8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 21, 1998 'Babylon 5' blasts onto TNT These are the myriad freaks and aliens from season No. 4 of "Babylon 5." Fundraising Publicity leadership development Are these things your student organization is trying to accomplish? Get advice and help from the office of Student Activities & Leader- ship. We offer walk-in advising during these convenient hours: Walk-in Hours Monday: 9 am-1 pm Tuesday: 1-5 pm Wed: 1-5pm Thursday: 4-8 pm Friday: 9 am-i pm Rm 2209 Michigan Union Division of Student Affairs Make the most of your student organization and come see us! Questions? Call 763-5900 or email us at salead@umich.edu. By Ted Watts Daily Arts Writer "Babylon 5" is back from the dead and more popular than ever. The science fiction show, now four years old, has been saved from syndication limbo by cable channel TNT and new episodes are set for Wednesdays at 10 p.m., starting tonight. Tonight's episode will mark the beginning of the rebuild- ing of Earth and the galaxy 300 years after a rash of destruc- tive wars. That doesn't even include the bitter cast problems that led to actress Claudia Christian's unexpected departure from the show. After the show's old local outlet WXON shamefully moved the show, without warning, into a 3 a.m. time slot for its last three episodes, TNT's prime time placement is a welcome change. "Babylon 5" has, in the face of tremen- dous odds, survived to its fifth season. P A It's a good thing, too, because the show had always been planned as a five-year story by creator J. Michael Straczynski. There has never been a sci-fi television series with a planned beginning, middle and end, but tonight's season premiere makes the concept a fait accompli. The short version of the concept, used to sate nervous TV execs: "Casablanca" in space. This label is wholly insufficient to describe the show, but is still a good tagline. "Babylon 5" is an extended saga of wars between species, the rise and fall of various individuals to and from power and an extended dissertation on a philos- ophy for mankind's future. But it's also set against a backdrop of a space station called Babylon 5, a place where humans and aliens meet for busi- ness and diplomacy. Day to day life is shown episode-to- episode in a way that the limitations of movies don't allow. While individual episodes are worthwhile by themselves,. the greater the commitment to watching consistently. the greater the reward in terms of fundamental issues that can be uncovered. As the fifth season begins tonight, a lot has happened. In the last season humans and aliens have waged a war against the most ancient beings in the galaxy and driven them out; Earth has just fought a civil war and barely survived the scorched Earth policy of its last leader; and Babylon 5's Captain John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) has formed the Interstellar Alliance, it combination of many alien races designed to insure peace and improve all involved planets. And that's the vastly oversimplified version. That was essentially the role of the Babylon 5 station in previous seasons. In the following season you can bet that the Alliance is going to have as many problems as the station itself had. And the new season means that there are new players, as well. Tracy Scoggins is joining the cast as Captain Elizabeth Locksley, the new commander of Babylon 5 who will appar- ently be at odds with Sheridan. There are also quite a few hints about what is going to hap- pen in the series that were dropped in the final episode of sea- son four, and the year looks to be violent and full of twists. E V I EW But if you feel bad that you may have missed out on everything up to this Babylon 5 point, TNT is rerunning the first four TNT seasons weeknights at 7. That makes a total of six different Wednesdays at 10 p. episodes to watch every week, not including the times the pilot or the pre- quel movie "In the Beginning" is aired. So what will the future hold for the characters of "Babylon 5"? As one character has said: reflection, surprise, terror. And all you have to do is watch. So what's so great about B5? Little known facts about TNT's newest acquisition: The show just won a sci-fi Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for the second year running. in September 1994, "The Parliament of Dreams" episode won the Emmy for Best Makeup, The show proves that cartoons transcend time and space. One of the main characters is obsessed with Daffy Duck' Source: http://www.babylon5.com The cast of the dismal "Ask Harriet" sits pretty. Don't ask worthless 'Harriet' By Steve Paruszkiewicz Daily Arts Writer The concept of the new Fox televi sion series "Ask Harriet" may seem tad bit familiar to television viewers of the early 1980s or viewers of Nick At Nite. The entire concept of the cross- dressing guy who fooled everyone originated all the way back in "Some Like It Hot" and became tedious with a show called " B o s o m Buddies" which starred Peter Scolari and a REVIEW Ask Harriet Fox, Thursdays at 8:30 pm. S - -- . .. lesser actor name known by the of Tom Race Unity: America' S Most [! I11 0'I IN. C L Challenging Issue What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world's misery would very soon be changed into comfort.-'Abdu'l-Baha Our appeal is addressed primarily to the Racism is the most challenging issue individual American, because the confronting America. A nation whose transformation of a whole nation ultimately ,ancestry includes every people on Earth, depends on the initiative and change of whose motto is E Pluribus Unum, whose character of the individuals who compose it. ideals of freedom under law have inspired No great idea or plan of action by the millions throughout the world, cannot government or other interested organizations continue to harbor prejudice against any can hope to succeed if the individual neglects racial or ethnic group without betraying to respond in his or her own way as personal itself. Racism is an affront to human circumstances and opportunities permit. dignity, a cause of hatred and division, a Excerpt from The Vision of Race Unity by disease that devastates society. the NSA of the Bahd'is of the U. S. Presented by the U-M Baha'i Club. We invite you to a discussion on race unity and the Baha'i Faith on Sunday, January 25 at 2:00 in the Pond room in the Union. Loft Apartment n Deluxe Loft Style Designs nVolleyball Pool v Free Extra Storage Well Tackle Your igh Rent Prob t "lSP Style Bedroom Homes 24 Hour Fitness Center Full Size Washer/Dryer Optional Gourmet Kitchens and Marble Bathrooms Take 1.94 to US 23 North. Exit on 37A. Turn left on Hogback. Turn right onto Clark Road. Arbor Pointe is 3/4 mile down Clark on the right directly across from Washtenaw Community College. ARBOIR P4ITE ""' T~~ N Vt ; Hanks.. Aside from a few differences, "Ask Harriet" is___________ essentially the same show. In it, Jack Cody(Anthony Tyler Quinn), an arrogant sportswriter, writes an article that causes his paper to be sued for $21 million, and lead to4his subsequent termination from the pay roll. Jack concocts a scheme in which-he dresses up as a woman named Syia Coco, and pleads for his job back. lie ends up writing an advice column. The owner of the newspaper (Ed Asner) loves it, and invites him to a hocke game. Jack goes back to clear out is desk, and meets Asner's promiscueus granddaughter, Joplin (Julie Ben He thinks that he can erase his alter ego Sylvia, and have Joplin secure his job after he invites her back to his apartment for dinner. After the dinner, Jack goes to-he hockey game, and his boss (big sur- prise) hits on him. They end up back a Jack's apartment and Joplin conic tW the door to get something she had'for- gotten there earlier. Asner goes ballis- tic, and demands why she was there at Cody's apartment. Sylvia then fells him that she is Jack's girlfriend and they were throwing a party for Joplin. Asner, being so taken with Sylvia, gives her a five year contract, ard decrees that Cody will never work for him again. With this, the rest of the show is spelled out in black and whit for the viewer. The show itself is weak in plot, weak in story, and weak in characters. It goes along with the same mishaps that befell the Bosom Buddies duo (i.e. talking in their normal deep voices while in drag, being hit on by men, etc.) The show attempts to find humor in a warmed- over plot and win over the audience with its risque behavior. To say the least, it is almost as it Fo hopes we forgot about "Bosom Buddies," and will find their new show hilarious. The bad news for Fox is that the audience, thanks to Nick At Nite's syndicated reruns, hasn't forgotten. -2 Sp4 WIMPU I EK JuL~Ivet~KUU* LVMPUT EK SIENCE * PH YICS * CHEMICAL ENGINEERING MATH . ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING *MECHANICAL ENGINEERING' BUSINESS ANALYSIS Free Phantom; Daly Arts and Dimens 1 ffims are presentingj a e4 advance screening "V -" iuvtonW' this eve nng If y x want to oin s nthe *ighte. fun, stop b~y the Daily Adstoff, in the Student Pubflcatons BWing aternoon oda Uj J T[7 lq When something is too extreme for words, it's to the Nth degree. And that's the level of technology you'll experience at Raytheon. Raytheon has formed a new technological superpower-Raytheon Systems Company, composed of four major technological giants: Raytheon Electronic Systems, Raytheon E-Systems, Raytheon TI Systems and Hughes Aircraft. The new Raytheon Systems Company is driving technology to the limit. And we're looking for engineers who want to push the envelope. Break new ground. Make their mark. LIKE NORTH CAMPUS? YOU'LL LOVE ' m ' I