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babylon5_love2020-08-16 01:57 am
kanadka) wrote in babylon5_love2020-08-16 01:57 am
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Day 15 - Some pics of Worker Caste Minbari in the series
(they're always in the background)
So I'd really hoped to have finished all of S1 but alas, only had time for the first 10 episodes (+ The Gathering). My consensus and tl;dr:
Picspam and timestamps and more information under the cut!
About identification: So there's several kinds of crest we can spot:
-the rounded crown-like style that Delenn and Shaal Mayan sport
-the gnarled-tree like style that Lennier sports
-the three-pointed style that Draal sports, and the majority of men outside the Warrior Caste sport (and some Warriors, too)
-the warrior caste 'au naturel' style crest (which many warrior men sport, and all the warrior women who were clearly seen in uniform)
I think it's been the tendency to assume that crown-like crest = female Minbari, but the Workers don't conform to this. The three main Workers we keep seeing all appear to be played by male extras (with the exception of one female, who does have a crown-like crest). Only one of these guys has a three-pointed crest like Draal - the other two have Delenn's crown-like crest.
The Gathering:
This movie was a little trickier, because the crest makeup hadn't been quite formalised yet (was it a temporary, ceremonial structure, could it be taken off, or was it permanent and growing out of the head?). You can also spot some proto-Drazi in the background that don't quite look exactly like the Drazi we know and (sometimes) love. The Warrior's crest at the end does look pointier, but it's still definitely a crown-like structure that we recognise more as Delenn's, and doesn't look a thing like Neroon's (or Draal's). There's also:
1x01, 1x03, 1x04, 1x07, 1x08, 1x10:
-There aren't any background Minbari that I could see in these episodes!
-Well, not quite true; in 1x07 there's two crown-crested Minbari in the crowd when G'Kar is making an impassioned speech, but they aren't visible enough for a nice screencap. As for 1x08, alas all the background Minbari that appear in this episode are hooded with the exception of the Mystery Minbari who is evidenly a Grey Council member and appears at the end of the episode at 39:54-40:04. This guy has a three-pointed crest, but it isn't clear which caste he is.
1x02: (Soul Hunter)
There's one crown-crested Minbari (appears male) at 00:27 (behind Sinclair), then 00:34-36, then walking away with another Worker Minbari (a friend?) 00:41-00:43. They return and walk back at 01:00 and are hovering in the background, talking to one another, until about 01:22. The one that appears to be a man has a uniform that's deep yellow, the other (possibly a woman?) is dressed in a burgundy shirt, and they both have what looks like denim coveralls. The man appears to be wearing gloves.
Our two workers are back in the upper right corner at 05:28, then as the camera switches they're upper-left corner behind Sinclair, visible until Sinclair and Delenn walk off at 05:42.
Our two workers are back again at 27:31! They're tucked away in the corner behind the stairs on the left as Garibaldi and Sinclair come out. They then scurry off (one drags the other by the hand) until 27:33.
1x05: (The Parliament of Dreams)
One of my favourite episodes, we have at least three Workers milling about here excluding the ceremony Delenn leads. This guy with the three-point crest is also spotted behind Catherine Sakai from 1:04-1:08, and again at 1:14-1:17.
Same guy as before having fun in the Centauri ceremonies at 07:06-07:14. Very nice to see! He also seems to have procured himself something to drink. Hopefully not alcoholic.
This one kills me. Same guy spotted behind Sinclair at 08:12-08:17 and also 08:49-08:53 - he's dancing (!) with a Centauri lady. Good for him! He's having so much fun at this party.
This fellow is spotted behind Catherine Sakai doing business at 10:15-10:18, then again at 10:25, then again 10:37-39, then returns at 10:50, and walks across camera at 11:28, and then yet again at 11:34, and :40. And then he comes back later, too (once with a nice big briefcase!).
...Okay, so it's clear that what's actually happening here is the low Season 1 budget meant you probably had to get as much mileage out of your extras as possible, and after 4 hours in makeup and making them a nice costume that fit well, they probably figured it was okay to pace back and forth and no one would be that stupid to pay attention to the Minbari in the background. (They were incorrect, I am that stupid.) But what I choose to believe is that Catherine has very important business with this Worker Caste Minbari and he's getting very Impatient while she gets her flirt on with Sinclair. I can dream.
1x06: (Mind War)
Once again, the workers love Catherine Sakai. Pretty much whenever she's in scene, so are they, hovering behind. (I wouldn't be surprised if they'd filmed these scenes on the same day.) There's one at 04:28-34 with a crown crest; him and a friend walk in the background behind Catherine again at 4:50-51. You can't see the crests, but you can see the rolled up yellow sleeves and the denim-like coveralls, which are very chic. Later at 04:52, one of them is seated behind the guy Catherine is talking to, talking with a human in red. Very nice to see Babylon 5's interspecies cooperation mission is a go for the Worker Caste! Two other workers are milling about in the background, and eventually help themselves to what looks like a buffet at 05:08-10, and again at :12-15. Honestly, that's very relatable.
The two workers that stopped to munch mill about constantly throughout the episode, so rather than post all the timestamps, here's two pictures of them that show their nice uniforms, while the audience is supposed to be distracted by G'Kar's lovely ant speech.
1x09: (Deathwalker)
This is the episode that I first noticed the Worker Caste uniform, because he's front and centre to get a first-row seat to the big Na'Toth vs Jha'Dur showdown at the start of the episode, and frankly that's clever of him. He later reappears with a friend milling about around Talia, Kosh, and Abbut the Vicker. They later appear at 34:30-31 in time to look at Talia and judge:
And last but not least, there's this one at the end of the episode behind Sinclair. This Worker Caste fellow seems very gentlemanly, so I assume the (human) lady he's with is his alien girlfriend that the Grey Council don't know about.
Thank you for coming to my extremely self-indulgent picspam! I hope you enjoyed :D
So I'd really hoped to have finished all of S1 but alas, only had time for the first 10 episodes (+ The Gathering). My consensus and tl;dr:
- three Minbari appear in the background of scenes that don't feature Minbari too predominantly (i.e., you won't be surprised to learn there are in fact more than three Minbari in the Rebirth Ceremony in 1x05 "The Parliament of Dreams")
- all these three Minbari appear to be Worker Caste (!): they don't wear robes the way Lennier and Delenn do (and other robe-wearing Minbari that we see in ceremonies, c.f. Legacies, anyone who's not a Warrior Caste in that cortege is a Religious Caste member of some sort) - in fact, they wear something that would read to the audience as blue collar, so I suspect that's not a coincidence
- blue collar for Minbari appears to be dusty sunflower yellow paired with denim overalls but on occasion is burgundy (...paired with denim overalls)
- they never tend to show up in the casino, or the bars. For the most part, background Minbari tend to be walking along the promenade or in well-lit areas. Fits with the cultural worldbuilding.
- ... but one of them does seem very courteous and gentlemanly and appears with a (human!) ladyfriend. Good for them!
- the same three Minbari crests appear consistently: two crown-like crests and one 3-pointed crest (the real-world interpretation is that likely, those extras kept getting hired and they recycled the makeup and wardrobe for multiple scenes in the same episode; but the in-universe interpretation is, man these three guys sure get around.)
Picspam and timestamps and more information under the cut!
About identification: So there's several kinds of crest we can spot:
-the rounded crown-like style that Delenn and Shaal Mayan sport
-the gnarled-tree like style that Lennier sports
-the three-pointed style that Draal sports, and the majority of men outside the Warrior Caste sport (and some Warriors, too)
-the warrior caste 'au naturel' style crest (which many warrior men sport, and all the warrior women who were clearly seen in uniform)
I think it's been the tendency to assume that crown-like crest = female Minbari, but the Workers don't conform to this. The three main Workers we keep seeing all appear to be played by male extras (with the exception of one female, who does have a crown-like crest). Only one of these guys has a three-pointed crest like Draal - the other two have Delenn's crown-like crest.
The Gathering:
This movie was a little trickier, because the crest makeup hadn't been quite formalised yet (was it a temporary, ceremonial structure, could it be taken off, or was it permanent and growing out of the head?). You can also spot some proto-Drazi in the background that don't quite look exactly like the Drazi we know and (sometimes) love. The Warrior's crest at the end does look pointier, but it's still definitely a crown-like structure that we recognise more as Delenn's, and doesn't look a thing like Neroon's (or Draal's). There's also:
- one crown-crested Minbari at 0:00:35
- one female, three-pointed style crest 1:05-1:08
- 1 crown crest, 1:04:02 (walking behind Garibaldi)
1x01, 1x03, 1x04, 1x07, 1x08, 1x10:
-There aren't any background Minbari that I could see in these episodes!
-Well, not quite true; in 1x07 there's two crown-crested Minbari in the crowd when G'Kar is making an impassioned speech, but they aren't visible enough for a nice screencap. As for 1x08, alas all the background Minbari that appear in this episode are hooded with the exception of the Mystery Minbari who is evidenly a Grey Council member and appears at the end of the episode at 39:54-40:04. This guy has a three-pointed crest, but it isn't clear which caste he is.
1x02: (Soul Hunter)
There's one crown-crested Minbari (appears male) at 00:27 (behind Sinclair), then 00:34-36, then walking away with another Worker Minbari (a friend?) 00:41-00:43. They return and walk back at 01:00 and are hovering in the background, talking to one another, until about 01:22. The one that appears to be a man has a uniform that's deep yellow, the other (possibly a woman?) is dressed in a burgundy shirt, and they both have what looks like denim coveralls. The man appears to be wearing gloves.
Our two workers are back in the upper right corner at 05:28, then as the camera switches they're upper-left corner behind Sinclair, visible until Sinclair and Delenn walk off at 05:42.
Our two workers are back again at 27:31! They're tucked away in the corner behind the stairs on the left as Garibaldi and Sinclair come out. They then scurry off (one drags the other by the hand) until 27:33.
1x05: (The Parliament of Dreams)
One of my favourite episodes, we have at least three Workers milling about here excluding the ceremony Delenn leads. This guy with the three-point crest is also spotted behind Catherine Sakai from 1:04-1:08, and again at 1:14-1:17.
Same guy as before having fun in the Centauri ceremonies at 07:06-07:14. Very nice to see! He also seems to have procured himself something to drink. Hopefully not alcoholic.
This one kills me. Same guy spotted behind Sinclair at 08:12-08:17 and also 08:49-08:53 - he's dancing (!) with a Centauri lady. Good for him! He's having so much fun at this party.
 |
 |
This fellow is spotted behind Catherine Sakai doing business at 10:15-10:18, then again at 10:25, then again 10:37-39, then returns at 10:50, and walks across camera at 11:28, and then yet again at 11:34, and :40. And then he comes back later, too (once with a nice big briefcase!).
 |
 |
...Okay, so it's clear that what's actually happening here is the low Season 1 budget meant you probably had to get as much mileage out of your extras as possible, and after 4 hours in makeup and making them a nice costume that fit well, they probably figured it was okay to pace back and forth and no one would be that stupid to pay attention to the Minbari in the background. (They were incorrect, I am that stupid.) But what I choose to believe is that Catherine has very important business with this Worker Caste Minbari and he's getting very Impatient while she gets her flirt on with Sinclair. I can dream.
1x06: (Mind War)
Once again, the workers love Catherine Sakai. Pretty much whenever she's in scene, so are they, hovering behind. (I wouldn't be surprised if they'd filmed these scenes on the same day.) There's one at 04:28-34 with a crown crest; him and a friend walk in the background behind Catherine again at 4:50-51. You can't see the crests, but you can see the rolled up yellow sleeves and the denim-like coveralls, which are very chic. Later at 04:52, one of them is seated behind the guy Catherine is talking to, talking with a human in red. Very nice to see Babylon 5's interspecies cooperation mission is a go for the Worker Caste! Two other workers are milling about in the background, and eventually help themselves to what looks like a buffet at 05:08-10, and again at :12-15. Honestly, that's very relatable.
 |
 |
The two workers that stopped to munch mill about constantly throughout the episode, so rather than post all the timestamps, here's two pictures of them that show their nice uniforms, while the audience is supposed to be distracted by G'Kar's lovely ant speech.
 |
 |
1x09: (Deathwalker)
This is the episode that I first noticed the Worker Caste uniform, because he's front and centre to get a first-row seat to the big Na'Toth vs Jha'Dur showdown at the start of the episode, and frankly that's clever of him. He later reappears with a friend milling about around Talia, Kosh, and Abbut the Vicker. They later appear at 34:30-31 in time to look at Talia and judge:
And last but not least, there's this one at the end of the episode behind Sinclair. This Worker Caste fellow seems very gentlemanly, so I assume the (human) lady he's with is his alien girlfriend that the Grey Council don't know about.
Thank you for coming to my extremely self-indulgent picspam! I hope you enjoyed :D