ATTN JMS (#2 Try) Fabulous Supportive B5 Article

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN JMS (#2 Try) Fabulous Supportive B5 Article
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: May 11, 1996: stewart at bae.bellcore.com (Peter Stewart)
+  2: May 11, 1996: canxsys at idirect.com (John Cannon)
*  3: May 12, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: stewart at bae.bellcore.com (Peter Stewart)
Lines: 19

John Cannon (canxsys at idirect.com) wrote:
[Or rather, he wrote what Starweek magazine wrote ...]
: 
: At the end of its first season, B5 bagged its commander, replacing the
: wooden P&chael O'Hare with the slightly more animated Bruce Boxleitner. 
: By the end of their second year, all-out galactic war was looming with an
: insidious, invisible, invulnerable enemy.

This is fine article, except for the fact that this magazine didn't get its
facts straight about the reason for O'Hare's leaving the show. They most
likely saw that he was replaced and made their own assumptions.

Pete

-- 
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Pete Stewart               | "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent"
stewart at bae.bellcore.com   |    - Salvor Hardin
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From: canxsys at idirect.com (John Cannon)
Lines: 101

The Toronto Star, which reaches most English-Speaking Canadian TV viewers 
(and some in Northern NY) has run a full 3-Page spread on B5 and it is 
exactly what we all want to have presented in print.

It is the cover article in the TV Guidance booklet ("Starweek") of the 
Totonto Star, captioned as: 

"Sitting Pretty - Behind the scenes on Babyln 5, the sci-fi series that 
has taken off with post-Trek fans".

I've scanned and OCR'd the article, but the main body is in columnar form 
so its going to be messy to clear up. Attached below, however, is an 
OCR'd version of the in-cover trailer for the piece, which  illustrates 
how important the Websites are to finally pushing through the B5 
experience to influential people.

Let me know if you want the scans I've taken of the article (I got 
copyright permission by the way for review purposes), but you may want to 
contact the Toronto Star at One Yonge St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5E 
1E6. Publisher: John A. Honderich.

Tel: 416 869 4936  FAX: 416 869 4834.

Great News, eh?

John Cannon

OCR'd text follows------------------>

                         Fans really comed
                          with Babylon 5


                           BY ROB SALEM
"It is the dawn of the third age of
mankind, the middle of the 23rd century.  
Man is far from alone in the universe..."

In today's crowded science-fiction TV universe, Babylon 5 rules.  In just
three years the show has grown from upstart wannabe Star Trek-come-lately
to giving the moribund Paramount franchise a run for its money as
television's most watched ongoing space-opera.

Given the vagaries of TV syndication and independent
programming,viewership numbers alone are not the best way to guage this
success.  For that we must turm to the World Wide Web.  Here Star Trek is
still, of course, a formidable presence on the net, as it has been from
the beginning.

Yet a ursory search of the Internet database reveals a
rapidly growing number of dedicated Babylon 5 sites, more than 100, not
including the more marginal and general interest connections.

These include an official Warner Brothers
Babylonn 5 site (http://www.babylon5.com), though this is li fac little
more than a  gateway - or in the B5 lexicon, a "jumpgate" - to the many
other    unofficial, fan-run sites.

The best by far - Warner's themselves put it first on their link - is the
exhaustive, authoritative and vastly entertaining Lurker's Guide To
Babylon 5 (http://vww.hyperion.con/lurk), which features a detailed,
weekly, painstakingly cross-referenced episode breakdown, including
comments and betund-the-scenes insights by series
writer/creator/executive producer J. Michael Straczynski.  

And, again, there's an active list of related sites, from which can be
downloaded images, audio and video clips, episode guides and background,
and countless "chatrooms" in which to electronically debate the show's
merits.
 
There's lots to chat about.  Space-station Babylon 5 is in an almost
constant state of catastrophic upheaval: planetary wars are won and lost,
allegiances made and violated, major characters undergo major changes,
physical and emotional metamorphoses ...

At the end of its first season, B5 bagged its commander, replacing the
wooden P&chael O'Hare with the slightly more animated Bruce Boxleitner. 
By the end of their second year, all-out galactic war was looming with an
insidious, invisible, invulnerable enemy.

In one single, pivotal episode a few weeks back, the station defied Earth
authority to declare military independence, two major characters
professed undying love, another admitted to a drug problem and yet
another quietly came out of the closet.  And then the station computer
had a meltdown, emerging with a grating voice and personality not urimc e
that of sezies "creative consultant" Harlan Ellison.


And this Stracztnski assures us, is merely th6 halfway point of his
preplanned, self-contained five-year story arc.  What other surprises he
may have m store for our gallant, multi-species crew, he isn't saying
(though he drops regular hints im his weekly net reports).  But whatever
it is, you know it's going to be interesting.


A  Sci-fan  fanRob  Salem  is a  movie  critic  for  The   Star.

                             STARWEEK      magazine      




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 9

It's a great article, yes, thanks; I have someone sending me a copy, so
shouldn't need the OCR version.  But via your message I got to read it
first, so thanks.



 jms


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