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The navigational buttons above will take you to the various pages at The Zocalo Today! Please feel free to wander about. There's a lot to see.
UPDATES: I know it may be hard to find the things that have been added to the page each day, so
I'm going to try a couple of different methods. Today, I'll use this color for all updates. Tomorrow the update's
information will revert to the color of the rest of the page. Only updates will be in this color. Hopefully this will help
you identify NEW items.
Again, WELCOME!
Need help in getting a copy, drop me a note. I can pick them up as long as they are on the newstands near me.
In a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Cable and Newtork Features, SCI FI picked up the rights to all 112 hour-long episodes of the series, as well as four two-hour telefilms based on the show.
"Babylon 5 is one of sci-fi fans' favorite series. We are thrilled to be able to add it to our schedule," said Bonnie Hammer, executive vice president and general manager of The SCI FI Channel.
The series, which won an Emmy for visual effects in 1993, was created by J. Michael Straczynski and was co-executive produced by Straczynski and Douglas Netter. It stars Bruce Boxleitner, Michael O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Andrea Thompson, Jeff Conaway, Bill Mumy, Jerry Doyle, Tracy Scoggins and Claudia Christian.
A Ranger sent this along from Variety...
Story Filed: Wednesday, April 05, 2000 12:42 AM EST
NEW YORK (Variety) - The Sci Fi Channel has ponied up about $12 million to buy the exclusive rerun rights to Warner Bros. Cable's "Babylon 5."
Warner Bros. and Sci Fi declined to discuss financial details, but industry sources say Sci Fi will pay $97,500 an hour for 120 hours, covering 112 series episodes and four two-hour "Babylon 5" movies. License term runs from September, when the series kicks off on Sci Fi nightly, through December 2003.
Series, set on a space station in the year 2258, has taken an unusual distribution journey, starting in first-run TV syndication, where it aired 1993-97.
TNT bought the reruns for stripping during the 1997-98 season, commissioned the four two-parters and decided to keep the series in production for an additional season as a boost to its sister company, Warner Bros. Cable.
Awarded an Emmy for visual effects in 1993, "Babylon 5" was created by J. Michael Straczynski. Cast includes Bruce Boxleitner, Michael O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Andrea Thompson, Jeff Conaway, Bill Mumy, Jerry Doyle, Tracy Scoggins and Claudia Christian.
I did find a Sci-Fi Channel website for our favorite show http://www.scifi.com/babylon5/. Unfortunately, it's the UK-Sci-Fi Channel, not the one in the US. Drop over and have a peek anyway. I'll have to work on getting something out at OUR Sci-Fi Channel.
Want to be included? Send me a note with your your name, city and country. The deadline for adding your name will be April 30.
Here is the listing so far! Thanks to SFC!
As I write this, we are finishing production on a new MURDER, SHE WROTE TV movie (I'm on as producer and writer), which is tentatively slated to air May 18th on CBS. The TV movie is entitled "A Story to Die For," and co-stars Richard Crenna and a lot of other folks including, in a strong supporting role, Daniel Dae Kim.
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~fleming/PetitionCampaign.html
Good hunting. Now go forth and multiply! --Armen Kurdian
Marjean Holden will become a regular on "Beastmaster". She will be going back to Austrlia soon. Season Two filming begins April 11. Marjean's episodes, as her new character Arina, begin in May.
Daniel Kim is working on a Murder, She Wrote movie of the week. Guess who the writer is? Yes, none other than J. Michael Straczynski.
Stephen Furst will provide one of the voices for one of the Space Rangers in the upcoming "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command'' coming to ABC and UPN in October. Walt Disney Television Animation is producing 65 episodes of ``Buzz'' -- 52 for UPN's ``Disney's One Too'' and 13 for ABC's Saturday morning lineup. Read all about it at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000303/en/television-lightyear_1.html.
Peter Woodward is currently working on an upcoming pilot entitled "MK3", a contempory version of "The Three Musketeers". Peter will play the 'Richelieu' role. It is being produced by Warner Brothers for Fox, hopefully for the fall season.
Last night John Vickery (Neroon, Mr. Welles) appeared in "Early Edition", and was hilarious as an amateur ham actor who always speaks from the diaphragm but occasionally forgets his fake English accent. You thought he was going to be the villain, because he tried to burn the theater down. Turns out he only had stage fright about having a part where he actually had to speak!
The real villain was another old friend, Marie Marshall (Dodger), excellent as the play's director who was actually a con artist. She was so good she made her last-minute redemption believable instead of 1940s-movie corny. Well, it was a little corny, but it was nice corn.
It was a treat to hear John Vickery read lines from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" over the action of the play during the last part of the episode.
The Shop will open this week! Photo Shop.
Here's a description of the jacket: This black, brushed twill jacket has a blue satin lining and is pleated in the back. There is an embroidered B5 on the front, a starburst on the back, a ranger patch on the right sleeve and a B5 shield on the left sleeve. With each purchase you also get a free B5 Fan Club button and Agamemnon hat.Visit The Station for details.
If you are having a problem finding the magazine, let me know. I can usually come up with copies of current issues.
The Fan Club has a lot of the back issues of the magazine over at
www.thestation.com in The Emporium. A listing will go up today with some of the more recent magazines, along with the much sought after
Issue #1, Volume #1. So be sure to check out ISN later today and see what magazines you still need to complete your set.
JMS gives us a snapshot of how he writes "Rising Stars" in the JMS Speaks section. It's an interesting read, so don't miss it.
Just got a note with some good news for French-speaking fans of Rising Stars.
The first volume translated into French appeared last week. Each volume includes 52 pages. In
volume #1, you'll find issues #1 and #2 of the original version. They will be printed twice-monthly,
distributed in France, Switzerland, and Canada. Thanks Ranger Catherine for the info.
Shipping in April: Rising Stars #0
Find out how it all began. Top Cow is pleased to re-present the first introductory story of
Rising Stars here in the acclaimed Rising Stars #0. What if a world without heroes suddenly
had 113 of them? How would the rest of humanity react? More importantly, how would those 113
souls now fit in to normal life? Written and created by acclaimed television writer J. Michael
Straczynski (Babylon 5, Crusade) and drawn by the highly talented Keu Cha (Darkness/Witchblade),
this special issue establishes the compelling world of Rising Stars!
Rising Stars #0 issue will ship with an all new cover by artist Keu Cha.
NEED HELP IN GETTING RISING STARS?
I am very fortunate to have 2 comic stores that order a lot of issues of "Rising Stars". Since I am
picking up a couple of copies for friends already, I was wondering if there are others I can send the
comic book to -- setting up a sort of mailing list for "Rising Stars". If you are interested, drop me
a note at sgbruckner@aol.com.
Rising Stars has done *extremely* well for Top Cow, to the point where they asked me if I'd like my own imprint. I said I'd be flattered. They wanted to know what we should call it. I looked around at all the other heightened titles -- Chaos, Awesome, Megadeathtech kinds of titles designed to be impressive and massive -- and said, "How about just...Joe's Comics?" As in, "I'd like some of Joe's Comics," or "Read at Joe's," with a big 1950s diner clock logo. They thought it was a great idea.
So the imprint starts this fall: mini-series, maxi-series, one shots and the like, which I'll write and TC will print. The basic deal is: I write whatever I want, and they publish it. It's a terrific deal, and the TC folks are amazing to work with.
For more in depth info, see the Wizard issue.
(More announcements to come soon, including prose stuff, web stuff, and the reason I was on a soundstage today watching my words being filmed.)
"I need you to get me elected because my first act in Congress will be to put Babylon 5 back on in prime time," Doyle said to the wildly cheering audience. He added that he will rely on word of mouth among SF fans--something a professional political fund-raiser advised him against. "She said to me, 'If you think you're going to get elected to Congress on the backs of a bunch of sci-fi geeks, don't give up your day job.'" Doyle said. "So I say, 'Geeks! Rise up! Prove her wrong!'"
In a prelude to his campaign speech, Doyle alluded to issues that matter to him, including education and taxes, but didn't go into detail on his proposed policies. He said his campaign is creating a Web site at www.jerrydoyle.com. And he said he needed to raise between $750,000 to $1 million to mount a credible campaign. "The goal is to get to Washington so maybe we can clean up a few things back there," he said.
If you would like to support Jerry in his bid for Congress, send in a donation to his campaign before May 15.
a. No corporate checks are allowed
b. No donations greater than $1000 are allowed
c. You must be a US citizen to contribute
d. You must provide your name, address, occupation and employer for FEC reporting purposes.
Send your contributions to:
DOYLE FOR CONGRESS
22287 Mulholland Hwy. #344
Calabasas, CA 91302
Visit Jerry's new website at www.jerrydoyle.com .
Jeffrey is setting up some chats (5pm PST; 8pm EST) you might be interested in:
Sunday, April 23, Tim Earls (designer for Star Trek Voyager -- and artist for Babylon 5) and Mojo (Star Trek/
Foundation Imaging).
There are a couple of regular chats that you might want to take advantage. One is over at About.com. Mike Helba has organized a weekly chat on Wednesdays at 10pm EST. http://babylon5.about.com/entertainment/babylon5/mpchat.htm.
On the first Sunday of the month, there will be a chat at Groucho's Babylon 5 Calvalcade beginning at 5:30pm ET. Groucho's is a good place to drop over and chat anytime.
The Official Babylon 5 Magazine is indexed here as well. With the closure of the magazine in May, you'll want to see which magazines you have -- and which ones you will want to collect. The index may help you make a decision on which ones to choose. The Fan Club has many of the issues at thestation.com , making it very easy to complete your collection.
If you have magazines that have featured Babylon 5 or Crusade that are not listed, send along their issue number and a note to indicate what the article was about. It would be nice to have a fairly comprehensive listing of Babylon 5 publications here.
OFFICIAL BABYLON 5 MAGAZINE - Issue #22 Jason Carter talks about his character Marcus Cole and some
upcoming projects. The B5 Chronology continues; as does "The Making of Babylon 5". The long-awaited new B5
short story by JMS entitled "Hidden Agendas".
OFFICIAL BABYLON 5 MAGAZINE - Issue #21 . Mira Furlan looks back on her five years as Delenn on Babylon 5 and talks a
little about upcoming projects. Joe Nazzaro begins a series on "The Making of Babylon 5". In part one, he reviews the pilot,
season one and two. Gropos is the Station Log for this issue. Also included is a wonderful interview with Larry DiTillio, story
editor for the series in the early days. Don't miss the next installment of the B5 Chronology!
OFFICIAL BABYLON 5 MAGAZINE - Issue #20 . The theme of this issue is "Time Travel". Stephen C. Smith examines
the nature of time travel and looks at the science behinnd the time travel events in Babylon 5. The special Babylon 5
timeline continues in this issue. War Without End - Part 2 is featured in the Station Log and Zathras takes center stage
in a number of features. I have to admit, the feature on The Zocalo Today is really, really nice!
** NEED COPIES! Drop me a line and I'll see what I can do!
April Birthdays:
Christopher Franke, April 6
Michael Ansara, April 15
Events in B5 History from the B5 Chronology by Terry Jones:
2156
Wednesday April 7th.The Centauri Republic make contact with Earth, claiming to be an immense star empire.They say Earth is their lost Colony Beta 9 and trade treaties are negotiated allowing Earth ships access to Centauri jump gates.The humans later learn that the Centauri claims about their empire are exaggerated and DNA samples from them show no relation between Centauri and humans.The Centauri explain this as a clerical error,thinking Earth was Beta 9 instead of Beta 12.
Data from J.Michael Straczynski "Midnight On The Firing Line" Garibaldi and Londo discuss the early days after the two worlds made contact. Franklin elaborates on the early days in The Long Dark.The date of first contact with the Centauri from Dark Genesis:The Birth Of The Psi Corps.
2161
Sunday April 12th.Legislation is passed and the Psi Corps is formed, replacing the Metasensory Regulation Authority.With Lee Crawford assassinated Kevin Vacit,still secretly aiding the resistance, is made Director of Psi Corps.As a consequence telepaths face the choice of joining the Corps,jail or the weekly administration of telepathic suppressants.
2223
April --Psi Cops Alfred Bester and Alisha Ross are married and honeymoon in Bali.
2251
Friday April 3rd.Earth colony three,Orion system.At 1205a.m.Charles Dexter The Black Rose Killer,so named after the black roses he left on the bodies of his female victims,is sentenced to death of personality when found guilty of murdering nine women.After the sentence is carried out Dexter, now known as Edward,is held in a transit centre.The relatives of the victims,unhappy with the original sentence,try to find Edward and punish him themselves.Some time later,a fire sweeps through the centre and Edward escapes.
Source: Passing Through Gethsemane.From the records search done by Edward and Garibaldi.One of the victims relatives says they've spent 9 years looking for Edward.
2252
April.Talia Winters joins the Psi Corps Intern program to train as a commercial telepath, specialising in criminal cases.
Source: Conjecture from Divided Loyalties. Talia was a year ahead of Lyta Alexander,assumes she meant an academic year.She and Lyta spent 6 months together on the program while Lyta was training for the Psi Cops. Death Walker and The Quality of Mercy reveals she specialises in criminal cases.Epiphanies suggests the Intern program lasts about a year.
2257
April
Jeffrey Sinclair and Carolyn Sykes end their relationship after he refuses to leave EarthForce and become a trader.
Source: The Parliament of Dreams.Sinclair tells Catherine that they broke up about a year ago. Carolyn wanting Sinclair to leave EarthForce is first mentioned in The Gathering.
** This is just a tidbit of the information available in Terry's chronology. I'll be setting up a separate page to bring you more information from the timetable soon.
The Antioch Calendar for 1999 is awesome. Yes, we know that it’s a
1999 calendar, but it carries a serial number – making it a collectible!
The pictures are perfect for framing once you have the autograph in place! You can
use this link for the
Antioch Calendar or go the 'collectibles' portion of the Emporium.
Order any of the four sets of Autoghraphed Magazines and receive the
calendar FREE!
Second – Season 5 Cast Poster. The Club made available to members a wonderful poster for season
5.
The poster , signed by the cast members, would make a wonderful remembrance of the show – not to mention a fantastic
collector’s item. It is located in the 'merchandise' portion of the Emporium.
Third –
Season 5 Fan Club Photo &
"Season 4 Fan Club Photo – These marvelous photos created for members of the Club are available for your enjoyment. They are
$4.99 each with the purchase of $10.00 or more. Available in the 'merchandise' portion on the Emporium.
Babylon 5 Bible -- The original Season One Babylon 5 Writer's Bible. This massive tome weighs in at over 60 pages with comprehensive
backgrounds on all characters and story arc; as well as guidelines for writing SF for TV. This document is peppered
with original (color and B&W) illustrations by Peter Ledger. Use this link to place an order
Babylon 5 Writer's Bible.
Babylon 5 Series Treatment -- This beautifully bound original Babylon 5 Series Treatment written in September 1988, was used to sell the series.
It contains different characters than were ever seen in the show. This treatment was ONLY given to Network/Studio
heads. This document is peppered with original color illustrations by Peter Ledger. Use this link to order your
copy from the Emporium
Babylon 5 Series Treatment.
Ordering Information: There are a number of ways to order merchandise from the Club:
Credit card purchases can be made on-line, by mail, or by fax. The Fax number is 1-818-771-1677.
FOR PHONE ORDERS: Here are the numbers to use: 1-888-777-8517 or 1-818-623-1198 . Phone lines are open Monday thru Friday, 10-6pm PST. If no one answers the phone, please leave your credit card information on the voicemail. Val and Tony do process orders based on the time-stamped voicemail messages. Be sure to leave your phone number as well, just in case they have any questions.
You can send a check or money order for merchandise -- made payable to Babylon 5 Fan Club -- to Official Babylon 5 Fan Club, P.O. Box 856, North Hollywood, CA 91603.
** For all orders done by mail, it's best to send in an order form with your check or money order. Use this link to get a copy of the Order Form. There is a new reference list as well, so that you can check to see what merchandise is still available. Ref List.
Another toon from Todd.
I'm moving some cartoons from Todd and Tye over to a new page so that you can enjoy them longer than just a week. Check out the new Toons Page!
Don't know how many of you have picked up the latest issue of StarLog, but check out page 22. Tye Bourdony has a published toon there! That's fantastic Tye. Can't want to see more of your talent at work!
ToonZone has some interesting toons,
many for Babylon 5. Pop over and have a look!
Got toons? Want to share them? Drop me a line at sgbruckner@aol.com and
let's chat!
So far, we have clubs listed from France, Germany and Italy! That's fantastic. Let's hear from others -- even those in the U.S.!!!
Looks like April/May/June are going to be a banner months. Peter's next novel, the CINEFANTASTIQUE issue on Babylon 5, the last Official Babylon 5 magazine, and JMS' last story in "Amazing Stories"!
Maybe putting a call out to Babylon 5 fans to ask that they "front" Babylon 5 books in their local bookstores, and ask that they be featured more prominently. By "fronting", I mean to turn them from spine-on view to face-on view, to increase their visibility. Spine-on, all paperbacks look the same. This only works for books that they have a few of, since four paperbacks makes a cube shape, and therefore takes up the same amount of space spine-on vs. face-on.
It would certainly help if Del Rey would send along some book displays to bookstores -- especially the larger ones. Doing a little advertising certainly wouldn't hurt the cause!
Claudia Christian will be doing a convention in Plano, Texas in June.
CONVENTION REPORTS
Photos of Jason Carter at ICON19 arrived yesterday. Be sure to drop over to the Photo Gallery to see them.
Sonny Whitelaw has sent in a detailed report of the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS convention from Sydney, Australia. Sounds like everyone had a wonderful time! Drop over to the Reports Page for all the details.
Ranger Kailin has sent in the first part of her report on JMS' panel discussion at Gallifrey last weekend. Drop over to the Reports Page and have a look!
I've added a couple of photos from VisionCon - including a look at Jamie Murray (Myhr)! Good artist! Francesca has sent in a convention report to add to my photos of Visioncon. Along with the photos are a couple of works by Jamie Murray, a fantastic artist who also attended the convention. Jamie is not only a super individual -- he's a great talent as well. Love his pictures of Michael, Claudia, Mira and the others. Have a peek. Here is a site that display's more of Jamie's fantastic artwork http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/suehaley/myhr.htm . I think he is AWESOME!
If you have experiences you'd like to share -- or photos -- send them along. We'd love to see/read them.
CONVENTION ATTENDANCE
Are you attending one of the conventions on the calendar? Or another one perhaps? Do you want to see who else might be there? Drop your e-mail address to The Zocalo. We've begun an attendance page so that perhaps we can get together while enjoying the activities of the convention. Convention Attendance .
UPCOMING EVENTS
Chiller Theatre
April 14, 15, 16, 2000, Rutherford, NJ
Guests: Bill Mumy
For more information, write to Chiller Theatre, P.O.Box 23, Rutherford, NJ 07070 or call (201)
804-8040. Or visit their website at "
http://www.chillertheatre.com .
People thought a Pen Pal page was a good idea. If you would like to meet people who you could chat with or share your opinions of the show with, send along your e-mail or snail-mail address The Zocalo. It will be incorporated on the new Pen Page Page.
April 15
7 am ET/PT "The Fall of Centauri Prime"
April 22
7 am ET/PT "The Wheel of Fire"
April 29
7 am ET/PT "Objects in Motion"
Take care and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sandra Bruckner (sgbruckner@aol.com)
Editor/Publisher
The Zocalo Today
http://zocalo.isnnews.net
Your web site, "The Zocalo Today", has been chosen to receive the BABYLON 5 UK TOP FLIGHT award !
Your coverage of the J. Michael Straczynski universe of Babylon 5 and Crusade is top flight ! Late breaking news,
books, merchandise, cast & crew tid bits and humor, The Zocalo Today seems to be a one stop fan resource.
