B5 downbelow question.

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'm pretty sure command and control on Babylon 5 was in a rotating section.

[trekkiedane]

Asbo Zaprudder wrote:

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I'm pretty sure command and control on Babylon 5 was in a rotating section.

It was; this is from the opening on season 2:

As you can see, the command-window is just below the main docking-bay -not that that explains the seemingly normal Earth gravity people there seemed to experience.

[Mistral]

Candlelight wrote:

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In the pilot they were all strapped into gravity harnesses.

Then again in the pilot there was a gorilla serving drinks.

I thought that was Trapper John......

[Deckerd]

Whatimeantersayis the bridge is in the centre (almost) of the forward section, where there would be little or no AG, and they're standing on the ceiling, as it were.

[trekkiedane]

Deckerd wrote:

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Whatimeantersayis the bridge is in the centre (almost) of the forward section, where there would be little or no AG.

Guessedasmuch, but again; if they can walk like n Earth surface in the 'keep you hands on the handrail at all times'-area they also could in 'command'...

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I estimate that CnC was meant to be somewhat equivalent to lunar gravity or 1/6th earth gravity. So if you forgot that and jumped, you would hit your head on the ceiling.

[Jan]

When in doubt, Ask JMS:

The center is the docking bay. C&C is one-third of the way below that, so it has about 1/3rd gravity, so a 200 pound person weigs 66 pounds, not likely to go floating around.

jms

Jan

[Candlelight]

Jan wrote:

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When in doubt, Ask JMS:

Jan

Artistic licence aside, I dispute that. In Severed Dreams when the starfury collides with the forward section, a tech is thrown to the floor. She doesn't float down in 1/3 gravity either. She hits the deck HARD.

[Deckerd]

There are no references to the 'fact' they're in a third or Earth gravity.

[Reverend]

There has to be a reasonable degree of suspension of disbelief here for the simple reason that, yes it is just a TV show and it's simply not feasible to realistically portray people operating in one third Earth gravity. That is unless you can afford the shoot the whole thing in the vomit comet. It's the same reason they couldn't correctly portray Mars gravity (0.38g IIRC.)

To be fair, they did their best to address it within the budget. For instance, the bridge scenes from 'In the Beginning' did a fair job of showing zero gravity though some basic trickery (though mostly by not having anyone get out of their seats) and I think there was a mention in 'A Call To Arms' that even the Excalibur's "magical" artificial gravity isn't quite right and a person feels a few pounds lighter than they would back on Earth. Even after they did away with the chunky harnesses in the core shuttle, you can still see low gravity warning signs everywhere and (I think) everyone is careful to always be holding onto a rail. Actually, speaking of that scene where Sheridan jumps out, I'm pretty sure that rather than plummeting straight "down" (or outwards, rather) he's moving off to one side which if I remember this right (it's been a long time since physics class) is in line with the coriolis effect.

As for the term "downbelow", yes, in reality those slum areas are actually closer to the outer skin (we even see a porthole in the floor in 'The Long Dark'.) Of course any direction in space is relative anyway so it's as good a term as any.

[David cgc]

Candlelight wrote:

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Artistic licence aside, I dispute that. In Severed Dreams when the starfury collides with the forward section, a tech is thrown to the floor. She doesn't float down in 1/3 gravity either. She hits the deck HARD.

Yeah, and the stars were never moving, nor were Epsilon 3 and the blue nebula visible through the big window unless it was an effects shot. For that matter, the hallways should've all had slight but visible curves, and except for the central corridors, we never saw that.

[Reverend]

^To be fair, only the corridors running around the circumference should have been curved, the ones oriented along the length of the station should have been level.

As for the window in C'n'C, yeah, again it's just a matter of practicality. IIRC for the most part the "stars" were just a simple practical effect (think Christmas lights on black cloth.) These days it would be much easier and cheaper, but back then I imagine it would just have been prohibitively expensive to do a composite shot every time there was a scene in C'n'C. Also remember that back then, even when they did a comp shot the camera had to be locked off, so the simple practical effect permitted them the have the camera actually *move* on that set.

[Candlelight]

Reverend wrote:

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As for the window in C'n'C, yeah, again it's just a matter of practicality. IIRC for the most part the "stars" were just a simple practical effect (think Christmas lights on black cloth.) These days it would be much easier and cheaper, but back then I imagine it would just have been prohibitively expensive to do a composite shot every time there was a scene in C'n'C. Also remember that back then, even when they did a comp shot the camera had to be locked off, so the simple practical effect permitted them the have the camera actually *move* on that set.

Like they did in the 'other C&C' in Thirdspace.

[Deckerd]

Still doesn't address the problem of them standing on the wrong surface. You see pan backs from them standing on the bridge, looking out at incoming traffic or whatever, and they're standing on what should be the ceiling in centripetal artifical gravity.

[Reverend]

^I don't follow. As far as I know they've always shown the docking bay as being "above" C'n'C and as far as I'm aware, centrifugal force pushes outwards from the fulcrum, making the "inner" surface of the floor. Perhaps you can give an example?