Things on B5 that make you go "Huh?"

[Jan]

Every once in a while, there are things on B5 that seemingly make no sense whatsoever. Not many, granted, which is why they seem to stand out so clearly. Here's the one that I notice every time I watch and then just let slide:

Ta'Lon's sword. Huh? He reappears in an episode that centers around *controlling weapons* ("A Day in the Strife" where Sheridan's meeting with the pilots over new weapons regs) and strolls around with a big honking sword on his back? And he's happy to draw it, too. He didn't get special permission from Sheridan since it's established that Sheridan didn't know he was aboard until he showed up with Na'Far. Is it because he's a bodyguard, registered somehow? Dunno. We've seen many smaller knives turned away at customs, so what's his secret? I'm surprised the Centauri put up with it, that's for sure.

Anybody have an explanation? Or something else that doesn't seem to make sense?

Jan

[Donald]

This is more of a plotline "Huh." However, I'm always confused by the episode "Deadthwalker"'s B-plot with Talia and Kosh. That never came to fruition, did it? We got a flashback in "Divided Loyalties" but never a real explanation.

[BabylonRebel]

The bullets from 'Grey 17 is Missing' comes to mind.

[Radhil]

The only smaller knife I remember seeing turned away was the Drazi's early in S1, the one he wasn't exactly being subtle about, religious needs and all. I always kind of presumed - much like every faceless Narn, Drazi, and extra-large Human extra before him that had a knife or a gun somewhere - that Ta'Lon was smart enough to slip it past customs and didn't worry about hiding it afterwards.

[RMcD]

It's a good point especially given that when Arthur tries to walk through customs with Excalibur it triggers an alarm and a weapons violation (that said they do let him onto the station, and it isn't long before he has the sword back). Perhaps Ta'Lon handed it over to customs initially, then simply stole it from wherever it was kept. He doesn't seem to have much trouble breaking into G'Kar's quarters in Objects at Rest, after all.

Sheridan's 'angry' reaction in the Ragged Edge when Franklin tells him he's leaving always seems odd to me. He seems to momentarily forget that he's leaving too on the same date, and seems for a moment to begrudge Franklin the promotion.. The only way I can explain this is that he was going to ask Franklin to come to Minbar, and was angry with himself that he'd left it too late to mention it.

[Kevin]

There's a couple things that drive me a little nuts that I just have to ignore for my sanity. Mostly little, silly things that ultimately don't matter but still get to you a little anyways... such as...

-The Rings of Valen in the pilot :P (not sure why they didn't just cut the scene entierly in the remake)
-The triangle on the Grey Council members that disappears after Season 1
-Lennier stating that Minbari souls have been going to humans for the past 2,000 years (instead of 1,000)

But more then anything...

-The rank of Major (And please, don't let this touch off on some sort of rank discussion debacle. The fact that the show has caused us to have novels upon novels of discussion about the proper rank structure of the EA in Babylon 5 is a testament to how an apperance of this one rank has raised enough "huh"s to kill a small forest, should one ever put all the arguments to print :P)

As for the sword... I gotta be honest, I never even though of that ;P But it's a good point and I'm not sure there's a decent answer to it.

And there's a lot of things to say "huh" about when it comes to Grey 17 is Missing...

[Morden]

Yeah such as: One of the creatures cousins, the "Predator" of the Arnie Schwarzenegger movie, wouldn't die after taking a few old fashioned bullets .

Back on topic, seriously: I always had such a "Huh?"-problem with "Thirdspace". Dont't get me wrong, I like the movie for what it is, but it never made sense to me that it was put directly after the shadow war. It didn't really fit for me that we do not see an inch of destruction in the early season 4 episodes that would follow the events of that movie in the b5-timeline, and I hated that bigger show-of-force/fx-war at the end of the movie that always wanted to say: Hey, those unnamed 3rdspace-freaks are cooler and uglier and more powerful and destructive than the Shadows and the Vorlons ever were. It also didn't fit because the events are never mentioned again, something quite strange when you're watching a strongly arc-based show like B5...

[Dipper]

Couldn't Ta'Lon have been able to bring it through customs because he was travelling in a diplomatic entourage ? I don't know the extent of diplomatic immunity on B5, but I'd wager that they can bring in pretty much anything. On contrast though it would seem odd that Londo had his weapon smuggled in many little pieces in Midnight on the Firing line.



-Dip

[FuryPilot]

Ta'Lon's sword. Huh? He reappears in an episode that centers around *controlling weapons* ("A Day in the Strife" where Sheridan's meeting with the pilots over new weapons regs) and strolls around with a big honking sword on his back? And he's happy to draw it, too. He didn't get special permission from Sheridan since it's established that Sheridan didn't know he was aboard until he showed up with Na'Far. Is it because he's a bodyguard, registered somehow? Dunno. We've seen many smaller knives turned away at customs, so what's his secret? I'm surprised the Centauri put up with it, that's for sure.

My pet theory is that Ta'Lon is the Narn we saw in Season 2's "All Alone in the Night". Considering what he and Sheridan went through together, and the fact Ta'Lon is a bodyguard/ diplomatic courier gives me *just enough* logical reasons why he is allowed to keep his sword.

FP

[moreorless]

This is more of a plotline "Huh." However, I'm always confused by the episode "Deadthwalker"'s B-plot with Talia and Kosh. That never came to fruition, did it? We got a flashback in "Divided Loyalties" but never a real explanation.

I believe the explaination is that if Andrea Thompson hadnt left the show those recorded feelings would have been used to recreate her personality after the Psi Corps sleeper took over.

As for Ta'lon(who Sheridan himself confirms is the same Narn as in All Alone in the Night) you could say the difference between him and Londo is that he has an offical reason to be carrying a weapon.

[WorkerCaste]

I would imagine that all offical body guards have some lattitude, and a sword probably isn't viewed as being as bad as an energy weapon that has a significant;y greater range.

[rallytbk]

The bullets from 'Grey 17 is Missing' comes to mind.

Garabaldi was cleaning a gun in the beginning of "Gray 17 is Missing" and just forgot to pack the bullets with the gun after he had finished... made for a good ending.

My pet theory is that Ta'Lon is the Narn we saw in Season 2's "All Alone in the Night". Considering what he and Sheridan went through together, and the fact Ta'Lon is a bodyguard/ diplomatic courier gives me *just enough* logical reasons why he is allowed to keep his sword.

As for the sword? Agreed. They never explained why he walked with it freely, but I assumed security did not want to harrass a friend of John Sheridan after all they have been through... But your guess is as good as mine, LOL.

[Dipper]

I think what BabylonRebel meant about the bullets was the way they were fired.

It's scientifically impossible to have an iron pipe, hot steam, 5 bullets and a rag form such a combination that would actually work and fire 5 bullets in sequence. Even IF the heat would ignite the lowest bullet (nearest to the heat source) it would push all the other bullets out on it's way out.


-Dip

[Jan]

Garabaldi was cleaning a gun in the beginning of "Gray 17 is Missing" and just forgot to pack the bullets with the gun after he had finished... made for a good ending.

The trouble is, they should have blown up in the tube, not shot the way they did.

As for the sword? Agreed. They never explained why he walked with it freely, but I assumed security did not want to harrass a friend of John Sheridan after all they have been through... But your guess is as good as mine, LOL.

I can definitely see Sheridan authorizing it, but the script makes it clear that Sheridan didn't know Ta'Lon was there until he turned up in Sheridan's office with Na'Far. I have a feeling that the fact that he was both a bodyguard *and* part of a diplomatic staff is the best answer we'll ever get.

Sheridan's 'angry' reaction in the Ragged Edge when Franklin tells him he's leaving always seems odd to me. He seems to momentarily forget that he's leaving too on the same date, and seems for a moment to begrudge Franklin the promotion.. The only way I can explain this is that he was going to ask Franklin to come to Minbar, and was angry with himself that he'd left it too late to mention it.

I never noticed any angry reaction. Yeah, he was taken by surprise but I don't think he was upset about Franklin's decision. I'll have to look out more carefully when it comes around in my latest viewing.

Jan

[RMcD]

I never noticed any angry reaction. Yeah, he was taken by surprise but I don't think he was upset about Franklin's decision. I'll have to look out more carefully when it comes around in my latest viewing.

It's the way he delivers one line in particular - 'Well, I would be a liar if I said that I was happy to hear this'. Which is fair enough, but the way he says it sounds like he's berating him.