One thing that I like about this scene is the respect that the techno-mage give Sheridan, while Sheridan is showing him the same respect. Sheridan isn't trying to take advantage of the TM like Lando was. Sure, Sheridan asked some questions, but was willing to accept "no" and continue to show respect.
I think what really impresses Elric with Sheridan is when he goes into a reverie about his childhood dreamings of one day going to far away places, speaking in a manner that showed the Captain still had that boyish enthusiasm for that long-ago dream and that life had not stolen it from him. That was enough to tell Elric he was dealing with someone who could understand.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" "any sufficiently understood magic is indistinguishable from technology" these are two sides of the same coin. The only difference is our understanding of it.
"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced" "Any technology, no matter how simple, is magic to those who do not understand it."
I always liked that line " Perhaps it is magic, magic of the human heart , focused and made manifest by technology." Made me change my perspective on things.
@@michaelbeam3385 No, he is an atheist and was at the time he wrote Babylon 5. However, he believes human beings cannot deny they're built to believe in a framework larger than themselves.
It is also really important to understand that JMS is a good enough writer to not let his personal believe dictate the story. Unlike the guys who wrote the disaster called DS9. A lot of B5 is very religious, a lot is pure blasphemy. It always exists in the correct areas. In Season 1 there was an episode "The believers". At the end of the episode there is no answer to who is right, and who is wrong. The viewer had to decide for himself. These are the moments good writing shows.
The only thing missing from this scene is the last part, where Elric produces a simple orange blossom, like the one Sheridan used to dream under the trees of, as a gift for him. It was a simple thing, a small miracle, a tiny gesture, but it carried a lot of weight with it. And it made Sheridan remember those times as a child, when magic was real and the world was full of wonder. Which is a good thing, is it not?
Michael Ansara - an amazing actor with a career that spanned nearly 50 years, he could do anything: science fiction, westerns, comedy or drama. His early career featured a role in The Lone Ranger, and in the late 1990's he was voicing Mr. Freeze for several Batman animated series. I still think Technomage Elric was one of the best roles of his career.
So happy I met him. I had to ask how come the image at the end of the last episode gets blurry when I watch it. He said, "Yeah, that issue happens for everyone."
@@piotrd.4850 as I get older, and my visual acuity drops, higher resolution video becomes less and less important. (On the other hand, sound remains king 🤴) 😉
One shouldn't go from knowledge back to ignorance. He was simply nostalgic about being young and nieve, and truly didn't wish to change. M Ali said it best. "Anyone who looks at the world the same at 40 as they did at 20 has wasted 20 years."
@@christophermccarthy884 Or has had a live filled with happiness, because they achieved what they set out to achieve. Honestly, Dreaming big and pushing hard is not a bad thing. Ambition is what drives us to become better. Our dreams are what shapes who we are, and who we want to be. It is those who lose the ability to dream, who are lost to the cruelty of reality, that will never find happiness again. They are old and bitter, and they want you to share in their pain.
@@xellos5262 you totally missed the point of their conversation in your rush to make an unrelated statement. He isn't old or bitter, and if you watched the show he certainly knew how to dream. He isn't an old man who has no dreams and is trying to destroy others. He is an adult that understands enough to have lost the simple wonders to knowledge and understanding. It is bitter sweet, but necessary to grow up.
This dialogue is my favorite also and as a person interested in science and technology I also liked "We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner. Holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ and we know many things"
exept the circle(ruling council of the mages) never tells their pubils that the tech inside their bodys is shadowtech! after they find out alot of them arent that happy anymore....
Londo : does this torment end when you leave or do I have to spend the rest of my life paying for one little mistake ? Techno mage : I am afraid you will spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes, not this one , it’s trivial I have already withdrawn the spell , but there will be others
You say it with love, and humility, and with all the care that you can find in the world. You say it with all the love that you can hold in your heart....they will hear it, and feel it
They exist. There just isn't a forum for them on the scale there once was. We celebrate youth now. Vitality has supplanted wisdom. And contacts and networking have the most sway. Hollywood now is searching for safe investments. And it's hard to get people to fill seats to hear an old man speak unless he is passing a torch to a beautiful youth to carry the day.
Did you ever see the spinoff, "Crusade"? There a technomage in that series who says this guy was his teacher. At one point, while describing him, he says, "...and that VOICE!"
I had an encouter with a real technomage as a doctor. No kidding. In fact three such encouters in Germany and Czech republic... They called themselves variously, like chaos magicians or neuromancers and I see no difference with the technomage. We(doctors, nurses... ) had some weird experiences we are explaining with psychiatr, but it was scary and mysterious, unlike some card readers, occultists or old fashioned wizards. Always when I see this episode, it gives me chills and I remember the encouters like if I met a ghost or alien.....but my profession didctates me to remain rational.
Science was once thought of as magic, until the 1600s. Before then it was Alchemy or Astronomy or Witchcraft. So perhaps rationality should be challenged once in a while, because after all isn't Magick in the heart of the beholder?
Alex S I know what you mean. They were such a brilliant concept, incorporating the concept of wizards into science fiction, and still making it plausible. The technomages have always been my favorite characters in science fiction. I hated how they never did anything with them in the original series, and when crusade was canceled.
MinecraftPro15 Babylon 5: The passing of technomages 1- Casting Shadows 2- Summoning Light 3- Invoking Darkness Also standalone novel Babylon 5: Shadow Within is kind of a prologue (it tells the story of Anna Sheridan and how she got to Z'ha'dum). No technomages but some interesting things about shadows in this one. :) Have a nice day.
These novels, and the the standalone novel _To Dream in the City of Darkness_, and the other two trilogies (the Psi-Corps trilogy [The first novel focuses on the discovery of human telepathy and the origins of the organization that eventually became the Psi-Corps - it ends with the birth of Bester. The second is Bester’s life leading up to his first appearance on the series, and the third takes up after the Telepath War {which we sadly never saw - JMS is supposedly going to write that up as a separate story} and shows Bester’s life post-Psi Corps] and Peter David’s _Legions of Fire_ trilogy about Centauri Prime, showing what happened to Londo and Centauri Prime from the moment the Drakh Keeper attached to him, to the events shown in Sheridan’s flash-forward on B4 but this time as seen from the “present”), are all considered canon. JMS wrote in the Foreword to _To Dream in the City of Darkness_ that that novel in particular was 100% canon in every detail, every bit as authoritative as any aired episode or movie, and was the definitive answer to the Sinclair question. It should be noted that _To Dream in the City of Sorrows_ builds on events in several of the stories told in the short-lived DC Comics _Babylon 5_ series of comics (especially the initial trilogy which shows Sinclair arriving on Minbar to take up the Earth Alliance ambassadorship there - first issue of that was written by JMS himself), so you might consider that a prerequisite. The later comics story showing a flashback of how Sinclair and Garibaldi met is also interesting.
I liked that they would later make reference to Elric in Babylon Crusade. Galen was his apprentice and talked about what a powerful figure Elric was, "and of course, that voice". RIP Michael Ansara.
*were there any episodes of this series that were not amazingly deep and reflective? even those with Zathras had something to say and well worth quoting*
@@hakont.4960 *Zathras is resigned to his fate ...unlike others that might be taken completely of guard by events that seem unfortunate... Zathras sees silver lining in all things even when silver lining is the precursor to a storm and being struck by lightning...has happened numerous times before...stings a bit at first but Zathras accustomed to the sensation and now it only tickles... Zathras have so few chances to laugh at life...takes them when he can*
That only works if a culture thrives in ignorance and stupidity. Once a culture actually values education and doesn't keep it's people in ignorance as a means of control for the most part looking at you flat earthers , the whole magic thing falls flat on it's ass. -Jimbotheassclown
I'm not an idiot. And if someone shows up, visibly poofs around appearing and disappearing at will, throwing balls of fire conjured out of thing air to the palm of there hand, walking through walls and touching stuff and turning it into other stuff with merely a single tap and cancer all my health problems with a word and a gesture, I'm probably not going to rule out magic right away cause the tech needed would probably break basically every one of sciences laws we know about. and for it to not be doing that it would need to be thousands of years more advanced than what we have.
@@michaelweigel8253 Ouch. Very ouch, dude. On the other hand, maybe he didn't use them on her, 'cause it would so unfair? "With great power.." you know? LOL
I have tried, unsuccessfully to find , in my head ,a more able and fitting actor that could have replaced him playing the technomage in this scene ,without success. He was one of the great ones, very underrated in my opinion.
"how to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you" ~ that line always felt so important to me ...... I think it can impact many people and the various things they have gone through
Sleipnir Blue I put a B5 playlist on tonight and slept, woke up to this ep and that line is running all throughout my head. It feels like the single most important thing he said and I can’t entirely say why. Maybe because in the end love and leaving, richness and poorness come and go in varying quantities throughout life, but true dreams once stolen never return.
I think that line is important because Sheridan's line about his childhood showed Elric that Sheridan had the ability to comprehend what he meant by these things.
I called and asked if they take requests and some twit said sure what is it ? I said Babylon 5 . She said I tell them . I know she didn't do squat . Amazon has it because I was looking to buy the whole DVD set an read the reviews . So people if you have Netflix , call them and bug the shit outa them cuz I am .
They've looked into it, Insipid. Unfortunately, the nature of their filming (esp. the 4x3 ratio for the special effects and the 640x480 resolution levels) do not allow for the conversion to letter-box, let alone hi-def. I've read that there have been attempts and they were unwatchably bad. :(
I do hope one day to see a good remake of babylon 5 but deep down I know the show was amazing in the time it made, now people have more demand and I fear it might not work for these days... hope Im wrong
The late, great Michael Ansara who's probably best remembered for playing Kang in Star Trek and Cain in the first series of Buck Rogers and the 25th Century.
I love this character. I really wish we had been able to see more of the techno-mages in the series. Super interesting and they could have made some really interesting story telling around them!
@@stevenbenson9976 Both were done in their own book trilogy. Those, and the Londo/Centari trilogy are well worth reading. Great background for all of them
things like this is why this show was so brilliant, to have a group come by..mysterious and secret..to give you a glimpse of a glimpse of possibilities before they leave..makes you think
one of the truly great speeches in scifi television history, and an unforgettable delivery. this was up there with yoda's 'luminous beings are we, not this crude matter' as scifi wisdom that shaped my perspective of the world and the human race.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from mage." - Arthur C. Clark. Even in our society, magic exists. Not long ago, we listened to reproduced sounds on a wax cylinder. Now, you can fit nearly a million songs onto a device no bigger than the human thumb. Once, grand cathedrals took several generations to build to house hundreds of books. Now, one can type a few words onto a screen & have access to the sum total of human knowledge. A lifetime ago, it took weeks to get across this continent. Now, a few hours. Previously, we looked to the stars & wondered what made those tiny holes in the night's sky. Today we know the names of those stars & how long they will burn. And yet we are still amazed by what makes one person fall in love with another, how a sunrise or sunset can still take one's breath away, where we go after our bodies shut down permanently. Magic isn't just sleight of hand, or tossing fireballs or peering into the future or such. Magic is what you make of it. Remember the Riddle Of Steel: "What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
@@SapphireCrusader1988 I thank you, my good sir. Perhaps in a previous incarnation, I strode the streets of Alexandria, availing myself of the Library there. Anything is possible.
Yet in our pragmatic world even the most profound mystery is often rendered mundane with a mere "knowable" word to cover it's mystery. eg "Gravity" - the twists and bends of the Universe itself. Were true wizards to exist they would soon occupy cubicles in a tower. It is the art of the modern age. Lifting the veil of words to actual understanding, the mystery & wonder - the magic remains.
I find it incredibly inspiring how the technomage lays out that our technology, the magic of lightning and steel, have given us more than our fantasies can imagine. It's a grounding thought. "Don't live in your dreams, things more wondrous than they are right in front of you."
Growing up in the days before cellphones and MTV. Most people were poor but didn’t really know it. Rich is spirit. There are people who are poor in materialistic things but rich in life. That’s what he meant.
I will start with an axiom my father made sure I understood: To have a roof over your head, to keep off the rain and the snow; to have a light to see at night and keep your food fresh; and, of course, the food to eat, once you have cooked it. Now, from me: to have enough money to pay your bills that will sustain you, on time, each month, with enough to buy one book, one dinner out, and a Sunday morning donut to go with your coffee. All else is extravagance. Why a book? you are already paying for the lights, use them! A book needs no power source but what is between your ears. Why one dinner out? Once a month makes it more special, more intimate, more adventurous. Why one donut? So your doctor cannot tell you to cut out the sweets, and you live life longer!! I am 66. I have "had a lot". I have "had much little" growing up as a GI brat in the 60's. One last thing, the greatest "enrichment" is having someone love you in the long haul, not for just "tonight". THAT makes everything else easy, even serious sickness.
I had the same reaction! The late, great Michael Ansara wasn't seen anywhere near enough in TV and film. I remember going on a quest to find other appearances, like the Harlan-Ellison-penned THE OUTER LIMITS episode "Soldier," the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA feature film, and even his guest spots as the Blue Djinn on I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
"How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you." As Elric spoke, he realized the bitter truth: he had lost his dreams. His dream of growing old on Soom. Of Galen becoming a great Mage. Of the Mages becoming strong enough to fight the Shadows. His dreams were gone, and no spell could bring them back.
G'Quan wrote, there is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope... the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.
@@NicholasBrakespear The loss of dreams is an important theme in Babylon 5. Just think of how many times that is referenced, either directly or indirectly ("My shoes are too tight ****** forgotten how to dance").
Actually Technomages used Shadow Tech for some of their stuff.And while the Shadows are writed to be perceived as the villains in this story, in the end they wanted the races to evolve (tought by more questionable methods than the Vorlons), one of the final morals of this show was that the Shadows were right in a way. Earth evolved throught war (Dilgar, Minbari and civil wars) from a minor race to the second more powerfull race of the younger races.
History has always taught us that war speeds discoveries on a massive scale, more so than peace. Take our own history of the United States. The Civil War became the first modern war and World War 2 brought about the Atomic Age.
The mysteries of lasers, circuits and crystals INDEED. In the Ham radio hobby we study these things and more. The mysteries of how radio waves propagate through the ionosphere and also the effects of sun spots on radio propagation in the ionosphere. I guess we could be called radio technomages. I'm a big fan of Babylon 5, definitely one of the best SiFi shows ever.
As you are Technomages of radio, some of us are Technomages of computers. You are Wavemages, we are Cybermages. Those who study both hardware and software, both photon and electron, always developing, always listening, always improving. Science may be in the hands of scientists, but it is the technician, the radio operator, the computer builder who improves and advances that science. Almost "magic" to the ordinary user or listener isn't it? KB7VKO.
@@jimbotheassclown You press buttons on you phone and play games written by others. you likely customize your phone with downloaded background screens and believe your awesome. For some of us, we use the toys you take for granted, turn them into things that defy your imagination. I do not believe you are without vision or hope. You would need to take the journey to understand. Without knowledge, it is like explaining the color blue to a blind man or showing a symphony orchestra to someone who can not hear. I challenge you to step out of your normal life and begin to understand how things work.
All technology is magic to those who do not understand it. One person's technology is another person's magic, and a third person's religion. In reality, there is no magic; simply things we don't understand. Once we understand them, they become laws of nature. 300 years ago a smartphone would have been called magic. But the principles which make such possible existed 300 years ago as they do today. We simply didn't know enough. Therefore, *then*, they were magic. But simply because we didn't know enough. One day we will travel at a speed that is effectively faster than light. We might now call that magic, but it's simply the application of principles that we don't yet understand.
And Galen knew the word that could destroy everything and was banned from ever passing that knowledge on. He used it once and destroyed one of the most powerful Shadow vessels out there.
Amazing to me (and confirmed so far by my current rewatch) how B5’s dialogue can be a mixture of the clunky and the poetic, and its guest performances range from woefully inept to the unforgettable. This scene represents the latter, thankfully.
This show is a classic in the traditional literary sense. In many ways it is because no matter the year or decade or era, it hasn't yet run out of relevant things to say. I watched this show on DVD during the last presidential election and it took on a bittersweet prescience. It bears rewatching, especially now.
kamenridernephilim I just read your comment. It reminded me of the B5 scene where Londo remarks to the humans about how efficient it is that they have arrogance and stupidity in the same package. He repeatedly tried to warn the humans to not bother or try to contact the Minbari, but they wouldn't listen. The result was that the Minbari nearly wiped out humanity. With all the technological advances humans had made to get out into space, they were nearly brought down by their own arrogance and stupidity.
This is actually a discussion of Clarke's third law, which says: "Any technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic" The other two beeing: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible." Arthur C. Clarke was a pretty well known science fiction writter.
@@Thkaal But then there was HEX: A magical computer in Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld which was a magic so advanced it was indistinguishable from technology.
Meanwhile, in the technomage's head: "okay, orange blossoms. I can work with that. Set the nanofabricator, and give it some time to churn it out with some sophistry."
I saw him at a convention around the time of this episode . He could hardly stand without his wife holding on to him . He been an actor for a long time . I saw him play Indians in Westerns a lot in the 60's .
A Star Trek captain would have felt the need to beat down any usage of the term "magic" - and then gone off to talk to their psychic counselor about how pissed off they were by such "superstitious" nonsense!
Depends on the captain, doesn't it? Some of them might have felt compelled to agree with Sheridan here (Kirk, for instance, and Spock). Sisko came around similarly later on. And Picard, well, it would depend on the season. Early? Certainly. Later? Perhaps . . . not.
Funny you should bring up Spock. Despite the logic thing, Vulcans, unlike humans in Trek, are shown to practice a Buddhism-like religion, complete with prayers and temples. Which is maybe not so off the wall when you stop to think about it. They are psychic after all, and it is a proven fact in Trek that the power of "thought" (a more acceptable term to use than "magic") can influence reality. Humans encounter this fact frequently, but seem to actively reject it, as they do not appear to want to study this phenomenon too closely.
Well Spock did make Captain, so he counts. And logic would compel him to reach the same conclusion: there are things we do not yet understand, which may as well be "magic". One could only guess what he would have made of the Q. . . . and encountering them more often, later-seasons Picard may be more "flexible" to the idea of "magic". He may not like the term, but I think he may have let it pass. Early Picard? Too much of a self-righteous prick
Until Sisqo, and prophecies started happening. But then again DS9 is the stolen plot line of B5 since it was pitched to Paramount first, they rejected it, and rewrote it in their own image. To the extent that Majel had to come to the set of B5 to try to patch up the wounds and bring worlds together.
Great scene, but the ending that was cut out is my favorite part. When the technomage places orange blossom in Sheridans hand. Look of wonder on his face, after he smells it
A man who flies was considered magic for say hundreds of thousands of years and only became a reality in the past 250 years ( Including the first balloon flight not just the Wright Brothers).
Babylon 5 was such a deep thinkers show that surpasses other sci-fi by a great margin..The Techno mages were one of the best original and well thought out characters in that universe...wish they could have touched on that topic more.
One of my favorite speeches of all time. "Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain." Magnificent. Michael Ansara did a fine job also.
I like the reply to that even more. "Perhaps, perhaps not". Maybe "He" did need a fusion reactor to do it. Which would mean we as a species are simply characters in a cosmic reality tv show. It would be quite fitting, imho.
"If we went back in time a thousand years..." - a foreshadowing for Babylon Squared. "God was there first and he didn't need solar batteries and a fusion reactor to do it." "Perhaps, perhaps not." - foreshadowing of Lorien and the Vorlons (and possibly the other First Ones) being seen as divine figures by the younger races, as shown when Kosh saved Sheridan from the bomb in the monorail, and the onlookers saw him as their version of an angel. The sheer planning of the story arcs is so deep and amazing.
A line that makes sense only if you do not plumb the contradictions of the burning bush. It's a powerful image and thus one easily referenced, but the simple words do not do it justice. Read the scripture and actually think, and consider the hubris of comparing the workings of man to the miracles of the Almighty.
There was always that certain mysteriousness that I liked about the techno mages, just a shame that it wasn't expanded upon in B5 & Crusade to its fullest potential.
"Give me a lever big enough, and I shall move the world." The Technomages's tech isn't their lever. It just tells them where to stand for the world to tilt the way they want.
Michael Ansara was one of the first generation of TV character actors. They are remembered now not only because so many were excellent actors but because there were relatively few of them. There were also only three networks meaning there were fewer programs (but they were seen by a larger percentage of viewers). So these actors naturally show up in "classic" programs of the 60's. You can see Robert Redford playing Death on the Twilight Zone or James Doohan as a cop on the Outer Limits.
Seven words to make them go without pain: "You need more fiber in your diet."
It is not you, it is me...
Take an upvote you...
2 years later, thanks for the laugh.
Memory flashes of nights with my 12 inch dildo...
lol. savage.
One thing that I like about this scene is the respect that the techno-mage give Sheridan, while Sheridan is showing him the same respect. Sheridan isn't trying to take advantage of the TM like Lando was. Sure, Sheridan asked some questions, but was willing to accept "no" and continue to show respect.
I think what really impresses Elric with Sheridan is when he goes into a reverie about his childhood dreamings of one day going to far away places, speaking in a manner that showed the Captain still had that boyish enthusiasm for that long-ago dream and that life had not stolen it from him. That was enough to tell Elric he was dealing with someone who could understand.
Londo wasn't trying to use him , it was just a thought nothing more KEKW
This was more of a turning point in the series than it seemed. It deserved more time and exploration.
@@dustinshadle732 the technomages were awesome
@@dustinshadle732, the producers thought so too. It was to be a theme in Crusade, but that didn't last.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
"any sufficiently understood magic is indistinguishable from technology"
these are two sides of the same coin. The only difference is our understanding of it.
As above, so below
"any sifficantly advanced technology is indistiguifhable from a big gun'" Howard Taylor
"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
"Any technology, no matter how simple, is magic to those who do not understand it."
Damn, a quote that Clarke Ashton Smith said, or something like it? I might be wrong here 😮😮😊
I always liked that line " Perhaps it is magic, magic of the human heart , focused and made manifest by technology." Made me change my perspective on things.
This line is my favourite:
ua-cam.com/video/9umvJFIRUdY/v-deo.html
chrisdaco22 apparently MJS believes in GOD, I am so fucking disappointed in him, MJS that is, God doesn’t exist 😈😈😈😝
@@michaelbeam3385 No, he is an atheist and was at the time he wrote Babylon 5. However, he believes human beings cannot deny they're built to believe in a framework larger than themselves.
It is also really important to understand that JMS is a good enough writer to not let his personal believe dictate the story. Unlike the guys who wrote the disaster called DS9. A lot of B5 is very religious, a lot is pure blasphemy. It always exists in the correct areas. In Season 1 there was an episode "The believers". At the end of the episode there is no answer to who is right, and who is wrong. The viewer had to decide for himself. These are the moments good writing shows.
@@xellos5262 Deep Space Nine is not a disaster, how dare you throw unnecessary shade!
The only thing missing from this scene is the last part, where Elric produces a simple orange blossom, like the one Sheridan used to dream under the trees of, as a gift for him. It was a simple thing, a small miracle, a tiny gesture, but it carried a lot of weight with it. And it made Sheridan remember those times as a child, when magic was real and the world was full of wonder. Which is a good thing, is it not?
yes. To Sheridan it would've been MIRACULOUS.
Michael Ansara - an amazing actor with a career that spanned nearly 50 years, he could do anything: science fiction, westerns, comedy or drama. His early career featured a role in The Lone Ranger, and in the late 1990's he was voicing Mr. Freeze for several Batman animated series. I still think Technomage Elric was one of the best roles of his career.
Dont forget he was also a famous Klingon from the TOS Commmader Kang
He has a mesmerizing voice. I thought he really Cool as Mr Freeze in Batman Animated and Batman Beyond series
He was pretty good in The Commancheros with John Wayne too!
And let's not forget...the Husband of Barbara "Jeannie" Eden..and played the Blue Djinn in that series.
@@zulfanbakri7640 "Mr Chekov.....I see they have finally given you the captaincy you deserve......" I hear it so clear in his distinct voice.
This show is STILL ahead of its time. JMS was writing on this higher level 25 years ago.
So happy I met him. I had to ask how come the image at the end of the last episode gets blurry when I watch it. He said, "Yeah, that issue happens for everyone."
Agreed just a shame that the spin offs of the show weren't picked up on or cancelled/dropped (Crusade) for whatever reasons
Strazinsky is a wonderful story teller. If you ever get a chance to hear him live, do it.
For real. I get the hankering to watch the entire series about every year or so...
It took a while for him to get to that level. Remember that he got his start writing fluff for He-Man.
"We are dreamers, shapers, singers and makers."
Beautiful dialogue, the likes of which we'll ne'er see again this side of the rim.
Oh, there's truth to that... the only pity is, that these GEMS were not shot in iMAX....
@@piotrd.4850 as I get older, and my visual acuity drops, higher resolution video becomes less and less important.
(On the other hand, sound remains king 🤴)
😉
I always caught bit of another mage -- a one of the Order of Succarum -- who once said, "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
I want the magic to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you.
Then talk to a child, and for once listen, to what they say.
That magic lies within yourself. You need to focus on it and tap into it. It's difficult.
One shouldn't go from knowledge back to ignorance. He was simply nostalgic about being young and nieve, and truly didn't wish to change. M Ali said it best. "Anyone who looks at the world the same at 40 as they did at 20 has wasted 20 years."
@@christophermccarthy884 Or has had a live filled with happiness, because they achieved what they set out to achieve.
Honestly, Dreaming big and pushing hard is not a bad thing. Ambition is what drives us to become better. Our dreams are what shapes who we are, and who we want to be. It is those who lose the ability to dream, who are lost to the cruelty of reality, that will never find happiness again. They are old and bitter, and they want you to share in their pain.
@@xellos5262 you totally missed the point of their conversation in your rush to make an unrelated statement. He isn't old or bitter, and if you watched the show he certainly knew how to dream. He isn't an old man who has no dreams and is trying to destroy others. He is an adult that understands enough to have lost the simple wonders to knowledge and understanding. It is bitter sweet, but necessary to grow up.
This is one of the reasons why Babylon 5 will be remembered as a GREAT show.
I love the Technomage's dialogue and view on life; 'We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers." has become my motto.
This dialogue is my favorite also and as a person interested in science and technology I also liked "We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner. Holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ and we know many things"
exept the circle(ruling council of the mages) never tells their pubils that the tech inside their bodys is shadowtech! after they find out alot of them arent that happy anymore....
Londo : does this torment end when you leave or do I have to spend the rest of my life paying for one little mistake ?
Techno mage : I am afraid you will spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes, not this one , it’s trivial I have already withdrawn the spell , but there will be others
That a good motto for a game company.
@@mho... really hope we get to explore more of the technomages in the remake.
As you get older, and your friends and relatives do as well, you also begin to appreciate "how to say goodbye to a friend who is dying".
It's amazing that such a profound statement passed by so quickly that I missed it until reading your comment.
As well as "how to make them go without pain."
Goodbye but before you go have some drugs
You say it with love, and humility, and with all the care that you can find in the world. You say it with all the love that you can hold in your heart....they will hear it, and feel it
in this show, that's a skill you use a lot.
Michael Ansara made a perfect Technomage.
+Lurker1979 Yeah he did
They exist. There just isn't a forum for them on the scale there once was. We celebrate youth now. Vitality has supplanted wisdom. And contacts and networking have the most sway. Hollywood now is searching for safe investments. And it's hard to get people to fill seats to hear an old man speak unless he is passing a torch to a beautiful youth to carry the day.
And a spitting image of Mr. Freeze too!
Did you ever see the spinoff, "Crusade"? There a technomage in that series who says this guy was his teacher. At one point, while describing him, he says, "...and that VOICE!"
also the perfect Klingon
He played two great space opera characters - Kang the Klingon and Elric the Technomage
Didn't he play Kane in Buck Rogers too? Fantastic actor.
I had no idea he played klang in ds9 till i listened to the voice again
Don't forget he played Kane on Buck Rogrrs
Also remember he played Qarlo Clobregnny in The Outer Limits...
"Thank you for saving the killing blow for me...it is a good day to die..."
I love Michael Ansara's voice.
+KorAsek453 so did Bruce Timm
he sounds so fucking wise
It brings me to tears because I would watch with my husky Achilles ( A ship in the episode signs and portents) his speech is perfection !
It's fantastic. He's intimidating and authoritative at the same time.
Michael Ansara was indeed a handsome man!
I had an encouter with a real technomage as a doctor. No kidding. In fact three such encouters in Germany and Czech republic... They called themselves variously, like chaos magicians or neuromancers and I see no difference with the technomage. We(doctors, nurses... ) had some weird experiences we are explaining with psychiatr, but it was scary and mysterious, unlike some card readers, occultists or old fashioned wizards. Always when I see this episode, it gives me chills and I remember the encouters like if I met a ghost or alien.....but my profession didctates me to remain rational.
Science was once thought of as magic, until the 1600s. Before then it was Alchemy or Astronomy or Witchcraft. So perhaps rationality should be challenged once in a while, because after all isn't Magick in the heart of the beholder?
I'm sorry they never went into more depth with the techomages. They were fascinating idea.
Alex S they did a little bit in crusade, but im glad they didn't do too much, I like the idea of them staying mysterious
Alex S I know what you mean. They were such a brilliant concept, incorporating the concept of wizards into science fiction, and still making it plausible. The technomages have always been my favorite characters in science fiction. I hated how they never did anything with them in the original series, and when crusade was canceled.
TheDarkIllumination Well, you can always read books:) there's this technomage trilogy you know?
MinecraftPro15 Babylon 5: The passing of technomages
1- Casting Shadows
2- Summoning Light
3- Invoking Darkness
Also standalone novel Babylon 5: Shadow Within is kind of a prologue (it tells the story of Anna Sheridan and how she got to Z'ha'dum). No technomages but some interesting things about shadows in this one. :)
Have a nice day.
These novels, and the the standalone novel _To Dream in the City of Darkness_, and the other two trilogies (the Psi-Corps trilogy [The first novel focuses on the discovery of human telepathy and the origins of the organization that eventually became the Psi-Corps - it ends with the birth of Bester. The second is Bester’s life leading up to his first appearance on the series, and the third takes up after the Telepath War {which we sadly never saw - JMS is supposedly going to write that up as a separate story} and shows Bester’s life post-Psi Corps] and Peter David’s _Legions of Fire_ trilogy about Centauri Prime, showing what happened to Londo and Centauri Prime from the moment the Drakh Keeper attached to him, to the events shown in Sheridan’s flash-forward on B4 but this time as seen from the “present”), are all considered canon. JMS wrote in the Foreword to _To Dream in the City of Darkness_ that that novel in particular was 100% canon in every detail, every bit as authoritative as any aired episode or movie, and was the definitive answer to the Sinclair question.
It should be noted that _To Dream in the City of Sorrows_ builds on events in several of the stories told in the short-lived DC Comics _Babylon 5_ series of comics (especially the initial trilogy which shows Sinclair arriving on Minbar to take up the Earth Alliance ambassadorship there - first issue of that was written by JMS himself), so you might consider that a prerequisite. The later comics story showing a flashback of how Sinclair and Garibaldi met is also interesting.
I liked that they would later make reference to Elric in Babylon Crusade. Galen was his apprentice and talked about what a powerful figure Elric was, "and of course, that voice". RIP Michael Ansara.
Babylon 5 had so much deep thoughts put into understandable terms, it was just so brilliantly written.
*were there any episodes of this series that were not amazingly deep and reflective? even those with Zathras had something to say and well worth quoting*
@@scottmantooth8785 Poor Zathras, he just couldn't catch a break could he?
@@hakont.4960 *Zathras is resigned to his fate ...unlike others that might be taken completely of guard by events that seem unfortunate... Zathras sees silver lining in all things even when silver lining is the precursor to a storm and being struck by lightning...has happened numerous times before...stings a bit at first but Zathras accustomed to the sensation and now it only tickles... Zathras have so few chances to laugh at life...takes them when he can*
@@hakont.4960 "Nobody listens to Zathras..."
@@hakont.4960 Zathras? Or Zathras?
One of my most favourite conversational scenes in the whole series. Indeed, the scene itself is magickal for the ideas it invokes.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", - Arthur C.Clarke.
probably the genesis for JMS's whole concept for the technomages.
I seem to recall him saying something to that effect at some point.
That only works if a culture thrives in ignorance and stupidity. Once a culture actually values education and doesn't keep it's people in ignorance as a means of control for the most part looking at you flat earthers , the whole magic thing falls flat on it's ass. -Jimbotheassclown
I'm not an idiot. And if someone shows up, visibly poofs around appearing and disappearing at will, throwing balls of fire conjured out of thing air to the palm of there hand, walking through walls and touching stuff and turning it into other stuff with merely a single tap and cancer all my health problems with a word and a gesture,
I'm probably not going to rule out magic right away cause the tech needed would probably break basically every one of sciences laws we know about.
and for it to not be doing that it would need to be thousands of years more advanced than what we have.
Than you're the text book example of an idiot. lol
Michael Ansara was married to Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie) for 16 years.
What a life.
Wow!! He got to saddle up Barbara Eden! 😳😜 Now I am jealous! 👌👍🖖
@@worldtraveler930 That poor bastard...LOL Yeah, SERIOUSLY jealous.
He met her on the set of the Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea feature film.
@@arekpetrosian4965 Guess those 14 words weren't enough for Jeannie.
@@michaelweigel8253 Ouch. Very ouch, dude. On the other hand, maybe he didn't use them on her, 'cause it would so unfair? "With great power.." you know? LOL
I have tried, unsuccessfully to find , in my head ,a more able and fitting actor that could have replaced him playing the technomage in this scene ,without success. He was one of the great ones, very underrated in my opinion.
+Mimi P
Instantly Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee comes to my mind.
MKu MKu Or amybe Leonard Nimoy.
Unfortunately, both of those are also now no longer with us.
He's doing his "Lame Beaver" portrayal. It is the go to act for Ansara. He always was best as the wise stoic.
Mimi P Yule Brenner
"This is Kang. Cease hostilities. Disarm."
Only a fool fights in a burning building.
@@michaelweigel8253 We need no urging to hate humans!
I just love this guys voice - it was just awesome - a voice of wisdom of power and of great understanding.
I know, right?? The great Michael Ansara - not seen enough in film and television.
This is one of the best scenes in the whole series. Very well written.
His voice is amazing! Proper inflections. Wonderful. Dreamers, Shapers, Singers and Makers.
"how to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you" ~ that line always felt so important to me ...... I think it can impact many people and the various things they have gone through
Sleipnir Blue I put a B5 playlist on tonight and slept, woke up to this ep and that line is running all throughout my head. It feels like the single most important thing he said and I can’t entirely say why. Maybe because in the end love and leaving, richness and poorness come and go in varying quantities throughout life, but true dreams once stolen never return.
I would like to know the words and phrases he was talking about. How much good could be done with them and not need any technology.
I think that line is important because Sheridan's line about his childhood showed Elric that Sheridan had the ability to comprehend what he meant by these things.
Jesus can you just put this damn show back on Netflix already!
I called and asked if they take requests and some twit said sure what is it ? I said Babylon 5 . She said I tell them . I know she didn't do squat . Amazon has it because I was looking to buy the whole DVD set an read the reviews . So people if you have Netflix , call them and bug the shit outa them cuz I am .
i want this in bluray
I know this is an old post, but go90.com has all five seasons of B5 for streaming.
They've looked into it, Insipid. Unfortunately, the nature of their filming (esp. the 4x3 ratio for the special effects and the 640x480 resolution levels) do not allow for the conversion to letter-box, let alone hi-def. I've read that there have been attempts and they were unwatchably bad. :(
I do hope one day to see a good remake of babylon 5 but deep down I know the show was amazing in the time it made, now people have more demand and I fear it might not work for these days... hope Im wrong
ARRGHHHH You cut out the scene with the orange blossom.
The late, great Michael Ansara who's probably best remembered for playing Kang in Star Trek and Cain in the first series of Buck Rogers and the 25th Century.
I love this character. I really wish we had been able to see more of the techno-mages in the series.
Super interesting and they could have made some really interesting story telling around them!
I really like this character too, and their faction. Eventually it came across one of B5's novels about them and enjoyed it too.
Agreed. I think they could have been excellent in a story line to offset psi corp
We did get one of them in the main cast of Crusade.
@@stevenbenson9976 Both were done in their own book trilogy. Those, and the Londo/Centari trilogy are well worth reading. Great background for all of them
things like this is why this show was so brilliant, to have a group come by..mysterious and secret..to give you a glimpse of a glimpse of possibilities before they leave..makes you think
one of the truly great speeches in scifi television history, and an unforgettable delivery. this was up there with yoda's 'luminous beings are we, not this crude matter' as scifi wisdom that shaped my perspective of the world and the human race.
Still the best character concept in a scifi series in a long time and Michael Ansara really sold. Also he is in my book the only Mr. Freeze.
Seven words to make them go without pain:
"It is not you, it is me".
Clever.
* grabs heart *
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from mage." - Arthur C. Clark.
Even in our society, magic exists. Not long ago, we listened to reproduced sounds on a wax cylinder. Now, you can fit nearly a million songs onto a device no bigger than the human thumb. Once, grand cathedrals took several generations to build to house hundreds of books. Now, one can type a few words onto a screen & have access to the sum total of human knowledge. A lifetime ago, it took weeks to get across this continent. Now, a few hours. Previously, we looked to the stars & wondered what made those tiny holes in the night's sky. Today we know the names of those stars & how long they will burn.
And yet we are still amazed by what makes one person fall in love with another, how a sunrise or sunset can still take one's breath away, where we go after our bodies shut down permanently.
Magic isn't just sleight of hand, or tossing fireballs or peering into the future or such. Magic is what you make of it. Remember the Riddle Of Steel: "What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
Damn, those are some deep words.
@@SapphireCrusader1988 I thank you, my good sir. Perhaps in a previous incarnation, I strode the streets of Alexandria, availing myself of the Library there. Anything is possible.
1% total human knowledge 99% porn.
Yet in our pragmatic world even the most profound mystery is often rendered mundane with a mere "knowable" word to cover it's mystery. eg "Gravity" - the twists and bends of the Universe itself. Were true wizards to exist they would soon occupy cubicles in a tower. It is the art of the modern age. Lifting the veil of words to actual understanding, the mystery & wonder - the magic remains.
I find it incredibly inspiring how the technomage lays out that our technology, the magic of lightning and steel, have given us more than our fantasies can imagine. It's a grounding thought. "Don't live in your dreams, things more wondrous than they are right in front of you."
Never give up your dreams for they are origin of many of the wonders around us.
Look for your dreams in everything around you. Do not dwell only in your mind.
"How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you" ~ that line has always stuck with me.
What is the secret of how to be rich? I already know the secret of how to be poor.
how to be rich isn't the same as being rich. there are many people who are rich who don't have the faintest clue of how to do it right.
The same can be said about being poor.
Growing up in the days before cellphones and MTV. Most people were poor but didn’t really know it. Rich is spirit. There are people who are poor in materialistic things but rich in life. That’s what he meant.
The secret to become rich:
1. Have the right idea and work for it
2. Sell it
3. Profit
Personally I'm stuck at step 1....
I will start with an axiom my father made sure I understood: To have a roof over your head, to keep off the rain and the snow; to have a light to see at night and keep your food fresh; and, of course, the food to eat, once you have cooked it. Now, from me: to have enough money to pay your bills that will sustain you, on time, each month, with enough to buy one book, one dinner out, and a Sunday morning donut to go with your coffee. All else is extravagance. Why a book? you are already paying for the lights, use them! A book needs no power source but what is between your ears. Why one dinner out? Once a month makes it more special, more intimate, more adventurous. Why one donut? So your doctor cannot tell you to cut out the sweets, and you live life longer!! I am 66. I have "had a lot". I have "had much little" growing up as a GI brat in the 60's. One last thing, the greatest "enrichment" is having someone love you in the long haul, not for just "tonight". THAT makes everything else easy, even serious sickness.
I like how the technomage speaks in a manner that reminds me of Carl Sagan.
The mystery that vibrates in his voice. I've watched this show over and over, and still it hits me hard when he speaks.
I had the same reaction! The late, great Michael Ansara wasn't seen anywhere near enough in TV and film. I remember going on a quest to find other appearances, like the Harlan-Ellison-penned THE OUTER LIMITS episode "Soldier," the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA feature film, and even his guest spots as the Blue Djinn on I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
"How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them from you."
As Elric spoke, he realized the bitter truth: he had lost his dreams. His dream of growing old on Soom. Of Galen becoming a great Mage. Of the Mages becoming strong enough to fight the Shadows. His dreams were gone, and no spell could bring them back.
G'Quan wrote, there is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope... the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.
@@NicholasBrakespear The loss of dreams is an important theme in Babylon 5. Just think of how many times that is referenced, either directly or indirectly ("My shoes are too tight ****** forgotten how to dance").
And the world does do it's best to steal them.
It makes sense, given the arduous task of bringing Babylon 5, the show, to life - how its ideas were stolen by Paramount for DS9 etc.
I dreamed a dream of days gone by. I dreamed a dream of life worth living...
Respect being shown by both men. Both sharing of themselves.and listening to the other.
...how to be poor, how to be rich..."
So much wisdom in these few words.
One of my favorite speeches on a show filled with many of them. Michael Ansara was great. Sorry to read that he passed away.
"But God was there first." No hesitation, no ambiguity,.
Beautiful writing
A truly beautiful scene. B5 has many of these scenes.
Actually Technomages used Shadow Tech for some of their stuff.And while the Shadows are writed to be perceived as the villains in this story, in the end they wanted the races to evolve (tought by more questionable methods than the Vorlons), one of the final morals of this show was that the Shadows were right in a way. Earth evolved throught war (Dilgar, Minbari and civil wars) from a minor race to the second more powerfull race of the younger races.
Understanding is a three edged sword
History has always taught us that war speeds discoveries on a massive scale, more so than peace. Take our own history of the United States. The Civil War became the first modern war and World War 2 brought about the Atomic Age.
Dreamers, shapers, singers and makers....thanks Michael. Wonderfull line
The mysteries of lasers, circuits and crystals INDEED. In the Ham radio hobby we study these things and more. The mysteries of how radio waves propagate through the ionosphere and also the effects of sun spots on radio propagation in the ionosphere. I guess we could be called radio technomages. I'm a big fan of Babylon 5, definitely one of the best SiFi shows ever.
KB3PHL interesting N3HZ
As you are Technomages of radio, some of us are Technomages of computers. You are Wavemages, we are Cybermages. Those who study both hardware and software, both photon and electron, always developing, always listening, always improving. Science may be in the hands of scientists, but it is the technician, the radio operator, the computer builder who improves and advances that science. Almost "magic" to the ordinary user or listener isn't it? KB7VKO.
@@jimbotheassclown No, you are one without vision or hope.
LOL ok.
@@jimbotheassclown You press buttons on you phone and play games written by others. you likely customize your phone with downloaded background screens and believe your awesome. For some of us, we use the toys you take for granted, turn them into things that defy your imagination. I do not believe you are without vision or hope. You would need to take the journey to understand. Without knowledge, it is like explaining the color blue to a blind man or showing a symphony orchestra to someone who can not hear. I challenge you to step out of your normal life and begin to understand how things work.
hey its kang from ds9 and the original star trek series very good actor
Michael Ansara was such a gift to acting.
Love the technomage's voice.
What a awesome yet underrated show. Very well written.
I did my best!
@IIISentorIII Is that you Joseph? LoL
All technology is magic to those who do not understand it. One person's technology is another person's magic, and a third person's religion. In reality, there is no magic; simply things we don't understand. Once we understand them, they become laws of nature. 300 years ago a smartphone would have been called magic. But the principles which make such possible existed 300 years ago as they do today. We simply didn't know enough. Therefore, *then*, they were magic. But simply because we didn't know enough.
One day we will travel at a speed that is effectively faster than light. We might now call that magic, but it's simply the application of principles that we don't yet understand.
+Kelly Rayburn So true so true, I couldn't agree more
+Kelly Rayburn if one could ride the magnetic fields of the earth or space We might now call that magic or a ufo
j lin We can call it magic but it's not; just the application of principles we don't yet understand.
+Kelly Rayburn If a smartphone was out 300 years ago, it would have its own church today.
+Tony C until the battery dies.
And Galen knew the word that could destroy everything and was banned from ever passing that knowledge on. He used it once and destroyed one of the most powerful Shadow vessels out there.
Amazing to me (and confirmed so far by my current rewatch) how B5’s dialogue can be a mixture of the clunky and the poetic, and its guest performances range from woefully inept to the unforgettable. This scene represents the latter, thankfully.
"Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain..."
I'm crying. And you're crying too!
This show is a classic in the traditional literary sense. In many ways it is because no matter the year or decade or era, it hasn't yet run out of relevant things to say. I watched this show on DVD during the last presidential election and it took on a bittersweet prescience.
It bears rewatching, especially now.
I had taken these words too lightly when I was younger. Arrogance and stupidity was my attitude back then but now I see things differently.
my friend. age makes us all see things differently. for most it shines a light on the dark clueless naivety of our youth.
We all have our moments. The dirty truth is that arrogance and stupidity never ultimately leaves. It still lurks within us waiting to make us stumble.
kamenridernephilim I just read your comment. It reminded me of the B5 scene where Londo remarks to the humans about how efficient it is that they have arrogance and stupidity in the same package. He repeatedly tried to warn the humans to not bother or try to contact the Minbari, but they wouldn't listen. The result was that the Minbari nearly wiped out humanity. With all the technological advances humans had made to get out into space, they were nearly brought down by their own arrogance and stupidity.
Thanks for posting. It is such a great line of dialogue from a great show.
This is actually a discussion of Clarke's third law, which says:
"Any technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic"
The other two beeing:
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
Arthur C. Clarke was a pretty well known science fiction writter.
Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from magic....so there.
@@Thkaal But then there was HEX: A magical computer in Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld which was a magic so advanced it was indistinguishable from technology.
Meanwhile, in the technomage's head: "okay, orange blossoms. I can work with that. Set the nanofabricator, and give it some time to churn it out with some sophistry."
This is my favorite scene in the entire series... and there's so many scenes like this... love the series
I saw him at a convention around the time of this episode . He could hardly stand without his wife holding on to him . He been an actor for a long time . I saw him play Indians in Westerns a lot in the 60's .
Narn pulls out a raygunn on a technomage. The technomage: AVADA KEDAVRA!
A Star Trek captain would have felt the need to beat down any usage of the term "magic" - and then gone off to talk to their psychic counselor about how pissed off they were by such "superstitious" nonsense!
Depends on the captain, doesn't it? Some of them might have felt compelled to agree with Sheridan here (Kirk, for instance, and Spock). Sisko came around similarly later on.
And Picard, well, it would depend on the season. Early? Certainly. Later? Perhaps . . . not.
Funny you should bring up Spock. Despite the logic thing, Vulcans, unlike humans in Trek, are shown to practice a Buddhism-like religion, complete with prayers and temples. Which is maybe not so off the wall when you stop to think about it. They are psychic after all, and it is a proven fact in Trek that the power of "thought" (a more acceptable term to use than "magic") can influence reality. Humans encounter this fact frequently, but seem to actively reject it, as they do not appear to want to study this phenomenon too closely.
Well Spock did make Captain, so he counts. And logic would compel him to reach the same conclusion: there are things we do not yet understand, which may as well be "magic". One could only guess what he would have made of the Q.
. . . and encountering them more often, later-seasons Picard may be more "flexible" to the idea of "magic". He may not like the term, but I think he may have let it pass. Early Picard? Too much of a self-righteous prick
Until Sisqo, and prophecies started happening. But then again DS9 is the stolen plot line of B5 since it was pitched to Paramount first, they rejected it, and rewrote it in their own image. To the extent that Majel had to come to the set of B5 to try to patch up the wounds and bring worlds together.
Don't be so sure. Picard had a deep appreciation for other cultures, and how it helped the peoples in them to live their lives.
Another normal day at the Adeptus Mechanicus
Kang, you are missed....
Such an under rated show.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke
"These are the tools we employ, and we know many things."
"Such as?"
"The location of the Albino."
One of the elite that can go toe-to-toe with the strong British actors from across the pond like Sir Patrick Stewart.
I like how the all-powerful magic words came back into play in the Legions of Fire trilogy.
Come to think of it - this is about best foundation speech of WW40k Mechanicum that can be written.
I wish they had kept them around. The technomages would've made a great addition to the permanent cast.
Voice of Mr freeze in Batman TAS
"You called?" - Lorien, First of the First Ones
I plan to watch this again. I loved this show.
Great scene, but the ending that was cut out is my favorite part. When the technomage places orange blossom in Sheridans hand. Look of wonder on his face, after he smells it
The poetry of this scene. Well... The whole series.
I love this scene. I need to read the Technomage books...
Magic is just technology we can't explain adequately.
A man who flies was considered magic for say hundreds of thousands of years and only became a reality in the past 250 years ( Including the first balloon flight not just the Wright Brothers).
Babylon 5 was such a deep thinkers show that surpasses other sci-fi by a great margin..The Techno mages were one of the best original and well thought out characters in that universe...wish they could have touched on that topic more.
Very good show.
"it's all in this book that I offer, for only six easy installments of $49.99..."
How wonderfully understated "We know......many things."
One of my favorite speeches of all time. "Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain." Magnificent. Michael Ansara did a fine job also.
The proper response: "What? Like slight of hand? Parlor tricks? Pulling a rabbit outta your ass? No I don't."
Still, remember him from Buck Rogers. I'm sure this is before the time of most of you in here.
And long before that, he was Kang in Star Trek. Great actor!
God I love this show. It is still my all time favorite sci fi series.
I like the reply to that even more. "Perhaps, perhaps not". Maybe "He" did need a fusion reactor to do it. Which would mean we as a species are simply characters in a cosmic reality tv show. It would be quite fitting, imho.
"If we went back in time a thousand years..." - a foreshadowing for Babylon Squared.
"God was there first and he didn't need solar batteries and a fusion reactor to do it."
"Perhaps, perhaps not." - foreshadowing of Lorien and the Vorlons (and possibly the other First Ones) being seen as divine figures by the younger races, as shown when Kosh saved Sheridan from the bomb in the monorail, and the onlookers saw him as their version of an angel.
The sheer planning of the story arcs is so deep and amazing.
JMS planned this out from the get go.
A line that makes sense only if you do not plumb the contradictions of the burning bush. It's a powerful image and thus one easily referenced, but the simple words do not do it justice. Read the scripture and actually think, and consider the hubris of comparing the workings of man to the miracles of the Almighty.
I would have liked to seen a scene of G'Kar approaching the Technomags for advice about his fears that the Shadows returning.
There was always that certain mysteriousness that I liked about the techno mages, just a shame that it wasn't expanded upon in B5 & Crusade to its fullest potential.
...that voice of Michael Ansara!!!... hypnotic...🙂🙂
"Give me a lever big enough, and I shall move the world."
The Technomages's tech isn't their lever. It just tells them where to stand for the world to tilt the way they want.
Michael Ansara was one of the first generation of TV character actors. They are remembered now not only because so many were excellent actors but because there were relatively few of them. There were also only three networks meaning there were fewer programs (but they were seen by a larger percentage of viewers). So these actors naturally show up in "classic" programs of the 60's. You can see Robert Redford playing Death on the Twilight Zone or James Doohan as a cop on the Outer Limits.
I always like the Techomages.