UK Babylon 5 Newsfeed |
As we know now, the "Legend of the Rangers" pilot didn't do well enough to be picked up by the network.
All the old news of the main page has been moved to the top of this page. It dates back to October 2001 at the latest.
The SciFi Channel in the US have indeed commissioned a pilot for a new B5 movie as a pliot for a new series. The TV movie is to be called "Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers" (LotR anyone?). It will air in the USA in January 2002.
It's strongly rumoured that a new series based in the B5 universe is to be filmed, probably called "Rangers". This has yet to be confirmed at all officially but apparently comes from a relatively reliable rumour source... Meanwhile, Sci-Fi Channel in the US has picked up re-run rights for "Crusade".
Channel 4's run of Crusade has now finished. B5 continues on SciFi Channel in the UK. In the US, SciFi has B5 in widescreen and it's likely that Warners will produce a VHS version in the US in full widescreen.
PARTY!If you've been at all involved with Babblings over the years, or fancy a fun event with likeminded B5 fans, there will be a 5 years event (yes, it's that long) at Page's Bar in Westminster on Sunday 20th August 2000 from 5pm till closing time. No tickets - just turn up. Hope to see you there!
SciFi Channel recently showed (May) "River of Souls" & "Thirdspace".
Starfury conventions held their annual B5 convention last weekend (18/19 March) with quite a number of B5 guests. You can find incriminating photos on Paul Harper's (nee Twinkx) Web pages.
Warner Home video have launched CRUSADE. The first two volumes go on sale in March, with release continuing at a rate of one per month thereafter. The price is £12:99 but apparently it's possible to pick them up at 2 for 20 pounds. By collecting all but the last volume, you can collect tokens to get the last for free. It is possible though to simply buy the last video. Visit the Starfury Web page and go to the menu page to see copies of the video sleeves, plus some other info. Also, B5 will be released on DVD later in the year...
Some real news for a change: Channel 4 sneaked in a showing of "In the Beginning", the first of the B5 TV movies (if you exclude the pilot) on Sunday, 30th January. This is the first showing on TV in the UK.
Jerry Doyle has filed papers to stand as a Republican candidate for Congress in LA..
The box sets of widescreen versions of the B5 movies (which apparently don't include "The Gathering", the pilot) are out at HMV. However, they appear to be a mix of real widescreen and cropped ordinary (4:3) ratio! You can check out examples for yourself, thanks to Paul Harper.
Starfury conventions have announced that their convention in March 2000 will feature Andreas Katsulas, Peter Jurasik, Richard Biggs and Jason Carter. Wortham Krimmer, who portrayed the Emperor Cartagia, is also now due to appear. Andreas will be signing.
Crusade, the B5 spin-off series, has now finished its run on Sky One - no news as to any repeats. Babylon 5 continues to repeat on SciFi Channel and on Channel 4.
"A Call to Arms" is now out on video in the UK. A special edition box set including this and other B5 TV movies in the fiull 16:9 ratio that the series was shot in has now been released.
No news on any possible renewal for Crusade - the actors' options expired on July 15th. It's been reported that the actors would be keen to continue the series but of course will be increasingly tied up in other projects.
There's another campaign to save Crusade which is also encouraging UK viewers to contact Sci-Fi Channel (in the US) or TNT (again in the US) to support the program.
Please check out the
Support Babylon5 Page
on the official server.
The show has made it through to its final fifth season, thanks to the auspices of TNT in the US who provided extra funding. Warners will be revamping the Support B5 site to reflect this. In the meantime, there's still the spin-off series, "The Babylon Project: Crusade", to support! At present, the Support page is US-based: Channel 4's details for UK viewers can be found here.
Filming has recently taken place for the new B5 Space Flight Sim game (PC only) which re-united many cast members such as Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins.
The first episode of "Crusade", "War Zone", when it aired on TNT in the US, got a modest but ok viewing figure of 1.9.
Sky will not be showing the prequel B5 movie, "A Call to Arms", which is now available on video in the UK from 2nd August. Videos are also due for "Crusade".
It has been anounced that B5 is to be released on DVD in anamorphic (a form of widescreen) ratio - no word as to release dates.
A little while back, I started a site to collect votes for your favourite B5 episodes as part of the final Babblings event. Since I've forgotten to take it off-line, votes have continued to collect and I've decided that I might as well keep it going, though validation of the votes will be rare. You can go either to the voting form or straight to the summary of voting. I'll try to speed up this summary at some point.
If you're interested in getting B5 on DVD in anamorphic (a version of widescreen) format, there's now a petition Web site where you can register your interest.
This site has another icon to add at the bottom.. Apparently, it's 22nd out of 50 (wow...) in citiations (links) on the Net according to some automatic machine. Find out more (if you can be bothered) from the Links2Go icon at the bottom of the page.
TNT's Crusade web-site is now online.
"Sleeping in Light" has been nominated for a Hugo this year.
Crusade premièred on TNT in the US on 9th June. Its performance in the ratings over the episodes that have been filmed will finally decide whether there's any chance of the series been continued in some way. There is, needless to say, a save Crusade site.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America are to award the Bradbury Award to JMS for his work on Babylon 5. This is much coverted and occasionally given award. JMS will receive the award on May 1st.
The weekend of 20-21 March saw the Starfury convention, with guests from B5 (Jason Carter, "Marcus Cole", and Tim Choate, "Zathras"") and from Earth Final Conflict. See the cons page for more information.
Crusade has been cancelled, at least for the time being. Negotiations failed with SciFi Channel due to their budget constraints. The 13 episodes made for TNT will be aired but the series will be mothballed. The actors contracts last till July but they are being allowed to do other work in the meantime. A future for the show if nothing crops up before July, due to the difficulties in getting all the contracts renegotiated is doubtful. This news has been confirmed by JMS, as well as coming through sources such as Ain't It Cool News. There is a good interview with JMS about the whole situation in the June issue of "Dreamwatch" magazine. Netter Digital have a press release which talks about Crusade.
C4 have just finished screening B5 for the first time. "Sleeping in Light", the final episode, aired on 31 January 1999. From Sunday 7th February, C4 are now repeating the whole series and are into season 2.
Babblings 523 - Final Babblings took place on Sunday 7th February 1999 in London. This was intended to be a last big "Integer" meeting for Babblings. There was a Drazi War at lunchtime followed by fun and games at Page's Bar in Westminster. We'll watch your favourite three episodes of B5 too. There are more details if you're interested - anyone and everyone welcome (you'll need a ticket but there's no "membership").
A fine afternoon was spent on Saturday 7th January by a bunch of us atBabblings 522, chatting about B5 and watching the final five.
Jeffrey Willerth (the man under the Kosh costume, and Producer's Assistant on the show) is marrying Pat Tallman ("Lyta Alexander").
Vol5 Issue 5 of the Babylonian Times is now in the archive. This UK B5 e-mail newsletter, editted by Mike Broadhurst, has returned after an absence of a year or so. Subscription details on the archive page.
The latest B5 poll results give a full analysis of the results not only for the final episodes but also for all seasons, and the three TNT TV movies.
The official B5 magazine are planning to publish viewers' comments on the end of the main series in issue 10 - the submission deadline for views was 4th January though. You can read the invitation from the editor.
The final five of season 5 ran over Xmas from 28th December at 11:30am, showing daily in a cut form. C4 have been showing uncut repeats of these five episodes, weekly from 3rd January 1999 at around midnight. The SciFi Channel restart their repeats of the whole of Babylon 5 from the weekend of 9th January 1999, starting with a weekend dedicated to the series.
As a result of a hiatus in production as new opening episodes were added, and scheduling problems against the NBA playoffs, the launch of "Crusade" in the US has been pushed all the way back to June 3 1999. The B5 movie that sets up the plot for Crusade, "A Call to Arms", aired in the new year (99!) in the US.
If you're looking for reviews & information on the final epidodes, then take a look at Science Fiction Weekly's preview of the final episode.
How about voting for your favourite B5 stars in this celebrity poll!?
The Season 5 trading cards contain 81 basic cards, 22 autograph cards and 4 Chase sets.
Current reports are that the B5 Combat Sim from SierraFX will be PC only. If you're interested in seeing a Mac version, sign up at this petition site.
More pictures from Crusade are now available on the Excalibur Web site.
The NTSC-format laserdisk release of B5 by Image Entertainment won't be in widescreen. The Image Entertainment press release says that such a version doesn't exist. The full story is that only a PAL version exists of the full series - Warners don't want to spend the $1500 per show for the NTSC conversion.
The Who's Spoo gathering on Saturday 7th went off well, including The Hunt for the Edgars Virus - a "treasure" hunt round London - and evening imbibing in the White Swan in Pimlico.
The SciFi Channel showings of B5 have finished for the time being, having run through all of seasons 1 to 4. Channel 4 leading up to Xmas had been repeating B5 from the pilot on a Monday night.
Hot news from Channel 4 on their Web site:
OK, I've only kept you waiting as I wanted clarification from our scheduling department. We are repeating the whole of Babylon 5 (all series) starting on Sunday 15th November at 12.50. Scheduling have confirmed that this will not delay the final five episodes of the last series, and... I've been given special dispensation from scheduling to let you know that the final five episodes should be scheduled for some time around Christmas. I hope this answers some of your questions.
The first of the PsiCorp trilogy of books, "Dark Genesis", is now out in UK paperback (publ. Boxtree).
Voice Of the Resistance CON (VORCON) took place in California at the end of October and attracted a huge number of guests from B5, as well as other series. Reports have reached me though that the attendance numbers weren't as great as might have been expected - can anyone confirm this?
Season 5 has resumed airing in the US at the end of October. You can find a couple more reviews of the final five episodes, and of the third TV movie, "The River of Souls", on the Ain't It Cool News site.
Bill Mumy ("Lennier") now has his own Web site.
Apparently, Optic Nerve (Emmy award winners for their work on make-up for B5) have been taken on to do all the principal effects for the X-Files!
Wolf have some pictures on-line from this year's "Crusade" B5 con.
Ok, not exactly news, I know.. but as we're coming to the end of the original B5 series, perhaps you'd be interested in reading some of JMS's earliest posts about B5 on GEnie, just after the pilot was announced (around the end of 1991)...
Michael O'Hare has been signed up for the Telefantastique 2 con in July 1999.
It's that time of year again - Slow Dazzle's 1999 UK B5 calendar is now available.
Although it's not set yet, Evan Chen has been hired as composer for "Crusade" - he also wrote the score for "A Call to Arms". Who is he?.. This is what JMS had to say in answer to that (21 Sept 1998):
Evan's an amazing composer...he came out of Shanghai, studied music in
Russia and Germany, was fast becoming a leading, classically trained composer,
and discovered jazz in his twenties, dropped everything to come to Chicago and
study under some of the best jazz men around (even if it meant washing dishes
to get by). His stuff is the most amazing blend of asian influence, classical
instrumentation, jazz and rock backbeats I've ever heard, even using asian
scales (somewhat different from western musical scales) in unexpected places
to make western music sound totally different.
For a show as different as this, I wanted a completely different,
totally unique sound, something I've never heard before, and Evan Chen has it.
jms
There's a snap of the new crew of the Exaclibur in "Crusade" doing the rounds. Pretty poor quality but it does show the new uniforms.
Warners have just put the brakes on one of the video clips archive sites, the ISN Network. According to JMS this is because clips are covered by residuals clauses and the like and so require specific waivers from various guilds to avoid pay-outs to writers, directors, actors, etc. Apparently it was to avoid this that Warners stomped on ISN and shouldn't reflect a change in the general Web policy...
I've updated the B5 magazine information page.
It seems that Ain't It Cool News has an in-road to the Crusade set. They last week reported that TNT had written a memo wanting more sex & violence in Crusade. At the weekend (19 Sept.), JMS confirmed that such a memo existed but that the most excessive requests had been dealt with. On top of that, TNT have put up more money for sets, etc.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) have been signed up in some consultancy capacity to advise on technology and physics in Crusade. There's more information in JPL's press release on the matter (including an image on the new space craft on which Crusade is set, the Excalibur).
John Copeland was recently interviewed in the US "TV Guide" - there's some interesting information about Crusade, including further casting details.
There's an article on the Sierra On-Line's up coming B5 Space Combat Simulator game on Next Generation magazine's Web site.
You can find a broad-brush review of the as yet unaired final episodes of season 5 here - TV listing style plot overviews for the first 4, no plot information for the final episode, "Sleeping in Light".
If you haven't seen it, take a look at the Babylon Park site (some understanding of "South Park" required!).
At the Wrap Party (21-24 August 98), two visits to the "Crusade" set were auctioned for 6000 and 5000 pounds each to two group of 4 people. This puts into the shade the 1600 pounds that was received at Wolf's con a few weeks before for a photo of pretty much all the B5 actors plus JMS, John Copeland and others, signed by everyone in the photo. (Of course that 1600 was bid by one person!).
Sonic Images really have been busy! As of 25th August they release another 8 episodic soundtracks: "Chrysalis", "The Coming of Shadows", "War Without End: Part 1", "War Without End: Part 2" "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi", "The Long Night", "Lines of Communication", "Endgame".
Sonic Images have released the music from "In the Beginning". Soundtracks for "Thirdspace" and for the re-editted version of "The Gathering" (the B5 feature-length pilot) will follow in September.
The final episodes of season 5 have been delayed in the UK. This was posted by Channel 4 on the discussion forum of their Web site:
B5 will be taking a break after Monday, 3 August for a while. This is because the distributors will not allow us to screen any more until the remaining episodes have been transmitted in America. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.Gary Cole (of "American Gothic" and "Midnight Caller" fame) has been signed up for the lead in "Crusade", playing Captain Matthew Gideon.
Looks like Warner Bros. (or TNT?) are preparing their Crusade Web site - if you get stalled at an animated front page, try linking straight into the main page of the site.
Well, the "In the Beginning" première and another Wolf359 convention have come and gone... You'll find reports and photos building up over the next few days.. Last update: 29 July.
The video of "In the Beginning" was released on Monday 27th July and "Thirdspace" in September. Both of these titles premièd on video.
If you haven't visited Sonic Images' Web site recently, you may not have seen an interview with Chris Franke concerning the second B5 symphonic CD.
A number of pewter figures (characters and ships), and keychains have now been licensed for manufacture. Prices in the US are around $20 per characters figures; around $7 per keychain.
The Wrap Party had a surprise - JMS brought a rough cut of one of the new TV movies, "The River of Souls".
Jerry Doyle and Bruce Boxleitner played a charity tennis match at a David Lloyd centre in West London on 24th July, organised by Wolf359 during their visit for the "Crusade" convention. The event was in aid of the British Heart Foundation. Bruce beat Jerry (though Jerry was suffering with broken toes).
B5 is finally getting a release on laserdisk (at least in the US). See the preview page on Image Entertainment's site. The laserdisks won't be in widescreen format - at least in part because JMS didn't know of the plans till it was too late!
There's now a B5 cookbook! "Dining on Babylon 5 - The Ultimate Collection of Space Station Cuisine; Human Edition" is published by Boxtree, costs 14.99 UK pounds, and is authored by "Emerson Briggs-Wallace" of Fresh Air and Steve Smith..
From August 3, the SciFi Channel in the UK have picked up Babylon 5 for repeat showing (uncut), starting with seasons 1 to 3, then starting again to run through seasons 1 to 5. The show is on 5 nights a week at 9pm.
Don't forget that as well as late-breaking information on conventions and meetings on this page, you can also find advance information about B5 conventions on the umtsb5 FAQ conventions page!
JMS recently revealed some mild spoiler information on the timeline of events at the end of "Babylon 5" and the start of "Crusade".
For all of you who missed the Edinburgh Alliance's song-and-dance show "A Night Down Below", you'll find photos on Paul Harper's new Web site! (I'd recommend the CD to the tone deaf with a sense of humour :-) ).
Despite the late-night repeat on Channel 4 supposedly being uncut, the repeat of "In the Kingdom of the Blind" was somewhat cut..
There has been a lot of toing-and-froing on the subject of the screening of "In the Beginning" in London, especially since JMS posted a message on the main UK B5 newsgroup claiming that the screening was intended originally to be for free to fans. Wolf359's position is that they were simply acting as agents for Warners in the UK and for a while had a statement to that effect on their Web site. The August 1998 issue of SFX also contains an article on some of the background to this affair. The upshot was that those who paid for tickets got the tickets and a refund and the event still took place.
Babylon 5 didn't pick up enough votes for any one episode this year to be in the shortlist for a Hugo - a number of episodes managed however to just miss a nomination!
The follow-on series, "Crusade: The Babylon Project", is confirmed - filming started at the beginning of August 1998 and will begin airing in January 1999, following the fourth B5 TV movie, "A Call to Arms"... "Crusade" follows on very directly from events & revelations in the fifth season and "A Call to Arms", though with a mainly new cast.
Season 5 started airing on 12th April, as originally announced on C4's discussion forum, originally in a 12:40pm slot (now 1:40pm).
According to thestation.com, the fan club's site, the third TV movie is titled "River of Souls" and deals with immortality and the soul. The cast includes Martin Sheen and Ian McShane.
While you're at TNT's B5 Web site, keep a close eye out - there's a link to a hidden "Gray 17" section that comes and goes at random!
This following section dates back to 25 August 1998 at the latest.
The final episodes of season 5 have been delayed in the UK. This was posted by Channel 4 on the discussion forum of their Web site:
B5 will be taking a break after Monday, 3 August for a while. This is because the distributors will not allow us to screen any more until the remaining episodes have been transmitted in America. We'll keep you posted on any further developments.This can also be confirmed by B5's absence from Channel 4's schedules...
The SciFi Channel in the UK have picked up Babylon 5 for repeat showing (uncut), starting with seasons 1 to 3, then starting again to run through seasons 1 to 5. The show is on 5 nights a week at 9pm.
Gary Cole (of "American Gothic" and "Midnight Caller" fame) has been signed up for the lead in "Crusade", playing Captain Matthew Gideon.
Vol5 Issue 4 of the Babylonian Times is now in the archive. This UK B5 e-mail newsletter, editted by Mike Broadhurst, has returned after an absence of a year or so. Subscription details on the archive page.
The latest B5 poll results in (22nd July) are an update with results for "Thirdspace" and up to episode 17 ("Movements of Fire and Shadow") of season 5.
There has been a lot of toing-and-froing on the subject of the screening of "In the Beginning" in London, especially since jms posted a message on the main UK B5 newsgroup claiming that the screening was intended originally to be for free to fans. Wolf359's position is that they were simply acting as agents for Warners in the UK and for a while had a statement to that effect on their Web site. The upshot was that those who paid for tickets got the tickets and a refund.
The follow-on series, "Crusade: The Babylon Project", is confirmed - filming beganin August 1998 and will begin airing in January 1999.. It follows on very directly from events & revelations in the fifth season though with a mainly new cast.
It's all over, bar the airing.. The final episode of the series has been shot, bringing to an end the five year story. Movies and the possible follow-on story "Crusade" still await, but the arc as we've known it is "in the can"..
Peter Jurasik's book, "Diplomatic Act", is due out in August (the hardback US edition will be ISBN 671-87788-7 at a cost of US$22).
Following "In the Beginning", there are another 3 TV movies to air - "Thirdspace" will air in the US on 19th July; the following two (no titles yet) are scheduled for 23rd November and 3rd January.
"Mac Format" magazine recently reviewed the B5 reference CD. Pretty much agreed with my view that it's nice but lacks long-term depth - they award a mark of 69%. Mac Format have a Web site, though it's not especially up-to-date!
Art versus reality - a strange resemblance...
The showing of the new TV movie "In the Beginning" on TNT went well. According to JMS, the audience was triple the usual figures for the previous PTEN distribution, and the numbers built every quarter of an hour, indicating that more people were starting in half-way through than were leaving. TNT are said to be "dancing in the aisles". The re-editted pilot which followed directly after ItB also did extremely well. There's more in this press release from TNT.
The first of the new TV movies, "In the Beginning", may well air in the Autumn in the UK, if a recent article on C4 teletext (p 117) is to be believed..
No decision has yet been made as to whether C4 will buy the spin-off TV movies - most recently they were waiting for Warner Bros to organise a screening.
Claudia Christian (Susan Ivanova) is not in season 5, for rather murky reasons - you can read what appears to be both sides of the story on the matter... The new character to fill the vacant slot is named Captain Elizabeth Lochley - the character is played by Tracy Scoggins.
Sierra Online have now released their B5 CD-ROM Encyclopedia, entitled "The Official Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon5". It's a mixed format (PC Win95 & Mac) product. There are two CDs - the first is the encyclopedia CD-ROM; the second is multi-format. As an audio CD it features a selection of Chris Franke tracks, some from the existing CDs and some new. As a multimedia CD-ROM it features interviews and a trailer for Sierra's upcoming B5 game. The game is due out around next Summer. The Guide can be ordered on-line.
The Revel Monogram Starfury model kits are now out and in the shoge.
New merchandising now available includes 5 soundtrack CDs released by Sonic Image. You can order directly from Sonic Images or alternatively shops like Forbidden Planet are stocking them. The CDs contain the complete music sound track from each of 5 episodes - "Severed Dreams", "Late Delivery from Avalon", "Walkabout", "Shadow Dancing" and "Z'Ha'Dum".
Shooting of season 5 started on the 18th August 1997.
Slow Dazzle have a preview available of their 1998 Official UK B5 calendar, including thumbnails of the 12 images.
B5 won the 1997 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation for "Severed Dreams" - you can find out more, including the results when they're out, on the WorldCon Web site.
The US TV Guide Web site ran an issue in 97 with a lot of B5 features.
The US MacUser (of all things) recently ran a long article on-line about B5: the show, its effects and its Net presence.
JMS continues to set records - he's now the first person in the history of TeeVee to write 50 'one-hour' episodes in a row. You can read Warner's press release on the matter here.
Fleer will not only be putting out a third annual set of trading cards in October, but they've also put out a "Babylon 5: Special Edition" set (out now). More info was provided by Stephen Smith in the 5th May Zocalo e-zine.
Season 5 was renewed with money from TNT (who've also funded the 2 TV movies and re-editting of the pilot). There's an interesting and comprehensive statement from TNT on the Lurker's Guide covering this and other issues.
Warner Bros. ran an interactive poll on the official Web site, voting for fans' choices for best villian, hero, species, special effects, guest star and episode from each of the show's four seasons. The results can be found on the website and will be turned into a special Babylon 5 "Salute To The Fans" 1998 Calendar.
Look out for B5 action figures. They are to be released in groups of 3, individually boxed, each about 10" high. First set is Sheridan, Delenn and G'Kar; second is Londo, Ivanova and Kosh; third includes Garibaldi. 9" action figures are also now out in the US- check out the FAQ merchandise page.
B5 merchandise, especially book related, is available also from Antioch Publishing (updated URL).
It was reported by Andrew Mason on umtsb5 that S4C (the Welsh version of Channel 4) claimed that Channel 4 had set a date of April 14th to begin season 4 transmission in the UK. Apparently either this was completely wrong or else C4 have revised their schedules since then (possibly due to the election).
Neter Digital have put out a press release confirming TNT's deal for B5, and two new TV movies. (JMS has confirmed that this does not preclude possibilities for season 5.)
Sonic Images have expanded their Web pages again - they now have a new sound clips page which includes clips from the TV show as well as the two sound-track CDs. You can see the cover art for the CDs on Paul Harper's Web pages.
Optimistic news from jms from February:
The B5 uncut petition to Channel 4 has closed with 2500 names, and this despite a hard-disk crash which lost all the names half-way through.. (If you want to send a letter to C4 asking for a later time-slot for B5, check out the petition pages for address details).
B5 has done well in the 1996 SFX Readers Awards. A breakdown of results can be found on the Other Info page.
The role playing game from Chameleon Eclectic is being distributed by Titan in the UK (and Europe). The first book in what will be an ongoing series is "The Babylon Project Rule Book". Published at 14.99 UK pounds, written by Joseph Cochran, ISBN 1 85286 852 X, it should now be available. I have a separate Web page with further information on a dedicated mailing list and the C.E. Web site.
The second B5 soundtrack CD can be ordered from Sonic Images' Web site. There are audio clips and bits of artwork on the site too - this site was also previously used to encourage the audience to suggest tracks from seasons 2 and 3 for inclusion on the CD.
It was reported by Andrew Mason on umtsb5 that S4C (the Welsh version of Channel 4) claimed that Channel 4 had set a date of April 14th to begin season 4 transmission in the UK. Apparently either this was completely wrong or else C4 have revised their schedules since then (possibly due to the election).
Stories going round that the arc has to be concluded by the end of season 4 (especially in "TV Zone" magazine in the UK) are just rumours. According to jms, these rumours and reports were started on the basis of a position about 3 months ago. Things are looking a lot better with good viewing figures for the new season in the US, and nothing has been decided about the next season yet!
The possible follow-up series to B5 would be called "The Babylon Project: Crusade" and would focus on the exploits of the Rangers. In addition, TNT are interested in two spin-off TV movies to air when they being daily repeats of all the seasons, after season 5 (in 1998). Further information on the content of at least one of the movies is available on a separate page.
B5 has nominated for another award, the American Cinema Foundation's 1997 E Pluribus Unum Awards. The awards honor a creative or performing talent in the industry whose body of work best uses film to "positively address values crucial to the civic health of America." it carries a $10,000 prize. Other nominees include "A Family Thing," "The Birdcage," Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," "7th Heaven," "Dave's World," and many others.
Repeats of the remainder of season 1 resumed (after Xmas 95) on Channel 4 on Tuesday 26th November at 6.00 pm (the old timeslot!) with episode 10, "Believers", and finished (yes, sorry - you missed it!) with a late showing for "TKO" at the beginning of February.
If you haven't seen them already, take a look at the images and clips in the Special Elements section of the Official B5 Web site. Especially worth a look are the calendar frames.. (different from the Slow Dazzle calendar).
Voting under the Call For Votes for a change in the charter of the uk.media.tv.sf.babylon5 newsgroup and for establishing a new group to discuss matters arrising from non-TV material closed on 23:59:59 GMT, 10th December 1996. This resulted in a new group, uk.media.tv.sf.babylon5.misc and appropriate new charters.
The owner of the B5 poll, Mike Hopkins, now keeps both the most recent results and a current all-episodes summary on-line. (You can find the current results, and more interesting sets of previous results on my page).
There's a set of commemorative plates on the way - the designs are still being approved though.
The UK B5 Fan Club have moved address to:
Foundation Imaging are no longer doing the graphics for B5 - allegedly(!), they wanted a large raise and were going to be assigning more junior animators to the project. The good news is that most of the animators who have previously worked on the show will be working within the new set-up. In fact, Netter Digital Entertainment (the parent company of Babylonian Productions) will be doing the effects - basically, they've being brought in-house.
B5 has been awarded the 1996 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (for the season 2 episode "The Coming of Shadows"). This episode was top of the B5 poll for a long while, only recently being toppled by "Severed Dreams" and probably "Z'Ha'Dum".
The Official Fan Club (to which I'm in no way connected!) now has their own Web site which is now officially on-line.
Back in February '96, "People" magazine ran a cover story on the birth of Melissa Gilbert (Mrs Boxleitner) and Bruce Boxleitner's new child, Michael Garrett.
Check out the Babblings Home Page for pictures and reports of the past Babblings meetings, and info on future events.
Andy Thomas at Durham Uni. has a page of 1995 Wolf 359 convention photos, including piccies of JMS ("The Great Maker"), Michael ("Sinclair") O'Hare and Ed ("Boo Hiss, Morden") Wasser! James Petry has a site with more photos from Wolf 359 and from Babcom events.
For details of full conventions (as opposed to drunken revels in pubs), check out the convention section of the umtsb5 Frequently Asked Questions info.
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