B5 Galaxy Question

[koranith]

Knowing the practical answer I'll ask anyway. Why is the galaxy laid out in a rectangle instead of on a sprial/wheel like our galaxy is? Also where is our galactic core on the map?

 

[B_Steele]

The galactic maps of B5 are laid out by the "web of jump routes" method, rather than spinward/coreward. JMS explained a long time back that jump routes are not exactly "directional", they are more like tidal flows taht change and such.

Think of the map as a set of graphic directions rather than an actual map. It'll help ya get by.

-Bry

 

[lastbesthope]

YEah, it's more like a London Underground map than an A-Z.

LBH

 

[MongooseMatt]

Also, it is just a tiny, tiny, tiny region of the galaxy (the galaxy is actually HUGE in a way HUGENESS is not often considered).*

* There is _one_ episode of B5 that slightly/somewhat contradicts this, but we are happy to ignore that scene for the sake of practicality. . .

 

[lastbesthope]

Also, it is just a tiny, tiny, tiny region of the galaxy (the galaxy is actually HUGE in a way HUGENESS is not often considered).*

* There is _one_ episode of B5 that slightly/somewhat contradicts this, but we are happy to ignore that scene for the sake of practicality. . .

"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."

LBH

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

JMS has also posted that the first two season all take place fairly close to Earth and that even at the greatest extent only a small fraction of the galaxy was explored/known. Also, Vorlon space is HUGE, but since no one ever comes back from there, it can easily be represented with just a few worlds on any player map.

I quite like the B5 map as presented.

 

[Da Boss]

Also, it is just a tiny, tiny, tiny region of the galaxy (the galaxy is actually HUGE in a way HUGENESS is not often considered).*

* There is _one_ episode of B5 that slightly/somewhat contradicts this, but we are happy to ignore that scene for the sake of practicality. . .

the bit when Morden and the Centauri split up the Galaxy?.............yeah it does look a bit out of place in terms of scale.....

although the "Rim" of the galaxy is also a little nebulous - it seems to be several things - the limit of explored space (for young races)and a mythical afterlife / next stage of being type thing or the same as going to the West in LOTR?

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I think you are right about the definition of the Rim.

I think in the first Season and much of the Second Season, Earthikans meant "The Rim of Known Space" when they said The Rim.

BUT, I think the Minbari and the First Ones meant "The Rim of the Galaxy" when they said The Rim.

Later, everyone seems to use the Minbari meaning. Perhaps this is just s sign of humans growing up and expanding their viewpoint into the larger galaxy...