A character never on B 5...

[R Arceneaux]

Star Trek TOS had Scottie
Star Trek TNG had Jordy
Deep Space 9 had O'Brien
Firefly had Kaylee


Just about EVERY other major sci fi series had as a major or semi-major character of Chief Engineer or in the case of Kaylee the only engineer.

B 5 did not have any specific chief engineer character in any of its plotlines outside that of one episode--the one where raiders attack the station and two maintenance men go around cleaning up the mess inside the station.

Or am I missing a character somewhere?

And if I did did that monster controled by those religious freaks on that missing deck/level eat him or her before I got to see them?

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

No, you didn't miss anything.

JMS deliberately stayed away from the "technobabble" that was infecting ST:TNG at that time.

He wanted his stories to be about PEOPLE not TECHNOLOGY.

As an Engineer, I would have liked to see such a character on the show, but I certainly understand why JMS did what he did.

 

[R Arceneaux]

I agree that the techno babble of Jordy on TNG was annoying at times. Still, it would have been nice if there were a character who wandered into a scene or two each episode that just happened to be carrying a wrench when he went to get his work break coffee and muffin.

Someone turn to and say: Mr Goodwrench that primary reactor has a bad rattle sound /kept me awake last night, could you go fix it.

 

[Sir Brad]

Many Tech Crew did show up on B5 only they where too busy doing their jobs to sprout technobabble, hell only half a dozen of them had speaking parts over the whole series, only Crusade and Rangers had Techs, in Crusade their role was secondary, and in Rangers they where pulling Double Duty and their other Job was more important to the story for the Pilot.

 

[R Arceneaux]

Six speaking parts? Hmmm perhaps I missed a couple.

I can remember only 3 talking parts for the techs. There was the episode where those two techies went around fixing things while there was a space battle going on outside with the ending showing the bodies of the dead fighter pilots in body bags (in a line) that brought them to the reality that the pilots truly earned the glory they got. And the third techie with a speaking part was on that terrible eposide of a missing level that had a man eating monster that was inhabited by freak religious zelots.

Other then these three I cannot remember any other tech speaking parts.

IF you can remember the other three or whatever number parts please let me know so I can sharpen up my Bab 5 trivia knoledge.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Maybe not speaking parts, but they are frequently seen in the background, running those mine-sweeper things along the floor or whatever.

 

[R Arceneaux]

Tis 100% true what you say.

Quite frequently the little techies were in a many a scene as background fluff scurrying around like so many worker termites allegedly fixing this or that.

And they were so serious. LOL makes ya wonder if they had vocal cords at all.

And also there must have been some supervisor techies somewhere because the guy in the maintenance shaft/hole (before the man eating monster ate him) was talking to what appeared to be his supervisor tech on a personal comm system.

For point of trivia one will also note that the non officer military persons for the most part also seemed to have almost nothing to say as well for the most part.

Still, lol, one would thing that all those techies and lower level military people would sneeze or clear their throat of blow a nose or something once and a while. Those personel were a very healthy lot indeed.

Later

 

[Sir Brad]

actual working my way through the series again, their are a dozen Techs that have dialog none of it Technobabble, lots more have background noise lines, no Techs had recurring speaking parts.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

The workers in the Pit in CiC were called "Tech 1, Tech 2 and Tech 3" in the credits (that is where Corwin came from).

Probably not the same thing though...

 

[lastbesthope]

The workers in the Pit in CiC were called "Tech 1, Tech 2 and Tech 3" in the credits (that is where Corwin came from).

Probably not the same thing though...

Indeed, the blonde female pit tech is recurring.

LBH

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

TECH TWO!

She with the interesting accent!

Yes, on the old Rec.Arts.SciFi.TV.B5 bulletin board, she had quite a following! Too bad she disappeared for Season 5.

 

[lastbesthope]

She was my favourite dome tech after Corwin.

LBH

 

[Sir Hackalot]

I loved the episode with Mack and Bo. Its one of my favorites.

 

[lastbesthope]

I loved the episode with Mack and Bo. Its one of my favorites.

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Season 5

LBH