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1[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
2* Londo and G'Kar are not minor characters, though important, next to the stations crew, but are actually the two main protagonists. All the other characters are really just supporting cast to help telling their very own story.
3** Also, Londo isn't just an alcoholic. He is also addicted to power and prestige. In his constant effort to gain more respect he allies himself with other power hungry men, never notices how much damage they are doing to others, and when he realizes what he has done, he can never turn his back on his allies because he can't cope with losing their respect. He lies to what few friends he has left, to hide his association with other conspirators, and when openly accused becomes violently angry and makes up justifications for what he did. And every time he manages to break free, it takes only a tiny nudge by a former ally or a personal tragedy to forget about all his promises to himself to never get drawn into it again. Mr. Morden also uses the classic drug dealer tactic of offering some first tastes of great power for free, but later makes increasingly greater demands for his continued service as Londos ace in the hole.
4** WordOfGod on several occasions has it that the entire main arc is essentially Londo's story. Londo even gets the very first spoken lines in the entire canon, the opening narration of "The Gathering":
5-->'''Londo''': "I was there at the dawning of the third age of mankind..."
6* President Clark's entire administration has some very chilling real life echoes in at least two, if not three, different American Presidential periods - and one of them didn't even start until the 2000's rolled around (i.e. after the show's run had ended). Pure brilliance on Straczynski's part.
7** Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's competing presidential runs have, again, made the Clark administration resonate very uncomfortably with reality.
8** JMS has stated that one of the things he was trying to get across with the Clark administration is that this sort of thing can happen any time, anywhere people are willing to believe in the Big Lie. When someone smugly stated that it could never happen in 20th Century America, JMS immediately pointed to Sen. Joseph [=McCarthy=] and the House Unamerican Activities Committee.
9* The Vorlon method of teaching the younger races doesn't work and never would! Just look at the Minbari, the only race we know to have significant long term influence by the Vorlons, they seem to have barely progressed technologically in the thousand years since the last Shadow war. The Vorlon teachings make a society so disciplined and rigid that there's little room for creative thought which leads to few innovations and improvements. Sure, to a Vorlon taking a few thousand years to progress is not a concern, but they are immortal, the younger races can't do that because they don't live long enough to benefit from that kind of lifestyle. You'll notice that every single advancement we know of from the Minbari occurred due to direct alien influence (Valen restructured Minbari society and made all the castes equal, the Vorlons allowed the Minbari to use some of their technology to create the White Stars and everything that happens to them during the series happens due to Delenn's constant contact with humans). Notice how humanity managed to come up with ships that can fight and destroy White Stars in a little over a decade after being completely ineffective against the Minbari during their war? And all they had to work with was one Shadow ship for a couple of years, while the Minbari were being influenced by the Vorlons for centuries and still needed the Vorlons to directly give them the technology. While the Shadows' methods go too far as well their methods actually do get results, it's just they go too far and get themselves destroyed. The series is about finding a "balance between order and chaos," as Delenn had said in "Into the Fire." "Who are you" and "what do you want" are both fundamentally important questions for all sentient beings, defining where you stand and where you are going, respectively. Focusing on just one without the other each carry its own set of dysfunctions. As an old saying goes: "give your children both roots, and wings."
10** Actually, the Minbari ''did'' visibly progress technologically: back in the previous Shadow War their main weapons were apparently short-ranged antimatter weapons (the ExpandedUniverse explains that the Vree antimatter weapons and reactors are based on Minbari wrecks from that era), by the seventeenth century they've gone to fission cannons (the direct ancestor of the fusion cannon) as secondary weapons and longer-ranged molecular agitators as main weapons while keeping a single antimatter weapon (the antimatter converter) for OrbitalBombardment, by the 20th they've replaced the fission cannons and molecular agitators with their evolved variants (the fusion cannons, in use on ''all'' 23rd century ships as a dual-use weapon, and the molecular disruptor respectively) and improved their jump drives and stealth, and in mid-21st century introduced the powerful and long-range neutron laser, and all of it without Vorlon help. Then again, that progress came after Valen, who ''did'' introduce a balance of sort...
11** A better example would have been the Orieni, an ExpandedUniverse race that worshipped the Vorlon as gods and wanted to spread their philosophy of order through the cosmos. At the start of their war with the Centauri in the early 21st century, they held the advantage thanks to slightly superior technology and much better crews and officers, but as the war progressed the Centauri adapted and gained the upper hand while the Orieni refused to change in the slightest, resulting ultimately in a (costly) Centauri victory.
12* Why is "''ahel''" ("Ah, hell!") Minbari for "continuous fire"? It's something Valen/Sinclair said once when he was backed into a corner and forced to shoot his way out.
13* The Shadows believed that they would die if anything Vorlon touched Z'ha'dum. Most assumed it's the White Star that did it. However, something Vorlon touched the planet before then: Sheridan was carrying the piece of Kosh with him. The Shadows [[SelfFulfillingProphecy sealed their own fates]] by bringing him there.
14* Everyone we see answer Morden's question ("What do you want?") gets what he asked for; Londo gets a return to the Centauri Empire's imperialist days, and later G'Kar gets to see the Centauri Empire bombed to rubble, and in between, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Vir gets to wiggle his fingers at Morden's head on a spike]]. Of them, though, Vir was the only one who asked for something which, by the time the request was fulfilled, he actually ''wanted.''
15** There's also a theory that Morden reacted so badly to Vir's answer because he knew that, one way or another, the Shadows saw to it that everyone who answered that question got what they asked for.
16** Vir's request is punctuated by a sarcastic inquiry as to whether or not Morden's associates can arrange that for him. Ultimately, Vir's request is fulfilled by none other than one of Morden's associates, Londo Molari.
17** Even then, the circumstances around that involved Vir having to [[TheseHandsHaveKilled compromise himself somewhat]] and get involved in the notoriously dangerous politics of the Centauri court. Not to mention what Vir and Londo's relationship [[WeUsedToBeFriends will be put through]] as part of the Drakh's [[PuppeteerParasite revenge]] for Londo's ][[HeelFaceTurn betrayal of the Shadows.]]
18** As a cherry on top, Vir's request was to "live just long enough" to see Morden's head on a spike. ''That also nearly came to be'' - just as Vir was waving his goodbyes the Vorlon Planet Killer was positioning itself to fire upon Centauri Prime and only left because a completely unexpected event elsewhere required its withdrawal.
19* Morden visiting Lennier on the Day of the Dead seems fairly random, a surprise for the sake of a surprise, until I realized it makes perfect sense given Lennier's character arc for the season, Morden was the representative of the Shadows who always asked "What do you want?" and Lennier is now blinded completely by what he wants, Delenn. Just as [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Morden led those who answered his question into tragedy]] ([[ShutUpHannibal except Vir]], who ''actually'' got what he wanted), so too will Lennier's pursuit of what he wants.
20* In The Gathering, [[spoiler: the Fake!Lyta]] attacks Dr Kyle using what will later be shown to be a common Minbari pike fighting move, hinting at the assassin's true identity.
21* In ''War Without End'', after they are informed of the special devices to protect them during time travel, Ivanova mentions the pilot who died of old age after being exposed to the time rift, then looks at Sinclair, significantly aged since his last appearance, and declares that he must have been lucky during his own visit. That could also be the reason for Garibaldi going bald.
22** Though Ivanova's convinced it was due to a NoodleIncident involving them and a smuggler.
23* After Sheridan is captured in season four, we see him being worked over by Clark's men, who use drugs and torture in an attempt to get him to work with them. You would naturally wonder why they don't use telepaths, who have the ability to overwrite part of people's personality, like they did with Garibaldi in the same season. We discover in the next season that carrying Kosh inside him made Sheridan invulnerable to telepathic manipulation. (It also gave him the ability to read Vorlon, which was revealed even earlier)
24** They might not have even tried. Sheridan's interrogator states that they needed Sheridan's "conversion" to be genuine, as replacing him or using a virtual mockup would be noticed. Presumably, if a telepath altered his personality, another telepath of the same or greater rating would notice what had been done.
25* In "Dust to dust," Londo makes Vir promise not to let anyone think of his job at Minbar as a joke. On rewatch it's possible to tell that there was something Vir wasn't telling Londo when he made the promise. Vir was using his position to save Narns, which makes the whole scene ironic.
26* Why, in the pilot, did Kosh expose himself at all to "Sinclair" on his arrival? It seems like a strange, forced thing for a super-secretive Vorlon to do that right out the gate - it's not like it would have been out of character for him to just stare at a hand extended in greeting. It's because [[spoiler:Kosh may have had a moment of weakness on meeting someone who is, to him, probably an old friend: Valen]]. That moment of initial contact could also have been useful to [[spoiler:telepathically manipulate or plant a piece of himself in Sinclair secretly]], especially since Vorlons tend to be very controlling in their indirect, cryptic, almost deniable way.
27* At the beginning of "Atonement", Ivanova is headed to a Drazi festival wearing the Green Leader sash. A few scenes later, we see Ivanova on crutches, clearly the worse for wear. It's more than one Drazi year since "The Geometry of Shadows", but this is likely the direct result of her "solution" in that episode (she had all the green sashes dyed purple), and the "festival" may have been the official ending of the conflict.
28* Speaking of the Green and Purple Drazi from Geometry of Shadows, on hindsight, the conflict between the two seemed like a foreshadowing of the Shadow war? The Greens are the Vorlons and the Purples the Shadows. Both sides respected the rules of combat, but then the Greens started killing the Purples (the Vorlons started using planet killers in order to "kill" those influenced by the Shadows).
29** Also speaking of "Geometry of Shadows" and the Great War, WordOfGod has it that the first of the Techno-Mages had learned their pseudo-magic from the Shadows, although they renounced their ties to them many centuries ago. Small wonder that they pulled up their stakes and left known space when the Shadow/Vorlon conflict was imminent: if they'd stayed, then either the Shadows would've tried to coerce them into fighting on the Shadow side, or the Vorlons - who never do anything by halves, when it comes to eradicating Shadow-influenced societies - would have wiped out ''every planet the Techno-mages lived on,'' simply because their distant predecessors had once listened to the Vorlons' adversaries.
30* Londo and G'Kar discover Na'toth in the palace dungeon after finding a bowl of fresh spoo, which Narn consider a delicacy. Why feed a prisoner a delicacy? Maybe the Centauri guards thought (or were told, by her) fresh spoo was as disgusting to Narn as it was to them. One imagines their reaction to G'Kar picking up the bowl and chowing down.
31** Alternately, the guards might have been bringing it to her out of pity. [[LoopholeAbuse Perhaps they were never ordered not to feed the prisoner a delicacy.]]
32* In ''Day of the Dead,'' Londo can't understand how Reebo and Zooty are supposed to be comedic. Meanwhile, humans find the duo uproariously funny. The viewer doesn't get to see much of their routine, but will probably have a hard time "getting it," just like Londo. Now think of this: Humanity's culture hasn't been stagnant for centuries like Centauri culture, it has remained ever-changing (just think of 200 years' worth of internet memes). Londo is conservative, so he doesn't understand, while Reebo and Zooty are the hippest beings in space for lightyears. ''Neither Londo nor the viewer understands Reebo and Zooty's humor because they are 200 years behind!''
33** It's also possible that the joke is one of those "you had to be there" things. It was hilarious in context, but to someone only hearing about it via the hype machine, the joke goes over their heads. In Usenet, JMS specifically compared it to Steve Martin's {{Catchphrase}} "Excuuuuuuuse me!" At the time it was uproarious, and repeated to memetic proportions. But if someone were to say it today, it'd be obnoxious.
34* Londo established early on that many Centauri have prophetic dreams about their fate. When reviewing the career of the Centauri Emperor Turhan - who ends Centauri mistreatment of Narns, kept making peace offerings to them, and allowing the Narns to claim more and more Centauri territory as a means of atonement - it's likely that Turhan saw his death would signal the beginning of another Centauri/Narn War and sought to do whatever he could to prevent it or at least give the Narns a fighting chance.
35** Look at how Turhan behaves during his episode: he departs for Babylon 5 acting as though he knew he wasn't coming back; and he keeps asking to see Kosh, because he knew he wouldn't die until he'd actually met a Vorlon (to ask the question "How will it all end?").
36** Borders on FridgeHorror because Turhan might have foreseen his departure would mean the death of his closest friend the Prime Minister (whose own prophetic dreams probably told him the same thing).
37** And as an example of UnintendedConsequences, Turhan's overtures to the Narns weakened Centauri position among the galactic races and instigated too many court plots and plans for war against Narn the first chance they could get.
38** A nitpick: not all Centauri dream of their death (Lord Kiro, for example, not only didn't dream of it but was actually skeptical about the prophecy of his death being at the hands of some unknown "shadows", when he ''did'' die at the hands of the Shadows). That said, Turhan's wife was a seer, and, according to the RPG, he came to Babylon 5 ''knowing'' he'd die there... But not what Londo and Refa were pulling.
39* Connected to the previous, Centauri pilots and Londo specifically are noted to be ''complete madmen'' in dangerous situations. Taking turns so violent the pilot blacks out but has an advantageous position when he regains consciousness is apparently standard procedure according to what we hear during a Starfury training exercise. If they already know in advance if they'll die in combat or not, either way they'll naturally act like they have nothing to lose.
40** As pointed out above, not all Centauri know how they'll die, and not all of them fight like madmen. Then again, Londo ''did'' know how he'd die, or at least ''believed'' he did, so that would explain it.
41** On the topic of Centauri pilots, if you watch the space battle between the humans and the Centauri in ''The Lost Tales,'' note that the Centauri ships are demonstrably more powerful, easily outmaneuvering even the famously agile Starfuries (possibly aided by the blackout tactic, as well as more sophisticated technology).
42** On the note of the death dreams: It wouldn't matter if the pilot knew he would die ''in'' combat or ''out'' of combat. If he was destined to die in combat, he could fight with abandon knowing it would end the same. If he was destined not to, he could fight with abandon knowing he'd survive. As for those pilots who ''didn't'' have such visions, they might claim to for the sake of bravado.
43* During the Earth-Minbari War, the Minbari seemed to follow some of Clausewitz's dictates, namely 'political' attacks to weaken the enemy (the threats that isolated Earth from their allies and allow Mars' rebellion) and aiming for the center of gravity (the ''Black Star'' was destroyed early in the war when raiding the ''Sol system''). Valen was originally a Terran soldier of British descent, with British military thinking having been greatly influenced by Clausewitz.
44* In ''There All The Honor Lies,'' Sheridan is sent by Kosh to experience a "moment of perfect beauty." He enters a room and encounters a robed figure asking for an offering. In exchange for a part of his uniform which Sheridan admits is almost of no value, a room full of the robed figures perform a beautiful song for him. Fast forward to the series finale, ''Sleeping in Light,'' and Vir relates a story Londo told about Pak'ma'ra singing, and how their voices were the most beautiful things he'd ever heard, and it becomes apparent that Sheridan might have been audience to a Pak'ma'ra choir. Where else would he find himself in a position to enjoy such a thing than in darkness, unable to judge the aliens based on their outward appearance?
45** The only issue with that is that the robed figures sing a real-life monastic chant, specifically part of Christmas Mass. Why would Pak'ma'ra be singing in Latin?
46*** Maybe they [[KlingonsLoveShakespeare just happen to like it?]]
47** From the same episode: The plot is kicked into action when Sheridan's comm link is [[PercussivePickpocket stolen by a thief]], who he goes chasing off after in the heat of the moment. In a later scene, they discuss how stealing the link was pointless, because a stolen link is by definition worthless, since it gets remotely locked out and flagged as stolen. Later on, when the robed figure asks for an offering, Sheridan admits he has nothing of significant value on him, and can only offer part of his uniform, essentially a worthless trinket. The robed figure accepts it. Many things we value only have the value that we put in them, even if only in the moment.
48* Vir drowning his sorrows with a Shirley Temple? Well, it's not like his species ''can't'' drink alcohol, but consider Vir's boss and the shit he gets himself into that Vir has to end up fielding in some form or another. [[INeedAFreakingDrink He'd really like a freaking drink]], but he probably can't afford to let his guard down at all.
49* After he becomes emperor, Londo tells Sheridan that by getting drunk, he can put his keeper to sleep and give him some brief moments of freedom, presumably while himself on the edge of an alcohol-induced blackout. Why would the keeper even allow him to do this? Because alcohol is ''addictive.'' Londo got his keeper hooked on his own drug of choice and now the keeper wants it as badly as he does, but lacks the tolerance for it.
50* After their fight lands Marcus in the hospital, Neroon visits and shares an epiphany he had about how he and Marcus are not so different. Marcus requests that for his next revelation, he find a method of getting there which isn't so painful, a remark that Neroon finds hilarious. We learn in Season 5 that Minbari humor centers around the failure to reach enlightenment (and puns). Marcus's observation about Neroon's difficulty finding enlightenment without beating someone senseless is thus particularly funny to a Minbari warrior.
51* Explaining the Plot of the Gathering.\
52Using what we know from the main series (Shadow philosophy, Sinclair's forgotten day) and the deleted aspects (Minbari Warrior Caste destroying Babylon 5, Takashima hosting the Control agent personality rather than Talia/shooting Garibaldi in the back), one can reconstruct what is going on in ''The Gatherings'' background. The Shadows ultimately want to reduce Vorlon influence, trying to do this by assassinating the first Vorlon Ambassador we've ever heard about and framing humans as the culprit - Vorlons become more isolated and definitely won't get along with the humans. The Shadows have either corrupted or exploited a disgruntled Warrior Caste clan who feel humiliated by surrendering at the Battle of the Line and likely consider it an obscenity for a human to have a Minbari soul. The Narns are secretly negotiating with the Warrior Caste for stronger allies and firepower, to ensure they can never be enslaved again and hurt the Centauri. The Shadow's human agents lead to the activation of Takashima. Del Varner is just a mercenary looking for a big score and thus willing to risk returning to EA space.\
53Kosh either knows or suspects an attempt on his life, hence the arriving two days early and disabling docking bay cameras. The conspirators adapt to various set backs (Varner missing his rendezvous, Kosh arriving early...) through careful coordination. G'Kar has public confrontations with Takashima to suggest the Narns couldn't have been involved and deflect suspicion. The Assassin and Varner meet, the assassin kills Varner and takes his place, removing a witness. He uses Takashima's entry codes to place blame on the humans (likely just the Minbari throwing the humans under the bus). Takashima keeps the conspirators informed, detains Sinclair at the vital moment and clears the logs, informs the Vorlons immediately about Kosh's assault, informs G'Kar about the antidote who then informs the assassin in the Alien Sector, and runs interference for the boarding pod - it's notable that C&C only detects it when she's NOT in the dome. She is also notably angry/frustrated when Kosh arrives early - her dual personality bleeding into the forefront.\
54G'Kar suggests a formal alliance with Delenn, as it's similar to what is going on with the warrior caste, but she turns him down. When he tries to argue using the Minbari embarassment and possible alienation of the Gray Council, she strikes out - he doesn't know she's Gray Council and was personally responsible for both the War and the Surrender. Londo is specifically detained in the casino by the assassin posing as a gullible patron to provide an ironclad alibi, Centauri have no Vorlon influence and the Shadows likely wanted to use them later. Takashima also supports Kyle's idea of using Lyta to scan the Vorlon, both providing the EA with intelligence about the Vorlon mind and revealing the apparent Sinclair as the assassin. This would also anger the Vorlons - "You dare scan one of US?" She notably uses an illogical argument to support this ("I haven't broken the rules in a long time, so I guess I'm about due..."). Takashima was likely also the source for the conspirators framing Sinclair's girlfriend as an accessory - providing the poison to build a better case against the Commander. If Kosh hadn't arrived early, she would have long before the Ambassador would have. For his part, Garibaldi runs an honest investigation but no one believes he's up to the challenge of solving the case in time (the Senator questions his credentials and Garibaldi notably questions himself).\
55In the end, the assassin is defeated, Takashima's role is never revealed (possibly leading to other conspirators recalling Takashima so as to avoid her exposure), G'Kar is blackmailed, and it ultimately boils down to a rogue Minbari assassin trying to undermine Babylon 5. Lyta and Kyle are transferred back to Earthdome for debriefing due to their intimacy with the Vorlon (conveniently clearing the way for the new Control agent, Talia, to come aboard), and life goes on. Takashima likely worked to clean up any remaining incriminating evidence. The only hanging threads are - what did the Assassin mean by "there is a hole in your mind" and how did Kosh get exposed to the poison?. The former is explained, the latter is commented on but never explained.
56* In ''Knives,'' Urza challenges Londo to a duel to the death after learning that Londo was allies with Lord Refa. At a party where he happened to have invited dozens of Centauri nobles, which means that there is no way for Londo to back out with shaming himself in front of many of the Republic's movers and shakers. First off, it's not clear how many Centauri nobles routinely find themselves on B5, and second off, Urza mentions that knowledge is a basic tool of politics, and that his is considerable. It seems very possible that Urza already knew of Londo's relationship with Lord Refa, and engineered the whole situation to force the duel, which he planned to throw so his family would be protected by Londo's under the law. Convincing Londo to publicly denounce Lord Refa instead would have also been a win for him, making the whole situation a potential XanatosGambit, assuming Londo too proud to both not denounce Refa and also dishonor himself by backing out of the duel.
57* In ''Legacies'', Neroon comments that Sinclair "talks like a Minbari." While this is directly shown to be {{Foreshadowing}} later on in "A War Without End," it doubles as HilariousInHindsight because Neroon said those words to the man [[spoiler:who would become Valen.]] In other words, it is actually [[RussianReversal the Minbari who talk like Sinclair.]]
58* In ''Meditations on the Abyss'', Vir has a bug planted on him by a Drazi grocery store clerk. When he discovers it, he reacts in an a rather un-Vir-like way, going back to his office to get a sword and return to smash up the store and threaten the clerk's life. While this may be out of character for Vir, suggesting that he had just had too much and finally broke (or stood up for himself, depending), he was ''acting ambassador for the Centauri.'' Vir the individual can just let things slide off. Insulting Ambassador Cotti, however, is insulting the Centauri, and cannot be tolerated.
59* In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E22TheFallOfNight Fall of Night]]", we get a quick reminder that the episode takes place around Christmas when Ivanova presents Captain Sheridan with a gift, a piece of a supposedly-invincible Minbari warship that he famously destroyed during the Earth-Minbari War. That would make his survival from the attempted tram bombing a ChristmasMiracle - he's even rescued and brought safely down by an angel! [[spoiler: Well, Kosh masquerading as one. A Vorlon intervening to save a human from a Centauri assassination plot is probably equally miraculous, considering.]]
60* Missiles are not a commonly-used weapon in the series, and [[spoiler: both the Vorlons and especially the Shadows]] are known for their distinctive and deadly beam weapons. So why fire missiles at Sheridan's ship in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS04E06IntoTheFire Into The Fire]]", which could be (and repeatedly were) intercepted, instead of something that would blow it up immediately? Because [[spoiler: Lorien was also on board and they couldn't bear to kill him, so they were giving him an opportunity to switch to his energy form and flee before impact]].
61* Londo compares his wives to three of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, Pestilence, Famine, and Death. While it's been observed by WordOfGod and in the novels that this makes Londo the fourth Horseman, War, the same could be said for his lover, Adira. When we first meet her, she's at the center of a plot to steal incriminating information about many of the Centauri houses from Londo. When she's supposed to visit Babylon 5 again, she is murdered by Morden, who places the blame on Lord Refa, triggering a vendetta between the two houses leading to Refa's [[CompleteMonster well-earned death]]. When Londo learns who was really responsible, he launches a nuclear attack to destroy a Shadow base on Centauri Prime (willingly killing some of his own people in the process to avoid warning the Shadows) and has Morden executed.
62* Minbari warcruisers have a huge weak spot in the aft "fin" that make them helpless when severed or destroyed, but only Minbari warships have this characteristic, even when it comes to ships with artificial gravity or Minbari ''civilian'' ships. Seems odd... Except Minbari ships also have stealth technology: the drive fin is likely a giant ''heat sink[=/radiator=] device'' to store waste heat when the stealth is engaged and then radiate it quickly into space once it's not necessary anymore, and is linked to the main reactor, to the point of including part of it, because that's where most waste heat comes from. Civilian ships also have stealth technology, but since their reactors are much less powerful, their heat sinks and radiators are smaller.
63* May not have been intentional enough for a ShoutOut, but in "Born To The Purple," as Garibaldi tries to track down unauthorized Gold Channel use but keeps hitting roadblocks, Ivanova suggests that maybe he's just chasing what Russian pilots used to call "[[GripingAboutGremlins Gremlins]]." ''British'' pilots coined the term in real life, so this could be a subtle bit of CulturalPosturing, of the same kind [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Chekhov]] would routinely engage in.
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65[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
66* According to information in the [[ExpandedUniverse books ''The Shadow Within'' and the ''Passing of the Techno-Mages'' trilogy]], Morden had a wife and daughter that were supposedly trapped, fully conscious, in a bubble of hyperspace after the transport they were travelling in exploded ([[spoiler: which the Shadows offered to end with merciful deaths in exchange for Morden's services to them]]). Knowing this, one wonders if the man Bester's apprentice "spaced" (in hyperspace) in the episode "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" suffered a similar fate--conscious but trapped in some sort of eternal (or very very long) limbo in hyperspace, with no way out. We don't know much about the properties of hyperspace, but it seems that under some circumstances anyway it is liveable. And we know that PsiCorps or their agents have used lifelong mental tortures as punishment (a la the fate of the serial killer of telepaths which Lyta described in another episode). Imagine being trapped, forever, in that weird and unnerving soup that is hyperspace....
67* Delenn outlives every person who mattered to her, except maybe Vir, likely including her son. Marcus, Londo, G'Kar, Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, Zach, Lyta, Lennier and all dead for certain, it's stated something very bad happened to David Sheridan, possibly killing him as well, leaving only Vir in question. And not only are they dead but her loved ones sacrifices are being forgotten and insulted by the current generation. No wonder she's spent decades in seclusion.
68** David had a Keeper put on him on his 16th birthday from the gift Londo gave Delenn and Sheridan, requiring them to return to Centauri Prime where Londo dies.
69** David is still alive as of "Sleeping in Light" when he's an adult and serving as a Ranger. Given that humans routinely live over one hundred years by this time, he's likely to still be alive unless something has happened to him. Delenn may even have grandchildren and great-grandchildren depending upon how compatible David's genetics are with either humans or Minbari. However, Vir likely is not alive if the timeline given by Galen in "The Lost Tales" holds true. Galen states that twenty years in the future (from 2271) Prince Vintari will take the Centauri throne. Londo reigns for 18 years, which means that Vir gets 12 years as emperor. Of course, since Sheridan's actions altered the timeline, Vir may still be on the throne by that point, to be succeeded later by either Vintari or Vir's own son. Given that the academic panel in "Deconstruction of Falling Stars" didn't mention anything about a war with the Centauri in the hundred years since the founding of the Interstellar Alliance, it's likely Sheridan's plan of influencing Vintari to be less hostile toward Earth worked. And, given that Sheridan and Delenn fostered Vintari, it's likely she formed a bond with the Centauri prince as well. And these are only the people we see on-screen: Delenn has her own blood relatives, fellow Religious caste members, etc. So Delenn isn't as completely without emotional bonds by that point as one might suppose, although it's understandable that she'd take extreme exception to those who'd run down the legacy of her loved ones.
70** David is conceived in season Five (2262), and if Delenn's gestation is similar to humans, he'd have been born late in that year or (more likely) early in 2263. Sheridan went to Zha'ha'dum in late 2260 and was given 20 years of resurrected life, putting "Sleeping in Light" in early 2281. David's 18 at most when his father dies (Sheridan specifically says in "Objects at Rest" he won't be around when his child "comes of age" at 21) and if he inherited either species' normal lifespan, it's likely he's still alive by "Deconstruction." Of course, accidents happen to Rangers, and it's possible a hybrid wouldn't live as long as either parent species, but there's no reason to think David wouldn't survive and as Delenn's repeatedly referred to as "half human, half Minbari" even if she culturally identifies as Minbari, David's 3/4 human and likely compatible with humans.
71** Given that Delenn herself is a descendant of Valen, there's a strong precedent for the transformation making its subject capable of reproducing with the race they'd been altered to resemble.
72** "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" mentions a prophecy by Delenn III. This may be a descendant of David.
73* In the episode ''Intersections In Real Time,'' the interrogator mentions that he takes a little bit of poison daily, so that he gradually builds up an immunity. He feels it is a metaphor for something, but he can't quite think of what it might be. He spends the entire episode declaring (entirely unironically) that [[TwoPlusTortureMakesFive the Truth]] is entirely arbitrary, and trying to bring Sheridan around to admit that. He has been touting Clark's propaganda for so long, he seemingly believes it by now, even as unbelievable as it seems to Sheridan and the viewers. This of course, blinds him to the very metaphor he is trying to explain. It's pretty much the only time in the episode that he seems to falter during his battle of wills with Sheridan.
74* If the Vorlons weren't stopped, they could have destroyed Earth and Mars after destroying Centauri Prime. President Clark made a deal with the Shadows and a Shadow ship was buried on Mars.
75* In "The Parliament of Dreams," Garibaldi attends a Centauri religious ceremony as part of the command staff. Centauri ceremonies are week-long booze-ups, and he's a recovering [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]].
76
77[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
78* Michael Garibaldi, the brilliant security chief, failed to realize that forcibly seceding from the Earth Alliance would result in a disruption of his postal service? The same postal service provided by the Earth Alliance? Seems like a bit of an odd blind spot for his deductive skills.
79** I don't think he had missed the fact that postal service would be disrupted, he was just pissed about the extra fees.
80* In "A Late Delivery From Avalon," Marcus proposes that [=McIntyre=] might actually be the real King Arthur, preserved by the Vorlons in much the same way that Sebastian a/k/a Jack the Ripper was. Franklin objects, saying that 'Arthur's' speech patterns are too modern by about 1400 years. A very logical objection...except that Sebastian's speech patterns should be about 350 years out of date as well (of course, the only major character he interacts with for a significant length of time is Delenn, and [[TranslationConvention their entire conversation may have been in Minbari]]). Consider how well Shakespeare's works or the original King James Bible holds up for modern English readers to see what a difference this should make.
81** It's pretty much stated that Sebastian has been awakened from time to time for similar purposes, so it's entirely possible that at least some of his speech patterns have evolved over time as he's experienced future time periods. The Vorlons seem also to have extended his life, so Sebastian may have ''experienced'' [[OlderThanTheyLook more years than his appearance would suggest]], even taking his [[HumanPopsicle periods of long sleep]] into account.
82** Also it has been suggested by Arthur C. Clarke that linguistic drift stopped once it became possible to record the human voice (which happened about a decade before the Whitechapel murders). So it's quite possible that whenever English is being spoken no translation is being done. Since it's possible for a modern English speaker to understand Jane Austen, they should be able to understand Sebastian (especially since he knows he's talking to someone of a different background, so would make his speech as general as possible, avoiding all colloquialism).
83* If the opening narration from Seasons 1-3 is supposed to be some kind of historical record, like diary entries or what have you, there should be no reference from Sinclair to "the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind." He was long gone before the Old Ones bugged out.
84** Also, in Londo's narration that opens ''The Gathering,'' he states that B5 achieved its greatness "under the leadership of its final commander." It shows admirable foresight from JMS that he didn't name that commander. The problem is, the last commander of B5 we see is ''Lochley.'' Or Zach Allen, depending on how you interpret his role in the station's decommissioning.
85** Possibly Allen ceded nominal command to Sheridan ''just'' before the place was demolished, for old time's sake.
86** The 1998 [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion Special Edition]] of ''The Gathering'' [[{{Retcon}} changes the line]] to "under the leadership of its commander," suggesting that "final commander" was originally meant to refer to Sinclair before he left the show. Although the original line still works if you consider the ExactWords, since Sheridan and Lochley both held the higher rank of Captain, so Sinclair really was the last ''Commander''.
87* In "Legacies" the command staff is rattled by a Minbari ship approaching with open gun ports until Delenn explains the gesture. So after a misinterpretation of the gun ports open approach caused the Earth/Minbari War - ten years later the fact that the warrior caste does this has STILL not been explained to the humans?
88** Likely the standard Minbari protocol when dealing with outside races has been changed to "keep gunports closed" in order to prevent such a misunderstanding from happening again. Neroon's ship was a special circumstance; it was carrying the body of Shai Alyt Bramner, and Neroon himself is shown to be a racist from the get-go (believing humans inferior, and [[PoorCommunicationKills refusing to explain his actions to them]]), so it's not a stretch to believe that he saw Minbari traditions as taking precedence over outside-contact protocol. Delenn, of course, has firsthand knowledge of the pitfalls of this particular tradition, and once she realized what was happening, she moved quickly to prevent a misunderstanding.
89* Londo is the Prime Minister and the heir to the throne, but he still has to take commercial transports to get back to homeworld. The Centauri seem really cheap. Also, G'Kar talks about booking a seat next to Londo. (He calls the aisle seat, har har.) Don't they have sleeper cabins for a four-days trip? Especially on Centauri transports, they do have anti-grav. Drazi transports you might understand being strapped to a seat, they don't even have gravity!
90** Given the state of Centauri politics, and as many enemies as Londo has made in his rise to power, it's at least possible (if not spoken) that this is either some government official's idea of putting Londo in his place, or of how much importance the court officially holds the position of Prime Minister in, entirely apart from how much power Londo directly held while filling that office.
91** It is also possible that shuttles like his personal flyer don't have the life support endurance for a trip of that length, and diverting a warship to play taxi would overstress the Centauri military. At the time Londo is appointed Prime Minister, the Centauri Republic is still fighting virtually every one of its neighbors, and Londo has made his opinion that they were dangerously overextended known.
92** On Zhabar (Drazi homeworld), Garibaldi is attacked by some guys in black cloaks. He grabs a button off one of them which Londo identifies (after randomly walking into a meeting in Sheridan's office) as coming from the coat of a Centauri royal guard. Why were the guards sent ''[[VillainBall in-uniform]]'' on a covert mission?

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