 |
 |
 |
 |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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: Because the Zocalo is one long, running page with links to items of interest, I know it may be hard to find the things that have been added to the page each day. All new material will be given this color so that they will be easy to identify.
Welcome. Take your shoes off, get comfortable and stay a while.
Again, WELCOME!
At the convention, there will be a Jeopardy contest. Convention organizers are asking for help with trivia questions. Entries should be sent to ulysses@ulyssesfoundation.org.
For more details on these items -- and to learn more about the convention, visit their site at Ulysses Foundation.
The group had a charity auction and other activities at Agamemcon. I've gotten a report and have opened up a page for Crusade for a Cure activities. Crusade for a Cure.
If you have shows you'd like to see me cover, drop me a note to let me know which ones you are most interested in.
To participate in the chat, go to http://chat.yahoo.com.
Precedence Gets Set to Launch "Crusade" Expansion for the Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game.
Tempe, AZ - This Summer, fans of the Babylon 5 Collectible Card game will enjoy the first ever expansion set in the Babylon 5 spin off show -- CRUSADE. With the Earth infected by a genetic plague the clock is ticking. In five years, all life on the planet will be wiped out, a death blow delivered by Drakh, sinister minions of the now departed Shadows. Earth's most technically advanced ship, the Excalibur leads a galaxy wide search for a cure. Failure is not an option for Earth's doomed billions.
The CRUSADE expansion, planned for September release, will introduce 150 new cards for the Babylon 5 CCG, drawn both from Crusade and from Babylon 5 episodes set in the period following the formation of the Interstellar Alliance. Featured in the set are all the main characters from Crusade including Captain Gideon, Galen and Dureena as well as a large number of new Techno-mage cards.
"The Drakh, ISA, and Techno-mages are all becoming very, significant to the game," said Precedence CEO, Paul Brown III. "Also Crusade, by its very nature, necessitates the biggest influx of powerful characters and fleets that the game has seen in some time. There are few ships that can equal the firepower of the Excalibur nor characters that can go toe-to-toe with a Techno-mage or Captain Gideon."
Commemorating the fact that this card series will be the first and only card set featuring Crusade actor signed cards, Precedence plans to dramatically increase the frequency of signature cards to 1 card in every 48 packs average over the entire limited production run. Already committed to signing cards for the set are actors Peter Woodward (Galen), David Allen Brooks (Max Eilerson) and Marjean Holden (Dr. Sarah Chambers). Crusade will ship in boxes of 24 nine card booster packs (SRP $2.99 per pack).
(Precedence Entertainment is a leading producer of collectible card games including Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Collectible Card Game the Babylon 5 CCG, Tomb Raider CCG and the forthcoming Terminator CCG.)
Babylon 5 TM & © 2000 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders.
Mon July 10, 11 AM ET/PT -- The Gathering (pilot)
Tue July 11, 11 AM ET/PT -- In The Beginning
Wed July 12, 11 AM ET/PT -- Thirdspace
Thu July 13, 11 AM ET/PT -- River of Souls
Fri July 14, 11 AM ET/PT -- A Call to Arms
The next tape will be "Knives/Confessions and Lamentations." All remaining season 2 episodes will be delivered first. After season 2 has been completed, the next tape will be "Z'hadum/Hour of the Wolf". All season 4 episodes will be delivered up to and including 419. The last tape will be "Intersections/ Between The Darkness and the Light".
JMS did indeed come to chat with fans last night over on the Sci-Fi Channel. I don't know how many people
actually attended, but the questions covered the gamit of subjects.
Bonnie Hammer, Executive VP and General Manager of the Sci-Fi Channel, held a chat last night with a few hundred fans of Sliders, Quantum Leap, The Sentinel, Babylon 5, Crusade -- and other shows I've forgetten. SFC seems to be going in a lot of new directions and they are looking at doing new things -- like the DUNE mini-series.
She did say, however, that they will be watching Babylon 5 very closely to see how well it does come September 25! That could be translated into a -- CALL TO WATCH!
Transcripts are available at http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/.
I hope you had a chance to drop over to Yahoo Saturday night and chat with Marjean Holden, live from Australia!
She spent about 90 minutes with us, answering questions about her new show, Beastmaster, as well as talking
about her experience as an actress and Crusade. The transcript should be up at the TNT site soon.Marjean will be chatting over at Pat Tallman and Jeffrey Willerth's site www.starglaziers.com on Friday, June 23 at 6pm PT; 9pm ET.
The Regent of Centauri Prime truly was here last night, in a marvelous chat with fans on Yahoo. Damian London,
the marvelous actor who brought this character to life, spent 60 minutes answering questions about the Regent
and the acting profession. His mix of humor and insight was delightful. Visit his website at Damian
London Site.
The transcripts of chats with Jerry, Marjean and Damian are now up at the TNT site. You
should drop over and read what was said.
JMS:
Upcoming projects:
"We're in the process of selling the Rising Stars film rights and there are some TV/film projects that are
in the early stages but not yet nailed down to a point where I can talk about them."
New project on Seeing Ear Theater at Sci-Fi Channel:
"The new series is THE CITY OF DREAMS, a 13 episode all original series/scripts anthology series, for which
I'm writing all 13 episodes, all half hours which will be available first on scifi.com starting July 10th,
then later on Dove Audio. The first episode produced is entitled "The Damned are Playing at Godzilla's
Tonight" and stars Steve Buscemi."
More novels, comics, etc.
"At present there are no plans for books beyond the current roster, which includes the final installment of
the Centauri trilogy (which just came through recently and is terrific), and the technomage trilogy, which
Jeanne Cavelos is doing."
-- Amazing Stories will be doing some more B5 stories.
Most proud moment/scene/plot element of Babylon 5:
"Weird answer…the end credits in Sleeping in Light, starting from B5 blowing up, through the actual credits
per se, where you see the characters as we were first introduced to them, and then at the end, and you can
see the years and the story in their faces. I always get very moved by that sequence.
JMS advice on the show:
"If every B5 fan went out and got 5 to 10 people who'd never watched the show, and bugged them to watch the
cycle when it starts on SFC…who knows what remarkable things could happen?"
A question from one of our readers---Do you have any idea the impact B5 has had on the lives of B5 fans?
"I've heard of that a lot, from different people who say it helped them get over the death of a loved one,
that it created marriages, that it brought people together... but the most moving I heard was about a fellow
who was dying, and had his sister make an audio tape of all G'Kar's speeches about not surrendering to despair...
and he had that tape playing at his bedside endlessly, on repeat, to keep him going...and when he finally went
away, it was to the sound of G'Kar's voice.... you cannot hear that and remain unmoved."
Babylon 5 coming to the Sci-Fi channel:
"Yeah, very much so. I think that this is the *perfect* venue for us: it's core SF viewers who appreciate
intelligent drama, it's in prime time, it's shoulder to shoulder with other terrific shows.... I think that
this is the best possible consequence for the show. I have every confidence that it will remain a viable
program for SFC for a long time to come; this is where a show like this SHOULD be.
BONNIE HAMMER:
(Unfortunately, chatters interested in Babylon 5 and Crusade had to share the chat with fans of Sliders, Quantum Leap, Battlestar Galactica, etc.)
"Our first entree into that franchise was picking up the entire of Babylon 5 series which starts to air September 25, which we are really excited about. We DID think about Crusade before it closed down, but the timing and the actual financial commitment at the time just actually wasn't going to work for us. We are actually open to considering it down the road. But first we want to see how B5 does on our air, and hope all of you tune in! The better it does, the more opportunity there will be to buy similar series! So please tune in September!
Additionally, we are devoting a 1-hour Sciography special to the B5, because we wanted to give it a special launch because we love the franchise so much!
WE NEED TO GET INVOLVED. We need to start identifying places where we can post messages, drop flyers, remind fans that the show is coming to the Sci-Fi Channel. If you will be going to a convention, drop me a line and I'll send flyers for the freebie table. If you know of a convention that is having a Babylon 5 or Crusade panel, this is a perfect place to get people to help in our efforts to spread the word. Send along the name of the person conducting the panel. I will get in touch with them to send along flyers and see if there are other materials that can be provided.
Do you have ideas on how we can rally fans, please send along your suggestions. I will post them for others to read and perhaps we can organize a chat on this subject. Rally Suggestions
Even if you are not collecting the entire set, I hope you'll add your name to the petition, since I it would be wonderful to have the whole set available -- just in case you want the very one that is NOT in the collection, so far. Can you imagine NOT having a copy of SLEEPING IN LIGHT!!!!
To add your name to the petition, drop me your name and city/state to sgbruckner@aol.com. The petition can be found at Video Petition.
In order to get the petition on it's way, I will end collection of names on July 8. So if you have not yet signed up, do so now.
A special mailing list keeps individual abreast of Jerry's activities, carring information regarding press releases, upcoming personal appearances, voter alerts, etc. To subscribe to Jerry's mailing list, send a blank e-mail message to doyleforcongress-subscribe@egroups.com. That is all that is necessary. If you have trouble subscribing to the group, drop a note to sgbruckner@aol.com and you can be added directly to the listing.
IT'S A BOY!!! Tim Choate and his wife Madalyn are now the proud parents of a new son. Flynn Brian Choate was born in June 23 at 6:21am. He weighed 7lbs. 6ozs. and was 20 inches long. Tim, Madalyn and Flynn are all doing very well.
The transcript of Fandom.com's chat with Pat Tallman and Jeffrey Willerth is up at www.fandom.com.
Babylon 5's "great maker" J. Michael Straczynski has created a new online audio series, City of Dreams, for SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre. Steve Buscemi (Fargo) stars in the first episode, "The Damned Are Playing At Godzilla's Tonight," which will premiere on July 10.
The second installment of the 13-episode weekly drama will feature Frequency star Andre Braugher and Braugher's real-life wife, Ami Brabson, in an episode called "Rolling Thunder." Kevin Conway, the voice of the storyteller in The Outer Limits and the star of the PBS television movie The Lathe of Heaven, will narrate the entire series.
City of Dreams comprises new audio stories written for SCIFI.COM, ranging from the dark and ominous to the supernatural and hopeful.
****
"It's 13 half-hour audio episodes, first on scifi.com starting July 10th, then afterward on Dove audio. I'm writing all 13 installments of The City of Dreams, and it's kind of a Twilight Zone approach, but made modern and given some new teeth.
The first one, "The Damned Are Playing at Godzilla's Tonight" stars Steve Buscemi, with Andre Braugher set for the next one."
Pat Tallman, Wayne Alexander, Robin Atkin Downes and Maggie Egan star in: BABYLON PARK: GRUDGEMATCH.The animated parody makes it's US Premier at DragonCon in Atlanta on June 30 and the Canadian Premier at TorontoTrek in Toronto on July 15.
GRUDGEMATCH is the second in a series of hysterical spoofs on some of the great science fiction shows of our time.
For more information, check out www.babylonpark.com or www.kosh.org.
Send your responses to either TheZocalo@aol.com or b5web@aol.com.. You can also post your comments on the message board at www.isnnews.net/board. To see what other readers have posted on this and other topics, follow this link to Current Discussion Topic page.
Amazing Stories Issue #602 -- My subscription copy of the magazine arrived last night. This contains another
original Babylon 5 story by J. Michael Straczynski entitled "Space, Time and the Incurable Romantic". There is also
a piece inside about the B5 game, entitled "Babylon 5: Crucible of War". The issue should be on newsstands
very soon.
OFFICIAL BABYLON 5 MAGAZINE -- Issue #24A truly SAD day has arrived. The very last issue of the Official Babylon 5 magazine has hit the streets in
the UK. Yes, Issue #24 is out. My hat is off to Nick Landau, Brian Robb, John Freeman, and others like Lou
Anders who brought us this wonderful publication. It has been THE ABSOLUTE BEST!
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.
The Fan Club has most of the back issues of the magazine over at www.thestation.com in The Emporium. Issues #22 and #23 have been added to the listing of available issues. They also have the much sought after Issue #1, Volume #1. So be sure to check out ISN and see what magazines you still need to complete your set.
Here are the perfect take-along items for a convention! The Fan Club has some PERFECT items for you – and they are reasonably priced, and waiting to be autographed!
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 Autographed 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 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 Brugman.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!
Artist John Cook has some interesting toons at ToonZone .
Do you have a punchline for the Cartagia toon? Visit Toon Zone and submit your ideas.
Got toons? Want to share them? Drop me a line at sgbruckner@aol.com and
let's chat!
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 is 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.
If you would like to share your work with us at The Zocalo Today, please send along a digital photo of your work and I'll begin putting the gallery together. If you do not have your work in digital format, drop me a note and we'll see what we can work out.
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.!!!
AUGUST 5-6, 2000, Burbank Airport Hilton Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank CA, 1pm-7pm daily
In person guest stars: BEN BROWDER, CLAUDIA BLACK, VIRGINIA HEY, ANTHONY SIMCOE, GIGI EDGLEY, LANI TUPU, KENT McCORD, and series creator ROCKNE S. O'BANNON. For more information on this convention, check out their website at http://www.creationent.com/farscape/farscape_con.html.
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 TheZocalo@aol.com. We've begun an attendance page so that perhaps we can get together while enjoying the activities of the convention. Convention Attendance .
There are some great shots of Jerry Doyle and Jeff Conaway at the Star Trek Grand Slam convention in Pasadena, March 31-April 2 on the Creation Entertainment web site.
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.
Saturday 7/8/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - The Fall of Night
Monday, 7/10/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - Matters of Honor
Tuesday 7/11/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - Convictions
Wednesday 7/12/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - A Day in the Strife
Thursday 7/13/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - Passing Through Gethsemane
Friday 7/14/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - Voices of Authority
Saturday 7/15/00
6:00am TNT Babylon 5 - Dust to Dust
July Birthdays:
Jerry Doyle - July 16
J. Michael Straczynski - July 17
David Warner - July 29
To follow Babylon 5/Crusade history, visit the new History Page for all significant dates in June! This is an extract from Terry Jones' wonderful Babylon 5 Chronology.
Just an FYI to those who've been using the Ventura Blvd. mail drop for fan mail to actors....
As mentioned before, we're phasing out the forwarding of fan mail because we a) don't have the resources, complicated by b) the actors have scattered to the four winds, and it makes it very difficult to get everything to everybody in a timely fashion.
So, having provided prior notice...fan mail to actors coming to the Ventura Blvd. mail drop will be sent back. Mail to actors should be sent via their official fan clubs. I will still be taking mail there, since it's my mailbox, but that's it.
Just so's y'all know and save a few bucks on postage and returns.
JMS' mail can be sent to:
14431 Ventura Boulevard, PMB 260
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
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.
You have won the scifiGATE Award of Excellence.
