Babylon 5
- Thread starter Kail
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One more question regarding Delenn, and her new hair. Is the ridge around her skull suppose to be bone? Her hair seems to go under it. I know in real life, her hair is done then this "crest" is placed over it. But it does not make sense to me in the reality of the show.
This thread is really making me want to go back and watch the show. It used to be on Netflix, but now I can't find it streaming on Netflix or Amazon.
^ It's on iTunes. 
Kali, yes, the Minbari head ridge is bone.
Kali, yes, the Minbari head ridge is bone.
If it's bone, then how can her hair be under it?^ It's on iTunes.
Kali, yes, the Minbari head ridge is bone.
^ Don't know. Chalk it up to Delenn's unique physiology after she emerged from the chrysalis, I guess. 
As others before me have said, B5 is amazing despite its many shortcomings. And for me personally, it comes down to the writing as well.
The writing in B5 - though sometimes unsupported by proper costuming, sets, FX and even good acting - is masterfully constructed. Others on the board have already voiced their support for JMS's writing and show-running of B5, with good reason.
IMHO, the writing in B5 is more consistently human than in Trek. That's to say that, overall, the human conditions of duality, fallibility, vulnerability, vice and short-sightedness are more prevalent in B5 than in Trek (excepting most of DS9, parts of VOY, ENT and First Contact). Also, IMO, the overt inclusion of money and spirituality in B5's Earth Alliance is far more realistic to the UFP.
And also, O'Hare's Sinclair was incredible in season 1, so stick with it. He has some really good moments.
The writing in B5 - though sometimes unsupported by proper costuming, sets, FX and even good acting - is masterfully constructed. Others on the board have already voiced their support for JMS's writing and show-running of B5, with good reason.
IMHO, the writing in B5 is more consistently human than in Trek. That's to say that, overall, the human conditions of duality, fallibility, vulnerability, vice and short-sightedness are more prevalent in B5 than in Trek (excepting most of DS9, parts of VOY, ENT and First Contact). Also, IMO, the overt inclusion of money and spirituality in B5's Earth Alliance is far more realistic to the UFP.
And also, O'Hare's Sinclair was incredible in season 1, so stick with it. He has some really good moments.
It didn't make sense to me, either, until I learned this:
Believe it or not, the bone crest on all Minbari grows from their temples and is somewhat comparable to antlers on a moose. Thats right, even though it covers around their head, it's really only attached in the front on the temples. How does it go around like that? They shape it that way with trimming and also molding when young. This is why many Warrior caste have pointer crests and Religious don't it's the style they prefer.
For Delenn in particular, if you recall, that particular ridge which is all that's left was already there, but the rest fell off. So, while most other Minbari don't have hair, she does, so the hair is under the crest.
Also, ircc, Delenn's first words to Lennier were, "What am I?" or close to that, so she didn't know how she was going to end up, really.
It is indeed bone, but think of it more akin to an antler or horn than anything.
The way it works is that Minbari are born with two soft ridges--one at each temple--and over the course of the first year they grow a bit at a time (which is the origin of the layered ridge pattern) until they meet at the back of the skull and fuse into a single ridge.
In their natural state the ridge is actually fairly smooth (like Lennier's) but most use a process of ritualistic binding and carving to shape and style it into the more elaborate designs we see. Generally speaking, non-warrior caste females go for a smoother, curved design that accentuates the natural curves (like Delenn's from season 1), while most males (and warrior caste females) go for the more ragged, rough hewn look.
However, it's not one solid mass of dead bone. There's a layer of veined connective tissue layered throughout (not unlike the "quick" under your fingernails. As such they have to be careful when carving not to cut too deeply.
You might have noticed that when Lennier found Delenn's chrysalis after she'd emerged, he picked something up from the debris. That was her old headbone that she'd apparently shed during the metamorphosis, so what you see is actually a new growth. So her new hair has grown along with her new ridge.
Of course the real world explanation is that this is the most visually appealing design they could come up with. You may recall that when we first saw Delenn's new look it was noticeably different than what they eventually settled on. Apparently they went though several iterations in the interim and even then, Mira Furlan was never happy with the result.
Is there any production explanation for Delenn's transformation? As in, hair = ratings? Were viewers not warming to the character? Was she being romanticized in service to audience - or plot?
I'm not privy to details, I'm afraid. But it probably has something to do with the fact that JMS would have to get permission from WB to do republish them just as he had to have permission to write/publish them the first time. Chances are WB would require a royalty fee and, though I'm *certain* that the book of short stories would sell, I'm not sure that they'd sell well enough to pay a hefty license fee to WB. Note that all that's speculation on my part but it's definitely notable that the script books were done without needing any permissions from WB thanks to the Separation of Rights clause in the WGA contract.
Delenn was originally planned to be male and converted to female in the Chrysalis. From the very beginning Mira Furlan was dismayed by the complete disappearance of her own face in the pilot which is one reason why the make-up was softened for the series (in addition to the dropping of the androgynous quality). Even then, she lobbied to become completely human when coming out of the Crysalis.
I remember reading about this hair situation in the B5 magazines just the other day, but as usual in these kind of situations now I can't find the story. Anyway as far as I recall either JMS himself or one of the make-up designers stated that they tried different styles and one of them was that part of Delenn's hair would have grown out of the bone itself. That didn't work at all. So the logic behind the look that we got was that her head is now somewhat smaller, but the bone has pretty much stayed the same as far as size matters, so that leaves a "natural" gap between the head and the bone and she can easily slide her hair through it.
Can't help with the magazines but this post from JMS says much the same:
http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-16696
B5 is one of my favorite TV shows in any genre.
I love long story arcs that reward the faithful viewer. It also makes for great rewatching, because you might hear a throwaway line in season 1 that sets up something major in season 3, but you only realize it on second viewing. The reason why I like DS9 best out of all the Treks is that it shares some of the storytelling style. It's certainly the least episodic of all Trek shows, with the possible exception of ENT season 3.
I love long story arcs that reward the faithful viewer. It also makes for great rewatching, because you might hear a throwaway line in season 1 that sets up something major in season 3, but you only realize it on second viewing. The reason why I like DS9 best out of all the Treks is that it shares some of the storytelling style. It's certainly the least episodic of all Trek shows, with the possible exception of ENT season 3.
The minbari in the pilot had a voice that was warped to have both male and female elements so I think maybe they were going to be an androgynous or hermaphrodytic race, which would have been so cool. It's a shame that so many external factors conspired to almost derail the over-arching plot but the show remains a flawed masterpiece.
My one beef is that dialogue that sounds amazing when spoken by the aliens sounds very unnatural and overly preachy when spoken by the humans.
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