History WMG / BabylonFive

* ''Medusa''-class superdreadnought: either the guy who originally came up with this was [[JustForPun stoned]] or the engineers expected the sight of the [[MoreDakka insane number of guns on the damn thing]] (yes, more guns than on the ''Nova'', and larger to boot) had enough guns to leave whoever looked at her blocked as in stone for a few seconds;

* Aurora-class starfury: named after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_%28aircraft%29 Aurora]] UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory;

And even if they weren't actual spacefaring allies of the Shadows 1000 years ago, we know that the Shadows had exerted some influence even on non-spacefaring races, such as introducing the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority "Green/Purple" leadership contest]] in pre-spacefaring Drazi culture, as stated in the Technomage Trilogy.

* ''Medusa''-class superdreadnought: either the guy who originally came up with this was [[JustForPun stoned]] or the engineers expected the sight of the [[MoreDakka insane number of guns on the damn thing]] (yes, [[UpToEleven more guns than on the]] ''[[UpToEleven Nova]]''[[UpToEleven , and larger to boot]]) had enough guns to leave whoever looked at her blocked as in stone for a few seconds;

** Just guessing here (but then, that's what the page is for, right?) but the most obvious 2 points to prevent the burning of Centauri Prime would have been to turn down the ambassadorial post, and not talk to Morden (or just be a bit more careful what he wished for). If he had refused the position on Babylon 5 he wouldn't have been in a position to do everything that he did. The position may have gone to someone with a more level head, who lived in the now rather then in the glory days of the Republic. Someone like Vir, perhaps, who would have kept the position the harmless little diplomatic hole it was meant to be. The second, being careful what he wished for, is pretty self explanatory. If he hadn't made himself such an enticing ally for the Shadows, they wouldn't have looked to set up shop on his planet, thus no need to blow up the Shadow ships, and no angried up Drakh looking for vengeance.

* Minbari Telepaths are shown jamming Shadow vessels lying down on beds with their eyes closed, seemingly not needing line of sight. Lita has to be watching the Shadow vessel.

*** Three of them where attacking ''four'' shadow vessels. They where in a worse position. Plus we are told that Lita NEEDED line of sight, no matter how many humans there where, line of sight is needed.

* One alien, the one who captured dead men's spirits, said that his quarries were not souls but the last flickering remnants of consciousness. He said that they disappeare, very shortly, after death.

[[WMG: When G'kar was giving Lyta the test to see if she would spy on people for him, he wasn't overlooking the possibility Leta would scan him and give him an answer he wanted.]]
Remember, G'kar, like Lyta, has been TouchedByVorlons (specifically, Kosh, who inspired him on his road to enlightenment). If Lyta had scanned him, he'd have realized it out and dropped the offer immediately.

* Given what Pak'ma'ra eat, it is entirely possible that it could only be transited between species by eating infected flesh.

* Well few things, one it was clearly stated that the disease only affected a specif type of cell used by a small number of species for neural conduction, so humanoid or not, any species with a similar enough cell could potentially be infected. Now as to why it wouldn't kill all the other species as fast and completely as the Markab, two things; one the Markab all decided to wall them selves off, all together, and so created the perfect environment for an epidemic to eradicate them (large number of hosts, tightly packed, poor to non-existent medical facilities/supplies) while the other species that had people become infected were probly quick to isolate those individuals before they could spread it to the rest. Two it takes quite a bit for a virus to jump species barriers like that, so it's not at all unbelievable that the version that was able to infect Pak'ma'ra wasn't quite as good at it as it was at infecting Markab, and so spread/killed slower, allowing time for the cure Franklin developed to be used for all non-Markab, (and yes the most likely scenario for HOW the virus managed the cross species jump is something the Pak'ma'ra ate.)

* Recall that Centari once had ''two'' sentient races, the major Centari holiday evolved from decadent feasts held during that time to celibrate the fact that they where not dead yet. The Centari where more technologically advanced, but the other race was more physically powerful. I think the Centari where guided by the Vorlons, and the other race by the Shadows. When the Shadows lost their race they then took this rather un-shadow like race (physically not that impressive, hierarchical, autocratic etc) and meddled with it as a form of payback. Given that the Centari managed to build an empire their homeworld must be somewhere of reasonable strategic merit, perhaps enough that both the Vorlons and Shadows wanted to control the race that evolved there, and in the end neither really did.

Londo's account puts most of the major players in his time at Babylon 5 in central roles in the Earth/Minbari war, but some parts of this don't seem supported by evidence from the series. For example, Sheridan, Franklin and G'kar give no indication at any point that they met before coming to B5. It's also unlikely that the Minbari would have let "Starkiller" go no matter what he said to Delenn. The more logical explanation is that Londo put people he knew (and more importantly, people who were already in the story) into the peace talks section instead of whatever nameless folks were actually there to keep the kids interested. Whether he actually sabotaged the meeting or was just grabbing some extra guilt to wallow in is up for debate.
* I think he up G'kar in it because he knew G'kar was listening and thought it would be funny.

** Highly unlikely, if you remember Delenn's beliefs then she wouldn't want to go beyond the Rim and live forever as that would permenently diminish future generations of Minbari as her soul would not join the others and be reborn in them.

* Alternatively neither Shadows nor Vorlons predicted what happend.

[[WMG: Sinclair/Valen recognised that the Vorlons and Shadows were both amorally manipulating the Younger Races, and left hints to it in Minbari culture]]

Kosh already had a recording of an amplified telepath, complete with telekinetic abilities, and since he didn't use it for Talia he must have wanted it for a different purpose. Why would the Vorlons waste time figuring out how to modify Lyta if they can just use the template they already had? Lyta and Tslia's powers developped in different ways because of what they were practicing, they discovered their abilities in different orders.

When he was born, the Centauri had already occupied Narn for decades. It's likely the Centauri imposed their language and culture on the enslaved population of Narn for their own convenience. (We know eating Spoo is a Centari custom that is still popular among Narns, for example.) G'Kar may have not even learned to speak Narn until he was an adult, when the Centauri left Narn. We've just never learnt this due to the TranslationConvention.

While there are no active telepaths the gene that controls telepathy remains within the Narn population and is simply dormant. After stimulating it with Dust and then having Kosh enter his mind I suspect G'Kar may have permenently awakened his latent telepathic abilities. As we've seen with Ivanova low level telepaths aren't easily detectable and aren't overwhelmed by the thoughts of others, though they do pick up other's emotions. This would explain how G'Kar's HeelFaceTurn can be so complete so fast, his new abilities helped him empathise with the aliens around him and helped him see the big picture. Hell, as each race seems to have it's own specialties when it comes to telepaths perhaps Narns had a natural affinity for empathic abilities. G'Kar would naturally instinctively shy away from making genuine telepathic contact with anyone after his experience with Londo but he would be aware if anyone scanned him, which is why he believes Lyta's refusal to scan others for the Narn in exchange for their money and ships, he knew for a fact she didn't scan him to find the right answer.

I've wondered why a race would refer to themselves in a long-winded manner like that, rather than with a basic word that would be easy for them to use. There may be some "shorthand" word they use routinely, and the 10,000-character word is something more formal or used scientifically (like latin names for species on Earth). Given the Shadows' prodigiousness in genetic engineering, they may (formally) refer to themselves--and probably other species they've encountered and examined--by a reference to their basic genome sequence.

* Heck, at one point the issue of Lennier comes up and Sheriden says something to the effect of "Three's company", and Delenn's response is that among Minbari "three is sacred", which leaves him chuckling awkwardly, even while she looks extremely serious. We don't actually know a great deal about Minbari marriages, and Delenn went to some trouble (including becoming a HalfHumanHybrid) to accommodate humanity's sensibilities. It may be that ExoticExtendedMarriage in groups of three is quite normal for the Minbari. Delenn might have looked distressed when discussing the topic because in reality it would not be unusual for her to be in a threeway marriage and thus this love triangle was not a problem that would normally have come up were she living a Minbari, rather than a human, lifestyle. It might have also influenced her dealings with Neroon, and even Sheriden comments on Delenn still being upset over his death (in a sensitive way).

The first time was in their 'First Empire', the one period of Centauri history where they were completely unarmed. Centauri explorers sailed the ocean of their homeworld and reached the part of the planet inhabitated by the Xon, who exterminated the explorers and, in spite of being quite primitive, managed to build a fleet capable to pass the ocean and tried to exterminate the Centauri. The Houses were born from the ashes of the First Empire, with the Centauri Republic forming when the Houses united to fight and exterminate the Xon.

The Drafa Plague resurfaced at least a year before November 2259. Jha'dur, a wicked [[PlagueMaster Plague Mistress]] with a strange sense of humour, showed up at ''Babylon 5'' in June 2258. Due cultural implications, the Markab were unwilling to even ''try'' and cure it. Please don't think about it before going to sleep.

* 1: to prevent the formation of a continuous dinasty, only the emperor's sons, brothers, nephews and grandnephews are allowed to be heirs, with this same order of precedence, and only if born during the emperor's reign. Children born before or after the emperor's reign are passed over, and other members of his House (that is temporarily suspended until they cannot satisfy this requirement anymore) cannot inherit the throne under this or the second requirement.

* Maybe it is not so dangerous, as it seems. The Vorlons built a stationary jumpgate, that probably opened in a fixed point. So the TSA guarded it for million years and waited for the gate to open (in the movie, the first attacking ships appear just in a couple of minutes after the gate opened). A Valen-class ship openes its own jump point in a random point of space, so the chance of meeting "the locals" is vanishingly small - for example, we don't have a Shadow Battlecrab or a Raiding fleet sitting on every corner of our space.

I remember there being some contention on whether or not VPKs actually blow up the planet or not, since some of the planets had survivors on them. My theory is that they do reduce the target to rubble, just that sometimes the Shadow Base was on the moon. The moon raining down debris is sure apocalyptic, but not something an advanced species can't evacuate with enough ships and significant casualties.

** But still, a Fridge Horror appears: Lyta said, the door has to be opened from both sides. So, if Valen-class ship exists, then there is another way. So, sooner or later, THEY will also find it...

* What we know from The Lost Tales: The travelling through it is much faster, it looks blue-ish. Now remember the Thirdspace movie: Dr. Trent assumed that Thirdspace an provide almost instant travelling, at the space itself can be seen as blueish nothingness. So probably the Alliance reverse-engineered some Vorlon or Thirdspace aliens (aka TSA) technologies and started using Thirdspace as a faster version of Hyperspace.

What we know from The Lost Tales: The travelling through it is much faster, it looks blue-ish. Now remember the Thirdspace movie: Dr. Trent assumed that Thirdspace an provide almost instant travelling, at the space itself can be seen as blueish nothingness. So probably the Alliance reverse-engineered some Vorlon or Thirdspace aliens (aka TSA) technologies and started using Thirdspace as a faster version of Hyperspace.
Why call it "Quantum space"? Because of PR! In any case, some information on 2261 incident leaked, so it is highly likely that people know about some kind of a "very dangerous Thirdspace".
Maybe it is not so dangerous, as it seems. The Vorlons built a stationary jumpgate, that probably opened in a fixed point. So the TSA guarded it for million years and waited for the gate to open (in the movie, the first attacking ships appear just in a couple of minutes after the gate opened). A Valen-class ship openes its own jump point in a random point of space, so the chance of meeting "the locals" is vanishingly small - for example, we don't have a Shadow Battlecrab or a Raiding fleet sitting on every corner of our space.
But still, a Fridge Horror appears: Lyta said, the door has to be opened from both sides. So, if Valen-class ship exists, then there is another way. So, sooner or later, THEY will also find it...

When he traveled back in time, [[spoiler:Sinclair]] realized it was going to be very hard living so far removed in a time from his own, but the one thing he'd miss above all others would be his favorite meal, Swedish meatballs, and so when the war ended, he introduced them to the Minbari, and when they met the Centauri, introduced it to them, who renamed it Roopo balls and tried to convince the other races they had invented it, and it snowballed from there. During the first Centauri occupation of Narn, Swedish meatballs became very popular among the Narn when it was made from they local equivalent of cows, but to distinguish it from the hated Centauri overlords, they renamed it Breen. No, not ''[[Franchise/StarTrek that]]'' Breen. Eventually it was forgotten it had even come from the Centauri, so that a century later, the Narn could happily wolf it down without letting their pride get in the way, and the rest is history!

[[WMG: Swedish meatballs are [[spoiler:Valen's]] favorite food.]]

The West End/East End flub from "Comes The Inquisitor" was never a mistake: the geographic terminology's just changed to suit how urban sprawl has left Whitechapel, and indeed most of the current city, well to the west of the metropolitan region's midpoint.

It is also known that Bester was no ally of President Clark's or his regime, not after knowing of his collusion with the Shadows, who used his beloved fellow teeps ("blips" or not) as ship CPUs and cannon fodder. (Sure there was a big faction of PsiCorps that went along with Clark and took advantage of the power he gave them, but there seemed to be another--including Bester--that at least secretly dissented.) And he'd worked with Sheridan before in an EnemyMine fashion, and also knew of course that Babylon 5 held the cryogenically frozen body of the love of his life, and probably would have trusted Sheridan more than most to do right by her as best he could (and was of course outraged later at finding out how Sheridan used some of those frozen telepaths to sabotage the Earthforce ships--but was assured she wasn't one of those so used). Long story short, he at least had no real desire to have Sheridan taken prisoner by the Clark regime--and that was not the goal of his plot using Garibaldi anyway (instead it was to prevent a genocide or mass enslavement of telepaths (or something he suspected Edgars of plotting that might be of that magnitude)--commendable if you think about it although the method wasn't very nice for one, and as it turned out two, of our heroes). So at the very least I think he told him, and also allowed the information to be telepathically retrievable (while the "Asimov" was locked much more tightly in his head), to at least give Garibaldi a chance to regain trust and maybe rescue Sheridan and have Clark humiliated that way (as well as restore this effective leader of the opposition to at least keep Clark in check if not overthrow him). He wouldn't know if Garibaldi would succeed, or even be able to regain the trust of the friends his actions betrayed, but he knew Garibaldi was capable, and that at least Lyta could discern the truth from his mind, as she did. At the very least he consciously leaves the possibility open to chance, while securing the "Asimov" so that Garibaldi cannot get revenge on him personally.

* See GalaxyQuest for more information on this...

* Aurora-class starfury: named after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_%28aircraft%29 Aurora]] ConspiracyTheory;

While most of the Thirdspace ships are [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]], the small fighters appear to be a more technological design, and in outline they resemble Vorlon fighters. It's possible they were Vorlon ships taken over by the Thirdspace aliens when the gateway was originally constructed in the distant past.

* This would actually explain those scenes early in the show where G'Kar would be speaking to Na'Toth, both Narns, alone and yet still using human standards to judge things like time. If G'Kar was rasied thinking Centauri and the younger Na'Toth thinks in Narn terms then thinking in human terms would be a middle ground they were both equally familiar with and would facilitate communication!

* Well, Susan did state that [[spoiler: sometimes, she was the one who reached out and touched her mother's mind, so she'd probably be able to "echo" Talia in an intimate situation.]] Plus, it adds a whole level of FridgeBrilliance and metaphor to the early stages of their relationship: Susan afraid that Talia won't be open and accepting of "someone like her," Talia sounding Susan out and trying to confirm if her suspicions are correct and there's a layer there Susan doesn't want to acknowledge publicly. "Flirting in code," as it were, until they're both comfortable enough and sure enough of each other to take the next step.

Yes it does, it's just all personal and descriptive pronouns are the same word, zathras (lower case z)

While most of the Thirdspace ships are [[Eldritch Abomination Eldritch Abominations]], the small fighters appear to be a more technological design, and in outline they resemble Vorlon fighters. It's possible they were Vorlon ships taken over by the Thirdspace aliens when the gateway was originally constructed in the distant past.