Babylon 5 Customs?

[Aelwulf]

I'm starting another run through of B5, and began by watching "Infection," and right off the bat I'm thinking "gee, Babylon 5 customs is the worst."

I mean really! When I last went to Hong Kong the inspection of my baggage was pretty thorough and conducted by a score of individuals at different ports. I'm now wondering if later episodes of B5 had examples of perhaps a better system for checking out cargo / luggage, or if it stayed pretty inept. I know - I know, at the time the customs weren't as strict as they are now, post-9/11, but still I remember traveling in the early nineties outside of the states and still having to go through pretty stringent practices for entering another country.

 

[Jan]

As I recall, most of the inspections are done by scanning, aren't they? Isn't that how they detected the Dust in "The Gathering" as well as Dureena's weapons in "A Call to Arms?

Jan

 

[RW7427]

Scanning would seem to make the most sense.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

As I recall, most of the inspections are done by scanning, aren't they? Isn't that how they detected the Dust in "The Gathering" as well as Dureena's weapons in "A Call to Arms?

Jan

In "Infection" an inspection was done by a guy physically poking through someone's luggage and noticing a false bottom. It's not really high-tech.

 

[Republibot 3.0]

I'm starting another run through of B5, and began by watching "Infection," and right off the bat I'm thinking "gee, Babylon 5 customs is the worst."

I mean really! When I last went to Hong Kong the inspection of my baggage was pretty thorough and conducted by a score of individuals at different ports. I'm now wondering if later episodes of B5 had examples of perhaps a better system for checking out cargo / luggage, or if it stayed pretty inept. I know - I know, at the time the customs weren't as strict as they are now, post-9/11, but still I remember traveling in the early nineties outside of the states and still having to go through pretty stringent practices for entering another country.

I think that's an "All the world is Hollywood" thing. H'wood just naturally assumes they know everything that's worth knowing, and what they don't know they can simply fake. Thus in Jericho, for instance, a town in central Kansas can see a city in Colorado blowing up. Or on X-files they can drive from NYC to DC in an hour. It's just bad writing.

Also: I'd be rather surprised if JMS had actually traveled terribly much out of the US prior to B5. This is a guy who's never driven a car.

 

[Ragzus]

I'd assuming scanning and that video was just to show the point of what happened as it being illegal figuring maybe it would've of made as much of a statement if it was done like morden does later.

 

[JoeD80]

Also: I'd be rather surprised if JMS had actually traveled terribly much out of the US prior to B5. This is a guy who's never driven a car.

They have these things called planes that don't require the ability to drive a car.

In "Infection" an inspection was done by a guy physically poking through someone's luggage and noticing a false bottom. It's not really high-tech.

They still do this in airports today if something looks off.