History Trivia / BabylonFive

###Ivanova (another new character), replaced her as first officer, making this a twofer. She even inherited Lauren's illicit coffee planter in Hydroponics.
###Make that three: Takashima was going to be outed as "Control" (Talia), the sleeper agent planted by Psi Corps. Crazy to think that 3 characters were originally funneled into one.

###According to JMS, he'd meant to strike up a romance between Takashima and Sinclair, and promptly replaced her with Catherine Sakai.

** * Wasn't there an episode where Garibaldi had to confront a psycho dummy? If that were the case, then that was likely one of the most scariest episodes.
** That was Gray 17 is Missing. So, no. :/

* ActorSharedBackground: Jerry Doyle was an alcoholic in his youth, and the lingering effects put him into a coma and later killed him at age 60, decades after he'd quit. He's the reason why Garibaldi falling off the wagon was a big plot thread in Season 5, as he did not wish to risk downplaying how destructive the illness is.

* CreatorBacklash: Bill Mumy (Lennier) is [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=rDi91DpnFYk still salty]] about the way in which he was written out of the show.

* NoBudget: Filming took place is a disused recycling plant/jacuzzi factory. The famously-bad CGI is passable in the final season, but grotesque whenever it's replacing live actors. The Earthforce ships hold up okay (even if they look a little too spotless). And the CGI allows fighter craft to pull off 'realistic' combat manuvers, such as pivoting on their axis to shoot at pursuers, as well as long-range battles between carriers. A British computing magazine did an extensive article on ''Babylon 5'' and its use of Amiga/Video Toaster systems and Lightwave to generate the effects. The tagline for the article was "Star Wars effects on a Series/DoctorWho Budget" (The article in question pre-dates the ''Doctor Who'' reboot; at the time everyone thought of ''Doctor Who'' as that show with the "rubber monsters" and "wobbly sets.")

* NoBudget: Filming took place is a disused recycling plant/refridgerator factory. The famously-bad CGI is passable in the final season, but grotesque whenever it's replacing live actors. The Earthforce ships hold up okay (even if they look a little too spotless). And the CGI allows fighter craft to pull off 'realistic' combat manuvers, such as pivoting on their axis to shoot at pursuers, as well as long-range battles between carriers. A British computing magazine did an extensive article on ''Babylon 5'' and its use of Amiga/Video Toaster systems and Lightwave to generate the effects. The tagline for the article was "Star Wars effects on a Series/DoctorWho Budget" (The article in question pre-dates the ''Doctor Who'' reboot; at the time everyone thought of ''Doctor Who'' as that show with the "rubber monsters" and "wobbly sets.")

* RomanceOnTheSet: Jerry Doyle was also married to actress Andrea Thompson (Talia Winters), during season one, but between seasons one and two, the couple went through an extremely bitter and acrimonious divorce. The set afterwards was something of a minefield.

** Jerry Doyle suffered a broken wrist during the filming of the battle sequence in "Severed Dreams". The very-visible effects were naturally explained as the character sustaining the same injury.

** Moving the Babylon 4 resolution back to Season 3 caused an unfortunate plot hole: for the remaining two-and-a-half seasons, the time-travelling Sheridan knows first-hand that a cataclysmic fate awaits Centauri Prime and does sweet f**k-all to prevent it, [[IdiotBall which makes him look like a nitwit]] at times. This urgent news concerning the future of his delicate Intersteller Alliance (which Sheridan came back from the dead to co-found) just conveniently slips his mind, without even a token explanation like TemporalSickness.

* NoBudget: Filming took place is a disused recycling plant/refridgerator factory. The famously-bad CGI is passable in the fibal season, but grotesque whener it's replacing live actors. The Earthforce ships hold up okay (even if they look a little too spotless). And the CGI allows fighter craft to pull off 'realistic' combat manuvers, such as pivoting on their axis to shoot at pursuers, as well as long-range battles between carriers. A British computing magazine did an extensive article on Babylon 5 and its use of Amiga/Video Toaster systems and Lightwave to generate the effects. The tagline for the article was "Star Wars effects on a Series/DoctorWho Budget" (The article in question pre-dates the ''Doctor Who'' reboot; at the time everyone thought of ''Doctor Who'' as the show with the rubber costumes and "wobbly sets.")

* WordOfGay: Susan/Talia is not mentioned here because it's unambiguous, but fans sensed sexual tension between Lochley and the ghost of her druggie friend in "Day of the Dead". Writer Creator/NeilGaiman confirmed that it's intentional and that Lochley is bisexual.

* WordOfDante: ** JMS once asked actor Wortham Krimmer to tone down Emperor Cartagia's fey behavior, to which Krimmer responded, "Well, Joe, he's bisexual, don't you know?" JMS gave an ''[[WagTheDirector oh really]]'' sort of reply, and Krimmer shot back, "Absolutely. He's the emperor. He can fuck anyone he wants."

* WordOfGay:
** Lochley (according to Creator/NeilGaiman) and Cartagia (according to Wertham Krimmer). In both cases there was definite innuendo on-screen. After much fan speculation, Gaiman confirmed that the apparent sexual tension between Lochley and the ghost of Zoe was intentional and that Lochley is bisexual.
** JMS once asked actor Wortham Krimmer to tone down Emperor Cartagia's fey behavior, to which Krimmer responded, "Well, Joe, he's bisexual, don't you know?" JMS gave an ''[[WagTheDirector oh really]]'' sort of reply, and Krimmer shot back, "Absolutely. He's the emperor. He can fuck anyone he wants."
** Ivanova and Talia would have become an explicitly romantic couple if Andrea Thompson hadn't quit the show, though JMS still took it as far as he could in the limited time with the shot of Talia reaching out for an absent Ivanova while sleeping in her bed. After replacing her with the returned Lyta, he elected not to transplant the romance as it would feel too forced.

** Moving the Babylon 4 resolution back to Season 3 caused an unfortunate plot hole: for the remaining two-and-a-half seasons, Sheridan knows first-hand that a cataclysmic fate awaits Centauri Prime in the future and does sweet f**k-all to prevent it, [[IdiotBall which makes him look like a nitwit]] at times. This urgent news concerning the future of his delicate Intersteller Alliance (which Sheridan came back from the dead to co-found) just conveniently slips his mind, without even a token explanation like TemporalSickness.

** Moving the Babylon 4 resolution back to Season 3, caused an unfortunate plot hole: for the remaining two-and-change seasons, Sheridan knows first-hand that a cataclysmic fate awaits Centauri Prime in the future, which makes him look like a nitwit at times. His knowledge of the future just [[IdiotBall conveniently slips his mind]], without even a token explanation like TemporalSickness.

** Season 4 was supposed to end with "[[{{Recap/BabylonFiveS04E18IntersectionsInRealTime}} Intersections in Real Time]]": the Earth Civil War arc was going to wrap up in a half-dozen or so episodes, much like the Shadow War in S4. PTEN finally disintegrated, and it looked as if B5 would go down with the ship. JMS, hell-bent on giving his show a proper ending, condensed his outline for S4 by making it four episodes shorter and cramming the Civil War into three episodes, followed by the DistantFinale "Sleeping in Light". In an annoying twist of fate, ''Babylon 5'' was [[UnCanceled picked up at the last minute]] by the cable network {{Creator/TNT}} (who would soon regret the purchase). S4 had already been shot, so there was now a huge gap at the beginning of S5 where the story had already been told. JMS had other plans for S5, but those notes went missing (see above). Compounding the problem was Claudia Christian, the only cast member whom JMS couldn't re-sign; the departure of Ivanova and the introduction of her replacement Tracy Scoggins (Lochley) caused additional strain on the season. The only positive to come out of the chaos is that JMS decided at the end of S4 that there was no way he could squash the end of Londo's story in there; this meant it was still available to play out during Season 5, resulting in the second half being better-received than the first.

** One case is "The Fall of Night", the Season 2 finale. The Neville Chamberlain-quoting Earth Ambassador tells Ivanova that his pen was a gift from his wife. Then he smooches the pen. [=JMS=] states in that episode's commentary that when he asked the actor (the illustrious Sir Roy Dotrice) why he did that, the response was, "Well, my wife isn't here, so I can't kiss her, so I kiss the pen instead."

* ActingInTheDark: Creator/JMichaelStraczynski mapped out the entire five-season run of the show but didn't tell the actors what would happen to their characters down the road; they would only know once the episode scripts were given to them. This was to make the journey the individual characters went on feel more authentic. Peter Jurasik (Londo) gushes about this in the featurettes.

** JMS offered to put the show on hold for a year so O'Hare could get treatment, but O'Hare refused to be the reason why so many people would lose their jobs, as there was no guarantee the show would come back. The wrap-up with Sinclair was filmed after O'Hare recieved treatment. Strangely for Garibaldi, he never crossed paths with his "old friend" in Season 3, instead communicating over a grainy video recording. This is because Doyle and O'Hare got into a fight beforehand; Doyle gave an ultimatum saying he'd quit if O'Hare remained on the show. Clearly, this ultimatum was still in effect for season 3, which is why Doyle doesn't share any screen time with him.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/BryanCrantson as a Ranger and Ken Jenkins (of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' fame) as a Clark loyalist.

* TheProductionCurse: Fans have been saddened and spooked by the number of actors in the show who have died relatively young:

* PromotedFanboy: Jeff Conaway was a big supporter of the show pretty much from Day 1. Tracy Scoggins (Lochley) is a science fiction geek and had been watching the show from the start.

* ActorSharedBackground: Doyle was an alcoholic in his youth, and the lingering effects put him into a coma and later killed him at age 60, decades after he'd quit. He's the reason why Garibaldi falling off the wagon was a big plot thread in Season 5, as he did not wish to risk downplaying how destructive the illness is.

** One case is "The Fall of Night", the Season 2 finale. The Neville Chamberlain-quoting Earth Ambassador tells Ivanova that his pen was a gift from his wife. Then he smooches the pen. [=JMS=] states in that episode's commentary that when he asked the actor (the illustrious Roy Dotrice) why he did that, the response was, "Well, my wife isn't here, so I can't kiss her, so I kiss the pen instead."

** JMS once asked actor Wortham Krimmer to tone down Emperor Cartagia's fey behavior, to which Krimmer responded, "Well, Joe, he's bisexual, don't you know?" JMS gave an '[[WagTheDirector oh really]]'' sort of reply, and Krimmer shot back, "Absolutely. He's the emperor. He can fuck anyone he wants."

** One very notable ad-lib which got kept: in the broken elevator scene in the episode "Convictions", G'kar was supposed to sound grim and unyielding as he refuses to help Londo escape, even at the cost of his own life. G'Kar's actor, Andreas Katsulas, embraced the irony of the situation and began giggling maniacally. After the take, [=JMS=] realized it one of the funniest moments of the show so far.

** Back when nearly all of the World Wide Web could be linked to one page, it seemed that most web sites had some sort of sci-fi series tribute somewhere. TNG was a popular choice for enshrinement. B5 has one up on them, though: the NCSA Mosaic browser (a distant ancestor of Internet Explorer and FireFox) had a semi-secret page where the developers expressed their love for B5 and provided a few links to fansites in case you wanted to learn more.

** Carrie Dobro appeared as Harrison (a doctor in "Exogenenis") and a Brakiri (in "Racing Mars") before netting the role of Dureena in ''A Call to Arms''[=/=[''{{Series/Crusade}}''.

!!''Babylon 5'' is the TropeName for: