And I thank you for that! I've been looking up B5 stuff again since I'm rewatching the series, and the wiki entries seem to be much better than the last time I had perused them.
Babylon 5 (4th trip)
- Thread starter trentman359
- Start date
And I thank you for that! I've been looking up B5 stuff again since I'm rewatching the series, and the wiki entries seem to be much better than the last time I had perused them.
Okay, here's some info on the Markab. I don't want to post too much since it's not my material but let me know if there's something you'd like expanded on.
Homeworld/Colonies: Septis/Septis 2, Talaron, Morda
Lifespan: 40-90 'glantii' (a glanti is equivalent to 9 Earth months)
Reproductive: Genitals are used only for sexual activity. Waste is excreted as sweat. Markab female fingers are their sexual equipment which are inserted into pores in the male and send seed into the male bloodstream and fertilize an egg. After 3 months the mail passes the egg from his body and 8 months later it hatches one or more infant Markab. They no longer reprduce by mating due to a genetic plague.
Government: A confederacy composed of the homeworld and 3 colonies. Each planet has a male and a female ruler elected by a council of elders.
Religions: No concept of a god, many religions as described above.
Social Structure: Markab have been civilized for about 3,500 years. They have two classes of people, the normals and the Grays due to genetic engineering after their genetic plague. Grays are larger and fiercer than the normals and often serve as soldiers and police.
Markab have no institution of marriage and form social units made up of close friends which raise the children and share responsibility.
Sport/Recreation: Both classes of Markab fight in the Mutai. They also have a form of wrestling similar to Sumo called 'Tror'. They also love many forms of ball games.
Alliances: Besides the League of Non-Allied worlds, the Abbai and the Balosions have treaties with the Markab.
Hope this helps.
Jan
Homeworld/Colonies: Septis/Septis 2, Talaron, Morda
Lifespan: 40-90 'glantii' (a glanti is equivalent to 9 Earth months)
Reproductive: Genitals are used only for sexual activity. Waste is excreted as sweat. Markab female fingers are their sexual equipment which are inserted into pores in the male and send seed into the male bloodstream and fertilize an egg. After 3 months the mail passes the egg from his body and 8 months later it hatches one or more infant Markab. They no longer reprduce by mating due to a genetic plague.
Government: A confederacy composed of the homeworld and 3 colonies. Each planet has a male and a female ruler elected by a council of elders.
Religions: No concept of a god, many religions as described above.
Social Structure: Markab have been civilized for about 3,500 years. They have two classes of people, the normals and the Grays due to genetic engineering after their genetic plague. Grays are larger and fiercer than the normals and often serve as soldiers and police.
Markab have no institution of marriage and form social units made up of close friends which raise the children and share responsibility.
Sport/Recreation: Both classes of Markab fight in the Mutai. They also have a form of wrestling similar to Sumo called 'Tror'. They also love many forms of ball games.
Alliances: Besides the League of Non-Allied worlds, the Abbai and the Balosions have treaties with the Markab.
Hope this helps.
Jan
Well, whoever said that couldn't be quoting directly since there wasn't an english translation. Garibaldi/G'Kar were translating, paraphrasing, and likely summarizing on the fly. The events they were relating may well have been a first person narrative as written.
I don't think so. This is what G'Kar translated:
Emphasis mine. G'Quan is referred to separately from the telepaths.
Jan
Good to know. As anyone who edits or admins a wiki should know, it can be a bloody tiring and thankless task at times!
And I thank you for that! I've been looking up B5 stuff again since I'm rewatching the series, and the wiki entries seem to be much better than the last time I had perused them.
Good stuff. I understand an unwillingness to post the full text, but if it's convenient, would you mind PM'ing me what you have? If you have a look at some of my articles you'll see I'm not in the habit of wholesale copy/pasting.
"And the Sky Full of Stars"
Sinclair is kidnapped and interrogated by members of a pro-Earth group, determined to find out what transpired when the commander was briefly missing in action during the final battle of the Earth/Minbari war -- something Sinclair has never been able to remember.
Another pretty good episode. I don't remember the first season being this decent. Well of course this episode again sets up a lot. Sinclair knows what happened and we get a glimpse at a "Nightwatch" type group.
Sinclair is kidnapped and interrogated by members of a pro-Earth group, determined to find out what transpired when the commander was briefly missing in action during the final battle of the Earth/Minbari war -- something Sinclair has never been able to remember.
Another pretty good episode. I don't remember the first season being this decent. Well of course this episode again sets up a lot. Sinclair knows what happened and we get a glimpse at a "Nightwatch" type group.
I don't know why but I didn't care for this episode the first time I saw it. I'm still not sure why the ones who kidnapped Sinclair were 'Knight One' and 'Knight Two' unless it was to let the audience know that these weren't just baddies, that they believed in what they were doing?
Jan
Jan
Ok, now this is just me being set off on a rant a bit easily but what in the name of Valen defines a Markab "male" when every possible sexual characteristic makes it akin to a female?? Ditto for the female being a male. What exactly is it that defines it as "male"? Is the male more aggressive and the traditional bread-winner? Is the female the more nurturing and produces breast milk? This is just a silly attempt at trying to be thoughtful by showing males and females are equal in every possible way. For 99% of things this is totally valid, but when it comes to sexual characterstics, 'fraid not. This is like calling a shovel-like tool that an alien uses to dig a hole in the ground a "popsicle". NOT THE SAME THING.
I take no issue with trying to be different and show that all alien lifeforms don't reproduce as humans do, but for heavens sake, refer to them as "zing" and "zang" or anything else other than "male" and "female" if you're going to eliminate any characteristics that actually define the two. If he wants to use human concepts to refer to aliens, they had better have some sort of similarity.
Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the male Markab have the chromosomal equivalent of X and Y. Given that they no longer reproduce biologically (rather, they didn't up until they were wiped out), that would probably make more sense than a designation based on who puts what in which.
Jan
The best episode of the series up to this point. The ambience, the darkness of the interrogation, the music... wow. So well done. The mystery of the Battle of the Line was one of the things that drew me the most into the series after watching The Gathering. This is one of the times where the baddie with an accent is actually very well done. I can't watch those interrogation scenes without getting shivers. It just all has the sense of building to a big revelation. I never realized at first that the sound clips from this episode were added to The Gathering after the new version was created. It really had a great payoff though by seeing a bit more in this episode.
I did groan the first time I saw this episode though after Sinclair breaks out of the interrogation and is clearly disoriented. It just felt like a "great, now here we go..." type of plot device to make the episode last a bit longer. It did end up working out ok though. Love this episode.
"Deathwalker"
"The station becomes a hotbed of galactic controversy when Sinclair is forced to protect a notorious war criminal -- a scientist who's invented an immortality serum. Ambassador Kosh hires telepath Talia Winters to oversee a very unusual negotiation."
A good Star Trek-type episode that played on the characters morals. Sinclair's solution was good but having the Vorlons show up was even better. I loved when they were such a mystery and still so powerful. Can't wait for the Shadows. Unfortunately a lot of bad episodes are on the way next.
"The station becomes a hotbed of galactic controversy when Sinclair is forced to protect a notorious war criminal -- a scientist who's invented an immortality serum. Ambassador Kosh hires telepath Talia Winters to oversee a very unusual negotiation."
A good Star Trek-type episode that played on the characters morals. Sinclair's solution was good but having the Vorlons show up was even better. I loved when they were such a mystery and still so powerful. Can't wait for the Shadows. Unfortunately a lot of bad episodes are on the way next.
I was always a little disappointed that we never learnt more about the Dilgar (on the show or otherwise.) I know the Dilgar War was going to be a part of that combat simulator game that Sierra drop kicked out the window, but if I think about that too much I may cry.
Still, I get slightly annoyed (in good humour of course) when JMS does this sort of thing; just drops a tidbit for a whole other aspect of the B5 universe in your lap then runs off giggling like a school girl, never to mention it again!
Ok the schoolgirl bit was a bit much, but my point remains! The Dilgar War, the War of the Shining Star, the distant future Anla'shok/Vorlons relocating to the Vorlon Homeworld, all potentially interesting canvases for a narrative in some form and all only hinted at or mentioned obliquly.
Still, I get slightly annoyed (in good humour of course) when JMS does this sort of thing; just drops a tidbit for a whole other aspect of the B5 universe in your lap then runs off giggling like a school girl, never to mention it again!
Ok the schoolgirl bit was a bit much, but my point remains! The Dilgar War, the War of the Shining Star, the distant future Anla'shok/Vorlons relocating to the Vorlon Homeworld, all potentially interesting canvases for a narrative in some form and all only hinted at or mentioned obliquly.
^You know, I've never seen another franchise that has had as many projects prematurely cancelled as with B5. Crusade, the video game, Legend of the Rangers (I know this one was considered as maybe only being a movie), The Memory of Shadows (the B5 movie), The Lost Tales, I remember hearing there was supposed to be a new series of novels but that got canned... I wouldn't be surprised if I'm missing something.
I don't even want to watch "Believers." It is an average TNG episode at best. But I gotta do it. So here we go.
"Believers"
"Dr. Franklin asks Sinclair to intermediate with an alien family who, because of their religious beliefs, refuse to allow surgery that would save their dying child."
Not as bad as I remembered it. The B-plot with the Raiders was more interesting though.
"Dr. Franklin asks Sinclair to intermediate with an alien family who, because of their religious beliefs, refuse to allow surgery that would save their dying child."
Not as bad as I remembered it. The B-plot with the Raiders was more interesting though.
I think this is what makes the Babylon 5 "franchise" so disappointing. Outside of the series, every attempt to make something further has fizzled before reaching completion. It's like JMS spent all his luck on the five year arc. At least that was finished!
I really ought to watch to this ep at some point since I always, without fail skip right past it. I don't even remember that there was a Raider subplot at all.
I've always been fond of this episode for the things it sets up. As the parents run along to the ambassadors we learn a lot about the ambassador or their alien culture. We learn a whole lot about Franklin, too. And, of course, the kid dies. Fifteen years ago that was still pretty startling.
Jan
Jan
"Believers" is the episode which very nearly made me swear off the series entirely. The first time I watched it, my initial reaction was "Oh great. Here's another sci-fi series that makes religion out to be superstitious mumbo-jumbo and those who practice it to be ignorant boobs". Yet there were others later on which presented a different light, and I realized my reaction was hasty at best.
Believers is probably my least favorite episode, even behind Grey 17 is Missing. Although I think the worst of B5 would be the Gathering.
