Babylon 5 has been one of Ed's favorite productions with which to work. Originally, Ed's agent asked him if he would be willing to make something called a "PPG" for a proposed science fiction series. Ed decided not to make the original PPGs, but the production company, Babylonian Productions, ended up renting some of Ed's weapons from Modern Props anyway for their two-hour pilot movie.

Ed's agent at that time was making some props and miniatures for the premier episode of the series, and showed the producers and property masters some of Ed's designs, hoping to sell them directly to Babylonian Productions. They liked Ed's designs, and did end up purchasing several weapons from Ed in the first three seasons of production. (During the last two seasons, they began doing most of their prop work "in house".)

One gun was designed to break into several pieces so that you could access the electronics inside. Ed's agent told him that the producers were so impressed with this, they wrote a scene around it in the two-hour premier. In the show, weapons are prohibited aboard Babylon 5. But the Centauri Ambassador Molari, intent on killing G'kar, the Narn ambassador, carefully disassembles a tea set, a bed post, and a lamp, taking several of the pieces and reassembling them into the gun.

An interesting note is that during the first two seasons of production, Ed was told that the prop department had to keep a close eye on his props because they had a tendency to "walk off" the set. This is a particular problem on most science fiction sets, but Ed's agent told him that his guns, as well as the PPG resin castings, were particularly hard to keep hold of.

This prop was purchased by Babylonian Productions during the first season of the series. It was supposed to be a weapon smuggled aboard the station by some criminal, but to our knowledge never found its way to the screen.

This was an elegant weapon which was bought by Babylonian Productions, and was subsequently used as the sidearms carried by the Centauri Imperial Guard.

This prop was used as the weapon of the Minbari assassin who attempted to murder the Vorlon Ambassador Kosh in the pilot movie. The plastic bead on the muzzle was replaced with a metallic device by the prop master for filming.

The unusual design was inspired by a prop used in the 1960's series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". The prop became the weapon of the Narn and was used by Ambassador G'kar when the Centauri attempted to capture him.

This prop is full of electronics with a flashing slow-glow in the muzzle, a flashlight, sparkle circuit and selector switch, in addition to the spring-loaded ejection mechanism for the dummy shells.

The producers of the show apparently liked this prop so much, they wrote a scene around it! The components of the gun are assembled from seemingly innocent items in a room, including the handle of a tea pot, by Ambassador Molari.

A photo of the various components that make up the prop. The gun is constructed so as to snap together without having to be bolted or screwed together.

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