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185 lines
7.3 KiB
185 lines
7.3 KiB
<html>
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<head>
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<title>Babylon 5 Universe: The Station</title>
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<map name="toplevel">
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<area shape="RECT" coords="0,0,99,23" href="/lurk/universe/intro.html" alt="Universe">
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</map>
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</map>
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<link rev=made href="mailto:koreth@midwinter.com">
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</head>
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<body>
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<p align=center nowrap><nobr><img
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align=middle border=0 usemap="#titlebar"
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src="/lurk/nav/titlebar.gif" width=500 height=32
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alt="[Home]">
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<br><img
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align=top border=0 usemap="#toplevel"
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src="/lurk/nav/bar-universe.gif" width=500 height=32
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alt="">
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<br><a href="intro.html"><img
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align=top border=0
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src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-intro.gif" width=100 height=24
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alt=" [Introduction]"></a><a
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href="setting-1.html"><img
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align=top border=0
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src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-setting.gif" width=100 height=24
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alt=" [Setting]"></a><a
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href="cast-1.html"><img
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align=top border=0
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src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-maincast.gif" width=100 height=24
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alt=" [Main Cast]"></a><a
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href="supporting-1.html"><img
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align=top border=0
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src="/lurk/nav/dark/un-supporting.gif" width=100 height=24
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alt=" [Supporting Cast]"></a><img
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align=top border=0
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src="/lurk/nav/lit/un-station.gif" width=100 height=24
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alt=" ### STATION ###"></a>
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</nobr>
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<p>
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<strong>Season 1: "Signs and Portents"</strong><br>
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<a href="station-2.html">Season 2: "The Coming of Shadows"</a><br>
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<a href="station-3.html">Season 3: "Point of No Return"</a><br>
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<a href="station-4.html">Season 4: "No Surrender, No Retreat"</a>
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<h1>
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<a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/station4.jpg"><img align=middle
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src="/lurk/gif/station.gif" align="middle"></a>
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<a href="/lurk/ftp/Clips/rotate.avi"><img src="/lurk/gif/movie.xbm" alt="[Movie]"></a>
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The Babylon 5 Station
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</h1>
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<h3>Originally written by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie</h3>
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<p>
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<strong>Babylon 5</strong>
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is a space station in neutral space more or less central to all
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five of the different alliances, human or alien. To get to one or the
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other, you have to pass through this sector of space. Thus, Babylon 5 has
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been created as a sort of port-of-call for travellers, statesmen,
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emissaries, traders, refugees and other, less savory characters.
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<p>
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Five miles long, Babylon 5 is divided into
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separate, discrete sections that rotate at differing speeds to provide
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different gravities to accommodate those who come to the station.
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<p>
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As for locations inside B-5...we've designed a number of very different
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looks and locations to give it a non-claustrophobic feel. By virtue of
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being patterned physically after the work of such scientists as Gerard K.
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O'Neill, the absolute center of the elongated station (which revolves to
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provide gravity) is a sort of hollow-world look, with fields and hydroponic
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gardens along the 360-degree circular section (which is about a half-mile,
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or a mile across)...and as you get closer to the absolute center, where a
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transport tube cuts from one end of the station to the other, naturally you
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get less and less gravity until you can literally hang suspended. This
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area is known as the Garden.
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<p>
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<a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/garden.gif"><img
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src="/lurk/gif/garden.gif" alt="The Garden (GIF)"></a>
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<a href="/lurk/ftp/Pictures/Effects/garden-night.gif"><img
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src="/lurk/gif/garden-night.gif" alt="The Garden at 'night'(GIF)"></a>
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<p>
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And there are living areas designed to accommodate different environments
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and atmospheres and conditions. The alien sectors are off-limits to humans
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without protection (breathing gear and other measures). Similarly, a heavy
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CO2 breather or methane breather would have to wear an encounter suit to
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travel among the humans on the station. In addition, the B-5 station is
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actually made up of several independent (though connected) sections, each
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revolving at a different speed in order to create alternative areas of
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gravity.
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<p>
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<a href="station-map-1.html"><img width=100 height=24 hspace=4 align=middle
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border=0 alt="[More Info]" src="/lurk/nav/moreinfo.gif"></a>
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<em>A map of the station.</em>
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<p>
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Some sections of the station, called the Downbelow, are inhabited by Babylon
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5's equivalent of the homeless, called Lurkers. Most of them are people who
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came to the station looking for work; they didn't find any, and can't afford
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passage offstation. No government is willing to pay to ship them home (and
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in some cases, they wouldn't even be <em>allowed</em> home) so they languish on
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the station. The Downbelow is a center of criminal activity on B5, though by
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no means is crime confined to that area.
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<p>
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Finally, on sets and the "look" of the place...again, there will be a mix.
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Parts of the station are still under construction, and parts are finished.
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Some sections are in daylight, some in night, alternating by level and
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sector. On the very outer ring, the viewports are in panels ON THE FLOOR,
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so you're looking down and out into space, revolving beneath your feet.
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Some places will be beautifully finished and neat, and other areas will be
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very rough and in-the-works. (Remember, B5 only recently went operational,
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and thus there are still some parts being constructed.)
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<p>
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In talking with our production designer, John Iacovelli, the one term he
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kept using, over and over, was "travelogue." We should get a real sense in
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this show of a world turned inside out...with varying textures, lighting,
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angles, and a mix of looks. There will <strong>not</strong> be a homogeneous
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look to
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this place, if I or Iacovelli have anything to say about it. You can walk
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from the carefully and neatly appointed Council Chamber room, to the high-
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tech control room, to a section of the station under construction and
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exposing beams and wires, to the dark and noire-looking nightclub, to the
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Garden, to....
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<p>
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You get the idea.
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<p>
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BTW...the Babylon 5 station isn't just floating there. It's at the L-5
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point in a binary star system between a moon and Epsilon 3, a barren,
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lifeless planet.
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<p>
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Well, a <strong>theoretically</strong> barren and lifeless planet, anyway....
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<p>
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<a href="http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/SpaceSettlement/"><img width=100 height=24
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hspace=4 align=middle border=0 alt="[More Info]"
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src="/lurk/nav/moreinfo.gif"></a>
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<em>NASA's "Orbital Space Settlements" page.</em>
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<p>
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<strong>Next:</strong> <a href="/lurk/episodes.php">The Episodes</a>
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<pre>
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</pre>
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<p nowrap>
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<nobr><a href="/lurk/lurker.html"><img
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align=bottom border=0
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width=64 height=24 src="/lurk/nav/foot-station.gif"
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alt="[Home] "></a><a
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href="#"><img
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alt="[Top] "></a><a
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alt="[Comments] "></a><img
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align=bottom
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width=284 height=13 src="/lurk/nav/foot-bare.gif"
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alt="">
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</nobr>
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<h5>
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Last update:
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October 8, 1995
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</h5>
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</body>
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</html>
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