anybody here actually liked the Valen??

those indeed look like windows to me

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### Hi, I'm a sig virus. Please add me to the end of your signature so I can take over the world.### - caught from Saps @ B5MG

I don't think they are windows... If so, they would be massively large.

Just look at this pic - and compare the size of those "windows" to the Liandra: http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~arrghman/valen/13.jpg
(Thanks for posting the images, Arrghman!)

But then again, perhaps those luxury passengers like to see the view through giant windows... ;D

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- Lars

[This message has been edited by Hyperspace (edited January 22, 2002).]

Does anyone know where I can find larger screen-captures of the Valen and Liandra? Besides wanting them for my little website, I'd like to take a closer look at the designs.

Looking at the pics Arrghman posted, the Valen doesn't actually look that bad many angles. The only thing that ruins it is the tail section. The front 2/3rd looks just fine IMO.

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- Lars

[This message has been edited by Hyperspace (edited January 22, 2002).]

I tried...I really tried. I mean..there is some grace and beauty even to an Omega class destroyer. (It helps to see what they can do in order for me to like them) But I'm afraid I just can't seem to like the Valen...which was kinda JMS's point, I think.

The Enfali on the other hand.....as Ivanova said...I'll take 2. I don't know...there was just something about her. Yeah, I know she got waxed by Raiders....so obviously she needs a little upgrade....maybe not to go up against 50 raiders at once wouldn't be such a bad battle tactic either. I just liked the design of that. She had beam weapons too.

Of course I liked the Liandra...at least the base design. The color on the other hand. Brown is not my favorite color. Gotta put some organic armor on that thing. (Might help in survivablilty too.) Doubt it'll happen, of course....but...we can all hope for a miricle. (at least put on some of that plasteel/cyrstiline stuff the VCDs have. Give her a chance)

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It's like I've always said, you can get more with a kind word and a 2 by 4 than you can with just a kind word.

I'll see if I can post some larger screenshots sometime in the next few days.

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"We live for the one, we die for the one."

Haven't seen the movie, but by looking at the screencaps, I would say that I like ít.

Regards,
TheInfection

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Things change... long time gone by.

Some of you have surely seen these quotes from JMS, but since you are talking about the Valen, I thought I would post them here. I found them really humorous.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>The other point, which I already mentioned in another thread, is that it seems totally contrary to (my conceptions of) Minbari attitudes to name *anything* destructible after Valen

The worker caste has always been a puckish lot.

jms

(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd., permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine and don't send me story ideas)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Did you have any second thoughts about naming that ship? Or am I the only one who thought it odd? If I had to guess I'd have said the Minbari revered Valen far too much to name a mere ship after him, most especially an ugly one with heavy human influence...

It was kind of an in-joke by some on the Grey Council when they named it. The ship is a compromised crossbreed between human (the front) and minbari (the rest) design styles.

And what was Valen, after all, but half human and half minbari...?

jms

(all message content (c) 2001 by synthetic worlds, ltd., permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine and don't send me story ideas)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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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

So now people have a problem with the f***ing name of a ship?! They could call it Ass-Monkey for all I care, what's the goddamn difference what it's called?

I give up.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."

LOL! This agreeing thing I'm doing with GkarsEye lately is making me wonder if I should check the temperature in He** to see if it has frozen over!

I actually could not care less what a ship looks like. If it's flying in to save me, I'll hop on board!

Spoiler from the movie:


<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black> Of course, I know it didn't do that in the movie </font></td></tr></table>

But this is hardly a point to think about. I like the JMS explanation. Valen was a "hybrid" so why not name a ship after him that is also a "hybrid"?

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"The Bible is a book: it is a good book, but is is not the only book" - Inherit the Wind

"I do not believe that the same God who
has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."—Galileo

hypatia@b5fan.b5lr.com

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> LOL! This agreeing thing I'm doing with GkarsEye lately is making me wonder if I should check the temperature in He** to see if it has frozen over! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It just means you're getting smarter, doll.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."

I think it was a good idea to have the Valen look like it does. Humans coming in and ruining beautiful Minbari designs...how typical.

Don't get me wrong, I think Earth ships are cool. The rotating sections make it seam that much more realistic. They may be "blocky", but I like them.

As I said above, I am a ship fanatic, and love seeing new designs. One of the greatest things about Babylon 5, Star Trek, and some other sci-fi shows is that starship designs vary from species to species, and within that species the ship designs are similar. The Rangers/ISA, however, isn't really restricted to one style of ship. Surely Minbari have a heavy influence in design, but with multiple races comes multiple designs.

I think this is how it should be. On Star Trek, the Federation had hundreds of member races, but only one general design philosophy (saucer section, engineering section, 2 engine nacelles). With a variety of races should come a variety of ships.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Where were we........

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"We live for the one, we die for the one."

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hypatia:
LOL! This agreeing thing I'm doing with GkarsEye lately is making me wonder if I should check the temperature in He** to see if it has frozen over!

I actually could not care less what a ship looks like. If it's flying in to save me, I'll hop on board!

Spoiler from the movie:




<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black> Of course, I know it didn't do that in the movie </font></td></tr></table>

But this is hardly a point to think about. I like the JMS explanation. Valen was a "hybrid" so why not name a ship after him that is also a "hybrid"?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The Valen looked like a lead turkey to me. I'm glad JMS said we'll never see another one.

KoshN, you don't have to go comparing it to a JAGUAR! Those aren't grins, that's Jade Jaguar showing his fangs. Jaguars are beautiful... all of them!

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.

I thought the Valen looked rather cool myself. It did remind me of The Next Generations Romulan vessiles, yet more blocky. Sometimes original thinking is a hard thing to do, especially when so much has come before you. As the bible says, "There is nothing new under the sun." Being a writer myself, I understand the difficulty of coming up with a fresh new look. The Valen I feel,was just different enough to render it the status of being extremely in....... I found myself wishing the Valen was their ship. Pity it had to be destroyed. Maybe they'll build the next one with superior organic armor and better sheilds.

Any way, I think that the Valen could really grow on me. The Liandra is also very cool,
(atleast as far as outter ship design is concerned). Kind of a older prototype, expermentation for the White Stars I would bet.

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"You have always been here." Kosh speaking to Sheridan(from All Alone In The Night)





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Steven S McLaughlin