So our discussion about the collection “The Parliament of Dreams: Conferring on Babylon 5” was pushed back a week because of Tim’s work commitments. Without Tim’s input, I don’t think the discussion would have been as lively as it could have been, so I made the executive decision to push for one more week.
But the SF Foundation has given us permission to give you all a gift.
The introduction, “Rewriting the Past in the Future in Straczynski’s Babylon 5” by editors Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, gives an extensive background on what led up the call for papers and the conference where those papers were presented, as well as an overview of the papers included in the collection, plus a huge TEASE about papers that were presented but not included in the book.
You know how obsessive Summer can get about wanting to read as much as she can about Babylon 5, so if anyone has any information about the academics who wrote and presented those papers, let her know. There has to be a way to get some of those papers republished online or linked to where they were published, or in some other fashion made more accessible to us B5 geeks.
Here are the other links mentioned in last week’s unofficial discussion:
SF Foundation Publications: Critical Works: Parliament of Dreams (2019 update: The SF Foundation has made the full PDF of the book available online)
SF Foundation Publications: Essays: I, Cartagia: a mad emperor in Babylon 5 and his historical antecedents by Tony Keen
and a response at jmsnews.com to “I, Cartagia”: Dreadful “essay” about Cartagia, and a response, (Oct 2008)
“Parliament of Dreams” – Introduction [PDF, 700kb]
So while there was no official show last week, Jeremy, Gary and myself had a diverting discussion on just about everything, from some of the news coming out of San Diego Comic-Con about the new JMS Studios and the projects on the boards there, to the attraction of the “Echoes” books coming out now, discussions about books and library porn, and much more… it was about an hour and a half long, if you’re curious.
as an aside, would folks who didn’t listen in on the live stream on July 11 want to hear that long, wandering discussion anyway? would you want it in the feed, or just available for download? Summer does indulge in some profanity now and again.
I’d love to hear the audio, even if it was wandering and profanity-laced. I’m sure Summer & Gary talked about some fascinating things, even if it wasn’t in the format of a regular show.
There are actually 2 or 3 recordings that could be considered “interstitial” commentaries… just the group of us having geeky conversations while the live stream is going.
I had been mulling over how to post those, or if to post them at all.
Sounds like some good stuff to listen to! 🙂
All very cool, thanks for getting us the intro. I eagerly await the next BabCast!
GIVE US THE FEED! I can’t listen to the live feed as I am supposedly a responsible adult and need sleep and such. I would greatly appreciate it being in the feed! I’ve been with the show from ep 0 and want to included!