Welcome to Show #279!
The Jason Davis lets us know that a new signed collection is available over at Harlan Books, and Tim has only found unsatisfyingly sparse info on the new project out of Studio JMS, working in conjunction with the Wachowskis, on a proposed TV series called “Sense8”.
Gary tells us that Pat Tallman’s “Be a Santa” project is ramping up for the 2012 Holiday season, so if you can, lend a hand to help her help children in need for this season, and he also lets us know that if Crusade had reached a Season 2, Harlan Ellison was on board to be script supervisor… like Summer needed one more thing to lament about that show’s early and unwarranted demise.
Then Tim, Summer and Gary start to get all weepy about what Babylon 5 and the Babylon Podcast has meant to us over the years.
Feedbackapalooza: Gary from Jacksonville, quite likely the most prolific feedback producer the Babylon Podcast has ever had, joins us to go through the messages for the last official feedbackapalooza. He may have to replace Babylon Podcast with Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas on his voicemail speed dial…
Neil. Likes. Crickets. ‘Nuff said; Neil doesn’t like how the Technomage trilogy showed so much of what happened overlapping with “The Geometry of Shadows” without any of it being mentioned on the actual episode, but still enjoyed our discussion enough that he’ll set aside some time to reread that and the other trilogies; Neil would love to find out what the “Big Bang Theory” people have against Babylon 5; Neil comments on Bester’s role against the Shadows as played out in the Psi Corps trilogy and through the episode “Ship of Tears”;
Neil relates a conversation with Connie Willis, and how a series she’s now working on deals with telepathy (and for those who want to hear more about “The Demolished Man” by Alfred Bester, go check out the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas episode discussion on it)
(and for those curious about how typography can enhance a conversation, look no further than the Kinetic Typography rendering of the “What does Marsellus Wallace look like?” scene from Pulp Fiction and V’s opening soliliquy from V for Vendetta)
Neil marvels that we spent 20 minutes discussing one single short story; Neil appreciates that Summer was able to edit the short stories show down to a single episode; Mary from MA thanks the Babylon Podcast team for the hours and hours of content over the years, especially the reading of the Declaration of Principles included in SE9; Laith comments on the Babylon 5 collectibles;
Joe C emails in some additional details about the CCG that were never produced and why the limited Shadow figure that would have come with is so rare, which segues into an update about the existence of and rarity of the single ship Micro-Machines (and let show our envy at Brad finding a signed one); S. Bandari emails in about the Babylon 5 stamps, and confirms that they are not officially recognized as stamps, which leads to a conversation about the Kyrgyzstan collectible stamps from various fandoms, and how the flood of fake collectible stamps plagues their government; Steve Kerrison emails in about the plethora of Season 5 Delenn having emotional reaction shots, and wonders if Gary could tally those up for us
How many people would really listen to us do our own personalized commentary tracks, in MST3K style, on Babylon 5 and Crusade episodes?
Also, if anyone knows how to get ahold of John Cook of sev.com.au, the offer is open to host the “Sevylon 5” cartoon strips he drew, if he’s interested.
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.
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Hey Summer, you might try the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive for the Sevylon 5.
Might be worth a shot, although sometimes grabbing operational scripts from there is problematic, and I think his archives were accessed through a set of scripts (at least they were for how they were displayed here).
If someone is issuing stamps and representing them as legitimate postage from a real nations’ post offices, that is considered counterfeiting. If tracked down, the issuer can be jailed. Anyone in possession of such stamps could be compelled to turn them in for investigation(as with funny money).
If the stamps were represented as issued by a clearly fictitious service, such as “Earth Alliance Postal Service”, were valued in a fictitious currency, and carried a clear disclaimer that they were not legal postage; they could be treated like any other non-postal stamp (Such as Easter Seals or the Perry Rhodan stamps).
The only station based event in the Technomage trilogy that I was uncomfortable with was the explosion of the decoy ship before it went through the jump gate. Such an occurrence would definitely warrant notice in the episode. A better depiction would have been to have it happen just after the jump gate closed, which would be more likely to go unnoticed by C & C and thereby preserve it as background to the episode.
Perhaps the Big Bang people have set Sheldon up for ongoing embarrassments when meeting Trek actors. I haven’t been a fan of the show, but snippets I’ve caught while tuning in for “Person of Interest”, indicated that he has inadvertently insulted Will Wheaton and I believe one other Trek actor (Walter Koenig?) to their faces (and worse, is oblivious to what he’s done). Maybe his B5 attitude is behind those insults.
Barring getting JMS to do commentaries on the rest of the episodes (Beg…Beg, Mr S?), I would certainly be interested in some from you all. Maybe you could get Jeffrey to weigh in (even briefly, or recorded separately and cut in) whenever Kosh appears or even when specific other scenes he might like to do come up. I have found the podcasts to be stimulating and thought provoking themselves, and having something timed to the actual episode could be even better.
Rick
Cards on the table:
I’d pay £20 to hear Summer and Tim give an audio commentary over Day of the Dead.
You do realize that could quickly devolve into either a schoolyard scuffle or a bar brawl. Do you really want to hear that? 🙂
I have a large collection of even more quotes from the podcast, do you want me to send them to you Summer? Perhaps there is no need for them now?
Oh, please do send them! I’ve just been slow in adding the ones you’d sent before, and there’s always a need for more classic Babylon Podcast quotes!
Okidoki then, I’ll see what I can do. I have only sent you one bunch so far, right?
Stevekez: I like the cut of your jib! For £20 I’d let Summer pummel me into submission… except in this case I’M RIGHT.
Tim, you do remember that I used to earn about that much per head in a weekend, way back when I used to pummel people for fun and money?
Right, misguided, delusional, doesn’t matter… you’d still likely be taking a nap at the end of the session 😉
I shoulda taken my one friends’ advice and become a contract dom for hire. At least I’d be making more money while also working out some of my myriad issues…