Babylon 5 in-jokes

[Bill van Heerden]

Below is an excerpt from my upcoming book on in-jokes in television. It
is a list of all in-jokes that I have found or heard of in Babylon 5. Can
anyone add to the list (or correct any of the entries)?

Thanks,

Babylon 5
An Earth Alliance Omega-class destroyer in the series
is named the Schwartzkopf, after General Norman Schwartzkopf, who
gained recognition for Operation Desert Storm.
In one episode, we see pictures of Earth Alliance
President Luis Santiago and the woman running against him in the
election. The pictures are actually of Babylon 5's executive
producer, Doug Netter, and wardrobe designer, Ann Bruice.
In another episode a human is talking to an ombudsman
on board B-5 seeking damages from an alien for the alien's
ancestors having kidnapped his ancestors from Earth. The alien is
a grey-skinned, big-headed, bug-eyed X-Files/"Close
Encounters"/"Communion"-style alien... in other words, flying
saucer men were REAL in the B-5 universe.
In one episode, the female political officer bares her
breasts to Captain Sheridan in an attempt to seduce him, and
First Officer Ivanova holographically "beams" in on them. As an
aside to Sheridan, she says "You're about to go where everyone
has gone before", using Star Trek's famous credo.
The denizens of "Downbelow" are called "lurkers," a
term for those on the internet newsgroups, including those
related to B5, who read messages but never leave any.
When fictional names submitted for a mega-corporation
and a mineral on the show were rejected for legal reasons, the
show's creators went to the internet B5 community and asked for
suggestions. The resulting names used are Quantium-40 for the
mineral and Universal Terraform for the company. Q-40 is
mentioned in both "The Parliament of Dreams" and "Mind War" and
Universal Terraform in "Mind War". The waiter mentioned in
"Parliament" is named for David Strauss, who submitted Q-40.
The location of Babylon 5 is at Grid Epsilon 470,18,22
which corresponds to the original location of the Babylon 5
internet topic newsgroup on GEnie (Page 470, CAT 18, Topic 22).
The first mention of a planet's coordinates in "Mind War" were
Grid Epsilon 471,18,25 which corresponds to a topic in the
Babylon 5 Category on GEnie.
The voice for the main computer on the station is
provided by Haley McLane, script supervisor on the B5 production
staff.
The remaining in-jokes are listed by episode.

"The Soul Hunter" - The arrival of the space liner
Asimov is announced. Isaac Asimov is an accomplished sci-fi
writer. It reappears in "The Believers".

"Born to the Purple" - Screenwriter Robert Ditillio
appears as Norg. He would reappear as an Ambassador in
"Deathwalker".

"Infection" - Vance Hendricks says to Dr. Franklin,
"Stephen? Stephen, there's a Martian war machine parked outside.
They'd like to have a word with you about the common cold." This
is a reference to the classic sci-fi film "The War of the Worlds"
(53), in which the Martians are destroyed by common cold germs.

"The Parliament of Dreams" - At one point, Sinclair
says, "See you next Wednesday." Although this is sort of an
in-joke, it had nothing to do with John Landis. It was basically
an offhand line, slightly based on the fact that in most markets,
Babylon 5 airs on Wednesdays. Creator J. Michael Straczynski has
said that if they'd known about the John Landis reference, it
never would have been used.

"Mind War" - As Psi Cop Bester (Walter Koenig) leaves
the station, he gives Sinclair an odd salute - a circle of thumb
and forefinger at the forehead - and says, "Be seeing you,
Commander." This is a tribute to one of creator J. Michael
Straczynski's favourite series, The Prisoner, in which the salute
was given with an identical comment, but the hand motion framed
the eye instead - an appropriate twist for a telepath's salute.
See The Prisoner, below, for the origin of the salute.
- Bester, by the way, is named after sci-fi
writer Alfred Bester, who wrote "The Demolished Man" and "The
Stars My Destination", a couple of books about beings with
psionic power.

"And the Sky Full of Stars" - The names of Knight 1 and
Knight 2, never spoken onscreen but listed in the credits, are
reminiscent of The Prisoner, as is the whole interrogation
process.

"Deathwalker" - Screenwriter Robert Ditillio appears as
an Ambassador. He had also appeared in "Born to the Purple" as
Norg.

"Believers" - Garibaldi and Sinclair discuss a request
by the Shakespeare Corporation to transport a load of pfingle
eggs to Babylon 5. Pfingle eggs and the Shakespeare corporation
are references to "Under the Eye of God" and "A Covenant of
Justice", two books in the Tracker series by David Gerrold, who
also wrote this episode.

"Survivors" - Rod Perry plays a character named General
Netter, after Babylon 5 producer Douglas Netter.

"By Any Means Necessary" - The Rush Act, the Earth law
enabling the senate to empower someone to end an illegal strike
using any means necessary, usually by force, was named after
ultraconservative TV and radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.
Nearly all of the show's production crew appear in this
episode. The guy yelling "I say we STRIKE!" is the episode's
director, Jim Johnston. In this episode and the episode "Grail",
John Flinn, the series' director of photography, plays a
character named... John Flinn. He appeared in the episode
"Convictions" as well, as "Obnoxious Man".

"Signs and Portents" - The raider on the station says,
"Six to One" (i.e. "number Six calling number One") when
contacting his ship. This is yet another reference to The
Prisoner, in which Patrick McGoohan was Number Six and the head
of The Colony was Number One.

"TKO" - Ivanova is seen reading "Working without a Net"
by Harlan Ellison. Ellison is a well-known science fiction author
and editor and creative consultant for the show. The book is his
autobiography, which he plans to write around the year 2000.
Apparently, Ellison borrowed the prop when filming was completed
and casually carried it with him to a few places, just to make
people nuts thinking that there was a book out there that they'd
missed.
Garibaldi's old friend in this episode is named Walker
Smith (Greg McKinney). Walker Smith was the real name of boxer
Sugar Ray Robinson.

"Grail" - The transport Marie Celeste, which Thomas
boards at the end of the episode, is a reference to a sailing
ship found adrift in 1872 by the crew of the ship Dei Gratia. The
Celeste's crew was missing, as was her single lifeboat, but there
were half-eaten meals in the mess hall and other evidence the
crew had left suddenly. Investigators found that Captain
Morehouse of the Dei Gratia had dined with Captain Briggs of the
Celeste the night before departure, and Morehouse and his crew
were tried for murder. There was no hard evidence, and they were
acquitted. The missing crewmen were never found.

"Eyes" - Lennier's (Bill Mumy) chant, "Za ba ga bee",
is the title of an album by the group Barnes and Barnes, of which
Mumy is a member. When it came time for the chant, nothing had
been scripted; it was supposed to be a soft, under-one's-breath
kind of chant. Mumy asked the producers if they had anything in
mind, and they said no, so he ended up chanting his album cover.
The producers didn't find out what the chant meant until after
the episode aired.

"A Voice in the Wilderness" - The phrase "EYE AM KNOT A
NUMBER AYE AMA FREE MAN" appears on a computer screen when the
shuttlecraft initially sent to explore Epsilon III is damaged.
Another reference to The Prisoner, where this line is spoken
during the opening sequence by Patrick McGoohan.
Executive production assistant Kelly Coyle appeared as
the Earthforce liaison in this episode.

"A Voice in the Wilderness, Part II" - The list of
words being downloaded from the station's language files by the
aliens, which briefly appears on-screen, contains words with no
apparent connection:
o ORAK
o SKYNET
o NOMAD
o FORBIN
Orak was the box of flashing lights that was the most
powerful computer within the Federation on the series Blake's
Seven. Skynet was the defence computer that became self-aware and
tried to wipe out humanity in the film "Terminator 2: Judgement
Day" (91). Nomad was the eponymous probe which wanted to wipe out
biological life in the Star Trek episode "The Changeling". Forbin
was a U.S. defence computer that tried to take over the world in
the film "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (70).
When Capt. Pierce is going to launch fighters to land
on the planet and Sinclair threatens to destroy them, Pierce
argues for a moment and then backs down. He turns briefly to the
screen and a computer graphic is displayed showing him calling
down the ships. One of the ships in the top left corner of the
screen has the flight number THX-1138, which was the name of
George Lucas' first film.
The heavy cruiser EAS Hyperion was named after the
Babylon 5 Internet archive at Hyperion.COM.

"The Quality of Mercy" - Londo takes Lennier to the
Club Dark Star, which is named after the sci-fi cult spoof "Dark
Star" (74).

"Chrysalis" - G'Kar, in a message to Na'Toth, says,
"Expect me when you see me." This is the same phrase used by
Gandalf to Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien.

"Points of Departure" - The Jupiter 2 is listed as
being docked at the station. Jupiter 2 was the name of the ship
in the series Lost in Space.

"Revelations" - Jack, Garibaldi's aide, uses the "Be
seeing you" farewell from The Prisoner, this time with fingers
circling the eye (see the Babylon 5 episode "Mind War", above).

"The Geometry of Shadows" - Elric's (Michael Ansara)
warning to Vir, "Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are
subtle and quick to danger," is almost verbatim from Tolkien's
"The Lord of the Rings", in which Gildor, an elf, tells Frodo,
"But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for
they are subtle and quick to danger." Incidentally, the name
"Elric" is from Michael Moorcock's series of fantasy novels.

"A Distant Star" - The "fixer" (supply officer) who
gets Garibaldi the ingredients of bagma caude (Miguel Nunez, Jr.)
is named Orwell, after "1984" author George Orwell.

"The Long Dark" - The Soldier of Darkness, an invisible
killer, is made visible by white outlines when shot with an
energy weapon. This is a tip of the hat to the Monster from the
Id in the film "Forbidden Planet" (56).
As Amis (Dwight Schultz) leaves his cell, he wraps a
towel around his neck and claims, "I've got everything a man
needs." This is a reference to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, in which he claims that regardless of
everything else, as long as a space traveller knows where his
towel is, he is safe.

"A Spider in the Web" - The Earth Alliance's
Omega-class destroyer Pournelle is the ship that destroyed Abel's
ship. It is named after sci-fi author Jerry Pournelle. Also, Ms.
Amanda Carter (Adrienne Barbeau), who is from Mars, has an
ancestor named John. Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan
books, also wrote a series of sci-fi novels about John Carter
from Mars.

"Soul Mates" - The name of Timov's father, "Alghul,"
means "The Demon" in Arabic. It may also be connected to the
comic book character Ras Al-Ghul ("Head of the Demon") from the
Batman series, debatably Batman's most dangerous foe. Ras'
daughter, Talia, has been the Batman's lover, and is the mother
of his child. The fact that one of Londo's ex-wives is named
"Talia" helps to support this theory.

"The Coming of Shadows" - The Centauri Emperor who died
in 2259 while visiting Babylon 5 was named Turhan, after the
actor who played him, Turhan Bey. And the Centauri Prime Minister
who was believed assassinated on Centuri Prime when Emperor
Turhan died was named Malachi, after the actor who played HIM,
Malachi Throne. They appeared in this episode, but were not named
until the episode "Knives".

"All Alone in the Night" - The aliens that abduct
members of other races and torture them are called Streibs. This
is a reference to sci-fi author Whitley Streiber, who has written
about such aliens and even claims to have been an abductee
himself.

"Acts of Sacrifice" - Glenn Morshower appears as
Franke, named after the show's scorer Christopher Franke.

"Hunter, Prey" - Agent Derek Cranston says "What Evil
lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows." Lamont Cranston
was the secret identity of the crimefighter from radio, comics
and pulp fiction, The Shadow.

"There All the Honor Lies" - Ivanova says "This isn't
some kind of Deep Space franchise, this place is ABOUT
something." This was a jab at Babylon 5's competition, Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine.

"And Now for a Word" - The ship Heyerdahl (which has a
pine-tree air freshener on its bridge - seen in the opening
teaser) is named after Norse adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, whose
Kon-Tiki expedition attempted to prove that South American
natives could have populated some South Pacific islands.

"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum" - The name Ministry of
Peace and its abbreviation Minipax are from the novel 1984 by
George Orwell.

"Confessions and Lamentations" - This episode features
a previously unseen alien (or at least, a humanoid who's
presumably alien) wearing a suit with an elaborate helmet. The
helmet bears a striking resemblance to the mask of Morpheus, the
King of Dreams, from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic book. As
"Sandman" is one of Straczynski's favorite comics, this may be an
intentional homage.

"Comes the Inquisitor" - One of the Narn in the meeting
with G'Kar is played by Dennis Michael, a CNN reporter who was
doing a story on Babylon 5's make-up group, Optic Nerve. He was
made up as a Narn for part of his news story.

"The Fall of Night" - The semi-regular character Lt.
David Corwin (Joshua Cox), who is a lieutenant in the Command and
Control area, is named after Norman Corwin, J. Michael
Straczynski's friend and mentor.

"Convictions" - Lennier puts off a boring seatmate in
the docking bay waiting room by telling him he has "Netter's
Syndrome," a contagious disease, and has seven days to live.
Douglas Netter is one of the producers on the series.

"Voices of Authority" - Julie Musante (Shari Shattuck)
is named after two Babylon 5 fans, Julie Helmer and Mark Musante.

"Dust to Dust" - The Dust vendor's two aliases,
Lindstrom and Morgenstern, are the surnames of two regular
characters from The Mary Tyler Moore Show who each later had
their own series. They are Phyllis Lindstrom (Phyllis) and Rhoda
Morgenstern (Rhoda).

"Exogenesis" - Duncan has a line, "I don't like being
poked by doctors," that was originated by Alex (Malcolm McDowell)
in "A Clockwork Orange" (71).
The ship carrying the Vindrizi is called the Dyson,
most likely named for physicist Freeman Dyson.
Marcus quotes from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to
Garibaldi, and from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" when he wakes Duncan
up. Note that Marcus never names the play, instead calling it
"the Scottish play," and replaces "Macbeth" with "Marcus" in his
quote. The reason for this is that there is a superstition among
actors that referring to Macbeth by name is bad luck.
Also, Marcus (Jason Carter) refers to his fighting
staff as a Copeland J5000 while trying to convince the Vindrizi
it's a medical instrument. This is a reference to producer John
Copeland.

"Point of No Return" - Many of the Nightwatch members
in this episode are production staff members, including the
production secretary and an assistant director.

"Ceremonies of Light and Dark" - The voice of Sparky
the Computer, the artificial intelligence, is creative consultant
Harlan Ellison. Sparky's name is visible both in the ending
credits and, very briefly, as the last line item in the
computer's status messages when it reboots.
The song "Dem Bones" was also sung in the final episode
of The Prisoner.

"Interludes and Examinations" - The masked alien is a
Gaim, whose name is a reference to comic artist Neil Gaiman. The
title character of Gaiman's Sandman - one of creator J. Michael
Straczynski's favourite works - wears a similar-looking mask.

"War Without End, Part II" - The voice of the woman who
opens the door and startles Delenn, making her drop the snow
globe, seems to be that of Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife,
Melissa Gilbert.

Bill

--
Bill van Heerden
bv...@freenet.toronto.on.ca
"Two guys walk into a bar which is really stupid 'cause you figure if the
first guy walked right into it, the second one would've seen it" Howie Mandel