Babylon 5 - Independant State?

[Radar]

Hello all.

This may have already been addressed some time ago, but as I cannot find any current information on this question, I hoped someone out there could help me.

Babylon 5 secceeded from the Earth Alliance in 2260, and in Sheridan's speech he claimed that B5 would remian independant until Clark was removed and whatnot. At what point (if any) did Babylon 5 rejoin the Earth Alliance? I had read online (somewhere) that B5 was indy for a while after Clark because there was a discussion between the Earth Alliance and the ISA for the ISA to purchase the station from them.

The answer may have been in SiL (but I doubt it). We do know that Lockley was given jurisdiction over it, but Zack kept his Army of Light Uniform. In SiL, Zack was back in Earthforce, so does that mean that on top of the amnsety Sheridan bought them, they were reinstated, and if so, when did all this happen.

While I'm asking timeframe type questions, I heard a date associated with the Telepath War. 2264/5. . . does that sound right?

In Crusade, the XO was a telepath. . . and that was post Psi-Corps, so I assume that the survivors were just being let in to Earthforce (which I find a little unlikelym but that's me).

The reason I ask is I'm toying with the concept of a FanFic and I'd like to be as consistant as possible with the "current" situation. Current being the time from 2262-2272.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Radar

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"The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."

[This message has been edited by Radar (edited November 26, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Radar (edited November 26, 2001).]

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The series itself never really makes clear when Babylon 5 went back to being the property of the Earth Alliance. In "SiL" the man overseeing the shut-down of the station refers to its having reverted to EarthForce control "a few years back." But that's a pretty elastic phrase. The older I get the bigger the chunk of time I consider "a few years" seems to get.

I haven't seen the TV movies in awhile, so I'm not sure if A Call to Arms, for instance, sheds any light on the subject.

Certainly during S5 B5 continues to operate as an independent state, with the IA leasing the station as a whole, and EarthForce administering the port and day-to-day operations. The exact of chain of command is a little more flexible than in the past. A number of EarthForce officers, including Zack and Franklin, do not resume their service uniforms. Ivanova, on the other hand, goes back to regular duty in command of a destroyer, and certainly would dress accordingly.

In "SiL" Zack specifically says that he re-enlisted in EarthForce just a few months earlier. Sheridan's information was that Zack had retired, and the invitation to "the last supper" would have gone to Zack's last known civilian address, and therefore missed him. So "SiL" doesn't give us any clues as to when or if Zack reverted to EarthForce uniform in the wake of the Shadow War and Earth Civil War.

I suspect that the idea of buying the station outright was later dropped by the IA, and at some point after Sheridan's departure the station returned to full EarthForce control. This probably didn't happen as early as River of Souls, which is only about six months after "Objects at Rest", but may very well be accomplished by the time of A Call to Arms. It is also possible that the IA continues to lease the station for a few years, perhaps to make it easier to use it as a forward base for the Rangers. We may learn more about the exact status of the station in the Legend of the Rangers film or the possible Rangers series.

So for purposes of fanfic you can probably either sidestep the whole issue or set it anywhere between "Objects at Rest" and "SiL" without contradicting anything in the series itself. (Again, A Call to Arms might address the issue, and there may be some reference in one of the books that I missed, so you might want to check those sources as well as the other responses your post draws here.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[raven2032]

The Telepath War was in 2266, four years after season 5 and a year before "A Call to Arms".

The station did eventually revert back to Earth Force control, but I doubt it would have done so during the 62-72 time period.

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What are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet .. go 'quack'?"

"Cats."

"Cats. I'm being nibbled to death by cats."

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I suspect that Sheridan returned Babylon 5 to the Earth during "Rising Star". The return of the station, the lease of the station and Earth joining the Interstellar Alliance would make a nice agreement.

Who owned Babylon 5 when G'Kar and Mollari died? Did the books say.

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Andrew Swallow

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>The Telepath War was in 2266, four years after season 5 and a year before A Call to Arms.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

JMS confirmed earlier this year that the Teep War begins in 2264 and ends in 2265.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[GKarsEye]

I'm pretty sure the Teep War happens before the new Rangers movie. Possibly had just ended by the time the events of the Live and Die in Starlight take place.

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

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I'm pretty sure the Teep War happens before the new Rangers movie.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm sure you're right. I doubt that JMS would want the war to overlap with a potential Rangers series, or have it happen during the gap between the pilot and episode one. (Assuming there is such a gap, as there was with B5 and as was planned for Crusade.)

He wouldn't want it to be such a recent event that it would be unnatural for the Human Characters not to talk about it. (Imagine a future movie set in America in October 2001 where no one mentioned the WTC/Pentagon attacks, even in passing. Move the same story to June 2002 and there would be nothing odd about it.)

OTOH it definitely ends in the same year as the Rangers movie, so it has to be recent. (Unless, as I jokingly suggested elsewhere, the war starts on December 31, 2264 and ends on January 1, 2265.

It is possible that the war ended early in 2265 and the Rangers film is set at the end of the year, so there could be as much as eleven months between them.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Jomar]

It's quite a while since I read the Centauri trilogy but I do recall that in the second book Vir spent a good deal of time on B5 and I think people such as Zack and Lochley were still there.

In fact we know Lochley is still running the station in ACtA and during the Crusade episodes so nothing has changed much for several years after Objects at Rest.

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I always seem to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>In fact we know Lochley is still running the station in ACtA and during the Crusade episodes so nothing has changed much for several years after "Objects at Rest".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But Lochley likely would still be running the show if the station reverted completely to EarthGov control; she'd be commander/military governor just like Sinclair and Sheridan were before her. So this fact doesn't really give us the answer to the original question.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net