In this final episode of the Babylon Project Podcast, we discussed the second three of six short stories from the Babylon 5 universe: “Hidden Agendas”; “True Seeker”; and “The Nautilus Coil”. As with the previous episode, this one was particularly special because we were joined by our Producer, Troy Rutter to help us wrap things up. First, we discu…

In this penultimate episode of the Babylon Project Podcast, we discussed three of six short stories from the Babylon 5 universe: “The Shadow of His Thoughts”; “Genius Loci”; and “Space, Time, and the Incurable Romantic.” All three were written by J. Michael Straczynski. The episode was particularly special because we were joined by our Producer, Tr…

Invoking Darkness was written by Jeanne Cavelos. The story takes place starting in August 2260 through 2261, covering just five months. As we discuss the third and final novel in the trilogy, it’s worth noting that the overarching story is tragic, alluded to by the collective title “Passing of the Technomages”. It’s noteworthy as well that the seco…

Picking up right where Casting Shadows left off, Summoning Light chronicles Galen’s assignment immediately after becoming a Technomage, focusing on the order’s assessments and preparations for the coming Shadow War. Driving the storyline here: the Technomages know their order is a risk of extermination and wrestle with whether to stand and fight (a…

With Casting Shadows, we see a solid start to the third and final trilogy of books written in the Babylon 5 universe. As with the other trilogies, this set of books is considered canon and was based on an outline provided by JMS. As you’ll recall, the Psi Corps trilogy was really Bester’s story; the Technomage Trilogy is Galen’s. Those familiar wit…

The third book of the Legions of Fire trilogy was phenomenal. We don’t know how the conclusion of the story, written in Out of the Darkness, could have been any better. As with the second novel, this one carried the reader into a new set of scenes, and a new set of perspectives as smoothly as a scene change in a great film. It was masterful. Out of…

We rolled right into the second book of the Legions of Fire trilogy: Armies of Light and Dark, and we weren’t disappointed! This book flows seamlessly from the first, with the story shifting from focusing on Londo to putting Vir center stage. Armies of Light and Dark was written by Peter David and based on a script written by JMS. The story opens i…

If you were with us when we reviewed the stand-alone novels, you’ll remember each novel seemed to be a roll of the dice. Would it be good, bad, a mixed bag? We never really knew until we dove in. Well, we finished the Psi Corps trilogy (which was powerful!) and now we’ve moved to the Legions of Fire (aka the Centauri) trilogy, but with no concerns.…

Here we are, ready to discuss the third novel in the Psi Corps trilogy. As with the other two, Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester was based on a script written by JMS, and are considered canon, and written by J. Gregory Keyes. As the story ends, we pick up with Mr. Bester approximately in the year 2250, and follow him until approximately 2281, aro…

With the second book in the “Psi Corps Trilogy” under our belts, we’re back to discuss the continuing story as captured in Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant. As mentioned previously, this set of books was based on a script written by JMS, and are considered canon, and all three were written by J. Gregory Keyes. The second novel in the set begins i…

We’re back again, this time starting the first trilogy of novels, collectively called the “Psi Corps Trilogy.” This set of books were based on a script written by JMS, and are considered canon, and all three were written by J. Gregory Keyes. In this first novel, we learn Bester’s backstory, and see just how the Psi Corps began. The novel starts in …

The experiment continues, but with a political theme as Six runs for high office and...stuff happens.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This time we’re looking at the final novel in the set of nine (what people call) standalone novels: the much-anticipated To Dream in the City of Sorrows, by Kathryn M. Drennan. With what we already knew about this book, there was little concern about how good it was rumored to be. It was everything we’d expected and hoped for and/or remembered. Tow…

We review the series' start, give a little of its historical context and lose it as we follow the bouncing ball...By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This is it, folks. We examine Babylon 5 as a whole, look at our favorite (and not-so-favorite) episodes and hear a little from the guests we've talked to along the way. We close with a reveal of our next series, starting on July 25!By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Here we are, looking at the second to last standalone novel Personal Agendas, by Al Sarrantonio. We approached this one with cautious optimism, since it follows a very well written novel that brought us home to the Babylon 5 universe we all love so much. Turns out we weren’t let down; the book warranted our optimism. There were highs and a few lows…

We examine the ups and downs of B5's final season in preparation for next week's Series Finale, listing our required and skippable episodes and our top and bottom three.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The "good" in goodbye.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Faster than we expected, we've reached The End. Almost everyone is leaving, everyone else is stepping into new positions and it's time to turn off the lights and shut things down.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

We're cleaning up - one of the final three episodes in which someone, for some reason, wants to bother killing Michael Garibaldi.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Babylon Five welcomes back G'Kar as we welcome back guest commentator Jill Neff in the flesh to the fabulous Nitpicking Studios.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

We’ve arrived at the seventh and much-anticipated standalone novel The Shadow Within, by Jeanne Cavelos. And it was worth the wait! The story takes place just before the Babylon 5 television series pilot episode “The Gathering” and was clearly well researched, and also presumably informed by the author’s familiarity with the characters as we know t…

A quintessentially Babylon Five episode - consequences, change and the summation of the series as a whole, where we also bump up against the limits of the storytelling.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Everything finally catches fire. And, once again, it's a little much for just one episode.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Consequences, consequences, consequences.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The clouds gather in many storylines, but it sort of all comes together.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

It's not like Babylon 5 doesn't have good filler. You just won't find it here.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

As a special treat, we have the first episode of Brassy and Sassy, a podcast by N:B5 co-host Neil McGarry and Kelly Correno.By Neil McGarry and Kelly Carreno

The sixth standalone novel we’re discussing is Betrayals, by S.M. Stirling. Raul offered a very useful way to view this book: as an anthology composed of two short stories and a novella. Taking this view helped frame or structure what we read. We all agreed this was a far better than the last two books—combined—even though, like the last several, t…

Contrary to all available indicators, this Alfred Bester episode is most definitely NOT the jam of guest commentator Cynthia Taylor.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

New problems, changing roles, and unpleasant surprises characterize a two-pound episode in a five-pound bag. Be sure to stick around for our discussion with Tim Allen of Code for Recovery!By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This episode marks the end of the telepath storyline, in which Garibaldi crashes and Byron burns.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

A solid episode of two storylines: Everything goes wrong on Babylon 5, and it's heading the same way on Centauri Prime.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Next up, we read The Touch of Your Shadow, the Whisper of Your Name, by Neil Barrett, Jr. This is the fifth of nine stand-alone novels. Given how the first four weren’t that great, we were hopeful this one might shine a little, but ultimately we were disappointed. While not as bad as Clark’s Law, this book felt like a short story crammed into a ful…

The next installment of Nitpickers v. President John Sheridan continues as Byron and his people do something incredibly stupid.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Neil Gaiman continues the JMS tradition of dropping the "sub" from sub-text. Includes guest commentator Dan Kostelec.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

A mass gathering of a perverted nature about a mass gathering of a perverted nature. Includes guest commentators Jill Neff and Cynthia Taylor.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The telepath story finally kicks into high gear. Wish we could say the same about the rest of the episode.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

Rangers, trouble in Down Below, philosophizing... and no one learns very much. All plot, no story.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The next stand-alone novel we read and reviewed is Jim Mortimore’s Clark’s Law. This is the only novel he wrote within the B5 universe, although he has writing credits for novelizations within the Dr. Who universe. The print copy was published by Dell in February 1996, and ran 288 pages. The story takes place in 2259, at the end of Season 2 and occ…

AKA Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Stupid. Turns out the view from the gallery is exactly the same as that from the orchestra.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

A good, but not outstanding episode ensues when the fate of an previously-unknown species on the edge of Drazi space must be protected by a still-forming Alliance.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This very long walk could have been avoided if Londo Mollari (and Lennier) had a sassy gay friend.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This episode breaks the pattern of strong season starts and serves as the opening argument in Nitpicking vs. President John Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The third stand-alone novel is Blood Oath, written by John Vornholt. This is his second and final B5 novel. The print copy was published by Dell in September 1995, and ran 256 pages. The story takes place in 2259, sometime prior to “The Coming of Shadows” (Season 2, Episode 9). This book is not considered canon. We liked this book, quite a bit. The…

In an episode where guest commentator Dan Kostelec is the Chris Pratt to our velociraptors, we learn that, like faith, spite manages.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

With a view from the top of the rollercoaster, we examine Season Four, giving our feelings about the series' strengths and weaknesses. We finally reveal our own Grand Design for the narrative as well as our required and skippable episodes and the top and bottom three.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The unofficial end of Season Four is politics all the way down. Oh, and 240 seconds of Lise Edgars.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

The episode in which the Earth civil war is wrapped up and Marcus tells us exactly who he is.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry

This episode does the job of moving the story forward. Which after last week is a blessed relief.By Dan Ravipinto and Neil McGarry