You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
210 lines
7.5 KiB
210 lines
7.5 KiB
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Babylon 5 Universe: Introduction</title>
|
|
<map name="toplevel">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="0,0,99,23" href="/lurk/universe/intro.html" alt="Universe">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="100,0,199,23" href="/lurk/episodes.php" alt="Episodes">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="200,0,299,23" href="/lurk/making/creators.html" alt="People">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="300,0,399,23" href="/lurk/resources/online.html" alt="Resources">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="400,0,499,23" href="/lurk/reference/episodes.html" alt="Encyclopedia">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="0,24,499,31" nohref>
|
|
</map>
|
|
|
|
<map name="titlebar">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="0,0,370,31" href="/lurk/lurker.html" alt="Home">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="371,0,412,31" href="/lurk/search.html" alt="Find">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="413,0,454,31" href="/lurk/toc.html" alt="Index">
|
|
<area shape="RECT" coords="455,0,499,31" href="/lurk/help.html" alt="Help">
|
|
</map>
|
|
<link rev=made href="mailto:koreth@midwinter.com">
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
<p align=center nowrap><nobr><img
|
|
align=middle border=0 usemap="#titlebar"
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/titlebar.gif" width=500 height=32
|
|
alt="[Home]">
|
|
|
|
<br><img
|
|
align=top border=0 usemap="#toplevel"
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/bar-universe.gif" width=500 height=32
|
|
alt="">
|
|
|
|
<br><img
|
|
align=top border=0
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/lit/un-intro.gif" width=100 height=24
|
|
alt=" [Introduction]"><a
|
|
href="setting-1.html"><img
|
|
align=top border=0
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-setting.gif" width=100 height=24
|
|
alt=" [Setting]"></a><a
|
|
href="cast-1.html"><img
|
|
align=top border=0
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-maincast.gif" width=100 height=24
|
|
alt=" [Main Cast]"></a><a
|
|
href="supporting-1.html"><img
|
|
align=top border=0
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-supporting.gif" width=100 height=24
|
|
alt=" [Supporting Cast]"></a><a
|
|
href="station-1.html"><img
|
|
align=top border=0
|
|
src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-station.gif" width=100 height=24
|
|
alt=" [Station]"></a>
|
|
</nobr>
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
<p nowrap>
|
|
<nobr><a href="/lurk/lurker.html"><img
|
|
align=bottom border=0
|
|
width=64 height=24 src="/lurk/nav/foot-station.gif"
|
|
alt="[Home] "></a><a
|
|
href="#"><img
|
|
align=bottom border=0
|
|
width=72 height=13 src="/lurk/nav/foot-pagetop.gif"
|
|
alt="[Top] "></a><a
|
|
href="mailto:koreth+lgfeedback@midwinter.com"><img
|
|
align=bottom border=0
|
|
width=80 height=13 src="/lurk/nav/foot-comments.gif"
|
|
alt="[Comments] "></a><img
|
|
align=bottom
|
|
width=284 height=13 src="/lurk/nav/foot-bare.gif"
|
|
alt="">
|
|
</nobr>
|
|
|
|
<h5>
|
|
Last update:
|
|
January 7, 1997
|
|
|
|
</h5>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|