YGCTO Episode 24 - The Fall of Centauri Prime

2026-05-29T06:00:00-04:00

Vacation Week Continues

We’re still out for a recharge and I have to get this written a week early. So I’ll have to let the episode and image captions speak for me.

Our guest this week is Bill Johnston AKA Bookseller Bill. You can find Bill at Commoonwealth Books in Downtown Boston. He has no Babyloon 5 books in the collection.

Mike’s Image Picks

This is the second attempt at showing the Drakh in person. The muppet version here is more fun than the earlier shadow form. I’d party with this muppet.

Londo Meets an Evil Muppet is the alternate title for this episode

The Regent gets time to repent before giving up his keeper.

Good moment of clarity

This Narn speaks some harsh truths to Sheridan. If they run in and attack Centauri, no one will stop them. Cooler heads have to go through a system to prevent this. Except that they’re not asking for permission or forgiveness.

Knows how to use Sheridans tactics against him

Londo gets one last talk with everone sans Keeper.

Londo mentally preparing his friends for the Old Yeller Treatment

Lennier spills the beans

I know

Londo gets huge

I am a big Centauri now

What Did We Learn?

Londo cannot outrun fate

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover Babylon 5: Season 5 Episode 19 “Wheel of Fire” with Pete Johnston. Coming to you Sunday, June 14st.

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YGCTO Episode 23b - Blitzcast Memories

2026-05-20T06:00:00-04:00

Northbound Slater

This week, Mike is away in Canada. In the meantime, enjoy this weeks outtakes from the Blitzcast.

Next Episode

We begin the final series of regular Babylon 5 episodes and cover “The Fall of Centuri Prime” with Bill Johnston.

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YGCTO Episode 23 - Blitzcast Part III

2026-05-14T06:00:00-04:00

This Week’s Blitzcast Guests

Logan Trent

Logan Trent is the co-host of the “WNBYay” podcast on the “You Don’t Even Like This” Network and Wrestlemovie on Gamefully Unemployed.

Logan Trent - wormhole selfie

Colin McClintick

Colin is a developer and fighting game competitor in Chicago. Colin is also my guitar student.

Colin McClintick

This is Colin’s first time on the podcast.

Adam Flint

Adam Flint is a musician living in Florida. He performs under the name “Chicago John”.

Karl Wolf

Dan Alvarez

Dan Alvarez is Dre’s brother. He grew up watching Babylon 5 and knows as much about the show as his Podcastin’ Bro. Dan was recently on the show with us for the Season 4 finale “Endgame”.

Mike’s Image Picks

Telepaths attack each other in the attempt to spin off Babylon 5 into a procedural drama set in the Psy Corps. It didn’t take.

Prosthetic lips can also be used for a nasty case of pinkeye on video

Vir Goes Shopping

Vir Goes Shopping

G’Kar gets a new eyeball

The better to peep on you and your wife with

Vir gets into a fruit fight with a Drazi

I told ya this happens

Garibaldi dreams he has a very large gun…

Try messin wit my noggin again, Bester

…then about the end of his arc with Lyta

Garibaldi, the prophet

What Did We Learn?

Do not attempt the Blitzcast at home

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover Babylon 5: Season 5 Episode 18 “The Fall of Centauri Prime” with Bill Johnston. Coming to you Sunday, May 31st.

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YGCTO Episode 22 - Blitzcast Part II

2026-05-07T06:00:00-04:00

Entrance Music

Now these episodes are why I wanted to start podcasting. I see the podcast as a pathway to four goals. One is having a weekly creative self-imposed deadline. Two is an outlet for writing music. Three is a way to nurture friendships and flour is a way to showcase creative people.

The Blitzcast is a way to revisit as many of our friends as possible at once. One thing I always saw us doing is having recurring guests… or at least a good avenue to having the same people back on the show. It’s also somewhat ambitious compared to what we’ve done so far. Scheduling this was a big challenge. I had to get all the guests set on 30 minute slots in a way that lined up with two other guests.

We knew some issues would come up during the recording. We only had one no-show… but David stayed on to fill the extra gap. And three guests had to cancel in the days before the show, but we were able to get some quick replacements in David and Colin.

Right now, the toughest part is writing entrance themes for everyone. I was able to cheat a bit for Part I by recycling unused themes I had written for two of the guests. But by now I’m having to come up with an original one for each guest. Luckily, Naj and Nate came on at the same time leaving me with only three to write this week.

Mike’s Magic World

I spent some time going through my extra Magic cards. In the mid 2010’s I was still getting each set and playing at the store. But since Covid, I stopped playing outside of the occasional family game.

Since the spider-man set was a hit with Andy and I’m altering more often, we’re looking forward to the upcoming Marvel set. I used to collect every Marvel title at two different periods of my life. In Jr. High, I collected every X-Men and Spider-Man issue. In the mid ’00s, I was all-in on the Civil War tie-ins.

Since the MCU wave has come and gone, being a Marvel fan hits different. The movies don’t hit the same and I can’t say that hasn’t affected my interest in getting new comics. If Hickman or Gillen write a book, I’m much more inclined to get it. But by now, I reserve that for their Image titles.

I sold a decent chunk of my cards for credit with the intent of getting a decent amount of the Marvel set. We pulled a Soul Stone from the Spider-Man we opened. Plus, Andy and I opened them in the best way: by playing drafts with them. It’s been a long time since I bought a box of cards just to crack the packs. Since Mirroden Scarred I’ve had a personal rule to only open a pack if it’s to play a game with.

Andy’s always ready to open packs. So I always have a game to open cards for. I stopped caring about the whole Universes Unbound tking over Magic years ago. After all, I only played structured tournaments at the local store level. My play groups were for the most part literal kitchen-table magic groups.

Marvel Magic gives me a unique and personal way to enjoy my favorite Marvel characters again. I’ve been altering more often and went back to my old 1993 Marvel Universe sets for cards to paint. I’m most looking forward to altering more Marvel cards. So for the first time in my 25+ year MTG hobby, I care moore about the art on the cards than the gameplay value.

This Week’s Blitzcast Guests

David Stampor

David Stampor is a monkey from Michigan.

David Stampor

David was unexpectedly asked to stick around after his appearance last week in part I to cover another episode. First by himself, then with Evynne.

Evynne Stitely

Evynne Stitely is a Drummer / Teacher / YouTube Creator / Writer / Graphic Artist living in Chicago. I’ve had the privilege of playing music with Evynne several times. She is definitely not JMS in disguise, no matter what Dre tells you.

Evynne Stitely

Evynne was previously on our “Chrysalis” episode from season 1. She has a habit of taking Dre’s more outlandish theories and making them work. I wanted her entrance theme to reflect her past as a drummer by having the guitars and drums play in different time signatures. In this case 3/4 over 5/4 in sections of 5 bars.

Karl Wolf

Karl Wolf is a singer and Babylon 5 enthusiast living in Detroit.

Karl Wolf

So I was trying to do an acapella vocal intro for Karl, but it wasn’t happening by the end of my 60 minute time limit for these. Again, self-imposed. This is what I whipped up as an excuse to use the new bass synth pedal. I regret nothing!

Naj

Najmah is a multi-talented artist. She works in online production and marketing for gaming and tech. Naj is also a talented artist and musician who has a youtube channel where she covers popular songs on Ukulele. She has a youtube vlog where you can find more about her game development projects. For her music you can check out her music channelm NajMeTender.

Najmah Salam

You can find even more of Najmah’s creative and professional efforts at najmahsalam.com.

Nate Flint

Nate Flint was in the band Mad Bread with Mike.

David Stampor

Nate guested on “The Hour of the Wolf” from season 4. I used one of Nate’s songs from Mad Bread as the basis for his entrance music. Since it became a tag team with Naj, I added Ukulele to the arrangement.

Mike’s Image Picks

Introducing Byron to a new group of people usually results in Byron getting punched in the face.

After getting hit I'm still a dick

Like these guys

Byron has some odd ways of hitting on Lyta

If I hold your head like this will you love me?

Londo and G’kar are friends now. THe bickering isn’t the same now that they don’t want to kill each other.

From mortal enemies to bickering couple

Penn and Teller are still there

Morden tries out a new creepy haircut

Dude can't not be creepy

Byron Blackmails command into giving them a planet of the telepaths.

He is just as menacing before and after the heel turn

What Did We Learn?

Blitzcast Lives On!

Next Episode

The Season 5 Blitzcast concludes in Part III, coming to you Sunday, May 17th.

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YGCTO Episode 21 - Blitzcast Part I

2026-04-30T06:00:00-04:00

Twelve Guests Enter the Blitzcast…

To handle the fifth season of Babylon 5, Dre and I decided to do something a little different and a little insane. I wanted to find a way to have most of our guests back on towards the end of the Babylon 5 run to see if they had watched any more Babylon 5. After all, it’s the question we ask all of them at the end of the show.

We wound up with ten former guests and two new guests on the show. To handle a large number of guests in one show, we staggered their appearances across the entire show. The idea is that we would pair two guests at a time, each guest overlapping with each other in 15 minute segments.

Each guest takes on the next episode of Babylon 5 as they arrive. We get caught up with them, then have them read off the next episode description. There’s a quick recap… or unrelated tangent. THen we get in a quick game of two truths and a lie on the plot before moving to the next guest and episode.

It was a wild podcasting experiment. I ended up breaking it up into three parts that we’ll be releasing over the next three weeks. Let me introduce the four guests that are on this week’s Part I.

The Fateful Four

Ait Fetterolf

Ait Fetterolf is actually a wrestler which made him perfect to kick off the Blitz. He was with us on the Season 4 episode “The Face of the Enemy”.

The face of an angel, the heart of a contender

I wrote intro music for each guest and Ait’s was the easiest. My usual formula of playing a pentatonic riff on bass, double on guitar and adding a drum machine works nicely here.

Megan Boshuyzen

Megan Boshuyzen is an email expert and member of the Coventry Board of Education. You can hear Megan on her podcast “Geek Out with Megan and Carin”. She was with us early on for the Season 2 episode “In The Shadow of Za’Ha’Dum”

I pictured Megan storming the podcast arena on a pegasus and used that to conjure this intro music:

Carin Slater

Carin Slater is still married to me, against all odds taken at our wedding. She is the goddess of email and my household. You can hear her on her podcast “Geek Out with Megan and Carin” or as the first guest of You Gotta Check This Out on the Season 1 episode “Signs and Portents”.

Carin Slater

Carin’s theme is based on a birthday pop punk song I wrote for her.

David Stampor

David Stampor is a monkey from Michigan.

David Stampor

David’s theme song is called “The Moron Chorus”:

Mike’s Image Picks

Welcome to Season 5. Appropriately starting out by delivering a corpse to the station.

DOA, just like Season 5 compared to what came before

Lochly, the third captain of the series. Comes across like a model trying to act… and is one.

A model captain

Byron is generally thought of as the scourge of season 5. He was supposed to come across as an ethereal charismatic leader. Unfortunately, the actor makes him seem like a stuck up rich kid who never interacted with other people. Also a model in real life who took on the role at the last moment.

His story should have lasted 4-5 episodes and instead dragged on for most of season five. You’ll hear a lot of complaining about this dude throughout the blitzcast, and then we shall never speak of Byron again.

A model telepath

Londo has a long dark night of the soul after drinking a bad bottle of Centauri moonshine.

Londo was always a sucker for poisoned drink

Lennier and Vir get one last drink together before Lennier goes off to be abandoned in space by the Rangers… as is their tradition.

These two having bar encounters were some of the best small moments of the show

There’s an entire episode where these two are the main characters. THen are never heard from again.

The Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of B5

What Did We Learn?

Do not taunt the Blitzcast

Next Episode

The Season 5 Blitzcast continues in Part II, coming to you Sunday, May 10th.

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YGCTO Episode 20b - Prequelibrium

2026-04-25T06:00:00-04:00

New Pedal On Display

We have a good discussion about prequels in this one. However, I don’t have much more to say about the Babylon 5 prequel movie after last week. It remains a relic of its time even more than the full series.

Rather than beating that dead horse, I’ll take this week to show off my new pedal. I brought the new stingray bass to practice and my drummer immediately picked me up a synth pedal. He’s been wanting to incorporate a moog sound. Adding a bass pedal to my board was much easier than him learning how to play drums and a moog at once.

It’s tougher than it looks to use. You have to start thinking of your bass as more of an electric sound controller than a guitar. The tracking on any envelope filter is tough to get right depending on your attack level and the bass. I’ve been working with my MXR Bass compression pedal to smooth out the sound.

When you reach for that smooth tracking on bass

The pedal is the MXR synth bass. I’m starting off with just the presets. I had to pick up a switch pedal to page through the 8 preselects, but it was so worth it. The presets are worth the pedal alone. I used to use the Green DigiTech bass envelope filter when I gigged back in the 00’s. If I can incorporate this into enough songs, I’ll start fiddling with the controls to craft my own.

Only the filthiest funk from this one

What it’s missing is a good slap effect like the green pedal had. Speaking of which, I’m also missing my green pedal… so I’ll have to set aside some time to work on that. We used to call it the “Space Bass” setting. I’m hoping I can dial something in to reclaim that sonic throne.

For now, here’s some of me playing along to Stevie Wonder with the new sound.

Your browser does not support the video tag. I promised a Stingray video, here's the new bass raised by a synth pedal

It can only get better from here. Cheers, All!

This Week’s Guest

Ryan Bond has a lot of thoughts on Star Trek and Babylon 5. He is involved with several Chicago Theatre programs and can be seen on stage around Chicago. Listen to a rival podcast where Ryan talks about his theatre and digital marketing background.

Ryan is a Chicago Theatre Producer, Director and Actor.

What Did We Learn?

The bigger the bass the filthier the funk

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover the first 17 episodes of Babylon 5, season five in the You Gotta Check This Out Babylon 5 Blitzcast coming to you Sunday, May 3rd featuring almost all previous guests of the show.

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YGCTO Episode 20 - In the Beginning

2026-04-16T06:00:00-04:00

A Standalone Movie as Setup

Spirits were high as JMS had pulled off the unexpected and was granted his last season of Babylon 5. It would be a change of networks, but Our Man Joe still had plans. The show was picked up by TNT and would need to be introduced and marketed to their audience. JMS and the Network whipped up a TV movie to catch up new viewers and set up the new season.

What it turned into was a product for no one. The plot was mostly a re-telling of some major Babylon 5 events by future Londo. For regular viewers, there were no new plot developments or revelations other than Londo will always be a liar. New viewers… well you should listen to the episode for Ryan’s thoughts.

This Week’s Guest

Ryan is a Chicago Theatre Producer, Director and Actor.

Ryan has tried twice to get through Babylon 5 from the beginning. As of today, he has failed to break into season two by more than a few episodes. He is definitely willing to watch various sci-fi series, but B5 kept bounding off Ryan. A movie made to catch him up quickly should be a slam dunk win. Except that the movie works against itself at every turn.

Mike’s Image Picks

As we begin, our heroes have been taken over by TNT…

One of the most foreboding starts to a movie

Londo inserts his younger self into major Babylon 5 events from season 1-4

And the de-aging process turned him into Terry Jones

Lotsa Mimbari inner-circle intrigue

Dre likes this one

So many Mimbari in this pledge class

Not F. Murray Abraham, despite what Mike thinks

Dukat is really into the whole Valen thing

These guys are all about dead aliens

The entire Religious Caste is hot for fanatacal death

Everyone's a Zealot Here

Does a cameo count if it’s only a flashback montage?

Even Michael York makes it

Sheridan pulls some of his trademark war shenanigans.

Sheridan's looking much younger without the goatee. The beard adds 15 years, they say. ...I say.

Dukat Lives on! …or not.

Dukat had back up plans for his back up plans

There is no way these guys met before the TV series. Londo is puffin’ himself up.

Winners write history, and Londo is the last one standing for this to work.

What Did We Learn?

A TV movie is never the right answer

Next Episode

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YGCTO Episode 19b - The Creepy Peeping Peepers of a Lizard Man

2026-04-10T06:00:00-04:00

The Traditional Streaming Bait n Switch

In what has become a new tradition, Babylon 5 has been scrubbed from all the free streaming services on my radar. First we relied on DVDs, then Tubi made them easy to access. When Tubi let them go, we moved over to Roku.

And like that… thery’re gone. From Roku.

So… we could either plug Amazon as the last place to stream the episodes, or return to our original recommendation to check out your local library and check them out! The big A gets too much mindshare as it is.

I know the only way to keep them around is to buy a copy on hard media… which I did. But I can’t expect listeners and guests to do that for a single episode. We’re about to record the first two episodes since Roku let the series go. It may not matter too much since we’re almost through the series, but this is certainly a roadbloc to remember for the next series we do. It’s our JMS moment 8 )>

My New Bass

If I seem distracted, it’s because I finally bought a StingRay bass this past weekend. And boy does it shread!

My New Baby

I’ve been using Instagram as a “finishing” goal for learning songs on guitar and bass. Its too easy for me to lose focus on one song or dolo over a long period of time. IG gives me a personal goal. I have to work on a song enough to be able to post it. Its not for the likes so much as for me to go back and see how I’ve changed over time.

Plus, having a goal shapes my practice direction. If I’m learning a song for a performance My practice is much more focused than if I’m casually picking through a part. I’ll be adding a few more over the months as I pick out songs. My high level goal now is to improve my tapping approach. I would love to play more solo bass songs, and being able to tap higher octaves can untap a great way to play melodies. Follow the slatron IG account for those videos.

This Week’s Guest

Dan Alvarez is Dre’s brother. His audio is a unique challenge to edit as our voices share a similar tamber.

What Did We Learn?

Keep a spare season in the chamber in case you run out early

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover the Babylon 5 movie: In The Beginning with Ryan Bond. Coming to you Sunday, April 19th.

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YGCTO Episode 19 - Endgame & Rising Star

2026-04-03T06:00:00-04:00

How to Stick A Landing Via Early Exit

As we’ve discussed since the start, JMS put himself in an impossible position with B5. He set out to produce a novel as a television series. It’s an idea that makes sense. If movies based on a book cannot include all the material needed to tell a story correctly, a longer medium should work. Right?

Despite all the blocks 90s syndicated television could muster, JMS succeeded in bringing his five season epic to a close. In under four seasons. The short version is that he didn’t think the show would get picked up by another network, so he raced through two seasons of the story by this point.

A Natural End

Maybe that was just the natural end for the show. It’s easy to make judgment calls in retrospect, but the general consensus seems to be that the fourth season feels rushed. It does go through several plots, but with all the setup it feels right to me. Like JMS was always supposed to tell a four season story. From my standpoint, the only plotline that feels rushed in this season is the Ivonava / Marcus relationship.

“Endgame” really sticks the landing for the Clark storyline that has been the main plot since Santiago was assassinated. “Rising Star” is a decent bow on the series to show where it may go. Problem is, there’s still another episode in this season. It was actually a good sci-fi approach to seeing what happens to this world after the main characters leave… just not enough for a regular series episode. And then Season five happened.

And The Rest

We’ll revisit part of season 5 soon, but JMS really got into a “Return of the King” situation. It felt like an entire season of heartfelt goodbyes and checking in on old favorites rather than building a new ongoing story. It really depends on how you feel about Byron and the telepaths.

Most of the next season is by most accounts a letdown after what came before it. After recently getting through Season 5 for the first time, I can agree. It’s an immediate shorter continuation of JMSs life’s work. It was was bound to be seen in prior seasons shadow.

Ideally, it could have been the start of a world of sci-fi stemming from these first four seasons. Instead, it showed that the creator was completely burned out and only inspired a handful of TV movies.

But again… we’ll be revisitng that very soon.

This Week’s Guest

Dan Alvarez is Dre’s brother. He grew up watching Babylon 5 and knows as much about the show as his Podcastin’ Bro.

Mike’s Image Picks

Leftcort is oh so hard at the prospect of killing innocent bystanders.

And no mercy for their pets either

The telepaths are triggered and take down most of the EarthForce fleet.

I was in Superman III, fool!

Clark goes completely insane and tries to take out Earth with him.

Not a realistic way to spend your last moments

Sheridan is also a bit insane and goes full ramming speed in space.

That's one way to go out

Ivonava was saved by Marcus at the cost of his life. So this is how she gets to spend her final episode.

Ramming Speed?

This is all you bought me, Cole!

Life on Earth moves forward as the new acting President works with the new Alliance.

And I promise not to be evil for at least two months into my term

Sheridan kinda takes responsibility for going against Earth. In that he gets to be president of the new Alliance and there are no repercussions whatsoever.

Sheridan Wins

What Did We Learn?

Keep a spare season in the chamber in case you run out early

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover the Babylon 5 movie: In The Beginning with Ryan Bond. Coming to you Sunday, April 19th.

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YGCTO Episode 18b - Teaching the Toolman Yarl

2026-03-25T05:00:00-04:00

Breaking From Cards

Since I finished up the first alters series a week early, I took some time off to celebrate with a bass jam. I’d love to play this in one of the cover bands, but you kinda need the right singer to pull it off. Plus this is the wrong bass for the song. At least until I make my next big purchase.

So here’s one for me…

Your browser does not support the video tag. I'll post another one if I get that Stingray

As for the cards… you can head on over to Jeff May’s Patreon if you’re interested in owning some. I’m sending that series over to him to be distributed among his patrons. He has a “Rookie Card” tier where you get sent ards Jeff opens onYouTube at Jeff Has Cool Cards.

This Week’s Guest

Ait Fetterolf is an award-winning filmmaker living near Chicago.

There are many other monikers I could have gone with, but Ait asked me to use "award-winning filmmaker". Check out the episode for more on that.

What Did We Learn?

I can play my bass for you, is it luck?

Next Episode

For the next full episode, we cover Babylon 5: Season 4 Episode 20 & 21 “Endgame” and “Rising Star” with Dan Alvarez. Coming to you Sunday, April 5th.

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