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Welcome to Show #253!
Tim and Gary talk about Pat Tallman’s new book, “Pleasure Thresholds”, and some of the anecdotes she’s covered in there, and Gary recommends it to Babylon 5 fans for the pictures and the behind the scenes stories.
Deep Geeking: Tim throws out the challenge to Gary and Jeremy: compare and contrast your favorite Captains: Sheridan (Babylon 5), Gideon (Crusade), Reynolds (Firefly) and Kirk (Star Trek: TOS)

Tim’s scenarios:
1. If you’re planetside and pinned down in a firefight, who would you rather have calling the shots?
2. If you’re caught in a battle in space, ship to ship or small fleet to small fleet, who would you rather have calling the shots?
3. Which Captain would you want to have your back in a bar fight?
4. Which Captain would you want with you to stop a bar fight before it gets started?
5. Which Captain would be the best diplomat to negotiate an agreement between contentious factions?
6. Which Captain would you want as your wingman in the bar?
7. Which Captain would you want to get drunk with after you struck out? Who would have the best stories to tell over a beer?
8. Which Captain would you want to go talk with the brass when a project has gone wrong?
This isn’t to pick one captain over the others as the overall best, but to compare who they are and what they would do and who you would want to either follow or best handle a situation to get the best result possible.
Discussion: Tim went to his local Richmond Comic-Con, and discovered some B5 collectibles that he’d never seen before: the costume cards that at one time were near impossible to find!
Also, folks preparing to review and discuss the comics and novels with us (or for us), get ready… your turn will be coming up soon!
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 also 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: Dragon Page “Cover to Cover”
Promo: Saturday B-Movie Reel
I’m not sure what was more fun, the actual show, or the long debates the guys had in between segments!
Me, I just wonder why Tim picked Kirk over Adama for this thought exercise (new BSG). Anyone with Tigh as an XO has to be able to handle his booze ๐
I hope you are not leaving us for good!
Wait, what? Who said anything about leaving?
Kirk, the answer to everything is Kirk expect who you want leading fleets and diplomacy then its Sheridan. Also, where is Captain Han Solo and Captain Benjamin Sisko?
Also Mackenzie Calhoun, Roj Blake, and Archer (hey, the 4th season of Enterprise was awesome! Figures they’d cancel it just as it was finally getting good).
Might have been better to compare all Bab 5 universe characters, as they all have the benefit of having sprung from one source (JMS).
Sheridan, Sinclair, Gideon and I would say Ivanova (she’d still make a good wingman). Shame we didn’t get to know Martel longer.
Adama would have been interesting to add to the mix in place of Reynolds. Reynolds just doesn’t appear (in my view) to have the grand scope view of the other 3. Despite being a starship captain, his character seems more like a GroundPounder in many ways.
1. Yet, even as I decry Reynolds, this is the one area where I think he does shine. He strikes me as a battle line sargent, so I can see hiim doing well in a ground conflict.
2. Small scale, I think Kirk makes the most out of the least. If there is one ship, and he is on it, he will be coming out of it (even if it is on the opponent’s ship). Though Sheridan is an incredibly close 2nd – after all, he did take down the Minbari Flagship.
3. No contest, have to go for Kirk (classic Kirk at least). He’s a brawler ๐
4. Tough call, but I’m thinking Gideon. By the end of the night, I’d picture our adversaries sitting at a poker table or doing shots with us, rather than coming to blows.
5. Sheridan. Whether by guile, charisma or sheer force of will, he’ll take those elements, make the best of them and win.
6. Likely Gideon. He seems like the best person to help prop you up and make you look better.
7. Kirk would have the largest volume of stories to tell – though I might get more depressed listening to how he slept with half the girls in the galaxy…
8. Have to say Sheridan again. He has the best mix of speaking skills, and the force of character to make the bosses feel confident that the situation won’t happen again.
Even though it didnt show during the short series Gideon must be a rather good allrounder, exept perhaps in the ground conflict option. After all, before getting the Excalibur he was the captain of a Explorer class starship so he must at least be able to run a small city in space and handle all types of situations they come across.