It depends on what you mean by “resurrecting the series itself.” Babylon 5 is done. There is nothing to be resurrected. But Crusade still has a faint shot, and the Sci Fi channel has as much as said that if Legend of the Rangers does any where near well in the ratings, the movie will be the pilot of a series this fall. This means there are lots of corners of the same universe to be explored.
Back to the OP -
One thing I’ve always loved about B5 is the utter lack of young brats running around the station’s hallways. No precocious teenagers, no preschoolers in peril, no wide-eyes, “out-of-the-mouths-of-babes” preteens wandering about, being blatently cute. In fact, I can think of only two kids ever appearing in the series:
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The young, sick alien with the “Christian Scientist” parents, season one.
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The other alien kid, in the “AIDS Parable” episode, season two.
Remember what happened to those two? I think JMS was trying to tell us something.
Don’t forget the psychic girl. Can’t remember the episode offhand–it was fairly early, season 1 or 2, IIRC.
Hmmm. Did she die too?
Fortunately, the teep girl broke that particularly depressing trend, Alessan. After considerable sparring amongst Susan, Talia, and Na’Toth, the girl settled on going to Minbar for training (and presumably, to serve as the Minbari telepaths do).
Before JMS sold B5, he was co-host of the radio talk show Hour 25 here in Southern California. He talked about B5 a lot and one of the things he promised was that there would never be any cute kids on his show. (He really, really disliked Wesley Crusher on ST:TNG.) Wouldn’t you know that writer David Gerrold (“The Trouble with Tribbles”) would write a story about
JMS now had a dilemma: Would he stay true to his vow not to have cute kids on his show or produce this excellent story?
We know what happened.
So what issue of Playboy was it that had Claudia Christian? (I knew I shouldn’t have let my subscription expire. 
)
Well he’s not coming back. JMS got sick of fans asking for Marcus to be brought back so he did. Sort of. He comes back 300 years in the future, clones Ivanova, and implants her memories into the clone. They crash on a planet and live happily ever after. The character of Marcus will only be seen in flashbacks in any B5 production that takes place after his death.
Marc
MGib, try to keep up - we’ve already talked about that.
Esprix
October '99. The name of the little article with the spread is I, Claudia.
Arrrgghhh! I didn’t see that issue!!
must.control.rage
Pssst… SpaceGhost, Jab. Email me. I’ll send ya something. 
Hey, Arden Ranger, guess who ELSE is going to be at this con?
I’ve been a devoted – maybe downright obsessed – B5 fan for less than a year. It’s hard to believe it’s been such a short time. It feels like a LOT longer, but it’s been so much FUN…
I wonder if I could get my hands on that Playboy for my brother…
whiterabbit, I hate you.
Claudia’s official website is here.
You can order her new CD and the Taboo video here The’re doing two versions of the video. The limited edition contains… nudity. rowl. Personally, I think that’s worth $50.00.
The Playboy can still be acquired through her site. Usually the merchandise link takes you to the Galaxy Gateway page that has tons of B5 stuff and personal stuff from a lot of the stars. Currently the link takes you to the order form for her new CD and video. They also have posters on Galaxy Gateway that are shots that didn’t get used in the Playboy spread. All autographed, though not personalized. When I find the Galaxy Gateway page someother way, I’ll let you know. You can always drop the webmistress a line and she can tell you how to get it. IIRC, the Playboy is $30.00.
Well, duh. No wonder I was having trouble finding it.
It’s Galactic Gateway.
Click on “Shop” and then type Claudia Christian in the search engine and it’ll take you to all her stuff.
I’m watching season 5 again and I’ve noticed something. Byron was a dangerous cult leader who brought about the deaths of many of his followers.
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He’s a bigot. His general view of mundanes is that of a violent inferior people.
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He’s willing to use the abilities of his cult to intimidate others into giving him what he wants.
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Mass suicide, 'nuff said.
He did have legitimate gripes about the Psi-Corps and the treatment of teeps in society. But in the end his ego was more important then the well being of his people.
Marc
I loathe Byron. Creepy and annoying. Plus that song the telepaths sing haunts my dreams. Thank God for Bester.
Based on personal experience with violent mundanes. Yeah, pre-judging a group based on a bad experience with even a significant number of members of the group is a bad thing, but I have a hard time blaming Byron for feeling that mundanes are violent as a rule. Especially seeing as how he and his were bred as weapons to be used by the mundanes.
As for inferiority of the mundanes, he struck me as an egotist, feeling himself superior to most human telepaths (who meekly go along with Psi Corps), not just mundanes. His contempt for the mundanes was I thought summed up best in the scen with Garibaldi, when Byron tells him what telepaths are expected to do to tone down their abilities to avoid picking up what mundanes broadcast.
So was Sheridan. So was De’lenn. So is every leader who uses diplomacy or force to get his or her way, so I take issue with your use of the word “intimidate.” Besides, didn’t Byron say at one point that they only did surface scans and that the tactic was more to get the other races thinking about what could be revealed? He was more using others’ fears about his abilities as opposed to the abilities themselves. Splitting hairs, perhaps, but then Byron has so many hairs he can spare one to be split.
Sheridan ordered an entire ship’s crew to sacrifice themselves just to plant a piece of false intelligence. Any military commander orders troops into battle knowing full well that many of them won’t return. I don’t necessarily see Byron’s acts as radically different from any other leader who sacrifices troops. Byron didn’t order anyone to commit suicide anyway.
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They were created by the Vorlons. And I’d hardly refer to the Vorlons as mundanes. Vorlons themselves were powerful telepaths. And so far as the violence goes look at the Psi-Corps. The mundanes certainly don’t have a monopoly on the violence market.
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I agree.
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I should have been a bit more clear. Byron was willing to intimidate those who had nothing to do with his plight. The Drazi, Minbari, and the Narn had nothing to do with the treatment of human telepaths or the psi-corps.
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Sheridan said that but he also said “Who can remember every thought they had in the past 2 days?”
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That might be true, however some of those people may have had highly sensitive thoughts while they were being scanned. And you are splitting a mighty big hair. If I point a gun at you you’ll be scared even if I know it isn’t loaded.
Byron got sick of the world and killed himself and his followers. He didn’t order them to do it but he didn’t exactly try to get them to save themselves. He was more concerned with himself then he was with the well being of his followers.
Marc
I didn’t. I said they were created for the mundanes to use as weapons.
But is this violence directed at telepaths? According to Byron and some of his follwoers yes, but we don’t witness telepath on telepath violence except in rogue cases.
But he wasn’t addressing the actions of Psi-Corps. He was demanding a homeworld for telepaths. As members of the Interstellar Alliance, under whose protection Byron was operating, each of these worlds was involved.
Which was kind of the point, no?
Don’t misunderstand, I don’t agree with this tactic. Just saying it’s not as indicative of “cult-like” tendencies as you are saying.
He allowed his followers to exercise free will and free choice in deciding whether to engage in violence or not, in whether to come to B5 or not, in whether to join him in death or not. He may not have been as concerned with his followers at the end in his despair but he didn’t order them to their deaths.
It looks like I’ve come a bit late to the party, but I have a few bits of relevant info that I don’t believe have been shared yet.
The entire B5 series, including the movies are going to be released on DVD, supposedly beginning this month. Check the Lurker’s Guide for more information.
My favorite season was, like most others, the fourth. However, the second season was pretty engaging too.
My favorite episode? Passing Through Gethsemane. I was very much a Christian when that episode aired, and it floored me that an atheist (JMS) could so clearly capture the themes of redemption that are so central to the Christ story. Of course, now almost six years later, and a bit more educated, I am not so surprised, but I am still impressed.
Mira Furlan (Delenn) was in town for a con a few years ago, and I got a nice candid picture taken with her. She looks great, but I have this goofy awkward-picture-smile thing going on. ::sigh::
Becky Murphy maintains a site called B5 Spoiler Junkies, where she dishes out the latest and greatest updates in the now evolving B5 saga. The most interesting thing to me is that JMS is now in production for a new series to be aired on Showtime. The following information taken from Becky’s site:
B5 is, IMHO, the greatest sci-fi show to hit the airwaves to date.