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A void to be filled?

Sorry, guys, but now you have to admit you are using different definitions of the word "reason".

Reason as in the reason the author wrote it this way?

Or reason as in some kind of pseudo-scientific explanation?

I do admit, the best "reason we all look so much alike" for me was a TNG episode of Star Trek. :)

"You are not a monument to our greatneess.... but to our existence".

I really should look up that quote exactly and use it as my signature here for while. It's very cool, and that was a very satisfying episode to me.

(Anyone other than me think that's also the actress who played Odo's mom later? :))
 
I totally agree that the whole notion of aliens that look like humans with extra bits is looking a bit dated.. it's more of a 60s sci-fi TV convention that we accept now more because we're used to it than because its in any way believable (unless you're an extreme advocate of convergent evolution.. and even then you have to wonder why aliens never have dents in their foreheads instead of bumps..)

Its just cheaper to do on a TV budget.. but cheap CG and clever shows like BSG are raising the bar and putting an end to it. That said, B5 and optic nerve did lead the way in getting away from that look, with ultra-flexible, full facial masks (G'Kar is a truly amazing creation really, and looks nothing like Andreas Katsulas).
 
I do admit, the best "reason we all look so much alike" for me was a TNG episode of Star Trek.
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I wish that that plot hadn't been a one-off episode but instead the resolution to a season-long progressing plot.
 
With Trek off the air, would another B5 related series have a decent shot?

I know there are rumors about a 100 episode Star Trek series...and I don't know if there are rumors JMS may be involved with it, but if he isn't one would think now would be a great time to try to get back on the air with a B5 spinoff...

Whaddya think?
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I think we're nowhere near that lucky.
 
"The Chase"

Picard is surprised when Professor Richard Galen, his old archaeology professor whom he hasn't seen in 30 years, pays a visit to the U.S.S. Enterprise and asks Picard to accompany him on a mission. The renowned archaeologist has made a discovery so profound, the ultimate findings could reverberate throughout the galaxy, but will only reveal them to Picard if he agrees to join him on a lengthy, possibly year-long expedition. The offer is tempting to Picard, who once intended to make archaeology his life's work, but he chooses duty instead, prompting the professor to angrily leave the starship. Soon afterward, the Enterprise receives a distress call — Galen's ship is under attack by Yridians. After inadvertently destroying the attacking vessel with a phaser hit the crew is able to transport Galen aboard, but not before he takes a disruptor blast in the chest at point-blank range. Picard is at the professor's side when he dies in Sickbay, taking his secret with him to the grave.

Attempting to learn why Galen was attacked, the crew finds 19 strange blocks of numbers stored in his computer's memory. Picard decides the answer might be on Ruah IV, part of an unexplored star system Galen visited just before first contacting the Enterprise — and sets course despite the fact that he is due at a diplomatic conference elsewhere. When the search yields nothing, he opts to continue the investigation on Indri VIII, Galen's next intended destination.

Upon their arrival at Indri VIII, the crew finds every microbe of life on the planet is being destroyed before their eyes, leading Picard to believe that Professor Galen's number blocks may have something to do with organic matter. Picard and Dr. Crusher study the blocks, and learn that they are mathematical representations of DNA fragments, each from a different life form from 19 different worlds scattered across the quadrant. Picard decides to set a course for Loren III, the only planet capable of sustaining life in the area to which the professor was referring. There, they encounter two Cardassian war vessels and a Klingon attack cruiser, each on the trail of the same discovery.

After a tense initial confrontation, Picard is able to get the Cardassian Captain, Gul Ocett, and the Klingon captain, Nu'Daq, to share their respective organic matter samples and agree to solve the puzzle together. They soon learn that they are still missing one DNA fragment, but Picard initiates an elaborate computer search, which soon reveals the location where the missing DNA may be found. However, when the findings are announced, the Cardassian captain dematerializes and her ship fires on both the Enterprise and the Klingon vessel.

Picard sets course for the Vilmoran system, accompanied by the Klingon captain, whose ship was crippled in the attack. Soon after they arrive, the Cardassian captain appears on the planet, as do a group of Romulans, who have been following all along in a cloaked vessel. Gul Ocett threatens to destroy the few samples that still remain on the barren world rather than work with the Romulans, and as the Klingon leader joins the face-off, Picard and Beverly quietly retrieve a partially fossilized sample. Unnoticed, they feed the sample into their tricorder. The mysterious program is activated, and a humanoid hologram recorded billions of years ago appears before them. The hologram tells the surprised group that her race found itself alone in their travels of the galaxy. The genetic puzzle was created in hopes that those races would come together in cooperation and fellowship in order to activate the message. The humanoid tells the group that they all come from this common seed, and implores them to remember this bond. The message fades, leaving Nu'Daq and Gul Ocett unbelieving, and repulsed at the mere thought of having anything in common. The groups return to their vessels.
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Londo's hair intially turned me off. I didn't pick it up again until ItB caught my eye.

Firefly was much in the same vein. The first episode I saw had covered wagons. A freaking space faring race using god damn covered wagons. Keeping my B5 mistake in mind I gave the show another try and was still bored.
 
Wow. I can't believe I never saw "The Chase." Damn. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for that one.
 
It is a pretty interesting episode, actually. The summary doesn't convey the flavor of it. It's very much a Picard-oriented story (so no news flash I remembered it, eh?) but for all the interesting reasons. His hobbies, why he chose to do what he does, and of course the mystery of this puzzle he's found himself with. And then, one of my favorite lines from TNG.

There is a real moment when that line comes up, though. A bit like G'kar's speeches, when everything seems to settle into one important, climactic moment. And a rather interesting twist in just how each of the races (Human, Klingon, Cardassian, and Romulan are all there) responds to the news that they are sort of distant cousins. :)

Oh, and the "humanoid" is indeed the one who plays Odo's (whatever you'd call it, she's not really his mother), an actress of the name Salome Jens. I had trouble looking it up without a title for the episode. (Thanks, V.L. :))
 
JMS was a TNG fan.. I suppose its kind of hinted that the Vorlons played the same role in B5, and that its because of them that the younger races all look vaguely human, while the elder races are CG and properly alien..

Lorien is an exception, I suppose, but then how do we know that is his original form anyway? Or did the Vorlons perhaps engineer the younger races to look like Lorien, out of reverence?
 
JMS was a TNG fan.. I suppose its kind of hinted that the Vorlons played the same role in B5, and that its because of them that the younger races all look vaguely human, while the elder races are CG and properly alien..
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Does that make Swedish meatballs a Vorlon recipe? Since G'Kar mentioned that every world has a version of the meatballs? (episode: Walkabout)
 
One of the books riffed on the Swedish meatballs/Vorlon theme, but it was the same book that claimed the Vree found the X-Files "excessively truthful." All a bit silly, really...
 
Loriens real form is that ball of energy with tentavles flying around you see, the humanoid appearence is just for show, same as the Vorlons angel appearence and the Shadows spiky scaryness.
 
I assumed that Lorien's humanoid form is what he used to look like before he evolved into a ball of energy.

I never really liked TNG's The Chase. By making each species related to one another (so much for evolution!) it made the aliens seem even less alien.
 
I don't think it interfere's in the belief in evolution. The "Master Race" seeded the individual planets with the stuff that evolved into the races we know today. Matter of fact, isn't a support for evolution? They all turned out different due to the environment they evolved in.
 
I don't think it interfere's in the belief in evolution. The "Master Race" seeded the individual planets with the stuff that evolved into the races we know today. Matter of fact, isn't a support for evolution? They all turned out different due to the environment they evolved in.
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So if it was just the basic genetic material they left behind on each planet, what are the chances of each species evolving to look virtually identical? Don't forget, life on Earth shares the same basic DNA, with only a few differences here and there, and yet life on Earth has evolved into a multitude of different shapes and sizes. It doesn't explain why Bajorans look like humans with ridges on their noses! Even if the genetic material that humans and Bajorans evolved from was the same stuff, they should have evolved in vastly different ways according to their own enivironments and stimuli. A ridge on the nose does not make them very different (of course, we don't know exactly what their internal organs are like. But even then they all have hearts, stomachs etc, direct analogues of human organs in many cases! And in Star Trek different species can mate, so they can't be very different)

I can accept aliens looking like humans because of budgetary reasons. I can suspend my disbelief. I can't accept it when they use it as a poor excuse for a story!
 
I'm pretty sure that when we DO find alien life it will look exactly like us but with stuff on it's forehead.
 
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