Babylon 5: ISA Victory Class Destroyer - Spacedock

[@M29WeaselDriver]

I still think Babylon 5 was one of the most well written space based sci-fi shows ever to air.

[@coreydonaldson3303]

So do I M29WeaselDriver !

[@lovipoekimo176]

Amen!

[@RockRedGenesis]

To bad Excalibur didn't get the same consideration that B5 did, just like Firefly, Excalibur didn't get the support from the execs and was cancelled far too early, such a good premise for a ship-based series in the Babylon 5 universe.

[@Volthoom]

Amen to that. And, i'll add, with the best finale to a show i've ever seen.

[@gnetkuji]

Unpopular as it might be to say, B5 is probably the one show I think is most crying out for a reboot. Yeah, the characters were great and the CGI was really ahead of its time, but looking back on it, J.M. Stravinsky didn't get even half of what he wanted up on our screens because long-form multi-season arc-based shows just didn't exist the same way back then and studio executives kept fucking with his scripts. In a post-BSG reboot/Game of Thrones world, JMS would likely have a way easier time actually getting what he wants. Bless him for that, too, because B5 (and its Star Trek counterpart DS9) were the trailblazers that helped make such series possible today, much less as common as they are now.

[@dinaamber]

I loved Babylon 5 and Crusade. I LOVE this ship, it's such a shame that Crusade was cancelled. I would love to build a model of this ship.

[@Folker46590]

Crusade sucked and this ship design was ugly. Victory Class Destroyer or Victory class STAR destroyer? The ship has a lot of Klingon influences and is over two kilometers in length yet it's built as a gun ship, reminds me of the SDF-1.

[@aquamonkee]

Crusade had so much potential & is a pivotal example of too much studio interference. Having re-watched recently is difficult finding a good episode once the studio had stuck its nose in i.e. episodes where the crew are wearing black uniforms

[@TheDeadlyefx]

Everyone has an opinion. Mine is that the Victory class is GORGEOUS and one of my all time favorite ships.

[@TheDetailsMatter]

White Stars look like plucked chickens. The Victory class looks like a dead flamingo. Crusade was going to be four years of pointless episodic stories followed by a final season in which the very, very obvious could finally be considered, that since the Drakh plague was Shadow nanotechnology, it must be controlled by a computer on the Drakh homeworld. Find the Drakh Homeworld (ie, Centauri Prime), capture the computer, hit the "end function all" command, plague shuts down, problem solved.

[@Leondrius]

​@@Folker46590The ship was a combination of Earthforce, Minbari, and Vorlon technology. I don't know where you get Klingon influences from.

[@hunterolsen9654]

"The Victory carries a large crew" ....300 crew for a 3000m ship seems absurdly small to me.

[@Mobius_118]

I think he's saying it's large compared to the crew complements of other ships in the B5 universe.

[@tba113]

@@Mobius_118 Maybe by Minbari standards. Some estimates put the crew complement of Sharlin War Cruisers at fewer than 200. No one seems to know for sure when it comes to the Vorlons, but it wouldn't surprise me if a typical crew for their ships is a single being. Earth Force warships, though, even new and radically advanced ones like the Warlock-class heavy destroyer, run with 1,200 officers and crew, and consider 5,000 marines posted to the ship as standard. Being fiction, it's impossible to say whether that's _realistic_ or not, but it certainly feels more reasonable for a ship that big. Unless the Victory's 300 officers and crew are all in a relatively small central command pod, with the rest of the 3km-long ship being completely automated machine spaces, it seems like serving aboard one would start to feel vaguely spooky with all the empty space.

[@danieldickson8591]

Considering the degree of automation the Minbari ships display, a larger crew was probably unnecessary. For ferrying ground assault troops or evacuating refugees, a ship that size probably had room for tens of thousands.

[@neganrex5693]

A Galaxy class starship is half the size and has a crew of around 1,000 members and it's looked at as roomy.

[@solastro5595]

Must be really automated

[@NebLleb]

The Victory class is one of my favourite ship classes, and a reason why 'A Call to Arms' is my favourite 'Babylon 5' film.

[@mpittard21]

A Superweapon that basically locks you down sounds great, but Id prefer more weapons that dont shut the ship down personally

[@MrNintoku]

Personally I'd love to have Babylon 5 remastered and released again on TV. As well as a reboot of the Crusade spinoff that dealt with the drahk plague. Curse you TNT.

[@kennethbedwell5188]

MrNintoku no, We will never have another Peter Jurasik as Lando. And without him being fabulous in purple it wouldn't be the same.

[@Folker46590]

@@kennethbedwell5188 I think he's talking about redoing the special effects and modernizing them, like they have done for classic Star Trek.

[@MervynPartin]

@@Folker46590 Some of the special effects were pretty good considering the budget constraints, but if they could, as you said, redo them as in Star Trek, it would be fantastic. They could never replace the actors in the roles, or JMS as producer because they were all perfect- my favourite sci-fi series of all time.

[@Krzysztof_Lis]

@@MervynPartin Unfortunately and counterintuitively, because B5 was made in more modern way than TNG, remastering it would require at least an order of magnitude more effort, and therefore cost, than TNG remaster. Therefore it's very unlikely we will ever see it done. And from what I know, and painfully concur with, JMS was strongly opposed to the idea of remake or reboot. Even if in the future we could bring digital avatars of original cast, the result wouldn't have the soul of it.

[@MervynPartin]

@@Krzysztof_Lis I agree with you 100%. I would not like to see digital avatars of the actors, because as you said, the result wouldn't have the soul of it.

[@carloc88]

"Give me ramming speed...", "Aye sir". Loved how the navigator carried out his CO's command without hesitation

[@carloc88]

The Victory's crew were manned by an Earth Alliance crew under the command of Captain Anderson. Sheridan used him due to the premonition he had about the attack on Earth. Ships of the line to follow the Victory and Excalibur no doubt had a compliment of Rangers on board manning key systems.

[@jst1man]

You missed a major item. The Victory class destroyer was to have White Star Adaptive armor.

[@Alcochaser]

Correct. Later episodes of Crusade were going to have the armor "grown" over the outside. But it was canceled before they got to that.

[@thejaredmyers]

So glad you are doing B5, I miss this show like no other.

[@gnetkuji]

"A *hostile* shadow deathcloud" I admit it, I chuckled at the fact that the deathcloud had to be clarified as *hostile.* Wouldn't want people confused if perhaps Captain Anderson performed a kamikaze attack on a *friendly* deathcloud. lol

[@MK67853]

gnet kuji You’re just splitting hairs there

[@DakoGuyver]

I mean, just because it's a deathcloud doesn't mean that it doesn't want to make friends. Sure they MIGHT end up dead, but still.

[@KenoshiAkai]

Now I can see a friendly deathcloud with a giant, ethereal smiley-face drawn in it.

[@irontemplar6222]

they called it hostile because it wasn't on their side, just like how we have "Friendly fire" it'll kill you either way its just its just not meant to be used on you

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Important note: If your last name is Anderson, try and avoid service with a space-bound military force. Your life will be brutal and cut short.

[@monofxide]

Good Choice for Babylon 5, would love the warlock class as well

[@Adamwofford]

monofxide I agree, the warlock is good powerful ship, besides Excalibur,

[@avragetrinidadian3787]

monofxide Agreeded, we need to see the Warlock

[@alexanderbraun7887]

Yes, or the Valen Class

[@Suprasylph]

Yes, we need more information on the Warlock Class Destroyer. Such a beautiful ship with a dark origin.

[@williamofarrell6641]

Yes please, do the Warlock class. A ship that had almost no screen time (some snipets against the Centari in Lost Tales,) but was amazing.

[@Dare_To_Game]

Looks like a big Gou'uld staff weapon.

[@uss_04]

Dare To Game The victory class sure is “Kree”

[@Zorro9129]

Are you saying it's a weapon of fear?

[@jrking4980]

@@Zorro9129 and Not a weapon of war?

[@Krzysztof_Lis]

For me personally just as the Victory had, after The First Ones left, no competition in its class, Babylon 5 for over 20 years had no competition in its class of sci-fi shows. The first real pretender to the throne is The Expanse, but jury is still out.

[@janchovanec8624]

Babylon will likely remain the best for me, though Lady Galactica and The Expanse are great no doubt. Also, I suggest you watch anime related to this: "Knight's of Sidonia". It's not as good, but worth watching.

[@Nine-Signs]

B5 2003 Galactica The Expanse (although season 4 was not quite the spectacle I had hoped for but still good)

[@arfbark3924]

If the main characters of the Expanse were capable of consistently displaying basic sense and intelligence then I might agree with you.

[@Krzysztof_Lis]

@@arfbark3924 You mean the newer fully grown boy with saviour complex, sociopath, the one denying her whole future, or the one convinced she is the only one who can fix humanity? I think all of them display as much common sense as their personalities allow. Same goes for delusional cop, belter version of Trump and... whops, that last one have not yet appeared on screen. My judgement of the show may be clouded by the books.

[@arfbark3924]

@@Krzysztof_Lis It's in words, sort of. This will do.

[@hshackleton678]

A Spacedock video is always a great birthday gift :D Awesome video as always, Dan!

[@stuartmcmahon8870]

I’d love to see another series featuring this ship..

[@uss_04]

I really liked how they had a built in weakness/Main Weapon introduced in the first episode. Seeing this series as a TV show instead of a movie in the 90s was amazing for me.

[@positronundervolt4799]

Who can save Earth from the Drakh? The Candyman can!

[@alexsch2514]

Doctor who's candyman: why me?

[@randybaumery-u5r]

Worf's Brother (star trek next generation)

[@robertbattiston6008]

Great video! Could you please do a few videos on some Starcraft ships, like the Terran Battlecruiser or Protoss Carrier? That universe has some really interesting spaceships, even living ones in the case of the Zerg which could make for some great analysis. Keep up the great work!

[@jedijc5411]

O Babylon 5. The show that save Sci-Fi TV in the early to Late 1990s. AKA... the show that filled the gap between the Star Trek Spin-offs and the Other Cheap WTF / BS Shows during the early to Late 90s.

[@fishescu]

Can you do the warlock class as well. Would love to see that. Wonderful job on this one. Keep it up.

[@kineticdeath]

oh man YES one of my fave ships ever, yes the EAS Hyperion was the inspiration for my first ever spaceship design but it was getting an eye full of the Victory in action that really got me designing spaceships for years and years! That epic main gun is where its at!

[@TonyWallaceEryk_Stormbright]

great vid as always, but I think you should Really do one on the White Star.. always loved those ships.

[@lovipoekimo176]

Thank you for this. Can't wait for the other Babylon 5 ships, like the Minbari Nial Fighters, the EA Warlock, or Minbari Sharlin.

[@CyberAspen]

THANK YOU!!! Been asking for this one for a awhile, my good man

[@scifinerd1911]

Babylon 5 was 1 of the best scifi shows out there, and I was so disappointed that crusade only got one season there was so much further they could have gone with it.

[@frodofraggins]

It's so odd that this ship and storyline of crusade were so similar to space battleship yamato. JMS claims to have never heard of the show, aired as Starblazers in the US, and I doubt he'd lie about it. But I wonder if he had run across it and forgotten it.

[@jefftappan381]

I knew nothing about Star Blazers, either. I thought that B5 was far and away a much better series than ST; especially TNG. TNG was too neat, too hygienic. B5 was much more realistic.

[@MrPingn]

It's possible either way. Plus the basic theme of a group or single hero in a hopeful search for some special thing isn't exactly new.

[@Folker46590]

Anyone involved in sci-fi and claims to have never heard of the Yamato is a lying POS. Crusade was a disaster, poorly written, poorly acted, with an ugly ship design, and episodes that made no sense. Everything JMS has done since B5 has failed.

[@ToolofSociety]

@@Folker46590 I had no idea that the amazing spider-man, thor, Dr Strange, and the Fantastic Four all failed. That "Changeling" was a failure because it only received nominations for 3 academy awards and 8 BAFTA awards. That Thor's movie was so much of a failure Marvel stopped making movies... I could keep on going. JMS has a lot of success post B5 and you're clearly just wanting to hate on the man for some reason. Although if you wasted your time watching B5 The legend of the rangers then I can't blame you too much for still being mad. That was a god awful mess of just bad...

[@smalliesmalls9601]

@@ToolofSociety Holy fuck dude you didn’t have to absolutely destroy the guy like that

[@Adactus]

thank you for considering my request. I've always loved this ship na dmiss Babylon 5.

[@sirlorddoctormajorphd3016]

Coming from a Naval background when I first heard of this I thought it’s gonna be about the same size as the White Star as it’s classed as a Destroyer. But damn the Victory class is huge! If B5 continued as they built a Battleship class a Drakh death cloud gonna be smooshed like a bug on a cars windshield 😂

[@heyguyswhatshappening6210]

the death cloud was the size of a planet!@

[@richb1083]

She's a very nice ship. But still a mobile artillery platform. I still like the Battlestar Galactica, battlestar Pegasus and the Earth Alliance Explorer Class my self. Still very good video.

[@willerwin3201]

That ship looks a lot like the Kestrel from Escape Velocity.

[@willerwin3201]

You should check out Endless Sky; it's a lot like the EV games, and it's free!

[@bennuredjedi]

B5 a classic series with great potential especially the Rangers would like to get an opportunity to write a script for the An la Shok

[@deegee6863]

I think I read somewhere that this design was originally going to have the semi-organic skin that the Whitestars have - I would love to have seen that!

[@NivekH420]

Always a good day when there's new spacedock

[@Snapper314]

"This is as faster as I can go."

[@anonymouscommenter7578]

Those new ships look really interesting and keep up the good work.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW: I have the entire CRUSADE series on DVD. In one of the JMS commentaries on one of the discs, he said that around the middle to end of the second season {or series} of the 5-year show they were actually going to FIND the cure for the Drakh plague. _HOWEVER,_ they were also going to discover that some folks in Earth Force and/or Earth Gov had been screwing around with Shadow technology prior to the Drakh attack. Because of that, the Excalibur and it's crew we're going to have to _'go on the run'_ for the remaining 3 years of the show.

[@gavinratima8122]

I would like to have seen B5 go for a further 2 seasons to cover the Earth Alliance war with the Drakh still B5 was great

[@jasoncaldwell8199]

Japan called: they want the Yamato back.

[@starsiegeplayer]

JMS was a Yamato fan.

[@tabxtra7057]

If I remember correctly the Victory class destroyer was suppose to have Vorlon organic hull armor to, but It was never installed.

[@MrPingn]

The first to combine Vorlon, Minbari, Human, and probably a few other technologies. I believe the white stars were the first (known) ships to combine Vorlon and Minbari technologies.

[@Folker46590]

Yep. B5 had a lot of problems but had enough really good eps to cover the bad ones, Crusade was crap from the beginning and just got worse as it went on.

[@foca2002]

Vorlon-Minbari yes, but Vorlon-Minbari-Human, It was the First

[@brianclark5498]

Babylon 5 EA Warlock Class Destroyer.

[@iancarpenter441]

Crusade was the best of the B5 shows imho. This is by far the best looking ship that the Alliance had. Very interesting how close this show was to Space Battleship Yamato. I LOVE that as well ( the originals not the new versions)! I love the Thunderbolt and the Kestrel as well!

[@necronustheeverchosen1994]

0:00 The Force Unleashed theme! OMFG!!!

[@zacherymanning4239]

you should do the UNSC infinity vs an executor class star destroyer in your vs. Would be great :)

[@kurtjk01]

"The main weapon is . . . *loosely* based on Vorlon designs; at least as much as we could understand them." I think that's the quote. So, yeah, it makes sense it would drain the ship of power for a full minute. But when that bad boy hit the target . . .

[@davidcolby167]

The best part of Crusade was it was kind of like Star Trek, if at any point, Picard could have called in a close air support mission that levels an entire square kilometer with thermoberic weapons. Ah...I love me some Starfuries.

[@brianrogers7360]

The ship's weapon reminds me of the Wave motion gun of the Space Battleship Yamato

[@rogaldorn6290]

Great pick! Would love to see Warhammer Gloriana capital ships..... Or the Phalanx !

[@liammiles6269]

Never watched Babylon 5 before but it seems like something I would really like

[@JasonAguirre]

Wasn't there something about how they were going to grow a bio skin armor like the white stars had?

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

They used a Minbari-developed skin, which reflected 80% of an energy blast away from the ship.

[@palehorseman8386]

I love a starship that self-disables

[@hoorayforsocks]

I liked the ship however I had seen a design for the Excalibur that they didn’t go with and it looked amazing and a little more of a human design. It looked similar to the warlock class but much larger, also in the middle of the hull was a vertical circular gravity generator.

[@merlinathrawes6191]

I do like this ship. I always thought of it fondly as a giant, interstellar Ja'ffa staff weapon.

[@MrSukhoi25]

When will you do a vid on the Warlock advanced destroyer?

[@defiant9809]

Do one on the Shadows Primary capital class ship. I am speaking of the ones that can merge 1 into 2.

[@Deevo037]

It would be a hard one to do as it only exists in book form but the Zaid Dayan of the Planet Pirates trilogy would make for an interesting analysis..

[@NerdWorldEmpire]

loved this ship in crusade awesome video :)

[@BCWasbrough]

I'd forgotten about this ship. Shame about the show. Thanks for the memories!

[@JustAnotherDayToday]

Well that was a mouthful. Well done!

[@coreydonaldson3303]

Cool video SpaceDock !

[@qdllc]

Not that I questioned it at the time, but it made no sense that the main weapon left the ship vulnerable...not even able to maneuver. You'd think a supplemental power core (or larger one) would have been installed to account for this issue.

[@essanance]

B5 still my favorite Sci Fi.... such an amazing story and show

[@OfficialStuffPlus]

+10 Generic Approval Points

[@Urbanfisho]

LOL~! Ok!

[@lycanmotions]

I'd love to fly one of those! They're a beauty!

[@phoboskittym8500]

White Stars are not Corvettes which is generally a designation given to very small naval vessels used for coastal partols or escorts, White Stars are Medium Cruisers and are almost 500m in length... White stars also as standard compliment included 4 Mimbari Heavy Fighters... Its hard to tell scale in some sequences in the show, and with mimbari, and Human vessels being so large, can fool you into thinking white stars are tiny... But they are not tiny at all and are close in size to the Intrepid class in Startrek There was also a later model that was even larger and classified as a destroyer...

[@phoboskittym8500]

Although it seems that the vicrory class IS the whitestar Destroyer class...

[@Oculas2003]

Anyone know if they were able to carry on building Whitestars after the Vorlons left? Sheridan refers to their "running out" of WS, but did he only mean if they kept using them in roles they wernt designed for?

[@lovipoekimo176]

They managed to build the Valen-class ships (not the abortion that was on Legends of the Rangers, the one seen in Lost Tales), and the Bluestar (which were smaller than the Whitestar)

[@Raguleader]

My understanding wasn't so much that the White Stars were an unrenewable resource, just that they had their limits, being designed as scouts and (relatively) light combatants. While they are quite advanced and capable, they still typically had problems with larger foes unless they could rely on safety in numbers. The Victory destroyers were meant to be the heavy-hitters who could go toe-to-toe in major engagements while the White Stars would do what they did best: Scouting missions and flanking attacks.

[@watcherzero5256]

I believe it was just the whole fleet of circa 120 ships was built in one secret production run in 2260 for the religious caste who weren't allowed to possess warships under the Minbari caste system. After that they were a diminishing resource as they wernt in continuous production during and after the Shadow War and to make more would have elevated the issue of their construction from a diplomatic incident to a casus belli for the Minbari civil war. Its also true that they relied on wolf pack tactics and wernt a match for a larger near technological equivalent destroyer one on one leading to the near certainty of losses in battle, an Omega class destroyer was their match and they wouldn't in normal circumstance (without plot armor) have been able to defeat a Sharlin or battlecrab alone.

[@thethan302]

I really think they should have called it a battleship. I think it sort of fills that role, great for C&C duty as well as the center of a task force, let the smaller ships funnel the enemy into the victory's sights for obliteration. Also the ISA needs some mid rage ships; frigates and cruisers something between this guy and the white stars.

[@davesdiversions8078]

When you add wings to a Jaffa Staff Weapon.

[@lorenexus4917]

I wonder if the ships main cannon was left as is, after finding out the main guy in charge in constructing the Victory ship was a double agent working for the shadows. To me I think this was an overlook on the story writers forgot to fix, or were maybing going to add it into the crusade story arc.

[@Bobby90]

can't help but notice that you're talking about this ship in the present tense rather than the usual past tense.

[@fireshredder24]

Man, I miss this legacy Spacedock intro.

[@HrothgarHeavenlight]

Please , make video about Kandosii and Rendilli Dreadnoughts (as Rendili was built from Kandosii ).

[@sparrowlt]

Would love to see the Warlock and Hyperion classes here

[@tyrrellr.parker3272]

I would like you to do a breakdown of Babylon 5 station.

Given the amount of crew for that ship versus the size I would imagine one could go nearly an entire day without running into someone else. Seems like it needs more crew.

[@ericv1999]

You great in depth work on the ships you talk about. If you have done this already let me know where I can find it? Would you consider doing something on the ships from the movie "The Chronicles of Riddick"?

[@coreymicallef365]

Can you do the Springblossom Class Frigate from X3?

[@Unilateralism]

You should DEFINITELY do the USCC Enterprise - E and J.

[@matthewbaugh5560]

I love the Excalibur and thought the spin-off series had a world of potential. Too bad it didn't last. Could you do a rundown of the Liberator from Blake's 7?

[@christophermurphy4030]

You should do a video on the Babylon 5 station like you did for deep space nine

[@Buildnstack]

Did anyone else get the notification thinking this was the Victory-class star destroyer? :c

[@rafaelnishizumi6330]

Bryce yeah but is the victory still canon

[@samsowden2341]

Its was featured in the Tarkin novel but we are yet to see what it looks like.

[@mrfister1234]

ken nanodesu poi it was in the tarkin novel so yes its canon.

[@RevanTheFireMage]

Bryce Yes I did I got so hyped for a second there

[@kerosoldier]

love b5, but id love to see a vid on the nebula-class star destroyer

[@wyldequinn]

Please cover ships from the classic PC game Independence War. I've always been curious about their main reactors that they call "rings". Which I always assumed were futuristic miniaturized super colliders.

[@studinthemaking]

What are aurora class earth fighters?

[@kosh2501]

When you get a chance, can you do Babylon 5 EA Shadow Hybrid Omega Class Destroyer?

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

Remind me to rewatch the whole series.

[@matthewmagnoli8349]

Good vid would like to see short vid on mass effect thanix cannon

[@Pendragon667]

Speaking of White Star: might i be so bold so ask for a video about the White Star Corvette?

[@koyuki4848]

I wish there was more explanation for the GPS

[@coreydonaldson3303]

The Excalibur is an awesome battle cruiser !

[@BocajExcavatus]

Could you do a video on the Braha'tok-Class Gunship from star wars? and if there turns out to be too little for a video, could you consider the Neutron Star-Class Bulk Cruiser?

[@avragetrinidadian3787]

Please do the Warlock-class Destroyer. either that or the Omega

[@ice111110]

Have you done any of the kill zone ships? I think they are cool.

[@VAMobMember]

The Victory should have been designed to carry a half dozen White Stars

[@GUNVALKERIE]

What can you tell me about the technology in the hanger bay that slows down the inertia and momentum of ships? I'm very curious about it :)

[@MLCOOK51]

There is a starship on you tude call spencer enterprise see if you can do that ship and get information on it

[@geofredotappan9777]

Wonder how it would fare against a Galaxy- class cruiser or a Defiant- class escort.

[@martinwestern3334]

I would love to hear about the White Star line from Babylon 5

[@RevanTheFireMage]

Could you possibly cover the Pellaeon Class Star Destroyer from the Second Galactic Civil War from Star Wars? It's such a compact ship bristling with firepower and I think it outclasses Preceding Imperial Star Destroyers in every aspect

[@dawfydd]

Great, hopefully we get to see an Omega class video soon, its a really interesting design like many of the ships before the warlock and victory get produced by the alliance, the design is very what if russia went into space rather than nasa.

[@isidorodelgadillo6561]

I would like to see Babylon 5: Earth Alliance Warlock Class Destroyer