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[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

They only speak English due to the Universal Translator.

I like Babylon 5 for good well-developed alien culture and physiology.

Agreed. I'm watching B5 right now - it's one of my favorites. "We have six...... well, we have six." And of course Ivanova's sex scene - LMAO

It's interesting to see how different sci-fi TV series handled the issue of aliens speaking different languages. On B5, all the major characters spoke English as a second (or third or whatever) language, although it was made clear that most non-humans didn't learn English. I also liked the touch that the Minbari had three primary languages - most alien races have just one, although we humans speak many different languages. Star Trek had universal translators. Farscape had translator microbes. Stargate SG-1 had Daniel Jackson, I guess (the reason everyone spoke English and could understand each other was never explained to my satisfaction - why would your average Goa'uld or Jaffa bother learning English?). It's interesting to see the creativity behind the "how do we make sure that everyone, including the audience, understands what an alien character says?" question.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

Agreed. I'm watching B5 right now - it's one of my favorites. "We have six...... well, we have six." And of course Ivanova's sex scene - LMAO

It's interesting to see how different sci-fi TV series handled the issue of aliens speaking different languages. On B5, all the major characters spoke English as a second (or third or whatever) language, although it was made clear that most non-humans didn't learn English. I also liked the touch that the Minbari had three primary languages - most alien races have just one. Star Trek had universal translators. Farscape had translator microbes. Stargate SG-1 had Daniel Jackson, I guess (the reason everyone spoke English and could understand each other was never explained to my satisfaction - why would your average Goa'uld or Jaffa bother learning English?). It's interesting to see the creativity behind the "how do we make sure that everyone, including the audience, understands what an alien character says?" question.

SG-1 was pretty intentionally "whups learned English real quick screw that plot point"

And yeah B5 was mostly about diplomats. You just assumed that amongst themselves they spoke their own language and they showed it to you enough for you to get the point.