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B5 Books: 2 Important Updates

KoshN

Super Moderator
Copied from the email notice I received:


ALERT #1 CRUSADE UPDATE

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?, Volume 2 is planned for release after the re-launch of B5books.com.

J. Michael Straczynski, being painfully aware of the lag in the CRUSADE book release schedule, is putting together a "thank you for your patience" bonus that makes it worth the wait: he's producing his two unfilmed CRUSADE episodes as audio dramas with "voices the fans are familiar with." The audio drama episodes are "To the Ends of the Earth" and "The End of the Line".

Since neither of these unproduced scripts are in Volume 2, one CD will be included FREE with Volume 3 of WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? and the other CD FREE with Volume 4.

Reminder: ALL CRUSADE books will be available until the HELL series is complete.

ALERT #2 RELEASE SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENT

B5-20, our release honoring the 20th Anniversary of BABYLON 5, will be released in June instead of April.

Budget-constrained fans are requesting we hold the release of more books until after the ECHOES series is retired so they can complete their ECHOES collection before the May 15th deadline. (Apparently, ECHOES is a popular way for U.S. customers to spend their tax refunds.)

This means that instead of releasing B5-20 in April, we are going to release B5-20 in June, after ECHOES retires (and is never, ever available again in any form).

Be assured, the dates below are LOCKED and will NOT change again.

ADJUSTED RELEASE SCHEDULE March: No new releases April: No new releases May 15: ECHOES retired June: B5-20 released

ABOUT B5-20 In our next update we will be revealing more details about B5-20.
 
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Fantastic! I was afraid the Crusade books might have gone the way of JMS' B5 graphic novel that was in the works all those years, never to be seen again. I'm hoping we'll get to learn some things about where the series was going, given that the dialogue was so heavy in hints and foreshadowing. My hunger for Crusade has not subsided.

Raw Shark

"Wise men are instructed by reason; men of less understanding, by experience; the most ignorant, by necessity; and beasts, by nature."

Marcus Tullius Cicero
 
New email update:

Next Monday, May 13, we will email the announcement detailing the B5 Books release in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Babylon 5.

In the meantime you get two hints:
(1) It's 12 inches tall by 12 inches wide
and (2) weighs 5 pounds.

NOTE
The announcement we are sending Monday is ONLY a pre-announcement that details what B5-20 is and how much it will cost. Fans have been requesting this information because they want to budget for the release.

Ordering will NOT begin until June with one exception: orders for pick-up at the 20th Anniversary Reunion at Phoenix Comicon WILL be available.
 
There's been a lot of excitement about the Babylon 5 at 20 book that was announced last month. Due to the number of people interested in pre-ordering, that's been opened up earlier than planned: http://www.cafepress.com/_b5books Books will ship by June 30. The fans who were able to pick theirs up at Phoenix Comicon loved them.

Jan
 
Nothing other than that, as an apology for how long it's taken, JMS will have audio dramas done of his two unproduced scripts. But no word yet on when they might be expected.

Jan
 
...found a preexisting thread, so here goes...


?? New B5Books Releases!! https://b5books.com/

A three part series containing material from the six volume 2012 Echoes collection.
Available in Ebook, Paperback, or Hardcover.
--
ECHOES OF ALL OUR CONVERSATIONS:
The Actors, 2023 Annotated Edition

--
Plus there is a bonus book that is Free as part of a bundle or can be ordered separately if one already has the original series. Looks to be a Limited Time Only Offer for the bonus book - 90 days.
--
Group Interviews with the Actors - Single Copies

"Available to everyone — especially fans who own the original ECHOES series — this is content you do NOT have in print. The page count is smaller at 175 pages but the new layout, which shows an image next to the actor each time they speak, makes it worthwhile. Offer ends in 90 days. Note that paperbacks are the same size as the original set (7.5″x9.25″) The original ECHOES series included 6 CDs of the actors being interviewed in groups of two or more. These interviews were licensed for audio only so these transcripts were NOT in the 2012 books."
 
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B5Books :) is now offering upscaled-ish streaming-and-or-downloadable versions of the discontinued DVD set CNN Documents Babylon 5. Looks like there is a $20 discount if one purchases by/before March 28th. The downloadable version looks to cost $20 more than the streaming-only version.

Basic Information
-----------------------
https://b5books.com/cnn-documents-babylon-5 - Online offer/information

"This new 2024 Edition includes all of the above but at a resolution of 4K
(instead of 720p) which brings out the detail in the sets, the costumes,
the makeup and more with its sharpness and vivid color. There’s also the
17 Bonus Bundles that add more than 2 hours of additional content."


https://b5books.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Guide-to-CNN-Documents-Babylon-5-Bonus-Bundles.pdf -- The PDF file of Bonus Video Stuff included with this offer.
PDF can also be seen at https://b5books.com/cnn-documents-babylon-5/ - scroll down.


There appear to be two versions - see picture at bottom of post.
- V1 The steaming-ish online version. Normally sells for $49, but $29 till March 28th.
- - Streaming version appears to go as high as 4k.
- V2 The downloadable-ish PLUS streaming-ish online version. Normally sells for $69, but $49 till March 28th.
As an example, here are the downloadable options for the 60 minute Part 1 video:
2160p -- 3.13GB
1440P -- 1.45GB
1080P -- 930MB

720P -- 499MB
540P -- 352MB
360P -- 229MB
240P -- 163MB

?? There seems to be an issue as of March 20th with some of the downloadable subtitles. Will send an email to ask about this. Downloadable subtitles are VTT -- not SRT -- so had to "convert" VTT to SRT. Streaming version has subtitles plus transcripts.

Unrelated: Paypal works. After purchasing via B5Books, was sent an email containing a link along with a "voucher code" to create an account to access the video files. Went with the downloadable-ish plus streaming-ish version to save the files to a USB drive, but even the five large video files at "only" 1440p are close to 10 gigs in size. Accounts created to access these video files are unrelated to accounts used to access other B5Books online items such as the Encyclopedia and B5 at 20.

MINOR UPDATE
- There are two "Part Two" video files available for streaming (and/or download) as the second version has Jason Davis giving a background audio narration.
...looks like the updated B5Books page doesn't list what was on the original DVDs, so for New Purchasers., the three DVDs should match Parts 1-3 of the 2024 version.

Disc 1 (aka Part 1)
"And Now For A Word: CNN Interviews the B5 Cast"
...with optional video footnotes, which explains the English-US downloadable subtitle file.
1. Jerry Doyle -- 16 Dec 1993
2. Michael O'Hare -- 16 Dec 1993
3. Claudia Christian -- 5 Jan 1994
4. Jerry Doyle -- 5 Jan 1994
5. Michael O'Hare -- 5 Jan 1994
6. Bruce Boxleitner -- 16 Sep 1994
Bonus: Shari Belafonte -- Summer 1998

Disc 2 (aka Part 2)
"The Illusion of Truth: CNN Goes Behind the Scenes on B5"
...with optional audio commentary, which explains the 2nd Part Two video file.
1. By Any Means Necessary -- 16 Dec 1993
2. Legacies -- 5 Jan 1994
3. A Distant Star -- 16 Sep 1994
4. Objects at Rest -- 17 Mar 1998

Disc 3 (aka Part 3)
"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars: Claudia 'Ivanova' Christian and Jerry 'Garibaldi' Doyle reflect on CNN's visits to the set twenty years later."


B5CNN2024_2Editions.jpg

Videos-Streaming-Etc.jpg
 
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