r/babylon5 • • 5h ago

The Dust Drug

10 Upvotes

Dust wasn’t featured in many episodes or very significant in the overall plot . . . I wonder if it was originally going to play a slightly more significant role?

I also wonder how it was made? A thought crossed my mind that it might possibly been made with Telepaths themselves from corpses or harnessed from live Telepaths.

The main episode for Dust was Dust to Dust
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/guide/050.html


r/babylon5 • • 5h ago

My favorite Bester episode is Ship of Tears

30 Upvotes

Even though Bester screwing with Garibaldi is a guilty pleasure, my favorite episode is Ship of Tears. It showed that even his people, Psychics weren't safe from the Shadows. You could see that Fear in his eyes.


r/babylon5 • • 6h ago

Signs and Portents

45 Upvotes

I just saw this episode for first time. Every frame from start to the end is EPIC

I hope show just goes better and better.


r/babylon5 • • 10h ago

Explain to me Drakh, Centauri, Babylon 5, Minbari and why they didn't help each other against Drakh? Spoiler

13 Upvotes

I have so many questions about this, but I think it basically boils down to one thing. After the war, the relationships between most of them had been repaired to some extent. So why didn't Londo tell Sheridan, Ivanova and Delenn about the Shadows and what he'd done with them?

And why didn't Delenn say more about the Drakh? I think she told Sheridan about them, and he questioned both Londo and G'Kar. So when Londo was confronted by the Drakh, why didn't he ask the others for help?

It honestly feels like, at a certain point, the writers were deliberately pushing the characters down a particular path to make certain points, especially when it came to Londo. Because, at least to me, he seemed to have reached a point where he could genuinely transform himself, and I think he did a lot to redeem himself.

Yet, despite everything Londo did for G'Kar, including saving his life and helping free his people, G'Kar still seemed to hold on to his hatred of him. And then, when the Drakh started manipulating events to make it look like the Centauri were behind terrorist attacks, everyone seemed to turn against Londo and the Centauri, despite how far they'd come from their old ways.

I don't know, but from a certain point onwards, I just couldn't make everything fit together logically, especially when it came to Londo, the Drakh and the others. I still feel like I'm having to fill in the gaps myself, and the only explanation I can come up with is that the writers needed things to happen that way to get across the points they wanted to make.

Because I genuinely don't understand how the Drakh managed to get so far without anyone doing anything about it. Not Sheridan, not Delenn, not even G'Kar. For example, G'Kar was actually at the Royal Court, and he knew from what Londo had told him, as well as from what he'd witnessed himself, that something wasn't right. He even mentioned to Sheridan that strange things were happening at the Royal Court involving Londo.

And let's not forget that Londo himself spoke to Sheridan and Delenn before becoming Emperor, asking them to always remember him as a friend.

I just can't make sense of it. Every time I think about it, I end up feeling like this is the one really stupid thing about the show. And whenever I've tried to explain it to myself, I've come back to the same conclusion: the writers needed things to unfold this way to make the points they wanted to make.

But even so, I still think it's poorly written in places, and that you're basically expected to look the other way and pretend these inconsistencies aren't there.


r/babylon5 • • 14h ago

For Walter Koenig

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1.6k Upvotes

If there's one similarity I wish between Walter Koenig and PsiCop Bester - I hope he passed the same way - laughing at the absurdity of the universe.


r/babylon5 • • 16h ago

Primed.

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133 Upvotes

The model is primed and I have decided that in remembrance of Walter Koenig I'll paint it as Psi Corps in honor of Mr. Bester. I will see if the decals held up if not I'll make a stencil of the Corps symbol.


r/babylon5 • • 19h ago

Koenig’s other roles

26 Upvotes

Tuesday night is random movie night in our household, but for tonight I’ve chosen to have two TV appearances of Walter Koenig.

I’ve discovered one on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (on Amazon Prime in the US), “Memo from Purgatory”, an episode written by Harlan Ellison and directed by Joseph Pevney (who directed 14 episodes of TOS), with Koenig as the lead antagonist (as near as I can tell; I haven’t watched it yet), with James Caan as the protagonist. **

I haven't decided on the second hour yet. Possibly B5's "Ship of Tears", though I'd appreciate other suggestions. Koenig has an amazingly large list of credits on imdb, but I'm unfamiliar with all except the B5 and Trek episodes. We’ll finish up with his Futurama episode.


r/babylon5 • • 21h ago

This is now Bester Week. One Bester clip every day. Here's his first appearance, in "Mind War"

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832 Upvotes

In about half a minute, we learn some essentials: he's a telepath, he's a Psi Cop, and he's probably something of an elitist, since, while telepathy is demonstrably efficient here, it's also kind of a dick way to interact with normals. He also seems annoyed at having to interact with the guard at all (ironic, considering what we later learn about that guard).

And you gotta love that animated business card.


r/babylon5 • • 21h ago

Movies

9 Upvotes

My best friend wants to get into Babylon 5 and is insane about watching everything. What order would you recommend someone watch the series with the movies included?

I usually forget about them when I do a rewatch, haha.


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

"rest easy friends, rest easy"

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112 Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Aurora class Starfury (Babylon 5)

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149 Upvotes

When you want to fly a Starfury in No Man's Sky.. you just gotta build it yourself ☺️


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

How come there isn’t internet on Babylon 5?

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287 Upvotes

It wasn’t nearly like it was now but the internet did EXIST in the 90s so why was there no incorporation into a show about the future? They have 90s watershed journalism in the form of ISN but then get all their current evens from a newspaper.


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

I’d never really considered the tally until reading JMS’ tribute, but the fact that Walter Koenig was only in TWELVE episodes blows my mind. Goes to show how much of a presence he had. RIP Mr. Bester.

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1.6k Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

JMS’ Post About Walter Koenig’s Passing

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1.0k Upvotes

Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Dr3kgc4SG/

Many wonderful remembrances and thoughts from JMS, praising Walter Koenig. Here’s an excerpt:

When it was announced that Walter was going to appear in Babylon 5, the usual online asshats did their usual online asshatting. "How many times are they going to have him ask about the nuclear wessels? He's such a one note actor. This is embarrassing."

Chekov was (to a degree) a one-note character because he was written that way.

But that wasn't Walter.

Walter was an entire symphony.

And when Mind War aired, the asshats got real quiet really goddamned fast.


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

Bester on Babylon 5. Thank You, Walter Koenig (1936-2026)

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143 Upvotes

Walter Koenig played Pavel Chekov for more than half a century, and he played every joke completely straight.

This tribute follows Chekov’s rise through Starfleet: ensign at the Enterprise’s navigation console, security chief, first officer of the Reliant, and a commander on the bridge at Khitomer. He never got his own command, but he was there for nearly every turning point in the original crew’s history. We also look at Bester on Babylon 5 and Koenig’s final return to Star Trek as President Anton Chekov in Picard.

Episodes and films referenced: Amok Time, The Trouble with Tribbles, The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country, Generations, Babylon 5 “Mind War,” Picard “The Last Generation.”


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

RIP Walter Koenig (Alfred Bester). Here he's being interviewed in 2019 about his time on Babylon 5 and his enthusiasm for playing the part

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367 Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

RIP Mr. Bester

487 Upvotes

The man was a legend across the genre and I feel like I've lost an uncle...


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

In Memoriam: Walter Koenig 1936 - 2026.

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3.5k Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

So Long, Mr B.

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1.2k Upvotes

For reasons beyond my memories, I've had this clip on my last 3 phones. Always made me laugh - I've told the joke and, when I do it, nobody else does. Obviously my delivery doesn't live up to Walter. A great performance by an underrated actor. RIP.


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

Walter Koenig Dead: Chekov on Original 'Star Trek' Was 90

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450 Upvotes

Another beloved cast member has passed away 😥


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

In honor of Mr. Koenig, here's one of my favorite scenes: Bester and Ivanova facing off in "Ship of Tears". The way his voice drops after she hits him is amazing

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845 Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

Bester died 😢

236 Upvotes

Yesterday apparently. 90 so he didn't do bad.


r/babylon5 • • 1d ago

Walter Keonig passed away at 90

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2.5k Upvotes

r/babylon5 • • 2d ago

getting ready to start my second rewatch

48 Upvotes

I am looking forward to this so much, I don't remember everything from the first time most because I was an impossibly heavy drinker, (sober now six years) , , except that the finale emotionally destroyed me.

and I'm looking forward to diving back into such a vast and all encompassing world !


r/babylon5 • • 2d ago

Minibari dissonance (their attitudes with humans during/ after the war) - end of S3

0 Upvotes

I've just finished S3, so maybe something gets better explained...

But let me see if I have the order of events right (largely ignoring Sinclair):

- a human accidentally kills a Minbari leader

- Humans maybe try to apologize, it certainly doesn't seem to be arrogantly defended. They never get a chance to explain their confusion.

- Minbari are hell-bent on complete genocide with no logical backing or diplomatic channels

- They discover humans and Minbari share genetic history, Minbari doctrine stops them from continuing

- Humans, on the brink of eradication, get a truce...and immediately form a close, trusting alliance? Minbari are now rational thinkers and not bloodthirsty reactionaries, and humans just go 'Mission Accomplished'?

It doesn't make sense to me...seems to be a lot of plot holes. Everything else is so tightly constructed so far, I have to think there's a missing link in S4/5