B5 planetkillers

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Post by His Divine Shadow »

Crossover_Maniac wrote:Let's see:
1). Arkada 7 is 'no longer there'. IOW: no trace.
Misstaken planet, I do not question that Arkadia 7 was destroyed, not even babtech does that.
I am talking about another planet hit by the VPK, there, on that planet, there where survivors on the ground.
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Post by adam warlock »

a few things:
No trace of the colony remains. You are assuming that this also means "no trace of the physical mass of the entire planet which contained that colony ". This assumption of yours is fantasy; nothing more.
Marcus: ...We tried to track them. But we lost them at around sector 70..
Delenn: Theres a shadow base not far from there.
Ivanova: Exactly! so as soon we got back i had C&C MONITOR that area for any transmissions, anything unusual. The shadow base was located on a planet called arkada7. Its not there anymore.
Lennier: The base?
lyta: No! The planet! They destroyed...They destroyed an entire planet!
here we clearly see that "its not there anymore" means that the whole planet itself is not there anymore.. not just the mass upon which the the base/colony resided.
Zha'ha'dum was their homeworld for millions of years. That's quite a bit of time to prepare it for their eventual departure. It does not imply the ability to do this to any other world.
but what if the shadows had adopted another planet as their main hq, or home, wouldnt they have it similarly prepared for their eventual departure?..

we also dont know how long it took the shadows to prepare the means to shatter z'ha'dum. they couldve had the tools ready on day one of moving in, meaning it wouldnt have necessarily taken them millions of yrs to prepare for shattering the planet, just because they had stayed there for that amount of time.
Zha'ha'dum was not a normal planet. It is obviously moon-sized or smaller with no molten mantle, given the enormous fissures which are gouged deep into the planet. Gravity would close such a large fissure in a normal planet-sized object.
though i agree with you regarding the plausibility of the large fissures, and the fact we saw never saw supporting structures/frameworks as such. though to conclude that the planet has no mantle?.. perhaps the fissure wasnt deep enough.. afterall we dont exactly know how large z'ha'dum was.. However book 3 of the technomage trilogy nevertheless states z'ha'dum to have gravity 1.3 times normal.. cant remember the exact page, as i currently dont have the book on hand... heres a quote presented in another forum a year ago.
"The planet seemed to exist in twilight. The gravity, 1.3 times standard, pulled at his feet."
You're resorting to the use of gaming sites as evidence, and you don't realize that you come off as desperate?
information from b5wars was granted canon status along with those from the novels and graphic novels approved by jms (all).. making it binding/accompanying canon to information directly from the series.. and at the very least holds official status.
He also said that we can destroy planets today, using nuclear weapons. He obviously means "destroy" only in the sense that Hiroshima was "destroyed", even though the ground under the city was completely untouched and there were large numbers of survivors.
true enough.. but the above quote regarding the status of arkada 7 definitely means that the whole planet was destroyed/shattered along with the base.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

Fool, Warlock, of course the Shadows had another HQ world adopted. Weren't you paying attention at all to the series? Their new world was Centauri Prime. It was not rigged to blow the way Zha'Ha'Dum was.
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Post by adam warlock »

Fool, Warlock, of course the Shadows had another HQ world adopted. Weren't you paying attention at all to the series? Their new world was Centauri Prime. It was not rigged to blow the way Zha'Ha'Dum was.
what the shadows did there was just set up a small base/outpost. it was by no means their "new world", as in a new adopted homeworld. it was not meant to serve as their primary headquarters..which z'ha'dum was at the time.

and londo did nuke the island the shadows were on before the shadows had the chance to take any action.
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Post by Crossover_Maniac »

Darth Wong wrote:
Crossover_Maniac wrote:Let's see:
1). Arkada 7 is 'no longer there'. IOW: no trace.
No trace of the colony remains. You are assuming that this also means "no trace of the physical mass of the entire planet which contained that colony". This assumption of yours is fantasy; nothing more.
Marcus: ...We tried to track them. But we lost them at around sector 70..
Delenn: Theres a shadow base not far from there.
Ivanova: Exactly! so as soon we got back i had C&C MONITOR that area for any transmissions, anything unusual . The shadow base was located on a planet called arkada7. Its not there anymore.
Lennier: The base?
Lyta: No! The planet! They destroyed... They destroyed an entire planet!
Why did you claim that only the colony went missing when Lyta just said THE ENTIRE PLANET!!! Why did you feel the need to dismiss the dialogue to support your own argument? You're a liar that's why.
2). The Shadows destroyed Zha'Ha Dum in "Epiphanies"
Two points:
  • Zha'ha'dum was their homeworld for millions of years. That's quite a bit of time to prepare it for their eventual departure. It does not imply the ability to do this to any other world.
  • Zha'ha'dum was not a normal planet. It is obviously moon-sized or smaller with no molten mantle, given the enormous fissures which are gouged deep into the planet. Gravity would close such a large fissure in a normal planet-sized object.
3). The official B5Wars site said VPK can destroy planets smaller than a brown dwarf
You're resorting to the use of gaming sites as evidence, and you don't realize that you come off as desperate?
If it's wrong for me to go to an official website for information, then how come you can use the entire SW Extended Universe for your SW vs. ST arguments? Now, you're a hypocrit.
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Post by Crossover_Maniac »

adam warlock wrote:a few things:
Zha'ha'dum was their homeworld for millions of years. That's quite a bit of time to prepare it for their eventual departure. It does not imply the ability to do this to any other world.
but what if the shadows had adopted another planet as their main hq, or home, wouldnt they have it similarly prepared for their eventual departure?..

we also dont know how long it took the shadows to prepare the means to shatter z'ha'dum. they couldve had the tools ready on day one of moving in, meaning it wouldnt have necessarily taken them millions of yrs to prepare for shattering the planet, just because they had stayed there for that amount of time.
And considering that the Shadow Wars were resolved in a day, I'd doubt they rigged their homeworld to blow up millions of years ago.
Zha'ha'dum was not a normal planet. It is obviously moon-sized or smaller with no molten mantle, given the enormous fissures which are gouged deep into the planet. Gravity would close such a large fissure in a normal planet-sized object.
though i agree with you regarding the plausibility of the large fissures, and the fact we saw never saw supporting structures/frameworks as such. though to conclude that the planet has no mantle?.. perhaps the fissure wasnt deep enough.. afterall we dont exactly know how large z'ha'dum was.. However book 3 of the technomage trilogy nevertheless states z'ha'dum to have gravity 1.3 times normal.. cant remember the exact page, as i currently dont have the book on hand... heres a quote presented in another forum a year ago.
"The planet seemed to exist in twilight. The gravity, 1.3 times standard, pulled at his feet."
You're resorting to the use of gaming sites as evidence, and you don't realize that you come off as desperate?
information from b5wars was granted canon status along with those from the novels and graphic novels approved by jms (all).. making it binding/accompanying canon to information directly from the series.. and at the very least holds official status.
Don't bother arguing with Mike about B5 canon. As far as he's concerned, only Star Wars is allowed to draw from the novels for their canon.
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Post by adam warlock »

Don't bother arguing with Mike about B5 canon. As far as he's concerned, only Star Wars is allowed to draw from the novels for their canon.
well its his board i suppose.. he is entitled to his own policy of what can and can be used for debates here.. no need to attack him for it.


oh well.. no more vs debates or forums for a year..

off to University again. :(
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Post by Sea Skimmer »

adam warlock wrote:
Don't bother arguing with Mike about B5 canon. As far as he's concerned, only Star Wars is allowed to draw from the novels for their canon.
well its his board i suppose.. he is entitled to his own policy of what can and can be used for debates here.. no need to attack him for it.


oh well.. no more vs debates or forums for a year..

off to University again. :(
Its not his policy, it’s the official policies of the respective companies that he and every one these boards, go by. The fact that some franchisees don’t consider their novels canon is a fact of life, live with it.
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Post by adam warlock »

Its not his policy, its the official policies of the respective companies that he and every one these boards, go by. The fact that some franchisees dont consider their novels canon is a fact of life,
really?.. in this case i most reluctantly conceed :(
live with it.
i will try my best...

toodles.. and happy merry goodbyes.
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Post by Crossover_Maniac »

adam warlock wrote:
Its not his policy, its the official policies of the respective companies that he and every one these boards, go by. The fact that some franchisees dont consider their novels canon is a fact of life,
really?.. in this case i most reluctantly conceed :(

Adam, I do know at least some of the B5 novels has been counted as official canon. I know which ones, but when I found out, I'll post them here. So, hold off your concession until everything been placed on the table.
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Post by XaLEv »

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Post by Crossover_Maniac »

Thanks XaLEv. Since the Technomage triology is canon, Mike's theory that Zha' Ha Dum is moon size (with can be between 8-4000 km in diameters going by the moon in our solar systme) can be tossed out since Zha' Ha Dum's gravity is 1.3 g's. That gives it at least a diameter of 4800 km and requiring a minimum of 2.02E31 joules to destroy it assuming an average density of 19004 kg/m^3, which means a planet made entirely of heavy metals with a greater density than lead. Thanks Mike for the planetary destruction calculator.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

Crossover_Maniac wrote:
adam warlock wrote:
Its not his policy, its the official policies of the respective companies that he and every one these boards, go by. The fact that some franchisees dont consider their novels canon is a fact of life,
really?.. in this case i most reluctantly conceed :(

Adam, I do know at least some of the B5 novels has been counted as official canon. I know which ones, but when I found out, I'll post them here. So, hold off your concession until everything been placed on the table.
Canon in B5 does not mean what it does in either SW or ST. It really just means that they are licensed.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

Crossover_Maniac wrote:Thanks XaLEv. Since the Technomage triology is canon, Mike's theory that Zha' Ha Dum is moon size (with can be between 8-4000 km in diameters going by the moon in our solar systme) can be tossed out since Zha' Ha Dum's gravity is 1.3 g's. That gives it at least a diameter of 4800 km and requiring a minimum of 2.02E31 joules to destroy it assuming an average density of 19004 kg/m^3, which means a planet made entirely of heavy metals with a greater density than lead. Thanks Mike for the planetary destruction calculator.
Anyone can destroy a planet they have occupied for millenia assuming that they have technology as advanced as the Shadows. That is still not evidence that they could destroy another planet. What's more, the show takes precedence over the books (at least, it should). The realism of the fissures indicates that the planet's gravity is less than that. Even if it is a planet.
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Post by XaLEv »

Master of Ossus wrote: Canon in B5 does not mean what it does in either SW or ST. It really just means that they are licensed.
How convenient. Any evidence for this assertion?
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Post by Crossover_Maniac »

XaLEv wrote:
Master of Ossus wrote: Canon in B5 does not mean what it does in either SW or ST. It really just means that they are licensed.
How convenient. Any evidence for this assertion?
I couldn't agree more. Master of Ossus has shown a blantant double standard in the consideration of what is canon and what isn't. Consider this quote from JMS himself
In broad strokes, yes, the series is canon, since I came up with the outline for all the Del Rey novels. And overall, I'm very pleased with how they've been going.
JMS actually took a very active role in the storyline of all of the B5 novels. OTOH: Lucas only counts the novels if they don't contradict the movies. JMS actually made sure there was no contradiction. IOW: the case for the canonization of the B5 novel is stronger than the extended Star Wars universe.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

And what of G'Kar's wife, whose name was given in books as two different things? It clearly means "licensed," or similar.
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Post by XaLEv »

Master of Ossus wrote:And what of G'Kar's wife, whose name was given in books as two different things? It clearly means "licensed," or similar.
Which books did this happen in? Is this the only contradiction you have?
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Post by Master of Ossus »

No this is not the only contradiction I have. What of the ItB, differing on whether or not the Minbari paid reparations for the war to the EA (from the movie and show to the book)? What of the contradictory evidence on what happens when a Shadow dies (from the books to the show, when the death of some Shadows does not force them to flash)? These are serious contradictions that can only indicate one of two things.
1. The term "canon" in B5 means "official" in SW (that is, it can be contradicted by the show).
2. The term "canon" in B5 means "licensed."

Actually, looking at it, I think it reasonable to assume the former. Concession granted.
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Post by The Nomad »

Meaning what ? If I find a single contradiction between a wars book and the film all books are not cannon ?
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Post by The Nomad »

erf I meant the movie
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Post by XaLEv »

Master of Ossus wrote:What of the ItB, differing on whether or not the Minbari paid reparations for the war to the EA (from the movie and show to the book)?

I need more information on this one. What was said in what?
What of the contradictory evidence on what happens when a Shadow dies (from the books to the show, when the death of some Shadows does not force them to flash)?
Were any Shadows ever stated to have died in the series in a situation where we would have seen a flash?
These are serious contradictions that can only indicate one of two things.
1. The term "canon" in B5 means "official" in SW (that is, it can be contradicted by the show).
2. The term "canon" in B5 means "licensed."
Consider this quote from JMS:
They are canonical in the broad strokes, though it's impossible to ride every single small detail and get anything done on any kind of reasonable schedule.
I would take this to mean that the trilogies are canon, with any small inconsistencies being non canon. A bit like the way it is with the Star Wars EU. IE option 1.
Actually, looking at it, I think it reasonable to assume the former. Concession granted.
Good.

You have not answered one of my questions. In which books was G'kar's wife's name stated to be two different things.
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Post by Master of Ossus »

In the show it was stated that the Minbari paid massive reparations to the EA (in an effort to explain how the EA regained so much power so quickly), which I think was also stated in the movie but I'm too lazy to check. You can insist on it, and then I'll find out. In the book it clearly states that the Minbari surrendered, provided that they did not have to pay reparations. That is a serious inconsistency.
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Post by FBHthelizardmage »

Crossover_Maniac wrote:Let's see:

1). Arkada 7 is 'no longer there'. IOW: no trace.
even if this planet was destroyed this doesn't prove the vorlon planet killer can destroy worlds in one shot.

we don't know either the composition of the fleet sent to attack it or how much time was spent there.
for all we know they could have had a dozen planet killers bombarding it for weeks.
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Canon

Post by Khan Jackal Moreau »

B5 canon. Heh. B5wars is canon. I love that.

The books are not "broadly liscensed". They are firmly and completely liscensed.

The books are canon. The man said so himself. Silly, yes, but hey.

So we have the B5wars PK. For games simplicity sake, a very rarely used (if ever) ship uses it's gun to pop planets. Gone. Whoosh. Zing! You're outta here.

They've stated it turns the planet into a field of debris.

Now, what's nice is that it was made by gamers. Pretty clear. The show... well, you end up arguing over who was talking about what to whom, when, and where, and why, and if they might be lying, and all that. Conversational dialogue can be nitpicked to death.

Game stats can't. And probably so that he could point to something to make nerds go away, he sanctioned B5wars. With it's planet killing gun. Hard to disagree with.

It's as valid as the Ep2ICS is. Not very well explained, being as it leaves hexes and turns completely UNDEFINED, but HEY HEY. It's something.
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