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Day 11: Babylon Reveries, Part 1
Jun. 11th, 2018 08:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vjs2259As a brief introduction, I love the show, and I wrote a metric b*ttload of fanfiction back in the day. Then my muse went walkabout a few years ago and hasn’t even sent a postcard. So you’re stuck with random thoughts and burbles to celebrate my B5 Love. Comment and discussion welcome.
Also, in case you hadn’t heard, B5 is finally streaming again, on Amazon Prime! Yes!
One thing that has always impressed me about Babylon Five is the depth of the background material they provide, filling in the world, the peoples, and their history. There are the obvious product placements (Zima! Currently in limited re-release where I live!) and tributes (Susan reading Harlan Ellison’s book and the insignia on the StarFuries, an homage to actual WWII fighter pilot patches). There are the items that serve as character development (Daffy Duck and popcorn for Garibaldi and Delenn, the House of Mollari brooch for Londo and Adira). There are items that serve as propellers of plot (Susan’s gift to John of shrapnel from the Blackstar, the Eye of the Centauri saved for Londo by Morden.) There are also a raft of symbolic items that mean more than they seem (John’s snowglobe and its destruction, Susan’s earring that honors her brother Ganya, Londo’s sword, the book of G’Quan.)
Susan has classic Russian posters from the Soviet era on her walls. Garibaldi has a framed print of Daffy Duck on his. Sinclair had a blueprint of a Star Fury. Sheridan has a Japanese shishi odoshi in his quarters, which given the later importance of the Zen garden to his and Delenn’s relationship, is interesting. The Minbari fighting pike, with its echoes of quarterstaffs and Robin Hood, lend resonance to the myth of the Rangers, those who fight in the shadows. Delenn’s neon tubes and candles speak of the importance of light in her culture, and also her devotion to the cause of Light. The other culture that uses candles extensively is the Narn, which given G'Kar's eventual turning to the light, is also interesting. Kosh’s viewscreen, to me at least, is reminiscent of the Guardian of Forever in the ST:TOS episode, City on the Edge of Forever. His cloak and his appearance as both a being of light and of deception (differing appearance to different peoples) underpin his ambiguity and his duelling allegiances, to the Vorlon side of the conflict and to the people he has studied, and I think, come to admire even as he uses them.
Whenever I think about the show it’s these little things that I remember, and whenever I re-watch I look for the items in the background. What have you noticed? What was important to you?
Also, in case you hadn’t heard, B5 is finally streaming again, on Amazon Prime! Yes!
One thing that has always impressed me about Babylon Five is the depth of the background material they provide, filling in the world, the peoples, and their history. There are the obvious product placements (Zima! Currently in limited re-release where I live!) and tributes (Susan reading Harlan Ellison’s book and the insignia on the StarFuries, an homage to actual WWII fighter pilot patches). There are the items that serve as character development (Daffy Duck and popcorn for Garibaldi and Delenn, the House of Mollari brooch for Londo and Adira). There are items that serve as propellers of plot (Susan’s gift to John of shrapnel from the Blackstar, the Eye of the Centauri saved for Londo by Morden.) There are also a raft of symbolic items that mean more than they seem (John’s snowglobe and its destruction, Susan’s earring that honors her brother Ganya, Londo’s sword, the book of G’Quan.)
Susan has classic Russian posters from the Soviet era on her walls. Garibaldi has a framed print of Daffy Duck on his. Sinclair had a blueprint of a Star Fury. Sheridan has a Japanese shishi odoshi in his quarters, which given the later importance of the Zen garden to his and Delenn’s relationship, is interesting. The Minbari fighting pike, with its echoes of quarterstaffs and Robin Hood, lend resonance to the myth of the Rangers, those who fight in the shadows. Delenn’s neon tubes and candles speak of the importance of light in her culture, and also her devotion to the cause of Light. The other culture that uses candles extensively is the Narn, which given G'Kar's eventual turning to the light, is also interesting. Kosh’s viewscreen, to me at least, is reminiscent of the Guardian of Forever in the ST:TOS episode, City on the Edge of Forever. His cloak and his appearance as both a being of light and of deception (differing appearance to different peoples) underpin his ambiguity and his duelling allegiances, to the Vorlon side of the conflict and to the people he has studied, and I think, come to admire even as he uses them.
Whenever I think about the show it’s these little things that I remember, and whenever I re-watch I look for the items in the background. What have you noticed? What was important to you?
