babylon 5

Warner Home Video officially announced the start of production on the new straight to DVD Babylon 5 movie. News of the project has been floating around the internet for some time, but now some of the details are becoming a little clearer. Originally it was reported to include three new stories written by B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski. In this post at jmsnews he mentions three half hour stories plus bonus material for the new DVD.

Now that production has begun, it appears that one of the three stories will be cut. Cinema Blend has a rundown of Straczynski's latest postings on the subject. Apparently the Garibaldi story was the most complicated one to make, so it has been postponed for a possible later release. I assume that depends on how well Lost Tales sells. It's also worth noting that JMS mentions Battlestar Galactica when talking about how he wants to re-imagine the look of B5 using the latest technology.

I'll be interested to see how this all turns out. Not just for the new Babylon 5 stories, but also because the idea of a straight to DVD/download series is one that has been kicked around for some time now. A successful launch for Lost Tales could be another step in that direction.

Yet another quiz to keep you occupied for a few minutes this weekend. This time, it determines which sci fi crew you should be part of. Be truthful when you fill it out, because it's easy to answer questions that would get you placed on a certain firefly-looking transport.

I was most compatible with Babylon 5 and Farscape, which I never watched. Probably because I'm comfortable with really weird-looking aliens. I think the reason I didn't get on board Serenity was because I wouldn't just follow a captain because he's the captain. And, I didn't get on the Nebuchadnezzar with Neo because I don't have stellar computer skills.

Here are my results:

Andreas Katsulas, who many sci-fans know from his role as G'Kar on Babylon 5, as well as guest spots on two Star Trek series, died of lung cancer on Feb. 13. He was 58. In addition to his sci-fi roles, Katsuas also played the one-armed man in the movie version of The Fugitive. According to his IMDb listing, Katsuas was a veteran character actor who had roles in various TV shows and movies dating back to 1979. More information can be found on his official web site.

[via Trek Today... thanks to my brother Rich for the tip.]