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- <title>Babylon 5 Universe: The Station (season two)</title>
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- alt=" ### STATION ###"></a>
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- <p>
- <a href="station-1.html">Season 1: "Signs and Portents"</a><br>
- <strong>Season 2: "The Coming of Shadows"</strong><br>
- <a href="station-3.html">Season 3: "Point of No Return"</a><br>
- <a href="station-4.html">Season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat"</a>
-
- <h1>
- <a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/station4.jpg"><img align=middle
- src="/lurk/gif/station.gif" align="middle"></a>
- <a href="/lurk/ftp/Clips/rotate.avi"><img src="/lurk/gif/movie.xbm" alt="[Movie]"></a>
- The Babylon 5 Station
- </h1>
-
- <h3>Originally written by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie</h3>
-
- <p>
- <strong>Babylon 5</strong>
- is a space station in neutral space more or less central to all
- five of the different alliances, human or alien. To get to one or the
- other, you have to pass through this sector of space. Thus, Babylon 5 has
- been created as a sort of port-of-call for travellers, statesmen,
- emissaries, traders, refugees and other, less savory characters.
- <p>
- Five miles long, Babylon 5 is divided into
- separate, discrete sections that rotate at differing speeds to provide
- different gravities to accommodate those who come to the station.
-
- <p>
- As for locations inside B-5...we've designed a number of very different
- looks and locations to give it a non-claustrophobic feel. By virtue of
- being patterned physically after the work of such scientists as Gerard K.
- O'Neill, the absolute center of the elongated station (which revolves to
- provide gravity) is a sort of hollow-world look, with fields and hydroponic
- gardens along the 360-degree circular section (which is about a half-mile,
- or a mile across)...and as you get closer to the absolute center, where a
- transport tube cuts from one end of the station to the other, naturally you
- get less and less gravity until you can literally hang suspended. This
- area is known as the Garden.
- <p>
- <a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/garden.gif"><img
- src="/lurk/gif/garden.gif" alt="The Garden (GIF)"></a>
- <a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/garden-night.gif"><img
- src="/lurk/gif/garden-night.gif" alt="The Garden at 'night'(GIF)"></a>
- <p>
- And there are living areas designed to accommodate different environments
- and atmospheres and conditions. The alien sectors are off-limits to humans
- without protection (breathing gear and other measures). Similarly, a heavy
- CO2 breather or methane breather would have to wear an encounter suit to
- travel among the humans on the station. In addition, the B-5 station is
- actually made up of several independent (though connected) sections, each
- revolving at a different speed in order to create alternative areas of
- gravity.
-
- <p>
- <a href="station-map-2.html"><img width=100 height=24 hspace=4 align=middle
- border=0 alt="[More Info]" src="/lurk/nav/moreinfo.gif"></a>
- <em>A map of the station.</em>
-
- <p>
- Some sections of the station, called the Downbelow, are inhabited by Babylon
- 5's equivalent of the homeless, called Lurkers. Most of them are people who
- came to the station looking for work; they didn't find any, and can't afford
- passage offstation. No government is willing to pay to ship them home (and
- in some cases, they wouldn't even be <em>allowed</em> home) so they languish on
- the station. The Downbelow is a center of criminal activity on B5, though by
- no means is crime confined to that area.
- <p>
- Finally, on sets and the "look" of the place...again, there will be a mix.
- Parts of the station are still under construction, and parts are finished.
- Some sections are in daylight, some in night, alternating by level and
- sector. On the very outer ring, the viewports are in panels ON THE FLOOR,
- so you're looking down and out into space, revolving beneath your feet.
- Some places will be beautifully finished and neat, and other areas will be
- very rough and in-the-works. (Remember, B5 only recently went operational,
- and thus there are still some parts being constructed.)
- <p>
- In talking with our production designer, John Iacovelli, the one term he
- kept using, over and over, was "travelogue." We should get a real sense in
- this show of a world turned inside out...with varying textures, lighting,
- angles, and a mix of looks. There will <strong>not</strong> be a homogeneous
- look to
- this place, if I or Iacovelli have anything to say about it. You can walk
- from the carefully and neatly appointed Council Chamber room, to the high-
- tech control room, to a section of the station under construction and
- exposing beams and wires, to the dark and noire-looking nightclub, to the
- Garden, to....
- <p>
- You get the idea.
-
- <p>
- Babylon 5 is in orbit around the third planet in the Epsilon Eridani star
- system, a world which was until recently believed to be barren, devoid of life.
- In 2258, however, the remains of an ancient civilization were discovered
- buried deep beneath the planet's surface: a massive, planetwide machine of
- awesome offensive power. It is currently under the control of Delenn's
- mentor, Draal, who took over from the former guardian in
- <a href="/lurk/guide/019.html">"A Voice in the Wilderness, part 2."</a>
- Draal placed the planet strictly off limits, claiming that he would appear
- again when the time was right.
-
- <p>
- <a href="http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/SpaceSettlement/"><img width=100 height=24
- hspace=4 align=middle border=0 alt="[More Info]"
- src="/lurk/nav/moreinfo.gif"></a>
- <em>NASA's "Orbital Space Settlements" page.</em>
-
- <p>
- <strong>Next:</strong> <a href="/lurk/episodes.php">The Episodes</a>
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- <h5>
- Last update:
- October 15, 1995
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