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* IgnoredEnamoredUnderling: Lyta to Kosh and later Ulkesh.
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** Narn refer to it as "The Narn Homeworld," or "the Homeworld." Whether that's the actual name for it, or just what they call it, is never addressed.
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** It's unclear whether they did it intentionally, but Franklin (a rather gregarious guy normally) comes off as a real asshole in the DocumentaryEpisode ''And Now For a Word...'' Granted, he was having a rough day (and secretly battling a drug addiction), and the reporters seemed to like catching him while he was busy saving lives, but anyone who only saw the news report would think he's a total {{Jerkass}}.
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*** Lampshaded in a first season episode (when she was even more hard-assed than later on), where she shows up for duty with her hair down because she was in a hurry. Garibaldi makes a snarky comment about the new look, and Ivanova basically tells him to shut the hell up.
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Changed line(s) 127 (click to see context) from:
** '''DRAAL''', after he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him ([[TheOtherDarrin played by the same actor as Brother Theo]]) is more low-key.
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** '''DRAAL''', after he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him ([[TheOtherDarrin played by the same actor as Brother Theo]]) is more low-key. Presumably he slowed down a bit in his old age.
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** Discussed in a late fourth season episode. Ivanova is lying on an operating table, and sure she is about to die. As she's talking to Sheridan, she tells him that she knows he carries around a lot of needless guilt, and that if he blames himself for this, she'll come BackFromTheDead and kick his ass.
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*** The A plot also has something near the end which is important to the overall plot as well, being that it's the first time the viewers get to see a Shadow vessel.
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** She also does this before revealing the change in her appearance.
** The Grey Council wears hoods that completely cover their heads (Minbari just love this trope). Oddly enough, they only really do it when in session, where presumably everyone in the room knows what they look like.
** The Grey Council wears hoods that completely cover their heads (Minbari just love this trope). Oddly enough, they only really do it when in session, where presumably everyone in the room knows what they look like.
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** Vir attempts to cope with [[spoiler: assassinating the Emperor]] by getting royally drunk. He tells Londo he did it because it always seemed to work for him.
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Crosswicking new trope.
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* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: In "Soul Mates", Londo is laid low by a poisoning, and one of his wives has a blood type which can save him. [[spoiler:Though she actually doesn't like him and wouldn't entirely mind seeing him die, she donates her blood to save him anyway because she doesn't want to win her battles in such a one-sided way.]]
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* PunnyName: Delenn, like most Minbari, typically gets addressed on a FirstNameBasis. On occasion, her family name, Mir, is used, in this case a MultipleReferencePun on actress Mira Furlan's name, and the Russian word for Peace.
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* PlasmaCannon: Handheld Phased Plasma Guns.
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** G'Kar likes to get in on the action, too. After being released from prison, he tells Ta'Lon that he had a major revelation just before being imprisioned. When Ta'Lon asks what kind of revelation it was, G'Kar responds by telling him how big a revelation it was, and how it changed his entire outlook on the Universe, rather than what the revelation actually ''was''. Ta'Lon, being [[WarriorPoet nobody's fool]], calls him out on it.
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* NoseArt: Many of the [[SpaceFighter Starfuries]] have custom paint jobs on the wing just above the cockpits, including those flown by {{Mauve Shirt}}s or {{Red Shirt}}s. Ivanova has a black double-headed eagle with a red star superimposed, Garibaldi has a yellow and orange tigerstripe pattern, and Sheridan has the entire top wing of his fighter decorated in a tiger motif, complete with face and claw marks.
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* NoseArt: Many of the [[SpaceFighter Starfuries]] have custom paint jobs on the wing just above the cockpits, including those flown by {{Mauve Shirt}}s or {{Red Shirt}}s. Ivanova has a black double-headed eagle with a red star superimposed, superimposed (symbolizing her Russian heritage and past fondness for Neo-Communist philosophy), Garibaldi has a yellow and orange tigerstripe pattern, and Sheridan has the entire top wing of his fighter decorated in a tiger motif, complete with face and claw marks.marks. Lochley has a phoenix on hers, which presumably symbolizes the way she turned her life around after spending her teens as a substance abuser.
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* ImmortalityImmorality: Jha'Dur, a Mengele-style [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate genocidal scientist]], gets the last laugh when Earthforce grants her a pardon in exchange for her longevity serum. [[spoiler: The Vorlons put a quick stop to that nonsense and blow up her ship]].
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* ImmortalityImmorality: Jha'Dur, a Mengele-style [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate genocidal scientist]], gets the last laugh when Earthforce grants her a pardon in exchange for her longevity serum. [[spoiler: The Vorlons put a quick stop to that nonsense and blow up her ship]]. It's actually ''far'' worse than that: in order to manufacture one dose of the serum, it's necessary to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild murder a sapient lifeform.]] She's [[EvilLaughter actively gloating that her "gift"]] will make humans into far worse genocides than her own species, right up to the point where [[spoiler: the Vorlons blow her away before she can hand over the formula.]]
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* IgnoringBySinging: Invoked by Sheridan in "The Coming of Shadows". Irritated by G'Kar's attitude to the Centauri Emperor's visit, which he regards as a childish tantrum, he suggests that if it troubles G'Kar so much he should go back to his quarters and do this until the Emperor leaves.
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* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Works better with the power cell, rather. Sheridan, fed up with an ongoing argument with no end in sight, puts his sidearm in the hands of the B-Plot-antagonist-of-the-week and offers to let them shoot him if they want. They back down. Sheridan later reveals to an apoplectic [[CommanderContrarian Ivanova]] that he removed the power cell before handing his weapon over [[hottip:*: Indeed, if you are paying attention, you can see him do just that, complete with the SignatureSoundEffect declining buzz-whine sound that always goes with that action.]].
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* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Works better with the power cell, rather. Sheridan, fed up with an ongoing argument with no end in sight, puts his sidearm in the hands of the B-Plot-antagonist-of-the-week and offers to let them shoot him if they want. They back down. Sheridan later reveals to an apoplectic [[CommanderContrarian Ivanova]] that he removed the power cell before handing his weapon over [[hottip:*: [[note]] Indeed, if you are paying attention, you can see him do just that, complete with the SignatureSoundEffect declining buzz-whine sound that always goes with that action.]].[[/note]].
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** WilliamShakespeare
*** "The Quality of Mercy" (''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' IV.i)
*** "The Paragon of Animals" (''{{Hamlet}}'' II.ii)
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.) (''Theatre/KingLear'' IV.vii)
*** "The Quality of Mercy" (''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' IV.i)
*** "The Paragon of Animals" (''{{Hamlet}}'' II.ii)
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.) (''Theatre/KingLear'' IV.vii)
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** WilliamShakespeare
Creator/WilliamShakespeare
*** "The Quality of Mercy"(''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' IV.(''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice IV''.i)
*** "The Paragon of Animals"(''{{Hamlet}}'' II.(''{{Hamlet}} II''.ii)
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.)(''Theatre/KingLear'' IV.(''Theatre/KingLear IV''.vii)
*** "The Quality of Mercy"
*** "The Paragon of Animals"
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.)
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* MeaningfulName: Delenn means "Gray Traveler" which doubles as a ShoutOut to [[LordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]], given that Gandalf's Elven name is Mithrandir, which means "Gray Wanderer"
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* MeaningfulName: Delenn means "Gray Traveler" which doubles as a ShoutOut to [[LordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]], LordOfTheRings, given that Gandalf's Elven name is Mithrandir, which means "Gray Wanderer"
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** G'kar becomes this ''to the entire Narn race'' in season 5. Although he soon becomes frustrated that most of the Narn who come to the station to listen to him end up [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missing the point]].
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** G'kar becomes this ''to the entire Narn race'' in season 5. Although he soon becomes frustrated that most of the Narn who come to the station to listen to him end up [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missing the point]].CompletelyMissingThePoint.
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* NeglectfulPrecursors: An ongoing theme of the later seasons of the show, as well as many of the spinoffs, was the younger races stumbling across various nasty things left behind by [[spoiler: The Vorlons and the Shadows]].[[hottip:*: A very jarring example, considering that the Precursors in question had ''just left''.]]
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* NeglectfulPrecursors: An ongoing theme of the later seasons of the show, as well as many of the spinoffs, was the younger races stumbling across various nasty things left behind by [[spoiler: The Vorlons and the Shadows]].[[hottip:*: [[note]] A very jarring example, considering that the Precursors in question had ''just left''.]][[/note]]
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* MadeOutToBeAJerkass: Sheridan [[spoiler: defends the station from a Centauri attack]] only to be forced to give an OrderedApology to them. What makes it worse was that he was denied his epic BackhandedApology.
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misspelled \"spoiler\"
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** Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".When faced with a dock worker strike, he is ordered by an ObstructiveBureaucrat to invoke the Rush Act which permits Sinclair to end the strike by any means needed, including using military force to break the strike. [[spoiiler:Sinclair, instead, uses the power to rewrite the budget to give the workers their demands and repairs they wanted in the first place.]] The ObstructiveBureaucrat was not amused.
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** Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".When faced with a dock worker strike, he is ordered by an ObstructiveBureaucrat to invoke the Rush Act which permits Sinclair to end the strike by any means needed, including using military force to break the strike. [[spoiiler:Sinclair, [[spoiler:Sinclair, instead, uses the power to rewrite the budget to give the workers their demands and repairs they wanted in the first place.]] The ObstructiveBureaucrat was not amused.
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Expanding the example
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* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".
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* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours:
** Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".When faced with a dock worker strike, he is ordered by an ObstructiveBureaucrat to invoke the Rush Act which permits Sinclair to end the strike by any means needed, including using military force to break the strike. [[spoiiler:Sinclair, instead, uses the power to rewrite the budget to give the workers their demands and repairs they wanted in the first place.]] The ObstructiveBureaucrat was not amused.
** Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".When faced with a dock worker strike, he is ordered by an ObstructiveBureaucrat to invoke the Rush Act which permits Sinclair to end the strike by any means needed, including using military force to break the strike. [[spoiiler:Sinclair, instead, uses the power to rewrite the budget to give the workers their demands and repairs they wanted in the first place.]] The ObstructiveBureaucrat was not amused.
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Note to self: Preview first!
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** [[DrawkcabName Timov]] Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine; she [[BrutalHonesty constantly says what's on her mind]], and it's [[DeadpanSnarker generally not pleasant]]. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
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** [[DrawkcabName [[SdrawkcabName Timov]] Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine; she [[BrutalHonesty [[DeadpanSnarker constantly says what's on her mind]], and it's [[DeadpanSnarker [[BrutalHonesty generally not pleasant]]. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
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Timov was the one with the sharp tongue. You\'re thinking of Daggair.
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** Timov Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine and she is constantly remembering the lush happy dreams of a good future with Londo as she lives through a barren, love-less marriage. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
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** Timov [[DrawkcabName Timov]] Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine and Famine; she is [[BrutalHonesty constantly remembering the lush happy dreams of a good future with Londo as she lives through a barren, love-less marriage. says what's on her mind]], and it's [[DeadpanSnarker generally not pleasant]]. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
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** When Sheridan is being forced to apologize to the Centauri for firing on their ship, he asks if the apology is being written for him. The Ministry of Peace officer replies, "No. As with everything else, it's the thought that counts." Not too much later, we see Sheridan practicing an epic BackhandedApology in front of a mirror. After he's done, he repeats, "As with everything else, it's the thought that counts."
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-->'''Ivanova''': All my life I've fought against imperialism. Now '''I'm''' the expanding Russian frontier!\\
'''Franklin:''' Yes, but with very nice borders.
'''Franklin:''' Yes, but with very nice borders.
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-->'''Ivanova''': All my life I've fought against imperialism. Now '''I'm''' Now, suddenly ''I'm'' the expanding Russian frontier!\\
'''Franklin:'''Yes, but But with very nice borders.
'''Franklin:'''
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** '''DRAAL'''.
*** After he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him (played by the same actor as Brother Theo) is more low-key.
*** After he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him (played by the same actor as Brother Theo) is more low-key.
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** '''DRAAL'''.
*** After'''DRAAL''', after he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him (played ([[TheOtherDarrin played by the same actor as Brother Theo) Theo]]) is more low-key.
*** After
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* LeftHanging: So...how 'bout those HumanPopsicle telepaths they rescued from the Shadows?
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* LeftHanging: So...how 'bout those HumanPopsicle telepaths they rescued from the Shadows?Shadows? (Not the ones used as "weapons" in the return to Earth, but the ones that, like Carolyn, were not sacrificed.)
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* LoudOfWar: As punishment for trifling with Elric, the computers in Londo's quarters are reprogrammed to continually blare "Narn opera".
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* LoudOfWar: As punishment for trifling with Elric, the computers in Londo's quarters are reprogrammed to continually blare "Narn opera".opera", among other things.
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* NotHyperbole: After Marcus makes his BadassBoast to some thugs ("...In five minutes I'll be the only person at this table still standing. Five minutes after that, I'll be the only person in this ''room'' still standing."), they force Marcus to follow through on it.
-->'''Marcus:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Bugger!]] Now I have to wait for someone to wake up!
-->'''Marcus:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Bugger!]] Now I have to wait for someone to wake up!
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** Delenn introduces her old mentor, Draal, to Londo. Londo meanwhile is ranting at length about a song that humans all teach their children, the Hokey Pokey. He has studied it extensively, had it analyzed by every specialist he could find, and discovers that it means ''nothing'' at all.
-->'''Draal:''' I rather enjoyed the song.
-->'''Delenn:''' Don't tell ''him''.
-->'''Draal:''' I rather enjoyed the song.
-->'''Delenn:''' Don't tell ''him''.
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* MoralityPet: Vir fills this role for Londo on quite a regular basis. Indeed he's stayed Londo's hand on more than one occoaision, and Londo is at his worst when Vir is absent.
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* MoralityPet: Vir fills this role for Londo on quite a regular basis. Indeed he's stayed Londo's hand on more than one occoaision, occasion, and Londo is at his worst when Vir is absent.
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** This holds true for the Minbari Federation and Centari Republic, as well.
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** This holds true for the Minbari Federation and Centari Centauri Republic, as well.
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* OrderedApology: See the entry for BackhandedApology in [[Babylon5TropesAToH the A-H section]].
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* OrderedApology: See the entry for BackhandedApology in [[Babylon5TropesAToH [[BabylonFive/TropesAToH the A-H section]].
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This page covers tropes found in ''Series/BabylonFive''. Tropes beginning with letters A-H can be found at BabylonFive/TropesAToH and tropes beginning with letters Q-Z can be found at Babylon5TropesQToZ. Subjective tropes go to the [[YMMV/BabylonFive YMMV page]].
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This page covers tropes found in ''Series/BabylonFive''. Tropes beginning with letters A-H can be found at BabylonFive/TropesAToH and tropes beginning with letters Q-Z can be found at Babylon5TropesQToZ.BabylonFive/TropesQToZ. Subjective tropes go to the [[YMMV/BabylonFive YMMV page]].
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This page covers tropes found in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}''. Tropes beginning with letters A-H can be found at Babylon5TropesAToH and tropes beginning with letters Q-Z can be found at Babylon5TropesQToZ. Subjective tropes go to the [[YMMV/{{Babylon5}} YMMV page]].
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This page covers tropes found in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}''. ''Series/BabylonFive''. Tropes beginning with letters A-H can be found at Babylon5TropesAToH BabylonFive/TropesAToH and tropes beginning with letters Q-Z can be found at Babylon5TropesQToZ. Subjective tropes go to the [[YMMV/{{Babylon5}} [[YMMV/BabylonFive YMMV page]].
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This page covers tropes found in ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}''. Tropes beginning with letters A-H can be found at Babylon5TropesAToH and tropes beginning with letters Q-Z can be found at Babylon5TropesQToZ. Subjective tropes go to the [[YMMV/{{Babylon5}} YMMV page]].
----
!!''Babylon 5'' provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:I]]
* IAmLegion: The Vindrizis' human hosts communicate this by FinishingEachOthersSentences.
* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Even small amounts of alcohol can turn a Minbari into a violent psychotic.
** In a late season 5 episode Sheridan references the effect alcohol has on Minbari. Emperor Londo is visiting the new Alliance HQ on Minbar and asks about alcohol, but there is none, so he can't [[spoiler:get drunk and put his Keeper to sleep]].
* IcarusAllusion: The scientific expedition that reawoke the Shadows by poking into ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow was called the "Icarus expedition", after the ship on which it traveled.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: By the end of the series, you would be hard pressed to find any main character who did not end up compromising their morals for what they at least ''thought'' was the greater good.
** Of particular note is Sheridan, Lyta, and Doctor Franklin using [[spoiler: The [[BodyHorror Shadow-modified telepaths]]]] to disable a fleet of ships in orbit over [[spoiler: the planet Mars]]. They used thirty innocent people, knowing the chance of their deaths were high, in order to save thousands. Nobody is happy about it.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The Shadow homeworld, Z'ha'dum, roughly translates as "Death of the future".
* IGaveMyWord: When offered a chance to surrender or flee from the Earthforce ships advancing on the station, Sheridan refuses, having made a vow to Delenn that he would "draw a line" against the darkness.
* IKEAWeaponry: Londo has an IKEA PPG which he ends up not using to assassinate G'Kar in "Midnight On The Firing Line".
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Subverted in second-season episode "Divided Loyalties", where an appeal to the true personality fails entirely. [[spoiler:It fails because the 'bad' personality embedded into her mind by the Psicorps deletes and completely replaces the original, 'good' personality. The Talia we knew through the entire first season, who sided with the crew of Babylon 5, is effectively destroyed when the embedded 'sleeper' personality takes control. The 'bad' Talia proceeds to take a great deal of pleasure from [[KickTheDog taunting a grief-stricken Ivanova over it.]]]]
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe:
** Morden almost seems to predict the moment when Sheridan, under duress, decides to release him from custody. When Sheridan turns to face the security monitor, Morden is grinning straight at him.
** In the fifth season of Babylon 5, the telepath Lyta Alexander can sense video surveillance. Sheridan doesn't believe it until Captain Lochley asks him to switch cameras, and Lyta shifts her gaze accordingly.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: You would, too, if you had to deal with what happens on this station.
** PlayedForLaughs in one episode when Sheridan is explaining a vexing situation he's about to confront. When Ivanova asks if he needs anything, Sheridan responds "A gun, two bullets, and a bottle of whiskey."
** And PlayedForDrama when Garibaldi falls off the wagon and starts drinking again.
** Londo's love of wine goes from just another amusing part of his LargeHam personality to an InvokedTrope when it is revealed that [[spoiler: after he takes on a Drakh Keeper, he drinks heavily to put it to sleep, giving him some brief periods of freedom.]]
* InsecureLoveInterest: Lennier takes four and a half seasons to admit that he's in love with Delenn.
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Works better with the power cell, rather. Sheridan, fed up with an ongoing argument with no end in sight, puts his sidearm in the hands of the B-Plot-antagonist-of-the-week and offers to let them shoot him if they want. They back down. Sheridan later reveals to an apoplectic [[CommanderContrarian Ivanova]] that he removed the power cell before handing his weapon over [[hottip:*: Indeed, if you are paying attention, you can see him do just that, complete with the SignatureSoundEffect declining buzz-whine sound that always goes with that action.]].
* IWarnedYou: Delenn's righteously indignant speech before the Grey Council ("Severed Dreams").
* IWillOnlySlowYouDown: Zathras gets pinned by a fallen pole in "Babylon Squared", and tells Sinclair to leave him. [[spoiler: Luckily, Future Delenn returns to save him]].
* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: Following the re-enslavement of the Narn homeworld by the Centarui, the decree is passed that any attack on a Centauri citizen will be met with [[DisproportionateRetribution the deaths of 500 Narns]], including the perpetrator's own family.
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: When G'kar begins smuggling weapons through B5, Garibaldi quickly catches on. In exchange for G'Kar fessing up and promising to move his hardware off-station, Garibaldi tacitly gives him a lead on an alternate (and much safer) route.
* ImGoingForACloserLook: Very bad idea upon encountering a Shadow vessel or most unidentified craft.
** [[spoiler:Warren Keffer]]'s FamousLastWords.
* ImStandingRightHere: Unsure of whether Ivanova is hitting on him or not, Corwin turns up at his quarts with some (very pricey) synthetic roses. Quickly realizing his mistake, he claims to have found them lying outside her door. Amused, Ivanova remarks that whoever bought those roses "must be a real dope." Corwin, now deflated, is inclined to agree with her.
* IceCreamKoan: The Vorlon language seems to consist mostly of these. G'kar throws them out sometimes when disciples keep asking questions he has already explained he doesn't have an answer for and doesn't think anyone does.
* IfIWantedYouDead: Na'Toth's response when G'Kar accuses her of being an assassin sent to kill him.
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Sinclair is put in this situation in "The War Prayer" when he pretends sympathy with an earth-supremacist group so he can find out what they're up to.
* ImmortalityImmorality: Jha'Dur, a Mengele-style [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate genocidal scientist]], gets the last laugh when Earthforce grants her a pardon in exchange for her longevity serum. [[spoiler: The Vorlons put a quick stop to that nonsense and blow up her ship]].
* InTheHood: Delenn, whilst meeting with Marcus at his favorite tavern ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark").
* IncendiaryExponent: how Minbari decided caste dominance in the old days.
* IncomingHam: [[MemeticMutation MEEEEESter GariBALDi!]]
** G'Kar got a far share of these as well. He had a tendency to announce his presence in a scene by shouting the name of the person he wanted to speak to from across the room.
** Also Draal, especially after bonding with the Great Machine. He liked to do a sort of reverse Cheshire Cat; making some bombastic statement a moment before appearing as a hologram.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: In "The Fall of Night", [[spoiler:Sheridan only knew to jump from the core shuttle because the bomb was one of these.]]
** [[spoiler: Indeed, in the DVDCommentary, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski points out that it is an incredibly obvious ''Centauri'' bomb: It even has the Centauri peacock hairfan!]]
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Duncan ("Exogenesis")..
* InformedJudaism (Ivanova). In the episodes where it comes up, it's made fairly clear that she isn't exactly a practicing Jew.
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode:
** The thirteenth episode "Signs and Portents" -- which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The episode's "A" plot is some fairly standard and unimportant thing involving Raiders [space pirates] and a Centauri artifact called The Eye. The "B" plot, involving the first appearance of the enigmatic Mr Morden and the question "What do you want?", turns out to be ''incredibly'' important and crucial to the rest of the series -- but the episode's retrospective importance only kicks in at the first season finale.
** Its importance was lampshaded by the fact that the entire first season was also named "Signs and Portents" (though a casual viewer wouldn't know this - the season titles only appeared on fan sites.) "Portents", of course, are ''[[{{Foreshadowing}} hints about future events.]]''
** "Midnight on the Firing Line'': appeared rather lackluster when it first aired, but to which the show kept referring throughout many of its best moments over the rest of its run.
* InsectoidAliens: The Gaim. Also, the species to which n'grath belongs. The Shadows might count, too.
* InsistentTerminology: "Food plan" in the DietEpisode.
* InstitutionalApparel: As seen in "The War Prayer" and "The Quality of Mercy", prisoners wear grey jumpsuits with black arrows on them. But they're ''futuristic'' arrows!
* InternalAffairs: In the episode "Eyes", the title refers to the nickname of Earthforce Internal Affairs. The "Eyes" have a generally bad reputation, as usual for this trope, and the particular one in this episode proves to be bending the rules a lot in pursuit of a personal grudge.
* InternalReformist: During late stages of the arc revolving around trying to depose President Clarke, we meet one or two of these.
** First is William Edgers, Garibaldi's new boss and a powerful corporate executive. Edgers feels that Sheridan's rebellion does more harm than good, since it both gives Earth an external threat to focus on and allows Clarke to consolidate his power and use Martial Law to crack down on any dissent and reform. Edgers is part of a group of powerful behind the scenes players, and his plan is to bring down Psi Corps, since it's the main base of Clarke's power, knowing that without it Clarke will soon fall.
** A slightly more orthodox example is Susanna Luchenko, the head of the Russian Consortium. Like Edgers, she appears to have been part of a group that wanted to take Clarke down, only consisting of politicians instead of businessmen this time. She grudgingly admits that what Sheridan did was probably the right thing, but he "[d]id it in a way that was inconvenient" because it resulted in a Civil War that damaged much of the Earth Force Fleet, and showed instability and vulnerability to alien governments.
* IronLady: Ivanova has touches of this.
* IronicEcho
** Bester and Sheridan have an exchange of these in one episode with "It's an unperfect world."
* {{Irony}}: Delenn gives Garibaldi the "Blind and Toothless" speech when he espouses the death penalty ("Eye for an Eye"), despite she herself having ordered a genocide over the death of one man in particular. Trust Garibaldi to come up with the perfect answer; 'No, only the bad guys.'
** DramaticIrony: Delenn tells her fellow Religious Caste leaders how brutal and unpredictable the Warrior Caste is, how her Caste would never turn on their own, and how people from her Caste are all wiser and better than them. This is after these guys had, after incomplete information, attached waste exhaust to the environmental systems to kill everyone on the ship so they wouldn't surrender.
** From "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place": Londo got every feature of where Na'Toth was imprisoned right except the planet. One wonders if he was thinking about this in "A Tragedy of Telepaths". It would be interesting to know if Vir ever found out either.
* ISOStandardHumanSpaceship: the ''Nova''e, their successor ''Omega''s and the ''Warlock''s are quite boxy and ungainly, and painted in various shades of grey. The ''Hyperion''s are a bit more rounded and brightly colored, but are produced by a different military contractor than the ''Omega''s and ''Nova''s.
* ItsAllJunk: In "The War Prayer", Ivanova bins the gift she received from the boyfriend she's just broken up with.
* ItsAllMyFault: John Sheridan blames himself for his wife Anna's death, which happened on a scientific expedition she joined in place of a holiday they'd planned and then he'd postponed because of work commitments. When he eventually admits this to his sister, who was also his wife's best friend, she tells him that Anna had already decided to join the expedition, and if he hadn't asked her to postpone the holiday, she'd have asked him.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: In the DocumentaryEpisode ''And Now For A Word'', Cynthia Torqueman consistently pronounces Commander Ivanova's name wrong. While Ivanova visibly reacts, she doesn't comment on it. Of course, Torqueman might have done it intentionally to try and get a rise out of her interviewee. Especially since in real life, reporters are usually careful to check the pronunciation of a person's name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:J]]
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique:
** Just another day at the office for Alfred Bester.
** Subverted with Garabaldi, who is really good at ''convincing'' people he's willing to resort to these. However, when his boss actually goes ahead with it, Garibaldi takes him aside and [[WhatTheHellHero explains how]] if that happens again, he can find a new security chief.
* JediMindTrick: Alluded to by Psi-Cop Alfred Bester while he and his team are chasing a runaway Telepath.
-->'''Bester''': "...spark misleading hunches..."
* JerkassFacade: Sinclair puts this on in ''The War Prayer'' to earn Malcolm Biggs' trust and to catch him and his allies off guard.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Garibaldi has an argument with a post office worker who charges 100 credits to pay for a package that got delivered. Now the worker points out that the price hike is due to [[spoiler:B5 breaking out from Earth and him having to employ alternate means to get the mail to arrive to B5, and his extra expenses have to be passed to the consumer.]] Yet most of the B-Plot was following Garibaldi trying to avoid paying the price, eventually resorting to extortion to get his money back. Because the guy ''dared to do his job'' (Or heck, go beyond his duty considering he's trying to maintain the service despite the consequences).
* TheJester: {{Subverted}}: One episode shows a jester in Cartagia's court mocking him behind his back. Cartagia turns around to see this, and laughs it off. [[KickTheDog He then has the jester killed.]]
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: One of the classics.
* JustFollowingOrders:
** This trope is the excuse given by many Earthforce officers who obey Clark's illegal orders.
** Doctor Franklin explicitly does ''not''. During the Earth/Minbari war, he was ordered to turn over his notes on Minbari anatomy so that the military can create a biological weapon. He refuses, stating that under military law he has no duty to obey an order if it would violate his conscience. The military locks him up and tears his house and office apart looking for some remnant of those notes. He was just GenreSavvy enough to have destroyed them in advance, knowing in times of war, military law is "[[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Do What We Say And MAYBE We Won't Kill You.]]"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:K]]
* KangarooCourt: In the episode "Rising Star" President Susanna Luchenko tells Sheridan that the officers at his court-martial will be from the 'shoot him' side. He has no chance of being found innocent and the trial will be solely for the sake of reinforcing political control over the military. Of course, this arrangement was so that Sheridan would take the ''other'' choice being offered: He resigns from Earth Force, allowing the government to re-consolidate without his polarizing and destabilizing presence. Long story short, his career in Earth Force is over one way or another.[[hottip:*: She didn't know that Sheridan already had [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning another job opportunity lined up.]]]]
* KarmaHoudini:
** Dan Randall, the ISN news reporter from "The Illusion of Truth". Yes, Clark's administration all got snapped by Sheridan's comeback tour, but it would've been nice to see that guy crucified.
** Alfred Bester, more or less. (Much less in the novels. [[spoiler: Directly responsible for causing the events that lead to the destruction of the Psi-Corp, chased by Garibaldi for a decade or two, mind-wipes his love, only to realize it's not necessary, and put in a prison for the rest of his life, under anti-PSI drugs, and dies when an ESPECIALLY ironic announcement is made.]])
** Crusade, the spin-off series, showed that at least one member of Nightwatch was one of these. It isn't directly stated, but it's the same actor, with the same name, and he states that he knows a thing or too about surviving changes in governments.
* KingInTheMountain: Played with in "A Late Delivery From Avalon".
* KlingonPromotion / MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Clark ascends to the Presidency after his predecessor dies in a [[ExternalCombustion suspicious explosion]].
* KnightInSourArmor: Marcus Cole. Garibaldi even more so.
-->'''Garibaldi''': Like you said, I never start a conversation unless I know where it's going, but I always leave a little room for someone to disappoint me.
* KnightTemplar:
** Byron's followers.
** William Edgars sets himself up as this, though he imagines himself a WellIntentionedExtremist.
** Almost every side has at least a few.
** [[spoiler: The Vorlons]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:L]]
* LandOfOneCity: Babylon 5 is this for much of the show.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre:
** Franklin to Ivanova, after the latter balks at her newly-prescribed diet.
-->'''Ivanova''': All my life I've fought against imperialism. Now '''I'm''' the expanding Russian frontier!\\
'''Franklin:''' Yes, but with very nice borders.
** Marcus notices that the leader of the Martian resistance movement has taken an interest in Dr. Franklin.
-->'''Franklin:''' Look, I was just helping her out of a difficult situation, that's all.
-->'''Marcus:''' Fifty credits says that's not all she wants you to help her out of.
* LaResistance:
** An "UndergroundRailroad" of rogue telepaths who seek to elude Psi Corps. A handful of doctors (including Dr. Franklin) first established the railroad in response to stories of humans rights abuses being committed on telepaths.
** One of Earthforce's Joint Chiefs, William Hague, organizes a mutiny against President's Clark's regime. Ultimately, Hague's leadership over the resistance passes down to Sheridan.
** The Narn resistance is organized by cells both on and off-world, smuggling weapons, food, and other resources. Ex-Ambassador G'Kar is the most prominent figure in this movement, despite continuous Centauri efforts to rub him out. Remnants of the Narn fleet eventually join the struggle against the Shadows led by John Sheridan.
** The Mars Resistance, formed by people who want Mars to be independent of Earth. They are little more than a terrorist organization in the first season, but by the fourth season Babylon 5 is actively working with them to topple the Clark regime.
** Babylon 5 itself becomes this, especially during the Fourth Season.
* LargeHam:
** G'Kar.
** Londo.
** '''DRAAL'''.
*** After he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him (played by the same actor as Brother Theo) is more low-key.
** "King Arthur" is an expansive talker, as can be expected. Also, he's played by veteran ham Michael York.
* LaserHallway: Of the lethal variety. Encountered by Sinclair and Invanova in "A Voice In The Wilderness".
* LastMinuteReprieve: Used a few times throughout the series.
* LastOfHerKind: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Deathwalker]]. Her stated goal was to give away her [[{{Immortality}} final discovery]] as penance for what [[CompleteMonster she and her people did]] during the Dilgar War. [[spoiler: The key to her immortality serum is a substance that can only be extracted by [[HumanResources killing another living being.]] [[ImmortalityImmorality For one to live forever, another must die.]] She plans to incite a bloodbath amongst the other races as a final "Screw you" to the galaxy. The Vorlons put a [[StuffBlowingUp sudden and violent end]] to her gambit.]]
* LastWords: As Emperor Turhan lies on his deathbed, Londo and Refa inform him that Centauri forces have resumed war with the Narn, and ask for his blessing. Turhan whispers something into Londo's ear, which Londo reports as: "[[BlatantLies Continue. Take my people back to the stars]]". Out in the hallway, a sly Refa asks Londo what the Emperor ''really'' said. It was,
-->"(You) are both damned."
* LatexPerfection: Played for laughs in "There the Honor Lies" when Ivanova pays a visit to B5's gift shop. Suddenly, all of the human/alien customers remove their 'masks', sending her fleeing in terror.
-->'''Drazi customer:''' Can you gift-wrap this for me?
* LeeroyJenkins: The Narn are a whole ''species'' of these.
** Possibly the best example of this is when Earthforce is boarding Babylon 5 to try and get the station back from Sheridan. Garibaldi and a large percentage of his security team (augmented by recently-recuited Narn soldiers) move in to where the breaching party will enter the station. As Garibaldi and the Humans begin digging in to set up a kill zone, the Narn just rush on ahead, forcing the humans to chase after them.
* LeftHanging: So...how 'bout those HumanPopsicle telepaths they rescued from the Shadows?
* LethallyExpensive: {{Invoked}}. Sheridan orders the rangers to leak some information to the Shadows. However he is concerned that they won't believe it unless someone was:
-->'''Sheridan:''' "...willing to fight for it, [[SuicideMission willing to...]]" (he can't bring himself to say "die" in front of the very man he is ordering to his death.)
* LetterMotif
* LettingHerHairDown:
** Minor example in "Survivors". The head of the Presidential security detail starts out very uptight, with a hairstyle to match. In the final scene, she's more friendly, and also wearing her hair down. (The change in hairstyle is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by that being the first scene where she's off-duty, but it's still a trope because it coincides with her increased friendliness, which is ''not'' just because she's off-duty.)
** Ivanova usually has her hair scraped back severely while working and in hard-ass executive officer mode, but wears it down when off-duty and with close friends, when her genuine friendly persona comes through.
* LifeEnergy: The alien machine from ''The Quality of Mercy'' can transfer this from one person to another.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: In the commentary for "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars," JMS mentions that during the filming of the Londo/G'Kar scenes an extra actually asked "How long have they been married?" after the scene was finished. Their bickering was lampshaded throughout the series, and in "A View From the Gallery" a character ''within'' the series wondered how long they had been together after he saw them arguing.
** Characters were joking about Londo and G'Kar being married way back in the ''first season'', [[CharacterDevelopment back when G'Kar was clearly a bad guy and Londo was clearly a good guy.]]
* LiteraryAllusionTitle
** Literature/TheBible
*** Movie "In The Beginning" (Genesis 1:1)
*** "A Voice in the Wilderness"
*** "Revelations"
*** "Passing Through Gethsemane"
** WilliamShakespeare
*** "The Quality of Mercy" (''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' IV.i)
*** "The Paragon of Animals" (''{{Hamlet}}'' II.ii)
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.) (''Theatre/KingLear'' IV.vii)
** MarkTwain
*** "The War Prayer", after the essay of the same name
* LittlestCancerPatient: Subverted twice. See AnyoneCanDie.
* LivingShip: Vorlon ships are shown to be both sentient and organic. Kosh also shares a telepathic link with his vessel.
** Shadow ships also appear to be at least partly organic, [[spoiler: and use imprisoned humanoids as their central processors]]
* LoanShark: Desmond "Deuce" Modichenko ("Grail").
* LockAndLoadMontage: Babylon 5's defense grid.
* LockedInARoom: Subverted in "Convictions".
* LoopholeAbuse:
** A Narn warship that escaped the destruction of its homeworld jumps into Babylon 5 space, requesting sanctuary. Unfortunately, a representative from Earthgov announces that Earth is prepared to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Centarui, something which virtually translates to appeasement. A Centauri battlecruiser arrives, demanding custody of the Narn ship. Sheridan refuses, stating that the treaty isn't ''finalized'' in the senate yet, so therefore he can grant asylum to whoever the hell he wants (The Centauri disagree).
** When Delenn's life was in danger from Neroon but she did not wish Sheridan to know, she forbids Lennier from telling him. [[TakesAThirdOption He opts to ask Marcus for help.]] His reasoning is:
--->'''Lennier''': I'm trying to keep a promise. By breaking a promise. I was told not to mention this to anyone in the chain of command. You were not mentioned by name but that is implicit. However, by telling you, the captain need not find out about it and I will not have broken the promise.\\
'''Marcus''': I'm in awe, Lennier. The way you can take a simple proposition and turn it inside out so that it says what you want it to say rather than what it actually says. Does this come naturally or did you attend some sort of ... martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?
* LossOfIdentity: Death Of Personality.
* LostTribe: The unnamed alien race of Epsilon III.
* LoudOfWar: As punishment for trifling with Elric, the computers in Londo's quarters are reprogrammed to continually blare "Narn opera".
* LowerDeckEpisode: "A View from the Gallery"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M]]
* MacGuffinEscortMission: The Mars Resistance agent handing his parcel down to Lyta ("Divided Loyalties").
* MaintainTheLie: Averted; "The War Prayer" has the set-up -- Vir has been telling his relatives that ''he's'' the Centauri ambassador on Babylon 5, and then one of them comes to visit -- but instead of trying to Maintain The Lie, Vir admits the truth straight away, accepts a bit of ribbing, and they move on to spending the rest of the episode trying to sort out the problem the relative came to ask his help with.
* {{Malaproper}}: Delenn lacks intimate knowledge of a few [[ForeignCussWord select human phrases]].
* MamaBear: Laura Rosen, already dying from lake's Syndrome, donates her life force to patients who visit her clinic in Downbelow. When Karl Mueller threatens her daughter, Rosen kills him by ''sapping away'' his life, instead. Though cleared of all charges, Rosen is deeply shaken by the experience, having violating her oath as a doctor.
* ManHug: Exchanged between Keffer and his newfound Marine Corps buddies, shortly before their doomed mission on Aknor.
* ManInTheMachine:
** Varn, a mysterious alien who governs the "Great Machine" of Epsilon III. When Varn's life starts to fade, Delenn's mentor Draal agrees to take over his duties.
** Shadow ships require living being at their core; the two merge, becoming one entity. If the pilot isn't properly prepared (i.e., a moronic Earthgov test monkey), the result is a confused, insane ship.
* AManIsNotAVirgin: Except for Marcus, who is still qualified to chase unicorns.
** Sort of. See the page for details.
* ManipulativeBastard: Lord Antono Refa, Morden.
* MathematiciansAnswer:
** Everything that Kosh says is not exactly helpful:
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"How do I know you're the same Vorlon? Inside that encounter suit, you could be anyone."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"I have always been here."''
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"Oh yeah? You said that about me, too."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"Yes."''
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"I really hate it when you do that."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"Good."''
** Sheridan even lampshades this.
--> '''Sheridan:''' Well, as answers go, short, to the point, utterly useless and totally consistent with what I've come to expect from a Vorlon.
--> '''Kosh:''' Good.
** The Drakh do the same in season 4: "Drakh? Is that your name or your species?" "Yes."
** Even Creator/JMichaelStraczynski himself [[http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/038.html can't resist this trope.]] (warning: link contains spoilers) "Was Kosh's line about Sheridan going to Z'ha'dum a warning or a threat?" "Yes." '''GAH!!'''
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Sheridan and Delenn.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** "[[LineInTheSand Hold the line.]]"
** King Arthur's line about resurfacing in the 23rd century "because I am most needed here and now" is analogous to Delenn and Sheridan being "the right people, in the right place, at the right time".
* MeaningfulName: Delenn means "Gray Traveler" which doubles as a ShoutOut to [[LordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]], given that Gandalf's Elven name is Mithrandir, which means "Gray Wanderer"
** Timov Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine and she is constantly remembering the lush happy dreams of a good future with Londo as she lives through a barren, love-less marriage. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
* MentorArchetype:
** Aldous Gajic to "Jinxo" in the first season episode "Grail". As well as several other characters.
** Kosh Naranek
** G'kar becomes this ''to the entire Narn race'' in season 5. Although he soon becomes frustrated that most of the Narn who come to the station to listen to him end up [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missing the point]].
** Byron to his followers.
* TheMerch: Lampshaded when Sheridan proposes opening a gift shop on-board the station. Doubles as a thinly-veiled TakeThat toward the ''Trek'' franchise (see "DuelingShows").
-->'''Ivanova:''' Babylon 5, [[IronicEcho our last best hope to]] make a quick buck!
* MessianicArchetype:
** Byron.
** Sheridan, Sinclair and Delenn, all in their own ways.
** G'kar after his spiritual enlightenment.
* {{Microts}}: Time is measured by "cycles", or rotations of the station; the obvious reason being that Earth, Narn, and Minbar have varying day-to-night clocks. Many worlds also use the term to refer to their solar years. The actual definition of a "cycle" varies DependingOnTheWriter. In "TKO", three cycles is something like three days; in "Grail" (the very next episode), three ''hundred'' cycles is something like three days. By Season Three, there is a notable changeover to "standard hours", presumably because it's less confusing.
** A few mentions were made in show of there being 36 hours in a (presumably Babylon 5) day (maintain a 36 hour watch, we're open 36 hours a day, etc).
** Subverted with years, 1000 of which have passed since the last Shadow war. Which planet's years are never mentioned.
** In one episode, this causes some confusion, when it turns out that while a Cycle on B5 is a relatively short period of time, a "Cycle" on the Drazi homeworld is a whole ''year''. Presumably due to something being LostInTranslation.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: About midway through the second season, Babylon 5's defense grid is given substantial upgrades, in response to increasing tensions in the region. The General overseeing the upgrades even goes on to speculate that the station could now [[{{Foreshadowing}} take on a starship]] in a fight.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: Pretty much every teep.
* MindManipulation, such as MindProbe and MindRape:
** Something [=PsiCop=] Mr. Bester was very fond of.
** The power granted by the [[PsychoSerum telepathic drug]] "Dust" is specifically described as MindRape in the episode (season three's "Dust to Dust") in which it's a major plot element. [[spoiler:G'Kar does it to Londo, finding out about his role in the bombing of the Narn homeworld.]]
*** And it was inverted in the same episode. A Dust user mind rapes the first person he runs into. And ends up reliving a severe trauma experienced previously by his victim: They got caught in a landslide, causing him to [[MadnessMantra scream over and over again]] that the mountain fell on him.
** Happens to Sheridan and Delenn, more or less by design, somewhat by consent, during the final battle [[spoiler: with the Shadows and Vorlons]].
** Actully Bester, while quite willing to mind probe, wasn't one to mind rape unless there were telepath lives at stake. The man [[EvenEvilHasStandards did have some standards]].
** Even the ''heroes'' used it on one noteworthy occasion, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo attempting to prevent a murder]].
* MindOverManners: The less evil telepaths, ''most'' of the time, follow the rule about not scanning someone against their will. Mostly.
* MismatchedEyes: [[spoiler:G'Kar, after having his eye plucked out and replaced with a prosthetic.]]
* MistressAndServantBoy: Delenn and Lennier
* ModestRoyalty:
** Emperor Turhan. An elderly, ill man near the end of his life, he was more or less [[BuffySpeak bald human-ish]] with no hair fan to speak of. He owned a rather impressive wig, but refused to take it with him during his official visit to Babylon 5, saying that the trappings of status were no longer important to him.
** His successor Cartagia, for all his [[TheCaligula insanity]], has a distinctly subdued sense of taste for a Centauri. He even chooses to wear his hair short even though traditionally, the size of a male Centauri's hair fan indicated his status. Only a quasi-example, since Cartagia explains to Londo that the reason he worse his hair shorter was so that he could go among the "lower classes" quite easily, and implied that it enabled him to indulge in... less savoury pleasures.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Jack]], Garibaldi's trusted aide. After the latter uncovers a plot to kill President Santiago, [[spoiler: Jack]] repays his trust by shooting him InTheBack.
* MoneyDearBoy: Why ''Legend Of The Rangers'' was made.
* MoralMyopia:
** Minbari were all pissy over Sheridan's nuking of the Blackstar despite their own policy of taking no prisoners and leaving no combatant survivors [that they know of].
** Vir's arranged wife feels Narns are a brutal race that needs culling and has participated in multiple atrocities.
** Bester feels [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper absolutely no remorse]] about killing [[{{Muggles}} mundanes]] and is less than sympathetic toward teeps that are not Corps.
** The Narn in the first season are presented as themselves being ruthless imperialists, as well as being willing to do arms deals with anyone including pirates and war criminals. Their chief complaint about the Centauri seems to boil down to the fact that it happened to ''them''.
** Sheridan [[spoiler: nuking the Shadow capital on Zha'Ha'Dum with two ''five hundred megaton'' warheads]] seems a little jarring when you consider that it was probably filled with non-combatants.
*** Meh, it's stated seasons earlier that [[spoiler:the Shadows spent the past thousand years elsewhere before returning to Zha'Ha'Dum to resume their attacks on the younger races. Basically, Sheridan suicide-nuked Hiroshima.]] The real WhatTheHellHero is when he [[spoiler:uses the Shadow-modified telepaths as involuntary suicide bombers so as to non-lethally disable Earth Force warships over Mars - warships that had ''[[JustFollowingOrders bombed civilian targets]]. On a planet where humans can't survive without life support. On-screen.'']]
* {{Mordor}}: Z'ha'dum. It even has a Great Eye, [[spoiler:which Ivanova sees when she's plugged into the [[strike:Palantir]] Great Machine, and later when she visits the planet itself.]]
* MoralityPet: Vir fills this role for Londo on quite a regular basis. Indeed he's stayed Londo's hand on more than one occoaision, and Londo is at his worst when Vir is absent.
* MuggingTheMonster: [[TheGreys The Streib]]. "Their last expedition was into Minbari space. We tracked them back to their homeworld. [[BadassBoast And made sure they understood the depth of their mistake.]]" Given the [[StuffBlowingUp final fate]] of the Streib vessel one might argue that venturing into [[HumansAreWarriors human space]] was not necessarily one of their best ideas either.
* MultiBoobage: In "TKO", Garibaldi and Walker Smith reminisce about a place they used to frequent where the waitresses had three [meaningful hand gesture].
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Londo stabbing a bug in his quarters with an antique Centauri knife.
-->"'''THIS''' will teach you to trifle with the Centauri!"
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Lennier leaves Sheridan to die instead of saving him, because he's married to Delenn.]]
** The trope is then subverted moments later, as he regrets his decision and goes back.
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: In "Babylon Squared", [[spoiler: Sinclair]] glimpses his future self, but does not recognize himself due to his counterpart's hazard suit. [[spoiler: Revealed to be subverted in "War Without End"; it was Delenn in the suit, not Sinclair.]]
* MyCountryRightOrWrong: General Lefcourt and Captain Lochley, both of whom consider it immoral for the military to dictate government policy, whether they like President Clark's decisions or not. [[spoiler: As soon as Clark has been [[DrivenToSuicide convinced to relinquish the office of President]] and succeeded by Senator Luchenko, General Lefcourt immediately [[BigDamnHeroes comes to the rescue]] [[GunshipRescue of Captain Sheridan and the ''Agamemnon'']].]]
** Londo starts off this way. Though he has his doubts here and there during the war with the Narn, he still remains loyal to his people. By the end of the war, he's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realized what a big mistake it was]] to enlist the help of Morden and his "associates," but by this point he's so firmly entrenched in everything that happened that he goes along with it mostly to preserve his own skin.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** A truly heartbreaking example in "The Coming of Shadows" when [[spoiler:G'kar, after making his peace with the Centauri emperor, finally extends a tentative hand of friendship to Londo and buys him a drink -- unaware that Londo has just ordered the annihilation of a Narn colony.]]
** Another being during the Earth-Minbari War when Delenn receives Dukhat's last message.
** Londo again, [[spoiler:watching the bombing of the Narn homeworld from orbit.]]
*** Peter Jurasik should have gotten an award for that scene. He doesn't speak a word, and you only see him on screen for a few moments, but the look on his face says it all.
* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Ivanova speaking Minbari:
-->'''Ivanova:''' (in Minbari) Engines at full... high power. Hatrack ratcatcher to port weapons... brickbat lingerie.
** "Ah, hell..."
-->'''Lorien:''' "Ahel" mean "continuous fire" in Minbari...
* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".
** Sheridan gets a chance to exercise this as well. In one episode Earthforce attempts to charge him rent on his quarters. He refuses to back down, even after they change the locks. Eventually, he resolves the situation by charging his new rent against the station's military budget, on the grounds that he won't be in any condition to fight unless he's had a good night's sleep in his own bed.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: There are exceptions to every hat race. [[AllThereInTheManual In the RPG]], even the Dilgar had a small, hidden colony who did not partake in their species' predilection for crimes against sapience.
* MysteriousBacker: The orderly Vorlons are nominally on the side of the protagonists, but they're far from trustworthy saints.
* MythArc: TropeCodifier.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N]]
* NamesTheSame: Narrowly averted. The Narn homeworld is not, in fact, named {{Narnia}}.
* NapoleonDelusion: In "A Late Delivery from Avalon", we meet a nutty swordsman who is convinced that he is KingArthur. It turns out that he is in fact [[spoiler:the Earthforce Gunnery Sergeant who fired the first shot of the Earth-Minbari War]] and is suffering from a serious case of SurvivorsGuilt. He is healed when "The Lady of the Lake" (Delenn) retrieves his "Excalibur" (an antique sword), symbolizing that [[spoiler:she, along with the Minbari race, forgives him]].
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%% Narm entries moved to the YMMV tab, don't add them back here.
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* NationalWeapon: The Minbari Denn'bok.
** The Narn have a sword which, like the [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], cannot be sheathed until it has drawn blood.
* NaughtyTentacles: Centauri have six prehensile phalli, [[BiggusDickus 2-4 feet long]]. Their definition of "bases" (as in "getting to second base") is how many you get to put in.
** They also come in handy for cheating at cards. Unless someone has a pitcher of ice-water handy.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Ikarrans in "Infection", who programmed their machines to "protect" their world by murdering anybody who is genetically "impure".
* NearDeathExperience: experienced by Sheridan across "The Hour of the Wolf" and "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"
* NeckLift: [[BewareTheNiceOnes Lennier]] to Marcus
* NeglectfulPrecursors: An ongoing theme of the later seasons of the show, as well as many of the spinoffs, was the younger races stumbling across various nasty things left behind by [[spoiler: The Vorlons and the Shadows]].[[hottip:*: A very jarring example, considering that the Precursors in question had ''just left''.]]
* NeverGotToSayGoodbye:
** John Sheridan has a monologue where he laments the fact that he was rushed the day of the last phone call with his wife Anna, and forgot to say "I love you" before she headed out on the expedition that claimed her life.
** Ivanova has similar regrets regarding Marcus. Marcus however did get to say "I love you" to a dying Ivanova, leading to the touching yet funny line, "I thought: God really does have an English accent, just like in those old movies."
* NewNeoCity: Numerous references to New Vegas, a Mars-based resort. When Babylon 5 first came online, New Vegas oddsmakers put the odds of Babylon 5 surviving at [[ILikeThoseOdds 200 to 1]].
* NewOldFlame:
** Ivanova's old boyfriend, Malcolm Biggs, in "The War Prayer". By the end of the episode, he's [[spoiler:been revealed as part of an earth-supremacist group, and Ivanova has had to arrest him]].
** Talia's got two of them: Jason Ironheart ("Mind War"; [[spoiler:ascends to a higher plane of existence]]) and Matthew Stoner ("Soul Mates").
** Elizabeth Lochley.
* NiceHat: The Inquisitor's dapper-looking top hat.
** Garibaldi puts one on as part of his [[PaperThinDisguise "excellent disguise"]] when doing some investigating with Franklin in Downbelow. G'Kar is shown wearing it in a later episode as part of an attempt to better understand Garibaldi while searching for him.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Marcus spends the entirety of "Exogenesis" investigating the disappearance of his friend, Duncan, who has been taken over by a PuppeteerParasite. It later turns out that Duncan was on death's door, and that the parasites, or rather, the ''[[BondCreatures symbiotes]]'', cure their hosts of all disease. Marcus realizes his error, but too late for Duncan; the symbiote leaves his body to prove its intentions are benign. Duncan can never be recoupled with one again. Somewhat bittersweet example, though: Before being bonded, Duncan was content to spend his twilight years running a kiosk in the Zocalo and making very little money. After briefly sharing the memories of the symbiote, he has decided to spend his last years exploring the galaxy and seeing new things.
** The crew finds a man suffering severe delusions, thinking he's KingArthur. Seems [[ThereAreNoTherapists there's no shrinks]] on B5 as Dr Franklin then decides to immediately break the man's delusion by reminding him who he is ([[spoiler:and the terrible guilt he carries for what he did]]). Of course it does not go rather well, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero as the man has a breakdown and goes catatonic]]. Thankfully he gets better.
* NietzscheWannabe: Marcus Cole (although he's one of the good guys).
--> '''Marcus:''' "You know, I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought: Wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them. So now, I take great comfort in the hostility and unfairness of the universe."
* NightmareSequence
* NobodyEverComplainedBefore: The Minbari Warrior Caste's traditional method of greeting in interstellar dealings is to approach the ship with gunports open but uncharged, as a sign of respect to the other race. Unfortunately, Minbari tech dwarfs human tech, so when they approached the human ship and scanned them, they didn't think to turn off their stealth tech, and likely didn't know their sensors would shut down the Earth ships jump drives. When the human captain saw a fleet of advanced ships coming at them, somehow knocking out their jump drives, stealth tech preventing them from getting any reading beyond their gunports are open, and no means of effectively communicating, he panicked, resulting in a genocidal war.
* NoHeroToHisValet: Played straight with Vir who is very loyal but is also very much aware of Londo's faults. Subverted with Lennier. Delenn is always a heroine to her valet and remains so even after Lennier learns of her [[WartsAndAll darker side]] in ''Atonement'', despite Delenn's fear's of his reaction.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Lord Refa's death.]]
* NomDeGuerre: The leader of the [[LaResistance Mars Resistance]] is known through the entire fourth season only as Number One. It isn't until near the end of the series that we finally learn her real name.
* NonSequiturThud:
** A truly ''epic'' example courtesy of a drunken Londo in "Parliament of Dreams".
-->'''Londo:''' Everybody's cute. Except me. But in purple, ''I'm stunning!''
** "And he made a very satisfying thump when he hit the ground."
* NoodleIncident: In "A Distant Star", an old friend of Sheridan's visits the station. During dinner with the officers, Sheridan starts to tell an embarrassing story about him, and he retaliates with three words: "July 12th, 2253". Sheridan admits defeat, and neither story gets told.
** Also, it seems that Ivanova and a smuggler did ''something'' that Ivanova is convinced lead to Garibaldi [[BaldOfAwesome losing all his hair]].
* NoseArt: Many of the [[SpaceFighter Starfuries]] have custom paint jobs on the wing just above the cockpits, including those flown by {{Mauve Shirt}}s or {{Red Shirt}}s. Ivanova has a black double-headed eagle with a red star superimposed, Garibaldi has a yellow and orange tigerstripe pattern, and Sheridan has the entire top wing of his fighter decorated in a tiger motif, complete with face and claw marks.
** Sheridan takes it a step farther. When he launches his military campaign [[spoiler: to throw President Clark out of power]], he has the Babylon 5 crest painted on the hull of his flagship.
* NoPaperFuture: {{Lampshaded}}. A character in one episode complains that every time she's told we're entering a paper-free society, she gets three more forms to fill out.
* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: very, very much used throughout the series, to the point where when G'Kar, a Narn, asks the human Zach if the poster of Daffy Duck in Garibaldi's quarters is one of the human security chief's household Gods, Zach starts to explain, realizes it'll be more trouble than it's worth, and ends with, "You could say that." Though by the way G'Kar laughs at the explanation, it's clear he realizes that Zach's being facetious.
** In ''Midnight on the Firing Line'', the episode ends with Delenn sitting in Garibaldi's quarters with him watching BugsBunny cartoons. She seems faintly amused by it, but also very confused, apparently unsure what she should be doing. When Garibaldi offers her popcorn, she stares at the bowl for a moment before taking some, then turning back to the cartoon, asks Garibaldi to explain part of it to her.
** In one episode, Vir and Lennier meet up at a bar. Lennier asks Vir what he's drinking, and Vir says it's a [[ShirleyTemple Shirley]] [[CantHoldHisLiquor Temple]]. Lennier thinks about this for a second, and then says that while he's studied Earth's religions, he can't say he's ever heard of the Shirley Temple.
* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: Repeatedly and vigorously deconstructed.
* NotListeningToMeAreYou:
** In "Infection", an old mentor of Stephen Franklin's comes back with some alien artifacts that look like they're organic technology. Stephen gets so absorbed in the research that his friend tries to draw him out with the statement, "[[WarOfTheWorlds There's a Martian war machine parked outside; they'd like a word with you about the common cold.]]"
** Later in the series, Marcus Cole realizes that Ivanova isn't paying attention to his report: "There's always the threat of an attack by say, a giant space dragon, the kind that eats the sun once every thirty days. It's a nuisance, but what can you expect from reptiles? Did I mention that my nose is on fire, and that I have fifteen wild badgers living in my trousers?" (''Ivanova finally looks at him, witheringly'') "I'm sorry, would you prefer ferrets?"
* NotSoDifferent:
** Londo and G'Kar realize this about halfway through the fourth season.
** Sheridan and Delenn.
** As is revealed to the characters and audience in the third and fourth seasons, [[spoiler:the Vorlons and the Shadows really aren't all that different]].
** The meeting between Delenn and "King Arthur" in "A Late Delivery from Avalon". Both had idealistic/mystical personalities. But their real similarity as that both [[TheAtoner bore heavily]] the knowledge that they had helped to start the Earth-Minbari war. Indeed "King Arthur" might actually have fired the shot that killed Delenn's beloved mentor. A very well done reconciliation scene.
** Bester points out the similarities between himself and Garibaldi, though mainly just because it amused him to do so.
** When Lochley is trying to help Garibaldi over his drink problem, he snaps at her that she hardly ever drinks herself so how would she know what it's like? Turns out there's a very simple reason she hardly ever drinks.
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Upon learning that Lennier is a "master adept" at the laws of probability, Londo wrestles him into joining a card game. Unfortunately, the subtler points of playing Poker (like bluffing) are lost on Lennier. Londo then resorts to using his....erm, "appendage" (see "NaughtyTentacles") to re-shuffle the deck, getting busted in the process.
* NuclearPhysicsGoof: In "A Voice in the Wilderness", Ivanova speaks of a nuclear reactor "approaching critical mass", meaning that it's about to blow up. See the trope page for an explanation for why this is incorrect for nuclear fission reactors -- and then add to that the fact that Ivanova was talking about a nuclear ''fusion'' reactor, where the concept of "critical mass" doesn't apply at all.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:O]]
* ObligatoryJoke: Garibaldi to Dr. Franklin, after being revived from his coma: "[[BugsBunny What's up doc?]]"
** For bonus points, it was established back in the first episode that Garibaldi is a fan of old WarnerBros cartoons.
* OddFriendship: Londo and G'kar, representing two races which had long been bitter enemies, grew into an OddFriendship by the end of the series.
* OfferedTheCrown
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: The look on Refa's face when holographic Londo reveals his endgame to him -- which then leads to a pack of angry Narns beating the absolute bajeezus out of him. The following scene, as the Narns pummel him with upbeat Gospel music playing in the background, is almost eerily beautiful.]]
* OhGodDidSheJustHearThat:
** In one episode of Babylon 5, resident telepath Talia Winters is explaining to someone that telepaths sometimes cannot avoid picking up particularly strong emotions and thoughts before entering a lift with [[HandsomeLech Security Chief Garibaldi]]. After she explains this, Garibaldi, standing behind her, gives her [[MaleGaze the once over]]. Talia elbows Garibaldi in the gut before getting off.
-->'''Garibaldi:''' I think [[MeetCute I'm in love]].
** In another episode, Garibaldi is having an argument with the Psi Cop Bester, and as Garibaldi glares at him, Bester says, "Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi, but [[BringIt you're welcome to try]], any time, any place."
** Played with in one episode. Bester has been forced to take a drug which dulls his telepathic abilities. He and Garibaldi are interrogating an informant, and Bester at one point blurts out "he's lying." This causes the informant to break and tell them what they need to know. Garibaldi confronts Bester on this after the interview. Bester explains that he couldn't hear any of the man's thoughts, but the other guy didn't know that. And chances were good he was lying about something, so Bester merely played on the guy's guilty conscience.
* OhMyGods:
** Londo says this in the Season 3 finale.
** "In Valen's name!"
* OldFriend
* OneFederationLimit: The Earth Alliance, the Minbari Federation, the Centauri Republic ([[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny which is actually a monarchy like the late Roman republic]]), the Narn Regime and the Vorlon [[AllThereInTheManual Empire]]. Some races (like the Dilgar, Shadows, and Drakh) have no stated governmental body, while the others have ones only stated offhand or in the background material (Drazi Freehold, Brakiri Syndicracy, Abbai Matriarchate, Grome Autocracy, etc)
** And all those miscellaneous governments could conveniently be lumped into the League of Unaligned Worlds.
* OneGenderRace: The Pak'Ma'Ra ... sort of. The "hump" they have on their back is actually their mate, permanently bonded to them. Whether the hump is the male or the female is up for debate. In an online post, [[WordOfGod JMS]] stated that [[http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/101.html#JS the hump is the female]], but the official Babylon 5 Role Playing Game says that [[http://books.google.com/books?id=6TvW4b6ckVcC&lpg=PA33&ots=sjAemRIz1F&dq=Pak%27Ma%27Ra%20humps&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q&f=false the hump is the male]].
* OneLastJob: Refa pressuring Londo to enlist the Shadows in wiping out the Narn fleet. Londo, however, has grown fearful of his "associates" and warns Refa that that this is the last time he will call upon Morden.
* OneWorldOrder: Earthgov, for all intents and purposes. Under Clark, the government institutes giving Psi Corps increased judicial powers, as well as creating a trio of agencies (The Ministries of Peace, Truth, and Information) to tilt the balance of power in his favor. Clark later dissolves the Earth senate, which he re-forms with many of his own people in place.
** Earthgov is actually an alliance of most of the world's major powers, including Europe, America, Russia, Japan and others. It's also implied that many countries resisted the formation of Earthgov and that many of them are not equal members of the Earth Alliance, and yet the EA posits itself to be the unified representative of Humanity.
** This holds true for the Minbari Federation and Centari Republic, as well.
* OpenHeartDentistry: Dr. Franklin can do everything from setting broken bones to major surgery to incredibly fast pharmaceutical research for nearly every race that lives on the station. Frequently lampshaded. Apparently he's the only one in the entire galaxy who can do this. Well, maybe the guy before him and the one after him...
* OpeningNarration: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDleqkv7gPc#t=01m19s Different]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Xn_0S-guY for]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPySgzHUtY each]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGQ5DSzxsZU new]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WiZsLGdjXQ season (WARNING: spoilers ahoy in this one!)]].
* OperationBlank: Operation Sudden Death ("GROPOS").
* OptOut: An extra after Sheridan gives a LineInTheSand speech. In the commentary, JMS stated it's unreasonable that no one ever leaves in moments like that, especially in essentially a rebellion.
* OrderVersusChaos: The whole point of the war between [[spoiler: The Shadows and the Vorlons]].
* OrderedApology: See the entry for BackhandedApology in [[Babylon5TropesAToH the A-H section]].
* OrphanedPunchline:
** "...and then she said to me, "If I could do ''that'', I wouldn't need an encounter suit!"" - Garibaldi ("Survivors")
** "...and he says, "Goulash!"" - Londo ("A Voice in the Wilderness")
** "...and then he said, "That's not my leg, ''that's my air hole!''" - Londo, again ("Soul Mates")
* TheOtherDarrin:
** [[spoiler: Anna Sheridan (played by Beth Toussaint) first appeared in a message to her sister-in-law, recorded prior to her disappearance. Toussaint wasn't available for the episode where Anna returns as a Shadow agent; Melissa Gilbert (Bruce Boxleitner's real-life spouse) was cast in her place]].
** Delenn's mentor, Draal, is played by Louis Turenne in the two-parter "A Time in the Wilderness". In all of his subsequent appearance, he is played John Schuck. This is {{Hand Wave}}d by explaining that Draal has [[FountainOfYouth age-regressed]] as a result of being linked with the Great Machine.
** Apparently they had a terrible time keeping actresses around to play G'Kar's aide. His first one, Ko'Dath, disappears under mysterious circumstances because Mary Woronov had trouble with the Narn makeup and prosthetics. The same problem drove away the first Na'Toth actress, Susan Kellerman. Julie Caitlin Brown made it through the entire first season (and was awesome) before she, too, succumbed to makeup problems and quit. Her role was given to Mary Kay Adams, who was not up to the task at all, and finally Na'Toth was written out of the story altogether. (However, she is later mentioned as having been captured by the Centauri during the war, and [[spoiler: is found by Londo and G'Kar in a prison cell on Centauri Prime in Season 5. For this appearance, she is once again played by Julie Caitlin Brown]].
* OurDoorsAreDifferent: The doors on the station are mostly automatic-opening, slide open sideways, and are a sort of lopsided pentagon shape instead of rectangular. Elevator doors are rectangular, but split open on a diagonal.
** In "The Gathering", the pentagonal doors actually opened on corner hinge, flipping up into the wall butterfly-style. The impracticality of this mechanism on a weekly show likely led to the more conventional side-slide method used thereafter.
* OurElvesAreBetter: The Minbari, who are elegant, refined and more technologically advanced than nearly any other race. With a link to TheFairFolk, they are also quite willing to wipe out an entire species if provoked.
* OurShowersAreDifferent:
** Water conservation is important on the station so only the executive suites and command quarters get showers with running water; everybody else has to make do with "vibe showers".
** Earth's space ships don't have water showers even in the command quarters; when Captain Sheridan is transferred to Babylon 5, he is seriously happy when he learns his quarters include "a real live honest-to-god shower with running water".
** The Minbari use a chemical that removes the outermost layer of skin. It does terrible things to hair, as Delenn finds out.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Totally and utterly averted. Every race is religious, although humanity surprises everyone by having so many different faiths (the only other species explicitly stated to have multiple religions is the Narns, and it's implied that they have many, many fewer than Earth).
-->'''USENET:''' (on ''Passing Through Gethsemane'') "The themes of faith and forgiveness were worthy of a theologian. Are you sure there isn't something you'd like to tell us?"\\
'''JMS:''' Never shoot pool at a place called Pop's. Never eat food at a place called Mom's. The difference between horses and humans is that they're too smart to bet on what ''we'll'' do.\\
And I have lost people. Too many people. Lost them to chance, violence, brutality beyond belief; I've seen all the senseless, ignoble acts of "god's noblest creature." And I am incapable of forgiving. My feelings are with G'Kar, hand sliced open, saying of the drops of blood flowing from that open wound, "How do you apologize to them?" "I can't." "Then I cannot forgive."\\
As an atheist, I believe that all life is unspeakably precious, because it's only here for a brief moment, a flare against the dark, and then it's gone forever. No afterlives, no second chances, no backsies. So there can be nothing crueler than the abuse, destruction or wanton taking of a life. It is a crime no less than burning the Mona Lisa, for there is always just one of each.\\
So I cannot forgive. Which makes the notion of writing a character who CAN forgive momentarily attractive...because it allows me to explore in great detail something of which I am utterly incapable. I cannot fly, so I would write of birds and starships and kites; I cannot play an instrument, so I would write of composers and dancers; and I cannot forgive, so I would write of priests and monks and Minbari....
* OutrunTheFireball: Sinclair does this in the PilotMovie when a high-tech piece of equipment overloads.
** Londo does this as well, though in his case it's more like "Dive sideways into an elevator to avoid the fireball."
* OverlyLongName: The actual species name for the Shadows is over one thousand syllables long.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:P]]
* ParentheticalSwearing: "Bester" sounds like "[[MagnificentBastard bastard]]" whenever any station personnel speaks the name.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish:
** First averted by Garibaldi, who selects a password "peekaboo" purely on the grounds that nobody would have ever guessed ''[[ProperlyParanoid he]]'' would use it. And because it would get a [[RuleOfFunny big laugh]].
** Later [[JustifiedTrope justified]], by Sinclair, when he needs to leave a password-protected message behind for Garibaldi. In this case the password had to be something that wouldn't be easily guessable in general, but would be easily guessable by Garibaldi. He settles on "Hello, old friend".
* PercussiveMaintenance: Ivanova trying to access the records of an old exploration vessel in "The Long Dark".
* PercussivePickpocket: Happens to Sheridan, where the thief steals the comlink.
** Jinxo does this to Aldous in ''Grail''.
** A strange example occurs in ''Passing Through Gethsemane''. A Centauri bumps into Brother Edward as the latter is leaving an elevator. The viewer discovers later that the Centauri was a telepath, and bumped into Brother Edward so he could break the monk's mind block.
* PercussiveTherapy: In frustration, Garibaldi shoots out an elevator's intercom just so he won't have to listen to Sparky yap any more.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: Subverted by the Minbari, who are pacifists only among themselves. And later [[spoiler: not even that. Minbari Civil War, anyone?]]
* PersonOfMassDestruction: [[spoiler: Lyta]]
* PetTheDog: Londo Mollari has so many of these that it makes people cry.
-->'''Londo:''' My shoes are now too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.
-->'''Vir:''' I don't understand.
-->'''Londo:''' Nor should you.
--> [Later, when he helps the two young Centauri and they ask why]
-->'''Londo:''' Because you are ''young'', and young people should be allowed to '''dance!'''
* PhlebotinumRebel: Jason Ironheart in "Mind War".
* PiecesOfGod
* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: Noted repeatedly is the concept that death is easy, obligations are hard. The Minbari Warrior caste states that they do not fear death, only failure to complete their appointed tasks. Lorien points out that HeroicSacrifice is easy compared to living in pursuit of a cause. G'Kar defends David Martel's decision to retreat from a hopeless battle because death is a release from obligations. Pretty much every BigGood in the series holds to this.
* PlanetOfHats: Nearly every race. (Well, the Minbari have three types of hats.) Humanity's hat is [[JackOfAllTrades diversity]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship community-building]].
* ThePlague: The Drafa ("Confessions and Lamentations")
* PlayingWithSyringes: The secret Psi-Corp project in "Mind War".
* PointDefenseless: Utterly averted. The first time we see B5's defense grid fire, they pop two incoming fighters within seconds. Later, we learn that B5's defense grid is considered subpar by [[CamelCase EarthForce]] standards, when they get ''upgrades''.
** Ships in the B5 setting generally lack DeflectorShields (except those piloted by {{EldritchAbomination}}s from another dimension subject to different physical laws). Instead, they use their weapons systems to intercept incoming fire directly.
* PoliceBrutality: Micheal Garibaldi has many friends from Mars, including an ex-lover of his. When there is fighting ongoing on Mars, it is probably best to take the hint when he asks you to stop talking trash about Marsies. He doesn't lose his temper often, but when he does, it isn't pretty.
* PoliticalOfficer: One gets assigned to babysit Captain Sheridan. She has a rather direct technique for trying to secure his loyalty. She ends up returning to Earth to do damage control after someone[[hottip:*: [[TheLancer Commander Ivanova]] finds and leaks evidence that President Clarke may have had something to do with his predecessor's death.
* PowderKegCrowd: Following a recurrence of the Drafa virus, all of the Markab aboard B5 explode into a panic. According to Markab lore, Drafa only targets the sinful, resulting in their elders accusing everyone in sight (including Sheridan and co.) of being "unclean".
** Narn and Centauri crowds during the Narn Centauri War in the second season, and after the end of the war, the frustrated Narn population as a whole, who G'Kar has to work to keep under control.
** ''Human'' crowds aboard the station in the third season, around when everything begins to go completely off the rails due to internal tensions in the Earth Alliance.
* PowerFist: Trakis's taser glove in "Born to the Purple".
* ThePowerOfLove: Sheridan's love for Delenn is what gives him the anchor needed for Lorien to [[BackFromTheDead bring him back]] to life, and in fact may be responsible for winning both the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War. A station worker in the 5th season sums it up quite nicely:
-->'''Bo''': (''Talking about Delenn'') I know I'd claw my way out of [[DeathWorld hell]] and [[TheDeterminator through three miles of sheer rock]] to see ''that'' smile again!
* PowerWalk: The intercut between Sheridan and Nightwatch near the conclusion of "Point of No Return". Both sides are gathering their forces to arrest the opposing side's leader.
* PrecisionFStrike: After Sheridan deliberately provokes the Vorlon and Shadow fleets:
-->'''Lyta''': Captain...they're pissed!
* PresidentEvil: Morgan Clark.
* PretextForWar: Kalain, alone in his cell, [[spoiler:commits suicide using [[CyanidePill a false tooth filled with poison]]]]. Kalain hopes that the station will attack and destroy his ship, the ''Trigati'', allowing his disgraced crew to reclaim their honor and restart the Earth-Minbari war in a single stroke.
* PreviouslyOn: Used in part two of the two-parter "A Voice in the Wilderness", in certain major arc episodes to remind the audience of previous events that are referenced, as well as the entire fifth season narration (see below).
* PrinciplesZealot: The rogue Soul Hunter.
* ProphecyTwist: Londo's chronic dreams of himself and G'Kar choking each other to death. Twenty years later ("War Without End, Pt. 2"), [[spoiler:Londo allows Sheridan and Delenn (along with their son) to escape from his palace. Londo then confides to G'Kar that he [[ICannotSelfTerminate Cannot Self Terminate]], and must be killed before the Drakh Keeper inside him alerts the guards. As G'Kar reluctantly grabs him by the throat, Londo's Keeper re-takes control and kills him too]].
* [[PropheticName Prophetic Ship Names]]:
** Icarus.
** [[spoiler: Agamemnon]].
** [[spoiler: The ''[[NukeEm White Star]]?'']]
*** Especially if you recall what happened to the [[spoiler: Black Star.]]
** Played with in "Grail". Jinxo stays on Babylon 5 because he believes he carries a curse that will cause the station to blow up the moment he leaves it. At the end of the episode he finally gets up the courage to leave... on a ship called the ''Marie Celeste''.
* PropRecycling: In "Babylon Squared", and again in "War Without End", space suits from ''TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' were used. They changed their appearance as much as they could, but some people still recognized them, and assumed it was meant as a ShoutOut.
* PsychicStatic: The nursery rhyme variant is used against Bester.
** Telepaths in general are trained to use this to cloud their own abilities while not actively working.
** Used by Garibaldi while on the run from several Telepaths.
** One guy tries to block Lyta by solving math equations in his head.
* PunyEarthlings: Played straight with regards to a few races' raw physical strength (Minbari, Narn...) compared to humans; but averted in other cases. Minbari come from a planet that is colder than Earth, and temperatures high enough that a human would merely find enormously uncomfortable will kill a Minbari rapidly; also, they become violently deranged when they consume alcohol. The Drazi have the opposite problem; they are far more intolerant of COLD weather than humans are.
* PuppetKing: Cartagia (at first...)
* PuppeteerParasite:
** Used straight with [[spoiler: the creatures that possess the Centauri Regent and Londo]].
** Subverted in "Exogenesis" by the Vindrizi who purposely seek out the downtrodden, such as Lurkers or the terminally-ill, and take possession of their bodies ''under consent'' only. In return for carrying the parasites, the hosts get to share the memories of thousands of lifetimes of the Vindrizi's travel throughout the universe.
** [=PsiCop=] Bester [[MoreThanMindControl subtly controlling]] [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] by enhancing the paranoid tendencies of his mind and planting post-hypnotic suggestions; and the [=PsiCorps=] being able to plant a second "sleeper" personality into people, something which happened to [[spoiler:Talia Winters]].
[[/folder]]
----
----
!!''Babylon 5'' provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:I]]
* IAmLegion: The Vindrizis' human hosts communicate this by FinishingEachOthersSentences.
* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Even small amounts of alcohol can turn a Minbari into a violent psychotic.
** In a late season 5 episode Sheridan references the effect alcohol has on Minbari. Emperor Londo is visiting the new Alliance HQ on Minbar and asks about alcohol, but there is none, so he can't [[spoiler:get drunk and put his Keeper to sleep]].
* IcarusAllusion: The scientific expedition that reawoke the Shadows by poking into ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow was called the "Icarus expedition", after the ship on which it traveled.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: By the end of the series, you would be hard pressed to find any main character who did not end up compromising their morals for what they at least ''thought'' was the greater good.
** Of particular note is Sheridan, Lyta, and Doctor Franklin using [[spoiler: The [[BodyHorror Shadow-modified telepaths]]]] to disable a fleet of ships in orbit over [[spoiler: the planet Mars]]. They used thirty innocent people, knowing the chance of their deaths were high, in order to save thousands. Nobody is happy about it.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The Shadow homeworld, Z'ha'dum, roughly translates as "Death of the future".
* IGaveMyWord: When offered a chance to surrender or flee from the Earthforce ships advancing on the station, Sheridan refuses, having made a vow to Delenn that he would "draw a line" against the darkness.
* IKEAWeaponry: Londo has an IKEA PPG which he ends up not using to assassinate G'Kar in "Midnight On The Firing Line".
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Subverted in second-season episode "Divided Loyalties", where an appeal to the true personality fails entirely. [[spoiler:It fails because the 'bad' personality embedded into her mind by the Psicorps deletes and completely replaces the original, 'good' personality. The Talia we knew through the entire first season, who sided with the crew of Babylon 5, is effectively destroyed when the embedded 'sleeper' personality takes control. The 'bad' Talia proceeds to take a great deal of pleasure from [[KickTheDog taunting a grief-stricken Ivanova over it.]]]]
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe:
** Morden almost seems to predict the moment when Sheridan, under duress, decides to release him from custody. When Sheridan turns to face the security monitor, Morden is grinning straight at him.
** In the fifth season of Babylon 5, the telepath Lyta Alexander can sense video surveillance. Sheridan doesn't believe it until Captain Lochley asks him to switch cameras, and Lyta shifts her gaze accordingly.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: You would, too, if you had to deal with what happens on this station.
** PlayedForLaughs in one episode when Sheridan is explaining a vexing situation he's about to confront. When Ivanova asks if he needs anything, Sheridan responds "A gun, two bullets, and a bottle of whiskey."
** And PlayedForDrama when Garibaldi falls off the wagon and starts drinking again.
** Londo's love of wine goes from just another amusing part of his LargeHam personality to an InvokedTrope when it is revealed that [[spoiler: after he takes on a Drakh Keeper, he drinks heavily to put it to sleep, giving him some brief periods of freedom.]]
* InsecureLoveInterest: Lennier takes four and a half seasons to admit that he's in love with Delenn.
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: Works better with the power cell, rather. Sheridan, fed up with an ongoing argument with no end in sight, puts his sidearm in the hands of the B-Plot-antagonist-of-the-week and offers to let them shoot him if they want. They back down. Sheridan later reveals to an apoplectic [[CommanderContrarian Ivanova]] that he removed the power cell before handing his weapon over [[hottip:*: Indeed, if you are paying attention, you can see him do just that, complete with the SignatureSoundEffect declining buzz-whine sound that always goes with that action.]].
* IWarnedYou: Delenn's righteously indignant speech before the Grey Council ("Severed Dreams").
* IWillOnlySlowYouDown: Zathras gets pinned by a fallen pole in "Babylon Squared", and tells Sinclair to leave him. [[spoiler: Luckily, Future Delenn returns to save him]].
* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: Following the re-enslavement of the Narn homeworld by the Centarui, the decree is passed that any attack on a Centauri citizen will be met with [[DisproportionateRetribution the deaths of 500 Narns]], including the perpetrator's own family.
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: When G'kar begins smuggling weapons through B5, Garibaldi quickly catches on. In exchange for G'Kar fessing up and promising to move his hardware off-station, Garibaldi tacitly gives him a lead on an alternate (and much safer) route.
* ImGoingForACloserLook: Very bad idea upon encountering a Shadow vessel or most unidentified craft.
** [[spoiler:Warren Keffer]]'s FamousLastWords.
* ImStandingRightHere: Unsure of whether Ivanova is hitting on him or not, Corwin turns up at his quarts with some (very pricey) synthetic roses. Quickly realizing his mistake, he claims to have found them lying outside her door. Amused, Ivanova remarks that whoever bought those roses "must be a real dope." Corwin, now deflated, is inclined to agree with her.
* IceCreamKoan: The Vorlon language seems to consist mostly of these. G'kar throws them out sometimes when disciples keep asking questions he has already explained he doesn't have an answer for and doesn't think anyone does.
* IfIWantedYouDead: Na'Toth's response when G'Kar accuses her of being an assassin sent to kill him.
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Sinclair is put in this situation in "The War Prayer" when he pretends sympathy with an earth-supremacist group so he can find out what they're up to.
* ImmortalityImmorality: Jha'Dur, a Mengele-style [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate genocidal scientist]], gets the last laugh when Earthforce grants her a pardon in exchange for her longevity serum. [[spoiler: The Vorlons put a quick stop to that nonsense and blow up her ship]].
* InTheHood: Delenn, whilst meeting with Marcus at his favorite tavern ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark").
* IncendiaryExponent: how Minbari decided caste dominance in the old days.
* IncomingHam: [[MemeticMutation MEEEEESter GariBALDi!]]
** G'Kar got a far share of these as well. He had a tendency to announce his presence in a scene by shouting the name of the person he wanted to speak to from across the room.
** Also Draal, especially after bonding with the Great Machine. He liked to do a sort of reverse Cheshire Cat; making some bombastic statement a moment before appearing as a hologram.
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: In "The Fall of Night", [[spoiler:Sheridan only knew to jump from the core shuttle because the bomb was one of these.]]
** [[spoiler: Indeed, in the DVDCommentary, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski points out that it is an incredibly obvious ''Centauri'' bomb: It even has the Centauri peacock hairfan!]]
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Duncan ("Exogenesis")..
* InformedJudaism (Ivanova). In the episodes where it comes up, it's made fairly clear that she isn't exactly a practicing Jew.
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode:
** The thirteenth episode "Signs and Portents" -- which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The episode's "A" plot is some fairly standard and unimportant thing involving Raiders [space pirates] and a Centauri artifact called The Eye. The "B" plot, involving the first appearance of the enigmatic Mr Morden and the question "What do you want?", turns out to be ''incredibly'' important and crucial to the rest of the series -- but the episode's retrospective importance only kicks in at the first season finale.
** Its importance was lampshaded by the fact that the entire first season was also named "Signs and Portents" (though a casual viewer wouldn't know this - the season titles only appeared on fan sites.) "Portents", of course, are ''[[{{Foreshadowing}} hints about future events.]]''
** "Midnight on the Firing Line'': appeared rather lackluster when it first aired, but to which the show kept referring throughout many of its best moments over the rest of its run.
* InsectoidAliens: The Gaim. Also, the species to which n'grath belongs. The Shadows might count, too.
* InsistentTerminology: "Food plan" in the DietEpisode.
* InstitutionalApparel: As seen in "The War Prayer" and "The Quality of Mercy", prisoners wear grey jumpsuits with black arrows on them. But they're ''futuristic'' arrows!
* InternalAffairs: In the episode "Eyes", the title refers to the nickname of Earthforce Internal Affairs. The "Eyes" have a generally bad reputation, as usual for this trope, and the particular one in this episode proves to be bending the rules a lot in pursuit of a personal grudge.
* InternalReformist: During late stages of the arc revolving around trying to depose President Clarke, we meet one or two of these.
** First is William Edgers, Garibaldi's new boss and a powerful corporate executive. Edgers feels that Sheridan's rebellion does more harm than good, since it both gives Earth an external threat to focus on and allows Clarke to consolidate his power and use Martial Law to crack down on any dissent and reform. Edgers is part of a group of powerful behind the scenes players, and his plan is to bring down Psi Corps, since it's the main base of Clarke's power, knowing that without it Clarke will soon fall.
** A slightly more orthodox example is Susanna Luchenko, the head of the Russian Consortium. Like Edgers, she appears to have been part of a group that wanted to take Clarke down, only consisting of politicians instead of businessmen this time. She grudgingly admits that what Sheridan did was probably the right thing, but he "[d]id it in a way that was inconvenient" because it resulted in a Civil War that damaged much of the Earth Force Fleet, and showed instability and vulnerability to alien governments.
* IronLady: Ivanova has touches of this.
* IronicEcho
** Bester and Sheridan have an exchange of these in one episode with "It's an unperfect world."
* {{Irony}}: Delenn gives Garibaldi the "Blind and Toothless" speech when he espouses the death penalty ("Eye for an Eye"), despite she herself having ordered a genocide over the death of one man in particular. Trust Garibaldi to come up with the perfect answer; 'No, only the bad guys.'
** DramaticIrony: Delenn tells her fellow Religious Caste leaders how brutal and unpredictable the Warrior Caste is, how her Caste would never turn on their own, and how people from her Caste are all wiser and better than them. This is after these guys had, after incomplete information, attached waste exhaust to the environmental systems to kill everyone on the ship so they wouldn't surrender.
** From "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place": Londo got every feature of where Na'Toth was imprisoned right except the planet. One wonders if he was thinking about this in "A Tragedy of Telepaths". It would be interesting to know if Vir ever found out either.
* ISOStandardHumanSpaceship: the ''Nova''e, their successor ''Omega''s and the ''Warlock''s are quite boxy and ungainly, and painted in various shades of grey. The ''Hyperion''s are a bit more rounded and brightly colored, but are produced by a different military contractor than the ''Omega''s and ''Nova''s.
* ItsAllJunk: In "The War Prayer", Ivanova bins the gift she received from the boyfriend she's just broken up with.
* ItsAllMyFault: John Sheridan blames himself for his wife Anna's death, which happened on a scientific expedition she joined in place of a holiday they'd planned and then he'd postponed because of work commitments. When he eventually admits this to his sister, who was also his wife's best friend, she tells him that Anna had already decided to join the expedition, and if he hadn't asked her to postpone the holiday, she'd have asked him.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: In the DocumentaryEpisode ''And Now For A Word'', Cynthia Torqueman consistently pronounces Commander Ivanova's name wrong. While Ivanova visibly reacts, she doesn't comment on it. Of course, Torqueman might have done it intentionally to try and get a rise out of her interviewee. Especially since in real life, reporters are usually careful to check the pronunciation of a person's name.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:J]]
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique:
** Just another day at the office for Alfred Bester.
** Subverted with Garabaldi, who is really good at ''convincing'' people he's willing to resort to these. However, when his boss actually goes ahead with it, Garibaldi takes him aside and [[WhatTheHellHero explains how]] if that happens again, he can find a new security chief.
* JediMindTrick: Alluded to by Psi-Cop Alfred Bester while he and his team are chasing a runaway Telepath.
-->'''Bester''': "...spark misleading hunches..."
* JerkassFacade: Sinclair puts this on in ''The War Prayer'' to earn Malcolm Biggs' trust and to catch him and his allies off guard.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Garibaldi has an argument with a post office worker who charges 100 credits to pay for a package that got delivered. Now the worker points out that the price hike is due to [[spoiler:B5 breaking out from Earth and him having to employ alternate means to get the mail to arrive to B5, and his extra expenses have to be passed to the consumer.]] Yet most of the B-Plot was following Garibaldi trying to avoid paying the price, eventually resorting to extortion to get his money back. Because the guy ''dared to do his job'' (Or heck, go beyond his duty considering he's trying to maintain the service despite the consequences).
* TheJester: {{Subverted}}: One episode shows a jester in Cartagia's court mocking him behind his back. Cartagia turns around to see this, and laughs it off. [[KickTheDog He then has the jester killed.]]
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: One of the classics.
* JustFollowingOrders:
** This trope is the excuse given by many Earthforce officers who obey Clark's illegal orders.
** Doctor Franklin explicitly does ''not''. During the Earth/Minbari war, he was ordered to turn over his notes on Minbari anatomy so that the military can create a biological weapon. He refuses, stating that under military law he has no duty to obey an order if it would violate his conscience. The military locks him up and tears his house and office apart looking for some remnant of those notes. He was just GenreSavvy enough to have destroyed them in advance, knowing in times of war, military law is "[[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Do What We Say And MAYBE We Won't Kill You.]]"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:K]]
* KangarooCourt: In the episode "Rising Star" President Susanna Luchenko tells Sheridan that the officers at his court-martial will be from the 'shoot him' side. He has no chance of being found innocent and the trial will be solely for the sake of reinforcing political control over the military. Of course, this arrangement was so that Sheridan would take the ''other'' choice being offered: He resigns from Earth Force, allowing the government to re-consolidate without his polarizing and destabilizing presence. Long story short, his career in Earth Force is over one way or another.[[hottip:*: She didn't know that Sheridan already had [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning another job opportunity lined up.]]]]
* KarmaHoudini:
** Dan Randall, the ISN news reporter from "The Illusion of Truth". Yes, Clark's administration all got snapped by Sheridan's comeback tour, but it would've been nice to see that guy crucified.
** Alfred Bester, more or less. (Much less in the novels. [[spoiler: Directly responsible for causing the events that lead to the destruction of the Psi-Corp, chased by Garibaldi for a decade or two, mind-wipes his love, only to realize it's not necessary, and put in a prison for the rest of his life, under anti-PSI drugs, and dies when an ESPECIALLY ironic announcement is made.]])
** Crusade, the spin-off series, showed that at least one member of Nightwatch was one of these. It isn't directly stated, but it's the same actor, with the same name, and he states that he knows a thing or too about surviving changes in governments.
* KingInTheMountain: Played with in "A Late Delivery From Avalon".
* KlingonPromotion / MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Clark ascends to the Presidency after his predecessor dies in a [[ExternalCombustion suspicious explosion]].
* KnightInSourArmor: Marcus Cole. Garibaldi even more so.
-->'''Garibaldi''': Like you said, I never start a conversation unless I know where it's going, but I always leave a little room for someone to disappoint me.
* KnightTemplar:
** Byron's followers.
** William Edgars sets himself up as this, though he imagines himself a WellIntentionedExtremist.
** Almost every side has at least a few.
** [[spoiler: The Vorlons]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:L]]
* LandOfOneCity: Babylon 5 is this for much of the show.
* LampshadedDoubleEntendre:
** Franklin to Ivanova, after the latter balks at her newly-prescribed diet.
-->'''Ivanova''': All my life I've fought against imperialism. Now '''I'm''' the expanding Russian frontier!\\
'''Franklin:''' Yes, but with very nice borders.
** Marcus notices that the leader of the Martian resistance movement has taken an interest in Dr. Franklin.
-->'''Franklin:''' Look, I was just helping her out of a difficult situation, that's all.
-->'''Marcus:''' Fifty credits says that's not all she wants you to help her out of.
* LaResistance:
** An "UndergroundRailroad" of rogue telepaths who seek to elude Psi Corps. A handful of doctors (including Dr. Franklin) first established the railroad in response to stories of humans rights abuses being committed on telepaths.
** One of Earthforce's Joint Chiefs, William Hague, organizes a mutiny against President's Clark's regime. Ultimately, Hague's leadership over the resistance passes down to Sheridan.
** The Narn resistance is organized by cells both on and off-world, smuggling weapons, food, and other resources. Ex-Ambassador G'Kar is the most prominent figure in this movement, despite continuous Centauri efforts to rub him out. Remnants of the Narn fleet eventually join the struggle against the Shadows led by John Sheridan.
** The Mars Resistance, formed by people who want Mars to be independent of Earth. They are little more than a terrorist organization in the first season, but by the fourth season Babylon 5 is actively working with them to topple the Clark regime.
** Babylon 5 itself becomes this, especially during the Fourth Season.
* LargeHam:
** G'Kar.
** Londo.
** '''DRAAL'''.
*** After he bonds with the Machine. The older, pre-Machine version of him (played by the same actor as Brother Theo) is more low-key.
** "King Arthur" is an expansive talker, as can be expected. Also, he's played by veteran ham Michael York.
* LaserHallway: Of the lethal variety. Encountered by Sinclair and Invanova in "A Voice In The Wilderness".
* LastMinuteReprieve: Used a few times throughout the series.
* LastOfHerKind: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Deathwalker]]. Her stated goal was to give away her [[{{Immortality}} final discovery]] as penance for what [[CompleteMonster she and her people did]] during the Dilgar War. [[spoiler: The key to her immortality serum is a substance that can only be extracted by [[HumanResources killing another living being.]] [[ImmortalityImmorality For one to live forever, another must die.]] She plans to incite a bloodbath amongst the other races as a final "Screw you" to the galaxy. The Vorlons put a [[StuffBlowingUp sudden and violent end]] to her gambit.]]
* LastWords: As Emperor Turhan lies on his deathbed, Londo and Refa inform him that Centauri forces have resumed war with the Narn, and ask for his blessing. Turhan whispers something into Londo's ear, which Londo reports as: "[[BlatantLies Continue. Take my people back to the stars]]". Out in the hallway, a sly Refa asks Londo what the Emperor ''really'' said. It was,
-->"(You) are both damned."
* LatexPerfection: Played for laughs in "There the Honor Lies" when Ivanova pays a visit to B5's gift shop. Suddenly, all of the human/alien customers remove their 'masks', sending her fleeing in terror.
-->'''Drazi customer:''' Can you gift-wrap this for me?
* LeeroyJenkins: The Narn are a whole ''species'' of these.
** Possibly the best example of this is when Earthforce is boarding Babylon 5 to try and get the station back from Sheridan. Garibaldi and a large percentage of his security team (augmented by recently-recuited Narn soldiers) move in to where the breaching party will enter the station. As Garibaldi and the Humans begin digging in to set up a kill zone, the Narn just rush on ahead, forcing the humans to chase after them.
* LeftHanging: So...how 'bout those HumanPopsicle telepaths they rescued from the Shadows?
* LethallyExpensive: {{Invoked}}. Sheridan orders the rangers to leak some information to the Shadows. However he is concerned that they won't believe it unless someone was:
-->'''Sheridan:''' "...willing to fight for it, [[SuicideMission willing to...]]" (he can't bring himself to say "die" in front of the very man he is ordering to his death.)
* LetterMotif
* LettingHerHairDown:
** Minor example in "Survivors". The head of the Presidential security detail starts out very uptight, with a hairstyle to match. In the final scene, she's more friendly, and also wearing her hair down. (The change in hairstyle is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by that being the first scene where she's off-duty, but it's still a trope because it coincides with her increased friendliness, which is ''not'' just because she's off-duty.)
** Ivanova usually has her hair scraped back severely while working and in hard-ass executive officer mode, but wears it down when off-duty and with close friends, when her genuine friendly persona comes through.
* LifeEnergy: The alien machine from ''The Quality of Mercy'' can transfer this from one person to another.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: In the commentary for "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars," JMS mentions that during the filming of the Londo/G'Kar scenes an extra actually asked "How long have they been married?" after the scene was finished. Their bickering was lampshaded throughout the series, and in "A View From the Gallery" a character ''within'' the series wondered how long they had been together after he saw them arguing.
** Characters were joking about Londo and G'Kar being married way back in the ''first season'', [[CharacterDevelopment back when G'Kar was clearly a bad guy and Londo was clearly a good guy.]]
* LiteraryAllusionTitle
** Literature/TheBible
*** Movie "In The Beginning" (Genesis 1:1)
*** "A Voice in the Wilderness"
*** "Revelations"
*** "Passing Through Gethsemane"
** WilliamShakespeare
*** "The Quality of Mercy" (''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' IV.i)
*** "The Paragon of Animals" (''{{Hamlet}}'' II.ii)
*** "Wheel of Fire" (This was also the title for the entire fifth season.) (''Theatre/KingLear'' IV.vii)
** MarkTwain
*** "The War Prayer", after the essay of the same name
* LittlestCancerPatient: Subverted twice. See AnyoneCanDie.
* LivingShip: Vorlon ships are shown to be both sentient and organic. Kosh also shares a telepathic link with his vessel.
** Shadow ships also appear to be at least partly organic, [[spoiler: and use imprisoned humanoids as their central processors]]
* LoanShark: Desmond "Deuce" Modichenko ("Grail").
* LockAndLoadMontage: Babylon 5's defense grid.
* LockedInARoom: Subverted in "Convictions".
* LoopholeAbuse:
** A Narn warship that escaped the destruction of its homeworld jumps into Babylon 5 space, requesting sanctuary. Unfortunately, a representative from Earthgov announces that Earth is prepared to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Centarui, something which virtually translates to appeasement. A Centauri battlecruiser arrives, demanding custody of the Narn ship. Sheridan refuses, stating that the treaty isn't ''finalized'' in the senate yet, so therefore he can grant asylum to whoever the hell he wants (The Centauri disagree).
** When Delenn's life was in danger from Neroon but she did not wish Sheridan to know, she forbids Lennier from telling him. [[TakesAThirdOption He opts to ask Marcus for help.]] His reasoning is:
--->'''Lennier''': I'm trying to keep a promise. By breaking a promise. I was told not to mention this to anyone in the chain of command. You were not mentioned by name but that is implicit. However, by telling you, the captain need not find out about it and I will not have broken the promise.\\
'''Marcus''': I'm in awe, Lennier. The way you can take a simple proposition and turn it inside out so that it says what you want it to say rather than what it actually says. Does this come naturally or did you attend some sort of ... martial arts class for the philosophically inclined?
* LossOfIdentity: Death Of Personality.
* LostTribe: The unnamed alien race of Epsilon III.
* LoudOfWar: As punishment for trifling with Elric, the computers in Londo's quarters are reprogrammed to continually blare "Narn opera".
* LowerDeckEpisode: "A View from the Gallery"
[[/folder]]
[[folder:M]]
* MacGuffinEscortMission: The Mars Resistance agent handing his parcel down to Lyta ("Divided Loyalties").
* MaintainTheLie: Averted; "The War Prayer" has the set-up -- Vir has been telling his relatives that ''he's'' the Centauri ambassador on Babylon 5, and then one of them comes to visit -- but instead of trying to Maintain The Lie, Vir admits the truth straight away, accepts a bit of ribbing, and they move on to spending the rest of the episode trying to sort out the problem the relative came to ask his help with.
* {{Malaproper}}: Delenn lacks intimate knowledge of a few [[ForeignCussWord select human phrases]].
* MamaBear: Laura Rosen, already dying from lake's Syndrome, donates her life force to patients who visit her clinic in Downbelow. When Karl Mueller threatens her daughter, Rosen kills him by ''sapping away'' his life, instead. Though cleared of all charges, Rosen is deeply shaken by the experience, having violating her oath as a doctor.
* ManHug: Exchanged between Keffer and his newfound Marine Corps buddies, shortly before their doomed mission on Aknor.
* ManInTheMachine:
** Varn, a mysterious alien who governs the "Great Machine" of Epsilon III. When Varn's life starts to fade, Delenn's mentor Draal agrees to take over his duties.
** Shadow ships require living being at their core; the two merge, becoming one entity. If the pilot isn't properly prepared (i.e., a moronic Earthgov test monkey), the result is a confused, insane ship.
* AManIsNotAVirgin: Except for Marcus, who is still qualified to chase unicorns.
** Sort of. See the page for details.
* ManipulativeBastard: Lord Antono Refa, Morden.
* MathematiciansAnswer:
** Everything that Kosh says is not exactly helpful:
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"How do I know you're the same Vorlon? Inside that encounter suit, you could be anyone."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"I have always been here."''
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"Oh yeah? You said that about me, too."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"Yes."''
--> '''Sheridan:''' ''"I really hate it when you do that."''
--> '''Kosh:''' ''"Good."''
** Sheridan even lampshades this.
--> '''Sheridan:''' Well, as answers go, short, to the point, utterly useless and totally consistent with what I've come to expect from a Vorlon.
--> '''Kosh:''' Good.
** The Drakh do the same in season 4: "Drakh? Is that your name or your species?" "Yes."
** Even Creator/JMichaelStraczynski himself [[http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/038.html can't resist this trope.]] (warning: link contains spoilers) "Was Kosh's line about Sheridan going to Z'ha'dum a warning or a threat?" "Yes." '''GAH!!'''
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Sheridan and Delenn.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** "[[LineInTheSand Hold the line.]]"
** King Arthur's line about resurfacing in the 23rd century "because I am most needed here and now" is analogous to Delenn and Sheridan being "the right people, in the right place, at the right time".
* MeaningfulName: Delenn means "Gray Traveler" which doubles as a ShoutOut to [[LordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]], given that Gandalf's Elven name is Mithrandir, which means "Gray Wanderer"
** Timov Mollari, Londo's wife, represents Famine and she is constantly remembering the lush happy dreams of a good future with Londo as she lives through a barren, love-less marriage. Mariel has an angelic sound and [[spoiler: represents Death as she tried to kill Londo before he could divorce her.]]
* MentorArchetype:
** Aldous Gajic to "Jinxo" in the first season episode "Grail". As well as several other characters.
** Kosh Naranek
** G'kar becomes this ''to the entire Narn race'' in season 5. Although he soon becomes frustrated that most of the Narn who come to the station to listen to him end up [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missing the point]].
** Byron to his followers.
* TheMerch: Lampshaded when Sheridan proposes opening a gift shop on-board the station. Doubles as a thinly-veiled TakeThat toward the ''Trek'' franchise (see "DuelingShows").
-->'''Ivanova:''' Babylon 5, [[IronicEcho our last best hope to]] make a quick buck!
* MessianicArchetype:
** Byron.
** Sheridan, Sinclair and Delenn, all in their own ways.
** G'kar after his spiritual enlightenment.
* {{Microts}}: Time is measured by "cycles", or rotations of the station; the obvious reason being that Earth, Narn, and Minbar have varying day-to-night clocks. Many worlds also use the term to refer to their solar years. The actual definition of a "cycle" varies DependingOnTheWriter. In "TKO", three cycles is something like three days; in "Grail" (the very next episode), three ''hundred'' cycles is something like three days. By Season Three, there is a notable changeover to "standard hours", presumably because it's less confusing.
** A few mentions were made in show of there being 36 hours in a (presumably Babylon 5) day (maintain a 36 hour watch, we're open 36 hours a day, etc).
** Subverted with years, 1000 of which have passed since the last Shadow war. Which planet's years are never mentioned.
** In one episode, this causes some confusion, when it turns out that while a Cycle on B5 is a relatively short period of time, a "Cycle" on the Drazi homeworld is a whole ''year''. Presumably due to something being LostInTranslation.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: About midway through the second season, Babylon 5's defense grid is given substantial upgrades, in response to increasing tensions in the region. The General overseeing the upgrades even goes on to speculate that the station could now [[{{Foreshadowing}} take on a starship]] in a fight.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: Pretty much every teep.
* MindManipulation, such as MindProbe and MindRape:
** Something [=PsiCop=] Mr. Bester was very fond of.
** The power granted by the [[PsychoSerum telepathic drug]] "Dust" is specifically described as MindRape in the episode (season three's "Dust to Dust") in which it's a major plot element. [[spoiler:G'Kar does it to Londo, finding out about his role in the bombing of the Narn homeworld.]]
*** And it was inverted in the same episode. A Dust user mind rapes the first person he runs into. And ends up reliving a severe trauma experienced previously by his victim: They got caught in a landslide, causing him to [[MadnessMantra scream over and over again]] that the mountain fell on him.
** Happens to Sheridan and Delenn, more or less by design, somewhat by consent, during the final battle [[spoiler: with the Shadows and Vorlons]].
** Actully Bester, while quite willing to mind probe, wasn't one to mind rape unless there were telepath lives at stake. The man [[EvenEvilHasStandards did have some standards]].
** Even the ''heroes'' used it on one noteworthy occasion, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo attempting to prevent a murder]].
* MindOverManners: The less evil telepaths, ''most'' of the time, follow the rule about not scanning someone against their will. Mostly.
* MismatchedEyes: [[spoiler:G'Kar, after having his eye plucked out and replaced with a prosthetic.]]
* MistressAndServantBoy: Delenn and Lennier
* ModestRoyalty:
** Emperor Turhan. An elderly, ill man near the end of his life, he was more or less [[BuffySpeak bald human-ish]] with no hair fan to speak of. He owned a rather impressive wig, but refused to take it with him during his official visit to Babylon 5, saying that the trappings of status were no longer important to him.
** His successor Cartagia, for all his [[TheCaligula insanity]], has a distinctly subdued sense of taste for a Centauri. He even chooses to wear his hair short even though traditionally, the size of a male Centauri's hair fan indicated his status. Only a quasi-example, since Cartagia explains to Londo that the reason he worse his hair shorter was so that he could go among the "lower classes" quite easily, and implied that it enabled him to indulge in... less savoury pleasures.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Jack]], Garibaldi's trusted aide. After the latter uncovers a plot to kill President Santiago, [[spoiler: Jack]] repays his trust by shooting him InTheBack.
* MoneyDearBoy: Why ''Legend Of The Rangers'' was made.
* MoralMyopia:
** Minbari were all pissy over Sheridan's nuking of the Blackstar despite their own policy of taking no prisoners and leaving no combatant survivors [that they know of].
** Vir's arranged wife feels Narns are a brutal race that needs culling and has participated in multiple atrocities.
** Bester feels [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper absolutely no remorse]] about killing [[{{Muggles}} mundanes]] and is less than sympathetic toward teeps that are not Corps.
** The Narn in the first season are presented as themselves being ruthless imperialists, as well as being willing to do arms deals with anyone including pirates and war criminals. Their chief complaint about the Centauri seems to boil down to the fact that it happened to ''them''.
** Sheridan [[spoiler: nuking the Shadow capital on Zha'Ha'Dum with two ''five hundred megaton'' warheads]] seems a little jarring when you consider that it was probably filled with non-combatants.
*** Meh, it's stated seasons earlier that [[spoiler:the Shadows spent the past thousand years elsewhere before returning to Zha'Ha'Dum to resume their attacks on the younger races. Basically, Sheridan suicide-nuked Hiroshima.]] The real WhatTheHellHero is when he [[spoiler:uses the Shadow-modified telepaths as involuntary suicide bombers so as to non-lethally disable Earth Force warships over Mars - warships that had ''[[JustFollowingOrders bombed civilian targets]]. On a planet where humans can't survive without life support. On-screen.'']]
* {{Mordor}}: Z'ha'dum. It even has a Great Eye, [[spoiler:which Ivanova sees when she's plugged into the [[strike:Palantir]] Great Machine, and later when she visits the planet itself.]]
* MoralityPet: Vir fills this role for Londo on quite a regular basis. Indeed he's stayed Londo's hand on more than one occoaision, and Londo is at his worst when Vir is absent.
* MuggingTheMonster: [[TheGreys The Streib]]. "Their last expedition was into Minbari space. We tracked them back to their homeworld. [[BadassBoast And made sure they understood the depth of their mistake.]]" Given the [[StuffBlowingUp final fate]] of the Streib vessel one might argue that venturing into [[HumansAreWarriors human space]] was not necessarily one of their best ideas either.
* MultiBoobage: In "TKO", Garibaldi and Walker Smith reminisce about a place they used to frequent where the waitresses had three [meaningful hand gesture].
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Londo stabbing a bug in his quarters with an antique Centauri knife.
-->"'''THIS''' will teach you to trifle with the Centauri!"
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Lennier leaves Sheridan to die instead of saving him, because he's married to Delenn.]]
** The trope is then subverted moments later, as he regrets his decision and goes back.
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: In "Babylon Squared", [[spoiler: Sinclair]] glimpses his future self, but does not recognize himself due to his counterpart's hazard suit. [[spoiler: Revealed to be subverted in "War Without End"; it was Delenn in the suit, not Sinclair.]]
* MyCountryRightOrWrong: General Lefcourt and Captain Lochley, both of whom consider it immoral for the military to dictate government policy, whether they like President Clark's decisions or not. [[spoiler: As soon as Clark has been [[DrivenToSuicide convinced to relinquish the office of President]] and succeeded by Senator Luchenko, General Lefcourt immediately [[BigDamnHeroes comes to the rescue]] [[GunshipRescue of Captain Sheridan and the ''Agamemnon'']].]]
** Londo starts off this way. Though he has his doubts here and there during the war with the Narn, he still remains loyal to his people. By the end of the war, he's [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realized what a big mistake it was]] to enlist the help of Morden and his "associates," but by this point he's so firmly entrenched in everything that happened that he goes along with it mostly to preserve his own skin.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** A truly heartbreaking example in "The Coming of Shadows" when [[spoiler:G'kar, after making his peace with the Centauri emperor, finally extends a tentative hand of friendship to Londo and buys him a drink -- unaware that Londo has just ordered the annihilation of a Narn colony.]]
** Another being during the Earth-Minbari War when Delenn receives Dukhat's last message.
** Londo again, [[spoiler:watching the bombing of the Narn homeworld from orbit.]]
*** Peter Jurasik should have gotten an award for that scene. He doesn't speak a word, and you only see him on screen for a few moments, but the look on his face says it all.
* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Ivanova speaking Minbari:
-->'''Ivanova:''' (in Minbari) Engines at full... high power. Hatrack ratcatcher to port weapons... brickbat lingerie.
** "Ah, hell..."
-->'''Lorien:''' "Ahel" mean "continuous fire" in Minbari...
* MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours: Commander Sinclair's rule fu is strong. Probably his most triumphant moment is in the episode "By Any Means Necessary".
** Sheridan gets a chance to exercise this as well. In one episode Earthforce attempts to charge him rent on his quarters. He refuses to back down, even after they change the locks. Eventually, he resolves the situation by charging his new rent against the station's military budget, on the grounds that he won't be in any condition to fight unless he's had a good night's sleep in his own bed.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: There are exceptions to every hat race. [[AllThereInTheManual In the RPG]], even the Dilgar had a small, hidden colony who did not partake in their species' predilection for crimes against sapience.
* MysteriousBacker: The orderly Vorlons are nominally on the side of the protagonists, but they're far from trustworthy saints.
* MythArc: TropeCodifier.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:N]]
* NamesTheSame: Narrowly averted. The Narn homeworld is not, in fact, named {{Narnia}}.
* NapoleonDelusion: In "A Late Delivery from Avalon", we meet a nutty swordsman who is convinced that he is KingArthur. It turns out that he is in fact [[spoiler:the Earthforce Gunnery Sergeant who fired the first shot of the Earth-Minbari War]] and is suffering from a serious case of SurvivorsGuilt. He is healed when "The Lady of the Lake" (Delenn) retrieves his "Excalibur" (an antique sword), symbolizing that [[spoiler:she, along with the Minbari race, forgives him]].
%%
%% Narm entries moved to the YMMV tab, don't add them back here.
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* NationalWeapon: The Minbari Denn'bok.
** The Narn have a sword which, like the [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], cannot be sheathed until it has drawn blood.
* NaughtyTentacles: Centauri have six prehensile phalli, [[BiggusDickus 2-4 feet long]]. Their definition of "bases" (as in "getting to second base") is how many you get to put in.
** They also come in handy for cheating at cards. Unless someone has a pitcher of ice-water handy.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Ikarrans in "Infection", who programmed their machines to "protect" their world by murdering anybody who is genetically "impure".
* NearDeathExperience: experienced by Sheridan across "The Hour of the Wolf" and "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"
* NeckLift: [[BewareTheNiceOnes Lennier]] to Marcus
* NeglectfulPrecursors: An ongoing theme of the later seasons of the show, as well as many of the spinoffs, was the younger races stumbling across various nasty things left behind by [[spoiler: The Vorlons and the Shadows]].[[hottip:*: A very jarring example, considering that the Precursors in question had ''just left''.]]
* NeverGotToSayGoodbye:
** John Sheridan has a monologue where he laments the fact that he was rushed the day of the last phone call with his wife Anna, and forgot to say "I love you" before she headed out on the expedition that claimed her life.
** Ivanova has similar regrets regarding Marcus. Marcus however did get to say "I love you" to a dying Ivanova, leading to the touching yet funny line, "I thought: God really does have an English accent, just like in those old movies."
* NewNeoCity: Numerous references to New Vegas, a Mars-based resort. When Babylon 5 first came online, New Vegas oddsmakers put the odds of Babylon 5 surviving at [[ILikeThoseOdds 200 to 1]].
* NewOldFlame:
** Ivanova's old boyfriend, Malcolm Biggs, in "The War Prayer". By the end of the episode, he's [[spoiler:been revealed as part of an earth-supremacist group, and Ivanova has had to arrest him]].
** Talia's got two of them: Jason Ironheart ("Mind War"; [[spoiler:ascends to a higher plane of existence]]) and Matthew Stoner ("Soul Mates").
** Elizabeth Lochley.
* NiceHat: The Inquisitor's dapper-looking top hat.
** Garibaldi puts one on as part of his [[PaperThinDisguise "excellent disguise"]] when doing some investigating with Franklin in Downbelow. G'Kar is shown wearing it in a later episode as part of an attempt to better understand Garibaldi while searching for him.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Marcus spends the entirety of "Exogenesis" investigating the disappearance of his friend, Duncan, who has been taken over by a PuppeteerParasite. It later turns out that Duncan was on death's door, and that the parasites, or rather, the ''[[BondCreatures symbiotes]]'', cure their hosts of all disease. Marcus realizes his error, but too late for Duncan; the symbiote leaves his body to prove its intentions are benign. Duncan can never be recoupled with one again. Somewhat bittersweet example, though: Before being bonded, Duncan was content to spend his twilight years running a kiosk in the Zocalo and making very little money. After briefly sharing the memories of the symbiote, he has decided to spend his last years exploring the galaxy and seeing new things.
** The crew finds a man suffering severe delusions, thinking he's KingArthur. Seems [[ThereAreNoTherapists there's no shrinks]] on B5 as Dr Franklin then decides to immediately break the man's delusion by reminding him who he is ([[spoiler:and the terrible guilt he carries for what he did]]). Of course it does not go rather well, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero as the man has a breakdown and goes catatonic]]. Thankfully he gets better.
* NietzscheWannabe: Marcus Cole (although he's one of the good guys).
--> '''Marcus:''' "You know, I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought: Wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them. So now, I take great comfort in the hostility and unfairness of the universe."
* NightmareSequence
* NobodyEverComplainedBefore: The Minbari Warrior Caste's traditional method of greeting in interstellar dealings is to approach the ship with gunports open but uncharged, as a sign of respect to the other race. Unfortunately, Minbari tech dwarfs human tech, so when they approached the human ship and scanned them, they didn't think to turn off their stealth tech, and likely didn't know their sensors would shut down the Earth ships jump drives. When the human captain saw a fleet of advanced ships coming at them, somehow knocking out their jump drives, stealth tech preventing them from getting any reading beyond their gunports are open, and no means of effectively communicating, he panicked, resulting in a genocidal war.
* NoHeroToHisValet: Played straight with Vir who is very loyal but is also very much aware of Londo's faults. Subverted with Lennier. Delenn is always a heroine to her valet and remains so even after Lennier learns of her [[WartsAndAll darker side]] in ''Atonement'', despite Delenn's fear's of his reaction.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Lord Refa's death.]]
* NomDeGuerre: The leader of the [[LaResistance Mars Resistance]] is known through the entire fourth season only as Number One. It isn't until near the end of the series that we finally learn her real name.
* NonSequiturThud:
** A truly ''epic'' example courtesy of a drunken Londo in "Parliament of Dreams".
-->'''Londo:''' Everybody's cute. Except me. But in purple, ''I'm stunning!''
** "And he made a very satisfying thump when he hit the ground."
* NoodleIncident: In "A Distant Star", an old friend of Sheridan's visits the station. During dinner with the officers, Sheridan starts to tell an embarrassing story about him, and he retaliates with three words: "July 12th, 2253". Sheridan admits defeat, and neither story gets told.
** Also, it seems that Ivanova and a smuggler did ''something'' that Ivanova is convinced lead to Garibaldi [[BaldOfAwesome losing all his hair]].
* NoseArt: Many of the [[SpaceFighter Starfuries]] have custom paint jobs on the wing just above the cockpits, including those flown by {{Mauve Shirt}}s or {{Red Shirt}}s. Ivanova has a black double-headed eagle with a red star superimposed, Garibaldi has a yellow and orange tigerstripe pattern, and Sheridan has the entire top wing of his fighter decorated in a tiger motif, complete with face and claw marks.
** Sheridan takes it a step farther. When he launches his military campaign [[spoiler: to throw President Clark out of power]], he has the Babylon 5 crest painted on the hull of his flagship.
* NoPaperFuture: {{Lampshaded}}. A character in one episode complains that every time she's told we're entering a paper-free society, she gets three more forms to fill out.
* NoSuchThingAsAlienPopCulture: very, very much used throughout the series, to the point where when G'Kar, a Narn, asks the human Zach if the poster of Daffy Duck in Garibaldi's quarters is one of the human security chief's household Gods, Zach starts to explain, realizes it'll be more trouble than it's worth, and ends with, "You could say that." Though by the way G'Kar laughs at the explanation, it's clear he realizes that Zach's being facetious.
** In ''Midnight on the Firing Line'', the episode ends with Delenn sitting in Garibaldi's quarters with him watching BugsBunny cartoons. She seems faintly amused by it, but also very confused, apparently unsure what she should be doing. When Garibaldi offers her popcorn, she stares at the bowl for a moment before taking some, then turning back to the cartoon, asks Garibaldi to explain part of it to her.
** In one episode, Vir and Lennier meet up at a bar. Lennier asks Vir what he's drinking, and Vir says it's a [[ShirleyTemple Shirley]] [[CantHoldHisLiquor Temple]]. Lennier thinks about this for a second, and then says that while he's studied Earth's religions, he can't say he's ever heard of the Shirley Temple.
* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: Repeatedly and vigorously deconstructed.
* NotListeningToMeAreYou:
** In "Infection", an old mentor of Stephen Franklin's comes back with some alien artifacts that look like they're organic technology. Stephen gets so absorbed in the research that his friend tries to draw him out with the statement, "[[WarOfTheWorlds There's a Martian war machine parked outside; they'd like a word with you about the common cold.]]"
** Later in the series, Marcus Cole realizes that Ivanova isn't paying attention to his report: "There's always the threat of an attack by say, a giant space dragon, the kind that eats the sun once every thirty days. It's a nuisance, but what can you expect from reptiles? Did I mention that my nose is on fire, and that I have fifteen wild badgers living in my trousers?" (''Ivanova finally looks at him, witheringly'') "I'm sorry, would you prefer ferrets?"
* NotSoDifferent:
** Londo and G'Kar realize this about halfway through the fourth season.
** Sheridan and Delenn.
** As is revealed to the characters and audience in the third and fourth seasons, [[spoiler:the Vorlons and the Shadows really aren't all that different]].
** The meeting between Delenn and "King Arthur" in "A Late Delivery from Avalon". Both had idealistic/mystical personalities. But their real similarity as that both [[TheAtoner bore heavily]] the knowledge that they had helped to start the Earth-Minbari war. Indeed "King Arthur" might actually have fired the shot that killed Delenn's beloved mentor. A very well done reconciliation scene.
** Bester points out the similarities between himself and Garibaldi, though mainly just because it amused him to do so.
** When Lochley is trying to help Garibaldi over his drink problem, he snaps at her that she hardly ever drinks herself so how would she know what it's like? Turns out there's a very simple reason she hardly ever drinks.
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Upon learning that Lennier is a "master adept" at the laws of probability, Londo wrestles him into joining a card game. Unfortunately, the subtler points of playing Poker (like bluffing) are lost on Lennier. Londo then resorts to using his....erm, "appendage" (see "NaughtyTentacles") to re-shuffle the deck, getting busted in the process.
* NuclearPhysicsGoof: In "A Voice in the Wilderness", Ivanova speaks of a nuclear reactor "approaching critical mass", meaning that it's about to blow up. See the trope page for an explanation for why this is incorrect for nuclear fission reactors -- and then add to that the fact that Ivanova was talking about a nuclear ''fusion'' reactor, where the concept of "critical mass" doesn't apply at all.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:O]]
* ObligatoryJoke: Garibaldi to Dr. Franklin, after being revived from his coma: "[[BugsBunny What's up doc?]]"
** For bonus points, it was established back in the first episode that Garibaldi is a fan of old WarnerBros cartoons.
* OddFriendship: Londo and G'kar, representing two races which had long been bitter enemies, grew into an OddFriendship by the end of the series.
* OfferedTheCrown
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: The look on Refa's face when holographic Londo reveals his endgame to him -- which then leads to a pack of angry Narns beating the absolute bajeezus out of him. The following scene, as the Narns pummel him with upbeat Gospel music playing in the background, is almost eerily beautiful.]]
* OhGodDidSheJustHearThat:
** In one episode of Babylon 5, resident telepath Talia Winters is explaining to someone that telepaths sometimes cannot avoid picking up particularly strong emotions and thoughts before entering a lift with [[HandsomeLech Security Chief Garibaldi]]. After she explains this, Garibaldi, standing behind her, gives her [[MaleGaze the once over]]. Talia elbows Garibaldi in the gut before getting off.
-->'''Garibaldi:''' I think [[MeetCute I'm in love]].
** In another episode, Garibaldi is having an argument with the Psi Cop Bester, and as Garibaldi glares at him, Bester says, "Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi, but [[BringIt you're welcome to try]], any time, any place."
** Played with in one episode. Bester has been forced to take a drug which dulls his telepathic abilities. He and Garibaldi are interrogating an informant, and Bester at one point blurts out "he's lying." This causes the informant to break and tell them what they need to know. Garibaldi confronts Bester on this after the interview. Bester explains that he couldn't hear any of the man's thoughts, but the other guy didn't know that. And chances were good he was lying about something, so Bester merely played on the guy's guilty conscience.
* OhMyGods:
** Londo says this in the Season 3 finale.
** "In Valen's name!"
* OldFriend
* OneFederationLimit: The Earth Alliance, the Minbari Federation, the Centauri Republic ([[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny which is actually a monarchy like the late Roman republic]]), the Narn Regime and the Vorlon [[AllThereInTheManual Empire]]. Some races (like the Dilgar, Shadows, and Drakh) have no stated governmental body, while the others have ones only stated offhand or in the background material (Drazi Freehold, Brakiri Syndicracy, Abbai Matriarchate, Grome Autocracy, etc)
** And all those miscellaneous governments could conveniently be lumped into the League of Unaligned Worlds.
* OneGenderRace: The Pak'Ma'Ra ... sort of. The "hump" they have on their back is actually their mate, permanently bonded to them. Whether the hump is the male or the female is up for debate. In an online post, [[WordOfGod JMS]] stated that [[http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/101.html#JS the hump is the female]], but the official Babylon 5 Role Playing Game says that [[http://books.google.com/books?id=6TvW4b6ckVcC&lpg=PA33&ots=sjAemRIz1F&dq=Pak%27Ma%27Ra%20humps&pg=PA33#v=onepage&q&f=false the hump is the male]].
* OneLastJob: Refa pressuring Londo to enlist the Shadows in wiping out the Narn fleet. Londo, however, has grown fearful of his "associates" and warns Refa that that this is the last time he will call upon Morden.
* OneWorldOrder: Earthgov, for all intents and purposes. Under Clark, the government institutes giving Psi Corps increased judicial powers, as well as creating a trio of agencies (The Ministries of Peace, Truth, and Information) to tilt the balance of power in his favor. Clark later dissolves the Earth senate, which he re-forms with many of his own people in place.
** Earthgov is actually an alliance of most of the world's major powers, including Europe, America, Russia, Japan and others. It's also implied that many countries resisted the formation of Earthgov and that many of them are not equal members of the Earth Alliance, and yet the EA posits itself to be the unified representative of Humanity.
** This holds true for the Minbari Federation and Centari Republic, as well.
* OpenHeartDentistry: Dr. Franklin can do everything from setting broken bones to major surgery to incredibly fast pharmaceutical research for nearly every race that lives on the station. Frequently lampshaded. Apparently he's the only one in the entire galaxy who can do this. Well, maybe the guy before him and the one after him...
* OpeningNarration: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDleqkv7gPc#t=01m19s Different]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Xn_0S-guY for]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPySgzHUtY each]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGQ5DSzxsZU new]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WiZsLGdjXQ season (WARNING: spoilers ahoy in this one!)]].
* OperationBlank: Operation Sudden Death ("GROPOS").
* OptOut: An extra after Sheridan gives a LineInTheSand speech. In the commentary, JMS stated it's unreasonable that no one ever leaves in moments like that, especially in essentially a rebellion.
* OrderVersusChaos: The whole point of the war between [[spoiler: The Shadows and the Vorlons]].
* OrderedApology: See the entry for BackhandedApology in [[Babylon5TropesAToH the A-H section]].
* OrphanedPunchline:
** "...and then she said to me, "If I could do ''that'', I wouldn't need an encounter suit!"" - Garibaldi ("Survivors")
** "...and he says, "Goulash!"" - Londo ("A Voice in the Wilderness")
** "...and then he said, "That's not my leg, ''that's my air hole!''" - Londo, again ("Soul Mates")
* TheOtherDarrin:
** [[spoiler: Anna Sheridan (played by Beth Toussaint) first appeared in a message to her sister-in-law, recorded prior to her disappearance. Toussaint wasn't available for the episode where Anna returns as a Shadow agent; Melissa Gilbert (Bruce Boxleitner's real-life spouse) was cast in her place]].
** Delenn's mentor, Draal, is played by Louis Turenne in the two-parter "A Time in the Wilderness". In all of his subsequent appearance, he is played John Schuck. This is {{Hand Wave}}d by explaining that Draal has [[FountainOfYouth age-regressed]] as a result of being linked with the Great Machine.
** Apparently they had a terrible time keeping actresses around to play G'Kar's aide. His first one, Ko'Dath, disappears under mysterious circumstances because Mary Woronov had trouble with the Narn makeup and prosthetics. The same problem drove away the first Na'Toth actress, Susan Kellerman. Julie Caitlin Brown made it through the entire first season (and was awesome) before she, too, succumbed to makeup problems and quit. Her role was given to Mary Kay Adams, who was not up to the task at all, and finally Na'Toth was written out of the story altogether. (However, she is later mentioned as having been captured by the Centauri during the war, and [[spoiler: is found by Londo and G'Kar in a prison cell on Centauri Prime in Season 5. For this appearance, she is once again played by Julie Caitlin Brown]].
* OurDoorsAreDifferent: The doors on the station are mostly automatic-opening, slide open sideways, and are a sort of lopsided pentagon shape instead of rectangular. Elevator doors are rectangular, but split open on a diagonal.
** In "The Gathering", the pentagonal doors actually opened on corner hinge, flipping up into the wall butterfly-style. The impracticality of this mechanism on a weekly show likely led to the more conventional side-slide method used thereafter.
* OurElvesAreBetter: The Minbari, who are elegant, refined and more technologically advanced than nearly any other race. With a link to TheFairFolk, they are also quite willing to wipe out an entire species if provoked.
* OurShowersAreDifferent:
** Water conservation is important on the station so only the executive suites and command quarters get showers with running water; everybody else has to make do with "vibe showers".
** Earth's space ships don't have water showers even in the command quarters; when Captain Sheridan is transferred to Babylon 5, he is seriously happy when he learns his quarters include "a real live honest-to-god shower with running water".
** The Minbari use a chemical that removes the outermost layer of skin. It does terrible things to hair, as Delenn finds out.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Totally and utterly averted. Every race is religious, although humanity surprises everyone by having so many different faiths (the only other species explicitly stated to have multiple religions is the Narns, and it's implied that they have many, many fewer than Earth).
-->'''USENET:''' (on ''Passing Through Gethsemane'') "The themes of faith and forgiveness were worthy of a theologian. Are you sure there isn't something you'd like to tell us?"\\
'''JMS:''' Never shoot pool at a place called Pop's. Never eat food at a place called Mom's. The difference between horses and humans is that they're too smart to bet on what ''we'll'' do.\\
And I have lost people. Too many people. Lost them to chance, violence, brutality beyond belief; I've seen all the senseless, ignoble acts of "god's noblest creature." And I am incapable of forgiving. My feelings are with G'Kar, hand sliced open, saying of the drops of blood flowing from that open wound, "How do you apologize to them?" "I can't." "Then I cannot forgive."\\
As an atheist, I believe that all life is unspeakably precious, because it's only here for a brief moment, a flare against the dark, and then it's gone forever. No afterlives, no second chances, no backsies. So there can be nothing crueler than the abuse, destruction or wanton taking of a life. It is a crime no less than burning the Mona Lisa, for there is always just one of each.\\
So I cannot forgive. Which makes the notion of writing a character who CAN forgive momentarily attractive...because it allows me to explore in great detail something of which I am utterly incapable. I cannot fly, so I would write of birds and starships and kites; I cannot play an instrument, so I would write of composers and dancers; and I cannot forgive, so I would write of priests and monks and Minbari....
* OutrunTheFireball: Sinclair does this in the PilotMovie when a high-tech piece of equipment overloads.
** Londo does this as well, though in his case it's more like "Dive sideways into an elevator to avoid the fireball."
* OverlyLongName: The actual species name for the Shadows is over one thousand syllables long.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:P]]
* ParentheticalSwearing: "Bester" sounds like "[[MagnificentBastard bastard]]" whenever any station personnel speaks the name.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish:
** First averted by Garibaldi, who selects a password "peekaboo" purely on the grounds that nobody would have ever guessed ''[[ProperlyParanoid he]]'' would use it. And because it would get a [[RuleOfFunny big laugh]].
** Later [[JustifiedTrope justified]], by Sinclair, when he needs to leave a password-protected message behind for Garibaldi. In this case the password had to be something that wouldn't be easily guessable in general, but would be easily guessable by Garibaldi. He settles on "Hello, old friend".
* PercussiveMaintenance: Ivanova trying to access the records of an old exploration vessel in "The Long Dark".
* PercussivePickpocket: Happens to Sheridan, where the thief steals the comlink.
** Jinxo does this to Aldous in ''Grail''.
** A strange example occurs in ''Passing Through Gethsemane''. A Centauri bumps into Brother Edward as the latter is leaving an elevator. The viewer discovers later that the Centauri was a telepath, and bumped into Brother Edward so he could break the monk's mind block.
* PercussiveTherapy: In frustration, Garibaldi shoots out an elevator's intercom just so he won't have to listen to Sparky yap any more.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: Subverted by the Minbari, who are pacifists only among themselves. And later [[spoiler: not even that. Minbari Civil War, anyone?]]
* PersonOfMassDestruction: [[spoiler: Lyta]]
* PetTheDog: Londo Mollari has so many of these that it makes people cry.
-->'''Londo:''' My shoes are now too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.
-->'''Vir:''' I don't understand.
-->'''Londo:''' Nor should you.
--> [Later, when he helps the two young Centauri and they ask why]
-->'''Londo:''' Because you are ''young'', and young people should be allowed to '''dance!'''
* PhlebotinumRebel: Jason Ironheart in "Mind War".
* PiecesOfGod
* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: Noted repeatedly is the concept that death is easy, obligations are hard. The Minbari Warrior caste states that they do not fear death, only failure to complete their appointed tasks. Lorien points out that HeroicSacrifice is easy compared to living in pursuit of a cause. G'Kar defends David Martel's decision to retreat from a hopeless battle because death is a release from obligations. Pretty much every BigGood in the series holds to this.
* PlanetOfHats: Nearly every race. (Well, the Minbari have three types of hats.) Humanity's hat is [[JackOfAllTrades diversity]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship community-building]].
* ThePlague: The Drafa ("Confessions and Lamentations")
* PlayingWithSyringes: The secret Psi-Corp project in "Mind War".
* PointDefenseless: Utterly averted. The first time we see B5's defense grid fire, they pop two incoming fighters within seconds. Later, we learn that B5's defense grid is considered subpar by [[CamelCase EarthForce]] standards, when they get ''upgrades''.
** Ships in the B5 setting generally lack DeflectorShields (except those piloted by {{EldritchAbomination}}s from another dimension subject to different physical laws). Instead, they use their weapons systems to intercept incoming fire directly.
* PoliceBrutality: Micheal Garibaldi has many friends from Mars, including an ex-lover of his. When there is fighting ongoing on Mars, it is probably best to take the hint when he asks you to stop talking trash about Marsies. He doesn't lose his temper often, but when he does, it isn't pretty.
* PoliticalOfficer: One gets assigned to babysit Captain Sheridan. She has a rather direct technique for trying to secure his loyalty. She ends up returning to Earth to do damage control after someone[[hottip:*: [[TheLancer Commander Ivanova]] finds and leaks evidence that President Clarke may have had something to do with his predecessor's death.
* PowderKegCrowd: Following a recurrence of the Drafa virus, all of the Markab aboard B5 explode into a panic. According to Markab lore, Drafa only targets the sinful, resulting in their elders accusing everyone in sight (including Sheridan and co.) of being "unclean".
** Narn and Centauri crowds during the Narn Centauri War in the second season, and after the end of the war, the frustrated Narn population as a whole, who G'Kar has to work to keep under control.
** ''Human'' crowds aboard the station in the third season, around when everything begins to go completely off the rails due to internal tensions in the Earth Alliance.
* PowerFist: Trakis's taser glove in "Born to the Purple".
* ThePowerOfLove: Sheridan's love for Delenn is what gives him the anchor needed for Lorien to [[BackFromTheDead bring him back]] to life, and in fact may be responsible for winning both the Shadow War and the Earth Civil War. A station worker in the 5th season sums it up quite nicely:
-->'''Bo''': (''Talking about Delenn'') I know I'd claw my way out of [[DeathWorld hell]] and [[TheDeterminator through three miles of sheer rock]] to see ''that'' smile again!
* PowerWalk: The intercut between Sheridan and Nightwatch near the conclusion of "Point of No Return". Both sides are gathering their forces to arrest the opposing side's leader.
* PrecisionFStrike: After Sheridan deliberately provokes the Vorlon and Shadow fleets:
-->'''Lyta''': Captain...they're pissed!
* PresidentEvil: Morgan Clark.
* PretextForWar: Kalain, alone in his cell, [[spoiler:commits suicide using [[CyanidePill a false tooth filled with poison]]]]. Kalain hopes that the station will attack and destroy his ship, the ''Trigati'', allowing his disgraced crew to reclaim their honor and restart the Earth-Minbari war in a single stroke.
* PreviouslyOn: Used in part two of the two-parter "A Voice in the Wilderness", in certain major arc episodes to remind the audience of previous events that are referenced, as well as the entire fifth season narration (see below).
* PrinciplesZealot: The rogue Soul Hunter.
* ProphecyTwist: Londo's chronic dreams of himself and G'Kar choking each other to death. Twenty years later ("War Without End, Pt. 2"), [[spoiler:Londo allows Sheridan and Delenn (along with their son) to escape from his palace. Londo then confides to G'Kar that he [[ICannotSelfTerminate Cannot Self Terminate]], and must be killed before the Drakh Keeper inside him alerts the guards. As G'Kar reluctantly grabs him by the throat, Londo's Keeper re-takes control and kills him too]].
* [[PropheticName Prophetic Ship Names]]:
** Icarus.
** [[spoiler: Agamemnon]].
** [[spoiler: The ''[[NukeEm White Star]]?'']]
*** Especially if you recall what happened to the [[spoiler: Black Star.]]
** Played with in "Grail". Jinxo stays on Babylon 5 because he believes he carries a curse that will cause the station to blow up the moment he leaves it. At the end of the episode he finally gets up the courage to leave... on a ship called the ''Marie Celeste''.
* PropRecycling: In "Babylon Squared", and again in "War Without End", space suits from ''TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' were used. They changed their appearance as much as they could, but some people still recognized them, and assumed it was meant as a ShoutOut.
* PsychicStatic: The nursery rhyme variant is used against Bester.
** Telepaths in general are trained to use this to cloud their own abilities while not actively working.
** Used by Garibaldi while on the run from several Telepaths.
** One guy tries to block Lyta by solving math equations in his head.
* PunyEarthlings: Played straight with regards to a few races' raw physical strength (Minbari, Narn...) compared to humans; but averted in other cases. Minbari come from a planet that is colder than Earth, and temperatures high enough that a human would merely find enormously uncomfortable will kill a Minbari rapidly; also, they become violently deranged when they consume alcohol. The Drazi have the opposite problem; they are far more intolerant of COLD weather than humans are.
* PuppetKing: Cartagia (at first...)
* PuppeteerParasite:
** Used straight with [[spoiler: the creatures that possess the Centauri Regent and Londo]].
** Subverted in "Exogenesis" by the Vindrizi who purposely seek out the downtrodden, such as Lurkers or the terminally-ill, and take possession of their bodies ''under consent'' only. In return for carrying the parasites, the hosts get to share the memories of thousands of lifetimes of the Vindrizi's travel throughout the universe.
** [=PsiCop=] Bester [[MoreThanMindControl subtly controlling]] [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] by enhancing the paranoid tendencies of his mind and planting post-hypnotic suggestions; and the [=PsiCorps=] being able to plant a second "sleeper" personality into people, something which happened to [[spoiler:Talia Winters]].
[[/folder]]
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