Babylon 5/Fridge

• Fridge Logic: So why doesn't Lyta (and later Byron's telepaths) go to the seceding colonies and the business based there for work/help. It's rather unlikely that a business based on a colony in a civil war with Earth would require telepaths from an Earth based government entity. Also after the secession, given the shown levels of distrust of Earthers and Mars born, the newly seceded governments would be interested in having a telepath force separate from Earth.
  • In the case of Byron and his telepaths, they were fed up with being used by Normals, and wanted a colony of their own where they could build their own society. In the case of Lyta, the colonies which had seceeded were probably too busy being blockaded and attacked by Earthforce to go looking for telepaths.
  • As Bester puts it, mundanes don't like telepaths. That particular prejudice is unlikely to have changed just because of a civil war, meaning that the breakaway states probably just avoided all contact with telepaths wherever possible.
    • That and the fact that seceding colonies might have just thought that any telepaths coming in were spies from the PsiCorps, and probably would have shot them on the spot.
    • Which, in a moment of Fridge Horror, may well be something Psi Corps planned all along.
  • I always wondered why they didn't just go settle on the old Markab homeworld.
    • Would they have been able to find passage on a ship that could create its own jump point? After all, Sheridan blew up the jump gate in that system using the "bonehead maneuver". Also, ordinary passenger liners don't seem to have jump point capability.
• Maybe its just from watching the episodes on DVD, but you really start to notice that the one trait that unites most of the villains of the week in the first two seasons is that, when they get a hard "no" from whoever the XO is, they start pouting. So in Season 3, when the Centauri are expanding with Shadow help, in the opening, Londo is pouting...
  • And in Season 4, after the death of President Clark, when they started dealing with small-grade assholery again, we start to see villains who pout again. And that is the moment when you realise the war is over, that stuff has returned to relative normality.
• Fridge Brilliance: Babylon 4 = B4 = Before. Punny Name anyone?
• Fridge Brilliance: When he was first introduced, Sheridan declined the security guards' offer to Take Five while he has a private conversation with the security guard who recently shot Garibaldi In the Back. Later on, when faced with evidence that Mr. Morden had something to do with his wife's death, he is willing to break every rule in the book until Delenn convinces him to let Morden go, for the Greater Good^[1]. If Sheridan had given into the tempation to stray from the path of Lawful Good, all would have been lost.
  • Though in the former case, the security guards' offer had nothing to do with the guy being a Shadow agent. Delenn's chief worry was that if Sheridan interrogated Morden long enough, Morden would eventually break and reveal the existence of the Shadows to Sheridan. There was presumably no threat of that happening in the case of Garibaldi's former second, especially since the guy probably wasn't important enough to even know about the Shadows.
• In the Season 3 episode "Messages from Earth", Sheridan and Delenn have a discussion, at the end of which Delenn say, "Sleep now. I will watch, and catch you if you should fall." At first, I dismissed it as just a one-off line , but then I watched "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?". At the end of the episode, Lorien asks Sheridan whether he has anything worth living for, and Sheridan Answers, "Delenn.". So, when Sheridan "falls" at Z'ha'dum, Delenn does indeed "Catch" him.
  • It's also something of an Ironic Echo, since it's the same thing the Soul Hunter said to Delenn back in the first season while he was trying to kill her. He said that as she died, she would feel like she was falling, but she shouldn't worry, since he'd be there to catch her (or rather, her soul).
• Fridge Logic: In season one, Delenn has orders to kill Sinclair if he ever remembers what happened at the battle of the line, but since Sinclair is Valen, and the Gray Council knows it, why would they order the killing of their sacred leader?
  • They believed that if the secret got out, it would destroy Minbari society. The ends justify the means.
  • Also they believe in Reincarnation. So Sinclar was the second life of Valen.
    • First life, actually. But they didn't know that.
• Fridge Horror: The thought of letting Delenn be alone with the Inquisitor already seemed unwise enough given the air of menace surrounding him. It becomes even worse when he's revealed to be Jack the Ripper. Yes, that one.
• In Sic Transit Vir in Season 3, it is revealed Lyndystry, Vir's fiance arranged by their respective families is a Narn-butchering psychopath, and Vir's marriage is put on hold as Vir suffered a minor political problem. All well and good. But as the series goes on, Vir continues to do well in politics which would give the families something to reconsider. So it is likely they marry. Now here's the horror: flash-forward seventeen years where Emperor Lando dies leaving Vir the thrown. If Lyndystry hasn't changed, they've got a mad-woman as Empress. Maker save us from the Empress.
  • Somehow it seems likely Vir broke off the engagement, given his absolute horror at learning about her crimes.
    • Plus as Emperor (when he would become Emperor), he could nullify the engagement/marriage.
  • It's possible he did marry her, in the hopes that I Can Change My Beloved. Plus, it's never been stated how much, if any, influence an Empress has.
  • He didn't. In the Canon Centauri Prime Trilogy, we see in more detail how Vir becomes Emperor, and what his love life is like. Lyndisty probably married someone else between "Sic Transit" and when Vir has enough political power to go for a reconsideration.
• Fridge Brilliance: In the second season finale, The Fall Of Night, Babylon 5 ends up in a firefight with a Centauri battlecruiser. At least some of the damage caused to the Centauri ship seemed to be from strafing runs by the Starfuries B5 launched. Why didn't the Centauri launch any fighters to defend themselves? Because the Earth Alliance and the Centauri Republic were on the verge of signing a non-aggression treaty. Given that, they presumed that Sheridan would back down when confronted about the Narn cruiser. Instead, he dug in his heels, and the Centauri crew got caught flat-footed, with the battle ending before they could start the Fighter Launching Sequence.
• Fridge Logic: In the beginning of one episode, Londo us having a conversation with a Centauri authority over videophone where he's handed marching orders he's not pleased with. The official says at the end that he'll "be in touch." Londo grumbles as he switches off the call, and then says "Keep in touch. Touch these!" as he makes groping motions at his abdomen. At the end of the same episode, we learn that the area he grabbed is where his reproductive organs rest when not in use. Aside from the obvious part where the meaning of his gesture becomes clear on subsequent viewings, there's also a bit of Fridge Logic involving the Translation Convention. Presumably, the two were speaking to each other in Centauri, which means that in his own language the phrase "keep in touch" would have to involve the word for the tactile sense, otherwise his pun is completely nonsensical.
  • Not so unreasonable, as the analogy between physical contact and communication may have been drawn by Centauri languages as well as human ones.
• Fridge Logic: Upon entering the White Star for the first time, Sheridan is amazed that Minbari have "true" artificial gravity... Yet he should know, In The Beginning shows he's been on a Minbari cruiser (after being captured during a failed peace negotiation during the Minbari war).
  • Sheridan may have known that the Minbari had artificial gravity, but he didn't know what method they used. As far as he was aware, they had rotating sections of their own, just not obvious ones.
  • Also note, In The Beginning was a Nested Story, and that one by a very drunk Unreliable Narrator who is telling a story to entertain some children. It is entirely possible that none of the main characters involved were actually there (for a scene that Londo did not himself witness anyways), and that Londo is just plugging them into his story for his own convenience.
  • As I recall, Sheridan was amazed that such a small ship could have a true artificial gravity. He may have assumed before that it was exclusive for giant warships with massive power sources.
• Fridge Logic: When Franklin and Marcus discuss the ranger badge, Marcus tells Franklin the gem in it is called "Entil'Zha", Franklin asks what does Entil'Zha means, which Marcus explains it means "The Future". Yet Franklin had a discussion on that word and had its meaning explained to him during In The Beginning when Sheridan used it to convinced Delenn to let him go when they were captured with G'Kar by Minbaris.
  • Stephen was probably too polite to interrupt Marcus.
  • Or he'd just forgotten the word in the intervening time.
• Fridge Horror: Near the end of Season Four, ISN is once again in the hands of the good guys. The one reporting is the female reporter we saw in Severed Dreams. You will, perhaps, note that her male partner from that episode, the one who informed the cast (and the audience) of troops closing in on the building, is nowhere to be seen.
• Fridge Brilliance: In Walkabout, after the Narn ship G'Tok and a fleet of League ships jump in to help the Minbari Cruiser and the White Star, Lyta Alexander hears what sounds like Kosh saying "and so it begins...". Besides reinforcing the idea that a part of Kosh literally lives on in Sheridan (who's standing nearby as she hears it), this references the Minbari rebirth ceremony...which, viewers may remember, also serves as a marriage ceremony. That the phrase is said just as the Shadow ship has fled before a combined force of humans, Minbari, Narn and various League races, an attentive viewer might decide that a collection of Younger Races just exchanged vows...whether they realize it yet or not.
• Fridge Brilliance: Who were the original Redshirts? Security. Garibaldi runs security. Garibaldi is also the name of an Italian revolutionary whose forces were called Redshirts.
• Fridge Horror: The Centauri were the first aliens to contact Humans. Centauri is not a democracy, but a monarchy where corruption and intruige are rife. Slave-owing is legal. It is a misogynistic culture, and women have no rights. They had a history of invading and plundering other worlds, most notably Narn. And no-one objected to to dealing with such people? Yes, they are based on Real Life human cultures, but given how strenuous the opposition is in democracies to dealing with such cultures now, would not such opposition be even stronger in the future? This, coupled with the disgusting way telepaths are treated, really demonstrates something must have gone terribly wrong with the social conscience of humans in the world of B5.
• Fridge Brilliance: The reason G'Kar has a thing for human women is that he was probably brought up with the cultural message that Centari women were the pinnacle of attractiveness, and to look down on Narn women. (Rather like Real Life black American men and white women previously.) Human woman look rather like Centari women, but wouldn't have the Centari's arrogant contempt for Narns. Therefore he can indulge the fetish without the cultural baggage.
• Fridge Logic: there are holographic displays used for arcade games and letters from home - but not for military purposes? Every time in the first two seasons that we see a screen display in C and C or a Starfury, it's got graphics of about Atari 2600 standard. It just seems weird to me, because usually a technology like that would flow from the military to the civilian sector, not apparently the other way around.

This wouldn't be so bad were it not so obviously easy for the production staff to do better CGI than that - witness any exterior shot of the station, for example.

• Fridge Brilliance: Londo and G'kar are not minor characters, though important, next to the station's crew, but are actually the two main protagonists. All the other characters are really just supporting cast to help telling their very own story.
  • Also, Londo isn't just an alchoholic. He is also addicted to power and prestige. In his constant effort to gain more respect he allies himself with other power hungry men, never notices how much damage they are doing to others, and when he realizes what he has done, he can never turn his back on his allies because he can't cope with loosing their respect. He lies to what few friends he has left, to hide his association with other conspirators, and when openly accused becomes violently angry and makes up justifications for what he did. And every time he manages to break free, it takes only a tiny nudge by a former ally or a personal tragedy to forget about all his promises to himself to never get drawn into it again. Mr. Morden also uses the classic drug dealer tactic of offering some first tastes of great power for free, but later makes increasingly greater demands for his continued service as Londos ace in the hole.
• Fridge Brilliance: President Clark's entire administration has some very chilling real life echoes in at least two, if not three, different American Presidential periods - and one of them didn't even start until the 2000's rolled around. Pure brilliance on Straczynski's part.

1. ↑ lest the Shadows realize the heroes are expecting their imminent return, and ruin any chance for the heroes to prepare