B5 + Buffy = Unique Prop

I think I may have found a really obscure B5 reference. Ok, it wasn't me who found it really but my husband but he wanted me to share it with y'all.

We have started watching Buffy since they started re-running it from the beginning on FX. So, now we think it is worth watching ... especially since we have seen some of the meatier eps later on in the series.

Well, we also recently watched The Gathering on DVD and while viewing it, my husband took notice of the console in MedBay (when "Lyta" tries to sabotage the recovering Kosh and attacks Dr. Kyle).

Turns out he also watched an episode of Buffy (I Robot, You Jane) where the same console appears! It is shown from almost the opposite angle so you tell me if we are right or not. It is pretty hard to imagine that they made more than one of these...

We took some screen shots of the Buffy ep (sorry for the poor quality but we don't record Buffy at high quality) and you can compare it to the scene in The Gathering. My husband is still going to try to capture the B5 console but capturing things from the DVD is a bit more complicated.

Full screen shot #1 (kinda blurry)
Full screen shot #2 (less blurry)
Prop only shot #1
Prop only shot #2

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
There is nothing to fear in the dreaming, only that which we bring with us. --Dukhat

I guess seeing as both were Warner Bros, productions, that isn't so impossible.

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'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK

Here are the ones from "The Gathering" for comparison. And yes, there is a striking resemblance between some parts.

Screenshot 1 (400 x 267, 20 KB)
Screenshot 2 (400 x 267, 16 KB)

[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited January 13, 2002).]

Recoil, I didn't realize they were both WB productions so it makes sense that they would re-use props if possible. I always thought Buffy was a 20th Century Fox production ... are they owned by WB?

Lennier, thanks so much for the screen shots! We don't have our system set up for such things (computer problems and other stuff).

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
There is nothing to fear in the dreaming, only that which we bring with us. --Dukhat

No, Lyta you're right. Buffy isn't a WB production, it's Fox.

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Step outside, walk with me
Everyone I know and see is falling
Is crawling after something maybe,
A bigger house, faster car, never knowing who they are
They're lonely, they're lonely, they're lonely

However, I think the two productions do share ?something? such as a make-up dept. or props or something like that. I think it might be make-up because several us here noticed a guest demon on Buffy looking strikingly similar to a Drakh, only with a little different color and jigglier horns.

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An Old Egyptian Blessing: May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places that you must walk.

Thoughts & prayers to soldiers fighting overseas and to their families.

I'm only going from memory here, but wasn't the giant praying mantis from season one of Buffy, actually N'Grath?

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Ranger Elenopa

"You can get more with a kind word and a two by four, than you can with just a kind word"

I think it was the people who do the props. It has also been mentioned before that on Buffy there was a demon head that looked very much like a modified G'Kar's head.

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"We Centauri live our lives for appearances. Position, status, title; these are the things by which we define ourselves. But when I look beneath the mask I am forced to wear, I see only emptiness. And then I think of you. And I say to hell with appearances." - Ambassador Londo Mollari, Born to the Purple

There is a Warner Brothers connection between the two. Does Buffy go out on the Warner Brothers tv channel?

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Andrew Swallow

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Optic Nerve, the ones who do B5 prosthetics, also do them for Buffy, so there some understandable similarities from time to time (like when they used a good chunk of n'grath for one shot).


"PPS - is it true that the BtVS crew whipped the B5 crew at paintball?"

Nope. We beat them.

jms <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

Thanks for the information guys! Now it makes sense that they shared prop departments. Oy, now I will have to pay more attention to the Buffy eps (and re-watch some others) for more B5 props!

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
There is nothing to fear in the dreaming, only that which we bring with us. --Dukhat

Elenopa,

Now that is strange!!!! The person who played the giant praying mantis (pre-transformation) in season one was Musetta Vander, later to be seen as Felicia (of the Mars Resistance) in "Between the Darkness and the Light."


And for a B5 mention in Buffy, there is one that I can never forget. I forget exactly which season and episode it was, but it was I think sometime in the early part of the fourth season. I remember the scene being Xander and Anya in Xander's basement, and he mentions about how he doesn't want her to get rid of his Babylon 5 collector plates.

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Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out.

I spotted the actress as well. I love playing 'Spot the B5 guest star' on other shows.

Xander's B5 plate collection. I cheered when I heard that. We've just had the episode here in the uk where

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black> Buffy's Mum dies </font></td></tr></table>

I cried my eyes out. I never thought I would do that with Buffy.

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Ranger Elenopa

"You can get more with a kind word and a two by four, than you can with just a kind word"

At the risk of sending this thread to Off-topic or Other Shows ... I just watched a few eps of Buffy with a char named "Ethan Rayne" (Robin Sachs) who plays Coplann (Grey Council Member in ItB), Na'Tok (I think the Narn Captain that G'Kar has the conversation about Swedish meatballs), Na'Kal (Narn?) and Hedronn (a Minbari?). Popular guy! It was weird because when I was watching Buffy, I heard his voice and said, "I know that man!".

Plus, I also saw the praying mantis demon who was N'Grath.

Buffy is growing on me and it makes it even more fun to watch when I see things B5 related.

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
There is nothing to fear in the dreaming, only that which we bring with us. --Dukhat

[This message has been edited by Lyta (edited January 16, 2002).]

JMS wouldn't object. I've seen him post comments about Liking Buffy himself.

It's well written. Amazingly so, when you consider the godawful Movie it came from.
And, they were smart enough NOT to bring PeeWee Herman over.

Of course, after he got arrested for public indecency in that X-Rated movie theater in Tampa, I don't think Anyone wanted him on their show.

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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

[This message has been edited by bakana (edited January 17, 2002).]

I could be going mental, but I am sure I recall Xander once mentioning to Anya (I think it was her, but I only watch it by default because the wife likes it) something about a set of B5 commemorative plates ???

Straying away from the B5/Buffy thing for a moment (but staying with B5 references), my favourite is from the Simpsons episode with Mark Hamill (where Homer becomes the Mayor's bodyguard).

Basically Mark Hamill, as Luke Skywalker, is at the bi-monthly Sci-Fi convention and looking for a volunteer to re-enact a scene from Star Wars.

Lenny sticks his hands in the air and states ... "my whole life has been leading to this moment".

But then the episode also contains the classic Homer quote:

"This can't be a Sci-Fi convention - it's full of nerds !"

And on that bombshell ...

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DaveC
"Want to talk socks?"

I think I just noticed another prop from B5 in Buffy ... I don't remember what episode it was but Spike and Dru were in their crypt sitting at this table. Dru was at one end doing her tarot cards and Spike and a brainiac vamp were trying to translate a text.

Anyway, the chairs around this table looked awfully familiar. I think they are the same ones used in the council chambers by the 5 major representitives. Sure, the ones in Buffy looked a bit roughed up to look old, but does anyone else think they are the same chairs?

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
There is nothing to fear in the dreaming, only that which we bring with us. --Dukhat

Apparently John Iacovelli (B5 Production Designer) used to buy stuff like that from Ikea.

Guess Buffy's PD does the same.



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DaveC
"Want to talk socks?"

Ok, back to the original prop that my husband spotted ... the one in The Gathering's MedBay. Looks like he found it again ... this time in ST:TNG's "Suddenly Human" episode:

ST:TNG prop

Looks like it gets around and I wonder where it originated? Was it anything "real" before it became a prop? Well, anyway, I am glad they got rid of in it B5 as it is really ugly.

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Monica Hübinette | Abyss : B5 <- New & Improved!
Pouch-sucking spawn of a bladder fish! Son of a fitch piece of smelt! Tok-swallowing fenbarger! Thrak it! --Na'Feel swearing in B5LR

What about that episode, at the end of which Xander is moving out of his basement, and he lets everyone carry his stuff, EXCEPT his Commemorative Babylon 5 Plates!!! remember that? I think Joss Whedon likes B5!

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I have carefully selected the following words of wisdom for my signature:
"Gravity, you win again." - Zack Brannigan.
"Real men over-clock their modems!" - Vertigo.
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[This message has been edited by Londo Molari (edited January 24, 2002).]