Babylon 5 viewing order

[David cgc]

As you say, the causality loop is so tight that if you remove any one element it all fall apart. So if someone other than Sinclair went back with B4 then his DNA probably shouldn't have set off the triluminary...then again having said that, I think Lennier did mention other pilots being taken in and "scanned" with a similarly positive result. But then, the way it's portrayed in ITB, that part appears to have been retconned.

Even so, it's almost certain the glow wasn't the giveaway that Sinclair had a Minbari soul. Heck, it can't even have been the giveaway that it was Valen's, because if it was, Delenn would've figured out her ancestry about twenty minutes earlier in "Atonement" when she remembered that the triluminary glowed for her and wouldn't have had to figure out what Dukhat's last words were.

I digress. My point is that triluminary is apparently quite the useful little gadget, even if all we've seen them do is knock people out, make the chrysalis machine turn on, and glow for people in the Sinclair family. The Minbari wouldn't have pointed their most sacred relic at some human nobody unless they expected it to help them find out where to bomb Earth first. So it probably has a more sophisticated way of determining and displaying if someone has a "Minbari soul" than just glowing, so it's possible that Sinclair might've always gotten a positive, even if someone else was Valen.

Or the alternate Babylon 4 timeline could've been wildly different, aside from the things I listed that we saw. I know the intent was that the timelines be the same up to War Without End, at which point either the crew steals Babylon 4 or there's a giant shadow attack, but it just doesn't parse.

 

[timothy]

when sheridan and the others steal B4 does'nt susan get some kinda vision of an alternate future as well?

 

[shivkala]

But then (without getting into spoilers from 'City of Sorrows') that would require the circumstances around Sinclair's willingness to go back in the first place to be altered.

Spoiler: To Dream in the City of Sorrows

Actually, now that I think about it, wasn't there some funny business to do with switching time stabilizers? It was never really explained why but I recall an intimation that either Drall or the Vorlons wanted certain people to have the *correct* time stabilizer, but Sinclair suspected they were up to something and switched his with Sakai's. Is it possible this could be a factor? What if Sinclair was originally supposed to go back through the rift on his own and it was Catherine who was supposed to later chase after him with the station? Still, how would that equate to a larger more aggressive Shadow fleet?

Interesting thought.

Spoiler: Your spoiler

That scene never made much sense to me. Was the stabilizer with the glyph for Sinclair really supposed to work better? Why have one that was optimal and the others weaker? I understand the desire to protect Sinclair, but what made that stabilizer better?

I chose to read that scene as Sinclair just being over-protective. It would make sense for the Minbari, being the way that they are, to label the stabilizers, even if there were no difference between them.

Or, if there was a difference, maybe Draal and, more specifically, the Vorlons knew Sinclair would switch them, and labelled the one meant for him with Catherine's glyph and vice versa.

Though your idea of Sinclair being lost in time and Catherine taking the station back in time is an interesting one. I don't think the Minbari would have so readily accepted Valen's leadership if he showed up without the station. But, then again, they wouldn't accept him at all, since he would not have had the Triluminary or the pieces to build the chrysalis device.

Which also means that Catherine's trip to the past must have been...interesting. I would have loved to know what the story was behind that. It's never confirmed, 100%, that she made it back. To Dream in the City of Sorrows hints at it, as does the In Valen's Name comic, though the mistake at the end of that comic makes the matter even more nebulous (though JMS does say that the addition of Catherine's name was a mistake).

 

[David cgc]

Spoiler: In Valen's Name

It's never confirmed, 100%, that she made it back. To Dream in the City of Sorrows hints at it, as does the In Valen's Name comic, though the mistake at the end of that comic makes the matter even more nebulous (though JMS does say that the addition of Catherine's name was a mistake).

I recently digitized my copy, because what else are you going to do with a flatbed scanner, and just for the hell of it, I replaced "Catherine" with "Marcus" in the offending speech bubble. I couldn't get rid of it entirely without throwing the spacing of everything off, and it makes more sense that he'd be mentioned than anyone else I could think of to fill the gap.

 

[timothy]

planing to get a tablet soon most likely I pad wi fi only version and I was wondering
is B5 series is downloadable. one of my all time favorite shows. watching gropos right now.

 

[Reverend]

Interesting thought.

Spoiler: Your spoiler

That scene never made much sense to me. Was the stabilizer with the glyph for Sinclair really supposed to work better? Why have one that was optimal and the others weaker? I understand the desire to protect Sinclair, but what made that stabilizer better?

I chose to read that scene as Sinclair just being over-protective. It would make sense for the Minbari, being the way that they are, to label the stabilizers, even if there were no difference between them.

Or, if there was a difference, maybe Draal and, more specifically, the Vorlons knew Sinclair would switch them, and labelled the one meant for him with Catherine's glyph and vice versa.

Though your idea of Sinclair being lost in time and Catherine taking the station back in time is an interesting one. I don't think the Minbari would have so readily accepted Valen's leadership if he showed up without the station. But, then again, they wouldn't accept him at all, since he would not have had the Triluminary or the pieces to build the chrysalis device.

Which also means that Catherine's trip to the past must have been...interesting. I would have loved to know what the story was behind that. It's never confirmed, 100%, that she made it back. To Dream in the City of Sorrows hints at it, as does the In Valen's Name comic, though the mistake at the end of that comic makes the matter even more nebulous (though JMS does say that the addition of Catherine's name was a mistake).

Spoiler: City of Sorrows

I'd always assumed the marking meant one or more of them had been tampered with somehow, or maybe tagged. Perhaps as a safeguard against accidentally loosing Sinclair into the rift during the course of the mission, where he could have ended up anywhen. Maybe they gave him a specially modified unit that would somehow lock on to the time of Valen so even in the worse case scenario, he'd end up in the right place at the right time, possibly even just in time to see B4 materialise, complete with the chrysalis device and probably Marcus too.

If that logic follows then the reason that Catherine just so happened to turn up in the right era (give or take a few years perhaps) is because her time stabilizer was meant for Sinclair.

Spoiler: In Valen's Name

It's never confirmed, 100%, that she made it back. To Dream in the City of Sorrows hints at it, as does the In Valen's Name comic, though the mistake at the end of that comic makes the matter even more nebulous (though JMS does say that the addition of Catherine's name was a mistake).

I recently digitized my copy, because what else are you going to do with a flatbed scanner, and just for the hell of it, I replaced "Catherine" with "Marcus" in the offending speech bubble. I couldn't get rid of it entirely without throwing the spacing of everything off, and it makes more sense that he'd be mentioned than anyone else I could think of to fill the gap.

^There was also that ambiguous letter at the end of TDitCoS.

Still, it is a bit of a mystery as to how including her name in 'In Valen's Name' was a "typo." The only possibilities I can think of are JMS getting his timelines muddled when writing the script, or the script itself had some kind of notation akin to stage direction which the letterer mistook as part of the main body of text...though that seems less likely.

 

[timothy]

next four episodes to watch are:


Hunter,Prey
There all the Honor Lies
And Now for a word
In the Shadows of Z'ha"Dum

any idea what kinda alien was hitch hicking in sherridan?
was susan sopposed to be gay at the end of season 2?

down to the finale two episodes

comes the inquisistor <(this is one of my favorite episodes of this season)
the fall of night

 

[Neroon]

timothy, watch out with the multiple consecutive posts.

 

[Jan]

(not quoting because it's too bloody hard to trim on the iPad)

One possibility regarding the typo in the comic book is that JMS had full editorial control - except when he wrote the issue. Then it would go through an editor who changed things and JMS would have to change them back. What with making the show and all, it seems easy to understand.

Jan

 

[timothy]

any idea what kinda alien was hitch hicking in sherridan?
was susan sopposed to be gay at the end of season 2?

can any one answer my questions?

 

[Jan]

They never found out what kind of alien was inside Sheridan. It left him and went into the rift. As for Susan, she was bisexual, not gay.

Jan

 

[shivkala]

The only thing I've found from JMS on the alien is this:

Correct, the critter in "Knives" was most *definitely* not a Vorlon.

Spoiler: To Dream in the City of Sorrows

Though, somewhat around the time of this episode, Sinclair, Sakai, and Marcus go to the rift to protect it from the Shadows. While we never find out what the creature was, the Shadows and their allies did have an interest in the area.

 

[timothy]

cool thanks for that. could it have been a vorlon minion I mean the shadow had minions why not vorlons. were'nt the minbari persudo minion's of the vorlons as a younger race at the time.

 

[Reverend]

I think the inference from the episode was that the entity was from somewhere out of our space-time and just got pulled through the rift by sheer chance. I don't think there's any need whatsoever for it to have had any relation of affiliation with any of the First Ones.

 

[timothy]

ep 13. A late delivery from valon - great episode in my opinion I really g'kar in this one.
ep 14. ship of tears
ep 15. interludes and examinations
ep 16. war without end part & ep 17. war without end part


plan to watch these episodes tomarrow.

 

[timothy]

is it me or did the new star furies look like x wings?

 

[JoeD80]

I think the Thunderbolt nose is a little more X-wingish than the standard Starfury cockpit; it does have a similarity that way, although the engines are still in a different spot.

 

[Reverend]

I'd say that beyond the fact that it has four engines and a nose it looks nothing like the X-Wing. Totally different silhouette, totally different aesthetic character.

Actually, if memory serves I think modern US fighter jets were the main source of inspiration. The mandate IIRC was to make a new, more formidable variant of the starfury capable of operating in an atmosphere. So the addition of aerofoils and a fuselage with a second seat are all logical modifications given the "real world" limitations put on Earth designs.

 

[Distorted Humor]

Must finish Season 5 sometime. Must stop my addiction to Minecraft....

 

[JoeD80]

Well if you want to just put in a good marathon of B5 while taking a break from playing, try watching the next five episodes back-to-back; they link together fairly closely.