Corvinus85 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Werthead said: Io has a huge amount of energy production facilities on it, which Earthforce uses to fuel its entire fleet. That's why there's a big colony there (built under a massively radiation-shielded dome in an area of the moon that's tectonically stable). The colony is also on the far side of the moon to Jupiter (Io is tidally locked to the planet). It's a little bit of a stretch but nothing too bad. Speaking of Io - Its name drop in various episodes has often confused me. Why does Babylon 5 seem to serve as a transit point between Io and Earth, or other place? Edited November 20, 2017 by Corvinus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 10 minutes ago, Corvinus said: Speaking of Io - Its name drop in various episodes has often confused me. Why does Babylon 5 seem to serve as a transit point between Io and Earth, or other place? It isn't, although Babylon 5 appears to be located between several of the major alien races and B5 and its construction has created a vital new trade nexus (since Epsilon Eridani is officially uninhabited, no-one was bold enough to establish a junction there before; also, being in neutral space annexing it would have been politically dubious). However, Io is the location of the Solar system's only standing jump gate (like the one near B5): all trips by non jump-capable ships from Earth or Mars to other star systems have to pass by Io. So a lot of ships travel from B5 to Io on their way to Earth or Mars and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 6 hours ago, Kyoshi said: I really like the show. I just have one major issue: I'm no astrophysicist so I could be completely wrong on this--it really bothers me that Io is apparently a stable Earth colony. Isn't that moon so small and so close to the much larger Jupiter such that the proximity is essentially turning the moon inside-out through volcanic eruptions? Every time someone mentions the Io colony I'm kind of bothered. But like I said, I don't have the scientific knowledge to back this. I never studied Io in grad school, but I can tell you that's planetary geology, not astrophysics. Quite different. I only mention this to say that letting astronomers decide that Pluto isn't a planet is stupid, since they do not even study planets other than their albedo and orbits and interactions with other objects (which is astronomy not astrophysics), but rather geologists study things like tectonism and vulcanism, and deciphering the chronology of a planet's development over time. /rant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 The military vessels of Babylon 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 3 hours ago, SpaceChampion said: I never studied Io in grad school, but I can tell you that's planetary geology, not astrophysics. Quite different. I only mention this to say that letting astronomers decide that Pluto isn't a planet is stupid, since they do not even study planets other than their albedo and orbits and interactions with other objects (which is astronomy not astrophysics), but rather geologists study things like tectonism and vulcanism, and deciphering the chronology of a planet's development over time. /rant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet Well since the reason why a dwarf planet is categorized thus has to do with orbits, I would say astronomers do have a saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 42 minutes ago, Corvinus said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet Well since the reason why a dwarf planet is categorized thus has to do with orbits, I would say astronomers do have a saying. That's circular logic. Astronomers decided to invent the term dwarf planet, based on non-geological characteristics, when they are not the ones who study planets. The term didn't exist before. They didn't just find it in a trash bin some where. A definition based on "not clearing the neighborhood of the orbit" of other objects when Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Earth, Uranus, and Venus don't even do that (all have trojan asteroids in their lagrangian points) and the criteria is both wrong and not useful in any way. Edited November 20, 2017 by SpaceChampion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 The term dwarf planet did pre-exist, as it was often applied to Ceres (and sometimes Vesta, Eros and the other big asteroids). The argument for applying it to Pluto was that thousands of objects of Pluto size or less should exist out in the Kuiper Belt so we'd end up with a Solar system consisting of thousands of planets if a new category was not invented. The discovery of Eris backs that up, although we haven't found too much else in that category apart from Makemake and Sedna (although finding these things is extremely hard, with their orbits located far beyond Pluto). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 It's not the label dwarf planet I'm objecting to, it's the terrible definition the IAU invented that's at issue. The term was never applied to a nebulous concept of "not clearing the neighborhood" before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 23, 2017 Author Share Posted November 23, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 3-4 Two of the show's more boring installments, but both have their good points, like a stand-out guest starring role from the mighty Brad Dourif. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerHaHa Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 (edited) Brad Dourif is one of my favorite actors, he saved the one episode IMO, I only wish he'd been given a larger role in the B5 world. His character and arc in ST Voyager was fantastic, particularly his final episode, it was one of the few redeeming things about ST V from my perspective. Interesting read as usual, I particularly enjoy the "behind the scenes" information. The convent and nuns bit, this is a specific example of one of the many reasons I enjoy reading Werthead's work and analysis. Edited November 25, 2017 by SerHaHa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 (edited) Cheers. Season 3, Episodes 5-7 Voices of Authority is fun, even if the way they find the evidence to incriminate Clark is...unlikely. Dust to Dust is quite strong for its G'Kar and Bester storylines, but it's annoying they never followed up on Talia's fate. Exogenesis is kind of okay, but fizzles out. Nice to see Corwin have more to do for once. Something I'm really enjoying is catching up on the actors. Finding out that Shari Shattuck (Julie Musante, Sheridan's "political officer") is now a bestselling novelist was quite a surprise. Edited November 26, 2017 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 On 11/20/2017 at 2:47 PM, Werthead said: Io has a huge amount of energy production facilities on it, which Earthforce uses to fuel its entire fleet. That's why there's a big colony there (built under a massively radiation-shielded dome in an area of the moon that's tectonically stable). The colony is also on the far side of the moon to Jupiter (Io is tidally locked to the planet). It's a little bit of a stretch but nothing too bad. Thanks. Funny thing, soon as I read this reply and therefore became less bothered by it, they stopped mentioning it. I made the mistake of marathoning through the show. Now I'm on S5E1, but I feel like there's a lot of information I didn't properly process. I blame the show because every episode just made me want to watch the next one really badly . I'm going to pace myself now, mostly because I'm running out of episodes and I've become rather attached. Can't believe I'm only watching this in 2017. Also, Spoiler I'm not over Kosh's death. I keep hoping he'll come back, even though the First Ones are now all gone anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Werthead, your blog is amazing, by the way. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 1, 2017 Author Share Posted December 1, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 8-10. This was exhausting but well worth it. The three most important episodes of the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 6, 2017 Author Share Posted December 6, 2017 (edited) BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 11-12 Some interesting moments but these are really not B5's finest two hours of television. Edited December 6, 2017 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 13-14 Michael York is King Arthur but isn't really! Bester is now a good guy but only kind of! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 15-16 Two important arc-episodes, but Interludes and Examinations is a genuinely powerful, well-written episode (despite it also being the first episode of anything ever that I had spoiled for me by the internet) and War Without End Part 1 is a kludging, ham-fisted mess of exposition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 17-18 The ham-fisted time travel shenanigans continue into War Without End, Part 2 before we get back on track with the actual storyline in Walkabout, a pretty decent episode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 16, 2017 Author Share Posted December 16, 2017 BABYLON 5 Rewatch: Season 3, Episodes 19-20 Grey 17 is Missing is a pretty poor episode, although the Neroon stuff does lift things up a bit. And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place is better, but Londo's plan is a bit too complex to be believable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 My assumption is 'do not kill the man who is dead" refers to Morden. He's officially dead, the Shadow brainwashing has effectively killed the man he was, and the consequences of killing him are terrible for Londo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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