Babylon 5
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Babylon 5 (1993–1998), created by J. Michael Straczynski, is a science fiction television epic about Babylon 5, an Earth-governed space station built to promote harmony between interstellar civilizations. It is unusual in its focus on a story arc which dominates the events through its five-year run.
[edit] Season 1: Signs and Portents
- [Opening credits voiceover.]
- Jeffrey Sinclair: It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth/Minbari war. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
[edit] Midnight on the Firing Line
- Londo Mollari: [arguing with Garibaldi] We made a mistake, I'm sorry. Here, open my wrists. [offers Garibaldi his wrists]
- Michael Garibaldi: Centauri don't have major arteries in their wrists.
- Londo: Of course not! What, do you think I am stupid?
- Susan Ivanova: I'm in the middle of fifteen things, all of them annoying.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: The best way to understand someone is to fight him, make him angry. That's when you see the real person.
- Ivanova: I do not like Santiago. I've always thought that a leader should have a strong chin. He has no chin, and his vice president has several. This to me is not a good combination.
- Londo: My people…we have a way, you see. We know how, and sometimes even when, we are going to die. Comes in a dream. In my dream, I am an old man, it's twenty years from now, and I am dying. My hands wrapped around someone's throat, and his around mine. We have squeezed the life out of each other. The first time I saw G'Kar, I recognized him as the one from the dream. It will happen. Twenty years from now, we'll die with our hands around each other's throats.[N]
- Londo: What reasonable explanation is there for the slaughter of unarmed civilians?
- G'Kar: Curious. We wondered the same thing when you invaded our world. The wheel turns, does it not, Ambassador?
- Londo: We should have wiped out your kind when we had the chance.
- G'Kar: What happended? Run out of small children to butcher?
- Kosh: They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.
- Sinclair: The Narn or the Centauri?
- Kosh: Yes.
- Ivanova: Mr. Garibaldi, you're sitting at my station, using my equipment. Is there a reason for this, or to save time should I just snap your hand off at the wrist?
- Londo: The Council can go to hell! And the emergency session can go to hell! And you, Vir, you can go to hell too—I would not want you to feel left out.
- Garibaldi: Afterwards, if you like, you can stop by my quarters and I can show you my most favorite thing in the universe. Okay, okay, my second most favorite thing in the universe.
- Londo: Blood calls out for blood.
- Londo: Just now, would you really have killed me?
- Garibaldi: Yes. Yes, I would have. But I'm just as glad I didn't have to. The paperwork's a pain in the butt.
[edit] Soul Hunter
- [An unknown ship on collision course with the station.]
- Susan Ivanova: This is not a clear and present danger? I must read the rule book again.
- Soul Hunter: The soul we save: not all, only the special ones. Leaders, thinkers, poets, dreamers, blessed lunatics.
- Stephen Franklin: It's all so brief, isn't it? Typical human lifespan is almost a hundred years, but it's barely a second compared to what's out there. It wouldn't be so bad if life didn't take so long to figure out. Seems you just start to get it right and then…it's over.
- Ivanova: Doesn't matter. If we lived 200 years we'd still be human, we'd still make the same mistakes.
- Franklin: You're a pessimist.
- Ivanova: I'm Russian, doctor. We understand these things.
- Delenn: They will join with the souls of all our people. Melt one into another until they are born into the next generation of Minbari. Remove those souls and the whole suffers. We are diminished, each generation becomes less than the one before.
- Soul Hunter: A quaint lie, pretty fantasy. The soul ends with death, unless we act to preserve it.
- Michael Garibaldi: I really hate it when you get heroic. Cuts into my business. A man's got to earn a living, you know.
- Soul Hunter: I have come for you, Satai Delenn, to save your soul at any cost.
- Soul Hunter: I will be careful. You will hardly feel it when your body dies.
- Soul Hunter: You will feel as if you are falling. Do not be afraid. I will be here to catch you.
- Soul Hunter: You would plan such a thing? You would do such a thing? Incredible!
- Soul Hunter: Why do you fight for her? Don't you understand? She is Satai. She is Satai! I've seen her soul. They're using you. They're using you!
- Franklin: So, I hear you saw something.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Yes…something.
- [Sinclair walks away, smiling.]
- Franklin: Well, uh, you think you can be a little more specific?
- [Franklin chases after Sinclair.]
- Sinclair: I'm not sure. I don't know if I'll ever be sure.
- Franklin: Well, I still don't believe it. And I'd be careful if I were you, Commander. That sort of talk will get you sent off on a very long vacation.
- Soul Hunter #2: If I may ask, what happened to my brother's collection?
- Sinclair: [with a sly smile] Life's full of mysteries. Consider this one of them.
[edit] Born to the Purple
- Londo Mollari: Gentlemen, of all things in life, are females not the finest?
- G'Kar: On that, Mollari, we can at least agree. [takes a drink from Londo's bottle]
- Londo: What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?
- Londo: [to Adira] We Centauri live our lives for appearances, position, status, title. These are the things by which we define ourselves. But when I look beneath the mask I am forced to wear, I see only emptiness. And then I think of you, and then I say…to Hell with appearances.
- [Ivanova talks to her father for the last time]
- Andrei Ivanov: Is that you, Susan?
- Susan Ivanova: Yes.
- Andrei Ivanov: Oh dear God! I never thought I'd see your face again. It makes this easier. Susan, I know I haven't been the best of fathers to you. But when your mother passed on and your brother was killed in the war I was too wrapped up in my own grief to pay attention to your needs. And when you joined EarthForce against my wishes…
- Ivanova: You don't have to say this, Father.
- Andrei Ivanov: Yes, Yes I must. There's no more time. I want you to know how proud I am of you, Susan. I always have been. But a father should give his daughter love as well as respect, and in that I failed you. I'm sorry, I'm ashamed. Forgive me.
- [she nods her head]
- Andrei Ivanov: Thank you, dushenka moya.
- Ivanova: "Little soul." You haven't called me that for…Papa!
[edit] Infection
- Jeffrey Sinclair: The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say what I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast I got transferred to an outpost so far off the star maps you couldn't find it with a hunting dog and a Ouija board.
- Michael Garibaldi: [smiling] Don't sweat it. Just be that charming, effervescent Commander we've all come to know and love. What's the worst that could happen? They fire you, ship you off to the Rim, and I get promoted to Commander. I don't see a problem here.
- Sinclair: How sharper than a serpent's tooth.
- Vance Hendricks: Stephen, there's a Martian war machine parked outside. They'd like a word with you about the common cold.
- Stephen Franklin: Tell them to make an appointment.
- [ISN reporter Mary Ann Cramer tries to press Sinclair for information, but Ivanova steps in front of her.]
- Susan Ivanova: Don't. You're too young to experience that much pain.
- Sinclair: You forgot the first rule of the fanatic: when you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy!
- Mary Ann Cramer: Is it worth it? Should we just pull back? Forget the whole thing as a bad idea, and take care of our own problems, at home.
- Sinclair: No. We have to stay here. And there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics, and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, and Lao-Tzu, and Einstein, and Morobuto, and Buddy Holly, and Aristophanes…[and] all of this…all of this…was for nothing. Unless we go to the stars.
[edit] The Parliament of Dreams
- G'Kar: [singing]
- So many fishies, left in the sea
- So many fishies, but no one for me!
- I'm thinking of thinking of hooking a love
- Soon after supper is done.
- Narn Courier: Are you Ambassador G'Kar?
- G'Kar: This is Ambassador G'Kar's quarters. This is Ambassador G'Kar's table! This is Ambassador G'Kar's dinner! Which part of this progression escapes you?!
- Londo Mollari: Do you know what the last Xon said just before he died? [clutches chest] AAAAGGGHHHH!
- . . .
- [A drunken Londo climbs across a dinner table as he describes a collection of Centauri statues.]
- Londo: This is Ben-Zed, god of food! And…Li, goddess of passion! And Mo-goth, god of the underworld, and protector of front doors. Gods by the bushel! Gods by the pound! Gods for all occasions!!
- [He leans toward a discomfited Delenn.]
- Londo: Have I ever told you that you are very cute for a Minbari?
- [He crawls over to Garibaldi.]
- Londo: Oh! And you are cute, too, in an annoying sort of way. Everybody's cute. Everybody's cute! Even me. But in purple, I'm stunning!
- [He passes out on the table.]
- Vir Cotto: Ah! He has become one with his inner self!
- Michael Garibaldi: He's passed out.
- Vir: That too.
- G'Kar: And you have no idea how that [a black flower sent to G'Kar as a sign that he is about to be assassinated] got into my bed?
- Na'Toth: Ambassador, it is not my place to speculate on how anything gets into your bed. Your reputed fascination with Earth women, for instance.
- . . .
- G'Kar: The Earthers have a phrase: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. I believe they stole it from us.
- [Delenn meets her new aide at customs]
- Delenn: You can look up, Lennier of the Third Fane of Chu'Domo.
- Lennier: It is forbidden.
- Delenn: I cannot have an aide who will not look up. You will be forever walking into things.[N]
- [Sinclair's pocketed link beeps, interrupting Catherine.]
- Catherine Sakai: I don't mean to alarm you, but your pants are talking to you.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: I know.
- [Sinclair is listening to an audio recording of Tennyson's Ulysses in his quarters]
- Catherine: Tennyson? Jeff, you've been caught on that one since the Academy! What's it take to drag you into the 23rd century?
- Sinclair: We find meaning where we can.
- Catherine: Ah, and which are you? "An idle king…doling unequal laws unto a savage race that hoard and sleep and feed and know not you"? Or, "this gray spirit, yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star"?
- Sinclair: I didn't know you'd memorized it!
- Catherine: I lived with you for a year. I didn't have much choice.
- G'Kar: That hurt.
- Na'Toth: Ambassador, it was the only way to disable the paingivers. I had to hit them as hard as possible, as often as possible, and still make it appear as though I were beating you into another incarnation.
- G'Kar: And you didn't enjoy it in the least?
- Na'Toth: I didn't say that.
[edit] Mind War
- [In a transport tube, Talia explains the finer points of telepathy to a client while Garibaldi looks her over.]
- Talia Winters: Casual thoughts are very easy to block, but strong emotions have a way of slipping through sometimes, whether you want them to or not.
- [she suddenly becomes aware of Garibaldi's thoughts and elbows him in the stomach]
- Michael Garibaldi: [as she and her client exit the tube] Ooh! I think I'm in love.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: No, now's a fine time…
- [he looks up and spots the two Psi Cops, Bester and Kelsey–instantly realizing that they've been communicating telepathically with him]
- Sinclair: Get out…of my head! You want to talk to me, talk to me!
- Alfred Bester: Apologies, Commander. It saves considerable time.
- [G'Kar tries to dissuade a skeptical Catherine from her flight to Sigma 957.]
- G'Kar: Let me pass on to you the one thing I've learned about this place. No one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair, and not me.
- [Garibaldi harbors a very rude thought towards Bester]
- Bester: Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi. But you're welcome to try.
- Catherine Sakai: Just one question: why?
- G'Kar: Why not?
- Catherine Sakai: That's not an answer.
- G'Kar: Oh, yes it is. It's simply not an answer you like, or the answer you expected. There's a difference. Narns, Humans, Centauri, we all do what we do for the same reason: because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
- Talia: Do you know what it's like when telepaths make love, Commander? You drop every defense, and it's all mirrors: reflecting each other's feelings deeper and deeper…until, somewhere along the line, your souls mix. And it's a feeling so profound it makes you hurt. It's the only moment in a telepath's life when you no longer hear the voices.
- [Bester has explained the details of the Psi Corps program that made Jason Ironheart what he is]
- Bester: It was a calculated risk!
- Susan Ivanova: Good old Psi Corps. You guys never cease to amaze me. All the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper! What do you do in your spare time, juggle babies over a fire pit? Oops, there goes another calculated risk!
- Psi Cop Kelsey: You're not helping the situation.
- Ivanova: Lady, you are the situation!
- Catherine Sakai: While I was out there, I saw something. What was it?
- G'Kar: [pointing to a nearby flower] What is this? [upon closer inspection, an insect is visible]
- Catherine: An ant.
- G'Kar: "Ant"!
- Catherine: So much gets shipped up from Earth on commercial transports, it's hard to keep them out.
- [As Catherine is talking, G'Kar carefully picks up the ant.]
- G'Kar: I have just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again [replacing the ant on the flower] and it asks another ant, "What was that?" …how would it explain? There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless. And if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants…and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We've tried. And we've learned we can either stay out from underfoot, or be stepped on.
- Catherine: That's it? That's all you know?
- G'Kar: Yes. They are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe…that we have not yet explained everything. Whatever they are, Ms. Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957. They must walk there alone.
[edit] The War Prayer
- Susan Ivanova: You're a vicious man.
- Michael Garibaldi: I'm Head of Security. It's in the job description.
- [Vir pleads with Londo for a young star-crossed Centauri couple.]
- Vir Cotto: But they love each other!
- Londo Mollari: Love. Pah! Overrated.
- [Londo fetches a set of three pictures of Centauri women.]
- Londo: Here. Look. These are my three wives: Pestilence, Famine, and Death.[N]
- . . .
- Londo: They inspired me! Knowing that they were waiting for me is what keeps me here — 75 light-years away.
- Londo: Something my father said. He was old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "My shoes are too tight, but it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to dance." I never understood what that meant until now. My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.
- Delenn: Human ways are often unfathomable. But in time, one learns to live with them.
- G'Kar: If one has an exceedingly strong constitution.
[edit] And the Sky Full of Stars
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Everyone lies, Michael. The innocent lie because they don't want to be blamed for something they didn't do, and the guilty lie because they don't have any other choice.
- [A mysterious man accuses Sinclair of selling out to the Minbari at the Battle of the Line.]
- Sinclair: We never had a chance. You say we could have won, but you weren't there, you didn't see them! When I looked at those ships, I…I didn't just see my death — I saw the death of the whole damn human race!
- Knight Two: Then why did they surrender?!
- Sinclair: I don't know! Maybe the universe blinked. Maybe God changed His mind. All I know is that we got a second chance!
[edit] Deathwalker
- [Ambassador Kosh hires commercial telepath Talia for an mysterious job.]
- Kosh: We will meet in Red 3 at the hour of scampering.
- [Later, after the first meeting]
- Kosh: We shall commence again tomorrow at the hour of longing.
- Talia Winters: All the clearances seem to be in order, and the pay is very generous. However, there's something I still don't understand.
- Kosh: Understanding is a three-edged sword.
- Kosh: Ahh. You seek meaning.
- Talia: Yes.
- Kosh: Then listen to the music, not the song.
- Ivanova: [to a Drazi ship threatening to fire on the station] Vakar Ashok, our gun arrays are now fixed on your ship. They will fire the instant you come into range. You will find their power most impressive…for a few seconds.
- [Sinclair returns to C&C to see how Ivanova is handling the armed vessels from many outraged non-aligned worlds.]
- Susan Ivanova: Well, I've managed to get the ship captains engaged in a debate over who has the best claim to Jha'dur. The winner will be the first to attack.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Creative.
- [A distressed Talia presses Kosh for the meaning of his "business deal" with Abbut.]
- Talia: What is he? And what was on that data crystal he gave you?
- Kosh: Reflection. Surprise. Terror. For the future.
- [A gloating "Deathwalker" Jha'dur reveals the secret of her immortality drug.]
- Jha'dur: You and the rest of your kind take blind comfort in the belief that we are monsters, that you could never do what we did. The key ingredient in the anti-agapic cannot be synthesized. It must be taken from living beings. For one to live forever, another one must die. You will fall upon one another like wolves. It will make what we did pale by comparison. The billions who live forever will be a testimony to my work. And the billions who are murdered to buy that immortality will be the continuance of my work. Not like us? You will become us.
- [Sinclair and Garibaldi are discussing the actions of Kosh during this episode]
- Sinclair: They say God works in mysterious ways.
- Michael Garibaldi: Maybe so. But He's a con man compared to the Vorlon.
[edit] Believers
- M'Ola: No one knows what is written in the stream [of Time] until the waters surround him.
- Susan Ivanova: After that [pacing to and fro], maybe I'll try pacing fro and to, just for the kick of it.
- Ivanova: Don't worry about me. I'll just sit here and knit something.
- Kosh: The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
- Michael Garibaldi: Sure is for people with nothing on the line. You and me? We just get on with it.
- Stephen Franklin: May God save us from false religion.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Who asked you to play God?
- Franklin: Every damn patient who comes through that door, that's who. People come to doctors because they want us to be gods. They want us to make it better…or make it not so. They want to be healed and they come to me when their prayers aren't enough. Well, if I have to take the responsibility, then I claim the authority too. I did good. And we both know it. And no one is going to take that away.
- Franklin: I'm waiting. For an apology.
- Sinclair: You'd better check the temperature in Hell first.
- Sinclair: Sometimes doing the right thing doesn't change anything.
[edit] Survivors
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Lieutenant Commander Ivanova, escort Major Kemmer off the Observation Dome.
- Susan Ivanova: With pleasure. [to Kemmer] You are going to resist, I hope.
- Major Lianna Kemmer: I demand you open a channel to Earth at once!
- Ivanova: I am a Lieutenant Commander in Earthforce, Major. I do not take demands. If you have a request, I'll consider it.
- Maj. Kemmer: Very well, then. I request that you open a channel to Earthdome!
- Ivanova: Request denied. Have a nice day.
- Sinclair: You're more trouble than a toilet full of snakes, but I couldn't run this station without you.
- Michael Garibaldi: Commander, I sense a huge pay raise coming my way.
- Sinclair: Hah. Dream on.
[edit] By Any Means Necessary
- [G'Kar is informed that Londo Mollari is the only person on the station that has a flower he needs for a religious ceremony]
- G'Kar: Why does the universe hate me?
- [Londo Mollari returns to his quarters to find the door open and G'Kar sitting at his table]
- G'Kar: You left your door unlocked, Ambassador. Careless of you. I thought it best to sit here and guard your room until you returned.
- Londo: And did you find anything of interest in my humble quarters while you were 'guarding it'?
- G'Kar: [obviously disappointed] No.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: You should never hand someone a gun unless you're sure where they'll point it.
- Senator Hidoshi: You are not the most popular person in government circles right now.
- [After the call ends]
- Sinclair: [unhappily] So what else is new?
[edit] Signs and Portents
- Susan Ivanova: I've always had a hard time getting up when it's dark outside.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: But in space, it's always dark.
- Ivanova: [morosely] I know. I know.
- [Lord Kiro dismisses his aunt's vision of Babylon 5's destruction.]
- Lord Kiro: She's been wrong before. On my first birthday, she said that someday I would be killed by…shadows. [N]
- Morden: What do you want?
- Londo Mollari: To be left alone!
- [Londo leaves the lift and quickly walks away.]
- Morden: Is that it? Is that really all, Ambassador?
- [Londo sighs, then turns around.]
- Londo: All right. Fine! You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want to see the Centauri stretch forth their hand again, and command the stars! I-I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power. I want to stop running through my life like a man late for an appointment, afraid to– to look back, or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to BE! I want…I want it all back, the way that it was! Does that answer your question?
- [He turns and walks off.]
- Morden: [smiling] Yes. Yes, it does.
- Kosh: [meeting Morden in a corridor] Leave this place. They are not for you. Go. Leave. NOW.
[edit] TKO
- [Boxer Walker Smith decks a man trying to knife a distracted Garibaldi from behind.]
- Walker Smith: One of these days, Garibaldi…you're gonna learn to watch your back. [N]
- Rabbi Yossel Koslov: Without forgiveness, you cannot mourn. And without mourning, you can never let go of the pain.
- Walker Smith: Any ideas on how I should fight this guy?
- Michael Garibaldi: From inside a Main Battle Tank would be nice.
- [during the memorial service for Ivanova's father]
- Susan Ivanova: When I was thirteen, I developed a passion for Kasharev, one of the radical neocommunist authors.
- Rabbi Koslov: Oy! Your father felt that Kasharev would be personally responsible for the destruction of Russian culture!
- Ivanova: Exactly! But he was invited to a reading by Kasharev, and I begged him to take me. Of course, he had no intention of going, but I whined and pouted as only a thirteen-year-old can, and eventually, he was forced to surrender. So, after the reading there was a question and answer session, and for days I had been formulating the perfect question with which to impress my idol. So the time comes, and I stand up, I'm trembling, and I ask my question.
- Rabbi Koslov: And?
- Ivanova: He promptly said that it was the most foolish thing that he had ever heard, and that he had no intention of bandying words with a bourgeois little twit who was barely out of diapers. [Laughs] I was crushed. But then Papa stood up. And he said that his daughter was neither bourgeois, nor a little twit, and had been out of diapers for many, many years, while Kasharev's writings had yet to rise above the contents of those garments!
- Rabbi Koslov: That sounds exactly like Andrei!
- Ivanova: He then added that were he not a man of peace, he would have horsewhipped Kasharev through the streets of St. Petersburg, as his own father should have done many years ago!
- Rabbi Koslov: Bravo, bravo!
- Ivanova: Well, of course I was mortified. But then Papa took my hand and he turned, and as we walked out, he said to me: "It was a good question, dushenka."
[edit] Grail
- [Sinclair watches Garibaldi wolf down his food.]
- Jeffrey Sinclair: They say food tastes better if you chew it first.
- Michael Garibaldi: Don't talk, I've seen you eat. Does the term "Doppler effect" ring a bell?
- [A silver-suited grey alien stands before a Babylon 5 ombudsman, who listens to a plaintiff.]
- Plaintiff Flinn: We went through their archives, and we found proof…that his great-grandfather abducted my great-grandfather, and just took him away in a spaceship! Frankly, Your Honor, we want damages!
- Ombuds Wellington: [to alien] How do you plead?
- [The alien holds up a card with curious image on it.]
- Ombuds Wellington: Could I please have a translation team in here?! [to himself] Why is it Ombuds Zimmermann never gets these cases? Only me?
- [Thomas "Jinxo" Jordan tells his story, and the story of the "Babylon Curse," to Aldous Gajic.]
- Jinxo: I was too young to fight in the Minbari War, so when I got the chance to work space construction, I jumped for it. The day I went to work on the Babylon Station–we didn't number them at first, you know–I thought that was the best day of my life! I worked a few months, had some leave, so I took it. And the station's infrastructure collapsed. Sabotaged. They never found out who.
- Aldous Gajic: I remember.
- Jinxo: So I went to work on the second one. The firm still owned my contract until the station was finished. I took leave a second time, and that station was sabotaged. And then when B3 blew up, well, that's when I got the name Jinxo. When I went to work on B4, I didn't take any leave! I was there every minute until we finished it. I thought the Curse was gone. But as I was leaving on the shuttle, I looked back…and the station just sort of…wrinkled, twisted like putty, and then just disappeared. The minute I left. So then when they decided to build B5, I had to work on it. And I have to stay. I have to!
- Aldous: I'd say that you have the wrong nickname. They should have called you Lucky!
- Jinxo: How do you figure?
- Aldous: To have escaped the worst each time, that's a blessing. You're a very lucky man. Perhaps each time, you were exactly where you were meant to be.
- Jinxo: [slowly smiling] I never thought of it like that.
- Aldous: We never do.
- [Delenn has offered to help Aldous in his search for the Holy Grail]
- Jinxo: That's really nice! I mean, with the war and all, I figured you folks would…well, you know.
- Lennier: There are two castes of Minbari, the warrior caste and the religious caste. The warrior caste would not understand. It is not their way.
- Delenn: [slyly] So we will not tell them, and spare them the confusion.
- Aldous: These two sides of your culture, do they ever agree on anything?
- Delenn: [soberly] Yes. And when they do, it is a terrible thing. A terrible power, as recent events have shown us. Let us hope it never again happens in our lifetime.
- Sinclair: We've confiscated the fake encounter suit. It's a pretty close match to your own, at least from the outside.
- Kosh: Why?
- Sinclair: Deuce wanted to make people think he had the Vorlons working for him. He figured it would add to his image and intimidate people.
- Kosh: Why?
- Sinclair: Well, after all, no one knows exactly what you look like. That makes some people a little nervous.
- Kosh: Good.
- Garibaldi: There he goes–Jinx…Thomas.
- Sinclair: Mm-hmm.
- Susan Ivanova: You never did tell me what you think about that curse.
- Sinclair: What curse?
- Garibaldi: You know. That bit about if he leaves Babylon 5, the same thing that happened to Babylons 1, 2, 3 and 4 would happen to us.
- Sinclair: Oh, that curse. You're not taking it seriously, are you?
- Garibaldi: Me? No, of course not. You?
- Sinclair: No.
- Garibaldi: So, how long until he hits jump?
- Ivanova: [working her console] Oh, right about…now!
- [the ship goes through the jump gate without incident]
- Garibaldi: No boom?
- Sinclair: No boom.
- Ivanova: No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.
- [Sinclair and Garibaldi exchange an exasperated look and wander off.]
- Ivanova: What?! Look, somebody's got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom. Sooner or later. BOOM! [N]
[edit] Eyes
- Michael Garibaldi: Protests are as much use with the Vorlons as fairy wings on a cement truck.
- [Ivanova confronts Psi Corps specialist Harriman Gray.]
- Susan Ivanova: Mr. Gray. I'm grateful the Psi Corps has given you a purpose in life. [She looks him directly in the eye] But when that purpose includes scanning my mind to prove my loyalty, it's not only an invasion of my privacy, but my honor! As for fear, if you enter my mind for any reason, I will twist your head off and use it for a chamberpot!
- Garibaldi [to himself]: If I kill Lennier, I would start a war.
- Lennier: I am about to embark on the mysteries of the "fuel injection system."
- Computer: And the last gasoline-powered motorcycle was built in 2035.
- Garibaldi: If I knew who God was, I'd thank her.
- [Garibaldi enters the casino to find an angry, inebriated Ivanova mopping the floor with the patrons.]
- Ivanova: Are you gonna arrest me, Garibaldi?
- Garibaldi: No way! I wanna live to see the future.
- [A vengeful Earthforce colonel has a PPG pistol pointed at Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi]
- Ivanova: He can't get all of us.
- Col. Ari Ben Zayn: Famous last words from a trio of mutineers!
- Harriman Gray: Colonel…pain…
- [Gray telepathically tweaks the colonel, causing him to double up in pain; Sinclair grabs the colonel's gun and drops him with a single punch]
- Ivanova: I assume the investigation is concluded?
- [Sinclair and Ivanova see Garibaldi and Lennier ride through the corridor on a motorcycle.]
- Ivanova: It's good to have things back to normal.
[edit] Legacies
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Branmer's life was more significant than his battles. Let the warrior caste praise his courage in war, and let the rest praise him for what he truly was—a man of peace.
- Neroon: You talk like a Minbari, Commander. Perhaps there was some small wisdom in letting your species survive.
- Sinclair: We like to think so.
- Susan Ivanova: There's nothing more annoying than Mr. Garibaldi when he's right.
[edit] A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 1
- [Sinclair comes upon Talia waiting for a tube car.]
- Talia Winters: It seems like every time I get into the tube, Mr. Garibaldi's there! It's like he knows!
- Jeffrey Sinclair: Talia, Mr. Garibaldi is many things, but he's not omniscient.
- [The tube opens, revealing a grinning Garibaldi, then closes again.]
- Talia: I think I'll take the stairs.
- Sinclair: I think I'll join you.
- Draal: Quickly, what is the third principle of sentient life?
- [Delenn turns around and sees Draal.]
- Delenn: Draal!
- Draal: Incorrect answer! The third principle of sentient life is the capacity for self-sacrifice: the conscious ability to override evolution and self-preservation for a cause, a friend, a loved one. It has been too long, Delenn. You have forgotten your training. Soon you will have forgotten all about your old friend Draal.
- Delenn: Not if I live to be a thousand and one.
- [A survey shuttle limps back to Babylon 5 after its second, near-fatal disaster.]
- Dr. Tasaki: Survey 1 to Babylon Control, we're clear. Returning to base.
- Susan Ivanova: Confirmed, Survey 1. Upon arrival, you will report for debriefing. [pauses] And just one more thing. On your trip back, I'd like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra: "Ivanova…is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova…is God. And, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!" Babylon Control out. [sighs to herself] Civilians. [looks up] Just kidding about that God part. No offense.
- [Londo is cheering up Garibaldi with a tale.]
- Londo Mollari: The next day, I woke up, I saw her in the light of day, sleeping against my arm, and I decided I would rather chew off my arm than wake her up.
- Michael Garibaldi: Aw, that's sweet.
- Londo: No, no! She had a voice that could curdle fresh milk.
- [upon seeing the Great Machine on Epsilon 3 for the first time]
- Ivanova: Commander?
- Sinclair: Yeah?
- Ivanova: I think I've got to go to the bathroom.
- Sinclair: Tell me about it!
- [Londo vents his frustrations over trying to understand humans to Delenn and Draal.]
- Londo: These Earthers! I try to find out as much as I can about them to try to make some sense of them, but it never seems to come together.
- Delenn: They do seem to be a mass of contradictions.
- Londo: Exactly my point! Here–six thousand years of recorded history, a history that includes remarkable composers, astonishing symphonies! But what is the one song that half of them sing to their children generation after generation?
-
- You put your right hand in,
- You put your right hand out.
- You put your whole self in,
- And you turn yourself about.
- You do the hokey-pokey,
- You give a little shout.
- That's what it's all about!
- It doesn't mean anything! I have been studying it for seven days! I had the computer analyze it! I swear to you, it does not mean a thing!
- Delenn: We've come at a bad time, haven't we?
- [Sinclair and Ivanova try to retrieve the machine-ensconced alien while the planet quakes around them.]
- Ivanova: Commander, we don't have a lot of time. We're cut off from the way we came in, we don't know if we can find another way back to the ship before we run out of air…
- Sinclair: We can't leave him like this!
- Ivanova: I know, I know. It's a Russian thing. When we're about to do something stupid, we like to catalog the full extent of our stupidity for future reference.
[edit] A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2
- Delenn: The third principle of sentient life is its capacity for self-sacrifice, for a cause…a loved one…for a friend.
- Susan Ivanova: Ambassador, do you really want to know what's going on down there right now?
- Londo Mollari: Yes, absolutely.
- Ivanova: Boom. Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom. BOOM! Have a nice day.
- [She walks away with a smile, leaving Londo to stew.]
- Londo: Faugh! You can never get a straight answer from anyone around here!
- [after Captain Pierce of the EAS Hyperion and an alien ship trade ultimatums]
- Ivanova: Worst case of testosterone poisoning I've ever seen.
[edit] Babylon Squared
- Susan Ivanova: God, I hate mornings.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: We noticed. Personally, I find it the best part of the day.
- Michael Garibaldi: Ah, me too.
- Ivanova: [sighs] We all have our cross to bear.
- Sinclair: The time I really learned to appreciate mornings was during the three years I spent being taught by Jesuits. [His voice drops to a near-whisper, and Ivanova starts to nod off.] We used to get up at five o'clock every morning for sunrise mass. Then an hour of meditation before class. We would sit, quiet, at peace. [Her eyelids are getting heavier.] Breathing in, breathing out. Breathing in, breathing out. [She's out cold.] Breathing in, breathing out. [Sinclair winks at Garibaldi, and the chief swaps their just-started breakfasts with dirty, empty dishes, but leaves Ivanova's untouched.]
- Garibaldi: Well!
- Ivanova: [snapping awake] What?
- Garibaldi: Oh, that was great! Boy, just hit the spot! [to Sinclair] I see you cleaned your plate too! Guess I'd better get going.
- Sinclair: Me too, it's nearly seven-thirty.
- Ivanova: Sev—seven-thirty? I…I didn't even…I slept through breakfast? This isn't fair! It's n…
- Sinclair: Something, Lieutenant Commander?
- Ivanova: No! Nothing, I'm fine! I'm fine, you'll have to excuse me. [into her link] C&C, this is Ivanova! I realize I'm late, but I'm on my way! [She runs out, and Garibaldi swaps the dishes back.]
- Sinclair: I'll notify your next of kin. [picks up his tray and leaves]
- Garibaldi: Four…three…two…one…
- Ivanova: [out in the corridor, shouting] AUGH! GARIBALDI, YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!
- Delenn: Summoned, I come. In Valen's name, I take the place that has been prepared for me. I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light.
- Major Krantz: What if we take you with us? Put you on trial?
- Zathras: Zathras not of this time. You take, Zathras die. You leave, Zathras die. Either way, it is bad for Zathras.
[edit] The Quality of Mercy
- [Ivanova barges into Dr. Franklin's illicit free clinic. He is bent over a notepad, distracted.]
- Stephen Franklin: [not paying attention] You can start by removing your clothes.
- Susan Ivanova: Not without dinner and flowers.
- Jeffrey Sinclair: I'm still waiting for an explanation, gentlemen.
- Londo Mollari: Yes. And I'm prepared to give you one, Commander, as soon as the room stops spinning.
- Sinclair: This station creates gravity by rotation. It never stops spinning.
- Londo: Well, you begin to see my problem.
[edit] Chrysalis
- Londo Mollari: But this…this, this, this is like… being nibbled to death by, uh…Pah! What are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet…go "quack".
- Vir Cotto: Cats.
- Londo: Cats! I'm being nibbled to death by cats.
- [Londo chats with Morden in the garden.]
- Londo: There comes a time when you look into the mirror, and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. Then you accept it, or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking into mirrors.
- [in a bar on the Zocalo, after EarthForce 1's destruction]
- Kosh: And so it begins.
- [speaking to his "associates"]
- Morden: Yes. I think he's ready.…Perfect for our needs.…No.…No. He suspects nothing.…When the time is right, Ambassador Mollari will do exactly as we wish.…Destiny is on our side.
- [last lines of the season]
- Sinclair: Nothing's the same anymore.
[edit] Season 2: The Coming of Shadows
- [Opening credits voiceover.]
- John Sheridan: The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. A self-contained world five miles long, located in neutral territory. A place of commerce and diplomacy for a quarter of a million humans and aliens. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind… the year the Great War came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
[edit] Points of Departure
- Susan Ivanova: [voiceover] Status report, Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova recording. It is now eight days since the death of Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago, and five days since Commander Sinclair was recalled to Earth without explanation. And the whole place has gone straight to hell.
- [A transport tube opens to reveal Ivanova addressing a quartet of cowering humans and aliens.]
- Ivanova: And as far as I'm concerned, the transports can wait until the SUN EXPLODES! And if you're not happy with the seating arrangements, I will personally order your seats to be moved outside, down the hall, across the station, and into the fusion reactor! Am I absolutely, perfectly clear on this?
- [As she leaves them to their bickering, she continues her narration about the chaos on the station after Sinclair's abrupt recall.]
- Ivanova: [voiceover] I can only conclude that I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.
- [Dr. Franklin tells Ivanova about Garibaldi's coma.]
- Ivanova: Well then, I'll say a prayer for him tonight.
- Stephen Franklin: He's agnostic.
- Ivanova: Then I'll say half a prayer.
- [Sheridan's "good luck speech" upon taking command of Babylon 5]
- John Sheridan: When I was 21, I visited Tibet. I went to see the new Dalai Lama. Uh, you do that sort of thing when you're 21 and the son of a diplomatic envoy. We had a simple dinner. Rice, raisins, carrots—steamed, not boiled—and green tea. When it was over, he looked at me and said, "Do you understand?" I said no, I didn't. "Good beginning," he said. "You'll be even better when you begin to understand what you do not understand." After reading some of your reports, I begin to understand what I don't understand about Babylon 5. But I couldn't wish for a more capable and skilled group of people to learn from. It was an early Earth President, Abraham Lincoln, who best described our current situation. He said…
- [he gets interrupted by a security alarm]
- . . .
- Sheridan: [delivering the rest of his speech to an empty C&C] It was an early Earth president, Abraham Lincoln, who best described our situation. "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. We cannot escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. The fiery trial though which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. We shall nobly save or meanly lose our last, best hope of Earth." [He looks around with a satisfied smile.] Five minutes to spare.
[edit] Revelations
- [Londo rants before the Babylon 5 Advisory Council about the missing G'Kar and Delenn.]
- Londo Mollari: There, you see! One deserts his post without any explanation, the other one picks the most breathtakingly inconvenient moment possible to explore new career options, like becoming a butterfly!
- [Londo finds Morden's suggestions of future attacks against the Narn entertaining.]
- Londo: Why don't you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it? [chuckles]
- Morden: One thing at a time, Ambassador. One thing at a time.
- Michael Garibaldi: [waking up from his coma] Oh, God. I'm out of it for a few days, the whole place goes to hell!
- John Sheridan: Well, I hope I can prove otherwise. Captain John Sheridan, your new CO.
- Garibaldi: I don't know you.
- Sheridan: No, but I think we'll get along just fine.
- G'Kar: [quoting Yeats' "Second Coming"]
- Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
- Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
- The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
- The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
- And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
- Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
[edit] The Geometry of Shadows
- [A Technomage uses an illusion of a massive robotic creature to scare Vir away.]
- Vir Cotto: [to the illusion] My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attache to ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic! My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attache to ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic! My name is…
- Elric: Stop program. [the illusion pauses, then vanishes] You don't frighten easily.
- Vir: I work for Ambassador Mollari. After a while, nothing bothers you.
- Elric: There is an old saying: "Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."
- [Dr. Franklin is treating Ivanova's broken foot.]
- Stephen Franklin: I can give you something for the pain…
- Susan Ivanova: Oh, great. Now you can give me something for the pain.
- Franklin: What?
- Ivanova: Where were you when I was going through puberty?
- [He chuckles.]
- Ivanova: No, it's okay; I'll get used to it. If it gets too bad, I'll just…gnaw it off at the ankle.
- Elric: We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocation of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things.
- John Sheridan: Such as?
- Elric: The true secrets, the important things. 14 words to make someone fall in love with you forever. 7 words to make them go without pain, or say good-bye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor. How to be rich. How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them. That is why we are going away—to preserve that knowledge.
- Sheridan: From what?
- Elric: There is a storm coming, a black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost or used to ill purpose. From this place we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will never see our kind again in your lifetime. I know you have your orders, Captain. Detain us if you wish. But I cannot tell you where we are going. I can only ask you to trust us.
- [Ivanova has been kidnapped by the Green Drazi.]
- Ivanova: What does it take to get through to you? You're making a mistake of galactic proportions! Assaulting an Earth Alliance officer, attempting mass murder…!
- Green Drazi: Green must fight Purple. Purple must fight Green. Is no other way!
- Ivanova: Just my luck. I get stuck with a race that speaks only in macros.
- [Ivanova accidentally becomes the Green Drazi leader by grabbing the former leader's sash.]
- Ivanova: You're saying just because I'm holding this right now, I'm Green leader? But I'm human!
- Former Drazi Leader: Rules of combat older than contact with other races. Did not mention aliens. Rules change…caught up in committee.
- Elric: Oh, I'm afraid you have to spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes. Not this one of course, it's trivial, I have withdrawn the spell, but there will be others.
- Londo Mollari: What are you talking about?
- Elric: You are touched by darkness, Ambassador. I see it as a blemish that will grow with time. I could warn you of course, but you would not listen. I could kill you, but someone would take your place. So I do the only thing I can–I go. [starts to turn away, then turns back to Londo] Oh, I believe it was an endorsement you wanted. A word or two, a picture, to send to the folks back home, confirming that you have a destiny before you.
- Londo: Yes, it was just a thought, nothing more.
- Elric: Well, take this for what little it will profit you. As I look at you, Ambassador Mollari, I see a great hand reaching out of the stars. The hand is your hand. And I hear sounds–the sounds of billions of people calling your name.
- Londo: My followers?
- Elric: Your victims.
[edit] A Distant Star
- [Captain Jack Maynard of the Cortez has just met Delenn]
- Capt. Maynard: John! She's…Minbari?
- Sheridan: Mm-hmm.
- Capt. Maynard: Uh…but she doesn't look like one! I mean, she does, but…but she doesn't! I mean, what's the deal?
- Sheridan: We're still trying to figure that out. There's the story she told us, but then, the Minbari never tell you the whole truth.
- [Dr. Franklin watches Ivanova as she storms off with his recovery-enhancing "food plan".]
- Susan Ivanova: Figures. All my life, I've fought against imperialism. Now, suddenly, I am the expanding Russian frontier.
- Stephen Franklin: But with very nice borders.
- John Sheridan: I'll tell you one thing. If the primates that we came from had known that someday politicians would come out of the gene pool, they'd have stayed up in the trees and written evolution off as a bad idea! Hell, I always thought the opposable thumb was overrated!
- Sheridan: An old friend of mine once quoted me a [sic]…ancient Egyptian blessing: God be between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk.
- Sheridan: I wish I had your…faith in the universe. I just don't see it sometimes.
- Delenn: Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. And as we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.
- [Garibaldi is cooking bagna cauda for himself and Dr. Franklin.]
- Michael Garibaldi: Trust me, Doc, you are gonna love this!
- Franklin: I can feel my arteries hardening just being in the same room with it!
[edit] The Long Dark
- [A wild, unkempt Lurker assails G'Kar with a confused sermon.]
- Amis: I have walked in the valley of th—
- G'Kar: Good! Keep on walking.
- Amis: [after waking up in the brig] Oh, God. What did I do this time?
- Michael Garibaldi: You don't remember?
- Amis: Well, I've found that life is, in general, much easier if I forget most of the things that happen to me.
- Garibaldi: You were about to accuse the Centauri ambassador of being in league with the devil…which may not be far from the truth.
- [Garibaldi and Sheridan consider the dessicated body from a failed cryogenic tube.]
- Garibaldi: Lousy way to die, huh?
- John Sheridan: Hmm. Last time I checked, there weren't too many good ways.
- [Newly unfrozen traveller Mariah Cirrus meets G'Kar.]
- G'Kar: Take my advice and go back to the time you came from. The future isn't what it used to be.
- Alien Council member: Evil sometimes wears a pleasant face.
- [Sheridan and Ivanova close in on an invisible, ravenous alien.]
- Susan Ivanova: You got a plan?
- Sheridan: Let's try not to get killed.
- Ivanova: Brilliant.
[edit] A Spider in the Web
- [Sheridan sends Ivanova to resolve a problem, then sighs to himself.]
- John Sheridan: Ah, it's good to be the captain.
- Michael Garibaldi: Well, my pop always said that laughter was better than pills for what ails you.
- Susan Ivanova: You know how I feel about telepaths.
- Sheridan: Do I ever. You threw one out a third-story window on Io.
- Ivanova: There was an ample pool below the window!
- Sheridan: I'll assume you knew that.
- Sheridan: Telepaths are gifted and cursed in ways I can never hope to understand.
[edit] Soul Mates
- Vir Cotto: [Practicing his greetings to Londo's wives] It is a pleasure to meet you. It is a pleasure to meet you! It is a pleasure to meet you.
- Michael Garibaldi: [Notices Vir talking to himself and approaches] Gonna introduce me, Vir?
- Vir: You must think I look odd right now. an alien passes by with Garibaldi staring
- Garibaldi: Well, I guess it's a little relative. referring to the alien's strange appearance
- Vir: Actually, it's relatives. I'm here to pick up some women.
- Garibaldi: You'll have more luck at bars.
- Vir: No, I…
- Garibaldi: Just kidding.
- [Vir laughs]
- Garibaldi: So, who are these women? Diplomats?
- Vir: Oh, Ambassador Mollari's three wives.
- Garibaldi: Whoa! A harem! The lucky dog. [a Centauri woman walks in]
- Timov: Are you Vir?!
- Vir: Yes!
- Timov: I am Timov, daughter of Alguhl. You will take me to my husband.
- Vir: I was told there'd be three of you…
- Timov: [Looks at Garibaldi] Who is this?
- Vir: Uhh…
- Timov: No never mind. I said you'd take me. Is your hearing deficient?
- Vir: No, but I do have a…
- Timov: Then let's be off! [Walks away]
- Vir: It is a pleasure to meet you!
- [Talia gets wind of a new arrival on the station.]
- Talia Winters: Stoner? Matt Stoner?
- Garibaldi: Yeah, yeah, that was his name. Matthew.
- Talia: He's not here on Babylon 5?
- John Sheridan: Is that a problem?
- [Talia sighs and nods her head "yes."]
- Garibaldi: You know him?
- Talia: Only in the most unpleasant sense. I was married to him.
- Timov: He drags me out here, gives me no reason why he wants to see me! What's he hiding, Vir? Tell me! I won't bite, Vir.
- Vir Cotto: With all due respect, madam, that's not what I heard.
- Timov: All right, that one time.
- Vir: It was twice.
- Timov: Daggair! My, what a surprise!
- Daggair: A pleasant one?
- Timov: I wouldn't go that far.
- Vir: Madame Daggair, my pardons! This is unconscionable! I was at customs. I don't know how I could have missed you!
- Timov: Believe me Vir, if you knew her as well as I do, you wouldn't miss her a bit.
- Daggair: Oh, Timov, Timov, why do you always try to draw me into your little verbal fencing matches?
- Timov: Because I don't have a real sword handy.
- Vir: Can I get you anything?
- Timov: Yes!! You can get me out of here! Who does Londo think he is, keeping us sitting about?
- Daggair: He probably thinks he's our husband. And we, as dutiful wives, must await his return. Is that not right, Vir?
- Vir: Well, actually—
- Timov: You are joking, Daggair!
- Daggair: Your problem, Timov, is that you've never known your place.
- Timov: My place?! You once threatened to break a vase over his head!
- Daggair: Well, haha, that was the impetuousness of youth.
- Timov: That was last month! Daggair, what are you playing at?
- Londo Mollari: [enters room] Well, well, here you are!
- Timov: And here you are finally, where have you been?!!
- Londo: Affairs of state my dear.
- Timov: State of inebriation, I wager.
- [Delenn struggles with her new hair.]
- Delenn: Commander, I want you to understand. I acquired human characteristics to bring your people and mine closer together! To symbolize our mutuality! It is supposed to be a dignified, inspiring transition for both humans and Minbari, so will you please explain to me why this, this, this…
- Susan Ivanova: Hair.
- Delenn: …refuses to cooperate?! [Ivanova gets a little closer.] I had no problems with it at first, but as time passed it…
- Ivanova: [feels Delenn's hair] It's…pretty brittle. What are you washing it with?
- Delenn: Washing?
- Timov: The secret of our marriage's success, Londo, is our lack of communication. You have jeopardized that success and I would know why!
- Timov: You knew about this you knew!!!
- Daggair: I was caught completely unawares, I assure you! [To Londo] Petulant isn't she? Well, breeding will tell.
- Timov: Ha! A bitch like you would know about breeding. [Daggair barely chokes down her drink, then stares daggers at Timov]
- Londo: [Smiling widely] Ladies, ladies, please…Continue!
- [Londo warns Captain Sheridan about Mariel.]
- Londo: On Earth you have these creatures–insects attracted to flames?
- Sheridan: Uh, yes. Moths. They're drawn to flames and bright lights and get burned.
- Londo: Mariel is drawn to men of power in that same way. But trust me. She burns them!
- Daggair: Let's let Londo decide that.
- Mariel: [Referring to Daggair and herself] The both of us? Together???
- Daggair: If it pleases Londo, it pleases me.
- Londo: No, this isn't right. Timov should be here too!
- Timov: Did you seriously expect me to become involved in your sexual Olympics?
- Londo: They're merely expressing their feelings for me.
- Timov: I can do that. [She slaps Londo on the face…hard]
- Londo: You haven't changed.
- Timov: You have. You've devolved!
- [Londo awakes from a coma.]
- Stephen Franklin: Are you okay? Londo, do you know where you are?
- Londo: [looks around and sees his wives] Either in Medlab, or in Hell. Either way, the decor needs work.
- Daggair: Oh, Doctor Franklin! Thank you for saving our husband! You've done the Centauri a great service!
- Mariel: I agree. It's so good to see you with us again, Londo!
- Londo: Well, that settles it, Doctor! I am in hell! And what, not a word from you, Timov? Not an insincere word of relief? Not a blink of false concern for my well-being?
- Timov: No. If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my quarters. I'm suddenly feeling…quite fatigued. [She leaves.]
- Mariel: Yes, I think I will do the same. [She leaves, followed by Daggair.]
- Londo: Augh. Nightmares, all of them! And Timov, the worst of the lot!
- Franklin: Ambassador Mollari, do you mind if I make one personal observation?
- Londo: No, not at all.
- Franklin: Stick it. [He walks off.]
- Londo: [to himself] How odd. And I didn't even know we were married.
- [G'Kar and Mariel just discussed Mariel's part in the attempted assassination of Mollari.]
- G'Kar: I warn you Mariel, do not be overconfident. If I was married to Londo Mollari I'd be concerned.
- Mariel: G'Kar, if you were married to Londo, we'd all be concerned.
- [Londo chooses to keep Timov as his wife and divorce the two others.]
- Timov: Why did you choose to keep me as your wife and not them? I've made no pretense of affection for you, I find your recent actions contemptible, I'll never love you, at best I'll tolerate you, and I'll never be what you want me to be. Why me?
- Londo: Because with you, I will always know where I stand.
- Delenn: Taking on human characteristics has been something of an education for both of us!
- Ivanova: Well, if you have any other problems, any other questions at all, just ask! [They step into a transport tube.]
- Delenn: Well…now that you mention it…do you have any idea why I suddenly started getting these…odd cramps?
[edit] A Race Through Dark Places
- [Sheridan complains to a bemused Franklin about the "bean counters" trying to charge him rent for his quarters.]
- John Sheridan: They nibble a little bit here, a little bit there—next thing you know, you're not even in charge of your own command anymore!
- Stephen Franklin: No taxation without representation. Give me liberty or give me death!
- Sheridan: Abso-fraggin'-lutely!
- [Sheridan has been invited to dinner by Delenn.]
- Sheridan: One day they're shooting at you, the next day they're taking you out to dinner. Ha! What a universe!
- [Delenn meets Sheridan for dinner, dressed in a stylish little black dress.]
- Delenn: I apologize for being late, Captain. I decided that as part of learning more about humans, I would try to dress like one tonight. I hope it does not offend you.
- Sheridan: No, no, not at all! It's…very attractive! Uh, please! [He helps her to her seat, but as he does, he notices a diner at the next table staring rudely.] Something I can do for you? [The man turns back to his meal.]
- Delenn: It appears my choice was successful. The woman who sold me this told me that I would definitely…"turn heads"?
- Sheridan: [laughing] Yeah, well, if they turned much further, you'd be sued for whiplash!
- [Sheridan and Ivanova are camping in his office due to being locked out of their quarters]
- Sheridan: How many Minbari does it take to screw in a light bulb?
- Susan Ivanova: I don't know, sir. How many Minbari does it take to screw in a light bulb?
- Sheridan: None. They always surrender right before they finish the job and they never tell you why.
- [Ivanova groans, Sheridan smiles.]
- Sheridan: Knock, knock.
- Ivanova: Who's there?
- Sheridan: Kosh.
- Ivanova: Kosh who?
- Sheridan: Gesundheit. [snickers] I thought that was a good one.
- Ivanova: Were you like this when you were married?
- Sheridan: Huh? Yeah.
- Ivanova: The woman was a saint.
- . . .
- [the next night]
- Ivanova: Captain, I'd like to note two things for the record.
- Sheridan: Yes, Commander?
- Ivanova: Item One: I don't think this protest is gonna work. Earth Central never gives in when it comes to money. But if you're determined to keep at it, I'm prepared to do the same. Item Two: You snore.
- Sheridan: No, I don't!
- Ivanova: Yes, you do!
- Sheridan: No, I don't!
- Ivanova: Captain, either you snore, or last night we had a hell of a breach in the hull. I get dibs on the couch.
- [Bester addresses the command staff after an attempt on his life by rogue telepaths.]
- Alfred Bester: They must be getting desperate to try something like this. They know we're onto them. Why else would they try to kill me?
- Ivanova: Is this a multiple-choice question?
- Bester: Would it interest you to know that I'm married, Mr. Garibaldi? That I have a five-year-old daughter? That on Sundays when I'm back home, we pack a picnic lunch and go out under the dome on Syria Planum and watch the stars come out? Hardly the description of a monster.
- Michael Garibaldi: [applauds sarcastically] Smooth! You're getting good at this. Keep working on it, and one of these days I might even be convinced that you're human.
- [after tricking Bester into thinking he's killed the rogue telepaths, Talia speaks with the rogues' leader]
- Leader: You know you can't go back again.
- Talia Winters: I can't leave the Corps. They'll come after me.
- Leader: No, I mean in here! [points to his head] You know too much. If Bester scans you, he'll…Can you keep him out?
- Talia: I think so. Jason's little gift.
- Leader: He gave you more than you know. What we did back there, it shouldn't have worked. Not with that Psi Cop. You tipped the balance. I felt it when we were joined. You're more than you think you are.
- Talia: Then what am I?
- Leader: The future.
[edit] The Coming of Shadows
- [G'Kar is outraged that Sheridan is allowing the Centauri Emperor to visit Babylon 5.]
- John Sheridan: Now, if this bothers you, I suggest you stay in your quarters, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum real loud until it's over! Unless you'd like to try something as breathtakingly rational as trying to open up a dialog?
- [Centauri Emperor Turhan talks to John Sheridan about life.]
- Centauri Emperor Turhan: No regrets then?
- Sheridan: A few. But just a few. You?
- Emperor Turhan: Oh, enough to fill a lifetime. So much has been lost, so much forgotten. So much pain, so much blood. And for what? I wonder…The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between. But there is still time to seize that one last, fragile moment. To choose something better, to make a difference, as you say. And I intend to do just that.
- G'Kar: I was ready... I had the dagger in my hand! And he has the indecency to start dying on his own!
- [Franklin brings a message from the ill Emperor to G'Kar, who had planned to kill the Centauri leader.]
- G'Kar: How is the poor fellow? I was so looking forward to meeting him and opening up…a dialog.
- . . .
- [Franklin relays the Emperor's message.]
- Stephen Franklin: He said…"We're wrong. The hatred between our people can never end until someone is willing to say, 'I'm sorry'. And try and find a way to make things right again, to atone for our actions."
- [Garibaldi receives a recorded message from former boss Jeffrey Sinclair.]
- Jeffrey Sinclair: There's a great darkness coming, Michael.
- Emperor Turhan: I would very much like to have seen a Vorlon.
- [he closes his eyes; when he reopens them, Kosh is standing over him]
- Emperor Turhan: How will this end?
- Kosh: In fire.[N]
- Londo Mollari: [relaying the Emperor's "last words"] He said…"Continue. Take my people back…to the stars."
- . . .
- [outside Medlab, after the Emperor's death]
- Lord Refa: Mollari, what did he say? Really?
- Londo: He said…"You are both damned."
- Lord Refa: Well, it's a small enough price to pay for immortality.
[edit] Gropos
- General Richard Franklin: [meeting Garibaldi] I had an Alfredo Garibaldi under my command during the Dilgar invasion. Excellent soldier!
- Michael Garibaldi: [smiles proudly] That was my dad.
- Gen. Franklin: [unimpressed] So much for genetics.
- Dr. Stephen Franklin: I'm a doctor! My duty is to heal!
- Gen. Franklin: Then heal humans! Stephen, I know you're fascinated by these alien creatures, but they're a threat to humanity. And they always will be. Help your own kind!
- Dr. Franklin: Life is life, whether it's wrapped in skin, scales, or feathers! Now if you respected these beings instead of constantly trying to murder them, you'd appreciate that!
- Delenn: We are all slaves to our histories. If there is to be a…bright future, we must learn to break those chains.
- John Sheridan: There's only one truth about war: people die. Killing is part of a soldier's job—we can't deny it. We can only live with it and hope the reasons for doing it are justified.
[edit] All Alone in the Night
- Lennier: Being asked to serve on the Council is a matter of soul, not of flesh. The change you've gone through, it shouldn't matter.
- Delenn: But it does, Lennier. I made a decision, and now I must face the consequences.
- [New Grey Council member Neroon confronts Delenn.]
- Neroon: You are an affront to the purity of our race!
- [On the Strieb ship, Sheridan has a strange dream about Babylon 5 and some of its denizens.]
- Dream Ivanova #1: Do you know who I am?
- Dream Garibaldi: The man in-between is searching for you.
- Dream Ivanova #2: You are the hand.
- [Sheridan turns to see Kosh.]
- John Sheridan: Why are you here?
- Dream Kosh: We were never away. For the first time, your mind is quiet enough to hear me.
- Sheridan: Why am I here?
- Dream Kosh: You have always been here.
- [Back on Babylon 5, Sheridan encounters Kosh.]
- Kosh: You have always been here.
- [Sheridan asks Hague why he trusts him with his secret effort to investigate the new Earth government.]
- General Hague: …you have an uncommon failing for someone in your position, Captain. You're a patriot. You believe as I do that when we put on this uniform, we took a solemn vow to protect Earth against threats from outside and from within. […] Your cooperation is essential, if we're going to take back our government.
- [Sheridan asks his staff if they want in on the conspiracy.]
- Ivanova: Wherever this goes, however it ends, we're with you.
[edit] Acts of Sacrifice
- Delenn: I was there when our war against Earth began, when our ship encountered an Earth vessel for the first time. Afraid of us, of the unknown, they fired. I saw our leader dying. I heard the cries for revenge, for blood, for death. In return we nearly exterminated an entire species. My people are tired of war, G'Kar!
- [Dr. Franklin takes exception to the Lumati's disdain for medical treatment of the infirm.]
- Correlilmerzon [through Taq]: It does not serve evolution.
- Stephen Franklin: Well, my job isn't serving evolution — it's serving humanity, even when the patient isn't human.
- Correlilmerzon [through Taq]: Yes, but what happens when the inferior, saved from the process of natural selection, begin to outnumber the superior?
- Susan Ivanova: You know, I think we should all be mov