Babylon 5: Vorlon Planetkiller

[@magicmulder]

Kosh: We are not ready. Also Kosh: Look at our planet killer!

[@Janoha17]

They know that once they get directly involved, there's no turning back.

[@Mark73]

The Empire in Star Wars had a planet killer as well. Both the Vorlons and the Shadows were way more genre savvy than the Empire and knew that just having a planet killer didn't guarantee victory.

[@TXNICK96]

The rules changed when Sheridan bombed Zahadum It was no longer about Order vs Chaos, it was about who's Allie's can out last the other when going scorched earth

[@Nefylym]

@@TXNICK96 ~`' ~| \~'; **_ ("Once the avalanche has started it's too late for the pebbles to vote.")

[@DrownedInExile]

I'm reminded of the march of the Tripods in War of the Worlds. "Once the Vorlon Fleet starts to move, no more news comes out of that area."

[@smcneal057]

This is when you knew the Vorlons weren't playing anymore and shit just got real....

[@JH24821]

+Bat5hade Yeah, this was one of the turning points in the series. This whole scene just radiates unlimited power. Back then I actually thought the Shadows would have no chance, until we saw their Planetkiller and fleet at Corianna 6. Those were some good times. It's a shame the Shadow War had a rushed ending, it deserved a much longer story arc and finale in season 4. It's a scary thought Earth would have been one of the next targets if the Vorlons had been able to continue.

[@smcneal057]

JH24821 I remember hearing the words "planet killer" and think to myself, "I have never thought about a weapon that could disintegrate a planet." I wonder what would have happen if things weren't rushed in season 4?

[@christosvoskresye]

Mike Nelson does it by accident.

[@magicmulder]

They were never playing, they were waging a cold war (or proxy war) with the Shadows. As Sheridan said, it was always about being right, not defeating an enemy.

[@CptFoolKillah]

Vorlons have always been my favorite race in all sci-fi. Ancient, immeasurably powerful... yet arrogant and flawed. I wonder what happened when they left beyond the rim.

[@Lea_Kaderova]

They started to drink much

[@MaximillianRed]

Read this book if you want to know more about Vorlons and the other Ancients "Babylon 5: Darkness and Light- The Vorlon & Shadow Fact Book "

[@magicmulder]

Agreed, I still prefer the Shadows a little bit. Even more mysterious, a lot older, and their ships are just badass. I've always imagined they must've been a lot smaller in numbers or they would've dominated the Vorlons.

[@JH24821]

@@magicmulder It was kind of the other way around. The Shadows were greater in numbers and ships when compared to the Vorlons, but the Vorlons had individually stronger ships and physiology. Overall I feel the Shadows were a bit more advanced (Hyperspace) than the Vorlons but they kept each other pretty much in balance.

[@magicmulder]

@@JH24821 Not really buying the "numbers" argument from the Vorlons. It's not like they didn't have their fleet ready for the next time the Shadows come out of hiding, and it's also not like they were breeding furiously every time the Shadows come out. I always took that as a lame excuse to cover for the actual unwillingness of the Vorlons to directly interfere, given their tacit agreement with the Shadows that "may the better one's principles win". If they were bombing the Shadows back to the proverbial stone age every few thousand years, it's no wonder Shadow tech can't match Vorlon tech despite their race being older by millions, if not billions of years.

[@mechanix1228]

Im sure im not alone when i say the first time i saw the planet killers I thought to myself "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!!"

[@НикакНетфамилии]

I always thougt thay we never saw true military potential of Vorlons or Shadows. It was stated that they've tried to reach ideological victory (Order vs. Chaos), not military. Thus, i wonder, if there is a chance that all the might we've witnessed, all the damage - all of that was done by mere toys. Both races are millions of years old, beings of pure energy (i think JMS confirmed, that shadows also ascended, and what we see as shadows are high-tech-suits, akin to vorlon's garments) so there is a chance for that.

[@dankuchar6821]

What a great TV show!

[@jasonsylvander3089]

Wish we could have seen one in full action

[@Foebane72]

It's a shame we never saw this thing actually go all Death Star on an actual planet, just the aftermath.

[@JH24821]

Same. Although in a way I do like how they left it to the viewer's imagination.

[@richarddavis4954]

@@JH24821 originally when it first came out the could only afford a certain numbers of special effects per episodes

[@TheDetailsMatter]

"That...was a _small_ one."

[@sugarsaint]

Unspeakable POWER

[@YunoGasaiMC2012]

The didn't even need to show the Planet Killr destroy the planet, that scene in 0:32 is already terrifying with the rubble and that creepy music.

[@flnthrn2]

Now where would they put the exhaust port ...

[@DavidKnowles0]

Vorlon: wee took them out after watching Star wars mewhahahahaha

[@Tounushi]

Never noticed the planet killer was expanding when it charged up a shot.

[@JH24821]

Wow, I never noticed it either until you just mentioned it. It's a nice detail that emphasizes the ship's more organic nature.

[@cane6074]

This scene oblivious took inspiration from the Empire Strikes Back, using smaller ships contrasting each other size to illustrate sheer size of the Biggest ship, Super Star Destroyer, it was also used in Rouge One. Its a nice visual trick, which work here.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Also used in the UK fleet review, 26 June 1897

[@DeltaPi314]

It's really a common trick.

[@blusafe1]

@@DeltaPi314 No, it wasn't. Star Wars famously pioneered this visual trick in the opening scene. This type of sprawling, scaling camera technique was first innovated by George Lucas.

[@daniels7907]

Rendering Death Stars obsolete!

[@tonyjesson562]

yul brinner

[@rockspoon6528]

Death Stars are perennially obsolete even in-universe if their only purpose is planet destruction. The Droid armies had a ship so durable it would kamikaze into the system's star, causing it to die, and then move along unscathed. The actual purpose of the death stars were to repel extra-galactic threats.

[@magicmulder]

If you want to compare other series, I‘d say Species 8472 from Voyager takes the cake, their planet killers are the size of shuttles. Or how about Perry Rhodan where a battle between a couple 30 km ships destroys a galaxy as collateral damage.

[@xaina222]

@@magicmulder I mean, species 8472 is basically a rip off of the Shadows and Vorlon isnt it ?

[@magicmulder]

@@xaina222 Slightly. Though at first it seems to fit the trope of "part advanced alien, part mindless animal" that too many sci-fi stories suffer from.

[@ConorLawler]

Bloody Hell!

[@magicmulder]

And they had two of those. Still makes you wonder why they kept them if they never intended to attack the Shadows. Or maybe they *grew* them when they decided to go all-in.

[@blusafe1]

Did you watch the series? It's thoroughly explained this is an ideological war. Killing the other side means having no one around to convince you're right.

[@magicmulder]

@@blusafe1 Except they did reach the point where they were willing to attack each other directly. Did YOU even watch the series?

[@tonyhoban6600]

​@@magicmulder there are quite a lot of thousands of years in a billion . Who knows how many times it got out of hand . B5 is about just one of the flare ups that leads to someone figuring it out without being distracted by greed or obedience. There's a lot of dust out there that probably were planets once upon a time , the only question is why two ?

[@DarkAshenfall]

@@magicmulder You're both right, but you are also kinda wrong. The war was ideological, and they did both attack each other, HOWEVER, both the Vorlons and Shadows refused to strike at each others Homeworlds/territory because they didn't want to wipe each other out. They wanted to prove to one another, that their way was the best way. Wiping the other out, wouldn't prove anything except power - which wasn't the point. They both knew each other were capable of wiping each other out. What was harder to prove, was if Order or Chaos was superior. Thus, why they would have not attacked each other, if not for Sheridan provoking Kosh into getting the Vorlons to do it first.

[@magicmulder]

@@DarkAshenfall Not entirely. The attack ordered by Kosh was a one-off, and the Shadows retaliated properly by killing Kosh. At that point they were back to their non-aggression pact. It was quite a bit later that the Vorlons decided to attack Shadow installations.

[@eduardolouro]

Stalin : our Mig's are much stronger than yours!

[@DeltaPi314]

So basically Stellaris.

[@JH24821]

Yeah, this has to be what it's like when a Fallen Empire awakens.

[@michaeltreon4034]

kind of wish they would remake this show...

[@JH24821]

I'm not sure they could ever recapture iconic character like Londo, G'Kar and Delenn.

[@sarahmoreland399]

which episode is this?

[@brianwhedon8442]

One of the early season 4 episodes. The Summoning I think.

[@Nefylym]

.... it's only a model. :P

[@williamchamberlain2263]

That's just showing off

[@sminkycorp]

The Expanse , BSG , B5 . Trekkies never had a chance .

[@boloblade2]

Oh please, the Enterprise-D literally blew up a star.

[@swishswish3611]

Species 8472??

[@Kalenz1234]

Babylon 5 is older than Voyager

[@mho...]

8472 is a young race compared to those!

[@Kalenz1234]

It's never said how old species 8472 is.

[@locutus442]

Species 8472 is more analogous to the Thirdspace aliens.

[@magicmulder]

@@locutus442 Ah don't get me started with Thirdspace. Aliens allegedly a lot more powerful than Vorlons yet their smaller ships were easily taken out by Earth/Minbari forces? They didn't think that through.