It may be too good a rumor to be true, or it may be true but may well not come to anything. Trying to line up millions of dollars in investment and a broadcast outlet (possibly the WB network; Warner Brothers produced the original series) is a huge task, and Doyle has other things on his plate, such as his Republican political career. But it is tempting to root for the return of a favorite series, especially one that set so many standards with its five-year "novel for television" format and computer-generated effects. It's also tempting to ignore those — such as, usually, this columnist — who argue in favor of letting a good thing stay dead and not risk reviving a "Galactica 1980" zombie to scare the kiddies each week.

Straczynski is one of those we'd have to ignore. As Backstage Pass writes, "JMS had always stated that he had a story to tell and once it was over, he was finished with the series. Having been a fan of the genre most of his life, Straczynski should have known better. Projects like this have a tendency to take on lives of their own."

Ah, but Straczynski is not a fundamentalist on that point. Even if the above report comes to nothing, we've got a taste of continuing "Babylon" in the latest issue of the quarterly Amazing Stories magazine, which features a new piece of short fiction by JMS dealing with two characters from the "Babylon 5" series.

In the story, Marcus Cole is brought back to life 300 years after giving up his life in order to save that of his lover, Susan Ivanova. Cole was a member of the Rangers, a behind-the-scenes fighting force dedicated to fighting the mysterious Shadows. In that capacity, he came into league with Ivanova and her compatriots onboard the space station Babylon 5, which was the focal point to resistance to both the Shadow forces and the corrupt Earth government. But this story takes place 300 years after the end of the Shadow war, and the Alliance that won both struggles is well entrenched; however, all of the people Cole knew are dead, including, of course, Ivanova. But Cole learns that her neural patterns were scanned before she died, leaving a record of her thoughts and mental state. That gives birth to a plan by Cole to bring her back to life in a new body and give her the peaceful life she never got to enjoy, um, in life.

It can be annoying for novels based on TV series to try to extrapolate what happened to beloved characters. Though it's also what gives such novels a reason for being (besides milking money out of fans, I mean), it usually has a ring of falseness in my ears, seemingly placing them a step above fan fiction. But this story is written by Straczynski himself, so it's a great opportunity for us to learn what happened to the characters we watched for five years and it gives their creator a chance to play in the universe he developed.

And if the tubby woman was faking, then it's good to keep Straczynski in good writing form.

| Official "Babylon 5" Web site |

In other news and views

The Sci-Fi Channel will premiere its new documentary series, "Sciography," 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 16. It's first episode will feature "Battlestar Galactica," and will include interviews with the cast and creators of the series. Future "Sciography's" will cover "Quantum Leap" (probably in August) and "Babylon 5" a month later.

Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft will not appear next week. We'll be vacationing in America's Dairyland.

Reader mail:
C.D. Thomas writes, "Thanks for the heads-up on the Galaxy Online site. A bitch to navigate, with lots of useless design on the right-hand frame, but has good content, if you're willing to dig for it. Also full of the big-name authors I grew up reading, and interesting articles. All in all, a good find."

I'm glad others are finding the Galaxy site enjoyable, too. Yeah, the design is clunky and slow (it bogs down my T1 connection at work, but that may just be punishment for checking out the site when I should be working), but it is a site that actually has content worth reading and watching. And with all of the brainpower behind it, I'd expect them to wise up pretty quickly to their design deficiencies. Thomas also suggests a future column on science fiction spoken work/radio. "There's still some people out there doing it. www.oldtimeradio.com might have some suggestions." It's a good idea, one I'd like to pursue. If anyone else has suggestions of other sites and spoken word programs to look into, or if you have comments you'd like to share on the topic, let me know.

This week's episodes

All times Eastern. Syndicated episodes are sometimes shown in different weeks in different locations, so your local broadcast may, naturally, differ.

Angel
WB, 9 p.m. Tuesdays; David Boreanaz, Seth Green, and Charisma Carpenter
July 11: In "Eternity," Angel saves an actress from a stalker, only to fall for her and tell her his real identity. (Repeat)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
WB, 8 p.m. Tuesdays; Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Kristine Sutherland, and Anthony Stewart Head; official site
July 11: In "This Year's Girl," ya gotta have faith, er, Faith, as she returns from her coma and wants revenge on everyone's favorite slayer. And Faith is powered by a present from the Mayor. (Repeat)
July 18: "Who Are You"

Cleopatra 2525
Syndicated; Gina Torres, Victoria Pratt, Jennifer Sky, Patrick Kake, Danielle Cormack, Joel Tobeck
Week of July 11: "Last Stand" (Repeat)

Earth: Final Conflict
Syndicated, Lisa Howard, Leni Parker, Von Flores, David Hemblen, Robert Leeshock, Richard Chevolleau, Anita LaSelva, Jayne Heitmeyer, Peter Krantz, Barna Moricz, Lindy Booth, Sten Eirik; official site
Week of July 11: "Through Your Eyes" (Repeat)
Week of July 18: "Apparition" (Repeat)
Week of July 25: "One Taelon Avenue" (Repeat)
Week of August 1: "Keep Your Enemies Closer" (Repeat)

Farscape
Sci-Fi, 9 p.m. Fridays; Ben Browder, Lani John Tupu, and Virginia Hey; official site
July 14: "A Kiss is but a Kiss"
July 21: "I Do, I Think"
July 28: "The Maltese Crichton"

First Wave
Sci-Fi, 7 p.m. Sundays; Sebastian Spence and Roger Cross; official site
July 16: "Normal, Illinois"
July 23: "All About Eddie"
July 30: "Playland"

Futurama
Fox, 7:00 p.m. Sundays; Billy West, Lauren Tom, John Di Maggio, and Katey Sagal; official site
July 16: "A Bicyclops Built for Two". (Repeat)

The Invisible Man
Sci-Fi, 8:00 p.m. Fridays; official site
July 14: "Impetus"
July 21: "The Devil You Know"
July 28: "Liberty and Larceny"

Lexx
Sci-Fi, 10 p.m.; Xenia Seeberg.
July 14: "Woz"
July 21: "The Net"
July 28: "Brigadoom"

Outer Limits
Showtime, 11:30 p.m. Fridays
July 14: "The Grid"
July 21: "Revival"
July 28: "Gettysburg"

Roswell
WB, 9:00 p.m. Mondays; Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby, Brendan Fehr, and Katherine Heigl
July 10: "Heat Wave" (Repeat)

Seven Days
UPN, 8 p.m. Wednesdays; Jonathan LaPaglia, Don Franklin; official site
July 12: "Buried Alive" (Repeat)

Stargate SG-1
Showtime, 10 p.m. Fridays; official site
July 14: "Upgrades"
July 21: "Crossroads"
July 28: "Divide and Conquer"

Star Trek: Voyager
UPN, 9 p.m. Wednesdays; Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Jeri Ryan, and Garrett Wang. official site
July 12: "The Voyager Conspiracy" (Repeat)
July 19: "Blink of an Eye" (Repeat)
July 26: "Virtuoso"

Xena: Warrior Princess
Syndicated, Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Bruce Campbell, official site
Week of July 11: "Amphipolis Under Siege" (Repeat)

The X-Files
Fox, 9 p.m. Sundays; David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi; official site
July 16: "First Person Shooter" (Repeat)

The final words...

"It's getting so a man can't even die heroically without someone spoiling all the fun. I'll have words with her about this, just you wait."
—Marcus Cole, after being brought back to life on the orders of his late lover, Susan Ivanova, in J. Michael Straczynski's short story, "Space, Time, and the Incurable Romantic," published in Amazing Stories