The Shadows were always one of the best parts of B5. JMS knew that a compelling story required (at least one) great villain and the Shadows delivered. Very cool of them to keep with the arachnid theme and have the Shadow vessel crumple and wilt like a dead spider. No one quite did intelligent science fiction like Babylon 5.
They were not villains per se. If they are, so were Vorlons. You might not be aware of it or most proud of the fact but large scale conflicts did indeed boom technological advancement in our own history. So knowingly or not biggest world countries followed "Shadow's way" while taking smaller countries under their wings to "learn, obey" much like Vorlons did.
Przemysław Stalmach Antagonists, then. A story needs good antagonists - and indeed the point is that an antagonist doesn't have to be a villain to be a good antagonist. The Shadows were antagonists as soon as they introduced, the Vorlons became so much later.
@@jimjim292 Oh... admitting that through conflict we achieved plenty of advancements is fascism now. Well guess what - being blind to obvious truth - that's what is colloquially known as "an idiot" ...
What bothered me most is that after all the things Lyta did for them during the war, helping out Garabaldi , she never even got a "thank you". The only one that bothered to see her going away with G'kar was Zack. Really sad!!!
What was especially sad was Zack had a thing for her, but told her at a very bad time. He went on assuming she had no interest in him. Maybe things could've been different between them and that could've avoided the stupid season 5 rogue telepaths plot where *no one* will give them a place to be for *no* adequately explained reason. Hell, there was a perfectly habitable planet down below that had previously been used for refugees anyway. I'm sure Zathras and the others would've liked the company.
@@InfernosReaper lol yes, give a bunch of emotionally hurt and angry ppl a place on the local superweapon. The teeps were angry, hurt and ready for agressive action. Draal would have never allowed em in.
When I saw the title, I thought it was going to be the first time they encountered a Shadow ship. Delenn was there, and she kind of panicked. She was telling Sheridan, "You can not beat them. They just keep coming and coming!" He looked down at her and said, grimly, "With all due respect Ambassador, I've heard that before." That's one of my favorite scenes.
And the entertainment industry keeps having issues with strong female characters and how to develop them. B5 had them in droves, more than 20 years ago!
@MaiAolei they don't have a problem with developing strong female characters, the issue is they're trying to do in 2hrs what B5 did slowly over 5 seasons. Same could be said for any series that ran that long. In fact, in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), there was a strong female character in Col Wilma Deering (played by Erin Gray) long before B5 was even a concept, or BSG with Kara Thrace (Starbuck).
@@jeffburnham6611 Nah, the problem is they want to start the characters off as badasses who can do *everything* and *rarely* fail in any big way. Also, Starbuck was a dude in the original BSG and the reboot came out after B5. That said, I kinda wish they had gender swapped Peck with her as well in the A-team movie. It'd be funny, but also interesting to see a female take on that character.
Is there a reoccurring female in this series that isn't awesome in some way? I guess post-actress swap Na'Toth, because the new actress wasn't bold enough to shine and the writing didn't do enough for the character to make up for that. I think a lot of it has to do with JMS writing *characters* instead of genders.
Patricia Tallman was just so hot during the series. And as Lyta she could be both powerful and vulnerable. She wasn't really an actress by trade. She did most of her work as a stuntwoman.
Yeah, she was hot back in the day and still fairly good looking, I got to meet her at an SF expo last year and she's scheduled to back again this year.
The anger she felt cut through all the fear she had. She was going to make them pay. Given a lil more time in the future she'd have crushed that ship by herself.
02:17 was one of the scenes that stuck with me long after B5 went off the air, the Shadow Battle Crab slicing the Narn G'Quan class heavy cruiser in half lengthwise. And this took place (1995-1996) when CGI was a lot more expensive and time consuming than it is now. This show and its special effects were way ahead of their time.
+Dick Sandwich You're right. It was brilliant. Especially it's writing. Now, unfortunately, it's so dated. Not just the special effects, but the acting and the dialgoue.
+TheH3dgie Not...really, not in my eyes honestly. While the effects themselves have aged, true, the designs are still either solid or exceptionsl - the Shadow cruiser, IMO, is still the single best drawn ship in history of science fiction. And i can't agree with you on the acting\writing either, one can say it's dated, i say it turned into a classic.
Classics still date and age. Go back and watch a classic movie from the 50's. The acting styles etc are now out dated. It doesnt make it any less of a classic however.
this is 1 of my favourite scenes when lita discovers through sheridan what happened to kosh and it pisses her off... they described lita in 1 of the later b5 episodes as the telepathic equivalent of a thermo nuclear device.
Yes, but she doesn’t realize that until later. I loved Garibaldi waking up to find her sitting on the end of his bed. “What are u doing here?” “Testing out my power. I never realized .. You shouldn’t be awake.” And then he wakes up again like it was a dream within a dream, but we know (later on if not then) that she really was doing that.
It was when I first watched it on the original airing on CH4 (UK), and still is, my favourite moment, when Lyta gets the glimpse/imprint of Kosh and basically goes F*ck you. At the time on first airing, shadows had been all powerful which made this so monumental.
yeah the white star not a match with a shadow vessel in a fair one on one fight but cripple the shadow vessel and it can just barely kill a shadow vessel
One of the two greatest “don’t mess with our women” moments in Babylon 5! 😎 The other is when Delenn comes out of hyperspace with four Minbari heavy warships to defend the station against the Earthforce squadron. Delenn: [rhetorically] “Why not (attack)?” Only one of your captains has ever survived in battle against the Minbari fleet. *He* is behind me; *you* are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else 😡.” Fire and Ice, and Hell riding with her! Doesn’t get any better than that, although Lyta’s “They tore him *apart* 😢 ... *burn*, you bastard! 😡” equals it! 😁
Daniel Dickson touche’! Such a strong cast of characters, well-developed, and the women just as strong and detailed as the men! B5 was the best, and still is! 😁
@@danieldickson8591 The Three women in B5 you want on your side. What's that saying Hell has no Fury like a Woman Scorned. Where the guys fight and do ok, these girls go and press the Nuke buttons happily.
I still remember a comment later in the series, that Lyta was no longer the mid-level telepath she registered as. That if the telepaths were considered as weapons, you had small arms, large arms, capital class...and then you had Doomsday Weapons. Of which she was one. She was barely waking up to that power when she took on that shadowcrab.
Yep, she had the _potential,_ but no practice or training with those heightened powers. Kind of like having the genetic potential to build up some incredibly strong musculature, but never having exercised so far.
Same with Talia Winters. Psycore fucked her over, too, and eventually dissected her for her potential telekinetic powers. Not that Sheridan gives a fuck about telepaths. I wish they could have had Lyta dive into Talia's mind and purge the reprogramming. The more the merrier.
Ehh. Talia thing was, unfortunately, just the actress wanting to get off the show. From what i've read over the years, JMS had bigger plans for the character, bu-ut then life happened.
Honestly, lots of stuff in B5 went wrong because life happened. Keffer character in S2, for example? Added purely because the network wanted a "badass pilot" in the show. JMS never wanted him, didn't know what to do with him, and got rid of him as soon as the opportunity presented itself :D. Not to mention them not knowing if they'd get a fifth season until the very end, which made S4 extremely packed, but left S5 with a sloggy, clumsy Byron plotline.
Самый лучший фильм - фантастика моей юности ! 👍 Мечтал быть как Шеридан, справедливым, смелым и честным. И сейчас помню и люблю этот сериал. Браво всем актёрам, и всем другим людям, которые приняли участие в создании этого шедевра ! Большое спасибо !!! 🤝👏👏👏
How about The Reapers from Mass Effect videogames. www.engadget.com/2015/08/26/the-big-picture-reapers-in-gta-v/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKF5Yv_uYVVKRpd09jz83dulA3bzhvmBL6t9KVPhCByw69js16SK323KUo7smUaCkkMV0O5HiEXt-fiw8sMyHtnNTaTudowMnL6DiGQL6bWdN9YFix-T9vyXtBMCxB-Zu5BCWZwC1CQBSR6P8-8_o1L909fQxuMrW8i6_Uds3_rv
Absolutely, their strength was absolute!! The ships in the star trek universe from the species 8472 are creepy too. Don't know if they are creepier but I see some similarity
@@williehlert9876 I didn't know about those guys. I've only just started watching Voyages. Their bioships do look creepy, but they are still somewhat identifiable as ships. The thing with the Shadow ships is they are so alien you can't even tell where's the bow, where's the stern, or identify the engines. There's nothing to give a sense of scale or a clue as to how they work.
Yeah, I always figured that the Shadow vessels were psychically linked or charged and so telepaths DID exploit their natural vulnerability. And let's not forget Lyta had some Vorlon bits inside her mind (I think that had happened by that point). Also-also, I think this trial run by Sheridan was to try out the telepath tactic, knowing that conventional weapony--even that supplemented and designed by their rivals the Vorlons--would not work, and so they'd hit it with Lyta first to weaken it.
Super late reply but meh... dont forget the Shadows ships used other organisms as the main CPU and AI, ie take a organic ship, take a humanoid slot them into the cpu slot and boom you have a organic computer running your ship. Thing is, the organic being that is your core has a brain and mind, which the telepath can interfere with directly even if its just to scramble it enough to make it freeze on the spot for a while. Dont forget the episode where a ton of powerful telepaths including Besters lover were being shipped 'somewhere' and when one got out they started to fuse with the Station thanks to alien tech attached to their heads... those telepaths where heading to become the brand new telepath resistant CPUs of Shadow Vessels version 2, i guess it was Clarks contribution from Earth to Earth Govs new 'allies'. And Lyta being a super telepath was the contingency plan to out do them if they had ever made it to their destination... although that begs the question why didnt the Shadows ask for some Centauri telepaths for cores instead or as well?
Lyta was awesomee. then they treated her so badly throughout the show. Moving her to smaller quarters, not trusting her. She literally bled tears for them and they wound up kicking her off the station to travel the stars with G'Kar. Heck with her talents she probably could have took G"Kar to the Vorlon homeward.
They treated her worse because they saw her as an asset during the shadow world more than a friend. She was incredible useful to them due to her strong telepathic powers, so she was allowed to be on station after the war and not turned into the psy-corp. Then she started to interact with them in a more peaceful setting she was seen more as a liability due to her forming ties with freedom fighting telepathic movements aswell she was not allowed to be a business telepath due to earth and station regulations. The only reason she could support herself was because she made a unholy deal with bexter to be listed in their ranks without having to serve or have any real ties with them in exchange for her dead body whose circumstances must be without psy corps interaction. Anyhow Garibaldi was mind puppet by that time so not surprising he turned her down at that time while the other seemed to think it was easier to ignore her so they could focus on their own agenda. So for me it looks more like the core group never truly viewed her as a friend, she was just useful which is even brought up in the show later on. TLDR: She was never a friend in the core group, she was more viewed as an asset during the war. In peace times with the whole telepath problem she was swepped aside with it as it was an inconvience.
@@alexojeda9048 They set that up in the tv show, when she force Garibaldi to build her a army to bring down Psi-corps. In return for removing Bexter control over her.
Always thought it impressive that a P5 Telepath (a pissed off one) could sustain that much focus to disable a Shadow vessel. Leeta had more juice than she realised (and even more later in the series).
Lyta Alexander had been "altered" by the Vorlon to exponentially multiply her telepathic abilities years before this but she was just beginning to learn how to tap into that power.
Lyta is FAR FAR beyond a P5. She's way beyond a P12 (Psi-cop) even. she tells Garibaldi in S5 that's she's been altered to be the Vorlon's telepathic equivalent of a neutron bomb.
snidelywhiplash I like how, at 1.46, it looks like the Shadow vessel seems to 'punch' Lyta, telepathically, and it just makes her angrier. Bad move, Shadows.
"If we take the engines offline to fire the super burst, we won't be able to jump for 20 minutes." "Do it!" *enemy ship is destroyed* "Hooray, we won!" *Three more Shadow ships pop in*
Vorlons didn't take lightly to that terrible murder of kosh. something along the lines of exterminating all living shadows and all the planets and races they have touched. and they had the CHEEK to call the 3rd space aliens demented !!
The Vorlons didn't go psycho until Sheridan nuked Za'ha'dum. Even then, they weren't interested in exterminating the Shadows, but destroying their influence. The Vorlons wanted to prove that they were right, and the trouble with killing your enemy is that they're not around to know that you won..
Lyta was the one who didn't take the murder of Kosh lightly. Note how she deals with Ulkesh after Kosh is killed. Kosh was more than a boss to her, and I think that she loved...it? I have no idea if Vorlons are gendered, but I suspect not (like angels are in mythology).
They were essentially energy beings at this point. If they still had gender it was not biological, but something purely mental/psychological/societal. Long ago they presumably had genders but it is unknown how long ago that was or if any of the current Vorlons were old enough to have previously had physical form (though it possible as the Vorlons live a very long time, possibly immortal).
Legendary show, such a shame the last season sucked and Crusade and the Rangers were both below par as well. Seasons 2-4 of B5 were some of the best sci fi I've ever seen. Just a fantastic story. Basically Lord of the rings in space.
Crusade was actually decent. Problem was the episodes were shown out of order and the timeslot on TNT (USA) kept shifting. If you can find the script drafts for B5:Crusade episodes 14 & 15 (they only shot 13 episodes) you will see how Galen, the Technomages, Bester & Psi Corp, and Gideon fit into the overall story arc. JMS had them published on a site years ago for a while, but pulled them down when Warner Bros. complained (or so I was told). I wish those episodes had been filmed, but TNT/Warner had already killed the show (and JMS walked away as well).
Crusade was pretty much sabotaged from the get-go, messed up release schedule, terrible timeslots, worse budget, ... And the first season of B5 wasn't all that much better if you look at it without letting your knowledge of what the show would become interfere. They got luckier with the cast (Londo and G'kar at the very least), but other than that, Crusade had a decent start...
@@Wolf-ln1ml crusade was just dull as hell. somehow they made a series with a moving ship more boring than a series with station sitting still. You're right about cast, that probably had a lot to do with it. I can't even remember who the captain was.
I've never watched season 5. I try watching the first episode and can never get through it. I like to pretend that it doesn't exist. That there are only 4 seasons...
The question here is, Lyta was one of the most powerful telepaths the vorlons ever created and struggle to contain a shadow vessel. A group of Narns was able to destroy a fleet of ships with their powers and drive them from Narn. Narns telepaths had to have been more powerful than even Lyta and that is one scary thought.
It’s because she had yet to discover what her limits really were.She needed to push herself farther and farther each time. The more she did the stronger she got. In the end she became the telepathic equivalent of a planet killer
What I loved about this was that they weren't just queens, goddesses and warriors - they could be vulnerable, physically or emotionally. Some could handle themselves in a fight, some couldn't. Some had incredible depths of maternal wisdom, others reacted to vulnerability of any kind as if it was raw sewage. Honestly I find the "all women are powerful goddesses" stories just as annoying in their stereotyping as the "all women are damsels in distress" stories. I don't think Babylon 5 was all that concerned with writing male or female characters, I think they just wrote characters. Take Ivanava - she knows who she is and is comfortable with it. She's a no nonsense, hardarse military officer who does her duty unflinchingly but doesn't let it define who she is in her off hours. As well as that, her hidden telepathy and trauma related to the psi-core giver her a huge amount of vulnerability and emotion that we can identify with. That character is just as powerful and identifiable (in a weird, sci-fi way) whether it belongs to a man or a woman. She's not just some military drone with no personal life shoved into the show for a "women can be soldiers too" message, nor did they feel a need to abandon all femininity and vulnerability to make the character strong. You can actually apply the principle to most Babylon 5 characters, which is unusual for a story - imagine watching the show with every character now of the opposite gender. The storyline still works, plot points don't fall apart and characters aren't suddenly broken. Because they weren't trying to write good men/women, just good characters.
And after all this, after all she went through, after all the times she let herself be used as weapon at great pain, after all she contributed to the war, remember how Sheridan treated her after the end of the war? No wonder the telepaths are pissed, given how people treat them. Remember Byron!
It honestly seemed very out of place. I don't get why they would downgrade Lyta like that, especially with how much she helped and how much more should could help. It seems like a character derailment moment for Sheridan and the rest.
A monster that helps you out.... is still a monster afterward. And that's how normal people see telepaths. You can look at one and never know if they're going through your head like a thief going through a filing cabinet. Ultimately as seen, Bester IS right, these people ARE the beginnings of Homo Sapiens Superior, Humankind's replacements, and perhaps on a primal level, normals sense that.
I think part of the treatment of Lyra for an upcoming story arc. JMS has hinted about the Telepath War. If Lyta was part of it she would need a reason.
True. I guess the whole telepath angle weakened the Shadows in a way that brought them down to our level? That's the only thing I can think of that makes the power creep aspect work. You make a good point.
Two things annoyed me about the last episode in the Babylon 5 Series: I did NOT want to know what happened to Sheridan after he left B5 for the last time and there was no mention of Lyta.
too bad the most of the crew ignored the fact she was a person, too. What pissed me off the most was how they only seemed to be interested in Lyta if it served their own purposes; otherwise, they largely ignored her. What really chapped my ass was when Sheridan told Zak to kick her out of her Blue level apartment because they needed the space for some bullshit money problems. After all the shit she did for him during the Vorlon/Shadow War and the Earth War. They totally ignored all the fucking psychic trauma she had to go through in telepathically interacting with Kosh's dick replacement, having a hand in getting Kosh 2.0 killed, and tele-locking shadow vessels. I loved this show as a kid, but as an adult, the only thing ruining the show for me now is Sheridan. Dude's a self righteous, narcissistic jerk. She ended up having to rejoin Psycorps thanks to Sheridan.
Fodxp hatesgoogle Well... there is a reason she goes... "political activist". Even the people who dont actively hate telepaths wont stick out their necks for them most of the time. There are some really good parallels with race and gender/sexual orientation issues. "Oh yeah... sorry we were such dicks before. But its all over now" "Uh. Wut? Between helping you win your civil war AND living under poor conditions our lives are kinda fucked. Can we get some help?" "Oh... about that. Peace treaty required throwing you under the bus." ".... You know what. Screw this, and Screw You." Reminds me of the treatment of the Gurkhas prior to 2008, actually. "Hi Gurkhas, thanks for helping us fight the Nazis" "Yeah, no problem. Hey, can we, by chance, come live in the UK? I think we have earned it." "What? Oh, um... well... here's the thing, Nepal is independent now. I know colonial rule made it a dirt poor place, but it is all yours now!" "Wait, but... we volunteered to fight for you in your army, does that not entitle us to immigration rights? It seems to us that it would considering your laws about that sort of thing..." "What? No."
comradetortoise I know right?! It was terrible the way telepaths were treated in this show, and as an adult I realize this was a deliberate parallel with real life segregation and mistreatment of certain peoples. However, it really hit me that Lyta was so completely and utterly used like some tool or weapon without even considering her feelings or well being. God damn; Sheridan had a part of Kosh in him, Garibaldi had feelings for Talia Winters, and Zak had a major crush on Lyta, so WTF?!
Fodxp hatesgoogle This was the major flaw in Sheriden's storyline as the hero. He treated the telepaths as tools, weapons and not as people. For ANYONE else he would do ANYTHING! He demanded that Earth release Mars as part of the terms of the treaty. But he left the telepaths in Psi-Corps hell. Worse, all the warning signs that the Telepath War was coming were glaringly obvious and he openly ignored them. He could have at least offered rogue human telepaths sanctuary on Minbar or other ISA worlds. But he couldn't be bothered because he didn't need them anymore. If he needed telepaths he could get them from the Minbari. So he left the human telepaths with no help at all.
Great scene. However it makes me insane why they didn’t open fire immediately after shadow vessel froze down? Every second counts. And also attacking them would help her to fight shadow vessel mentality. They risked too much that she would get tired and ultimately get destroyed cause of long wait
Actually it should not have frozen, since inertia should still have moved the shadow vessel forward, even if everything in it was shut down. Considering how well the rest of the series / ships are done and shown to move, this was an interesting choice to show the ship as "frozen". Frozen in fear at a teep trying to probe it maybe?
"I'm sorry, Captain, I misread the sensors. The Shadow Vessel is actually come in on 'Say Hello' vector." "Thanks for the great work, Lyta. I'm still going to abandon you and treat you like shit in Season 5, though. Just sayin'."
This show was so well written, casted and thought out, it deserves to be on par with star trek and star wars. But I wasn't too keen on the season with the telepath war.
That whole season was not part of the original plan. The end of the series was supposed to be Sheridan returning to earth and defeating President Clark at the end of season five. But, halfway through production of season four there was still no commitment on renewal, and so JMS decided he needed to wrap up his main story because he might not ever get a fifth season.
White Stars were partially Vorlon tech. Sentient in the degree the ship evolved. One can assume they can communicate with each other, so that such evolutions are consistent and constant across their entire fleet.
Jim Johnston Alright, I'll buy that. Lennier even says that in "War Without End part 1" that the White Star "learns from experience, changes, evolves". Seems plausible.
MetallSwede Also bear in mind that this was before the reveal of the full White Star fleet. Up until this point, not including the graphic novel with the 3 prototypes, there was "The White Star". The engagement in this video happens in 'Walkabout' while the full fleet reveal doesn't happen until 'And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place'. Refitting their weapons with the most effective attack mode just before their unveiling over a few months would make sense.
i love the part when she learns that it was the shadows that killed ambassador kosh ... and then she got real pissed .... AND HELL FOLLOWED WITH HER ... lol
If they had tried to escape in to Hyperspace the Shadow would have just followed them. Battle in Hyperspace? Not a good idea. If you're going to fight, you'd better do it here. If you're in Hyperspace, lose your computer and lose track of where the beacons are - they will never find you or your ship. And YOU - you get the added fun of slowly starving to death.
That's honestly more of an issue with ships that are too damaged to get out or don't have the ability to make jump points in the first place. Either way, very dangerous.
That's what I loved about B5. They made hyperspace this thing that wasn't an instant get out of trouble gimmick like in Star Wars. They gave it gravitas.
the concept was first introduced in 'Gateway' by Frederick Pohl. as the Assassins. A race of machines who didn't want other races to advance past a level.
When they reboot this show (like they did with BSG) I'd like to see them up their game on the CGI. That's one of the few areas where this show doesn't stand up over time. Make those Shadow ships super menacing by today's standards. "A cross between a spider and your worst nightmare." Make this happen, In Valen's name.
P20? I would've thought she'd be more ranked as a P200. That's if anyone could still assign her a ranking considering just how overblown the power that the Vorlon's gave to her was.
Patricia Tallman was so great and is so beautiful. I hated how the ended her character's story toward the end of the series, but such is life in episodic fiction.
I always thought, that when the shadow war was over, it lost some of its magic. I still enjoyed the series after they, and the vorlons had left the universe, but just not quite as good as before. Still, it was the best TV sci-fi series out there at the time and I can't tell ya how BIG a Star Trek fan I used to be.
B5 was certainly one of the best sci fi shows, possibly because it was made by a single guy rather than by a team of writers, ensuring consistency and credibility. It now looks dated and it would be great if JMS could reboot the series with modern effects. BTW I once sent a fan email to him decades ago and was surprised and delighted when he replied. I wish I'd kept it.
that is who he is and no one refuses Sheridan and if they do it isn't for long, plus he always has backup. In scenes like this he has several Minbari cruisers in hyperspace waiting and if after like 5 minutes they do not here from them the Minbari comes for him
From reality? The creator of Battlestar Galactica, Glen Larson, is a practicing Mormon; the show incorporates quite a bit of Mormon theology - "lost tribes", for one, and the Mormon afterlife features a planet called "Cobol." This is all on the record and has been common knowledge for decades.
The original one with Lorne Greene was intentionally laden with Mormon symbolism by Larson. The Ron Moore remake turned all that on its ear and turned it into human polytheists vs Cylon monotheists.
@@ML-yn9yu She wasn't killed in the telepath war. She and J'kar went travelling somewhere and there was never a telling if she evolved to a higher plane or whatever happened to her.
The effects ironically look worse in this than they did in the initial release. The trouble being that, while the live action scenes were recorded in widescreen, the CGI was only rendered in 4:3. At the time they figured they would just render them again for a widescreen release, but sadly the CG models were all lost, forcing them to instead crop all the effect shots.
The Shadows were always one of the best parts of B5. JMS knew that a compelling story required (at least one) great villain and the Shadows delivered. Very cool of them to keep with the arachnid theme and have the Shadow vessel crumple and wilt like a dead spider. No one quite did intelligent science fiction like Babylon 5.
They were not villains per se. If they are, so were Vorlons. You might not be aware of it or most proud of the fact but large scale conflicts did indeed boom technological advancement in our own history. So knowingly or not biggest world countries followed "Shadow's way" while taking smaller countries under their wings to "learn, obey" much like Vorlons did.
Przemysław Stalmach Antagonists, then. A story needs good antagonists - and indeed the point is that an antagonist doesn't have to be a villain to be a good antagonist. The Shadows were antagonists as soon as they introduced, the Vorlons became so much later.
The Shadows were much better antagonists than the Drakh and those creatures in Thirdspace.
@@Promilus1984 You are what is colloquially known as "a fascist."
@@jimjim292 Oh... admitting that through conflict we achieved plenty of advancements is fascism now. Well guess what - being blind to obvious truth - that's what is colloquially known as "an idiot" ...
B5 was one of the greatest sci fi shows and still is.
It was game of thrones before the game of thrones
Damn right !!
@@cheeseburgerinparadise7124 better
💯
@@cheeseburgerinparadise7124 you mean last season falling off in quality? oh yes.
Loved it when Lyta realized part of Kosh was inside Sheridan. And what the shadows had done to him. Never piss off an enhanced telepath.
you going to do something do it now
What bothered me most is that after all the things Lyta did for them during the war, helping out Garabaldi , she never even got a "thank you". The only one that bothered to see her going away with G'kar was Zack. Really sad!!!
What was especially sad was Zack had a thing for her, but told her at a very bad time. He went on assuming she had no interest in him.
Maybe things could've been different between them and that could've avoided the stupid season 5 rogue telepaths plot where *no one* will give them a place to be for *no* adequately explained reason.
Hell, there was a perfectly habitable planet down below that had previously been used for refugees anyway. I'm sure Zathras and the others would've liked the company.
@@InfernosReaper lol yes, give a bunch of emotionally hurt and angry ppl a place on the local superweapon.
The teeps were angry, hurt and ready for agressive action.
Draal would have never allowed em in.
@dark zeratul Draal is a Minbari, not a planet
@@trazyntheinfinite9895 sad but true
It’s part of the B5 lore. That later became a major issue.
The way they shrivel/crumple on death is both unsettling and oh so satisfying.
Like dropping a spider into a fire.
When I saw the title, I thought it was going to be the first time they encountered a Shadow ship. Delenn was there, and she kind of panicked. She was telling Sheridan, "You can not beat them. They just keep coming and coming!" He looked down at her and said, grimly, "With all due respect Ambassador, I've heard that before." That's one of my favorite scenes.
And the entertainment industry keeps having issues with strong female characters and how to develop them.
B5 had them in droves, more than 20 years ago!
@MaiAolei they don't have a problem with developing strong female characters, the issue is they're trying to do in 2hrs what B5 did slowly over 5 seasons. Same could be said for any series that ran that long. In fact, in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), there was a strong female character in Col Wilma Deering (played by Erin Gray) long before B5 was even a concept, or BSG with Kara Thrace (Starbuck).
Yep, back then a woman didn't have to be a "Mary Sue" to be a badass. They fought and bled for their people, not a stupid hash tag.
@@jeffburnham6611 Nah, the problem is they want to start the characters off as badasses who can do *everything* and *rarely* fail in any big way.
Also, Starbuck was a dude in the original BSG and the reboot came out after B5. That said, I kinda wish they had gender swapped Peck with her as well in the A-team movie. It'd be funny, but also interesting to see a female take on that character.
Is there a reoccurring female in this series that isn't awesome in some way? I guess post-actress swap Na'Toth, because the new actress wasn't bold enough to shine and the writing didn't do enough for the character to make up for that.
I think a lot of it has to do with JMS writing *characters* instead of genders.
InfernosReaper +like Capt.marvel.
Patricia Tallman was just so hot during the series. And as Lyta she could be both powerful and vulnerable. She wasn't really an actress by trade. She did most of her work as a stuntwoman.
Yeah, she was hot back in the day and still fairly good looking, I got to meet her at an SF expo last year and she's scheduled to back again this year.
@@nicholasmaude6906 She is still very hot. So is Gates McFaden!
@@Patriotgal1 As Aquaman said: "Redheads...gotta love them!"
Patriotgal1 funny thing, She was the stunt double for Gates McFadden
She was, strangely enough, Nana Visitor's stunt double on ST:Deep Space Nine- the same show that Babylon 5 could have been.
I had a crush on Lyta. As a character, she was misunderstood and mistreated by the crew. A real shame.
I still do....
@@GORT70 saw her on stream a month ago, she`s still amazing looking. Vorlons did a well job
Patricia Tallman
i love that seeing what they did to kosh, gave her the anger needed
"I feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger!" - Senator Palpatine
@@patmcbride9853 GOOOOOOOD
The anger she felt cut through all the fear she had. She was going to make them pay. Given a lil more time in the future she'd have crushed that ship by herself.
No shadows on that ship however. Just some person they jammed in as a CPU
02:17 was one of the scenes that stuck with me long after B5 went off the air, the Shadow Battle Crab slicing the Narn G'Quan class heavy cruiser in half lengthwise. And this took place (1995-1996) when CGI was a lot more expensive and time consuming than it is now. This show and its special effects were way ahead of their time.
+Dick Sandwich
You're right. It was brilliant. Especially it's writing.
Now, unfortunately, it's so dated. Not just the special effects, but the acting and the dialgoue.
Oh, most definitely. It does show its age, but it was an ass kicker when it was new.
+TheH3dgie
Not...really, not in my eyes honestly. While the effects themselves have aged, true, the designs are still either solid or exceptionsl - the Shadow cruiser, IMO, is still the single best drawn ship in history of science fiction.
And i can't agree with you on the acting\writing either, one can say it's dated, i say it turned into a classic.
Classics still date and age. Go back and watch a classic movie from the 50's. The acting styles etc are now out dated. It doesnt make it any less of a classic however.
The synth music, however, is pretty tough to take.
I always love the way the Shadow vessels shrivel up and leak ooze once they're punctured! :D
Like giant space spiders.
Like giant space spiders being fried by a magnifying glass.
Well, they're organic after all with a soft interior so they're going to bleed and shrivel up when damaged.
this is 1 of my favourite scenes when lita discovers through sheridan what happened to kosh and it pisses her off... they described lita in 1 of the later b5 episodes as the telepathic equivalent of a thermo nuclear device.
Yes, but she doesn’t realize that until later. I loved Garibaldi waking up to find her sitting on the end of his bed. “What are u doing here?” “Testing out my power. I never realized .. You shouldn’t be awake.” And then he wakes up again like it was a dream within a dream, but we know (later on if not then) that she really was doing that.
such a great scene. the idea to block the shadow ships with telepathes was genius.
It was when I first watched it on the original airing on CH4 (UK), and still is, my favourite moment, when Lyta gets the glimpse/imprint of Kosh and basically goes F*ck you. At the time on first airing, shadows had been all powerful which made this so monumental.
Also note how she gets the flashback /connection to Kosh after touching Sheridan - who contains a piece of Kosh too.
Lennier: I think it knows we're here.
YEAH NO SHIT SHERLOCK!!!!
LostMercenary99 the Mimbari guy behind him slightly wet himself.
One of the most exciting scenes, in a series that was full of thrills.
yeah the white star not a match with a shadow vessel in a fair one on one fight but cripple the shadow vessel and it can just barely kill a shadow vessel
One of the two greatest “don’t mess with our women” moments in Babylon 5! 😎 The other is when Delenn comes out of hyperspace with four Minbari heavy warships to defend the station against the Earthforce squadron. Delenn: [rhetorically] “Why not (attack)?” Only one of your captains has ever survived in battle against the Minbari fleet. *He* is behind me; *you* are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else 😡.” Fire and Ice, and Hell riding with her! Doesn’t get any better than that, although Lyta’s “They tore him *apart* 😢 ... *burn*, you bastard! 😡” equals it! 😁
I would have to add a third: Ivanova's "I am Death Incarnate" speech leading the White Star fleet against the Shadow-augmented Earth warships.
Daniel Dickson touche’! Such a strong cast of characters, well-developed, and the women just as strong and detailed as the men! B5 was the best, and still is! 😁
@@danieldickson8591 The Three women in B5 you want on your side. What's that saying Hell has no Fury like a Woman Scorned. Where the guys fight and do ok, these girls go and press the Nuke buttons happily.
What about Claudia Christian's " Who am I? I'm Death incarnate. God sent me" Almost purely Biblical wrath.
And all of this before we got all Woke. Today B5, it'd be all "I don't need no man!" And she'd be a black chinese girl.
I still remember a comment later in the series, that Lyta was no longer the mid-level telepath she registered as. That if the telepaths were considered as weapons, you had small arms, large arms, capital class...and then you had Doomsday Weapons. Of which she was one. She was barely waking up to that power when she took on that shadowcrab.
Yep, she had the _potential,_ but no practice or training with those heightened powers. Kind of like having the genetic potential to build up some incredibly strong musculature, but never having exercised so far.
God I loved Lyta. What an awesome, strong woman.
Angry Lyta was really scary. Especially with those black eyes.
We all had a crush on Lyta.
@@txlyons2937 Nah. I preferred Talia Winters, much hotter. Too bad about the hidden personality and all.
Nah, Ivanova.
Lyta, my first real redhead crush. Damn i love this character.
Both the Shadow ships and the Vorlon ships were such a huge influence on me. Such alien looking ships, they're amazing.
Agree!!!
And for all her loyal service, all Lyta got in the end was basically..."yeah, hey Lyta, fuck you!".
+Volthoom So true no wonder she got angry,
Same with Talia Winters. Psycore fucked her over, too, and eventually dissected her for her potential telekinetic powers. Not that Sheridan gives a fuck about telepaths. I wish they could have had Lyta dive into Talia's mind and purge the reprogramming. The more the merrier.
Ehh. Talia thing was, unfortunately, just the actress wanting to get off the show.
From what i've read over the years, JMS had bigger plans for the character, bu-ut then life happened.
Volthoom
Damn, I liked her. I would have loved to see those bigger plans for Talia Winters. Oh, well.
Honestly, lots of stuff in B5 went wrong because life happened. Keffer character in S2, for example? Added purely because the network wanted a "badass pilot" in the show. JMS never wanted him, didn't know what to do with him, and got rid of him as soon as the opportunity presented itself :D.
Not to mention them not knowing if they'd get a fifth season until the very end, which made S4 extremely packed, but left S5 with a sloggy, clumsy Byron plotline.
"I'm alright, I'm alright. Just bleeding from my eyes." LOL
The Shadows failed to take into account that their ships have souls.
...and the Terrans have Gingers.
"And we taught them that even a God King can bleed"
Hey thanks FOR showing this from one OF my ALL time favorite shows!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!! Babylon 5 ruled!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought that was Patricia T. I never watched this how & I have not seen her since Living Dead. She is still stunningly beautiful.
Самый лучший фильм - фантастика моей юности ! 👍 Мечтал быть как Шеридан, справедливым, смелым и честным. И сейчас помню и люблю этот сериал. Браво всем актёрам, и всем другим людям, которые приняли участие в создании этого шедевра ! Большое спасибо !!! 🤝👏👏👏
The Shadow ships are easily the creepiest ships I've ever seen in all of science fiction. Comment if you know a creepier ship !
How about The Reapers from Mass Effect videogames. www.engadget.com/2015/08/26/the-big-picture-reapers-in-gta-v/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKF5Yv_uYVVKRpd09jz83dulA3bzhvmBL6t9KVPhCByw69js16SK323KUo7smUaCkkMV0O5HiEXt-fiw8sMyHtnNTaTudowMnL6DiGQL6bWdN9YFix-T9vyXtBMCxB-Zu5BCWZwC1CQBSR6P8-8_o1L909fQxuMrW8i6_Uds3_rv
@@alexojeda9048 not even close. I've killed those guys, remember. I'm not sure I could kill a Shadow.
Absolutely, their strength was absolute!! The ships in the star trek universe from the species 8472 are creepy too. Don't know if they are creepier but I see some similarity
@@williehlert9876 I didn't know about those guys. I've only just started watching Voyages. Their bioships do look creepy, but they are still somewhat identifiable as ships. The thing with the Shadow ships is they are so alien you can't even tell where's the bow, where's the stern, or identify the engines. There's nothing to give a sense of scale or a clue as to how they work.
Nothing else SCREAMS IN YOUR MIND as it flies past.
Yeah, I always figured that the Shadow vessels were psychically linked or charged and so telepaths DID exploit their natural vulnerability. And let's not forget Lyta had some Vorlon bits inside her mind (I think that had happened by that point). Also-also, I think this trial run by Sheridan was to try out the telepath tactic, knowing that conventional weapony--even that supplemented and designed by their rivals the Vorlons--would not work, and so they'd hit it with Lyta first to weaken it.
Like the vorlon vessels, the shadows were organic and highly telepathic. I assume like the vorlons, attached to one individual as well
Super late reply but meh... dont forget the Shadows ships used other organisms as the main CPU and AI, ie take a organic ship, take a humanoid slot them into the cpu slot and boom you have a organic computer running your ship. Thing is, the organic being that is your core has a brain and mind, which the telepath can interfere with directly even if its just to scramble it enough to make it freeze on the spot for a while.
Dont forget the episode where a ton of powerful telepaths including Besters lover were being shipped 'somewhere' and when one got out they started to fuse with the Station thanks to alien tech attached to their heads... those telepaths where heading to become the brand new telepath resistant CPUs of Shadow Vessels version 2, i guess it was Clarks contribution from Earth to Earth Govs new 'allies'.
And Lyta being a super telepath was the contingency plan to out do them if they had ever made it to their destination... although that begs the question why didnt the Shadows ask for some Centauri telepaths for cores instead or as well?
Lyta was awesomee. then they treated her so badly throughout the show. Moving her to smaller quarters, not trusting her. She literally bled tears for them and they wound up kicking her off the station to travel the stars with G'Kar. Heck with her talents she probably could have took G"Kar to the Vorlon homeward.
They treated her worse because they saw her as an asset during the shadow world more than a friend. She was incredible useful to them due to her strong telepathic powers, so she was allowed to be on station after the war and not turned into the psy-corp. Then she started to interact with them in a more peaceful setting she was seen more as a liability due to her forming ties with freedom fighting telepathic movements aswell she was not allowed to be a business telepath due to earth and station regulations.
The only reason she could support herself was because she made a unholy deal with bexter to be listed in their ranks without having to serve or have any real ties with them in exchange for her dead body whose circumstances must be without psy corps interaction.
Anyhow Garibaldi was mind puppet by that time so not surprising he turned her down at that time while the other seemed to think it was easier to ignore her so they could focus on their own agenda. So for me it looks more like the core group never truly viewed her as a friend, she was just useful which is even brought up in the show later on.
TLDR: She was never a friend in the core group, she was more viewed as an asset during the war. In peace times with the whole telepath problem she was swepped aside with it as it was an inconvience.
In later books they turned her into a terrorist which ignited the Telepath War which she died in.
@@alexojeda9048 They set that up in the tv show, when she force Garibaldi to build her a army to bring down Psi-corps. In return for removing Bexter control over her.
Keep it going, Mr. Lennier! And by that, I mean cease firing immediately and let the damaged Shadow vessel drift off into space!
lol exactly what I thought
Always thought it impressive that a P5 Telepath (a pissed off one) could sustain that much focus to disable a Shadow vessel. Leeta had more juice than she realised (and even more later in the series).
Lyta Alexander had been "altered" by the Vorlon to exponentially multiply her telepathic abilities years before this but she was just beginning to learn how to tap into that power.
Lyta is FAR FAR beyond a P5. She's way beyond a P12 (Psi-cop) even. she tells Garibaldi in S5 that's she's been altered to be the Vorlon's telepathic equivalent of a neutron bomb.
Did you not watch the show? She was NOT a P5. The Vorlons changed her and THEY are the ones that made her way more powerful than ANY earth psy cop.
Lyta was so powerful that Bester had only one requirement to let her back into Psi-Corps - Bester got Lyta's body when she died.
"I'll have to take to take the jump engines off-line... for 20 minutes" The lights dim. Sheridan's ass falls out.
This is, by far, one of my favorite episodes of B5
The Shadows evidently never learned an important lesson about humans: Never piss off a badass woman. It rarely ends well.
+snidelywhiplash First rule of science fiction, don't piss off the redhead.
+Wedge Antilles Especially when it's a badass redhead like Patricia Tallman.
More importantly, never kill the god-like being said badass redhead viewed as a friend.
snidelywhiplash I like how, at 1.46, it looks like the Shadow vessel seems to 'punch' Lyta, telepathically, and it just makes her angrier. Bad move, Shadows.
Remember, Lyta Alexander was enhanced by the Vorlons to unbelievable high PSI level.
@:50 that is Bill Mumy from "Lost in Space"!
Yes
If you haven't watched Babylon 5 and like Bill Mumy, you really should watch it. He's a regular for all 5 seasons and gets some really good moments.
I thought he looked familiar.
@@roguishpaladin whenever Lennier was in any kind of jeopardy, my brain would go, "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" lol
Bill Mumy, also appeared in Star Trek Deep Space Nine in "The Siege of AR-115."
Leeta gave everything she had for Sheridan and the war. Then when they were done with her, they threw her aside and forgot about her.
Strength and anger are a hell of a combination.
Shadow when they went beyond the rim, left the Drahk and a Cloud Killer
Vorlons when they went beyond the rim, left a redhead
Vorlons for the win
At its time Babylon 5 was the best written show ever. A beginning, a middle and an end. Never been donne. Now we get a reboot. We can only hope.
I kinda hope we don't get a reboot. I cannot se how it could be any better than the original tbh.
At least not in this decade
@@teleruin8686 ..well it's supposedly been scrapped.
don't hope for reboot. So far all reboots of every series have been total waste of oxygen.
I remember when this first aired, the 90's were an amazing time.
"If we take the engines offline to fire the super burst, we won't be able to jump for 20 minutes."
"Do it!"
*enemy ship is destroyed*
"Hooray, we won!"
*Three more Shadow ships pop in*
Oops
you mean four
Definitely going to have to watch the whole lot, all over again :)
It is one of the best space epics ever, and I am both a SW and ST fan.
Again for the 4th time lol
Vorlons didn't take lightly to that terrible murder of kosh. something along the lines of exterminating all living shadows and all the planets and races they have touched.
and they had the CHEEK to call the 3rd space aliens demented !!
The Vorlons didn't go psycho until Sheridan nuked Za'ha'dum.
Even then, they weren't interested in exterminating the Shadows, but destroying their influence. The Vorlons wanted to prove that they were right, and the trouble with killing your enemy is that they're not around to know that you won..
Lyta was the one who didn't take the murder of Kosh lightly. Note how she deals with Ulkesh after Kosh is killed. Kosh was more than a boss to her, and I think that she loved...it? I have no idea if Vorlons are gendered, but I suspect not (like angels are in mythology).
They were essentially energy beings at this point. If they still had gender it was not biological, but something purely mental/psychological/societal. Long ago they presumably had genders but it is unknown how long ago that was or if any of the current Vorlons were old enough to have previously had physical form (though it possible as the Vorlons live a very long time, possibly immortal).
Love watching it hard Ave thing and it was just fantastic so pleased it came back
I just realised where I recognise her from. She was in Night Of The Living Dead.
And Jurassic Park, and Star Trek -- as a stuntwoman. Patricia Tallman had an action-packed career. And she still looks good today!
Legendary show, such a shame the last season sucked and Crusade and the Rangers were both below par as well. Seasons 2-4 of B5 were some of the best sci fi I've ever seen. Just a fantastic story. Basically Lord of the rings in space.
Crusade was actually decent. Problem was the episodes were shown out of order and the timeslot on TNT (USA) kept shifting. If you can find the script drafts for B5:Crusade episodes 14 & 15 (they only shot 13 episodes) you will see how Galen, the Technomages, Bester & Psi Corp, and Gideon fit into the overall story arc. JMS had them published on a site years ago for a while, but pulled them down when Warner Bros. complained (or so I was told). I wish those episodes had been filmed, but TNT/Warner had already killed the show (and JMS walked away as well).
yeah i couldn`t watch any of s5. but 1 to 4 were very strong
Crusade was pretty much sabotaged from the get-go, messed up release schedule, terrible timeslots, worse budget, ...
And the first season of B5 wasn't all that much better if you look at it without letting your knowledge of what the show would become interfere. They got luckier with the cast (Londo and G'kar at the very least), but other than that, Crusade had a decent start...
@@Wolf-ln1ml crusade was just dull as hell. somehow they made a series with a moving ship more boring than a series with station sitting still. You're right about cast, that probably had a lot to do with it. I can't even remember who the captain was.
I've never watched season 5. I try watching the first episode and can never get through it.
I like to pretend that it doesn't exist. That there are only 4 seasons...
The question here is, Lyta was one of the most powerful telepaths the vorlons ever created and struggle to contain a shadow vessel. A group of Narns was able to destroy a fleet of ships with their powers and drive them from Narn. Narns telepaths had to have been more powerful than even Lyta and that is one scary thought.
It’s because she had yet to discover what her limits really were.She needed to push herself farther and farther each time. The more she did the stronger she got. In the end she became the telepathic equivalent of a planet killer
This was Lyta who was still growing in power…and this was the first time she’d tried this…
The shadow ships were also on the ground…
The women characters on this show were written like queens, goddess and warriors.
This is how you write female characters peoples!
What I loved about this was that they weren't just queens, goddesses and warriors - they could be vulnerable, physically or emotionally. Some could handle themselves in a fight, some couldn't. Some had incredible depths of maternal wisdom, others reacted to vulnerability of any kind as if it was raw sewage. Honestly I find the "all women are powerful goddesses" stories just as annoying in their stereotyping as the "all women are damsels in distress" stories.
I don't think Babylon 5 was all that concerned with writing male or female characters, I think they just wrote characters. Take Ivanava - she knows who she is and is comfortable with it. She's a no nonsense, hardarse military officer who does her duty unflinchingly but doesn't let it define who she is in her off hours. As well as that, her hidden telepathy and trauma related to the psi-core giver her a huge amount of vulnerability and emotion that we can identify with. That character is just as powerful and identifiable (in a weird, sci-fi way) whether it belongs to a man or a woman.
She's not just some military drone with no personal life shoved into the show for a "women can be soldiers too" message, nor did they feel a need to abandon all femininity and vulnerability to make the character strong.
You can actually apply the principle to most Babylon 5 characters, which is unusual for a story - imagine watching the show with every character now of the opposite gender. The storyline still works, plot points don't fall apart and characters aren't suddenly broken. Because they weren't trying to write good men/women, just good characters.
Lyta Was so underated and never got the credit she deserved on the show.
Excellent Scenes from a Iconic Sci Fi TV Series people. Thanks.
And after all this, after all she went through, after all the times she let herself be used as weapon at great pain, after all she contributed to the war, remember how Sheridan treated her after the end of the war?
No wonder the telepaths are pissed, given how people treat them. Remember Byron!
Wellbyron and his mates were assclowns and lyta did deserve better than.
It honestly seemed very out of place. I don't get why they would downgrade Lyta like that, especially with how much she helped and how much more should could help. It seems like a character derailment moment for Sheridan and the rest.
A monster that helps you out.... is still a monster afterward. And that's how normal people see telepaths. You can look at one and never know if they're going through your head like a thief going through a filing cabinet. Ultimately as seen, Bester IS right, these people ARE the beginnings of Homo Sapiens Superior, Humankind's replacements, and perhaps on a primal level, normals sense that.
I think part of the treatment of Lyra for an upcoming story arc.
JMS has hinted about the Telepath War. If Lyta was part of it she would need a reason.
True. I guess the whole telepath angle weakened the Shadows in a way that brought them down to our level? That's the only thing I can think of that makes the power creep aspect work. You make a good point.
The pilots of Shadow vessels were drastically altered humans who were blended with their ships. She probably sensed the horror of their making.
The Shadow ship looked like spider killed with a blow-torch....
Two things annoyed me about the last episode in the Babylon 5 Series: I did NOT want to know what happened to Sheridan after he left B5 for the last time and there was no mention of Lyta.
Ethen Allen they wrote books on the telepathy war.
Not on the war itself. There was the Psi-Corps book trilogy though, the end of which revealed a bit about the aftermath of the war.
Even Shadows can't mess with Lyta.
too bad the most of the crew ignored the fact she was a person, too. What pissed me off the most was how they only seemed to be interested in Lyta if it served their own purposes; otherwise, they largely ignored her. What really chapped my ass was when Sheridan told Zak to kick her out of her Blue level apartment because they needed the space for some bullshit money problems. After all the shit she did for him during the Vorlon/Shadow War and the Earth War.
They totally ignored all the fucking psychic trauma she had to go through in telepathically interacting with Kosh's dick replacement, having a hand in getting Kosh 2.0 killed, and tele-locking shadow vessels. I loved this show as a kid, but as an adult, the only thing ruining the show for me now is Sheridan. Dude's a self righteous, narcissistic jerk. She ended up having to rejoin Psycorps thanks to Sheridan.
Fodxp hatesgoogle Well... there is a reason she goes... "political activist". Even the people who dont actively hate telepaths wont stick out their necks for them most of the time. There are some really good parallels with race and gender/sexual orientation issues.
"Oh yeah... sorry we were such dicks before. But its all over now"
"Uh. Wut? Between helping you win your civil war AND living under poor conditions our lives are kinda fucked. Can we get some help?"
"Oh... about that. Peace treaty required throwing you under the bus."
".... You know what. Screw this, and Screw You."
Reminds me of the treatment of the Gurkhas prior to 2008, actually.
"Hi Gurkhas, thanks for helping us fight the Nazis"
"Yeah, no problem. Hey, can we, by chance, come live in the UK? I think we have earned it."
"What? Oh, um... well... here's the thing, Nepal is independent now. I know colonial rule made it a dirt poor place, but it is all yours now!"
"Wait, but... we volunteered to fight for you in your army, does that not entitle us to immigration rights? It seems to us that it would considering your laws about that sort of thing..."
"What? No."
comradetortoise
I know right?! It was terrible the way telepaths were treated in this show, and as an adult I realize this was a deliberate parallel with real life segregation and mistreatment of certain peoples. However, it really hit me that Lyta was so completely and utterly used like some tool or weapon without even considering her feelings or well being.
God damn; Sheridan had a part of Kosh in him, Garibaldi had feelings for Talia Winters, and Zak had a major crush on Lyta, so WTF?!
Fodxp hatesgoogle
This was the major flaw in Sheriden's storyline as the hero. He treated the telepaths as tools, weapons and not as people. For ANYONE else he would do ANYTHING! He demanded that Earth release Mars as part of the terms of the treaty. But he left the telepaths in Psi-Corps hell. Worse, all the warning signs that the Telepath War was coming were glaringly obvious and he openly ignored them. He could have at least offered rogue human telepaths sanctuary on Minbar or other ISA worlds. But he couldn't be bothered because he didn't need them anymore. If he needed telepaths he could get them from the Minbari. So he left the human telepaths with no help at all.
***** This exactly. I +1 your comment as it reflected my opinion exactly.
Great scene. However it makes me insane why they didn’t open fire immediately after shadow vessel froze down? Every second counts. And also attacking them would help her to fight shadow vessel mentality. They risked too much that she would get tired and ultimately get destroyed cause of long wait
Actually it should not have frozen, since inertia should still have moved the shadow vessel forward, even if everything in it was shut down. Considering how well the rest of the series / ships are done and shown to move, this was an interesting choice to show the ship as "frozen". Frozen in fear at a teep trying to probe it maybe?
come to think of it, how do the shadows even move? no rockets...
This is how we are to treat what is evil, punch right through it! Ephesians chapter 6
"I'm sorry, Captain, I misread the sensors. The Shadow Vessel is actually come in on 'Say Hello' vector."
"Thanks for the great work, Lyta. I'm still going to abandon you and treat you like shit in Season 5, though. Just sayin'."
This show was so well written, casted and thought out, it deserves to be on par with star trek and star wars. But I wasn't too keen on the season with the telepath war.
The part where they set Byron on fire was the best part!
That whole season was not part of the original plan. The end of the series was supposed to be Sheridan returning to earth and defeating President Clark at the end of season five. But, halfway through production of season four there was still no commitment on renewal, and so JMS decided he needed to wrap up his main story because he might not ever get a fifth season.
"I think it knows we're here." And the genius of the year award goes to.....
MOST DEFINITELY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE B5 REBOOT!!!👊👊👊
"I think it knows were here" Well, its kinda hard to miss a big blue funnel shaped exit aperture from Hyperspace
Garibaldi: "But the Vorlans needed to create the ultimate telepathic weapon"
Lyta: "I'm very pleased to meet you Mr Garibaldi..."
What are nonstandard minutes? And was there any risk by Sheridan of confusing them?
Very cool, how it must be that bit of Kosh still in Sheridan that Lyta is able to grab onto, steady herself, and then focus...
I remember this episode..great show. ❤
I loved this show as a kid!
At the end the Shadow ship looked like a burned up spider...
Nicely done Mr. Lanier.
"BURN, you bastard!" Patricia Tallman put such controlled fury into that one line!😁
And after this.. every other White Star was suddenly equipped with that rather improvised "focused, continuous burst"...
White Stars were partially Vorlon tech. Sentient in the degree the ship evolved. One can assume they can communicate with each other, so that such evolutions are consistent and constant across their entire fleet.
Jim Johnston
Alright, I'll buy that. Lennier even says that in "War Without End part 1" that the White Star "learns from experience, changes, evolves". Seems plausible.
Well one assumes they said "Hey guys, this worked, let's retrofit all our other ships to be able to do this on demand!"
How was this improvised? Always looked like a normal function of the ship to me.
MetallSwede Also bear in mind that this was before the reveal of the full White Star fleet. Up until this point, not including the graphic novel with the 3 prototypes, there was "The White Star". The engagement in this video happens in 'Walkabout' while the full fleet reveal doesn't happen until 'And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place'. Refitting their weapons with the most effective attack mode just before their unveiling over a few months would make sense.
i love the part when she learns that it was the shadows that killed ambassador kosh ... and then she got real pissed .... AND HELL FOLLOWED WITH HER ... lol
If they had tried to escape in to Hyperspace the Shadow would have just followed them. Battle in Hyperspace? Not a good idea. If you're going to fight, you'd better do it here. If you're in Hyperspace, lose your computer and lose track of where the beacons are - they will never find you or your ship. And YOU - you get the added fun of slowly starving to death.
That's honestly more of an issue with ships that are too damaged to get out or don't have the ability to make jump points in the first place.
Either way, very dangerous.
That's what I loved about B5. They made hyperspace this thing that wasn't an instant get out of trouble gimmick like in Star Wars. They gave it gravitas.
She’s so hot lol
Yep
Agreed ! And Sheridan's lack of commitment with her and her kind was shameful.
the concept was first introduced in 'Gateway' by Frederick Pohl. as the Assassins. A race of machines who didn't want other races to advance past a level.
When they reboot this show (like they did with BSG) I'd like to see them up their game on the CGI. That's one of the few areas where this show doesn't stand up over time. Make those Shadow ships super menacing by today's standards.
"A cross between a spider and your worst nightmare."
Make this happen, In Valen's name.
I think the design they used would work great, just with a more realistic render.
Miss Tallman is the cat's meow
SORRY STAR WARS, who needs The Force or Light Sabers when you got Pschycorps with Dr. Xavier Powers.
She was more Jean Grey than Professor X. Remember she also had telekinetic powers as well. The Vorlons really gave her an upgrade.
P20?
I would've thought she'd be more ranked as a P200.
That's if anyone could still assign her a ranking considering just how overblown the power that the Vorlon's gave to her was.
I think P20 was just where the Psi-meter pegged out.
Jump engines go offline, lighting gets dim, "Danger Will Robinson! Danger!"
Yes, that is who plays him... It's glorious.
I wonder if JMS got the idea for the Shadowships from Whipscorpions?
Patricia Tallman was so great and is so beautiful. I hated how the ended her character's story toward the end of the series, but such is life in episodic fiction.
This is like someone smashing the crap out of my Amiga with the video toaster box. I just can't.
@ytams1 Ergh the Vorlons actually augmented her so she was no longer a P5 I think she was a P12+ at this point.
@User5973 As opposed to the woman saying "I'm alright" when she is bleeding from the eyeballs
Highly advanced enemy shadow ship on attack vector. I think I'll spend a few minutes staring at it before giving out some orders as slowly as I can.
I always thought, that when the shadow war was over, it lost some of its magic. I still enjoyed the series after they, and the vorlons had left the universe, but just not quite as good as before. Still, it was the best TV sci-fi series out there at the time and I can't tell ya how BIG a Star Trek fan I used to be.
Issues when the powers that be tell you you need to wrap things up in season 4 and then give you a fifth season after it
B5 was certainly one of the best sci fi shows, possibly because it was made by a single guy rather than by a team of writers, ensuring consistency and credibility. It now looks dated and it would be great if JMS could reboot the series with modern effects. BTW I once sent a fan email to him decades ago and was surprised and delighted when he replied. I wish I'd kept it.
20 minutes in space is a long time relative to where you are right now 😁
I love Sheridan to pieces but boy was he stupid with the putting himself in danger thing sometimes.
opalexian b'nafia, he was an Arrogant, Primitive, Self Righteous Human after all.
that is who he is and no one refuses Sheridan and if they do it isn't for long, plus he always has backup. In scenes like this he has several Minbari cruisers in hyperspace waiting and if after like 5 minutes they do not here from them the Minbari comes for him
@@Wolfen443 lol, you are wrong on so many levels
You don't beat the Minbari by not being a little nuts, right?
From reality? The creator of Battlestar Galactica, Glen Larson, is a practicing Mormon; the show incorporates quite a bit of Mormon theology - "lost tribes", for one, and the Mormon afterlife features a planet called "Cobol." This is all on the record and has been common knowledge for decades.
The original one with Lorne Greene was intentionally laden with Mormon symbolism by Larson. The Ron Moore remake turned all that on its ear and turned it into human polytheists vs Cylon monotheists.
@jeffers1975 A doomsday device actually, a thermo nuclear device does not equal that.
Best sci-fi show ever
When Shakespeare said "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" he wasn't kidding...
A shame they never truly developed the Lyta character. I wanted her to smack the shit out of Bester and the Shadows some more.
They did, gave her a great arc in season 5. We just didn't see the telepath war which ultimately killed her.
@@ML-yn9yu She wasn't killed in the telepath war. She and J'kar went travelling somewhere and there was never a telling if she evolved to a higher plane or whatever happened to her.
@@ajrocks12x en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyta_Alexander gotta read up before shooting off from the hip.
There needs to be an updated CGI effects for this show it was an excellent series.
Still consider this one of the best scifi series to date. The only one I've seen that foreshadowed seasons in advance with huge payoffs.
The effects ironically look worse in this than they did in the initial release. The trouble being that, while the live action scenes were recorded in widescreen, the CGI was only rendered in 4:3. At the time they figured they would just render them again for a widescreen release, but sadly the CG models were all lost, forcing them to instead crop all the effect shots.