Babylon 5- Ships and Species

[MikeCloud666]

B5 have crappy desing of many of aliens but their ships allways look cool.

[Jalfmar3]

I really enjoyed Babylon 5. I also am a Trekker. The thing that annoys me about B5 fans (speaking in generalities) is that they seem to have taken the same Star Trek hater mentality of Strazcynzki. Yet you saw so many parallels to DS9. I'm sure the copying went both ways. Most younger adults are more Star Wars than Star Trek, but that doesn't mean you can't like both, same with B5 or BSG. If you truly don't like Star Trek, that's fine, but don't talk smack for no reason.

[CAShton124]

@Jalfmar3 I am a fan of both genres too. I saw JMS say in an interview he didn't hate Star Trek, just that they were in different modes. The only truly negative comment I saw was from Ivanova when she mocked DS9 as a "deep space franchise". As a general point of interest Pat Tallman, who played Lyta Alexander, did a lot of stunt work for Star Trek. Both shows have their strong points and their flaws. The greatest tragedy is that many seem to believe you need to be for either show

[Winner8501]

Oh, and Minbari ships are beautifully designed.

[Winner8501]

Babylon 5 is definitely one of the best sci-fi series of all time. It has much greater depth than most, and it isn't full of cheap moralizing and human superiority complex (I mean, Humans get their arses kicked more than just once :-D ).

Although I mean mostly just the good old B5 (and from that mainly the first four seasons), not what came after it.

They should make a space-strategy game out of it, something like Masters of Orion 2. That would be awesome.

[WarshipAngelus]

There is a old website here on the net, called Hypernet or Hyper-something that had detail pictures of all the alien races of Babylon 5 from the two tv series and a little bit of the history. I'm not sure if the website is still around, I haven't look at it in 12 years. But if You want to see some cool stuff try to find it.

[OpeningSalvoe]

Can somebody tell me the name of the race at 3:28?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

@OpeningSalvoe I believe they are called the Vree.

[OpeningSalvoe]

@JamesTobiasStewart Thanks.

[chengloki]

@OpeningSalvoe At 2;38 was a very good view of ships. Later on was a view of a Drakh. They were the ones who seeded Earth with death. (Drakh were the servants of the Dark). =Stefan=

[Empyreanabove]

@OpeningSalvoe

The race at 3.28 are the Vree

[SOWHATIMADEIT]

funny

[lcmorgan1221]

I'm sorry, but Trek and Star Wars both owned B5, I even preferred Stargate to it. That's odd too, 'cuz I'm a space battle fan, B5's story and backdrop just sucked to me. I think Trek and SW's old-school use of models instead of CG won me over. Think about it, the models ensured feasibility to a certain extent, at-least in the miniature. Not to mention B5's gritty and dirty vision of humanity's future. I think most people want to be optimiststic a/b the future, in spite of present trends.

[Deliverence666]

@lcmorgan1221 I am a fan off all of them, I don't like the inconsistancy that Trek has in the ship sizes - They got around the varying size comparison of the Klingon bird of prey (2 class ships look the same just one larger than the other.

But I have recenbtly been watching DS9 from the start and the size of the defient changes constantly - the main one is when it is docked at DS9 makes it look like it's half the size of a galaxy class - but I don't let it ruin the show for me.

[vbywrde]

@lcmorgan1221 Agreed

[bakerfrog1]

you should have made te pictures of the diffrent Aliens last a bit longer. other than that great! :)

[JamesTobiasStewart]

@bakerfrog1 Yeah I know I just had to keep it short so it would all fit the song.

[bakerfrog1]

@JamesTobiasStewart thats understandable.



[JamesTobiasStewart]

@bakerfrog1 Thank you.

[gribae]

classical music would have been more appropriate than a lyrical one. But at least you haven't ruined something perfectly good with heavy metal, as so many others have done.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

@gribae Just went for what felt right at the time. Thank you.

[dimmeow]

@gribae Babylon 5 is so metal, I don't think you know what you're saying. :P

[TheReconhd]

my friends dad did the graphics he won a emi

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Good for him.

[TheReconhd]

@JamesTobiasStewart it's cool but thanks nice song though

[JamesTobiasStewart]

If he did the graphics for this then he deserves the praise. Glad you like it.

[Ravenlord79]

nice work, geeks!

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Glad you approve.

[NCTaikoDrumboy]

:54 ...Soul Hunters, am I right? And just before them, the Streib. At 1;58 I see a Markab and an Abbai ship at 2:03, followed by some I recognize and some I don't. 2:57 Definitely a Drakh 3:13 Centauri, followed by Brakiri and Vree 3:50 A rare shot of a Lumati vessel 3:59 A lovely shot of Babylon 4 (I have often wondered just how much bigger a population B4 would have been able to handle...)

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yes that is a soul hunter vessel and you seem to really know your ships. I can't tell you exactly but I know B4 was at least double B5's size.

[Optics233]

b5 pwns

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Right.

[cannonski]

I also like how the human ships all look angular and boxy, sort of like how they would be in real life. Hell the Hyperion class heavy cruiser reminds me of an old battleship design with the forward main guns.

Then you have the look of the alien ships - they tend to look more organic and asymmetrical in design (the extreme of that look would be Vorlon vessels)

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Indeed they do that look like battleships, thats the thing, in Star Trek, human designed ship are beautiful, streamline, but realistically we'd go for functionality over appearance, especially since streamlining is useless in space, no air, no air resistance.

[cannonski]

Shadow battlecrabs for the win!

[JamesTobiasStewart]

They are deadly little things aren't they.

[MsZathras]

I like this compilation of ships in the series.

I agree that the First Ones' ships were much better to watch than the younger races.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Why thank you!

They were cool weren't they?

[BioCapsule]

Personally... I love the First Ones ships more than the younger generation... specifically due to the Jump Engines, they really are more alien

All the First Ones enter Hyperspace (if that is even what they use) differently... denotes a different in their nature and their technological path...

All the younger races Jump like the Vorlons... shows that they are WAY too influence by them. The only thing the younger generation use with more variety are the weapons but not by much...

[JamesTobiasStewart]

They are cool the older races aren't they. The younger races are influenced by the Vorlons, there love of order would have made them want a standerdized method of hyperspace amoung there followers.

[Kousaburo]

The ships and different species in Babylon 5 are much more imaginative than in other sci-fi shows.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yes they are.

[Kousaburo]

Dare I say, more than in Star Trek.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

I would agree, in B5 someships can go to hyperspace, others can't. And unlike in Trek the are sometimes ships that are so powerful that no matter what you do you lose. Trek is still a good show, but the ships are always on a more similar playing field.

[Kousaburo]

About the designs. Someone once said that if you were to see something alien, then it would look truly alien. Like nothing you've ever seen before.

What used to annoy me about Star Trek was that every species they ever encountered was humanoid. Where's the imagination in simply putting a false nose, or extra eyebrows or something on an actor?

[WarshipAngelus]

@Kousaburo

That's not true..  Even tho Babylon 5 had CGI Aliens like the Shadows..

In the tv show Enterprise they had some weird aliens never shown before that weren't even humanoid. So You should recheck Star Trek.

[Kousaburo]

@WarshipAngelus Firsly, I know. Secondly, who the f*** watches Enterprise?

[WarshipAngelus]

@Kousaburo

I'm not trying to say, You should watch Enterprise, but just to look at it since it was different in the fact that after season 3 and the whole 911 story on there, the series was revamped and show none Humanoid Aliens. If You watch the classic trek of Captain Kirk, there were a few Humanoid Aliens in about three to four epsiodes, even tho they didn't really do much, but they were there.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@Kousaburo Well, I think this explanation from TNG is horrible and cheap, but in the episode "The Chase", what fans call "Ancient Humanoids" species seeded many planets billions of years ago on many planets in our galaxy. They seeded each planet with similar DNA (thats why alien races in Trek our similar to Humans) of their own species. However, an alien race from the Andromeda galaxy (millions of light years away), the Kelvans, look just like Humans, how could Ancient Humanoids travel their?

[Kousaburo]

@KevinEdwardMiah That also explains how different humanoid species are able to reproduce. The Kevlans? Well if the Ancient Humanoids could seed an entire galaxy with life intergallactic travel might not be a problem.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@Kousaburo But, Andromeda is millions of light years away, and I think the Ancient Humanoids efforts are only content in the Milky Way. For a Warp-capable ship to travel to Andromeda on Warp 9.9 continually, it would take millions of years. Intergalactic travel is the travel between galaxies, your thinking of interstellar travel. I highly doubt they would travel millions of light years just to seed a few hundred planets, it's just Star Treks cheap producers. 

[Kousaburo]

@KevinEdwardMiah They might have able to with faster than warp travel, transwarp or whstever. Maybe they seeded a few worlds before being unable to continue for whatever reason.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@Kousaburo Probably, I highly doubt it though. Just wished Trek had varied races, primates, aqua, reptilian, avian, whatever, just changing a Humans face slightly is shitty production value, thats the only grudge I have against Trek.

[Kousaburo]

@KevinEdwardMiah They did have a silicon based lifeform once. I think they kept it in a fucking jar, ha ha.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@Kousaburo Another thing that pissed me off about Star Trek aliens, is that they always use Warp technology! Why not another form of interstellar travel? It's stupid!

[Kousaburo]

@KevinEdwardMiah The Borg had transwarp and let's not forget DS9's wormholes. Anyway alien species were not allowed to be contacted untill they'd discovered warp travel.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@Kousaburo One species in Voyager had SlipStream technology that was actually a little faster than Warp travel. Wormholes don't count as interstellar travel in my book, they are natural and a rarity, I'm talking about artificial interstellar travel.

[Fbueller129]

@KevinEdwardMiah On that point I agree. You would think that races separated by thousands of light years would develop different styles of FTL travel. At least B5 explained the reason why Hyperspace was the only FTL system around by stating that almost all of the Younger Races found Jumpgates in their home systems, took them apart to study them and developed their own.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@KevinEdwardMiah

If you have ever played the Mass Effect series (Video Games), it's the same basic set up. Some ancient all-powerful space faring alien civilization made jump gates or mass relays in Mass Effect, and that alien race went extinct or disappeared mysteriously. You can find this in Star Trek (Iconians), Halo (Forerunners), Starcraft (Xel'Naga). Its a Science Fiction cliche.

[name887]

@KevinEdwardMiah Yeah except the Vorlons and Shadows didn't create the jump gates? Just your basic space-faring government knows how to create one.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@name887 The other races in the galaxy only reverse engineered them.

[name887]

@KevinEdwardMiah Ah yeah I just look it up. I hadn't known that.

[shadowquay]

@KevinEdwardMiah In mass Effect the Mass Relays were made by the Reapers as a trap, it is different than the others you mentioned where the race dissapeared, the reapers want to destroy organic life. The Protheans did not create the technology.

[KevinEdwardMiah]

@shadowquay It's still the same theme!

[Kousaburo]

I remember the first time I saw one of The Shadows in it's physical form, I thought "Wow! That's incredible they really look like that?" No alien race in Star trek has has ever given me the same reaction.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Again no discredit to trek, but often their aliens are humans with something wierd about their heads (like ridges), the Shadows, Vorlons etc are completely different beasts. I think its the fact that they are so rarely seen it increases the mystery of them.

[Kousaburo]

Absolutely, I love Star Trek. I think Star Trek TNG is the better show but Babylon 5 has the colour, variety and imagination.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yes, I think what Star Trek TOS & TNG in particular are the ideal of what we wish will happen when we go into space, while B5 is probably more realistically what will happen, with the lying, the cheating, the racism and the compromises that would surround space travel and contact with aliens.

[azamemnius]

I agree that species in B5 are way more physically developed than in star trek, yet I believe that races are way more developed on cultural level in star trek. And i think species 8472 or something like that left similar impression on me as the shadows.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Hmm, in some cases yes, in others I'm not so sure. I mean races like the Vulcans get developed but others like the Kazon...

[jholde04]

yes i would like to see species 8472 vs the vorlons, the shadows, or the hand....now that would be interesting!

[JamesTobiasStewart]

That would be very interesting.

[redplague]

What about the Gaum's (sp?), weren't those the flying saucer ones?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Looks like I missed that one.

[Gutpunchtaker]

I feel compelle to point out that not only did the Marcab not build the White Star or the Excalibur, but their entire race died of a plague midway through season 2. Just in case no one else picked up on that.

[marky2112]

The weapon at the front of a vorlon ship seems to disrupt incoming fire. But there are many times Vorlons have been hit from the side without defense. The massive technical differences in races made this an interesting show.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Good point.

[jellymoo2]

you shouda labled them

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yeah I know.

[jellymoo2]

what species is that at 2:51?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Drazi. It's a Drazi fighter.

[marky2112]

Drazi fighter and Sunhawk

[talon5678]

Earth alliance battleship class 'Warlock",one of the most powerful ships,he is wonderful ^)

[JamesTobiasStewart]

The Warlock is an impressive looking piece of kit, no argument here.

[AlbertoEAF]

What's the name of the song?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

F.E.A.R by Ian Brown.

[gribae]

It's supposed to be about Babylon 5, not the bloody star trek borg. Stay on target everyone, or else keep your opinions of both shows seperate.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

It encourages debate and confirms B5 superiority, so I don't mind. I do respect your opinion however and thank you for commenting.

[gribae]

Thank you for your comment to my post & understand what you are saying. Agreed, it encourages debate, which is a given right, but I was only speaking my thoughts. I apologise to everyone here if I was rude in my last post and that I didn't mean any offence to anyone here.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Quite already to speak your thoughts is your right, and there are people far less polite on YouTube, so your apology is accepted as a refreshing thing. Thank you for that hope you enjoyed the video!

[francomcneil]

As far as the show goes, I think more highly of B5 as a whole.

As far as fictional tech, Trek ships are way more powerful. B5 ships (about 95%) don't have shields nor can they travel faster than light (without a jumpgate).

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yes I'd agree on that 95% night be a bit of an exagerration as regards to engines as its mainly shuttles and things do not have faster than light power. You're right about the shields though, only the Vorlon's have shield's of any kind.

B5 is the superior show though Trek isn't bad but B5 is better.

[JheakrynaKyAlur]

and it's so much funnier ;)

just read all the quotes from B5 written on IMDB and had some good laughs and brought bakc memories

B5 is the better show - even tho i like Star Trek as well of course ^^

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Glad you agree, ST is not a bad show, but B5 is better.

Yeah it does have a great sense of humour.

[HantaSK]

this video brings up so many nice memories :) 5* thx

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thank you very much for both your star rating and your kind comment!

[kitchenaut]

I love it when people talk up the Borg and then shut up as soon as the Vorlons and Shadows are mentioned.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Well star Trek ended up making the Borg so weak that Voyager could defeat them alone several times, whereas to beat the Vorlons and shadows, Sheridan had to get the help of race that are just as old and epicly powerful. Compared to them the borg are nuisance. Thank you for commenting!

[Shavarnarak]

Well the Borg are basically cyber-zombies. And the Vorlons are energy based telepathic powerhouses. And the Shadows are creatures who shift in an out of reality and who can rip a Vorlon apart if there's two or three of them.

Its another ballgame.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

The annoying thing is, the Borg had the potential to be nearly as dangerous as the shadows and the Vorlons, back when the first appeared and it took a demi-god to stop them, then they have so many weaknesses that Voyager alone can wipe the floor with them.

So yeah the Vorlons and Shadows would kill the Borg in seconds.

[Shavarnarak]

True, I remember when they first appeared. They where awesome back then. A nearly unstoppable monolithic hivemind.

Although even then I'm not sure they could have tackled the VORLONS. Not that they weren't still awesome, but Vorlons are demigods in their own right.

But post-Queen Borg are just pathetic, yeah.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thats my point they could have been NEARLY as epic as the Vorlons and Shadows if they'd stuck to the idea that the only way to beat something that powerful, is to have something even more powerful than them on your side (Q/the First Ones) and a hell of a lot more ships than them (Like they did with Picard).

But by the end of Voyager, the Romulans were more dangerous, Voyager was blowing up whole cubes with one shot, the vorlons and shadows were NEVER easy to kill, ever.

[Shavarnarak]

The Borg WHERE as epic...

..On TNG. I love the TNG Borg!

But then the Voyager writers got their hands on them.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thats my point, TNG borg were incredible scooping up whole planets and taking Q or a link with Locutus to stop them. Then suddenly their so weak that Voyager can take of 3 cube at a time and win, when in TNG 40 starships a lot of them bigger and better armed than Voyager couldnt even make a dent in a cube, it makes no sense. Picard always had to really work to figure out a way of stopping them, Janeway just pulled out the weekly borg weakness.

[hammer326]

well done wouldnt mind it being labeled but good nonetheless i just started watching the show are there any episodes with space battles that last more than 10 seconds preferably in season 1 or 2? thanks

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thanks for commenting. The season 1 episode Signs and Portens (Not sure if I spelled that right) has a big battle between B5, B5's starfury and the raiders. I did think about labels but at the time, I didnt think I had the ability to do it.

[hammer326]

thanks for input and are they making episodes of B5 anymore?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

No problem and sorry no. They were making more in a spin off series called Babylon 5 the Lost Tales, but JMS wants a bigger budget before he'll make any more. Thanks again for commenting.

[hammer326]

i got the lost tales DVD arent they missing episodes from season 1? or is it a new series?

anyway whos in charge of the show did he work on any movies that them normal ppl would watch? lolol

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Well no there new stories set 10 years after the second to last episode but 10 years before the last one.

It was made by J. Michael Straczynski. Who made several B5 movies, other than that I don't know.

[LieutenantFish]

Those Narn Heavy Cruisers are pretty cool! Do you know if they ever sold figures of them?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

I think they did as like Micromachines, other than that I don't know, believe me if i knew I'd buy one myself. Thanks for your comment.

[lukie117]

for babylon 5 a call to arms they have a bunch of meatal ships but you have to paint them i play the drazi

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Ahh, I'm not a big fan of painting little thing like that, I prefer pre prepared and assembled things myself, their generally less fragile as well. Still thats interesting, thanks for commenting again!

[happytravelling]

Wonderful video. I like this collection of pictures. I thought some of the pictures were on too short a time, but this is not a complaint. Keep up the good work!

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thank you. I did have a problem in getting all the pictures to fit the song length so I did trim some pictures a little short.

Thank you for your compliment and comment!

[zoliCP]

A minbari cruiser is missing! What they used in the shadow war, 1000 years befor!Check it;)

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yeah I know, sorry but I couldn't get hold of a picture of it. Thank you for commenting.

[Coolwhitey]

Best ship is 3:06 Vorlon ftw

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thank you for commenting, but the ship at 3:06 is Drakh, not Vorlon.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

It by Ian Brown F.E.A.R, thanks for asking.

[MovieBlarg]

most underated sci fi show my favoutire show ever loved it so much great 5*

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thank you very much for your comment and your praise of my video.

[manguberdi]

The best picture is @ 3:17

[JamesTobiasStewart]

You like Centauri Spaceships then.

[manguberdi]

Adore Them!!!!!!!!!1

[JamesTobiasStewart]

I'll keep that in mind if I make another one about B5. Thanks for the comments, can't have too many comments.

[Spitfirebird]

Nice video, shame you didn't include any Pak'ma'ra though.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Thing is I was using species with spaceships that were recognisable and I never found any evidence of a Pak'ma'ra ship appearing, but I may use them in the future.

[Spitfirebird]

Rightio, maybe you could work out which ship the Pak'ma'ra have by looking at the part in Season One where many species from the League of Nonaligned Worlds come to claim the infamous Jha'dur.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Nice idea but the only ships i could identify in the scene are the Gaim saucer the Iksha battleglobe and the Drazi sunhawk but if i can find a Pak'ma'ra ship i may add it to the movie.

[Raguleader]

We see a Pak'Ma'ra piloting a Drazi ship later on in the series, but we never see any indication that they have their own ships. They may simply just buy ships from other races.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

That's the problem you see there are drawings of Pak'ma'ra ships but it even says there that generally they just buy their warships from the Drazi.

[corellianyt]

Check the AOG gaming site for the miniture game based on the B5 ships it has Pak'ma'ra ships in it. I am sure that they used at lest one of theose ships on the show.

[kimnice]

Drazi sells their older Sunhawk-ships for races like Gaim and Pakmara.

[Scaash]

Wasn't the Whitestar line Found on 2:08 Membari & Vorlon technology too?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yeah but it was more of an IA ship than either of those individually.

[that1guy1371]

awesome vid

what song is this? and whos it by?

[JamesTobiasStewart]

The song is called F.E.A.R and it's by Ian Brown. Thank you for the comment, and it is a good song isn't it.

[blotosmetek]

Would be nice if there were descriptions for the pictures, at least the names of the races.

[JamesTobiasStewart]

Yeah I did think about doing that but I was already struggling to trim it down so it would fit the song. If I could of I would have.