We’ve had a bunch of people mention that it would be nice to have a little more information in the titles about the content of the episodes. I’m also making mental notes about improvements to the site layout.

First, what are your thoughts on having episode titles here be more like the ones we use over at Slice of SciFi?

For example, we’d have:

Babylon Podcast #162: Interview with JMS, Part 2
Babylon Podcast #163: Feedbackapalooza
Babylon Podcast #167: Season 5: Day of the Dead

instead of just the show numbers alone as episode titles.

Also, I’ve already added highly improved buttons to add individual articles to various aggregate or social media sites (the Share/Save tags at the end of each article), plus a ratings gizmo, so you can rate an article or episode on a scale of 1-5 stars.

Would that help or detract from what you need or like to see on the website?

If there are any other suggestions for the website (aside from more photos and screenshots), now’s the time to voice them to get them considered!

Welcome to Show #167!

If you had the means, would you pay $225,000 a bottle for tequila?

In July 2263, Garibaldi embarks on a secret project to reverse-engineer Minbari and Vorlon technology in order to speed up construction of Destroyer Class White Star ships. Did this lead to the construction of Excalibur, and the larger cruiser we saw in Lost Tales?

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Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer disagree on “Day of the Dead”, and boy, do we chat about THAT difference of opinion! Written by Neil Gaiman, it’s the first produced episode not written by JMS since Season 2 (since “Knives”?).

Tim thinks it’s a weak effort, and Summer thinks it’s one of the better episodes of Season 5 (and everyone knows how Summer feels about most of Season 5). But Summer still calls shenanigans on Tim’s refusal to accept quantum physics as a way to explain how that section of B5 becomes linked to the Brakiri homeworld.

Would seeing Marcus have made more of an impact on Lennier than seeing Morden? Would that appearance have co-opted the hope that Marcus was not dead, but in suspended animation, awaiting a technological advance that could successfully revive him?

Feedback: Ask, and ye shall receive: Jarsto surfaces to lay the correction smackdown!

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate to the show!

Promo: Carology!
Promo: Slice of SciFi

Welcome to Show #166!

Tim is Tim, Jeffrey is Summer, and Gary is Jeffrey. It’s so confusing…

The guys discuss the “Ten Women Who Get a Really Raw Deal in B5″ list, which you can find at The Completely Useless Guide to B5.

Gary is disappointed that Vol 2 of “Asked & Answered” doesn’t have its own introduction, but other than that all expectations were met, and he’s saving it for voicemails.

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Deep Geeking: Tim and Gary talk about the developments and character shifts from “Secrets of the Soul”. The first secret revolves around Byron discovering the extent of the Vorlon’s involvement in the creation of telepaths, and the guys chat about Byron’s dramatic shift from peaceful resistance to enraged outcast because of that new knowledge.

The other secret involves the long-held secret of the Hyach and how Dr Franklin discovers that the results of their actions centuries ago was the instrument of their own eventual decline.

Feedback: Gary responds to one of his own voicemails, letting us know that he’s swamped with Parsecs submissions, and leaves us to mull over the “censorship” of the showing of Centauri female genitalia. Meta Gary Moment!

Halfway Day means we’re halfway through the calendar year… and now we know!

In emails, Brian in NY wonders if a reinvisioning or a rebooting of Babylon 5 be good enough or if a new storyline would be better; Maureen is still working her wa through the podcast backlog, and wants to know what happened to Jarsto; Michael comments on Tim and Summer could be missing that B5 had a greater cultural impact than we realized.

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate to the show!

Promo: British Invaders
Promo: Carology!

Welcome to Show #165!

Jeffrey and Michael were low on scotch and tequila, and it shows. The conversation heads into a downward spiral until folks start wondering where exactly potential skinny dippers would skinny dip either on the station or various planets around the Interstellar Alliance.

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Deep Geeking: Tim, Summer and Jeffrey discuss “Strange Relations”, and how previously unrevealed interpersonal relationships begin to lead to shifting allegiances and alliances.

Feedback: Edmund adds his two cents on where the original Season 4/5 break would have happened and what Season 5 would have looked like had we known sooner that there would be a Season 5 and had JMS not lost his notes; Andrew also adds his voice to the legions that want to see a continuation/conclusion to the Crusade story line in any format; Rapid Eye sticks up for Jeffrey… sort of.

Jeffrey tells us about a rare B5 collectible: a miniature bus stop diarama with a B5 promo ad on the side of the tiny bus, made by TNT to promote the show. And fans express their desire to see more of our favorite ISN anchor, Jane Nolastname.

Hilary sends in an email expressing her disappointment with the shoe-horning in of the background relationship between Sheridan and Lochley; Brian also muses on the sudden appearance of life pods on the station (where were they before, and after “View From the Gallery”?)

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate!

Promo: The Weird Show
Promo: Carology!

The Babylon Podcast is a finalist for a Parsec Award, in the category of “Best Speculative Fiction Fan Podcast”!

We’re up against The Signal, The 9th, The ScapeCast, and Tuning Into SciFi TV, with the winners to be announced at Dragon*Con.

See the website for a list of all finalists in all categories.

Many thanks to those who voted to get us nominated, and wish us luck!

Welcome to Show #164!

No Jeffrey this week, he’s off being the big-time Hollywood producer. We miss the Vorlon, but he’s being wined and dined, so it’s all good.

Tim comments on his copy of “Asked and Answered: Volume 1″, and the slight differences between the finished version and the pre-production versions we’d already seen, and more.

Summer also regales the audience with select readings from her copy of the Fan Club provided “Crusade Writers Bible”, hopefully addressing some of the questions about Gideon’s Apocalypse Box, and Dureena’s proposed destiny.

And yes, the red Fan Club stamp means it’s official, so go ahead and buy that copy off of eBay, Gary.

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Feedbackapalooza: Continuing the feedback from the previous show! Because of how much feedback we’ve been getting, we’re going to start including a few voicemails in each show, and hopefully keep them closer to the related shows.

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate!

Promo: Tuning Into SciFi TV: The “Torchwood: Children of Earth” Specials

Welcome to Show #163!

In-A-Kosha-Da-Vida has affected Jeffrey’s mind. There are so many “days” on July 1st and 2nd, it’s amazing people get anything done in early July.

Who knew there was a Ducktona 500 and a Kenducky Derby?

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Feedbackapalooza: Tim and Summer try to burn through the buildup of voicemails, and we haven’t even gotten to the ones commenting on the JMS interview yet.

And yes, we’re going to start throwing in more voicemails during the regular shows from here on out… otherwise, we’d easily start running over an hour fifteen on Feedbackapalooza shows!

Babylon 5 Musical Project Suggestions: We need a B5 or Vorlon version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, and a West Side Story parody with B5 themed modifications. Get your imaginations churning, and send ‘em in!

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate!

Promo: Slice of SciFi
Promo: Can’t Stop the Serenity 2009: Benefiting Equality Now

This coming weekend, July 2-5th, Westercon 62 (FiestaCon) is being held in Tempe AZ, at the very nice Tempe Mission Palms Resort and Hotel.

When I saw that they were including a Babylon 5 panel (for the first time in a long time), I knew I needed to be the moderator!

BABYLON 5: THE ENDURING LEGACY: It’s been over 15 years since Babylon 5 debuted. Our panel looks back at the series and how it has influenced the
genre and looks ahead to what there might be in the future.
Fri 6-7p, Abbey South room. Summer Brooks (moderator), Lee Whiteside, Eytan Kollin

I’m going to try to record the panel, and if I’m successful, it’ll eventually be posted here.

Welcome to Show #162!

Never Surrender Dreams.

And now, we bring you Part 2 of The JMS Interview!

In this hour, JMS talks more with Tim and Summer about the development of Babylon 5 and the pros and cons of continuing or expanding the series, the real reason for putting his foot down on “big budget or nothing”, the broader realities of the hammer lock of Warner Bros has on any future “expanded universe” properties, the personal influences on his writing, and related reflections on family, both born and made, and last but not least, the ever-changing relationships with the fans, both in cyberspace and on the convention circuits.

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Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now part of the village that encompasses Third Life Books. You can find the village at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49.

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.

Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer.

If you can, Please Donate!

Promo: Slice of SciFi

Congratulations to our 5 winners of a downloadable copy of the Harlan Ellison documentary, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH:

Josh Bernhard, Val Smith, Neil Ottentstein, Gary Lindros, and Jeffrey Squires