Babylon 5

[David cgc]

Regarding Anthony Pakizer's site... When I click on some ship classes I get interesting material, but when I click on others I get "This page is not available on the web because page does not exist."

That's the Internet Archive for you, especially for an obscure, little-updated site of that age. The downloadable backup on the B5 Wars Vault's dropbox page is more complete and has all the images, though occasionally some of the links fail and you have to open the page you're looking for manually from the folder. And the ship control sheets are under separate downloads.

 

[David cgc]

JMS has given a small update on future Babylon 5 projects in an interview promoting his new science fiction novel, The Glass Box.

"As to the future, I know there is interest in doing more animated movies. The live-action reboot had been with the CW, and now we have interest from at least two streamers, so I think we have a good chance of selling it."

Last summer, he mentioned in a tweet that WB was able to get the CW to give up their exclusivity rights on the reboot script just before the strikes hit, so it is available to be developed for any other network or streamer willing to commission it.

 

[Sci]

I really hope he's able to do a decently-budgeted modern version of B5. The show's very dated in a lot of ways, but if he can combine his strengths with a more modern writing style, I think a B5 revival -- be it a reboot or a continuation -- could be something special.

 

[Tim Walker]

Animation would be promising, I should think. Couple possibilities come to mind:

1. Prequel-Dilgar War

2. Alternative time line; during the Dilgar War, the Centauri go into conquest mode.

 

[Ithekro]

Centauri going conquest mode during the Dilgar War pretty much brings the Narn into the game, as they were allowing Dilgar to go through their space to flank the Drazi.

 

[Tim Walker]

I recall a web site I came across a few years ago, but never found again. It had a more detailed description of the Centauri in conquest mode during the Dilgar War.

Initially, both Dilgar and Centauri ignored Earth, which was in a distant, out of the way corner of the galaxy. Later, the two conquerers would distract each other (allowing the Earth Alliance to survive), and enter into a Cold War.

As I see it, the Centauri would be opportunistic conquerors, with the League worlds reeling from Dilgar attacks. At the least, the Centauri would grab worlds that seem particularly weak.

I would expect both conquerors to very carefully avoid the the middle born Tal-Kona-Sha, and of course the Mimbari and the Vorlons. Perhaps a few of the more technologically advanced League worlds would be left alone for the time being, if their defenses are formidable. But the weaker worlds would be quickly gobbled up by either Dilgar or Centauri.

I can imagine a few of the more pugnacious, such as the Narn and Drazi, being hammered by both conquerers.

I would expect that the EA government would view intervention as suicide, and try to be neutral.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Earth is an overreaching arrogant moron.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I would expect that the EA government would view intervention as suicide, and try to be neutral.

Wasn't Earth supposed to be technologically superior to the Dilgar?

I mean, back then, AFAIK all Earth had was those old Hyperion-class destroyers, but IIRC even these were sufficient to defeat the Dilgar.

 

[Ithekro]

Hyperions and Nova-class Dreadnoughts. The main thing seems to be the first of the relatively modern Starfury designs based on improvements after seeing data from the Non-aligned Worlds about Dilgar fighters

 

[Tim Walker]

Wasn't Earth supposed to be technologically superior to the Dilgar?

As I understand it, the Dilgar had a technological edge over Earth. But not a huge gap, so the Dilgar could be countered by tactics and/or superior numbers.

And Earth had League allies.

This edge was small enough that reverse engineering was doable, while also being fruitful/useful within a reasonable period. Say, a couple decades.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Wasn't Earth supposed to be technologically superior to the Dilgar?

I mean, back then, AFAIK all Earth had was those old Hyperion-class destroyers, but IIRC even these were sufficient to defeat the Dilgar.

(Noncanon musings)

80 billion Dilgar standing on a planet ripe for slaughter by their sun going nova.

The actual Dilgar top tier military, under command of the politicians, generals and billionaires, pick an unoccupied star system and take a hundred million useful people with them, because that's how many ships they have, and that's how many people they can move in a year for 60 light years, to build Dilgar II.

That leaves 79 billion Dilgar abandoned with only civilian ships and broken down military vessels that no one wants, unloved and left to die. Which is the second wave who have two missions, find enough star systems for 79 billion Dilgar to inhabit comfortably, with infrastructure, because all the people that could design or build a sewer for 30 million people are already gone in the first wave. Mission 2 is kill the first wave, because "What a pack of ####s, what a pack of amazing ###s" but because they are not the best people with only the ships that no one wanted in the first wave, they all die because they suck and their tools suck.

Wave three is the telephone sanitizers, and keyboard cleaners, and they are just glad to have made it off world before Dilgar 1 went boom, by which point every civilized society in space has kill orders for every Dilgar ship and every Dilgar face, so they just get murdered on principle and poor luck, until there are none left.

There is no wave 4. 70 billion dilgar probably die when the sun went nova.

 

[DigificWriter]

I started thinking about possibly doing yet another B5 rewatch, but this time following my own Viewing Order that I'd like to share here.
Season 1:

1. The Gathering
2. Midnight on the Firing Line
3. Soul Hunter
4. Infection
5. Born to the Purple
6. The Parliament of Dreams
7. The War Prayer
8. And the Sky Full of Stars
9. Mind War
10. By Any Means Necessary
11. Deathwalker
12. Believers
13. Survivors
14. A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 1
15. A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2
16. Babylon Squared
17. Legacies
18. Grail
19. Signs and Portents
20. TKO
21. Eyes
22. The Quality of Mercy
23. Chrysalis

Season 2:

1. Points of Departure
2. Revelations
3. The Geometry of Shadows
4. A Distant Star
5. A Spider in the Web
6. A Race through Dark Places
7. Soul Mates
8. The Long Dark
9. The Coming of Shadows
10. GROPOS
11. All Alone in the Night
12. Acts of Sacrifice
13. Hunter, Prey
14. Knives
15. There All the Honor Lies
16. And Now For a Word
17. I the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
18. Concessions and Lamentations
19. Divided Loyalties
20. The Long, Twilight Struggle
21. Comes the Inquisitor
22. The Fall of Night

Season 3:

1. Matters of Honor
2. Convictions
3. A Day in the Strife
4. Passing through Gethsemane
5. Voices of Authority
6. Dust to Dust
7. Exogenesis
8. Messages from Earth
9. Point of No Return
10. Severed Dreams
11. Ceremonies of Light and Dark
12. Sic Transit Vir
13. A Late Delivery from Avalon
14. Ship of Tears
15. Interludes and Examinations
16. War without End, Part 1
17. War without End, Part 2
18. Walkabout
19. Grey 17 is Missing
20. And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
21. Shadow Dancing
22. Z'ha'dum

Season 4:

1. The Hour of the Wolf
2. Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
3. The Summoning
4. Falling Toward Apotheosis
5. The Long Night
6. Into the Fire
7. Epiphanies
8. The Illusion of Truth
9. Thirdspace
10. Atonement
11. Racing Mars
12. Lines of Communication
13. Conflicts of Interest
14. Rumors, Bargains, and Lies
15. Moments of Transition
16. No Surrender, No Retreat
17. The Exercise of Vital Powers
18. The Face of the Enemy
19. Intersections in Real Time
20. Between the Darkness and the Light
21. Endgame
22. Rising Star
23. The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

Season 5:

1. No Compromises
2. The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
3. The Paragon of Animals
4. A View from the Gallery
5. Learning Curve
6. Strange Relations
7. Secrets of the Soul
8. In the Kingdom of the Blind
9. A Tragedy of Telepaths
10. Phoenix Rising
11. The Ragged Edge
12. Day of the Dead
13. The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father
14. Meditations on the Abyss
15. Darkness Ascending
16. And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder
17. Movements of Fire and Shadow
18. The Fall of Centauri Prime
19. Wheel of Fire
20. Objects in Motion
21. Objects at Rest
22. River of Souls
23. Legend of the Rangers
24. A Call to Arms
25. Voices in the Dark (The Lost Tales)
26. In the Beginning
27. Sleeping in Light

I don't really like using Sleeping in Light as the B5 Series Finale because it awkwardly ignores Lochley, but it also felt weird not to include it, and so it's there despite my issues with it.

 

[Tim Walker]

The scenario presented-both Dilgar and Centauri in conquest mode-mentioned refugees. Where to go? Earth Alliance space.

There is a YouTube video on this topic-"Alien Refugees." Narrated by Isaac Arthur.

 

[David cgc]

In other news, I've been working on a new CG model of the White Star, and posted a thread over in Fan Art where I'll be providing updates on it and any other Babylon 5 projects I embark on in the future.

 

[Tim Walker]

The worldbuilding stackexchange site has a few threads regarding reverse engineering. Look at Reverse Engineering Electronics.

Consider the comments by jorfus just under the bottom image. Quoting:

"It would be far easier to reverse engineer something out of a computer history museum, a child's toy (walking, talking robot?) or something designed to teach the fundamentals of computing."

So perhaps IPX might end up doing these:

1. Buying toys.

2. Buying dusty old text books and manuals.

3. Scavenge alien junk yards.

4. If really bold, attempting to steal from a museum.

One concept I have seen-scavenge a battlefield.

 

[David cgc]

So perhaps IPX might end up buying toys, and dusty old text books/manuals. If really bold, stealing from a museum.

When the AV Club was doing retro-reviews of Babylon 5, there were "gimmick" commenting accounts (maybe one person using multiple names, maybe multiple people working together) embracing the idea from the closing credits of the finale that Babylon 5 was an in-universe docudrama and offering, in-character, insights into the "real" history that the show left out for storytelling or budgetary reasons. In the review for "Eyes," "Ivanova" comments that EarthForce immediately confiscated Garibaldi's bike so they could tear down the Minbari motor Lennier installed in it. Seems plausible.

Either way, it did amuse me that for at least a couple years, the most technologically advanced vehicle built by humanity was an early '90s Japanese motorcycle.

Also, speaking of toys, I don't think we ever did find out what the "mouse," the first Shadow-tech artifact recovered by Earth, was supposed to do, at least not explicitly. What it did do was explode when scanned by a telepath and condition every other telepath for three miles mentally to prepare to be inserted into a Shadow ship, which probably wasn't exactly it's intended purpose.

 

[Tim Walker]

I wouldn't be surprised if a museum had something like a high tech burglar alarm.

Alien junk yards, though? Owners might not question why the Earthlings are willing to buy, just so long as they do. Perhaps the IPX agents could say that they will turn a purchased piece of junk into art work.

Purchase toys from a thrift store. The IPX agent is of course buying for his child's birthday.

Old text books? Old manuals? Purchased from a garage sale.

 

[David cgc]

Spotted some pieces from The Road Home on Art Station today.

Color-keys by Mikael Javaid-Camua

Shuttle cockpit, cobra bay, and corridor backgrounds by Mikael Javaid-Camua

Observation Dome backgrounds by Mikael Javaid-Camua

Minbari power plant, White Star bridge, White Star meditation room, and Observation Dome concept art by Kevin Harger

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Also, speaking of toys, I don't think we ever did find out what the "mouse," the first Shadow-tech artifact recovered by Earth, was supposed to do, at least not explicitly. What it did do was explode when scanned by a telepath and condition every other telepath for three miles mentally to prepare to be inserted into a Shadow ship, which probably wasn't exactly it's intended purpose.

Did they ever find out what that bit of Shadow tech embedded in the Warlock class was supposed to do? Or who put it there? Is there one in every Warlock ship, or just Ivanova's?

On a completely unrelated matter, does anyone know the name for the class of Minbari ship that was in use when B4 appeared in the past? The ones that are seen approaching the station right at the end of WWE part 2.

 

[Kraig]

On a completely unrelated matter, does anyone know the name for the class of Minbari ship that was in use when B4 appeared in the past? The ones that are seen approaching the station right at the end of WWE part 2.

I've seen it classified as a either a First Shadow War era cruiser or a Tinashi-class War frigate. As far as I know none of those classifications are Canon.