Interacting with Babylon 5: Fan Performances in a Media Universe

Babylon 5 omniverse

by Kurt Lancaster

"This book makes a significant contribution to the growing body of scholarship surrounding the participatory communities--i.e. fandoms--that surround cult television shows and films. . . . It will cut across disciplines, finding a readership among sociologists, anthropologists, media scholars, and performance scholars, as well as among fans and lay readers." --Henry Jenkins, author of Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture Much of the pleasure of science fiction and fantasy stems from the genres' ability to transport fans into imaginary worlds that often feel more "real" than ordinary life. This pioneering book uses the insights of performance theory to explore how fans of the television show Babylon 5 actively immerse themselves in its imaginary environment by role-playing games and fan fiction, through which the fans perform--make real--fantasies they previously watched on television. Kurt Lancaster opens with a background analysis of Babylon 5, including creator-producer J. Michael Straczynski's online interaction with fans. Then he thoroughly examines the performance aspects of all the participatory media surrounding the show--the role-playing game, collectable card game, war game, CD-ROM "guidebook," fan fiction, and web pages. His use of performance theory offers a new way of understanding the enormous popularity of imaginary entertainment environments and the fandom surrounding other popular sites of science fiction and fantasy, including Star Trek, Star Wars, and J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001