The Minbari Fleet Analysis | Babylon 5 Ships

[@dragonweyr44]

You didn't mention that the Niall class fighter had a very limited life support system and were single man fighters In the 5th season episode Meditations on the Abyss, Lennier and another ranger aboard two separate Niall class fighters were left behind while their White Star cruiser was called away. They mention that they don't have enough life support to last more than 24 hours maximum unless they enter a very deep meditative state to slow their lofe functions down and last longer

[@UtopianBroadcast1]

Thanks for the additional information. I'll pin the comment for other viewers to read.

[@dragonweyr44]

@@UtopianBroadcast1 Correction after checking out the episode, Lennier said that they only had ONE HOUR of life support available, not 24

[@raenfox]

Might also want to add that the pilots had to fly the Nial while lying on their stomachs, basically in a prone position, while still looking forward. For a human, this position would have become uncomfortable rather quickly, but since the Minbari had a slightly different physiology, it was perfectly fine for them.

[@dragonweyr44]

@@raenfox I mentioned that a few times on other channels, I forgot to add it here Mimbari can also sleep quite comfortably lying on their backs, at a 45 degree angle with only a tiny pillow and no blankets

[@raenfox]

@@dragonweyr44 Sure, because they believe sleeping horizontally invites death. But that has nothing to do with the ships.

[@mattwho81]

“Only one human captain has ever won against a mimbari Fleet. He is behind me, you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”

[@shanenolan8252]

I remember seeing that episode and scene in the original run , in a room with a big screen and an audience ( 50 ish people) tell you the cheer the erupted was something else . .

[@alanmike6883]

And the Clark forces ran wisely 😊

[@CortexNewsService]

Best line in the show

[@chrishallam75]

RIP Mira, you will be missed.

[@ChrisWilliams-zz1kt]

Besides they learn that the minbari are so advanced they can cut them down in an instant

[@manricobianchini5276]

The White Star ships are esthetically pleasing and powerful for their size. Love the design.

[@artembentsionov]

Didn’t JMS say that from a certain angle the White Star looks like a plucked chicken?

[@shanenolan8252]

@@artembentsionov yes he did . But what does he know ( kidding)

[@IronWarhorsesFun]

they are like the Defiant-Class of B5 right up to the Pulse Cannons and maneuvreability.

[@dmacbass]

@@IronWarhorsesFun Exactly. If you could crossover the two shows, I'd love to see White Stars and Defiants shredding Jem'Hadar and Shadows!

[@JH24821]

This is very interesting. I never knew the Minbari actually had a fighter carrier. That would make up for the Sharlin's weakness of "only" having a capacity of 15 Nial fighters. Especially because Earth warships had a greater capacity.

[@lovipoekimo176]

My absolute favorite Babylon 5 race. Notice how Humans represent Earth, the Narns represent fire, the Centauri are Air, and the Minbari are Water (crystals, living in an ice world, their ships look like fish), and the First Ones are Aether.

[@andrewgremba1450]

I had not noticed this. Thank you!!!

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Centauri = hAir

[@stevenewman1393]

😎👍 Very cool and very greatly nicely fabulously well done and very nicely well informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on the Minbari Fleet, A job very nicely wonderfully well done indeed Sir!👌.

[@raenfox]

You may also want to at least give a honorable mention to the Valen class cruiser. It is a later ship and was only seen in the movie "Lost Tales". Technically it is an ISA ship, but it is of Minbari design. One such ship was named the Interstellar Alliance One and transported President Sheridan from Minbar to Babylon 5 for the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Alliance. The ship was equipped with a Quantum Drive, rather than a Hyperdrive. Quantum space allows for twice the speed as hyperspace, but the entry is rather violent and can leave you desoriented and nauseous if unprepared. In service since the early 2270s, the ship was 900 meters long, had a gravitic engine and, if the sources are correct, had a crew of 100, was armed with a heavy quantum discharge cannon and four heavy fusion beam cannons. It was also protected by a polycrystaline armor and carried 12 Nial class heavy fighters and 2 Lintira class flyers.

[@augustusclaudiusvenorius6292]

The Minbari excel at two things: One: their scattering field, or whatever you want to call it. You can't defeat what you can't hit. Two: very powerful beam weapons. Warcruisers could cut through all but the most durable targets. However, they had relatively poor armor. The Black Star was blown away by a pair of 2 megaton nukes, and those were proximity blasts at that (meaning, per the inverse square law, only a trickle of those nukes' yield actually struck, and killed, the Black Star).

[@ronmaximilian6953]

I believe that the second nuke hit the Black Star with an asteroid

[@shanenolan8252]

Oh been looking forward to this one . Thanks.

[@origami83]

I would love to see all these ships engaged in combat!

[@origami83]

@@babiskissanis2367 Not all ships are seen in the show.

[@origami83]

@@babiskissanis2367 obviously i was referring to the ones that are not in the show.

[@the_flyattractor8656]

Bablylon 5 has one of the best Space Ships of all Sci Fi.

[@artembentsionov]

Thanks for the video! I knew about some of these, but I had no idea they had so many different classes, even if they’re inadequate in some ways. I always felt it weird that humans seem to be the only ones with lots of different ship classes in sci-fi while aliens make do with one or two

[@OmegaOrdained]

Man these videos are fantastic! Thank you for keeping Babylon 5 alive my friend! You ever want to do a collaborative project let me know I'm down for anything!😎👍

[@UtopianBroadcast1]

Thanks man, I've been watching Babylon 5 since I was a kid so I can't allow it to die. Lol. Thanks, I'll will have reach out when I come up with some good ideas. :)

[@OmegaOrdained]

@@UtopianBroadcast1 me too my friends and I would watch Babylon 5 after school when we were in high school. We were amazed by the cgi... at the time hahaha. You let me know I'm down for anything my friend sounds like fun 😎👍

[@raenfox]

You may also want to at least give a honorable mention to the Valen class cruiser. It is a later ship and was only seen in the movie "Lost Tales". Technically it is an ISA ship, but it is of Minbari design.

[@Kaffeesuchti1985]

Hmm, i thought the Sharlin Warcruiser had more different weaponry. I think at least an antimatter gun is missing in your specification. I am mentioning that because i think it´s that weird looking "flower" like thingy on the "forehead" of the ship. Is it only me or does the sharlin look like this aquarium fish called "Skalar". Don´t get me wrong the ship looks fantastic and alien!

[@UtopianBroadcast1]

I can see what your talking about. I had to look up the fish but it does. Lol.

[@shanenolan8252]

I knew they made bigger cruisers of the same design. ( i remember noticing a difference between flagships and escorts) i thought i was seeing things

[@origami83]

Hey Utopian Broadcast, have you seen the remastered version of babylon 5 yet? i havent but iam curious to see how it looks. I hope it comes on blueray someday! my dvd version of B5 could use the update.

[@UtopianBroadcast1]

I've watched the remastered version on HBO Max. You can definitely tell the difference during space battles. Overall, they did a great job. It would be nice to get a Blueray release.

[@origami83]

@@UtopianBroadcast1 Oooh good to hear! Its been awhile since my last rewatch so i definitly try to watch the remastered one then!

[@craiglortie8483]

@@origami83 it does get a little pixeled around the edges in some scenes, but worth having anyway!

[@Uchilsson]

My favorit is Valen class cruiser - great Mimbari ship :D. And there is another one You don't include: Liandra 'type' from Legend of the Rengers. It is Mimbari design.

[@stevefelten1197]

I would've loved to see a futuristic version of B5 at the height of the systems alliance.

[@burstcity3832]

I've had quite a few discussions with book readers about the Minbari and older races in general and they haven't always gone well. My point is that over time weapons get perfected and an older style weapon will not be a match for the new. I'm thinking about the Earth alliance ships, they are similar..ish, but will not compete due to the time the Minbari have had to improve. For a clearer explination, take an old blunderbus gun and pit it against a modern sniper rifle. They are the same basic technology but the sniper rifle makes it impossible for the blunderbus to win unles they get closer.

[@krisgonynor689]

I love the way the Minbari ships are more vertical than horizontal - unlike the ships in say, Star Trek. Sort of more like a skyscraper vs a big box store, if you will. Most Earth built ships in most sci fi series just look like advanced naval or marine craft. Star Trek tried to break that mold with the ships in many sections, but they always seemed so fragile and with so many weak spots. The only issue I have is that they had 1000 years to improve their ship designs and technology between the two Shadow wars - why isn't that reflected in their ships? 1000 years before B-5, humans had sailboats as the fastest and best means of long distance travel - the Minbari had interstellar ships with jump drives. The humans advanced so fast in B-5, from a race that couldn't fly to interstellar flight in a matter of maybe 3 centuries? The Minbari should be at least 500 - 800 years further advanced than humans were at that point. I think the in universe explanation is that either their technology stalled due to political or religious interference, or that the Vorlons kept them backwards so they wouldn't become so great a threat to the Shadows and themselves that they would upset the balance the Vorlons and Shadows had.

[@duvetofreason16]

One thing with humans is that they got a leg up from other spacefaring races. The Centauri gave them jump engines, while the Narn gave them advanced weapons centuries ahead of their own. While the minbari were already the top dog (of the younger races) so they couldn't gain any technological boosts from trade.

[@artembentsionov]

I believe the Tohoku-class cruisers in Firefly also have a vertical look, except they look like office buildings because of the bureaucratic nature of the Alliance

[@artembentsionov]

Minbari didn’t feel the need to advance. Advancement is often the child of necessity (or laziness). They didn’t really have the need to be more powerful since the end of the First Shadow War. Sure, the Vorlons were way ahead, but there was no way the Minbari could ever catch up to them anyway

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

We take our current rapid rate of technological progress for granted and think that it will just keep going like thing, but there's nothing to guarantee that it will. In fact, it is very likely that advanced societies go through long periods of technological stagnation. Also, it's not unprecedented for societies to advance very rapidly after joining a bigger community that's more advanced. See Japan in the mid to late 19th century. They practiced strict self-isolation and were still living in the late Medieval Era. However, once they decided to end their isolation and join the modern world, it took them very little time to industrialize and build a powerful modern militarily and fleet. Once the Humans joined the interstellar community, they gained multiple ways of advancing their technology by centuries of even millennia, with the means ranging from trade to espionage. B5 had alluded to the fact that acquiring new technology was a huge priority for the EA and they've pursued this endeavor in a number ways. For example, EA was on very good terms with most of the League and some of those races are old enough and advanced enough to have fought alongside the Minbari in the last Shadow War. Just seeing that something can be done, can give your engineers and scientist enough to be able to start implementing their own version of similarly advanced technology.

[@artembentsionov]

@@Prizrak-hv6qk Japan did it the smart way. They sent out people all over the world to look for good ideas to implement back home. They ended up taking the best parts of the top nations. American economy, British navy, German army, etc. Also, if wasn’t so much “decided to end their isolation” as “fought a civil war between the progressive emperor and the traditionalist shogun”. And it wasn’t really their decision to end their isolation. Commodore Perry forced them to

[@greensoplenty6809]

think the alliance upgraded to jump capable missiles instead of ships, what was it 500 years in the future? but maybe they were just fast ships

[@alanmike6883]

Do you think one day you will do a analysis of the covenant and usnc fleets? And well as those in the expanse?

[@UtopianBroadcast1]

Yes, I will. The Expanse analysis will probably be coming out in the next month or so.

[@alanmike6883]

@@UtopianBroadcast1 Both halo and expanse had fleets of variety. 😊👍

[@madenod5145]

Is there any Intel on the Drazi home world's fleet?

[@Ray19888]

I have enjoyed your videos. New subscriber added.

[@thelazy0ne]

Finally 😌

[@NerdWorldEmpire]

Great video, again your knowledge of B5 is so much greater than mine!

[@otiscarter1356]

Hope these are shown in the new B5 series remake.

[@frankmontez6853]

Well , you kinda hit an open question of all sci fi themes - will the tech stagnate / slow down of more ( presntly) advanced races ? Hmmm Or they advance to what level ? Lately been reading again Ian M. Banks Culture books . Read Excession anf there the usually superior Culture met up with an even more advanced object of unkown oriiggin . The things this artifact could do vs anything the Culture was even aware of ..

[@michelecastellotti9172]

YES! the minbari!

[@KallenSC]

I have other "issue" with Sharlin Cruiser in show they were powerful against younger races.....but they didn't show anything against Shadows - i didn't noticed any scene when at least few Cruisers take down a Shadow Crabs...maybe that was just mistake of producers...but they should give some kick.....White stars were main weapon(sadly).

[@anders3442]

Don't forget that Minbari where able to produce the White Star that was the most advance fighter they produced so far. So if they are able to produce something like that which can easily defeat any other younger races most advance ships i guess the minbari is way more advance then any other young race out their.

[@the_flyattractor8656]

Sadly most of my Big Sci Fi Favs just don't have that much background info (at least Officially) when it comes to their ships and stuff.

[@ycplum7062]

As a general rule, if you have a warrior caste, you will have intensely trained soldiers.

[@IronWarhorsesFun]

Vorlon vs Species 8472 because they kinda both have a thing for BLOWING UP PLANETS and Organic ships.

[@antcow1239]

I would enjoy a C&C style strategy game

[@BNOBLE981]

Yep then you go from all these great ships to The Legend of the Rangers where they basically had a flying brick as what we are suppose to believe is the latest greatest ship, there designers came up with.

[@elchapeau]

you're right. White Star was never a Warrior-Caste ship anyway.

[@kennethmelnychuk9737]

“Carry up to 1 pilot”??

[@colin8696908]

as I saw it 1 white star ship = 1 earth ship. one mimbari warship was worth 3-4 earth ships. Which speaks more to what they were disigned for. With the shadows they needed fast ships with a lot of fire power in order to evade those high intensity beam weapons. Mimbari war ships did a much better job taking lots of hits from the weaker armed human ships.

[@BMILLER0727M]

I don't know about anybody else, but I would hate to be on the receiving end of a battle with a Minbari fleet. "Only one human captain has ever survived combat with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me, you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be someplace else. 🤣🤣 Run chicken, run. The women of B5 are all badass, but Delin was the baddest.

[@wanderer3120]

867

[@jimchanthongse2251]

ดาวแอววี.มีหนอนวกาดชนิดนี้..เอเลี้ยน.ส้งวัดสดุนี้เรือ.เกีน.ชิงดวงอาทิด

[@jeffhambrick8611]

Starkiller

[@jeffhambrick8611]

Nuclear weapons are an amazing thing

[@TheLunacyofOurTimes]

Wow. You made it to 40 seconds before making a mistake. The warrior caste is not 1/3 of the population. You have builders, religious, and warrior. What else is needed? I don't know, people who make coffee? People who sweep the street? Minbari would not keep 3-500 million people in active service to the military any more than any other society. Especially not in times of relative peace.

[@locker1325]

Not as impressive as I thought.