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- <title>Babylon 5 Universe: Introduction</title>
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-
- <p>
- It is the dawn of the third age of mankind, the middle of the twenty-third
- century. Man is far from alone in the universe.
-
- <p>
- A hundred years ago, humanity made contact with its first alien civilization --
- or more to the point, they made contact with us. Before the arrival of the
- Centauri, we were confined to our own solar system, forced to use slow sleeper
- ships to explore the universe. The Centauri gave us the stars, offered us
- the use of their "jumpgates" -- portals into hyperspace -- and later, taught
- us to make our own. In exchange for this and other technologies, they asked
- only for trinkets, novelties to sell back home.
-
- <p>
- In the eighty years that followed, humanity flexed its muscles, expanding
- outward at a rapid pace. When a group of less powerful races was attacked by
- an invading army, Earth came to their aid, cementing its role as a major
- galactic power, if a young, brash one.
-
- <p>
- The wave of euphoria came crashing down when humanity made contact with a
- mysterious race called the Minbari. The
- <a href="war-and-line.html">Earth-Minbari War</a>
- began with a misunderstanding,
- a human captain and a Minbari commander too quick on the trigger. Thanks to
- bad luck or something darker, our first meeting with the Minbari resulted in
- the death of their supreme religious and political leader. To the
- Minbari, what followed was a holy war, vengeance for the murder of their
- spiritual leader. Earth was no match for the technologically superior
- Minbari, and they easily beat us back to our home planet.
-
- <p>
- Then, without explanation, as their ships closed in on Earth and wiped out
- our last desperate defenses, the Minbari halted their advance and surrendered.
- Only an elite few knew why.
-
- <p>
- The Babylon Project was conceived in the aftermath of the war. Modeled after
- the United Nations, it would be a meeting place, neutral ground where the
- powers could meet and work out their differences peacefully.
-
- <p>
- The first three Babylon stations were sabotaged in mid-construction. The
- fourth was completed, but just as it was about to go online, it vanished
- without a trace. The Earth government would have stopped there, but some of
- the alien governments, seeing the value of a meeting ground, offered financial
- assistance for the construction of a fifth station. Naturally, there were
- strings attached.
-
- <p>
- <cite>Babylon 5</cite> is the story of the last of the Babylon stations,
- the last hope for a galaxy without war. It begins in the year 2257
- with the opening of the Babylon 5 station.
-
- <p>
- <hr width="50%">
-
- <p>
- Unlike most television series, <cite>Babylon 5</cite> is a single story,
- completely planned out from day one with a beginning, middle, and end. Each
- episode is enjoyable on its own, but is also a piece of a larger whole, a
- chapter in a five-year-long novel for television.
-
- <p>
- <a href="five-year-overview.html"><img
- align=middle width=100 height=24 alt="[More Info]" border=0
- src="/lurk/nav/moreinfo.gif"></a>
- About the five-year plan.
-
- <p>
- The setting of the show is affected by events in each episode -- the
- status quo isn't neatly restored at the end of the hour. Characters die,
- are reassigned, or are forever changed by their actions and those of the
- people around them. Because of that, it's impossible to come up
- with a single introduction to the series and characters that applies to
- all the episodes.
-
- <p>
- The rest of the background material in this section of the <cite>Lurker's
- Guide</cite> is divided into several parts, one for each major phase of the
- series. Find out which episodes are playing in your area by going to the
- <a href="/lurk/episodes.php">Episodes</a>
- section. If the Guide can figure
- out which country you're connecting from, it'll show you the schedule for
- your country, if one exists. Then select the part of the show you're
- watching from the list below, and you'll get more detailed background
- information. It goes without saying that if you skip ahead, earlier parts
- of the story will be spoiled by the information here. Be careful!
-
- <p>
- In addition to the general background information here, the Episodes section
- also has, for each episode, a summary of the story up to that point. You
- can use that to catch up on what's happened since the start of the season
- you're watching, and on the details
- of some of the plotlines that pertain to the episode in question.
-
- <dl>
- <dt>
- <strong><a href="setting-1.html">Season 1: "Signs and Portents"</a></strong>
- <dd>
- Background for all of season one and the first two episodes of season two.
- You should read this if you're watching season one.
-
- <dt>
- <strong><a href="setting-2.html">Season 2: "The Coming of Shadows"</a></strong>
- <dd>
- The remainder of season two. Spoils season one and the first two season-two
- episodes. Read this if you're watching season two after the first two
- episodes; it doesn't spoil anything after them.
-
- <dt>
- <strong><a href="setting-3.html">Season 3: "Point of No Return"</a></strong>
- <dd>
- Spoils season two. Read this if you're watching season three.
-
- <dt>
- <strong><a href="setting-4.html">Season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat"</a></strong>
- <dd>
- Spoils season three and has some spoilers the first three episodes of
- season four. Read this if you're watching season four.
-
- </dl>
-
- <pre>
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- <h5>
- Last update:
- January 7, 1997
-
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