “Ask me again in April” to a question about whether or not we’ll ever see any more new B5. Not helping… still chomping at the bit, here!
Toryn Farr asked @DelReySpectra via Twitter what it would take to get electronic editions of the B5 novels, at least the miscellaneous trilogies that have gone out of print in an oddball pattern. The response wasn’t encouraging, so Toryn has started a petition to garner a collection of names of people who still want these books.
PetitionOnline: Babylon 5 Novels in eBook Format
Lensman pool: If you took 6 minutes and the under, you win!
If you are a die-hard B5 fan, and for some reasons you haven’t purchased any previous B5 Script Books, get your hands on “Artifacts from Beyond the Rim”. It will be available from B5 Books until January 20, 2011
Deep Geeking: Tim, Summer and Bret discuss “The Memory of War”, and this one, in Tim’s estimation, disappoints.
Talk ranges from the music matching the dramatic sequences and falling short on the action sequences, the quality of the CG scenes, and throwing the flag on gratuitous use of slow motion effects.
Discussion also touches upon the disappointment at the collapse of the show due to the complex situation surrounding Crusade on TNT and later on SciFi Channel.
Feedback: We want to hear your opinions on how you feel about Crusade and its short lifespan.
Lurker’s Guide 2.0: Summer is expanding the documentation to be covered at Lurker’s Guide 2.0, the major change being converting the episode guide into a full Wiki with cross-referenced topics, tidbits and everything you’d want in a Wiki. She’s still searching for pictures of rare collectibles, photos of magazine covers and toys, and all sorts of other B5 goodies that didn’t get included in the original guide during the years after Crusade. Let her know if you want to lend a hand.
More Parody/Filk Songs Wanted: If you know of any more B5-related fan songs out there, definitely let us know, so we can let other B5 fans know where to buy them! And if those CDs are out of print, let’s brainstorm on ways to get those songs back out there for fans!
Babylon Podcast Social Communities:
Twitter: @babylonpodcast
Babylon 5 Information Gathering: If you know of a dead or abandoned B5 related website that may be in need of a new home, let Summer know! Maybe we can mirror it here or house it on a sister site.
If you can, Please Donate to the show!
Promo: Technorama
I am so with you guys; the slow-mo in this episode was ridiculous. Every time it happened, I was like “Was that necessary?”
The one negative I have to say about Crusade is that while most of the people involved seemed to have worked well on B5, I didn’t think the non-acting aspects of the universe would change from B5. I don’t know how much this has to do with the TNT interference, but I thought the show should have hit the ground running and not repeat the problems of B5’s season 1.
Unfortunately, this was not the case and it may be due to wanting to change too many things about the way this series would be shot and presented compared to B5. We will never know if this would have turned around by the end of season 1 or not. 🙁
I’m not a big fan of this episode either – it’s a bit of a letdown after the highs of the previous two episodes. The score, as you say, doesn’t help much. Sometimes I appreciate Evan Chen’s music, but during the climax to this episode it doesn’t work.
I’m not really sold on the technomages either. I quite liked them in B5 since they only appeared in one episode, which was an excellent story and Michael Ansara was so fantastic, but in Crusade, I don’t know – we got a lot of them and they occasionally made the tone a bit too fantastical for my tastes. Of course, had the show lasted longer, I might have come to like them more.
Dr Chambers developing a way to go among infected people was decent plot development though.
Thanks for the mini podholes section. It’s always appreciated, but in show is extra special.
Thanks for the mini podholes section. It’s always appreciated, but in show is extra special.
Merry Christmas, Gary! 🙂
Chris, I think I know what you mean about the Technomages, but seeing as the first ones, Vorlons and Shadows have left the Galaxy, the Technomages have become the largest “known” fantastical element of the B5 universe. And of course they ask similar questions to Lorien and friends.
But still, for people who to the eye are ordinary humans dressed up as magicians, some of their capabilities do come across as a bit “off” in comparison with everyone else.
Not to turn this into another Day of the Dead, but …
I couldn’t get over father and son Woodward, together. Order, family, philosophy of life. This highlight pushed everything else into the background for me.
Use of the ‘big gun’ was a surprise to me as I thought it was not necessary to use such great force. Perhaps it was less powerful in this episode?
If you want to dismiss Crusade because of any one item, there are certainly enough from which to choose one to accomplish this. The music is the least offensive IMHO. The Act 1,2,3,4 with the opening tease and closing tease seem so wrong when the story is about wandering around trying to find something that might lead to a cure. This could probably not be changed, though. You might also dismiss the pig-headed villagers who trusted their advisor on every other subject — except this one. Then, in the end, they saw the error of their ways, and they promised to learn from their mistakes and make things right, etc, etc. Can you have a worse pair of military stereotypes than the Earth commander and his underling?
So, it’s not the great episode for me, but it’s no Day of the Dead, either.
Cheers!
Michael
Michael: Um, you’re talking about The Long Road. That’s the next episode they’re doing.
> you’re talking about The Long Road.
Hmm, OK, maybe you could call in with why you feel that way. I have a feeling there will not be total agreement about Long Road.
Cheers!
Michael
@Michael,
I think Arkle’s point was that you left a comment about “The Long Road” in the discussion about “The Memory of War” 🙂
The show where we talk about “The Long Road” will be posted this week, so you’re time-traveling on us! Or you heard the live feed, and couldn’t wait for the actual discussion to be posted… either way, it’s a sign of a B5 addict, and welcome 😉
Indeed, that was what I was saying. In fact I actually kind of agree with Michael’s points about The Long Road. It was just the most meh I’ve ever felt about anything B5 related. I mean, at least Grey 17 Is Missing an emotion. Not a positive one, but at least it was there. 😉
Arkle, I was not paying attention to the title at the top of this page, and since I had recently seen Long Road, well, uh — in the words of the Great Prophet Litella, “Never mind.”
Well, we’re even. I’d meant to type “Grey 17 is Missing PROVOKED an emotion…” 😉