History Fridge / BabylonFive

* 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 their 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 occured 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 had Vorlon access 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."

** 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 cosmo: 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.

* 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: Sheriden was carrying the piece of Kosh with him. The Shadows [[SelfFulfillingProphecy sealed their own fates]] by bringing him there.
* Everyone we see answer Morden's question ("What do you want?") gets what he asked for; Londo gets a return to 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''.

* Morden visiting Lennier on the Day of the Dead seems fairly random, a surprise for the sake of a surprise, until I realised 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.

* 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.

* Speking 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).
** 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 upped 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.

* 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: Humanitys 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 Zootys humor because they are 200 years behind!''

* 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 advantagous position when he comes too 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.

** 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).
** 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.
* 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 allowing 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.
* In ''There All The Honor Lies'', Sheridan is sent by Kosh to experience a "moment of perfect beauty". He enters a room an 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?
** 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?

* 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.
* After their fight lands Marcus in the hospital, Neroon visits and shares an epiphiny he had about how he and Marcus are not so different. Marcus requests that for his next revalation, 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 enlightment (and puns). Marcus's observation about Neroon's difficulty finding enlightment without beating someone senseless is thus particularly funny to a Minbari warrior.

In 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 abord), 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.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* 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.

* 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.

* Delenn outlives every person who mattered to her, except maybe Vir, likely including her son. Marcus, Londo, G'Kar, Sheridan, Ivannova, 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.

** 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.
** Given that Delenn herself is a descendant of Valen's, there's a strong precedent for the transformation making its subject capable of reproducing with the race they'd been altered to resemble.

* 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.
* If the Vorlons weren't stopped they could have destroyed Earth and Mars after destroying Centari Prime. President Clark made a deal with the Shadows and a Shadow ship was buried on Mars.
* 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]].

** 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 neighbours, and Londo has made his opinion that they were dangerously overextended known.

*** Londo mentions in another episode that it's common in monarchies (which the Centauri Republic is, despite its claims to the contrary) for a royal decree to be made which is then never rescinded. As a result the order continues to be followed, even after there's no reason for it. Possibly at some point in Centauri history, someone declared that the Centauri Royal Guard must always be in uniform, and no one ever added the proviso saying that undercover agents were exempt. Or maybe the guy used one of his spare buttons to replace a missing button on a civilian outfit, and never thought about it again.

** 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.

* 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 their 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 occured 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 creat 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 had Vorlon access 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."

* Londo compares his wives to three of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, Pestilence, Famine, and Death. While it's been observed 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.

* After their fight lands Marcus in the hospital, Neroon visits and shares an epiphiny he had about how he and Marcus are NotSoDifferent. Marcus requests that for his next revalation, 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 enlightment (and puns). Marcus's observation about Neroon's difficulty finding enlightment without beating someone senseless is thus particularly funny to a Minbari warrior.

* 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.

* Everyone we see answer Morden's question ("What do you want?") gets what he asked for; Londo gets a return to 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''.

Kosh 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.\\\
G'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).\\\
In 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 abord), 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.

** The 1998 [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion Special Edition]] of ''The Gathering'' [[{{Retcon}} changes the line]] to "under the leadership of its commander," suggesting that it was originally meant to refer to Sinclair. 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''.

* 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 blindspot for his deductive skills.

** 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 decomissioning.

* 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.]]

** Donald Trump's presidential run has, again, made the Clark administration resonate very uncomfortably with reality.

** 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, so that would explain it.
** 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).