History Recap / BabylonFiveS01E00TheGathering

** Most famously, Delenn's gravity rings, but many various changes to costuming and makeup (most prominently that of Delenn and G'Kar, as well as that of the Minbari Assassin, whose crest is shaped in the manner of how female Minbari will be depicted in future episodes), and other minor elements, plus no less than three major supporting characters who are replaced with {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s in the regular series.
** Delenn was originally intended to be a male character portrayed by a female actor, to make them more alien. This was dropped when they couldn't get the voice modulation to sound good, plus Mira Furlan was understandably uncomfortable with playing a role where her face was covered up ''and'' her voice was altered, not knowing of certain future developments (the chrysalis would have also made her female if this stayed in).

** In a minor case, Delenn is unfamiliar with poetry, though a couple episodes will feature her friend Mayan, one of the most revered Minbari poets of the time.

* ArtificialGravity: Delenn owns a set of rings which project and control artificial gravity fields. They [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness don't appear in the series proper]], but serve here to demonstrate that [[SuperiorSpecies Minbari technology is more advanced than the average]].
** The station is, of course, famously modelled after an O'Neill model that uses centrifugal force to simulate gravity. Sinclair also mentions to Lyta Alexander that they can modify rotation on specific sections to increase or decrease the gravity to suit the needs of certain species.
* AsYouKnow: It's hard to justify Lyta Alexander not knowing the history of the Babylon Project, and needing to ask Sinclair why the station is Babylon ''Five''. We just have to brush it off as clumsy exposition.

* NoOSHACompliance: Sinclair throws the assassin at some kind of large grating on a wall which electrocutes him. There is no indication this was because of some kind of damaged electronics, nor is there any kind of protective barrier to break through. Apparently that large, completely exposed section of the wall was just electrified.
** The assassin was wearing a high-tech device of some kind that permitted him to "morph" his appearance and impersonate virtually anyone. The device had a tremendous power drain (this is how Security was able to locate him), and so we can well imagine that the pyrotechnic display and subsequent death were the result of the assassin's equipment being damaged by the impact and malfunctioning.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: ''"[[LaserGuidedAmnesia There is a hole in your mind.]]"'' and Kosh greeting Sinclair with ''"Entil'Zha Valen"''.

** Lyta Alexander protests that scanning Kosh without permission could get her "thrown out of the Psi Corps," as though it were a simple guild or trade association. Once the Psi Corps start showing up in the series proper, it becomes clear that membership is mandatory and for life, and while they certainly have punishments for abuse of their talents, simple expulsion isn't one of them. Additionally, when initially asked to scan Kosh, she rants about how it takes 'years to train for a P5 classification and half of those who try burn out or end up vegetables', the series proper established that their P classification is made immediately upon discover based upon their inborn ability, and that P5 is a fairly weak designation that certainly wouldn't kill training for it.

** The spinning lights on the floor on Takashima's station, some of the consoles on C & C and Medlab which had blinking lights, the security "voyeur" window in Customs, the guns & rifles used by Security (which had a passing resemblance to Star Trek phasers and had different firing and sound effects), the wristwatch communicators, Security Flak jackets, symbols on station sections, were later no longer seen or changed (ie the wristwatch communicators turned into the Link that attaches to the back of the palm; the controls and displays were replaced with Okudagram-style consoles; the symbols on each section were replaced or just given text, ie "Red Sector" and with the stylized "5" of Babylon 5; the guns were replaced by [=PPGs=] and their rifle counterparts, Takashima's station got rid of the rotating lights and the console was enlarged).
** The "core" shuttle is depicted as requiring passengers to be strapped in like in a rollercoaster since gravity is lessened in this section due to its central location. In later episodes the restraints are removed completely, and the actors instead grasp handholds as they walk to give the impression that they're keeping themselves from floating away.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you look carefully when the assassin bypasses an identicard slot to access a set of quarters, you can briefly see the words [[spoiler:LAUREL TAKASHIMA CLEARED]] in a small display window. This was supposed to be a clue to a wider conspiracy and and indication that [[spoiler:Takashima was its mole in the station]], but the character was dropped, and it never went anywhere.

** The spinning lights on the floor on Takashima's station, some of the consoles on C & C and Medlab which had blinking lights, the security "voyeur" window in Customs, the guns & rifles used by Security (which had a passing resemblance to Star Trek phasers and had different firing and sound effects), the wristwatch communicators, Security Flak jackets, symbols on station sections, were later no longer seen or changed (ie the wristwatch communicators turned into the Link that attaches to the back of the palm; the controls and displays were replaced with Okudagram-style consoles; the symbols on each section were replaced or just given text, ie "Red Sector" and with the stylized "5" of Babylon 5; the guns were replaced by PPGs and their rifle counterparts, Takashima's station got rid of the rotating lights and the console was enlarged).

** The "core" shuttle is depicted as requiring passengers to be strapped in like in a rollercoaster since gravity would be less at this section since the station's centrifugal force gravity simulation wouldn't reach the center of the ring where the core shuttle is. In later episodes, they will remove this requirement with no explanation and people just ride the shuttle much like a regular train where people can sit or walk around with no ill effects (though there were still in-station voice announcements saying that the core shuttles have low gravity).

** Lyta Alexander protests that scanning Kosh without permission could get her "thrown out of the Psi Corps," as though it were a simple guild or trade association. Once the Psi Corps start showing up in the series proper, it becomes clear that membership is mandatory and for life, and while they certainly have punishments for abuse of their talents, simple expulsion isn't one of them.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you look carefully when the assassin bypasses an identicard slot to access a set of quarters, you can briefly see the words [[spoiler:LAUREL TAKASHIMA CLEARED]] in a small display window. This was supposed to be a clue to a wider conspiracy, but the character was dropped, and it never went anywhere.

* ArtificialGravity: Delenn owns a set of rings which project and control artificial gravity fields. They [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness don't appear in the series proper]], but serve here to demonstrate that [[OurElvesAreBetter Minbari technology is more advanced than the average]].

** The "core" shuttle is depicted as requiring passengers to be strapped in like in a rollercoaster since gravity would be less at this section since the station's centrifugal force gravity simulation wouldn't reach the center of the ring where the core shuttle is. In later episodes, they will remove this requirement with no explanation.

** The spinning lights on Takashima's station, some of the consoles on C & C and Medlab which had blinking lights the security "voyeur" window in Customs, the guns & rifles used by Security (which had a passing resemblance to Star Trek phasers and had different firing and sound effects), the wristwatch communicators, Security Flak jackets, random symbols on station sections were later no longer seen or changed (ie the wristwatch communicators turned into the Link that attaches to the back of the palm and had no blinking lights, the controls and displays were replaced with Okudagram-style consoles)

** The spinning lights on Takashima's station, some of the consoles on C & C which had blinking lights (and later replaced by Okudagram-style displays and consoles), the security "voyeur" window in Customs, the guns used by Security (which had a passing resemblance to Star Trek phasers).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Most famously, Delenn's gravity rings, but many various changes to costuming and makeup (most prominently that of Delenn and G'Kar, as well as that of the Minbari Assassin, whose crest is shaped in the manner of how female Minbari will be depicted in future episodes), and other minor elements, plus no less than three major supporting characters who are replaced with {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s in the regular series.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: ''"[[LaserGuidedAmnesia There is a hole in your mind.]]"'' and Kosh greeting Sinclair with ''"Entil'Zha Valen"''

* YouLookFamiliar: Via RetroactiveRecognition: One of the BridgeBunnies is played by Ed Wasser, who would later gain fame amongst the fandom for playing SmugSnake Mr. Morden, one of the show's recurring villains. This led to a theory that he actually was Morden undercover, due to the show's tight continuity, but WordOfGod outright says it is not the case.

!Tropes featured in ''The Gathering'' include:

<<|Recap/BabylonFive|>>

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you look carefully when the assassin bypasses an identicard slot to access a set of quarters, you can briefly see the words [[spoiler:LAUREL TAKASHIMA CLEARED]] in a small display window.

** Delenn was originally intended to be a male character portrayed by a female actor, to make them more alien. This was dropped when they couldn't get the voice modulation to sound good, plus Mira Furlan was understandably uncomfortable with playing a role where her face was covered up ''and'' her voice was altered, not knowing of certain future developments.