Games

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the American SF TV show Babylon 5 . Its pilot episode, The Gathering , aired on 22 February 1993, with the first season proper following eleven months later. Never a mass break-out hit, Babylon 5 remained on-air for five seasons and 110 episodes (plus 4 TV movies and a straight-to-DVD movie), not to mention generating a spin-off called Crusade that lasted half a season before being cancelled and a pilot for a second spin-off that never went to series. Not too bad for a show that, even today, most people have never even heard of. Some of t he regular cast of Babylon 5 in its first season: Jerry Doyle as Security Chief Michael Garibaldi, Peter Jurasik as Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari (with the hair), Claudia Christian as Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova, Mira Furlan as Minbari Ambassador Delenn, Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters, Andreas Katsulas as Narn Ambassador G'Kar and Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin, with Michael O'Hare as Commander...

Sadly, the news has broken that veteran actor Robin Sachs passed away last week at the age of 61.   As Ethan Rayne on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sachs is known for bringing his distinctive gravelley voice to numerous science fiction and fantasy roles on TV and film. He is best-known for his portrayal of Ethan Rayne, arch-enemy of Rupert Giles, in four episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer . He also had multiple appearances on Babylon 5 , in which he played two roles, although, confusingly, each role had two names. He played the role of Hedronn, a member of the Minbari Grey Council, in two episodes and the TV movie In the Beginning . In the latter his character was inexplicably renamed Caplann. He also appeared as the Narn captain (and later general) Na'Kal in four episodes of the show, with the character now being called Na'Tok in his latter two appearances. Sachs is the latest in a surprisingly large number of actors who worked on Babylon 5 to pass away before his time. Playing...