Babylon 5

[DonIago]

I don’t remember seeing it here, but I saw someone on Reddit saying they received an email from B5books saying that they’re shutting down. Anyone know more?

I’m not sure what strikes me as stranger, that they may be going away or that they were still around.

I can confirm having received an email from them to that effect.

 

[DigificWriter]

Thread Bump.

One of the Wheel of Time YouTubers I follow - LezbiNerdy - has started a Babylon 5 Podcast/VidCast with three other Wheel of Time fans (two of whom are complete newbies to the B5 world) called Babble On, and I'd really recommend checking it out, especially the reaction videos that are part of the VidCast version on Youtube.

They just posted their reaction vid and discussion for the episode "Infection", and watching both has made me realize/remember that I actually like said episode quite a bit even though many other B5 fans and JMS himself don't.

 

[David cgc]

I follow a Tumblr about recycled movie costumes, and they just had a post that's genuinely shocked me:



One of the Army of Light uniforms was reused as the native costume of a foreign ambassador in the Disney Channel TV show "Cory in the House."

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I'm not that bothered when I see things like spacesuits or Starship Troopers armour getting reused, as they're probably renting them from prop companies, but you don't really expect to see distinctive hero outfits show up in another show 10 years later on guest stars.

This one really surprised me when I was watching the Planet Kitson episodes in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD:

 

[David cgc]

That made more sense to me, both because as regular crew uniforms, there'd be a lot more of them that were made generically and not tailored to specific actors, and that they'd been constantly denegrated as looking like bellhop uniforms, so it made sense for them being used for space-croupiers (one day when I get into the Crusade BTS materials, I'll have to look for any clues about how a uniform design everyone clearly hated made it into the show).

Plus, I would've thought the AoL uniforms would've been auctioned off, though I suppose there were probably several duplicates and stunt versions that could've stayed in the WB costume warehouse. There was a big B5 auction in the very early 2000s, I wish I'd tried to save the catalog website. The only thing I remember clearly, because it was such an egregious mistake, was that there was a certificate made as set decoration for Lochley's office or quarters that identified her as a veteran of the Battle of the Line.

 

[JD]

This reminded me of something I read a while back that surprised me, in Generations the TNG actors who are wearing the uniforms with the colored shoulders are wearing the DS9 cast members' costumes.

 

[Mage]

This reminded me of something I read a while back that surprised me, in Generations the TNG actors who are wearing the uniforms with the colored shoulders are wearing the DS9 cast members' costumes.

That doesn't surprise me. When the FC uniforms were introduced in DS9, Brooks's costume didn't fit right at first, I believe he was wearing Frakes's costume.

 

[Tosk]

This reminded me of something I read a while back that surprised me, in Generations the TNG actors who are wearing the uniforms with the colored shoulders are wearing the DS9 cast members' costumes.

Not all of them. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner got custom outfits.

Jonathan Frakes got Avery Brooks' hand-me-downs and LeVar Burton got Colm Meaney's. I don't recall where Patti Yasutake's uniform comes from...I assume it's probably a background one as the only other option is Terry Farrell, and they are very different heights.

 

[diankra]

That made more sense to me, both because as regular crew uniforms, there'd be a lot more of them that were made generically and not tailored to specific actors, and that they'd been constantly denegrated as looking like bellhop uniforms, so it made sense for them being used for space-croupiers (one day when I get into the Crusade BTS materials, I'll have to look for any clues about how a uniform design everyone clearly hated made it into the show).

Plus, I would've thought the AoL uniforms would've been auctioned off, though I suppose there were probably several duplicates and stunt versions that could've stayed in the WB costume warehouse. There was a big B5 auction in the very early 2000s, I wish I'd tried to save the catalog website. The only thing I remember clearly, because it was such an egregious mistake, was that there was a certificate made as set decoration for Lochley's office or quarters that identified her as a veteran of the Battle of the Line.

The way it worked was that the backers didn't like the original uniforms, and insisted on new ones (in plot, that was down to a design consultant). Eventually, the original unforms would be reinstated, but broadcast order was consistent from episode-to-episode, so episodes using the original uniforms ran later in the season (with occasional redubbing to cover resulting plot issues "Nice to see you again.")
jms has posted a preferred order that just ignores the uniforms.

 

[David cgc]

The way it worked was that the backers didn't like the original uniforms, and insisted on new ones (in plot, that was down to a design consultant). Eventually, the original unforms would be reinstated, but broadcast order was consistent from episode-to-episode, so episodes using the original uniforms ran later in the season (with occasional redubbing to cover resulting plot issues "Nice to see you again.")

Not quite. The gray uniforms were made first, and those episode were filmed first. Then there was a production pause and a series re-tool, which included creating the new black uniforms, which were more expensive and more popular with JMS, who didn't have a kind word to say about the gray uniforms. But TNT claimed they didn't believe the first episodes filmed were "grabby" enough for a new show, so they decided the second half of production would be aired first, with a new first episode made with the black uniforms ("Warzone") in place of the original first episode that was already shot with the gray uniforms ("Racing the Night").

Since the black uniforms were more expensive and more liked behind-the-scenes, the next episode produced after the ones we got would've had Gideon deciding he was fed up with the gray uniforms and ordering that they be destroyed in an accident in the ship's laundry, so the crew would switch back to the black uniforms. So in the show, it would've been black to gray to black, but in reality, it had just been gray to black.

Some of the black uniform episodes were filmed with the understand they'd come after the gray uniform ones, and some before, which is one of the things that makes it so difficult to figure out an order that's consistent with the storyline and the uniforms. It also depends on how much of a hardass you are; for instance, I think "Warzone" shouldn't be watched at all, and "Racing the Night" should come first, because of all the exposition, but putting a gray-uniform episode first makes it impossible to build an order that incorporates the uniform change, since there has to be at least one black-uniform episode first.

 

[diankra]

Not quite. The gray uniforms were made first, and those episode were filmed first. Then there was a production pause and a series re-tool, which included creating the new black uniforms, which were more expensive and more popular with JMS, who didn't have a kind word to say about the gray uniforms. But TNT claimed they didn't believe the first episodes filmed were "grabby" enough for a new show, so they decided the second half of production would be aired first, with a new first episode made with the black uniforms ("Warzone") in place of the original first episode that was already shot with the gray uniforms ("Racing the Night").

Since the black uniforms were more expensive and more liked behind-the-scenes, the next episode produced after the ones we got would've had Gideon deciding he was fed up with the gray uniforms and ordering that they be destroyed in an accident in the ship's laundry, so the crew would switch back to the black uniforms. So in the show, it would've been black to gray to black, but in reality, it had just been gray to black.

Some of the black uniform episodes were filmed with the understand they'd come after the gray uniform ones, and some before, which is one of the things that makes it so difficult to figure out an order that's consistent with the storyline and the uniforms. It also depends on how much of a hardass you are; for instance, I think "Warzone" shouldn't be watched at all, and "Racing the Night" should come first, because of all the exposition, but putting a gray-uniform episode first makes it impossible to build an order that incorporates the uniform change, since there has to be at least one black-uniform episode first.

So long ago my memory is playing up!

 

[DonIago]

I can only imagine the furor on this board if something like that had happened with a Trek series...

 

[Tosk]

I can only imagine the furor on this board if something like that had happened with a Trek series...

Like kind of what we already got in Generations?

 

[DonIago]

Like kind of what we already got in Generations?

Now imagine that, but spread over a good chunk of a season.

 

[Tosk]

Now imagine that, but spread over a good chunk of a season.

That's how I felt watching PIC. Too many variations.