Post by codystarbuck on Jul 13, 2020 21:03:26 GMT -5
There was a prequel to the Lensman stories, Triplanetary (published after the Galactic Patrol and a few of the others), that gives a backhistory of the Eddorans and the Arisians, two rival races, who manipulate the evolution of species, eventually leading to the Lensman (on the Arisian side, with hero Kim Kinnison destined to father the greatest of the Lensmen) and the Boskone pirates, servants of the Eddorans. They inspired the militaristic elements of the Jedi and super powers, and the Rangers, in B5, with their emblem. They did inspire elements of the Green Lantern Silver Age revamp and Steve Englehart paid tribute to this by introducing Arisia and Eddore.
The Nightwatch is an allegory of the Gestapo, and, to some extent, the SA, in Nazi Germany. The swearing in of Pres Clark, after the assassination of Pres Santiago, was shot to copy the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson, after the death of Pres Kennedy.
The look of the Centauri evolved from the pilot through the series; so Lilandra and the Shi'ar are rather debatable.
Bester is named for author Alfred Bester, whose novel The Demolished Man, features a psychic police force and a murder, in a world where such things no longer happen because of the police. That inspired the Psi-Corps.
The founder of the Mars Colony is John Carter.
The Centauri Emperor had no name in the series and was eventually played by actor Turhan Bey and the Emperor, from then on, was known as Emperor Turhan.
At the end of the second season, when Sheridan leaps out of a tram car, to escape a bomb and is saved by Kosh, seated near him, as a tram passenger, is Mira Furlan, without alien make-up, dressed as a stylish human passenger.
Actor Wayne Alexander played The Inquisitor (aka Jack the Ripper), Lorien, the Narn D'dan, a Drazi, and the Drakh who manipulates Londo.
The Psi-Corps salute is a nod to The Prisoner. They tried to develop an episode as an homage to the Prisoner, to feature Patrick McGoohan; but, it never came off. The closest thing was the episode "The Corps is Mother", where everything is told from Bester's POV.
The season 4 end episode, with flashes of the future, featured a priest who was actually a ranger, helping to rebuild Earth and recovering past history. The premise was a nod to Walter M Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz.
Sinclair quotes Tennyson often and King Arthur is referenced throughout.
The teddy bear that Sheridan dumps out of an airlock, after shutting down a B5 gift shop that had caused complaints, had the initials JS. The bear was actually a gift from Peter David's wife to JMS, but he hates cute things and told David he would get him for it. In David and Bill Mumy's space tv series, Space Cases, the heroes discover the bear floating in space and recover it, asking who would jettison a stuffed toy, with the answer being the Strac.
Emperor Cartagia was a nod to Caligula.
G'Kar, in a Season 1 episode, when the Narn take over a Centauri agricultural colony, makes a statement about breeding room that echoes Hitler's "lebensraum." Sinclair calls him out with just that.
The Drazi ships were an homage to the Liberator, from Blake's 7, which was a big inspiration to JMS.
The Nightwatch is an allegory of the Gestapo, and, to some extent, the SA, in Nazi Germany. The swearing in of Pres Clark, after the assassination of Pres Santiago, was shot to copy the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson, after the death of Pres Kennedy.
The look of the Centauri evolved from the pilot through the series; so Lilandra and the Shi'ar are rather debatable.
Bester is named for author Alfred Bester, whose novel The Demolished Man, features a psychic police force and a murder, in a world where such things no longer happen because of the police. That inspired the Psi-Corps.
The founder of the Mars Colony is John Carter.
The Centauri Emperor had no name in the series and was eventually played by actor Turhan Bey and the Emperor, from then on, was known as Emperor Turhan.
At the end of the second season, when Sheridan leaps out of a tram car, to escape a bomb and is saved by Kosh, seated near him, as a tram passenger, is Mira Furlan, without alien make-up, dressed as a stylish human passenger.
Actor Wayne Alexander played The Inquisitor (aka Jack the Ripper), Lorien, the Narn D'dan, a Drazi, and the Drakh who manipulates Londo.
The Psi-Corps salute is a nod to The Prisoner. They tried to develop an episode as an homage to the Prisoner, to feature Patrick McGoohan; but, it never came off. The closest thing was the episode "The Corps is Mother", where everything is told from Bester's POV.
The season 4 end episode, with flashes of the future, featured a priest who was actually a ranger, helping to rebuild Earth and recovering past history. The premise was a nod to Walter M Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz.
Sinclair quotes Tennyson often and King Arthur is referenced throughout.
The teddy bear that Sheridan dumps out of an airlock, after shutting down a B5 gift shop that had caused complaints, had the initials JS. The bear was actually a gift from Peter David's wife to JMS, but he hates cute things and told David he would get him for it. In David and Bill Mumy's space tv series, Space Cases, the heroes discover the bear floating in space and recover it, asking who would jettison a stuffed toy, with the answer being the Strac.
Emperor Cartagia was a nod to Caligula.
G'Kar, in a Season 1 episode, when the Narn take over a Centauri agricultural colony, makes a statement about breeding room that echoes Hitler's "lebensraum." Sinclair calls him out with just that.
The Drazi ships were an homage to the Liberator, from Blake's 7, which was a big inspiration to JMS.
