Sullivan Museum and History Center Presents a Lunch & Learn "Babylon 5: the Myths and Legends of a Groundbreaking Series"
The Sullivan Museum and History Center presents a continuation of our science fiction-themed Lunch and Learns this November. Join science fiction enthusiasts Glennie Sewell and Joseph Cates as they discuss J. Michael Straczynski's groundbreaking series, Babylon 5. Unusual for its time, Babylon 5 was conceived as a "novel for television" with a pre-planned five-year story arc, and with each episode envisioned as a "chapter." While contemporary television shows tended to maintain the overall status quo, confining conflicts to individual episodes, Babylon 5 featured story arcs which spanned multiple episodes and even seasons creating permanent changes to the series' universe. The series explored cultural, historical, and political influences as well as diplomacy and religion in science fiction. They covered topics no other television show had dared to feature, many of them somewhat similar to contemporary events happening in the mid-1990s related to wars and peacekeeping. The world was not perfect and tested the viewers' preconceived ideas of good versus evil. But it was not the post-apocalyptic or dystopian future often seen in the science fiction world outside of Star Trek and Star Wars. One fan said, "I hope the future will be like Star Trek, but I'm afraid it's going to be like Babylon 5."
Professor Glennie Sewell was a member of the Norwich University faculty until the COVID crisis and is in his twelfth year at Troy University (with TroyOnline) as a World Literature and Composition professor. He heads Messenger Guardians Paranormal Investigation Studios, in Montpelier, with the assistance of former Norwich graduates. Professor Sewell has used science fiction literature and film to teach about the advancement of the human condition. Joseph Cates is a lifelong science fiction enthusiast, and the Curator of Education and Public Programs at the Sullivan Museum and History Center. As a historian, he has studied the historical influences on science fiction.
We hope you will join us on November 3, 2021, at noon for "Babylon 5: The Myths and Legends of a Groundbreaking Series," a Sullivan Museum and History Center Lunch and Learn program. Lunch will be provided for all attendees, and masks are required for this event. Space will be limited so we do ask that you contact the museum at (802) 485-2183 no later than Monday, November 1st, to reserve a seat. If space fills, we will set up a secondary viewing area in the museum gallery.
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