The SF Site: Babylon 5.1 by Rick Norwood

Babylon 5.1
by Rick Norwood

SF on TV

Websites
Other Babylon 5.1 Columns
For more information, you can try the following sites:
Rick Norwood's Website
Worldwide TV Schedule
The Official Babylon 5 Website
The X-Files
Pocket Books: Star Trek
Paramount Star Trek

Ratings
Ratings are based on a four star system.
One star means that the commercials are more entertaining than the program.
Two stars watch if you have nothing better to do.
Three stars is good solid entertainment.
Four stars means you never dreamed television could be this good.

As we all know, network television loves originality, and imitates it at every opportunity. That is why there are three, count 'em three, borderline SF shows on the new Fall season, all about humans hunting for hidden aliens: Surface on Mondays on NBC, Invasion on Wednesdays on ABC, and Threshold on Fridays on CBS.

The only real SF on television is on Sci-Fi Friday.

Here is what is on in September.

Friday, Sept. 2
Nothing at all.

Friday, Sept. 9
Stargate SG-1, "Babylon", by Damien Kindler
Battlestar Galactica, "Final Cut"
Stargate: Atlantis, "Conversion"

Friday, Sept 16
Stargate SG-1, "Prototype", by Alan Mccullough
Battlestar Galactica, "Flight of the Phoenix"
Stargate: Atlantis, "Aurora", by Carl Binder

Friday, Sept 23
Stargate SG-1, "The Fourth Horseman I", by Damien Kindler
Battlestar Galactica, "Pegasus"
Stargate: Atlantis, "Lost Boys I"

Friday, Sept 30
Stargate SG-1, "The Fourth Horseman II", by Joseph Mallozzi
Battlestar Galactica, "Resurrection Ship"
Stargate: Atlantis, "The Hive II"

The complete first season of Battlestar Galactica is now out on DVD. The complete second season of Jeremiah is not.

DVD Review

The Muppet Show Fraggle Rock (you remember Fraggle Rock) is now available on two DVDs with three shows each. It holds up very well -- the word "enchanting" comes to mind -- even though nobody on the show could figure out what to do with the doozers. The music, by the Canadian team of Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee, is especially good.

The Muppet Show, the complete first season, is also out on DVD. Previous DVDs of The Muppet Show have only contained 3 shows each, so it is nice to have a long complete run. The first season did not have as many big name guest stars as later seasons, but is still a lot of fun. And how did they get all those puppets all moving at once!

One of the guests deserves special mention: "Mummenschanz" When the show first aired, I was more puzzled by them than amused. And yet, they stuck in my mind. Now, after all these years, I still remember them vividly, and realize that they were doing something rather remarkable.

I do NOT like the packaging. It is already too easy to scratch a DVD; we don't need a package where you must removeDisk One every time you want to get at Disk Two.

Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon.