Random questions about B5

[Marsden]

The Minbari in question was called Hedronn. He was played by Robin Sachs, who also portrayed Satai Coplann in In the Beginning. Coincidentally, Sachs also played two different Narns: N'Kal in "The Fall of Night" and "Walkabout" and Na'Tok in "Movements of Fire and Shadow" and "The Fall of Centauri Prime."

Both pairs--Hedronn and Coplann and N'Kal and Na'Tok--were very similar characters. Given that the same actor was cast, it's a shame that same names weren't used to give a sense of continuity. I like the idea of N'Kal--the only Narn starship captain to survive the war with the Centauri-- being the general who commanded the bombardment of Centauri Prime a few years later.

I thought both of those pairs were the same people, in both cases. I especially thought it was cool that the Narn captain was in command of their forces after they rebuilt. D'oh!

[JoeD80]

I'm sorry, Jan, but you named the two that I got, it was the 2nd or middle image that I was asking about, mostly. So it was Dad hanging on the tree, he turns to the voice behind him, that older Narn, who was he?

I always thought it was his father, both on the tree and behind him.

I figured that was all G'Kar's father as well. Kosh appeared as Sheridan's father in another episode. It's when the Vorlons are seen in real life and they're concentrating that they appear as a being of light.

[Marsden]

Sounds good to me, his voice and facial features just seemed different.

Thanks everyone!

[lotjx]

The Babylon 5 CCG card for Laurel states she was working for the PSI Corp as well as the Narns and the Windswords to discredit Sinclair. The Minbair is a Windsword.

[Marsden]

Sleepers

Here's a question: Ivanova and some other sources state that the drugs that they give teeps to keep them in line are really strong and can knock you silly. My question is, when Dr Franklin gave Bester the shot he seemed pretty ok. What happened? Dr. Franklin did say he "formulated" a close approximation of what they use, was his better with less side effects? Or was PsiCorp intentionally overdosing people to increase their suffering and make joining more desirable? This may have been answered somewhere, but I haven't seen anything about this.

[babylonlurker]

Here's a question: Ivanova and some other sources state that the drugs that they give teeps to keep them in line are really strong and can knock you silly. My question is, when Dr Franklin gave Bester the shot he seemed pretty ok. What happened? Dr. Franklin did say he "formulated" a close approximation of what they use, was his better with less side effects? Or was PsiCorp intentionally overdosing people to increase their suffering and make joining more desirable? This may have been answered somewhere, but I haven't seen anything about this.

I would interpret it as being a long term cumulative effect, so not affecting out favourite Psi-Cop.

[OmahaStar]

I would interpret it as being a long term cumulative effect, so not affecting out favourite Psi-Cop.

Which is exactly what Ivanova had said, when describing how her mother slowly went over to the dark side/depression, etc.

[Marsden]

Thanks for the answers. Just remember I ask these questions not to nitpick but for understanding. Dr. developed a cure for Draffa (sp?) and some other things, I thought maybe he improved the telepath drug. After all, supposedly the drug makers don't care if the telepaths are suffering as they dislike telepaths and wouldn't be motivated to make them better, unlike Dr. Franklin who is not a prejudiced person, at least that I've seen.


Also, this was word of the day yesterday: http://dictionary.reference.com/word...011/08/11.html

I just thought I'd post it since someone posted maybe a year ago that they didn't use the word billet correctly but this supports the use in the show. I don't actually remember hearing it anywhere else, so this is what I thought of.

[Jan]

Also, this was word of the day yesterday: http://dictionary.reference.com/word...011/08/11.html

I just thought I'd post it since someone posted maybe a year ago that they didn't use the word billet correctly but this supports the use in the show. I don't actually remember hearing it anywhere else, so this is what I thought of.

Good catch. Yes, JohnFortyTwo posted back in January in the 'Worst Episodes' thread:

The one that really gets my nerves is the one with Franklin's father in it. Being retired Navy myself, I found that episode a joke when Franklin's father is using military jargon (JMS should've consulted someone).

- You can't spit shine a billet because a billet is someone's position within a military organization on paper. You go to the billeting office for quarters/berthing but they aren't spit shined, they're field dayed. Only shoes are spit shined but everyone with military experience knows that isn't true because it's just a figure of speech.

I thought it was wrong at the time, too, because I'd often heard of quarters themselves being referred to as a billet. Have no idea what 'they're field dayed' means at all.

Anyway, it's not as if parts of military jargon might not have drifted in 200 years, too.

Jan

[Marsden]

I know this is a strange question, but, were there any Chinese characters in B5? I don't remember any. It seems strange that Earth's biggest demographic isn't represented in the future. Don't misunderstand, there was plenty of different types of characters. Please don't find any type of offense, pretended or insinuated, I'm just curious. The one security guy that said Delenn has wings like a butterfly to distract Jack might have been Chinese, but he's the only one and I though he was Korean.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Not sure about the spit shining thing either ... I do wonder whether JMS has actually spent too much time over the years in the UK. In my limited military experience (which entailed spending a great deal of my time visiting or attending camps at RAF stations as an ATC cadet), lodgings were generally referred to as "billets", and were always to be "spit-shined".

And we literally spit-shined our shoes, unless there was a tap available in which case we used actual water rather than saliva. Only way to get the toe caps shiny enough to see the spot on the end of your nose.

[I, Zathras]

Question...

Season 4, when Marcus gives his life for Ivanova, why don't the command staff, Delenn, Lennier etc etc, all give a little bit of their life energy to save him? I know they didn't know exactly how the machine works, but couldn't they have tried? They'd brought Garibaldi back between Sheridan and Franklin, so why not with Marcus?

[Capt.Montoya]

Question...

Season 4, when Marcus gives his life for Ivanova, why don't the command staff, Delenn, Lennier etc etc, all give a little bit of their life energy to save him? I know they didn't know exactly how the machine works, but couldn't they have tried? They'd brought Garibaldi back between Sheridan and Franklin, so why not with Marcus?

From the point of view within the story I'd say it was because Garibaldi was not near dead, only severely injured (I think the doc said 50% odds of recovery). Marcus was almost dead, given that Ivanova was about to die it would have taken almost all his "life force" to heal her. Given that they were not sure of how to operate the machine (as usual with second hand appliances you don't get the manuals) it's understandable they'd hesitate to use it for such an extreme case.

From a storytelling point of view I'd say it was because if they did that it would have made Marcus's sacrifice meaningless. Given that JMS avoided pressing reset buttons and tended to show that actions had consequences it was better to have Marcus give his life for his love, after Ivanova had almost sacrificed her life for duty (stopping the Earthforce vessels with Shadow Tech).

From a meta-point of view, JMS said somewhere that had he known Claudia Christian would leave he would not have killed Marcus. I seem to also remember reading that JMS told Jason Carter that he didn't have to worry that he'd bring him back in the fifth season (but without Ivanova around there was no way to do it and didn't happen). Also consider that the first proposal for Crusade included Marcus Cole as a character (presumably after being revived in the fifth season).

[I, Zathras]

Good point with Garibaldi. I did know that it was a lot to do with the character being so closely tied with Ivanova (I remember hearing about the joke on set which was the death of Marcus and he went off to see JMS to see what was really happening, poor guy!)

I didn't know that he was considered to be a main cast member for Crusade though (I've read a little of the books from cafe press, but not all of it, studying is getting in the way goddamnit!) so its a shame it didn't happen for it. I always liked the characters of Marcus and Susan, so it was a shame things happened the way they did, but the resolution was very in keeping with their characters

[Marsden]

I think Marcus was already "dead" as in clinically dead where Garibaldi was in a coma but with an uncertain prognosis. Maybe Marcus could have given half or 3/4 of his life but he didn't really know (actually no one knew for sure) how to stop it and it drained him completely.