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The Ships of Babylon 5

© David Ye

Of the many aspects of Babylon 5, perhaps one of the stranger ones is the design, technology and the weapon systems associated with the military vessels of the many races depicted.

Each race has its own unique designs of ships that are completely different from those of any of the other races. These help to define their many differences in level of technology, language, customs etc. They also keep each species' identities separate from one other.

In keeping with this train of thought, the B5 design team has created ships of unusual design so that no two race's ships are the same or similar. This sort of diversity also emphasises how Babylon 5 is different from other sci fi shows that have gone before (there are other aspects that support this point discussed later in the article).

Now, we'll start with the design of the ships. The B5 crew has created ships that accurately reflect how each race is perceived in the viewer's eyes on the show and describes the projected "feeling" of each species in the viewer's minds. Some good examples of this can be found in both Minbari and Earth Alliance ships. For the Earth Alliance, particularly the Omega destroyers and Nova Dreadnoughts, they look practically like something built from a dumpster.

Painted a dull grey, they are practical and functional and perfectly suited for doing the job that they were designed to do. It's just not pretty to look at them. This may represent the great diversity of the human race as a whole. On the other hand, Minbari ships are beautifully painted in coral blue and the paint job on the cruiser design is something resembling a tropical fish. This sort of a design shows that the Minbari are a tranquil and peaceful people.

We will take a closer examination of the various designs belonging to each race in subsequent articles.

All of this is of course very fine and dandy, but what makes them work? What are the various technologies that make them function? Well, this section will try to answer those questions on a general note. Most of the alien ships seems to have some sort of reactor thruster at the back of their ships to propel them forward and it does not appear that those types of ships need any sort of fuel to power their engines (with the execption of the Minbari and all of the "first one's" ships). Engines for fighters, however, seems to be based upon several thruster engines that propel them at high speeeds and give them a lot of manoeuvrability. Their range, however, is limited to the fact that they need to be refuelled so the fighters are relatively short range.

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