Valen Class Cruiser (LoTR, ViTD related)???

[Crusader]

Okay this may sound stupid to some people but having just watched both The Legend of The Rangers and Babylon 5 The Lost Tales it occurs to me that ships from each are called Valen Class Cruisers when the designs are so diametrically different. Could they not come up with another name for the presidential cruiser in TLT, come on JMS, this doesnt sound good lol

 

[vacantlook]

While generally, classes of ships tend to be named after the name of the first ship belonging to that class, they don't technically refer to the Valen as being Valen-class in Rangers.

As Dulann says in Rangers, the Valen is visually more of a human design than a Minbari. Unless clarified/contradicted in the future, I like to think that after the events of Rangers, the Minbari decided to redesign that class of ship to have a more Minbari aesthetic having been dissatisfied with the visual design the humans came up with.

 

[Crusader]

While generally, classes of ships tend to be named after the name of the first ship belonging to that class, they don't technically refer to the Valen as being Valen-class in Rangers.

I swear it was called a valen class in LoTR.

 

[Lousy_Dodgers]

Prince Vintari referred to it as the Valen-class cruiser but I just recall the ship in LoTR as the Valen. It is not unheard of to have several ships with one name. Until otherwise infromed, I will refer to the Valen in LoTR as the Flying Brick class.

Beyond that, militaries are known to reuse particular names. Even without including ST, the number of vessels to use the name Enterprise is impressive.

 

[KoshN]

Prince Vintari referred to it as the Valen-class cruiser but I just recall the ship in LoTR as the Valen. It is not unheard of to have several ships with one name. Until otherwise infromed, I will refer to the Valen in LoTR as the Flying Brick class.

Beyond that, militaries are known to reuse particular names. Even without including ST, the number of vessels to use the name Enterprise is impressive.

I could have sworn we discussed this previously. Maybe it was on rastb5m or jmsnews. <shrug>

The first ship in the line is given the class name (e.g. The Victory is ship #1 in the Victory Class of destroyers. Excalibur was ship #2.). So, the Valen from B5:LotR would have been of the Valen class, since that ship was the only one of its kind ever built (per JMS). However, was it a cruiser or a destroyer? I'm pretty sure it wasn't called a cruiser in B5:LotR, but don't think it was called a destroyer either. I'm betting it was a destroyer (bigger in the B5 universe). Are you going to make me go back and watch that B5:LotR pilot again? Waa! Waa!

 

[Lousy_Dodgers]

In that case, I think that theory about the Minbari pretending the earlier ship never existed is probably the best explanation.

 

[KoshN]

In that case, I think that theory about the Minbari pretending the earlier ship never existed is probably the best explanation.

Naah, I'm going with the explanation that the Valen in B5:LotR was a Valen Class destroyer, and IA-1 of B5:TLT is a Valen Class cruiser.

 

[raw_bean]

Also, Vintari refers to it as 'the new Valen-class cruiser'. While the obvious inference is that the ship is new, he could also mean that there is a new 'Valen-class'. This might be a major overhaul and replacement of the Valen-class design, that just happens to look nothing like the old Valen-class design. If you like.

 

[Sindatur]

Could also be the sacred "3s". Maybe the Valen in LotR was a proto-type, and the one Sheridan was using in TLT was the Production model, and it took them 3 tries to get it right?

 

[darth_librarian]

I picked up on this as well. The first ship in a class is usually named after the class. I guess the Valen type we saw in LOTR was so hopeless that they started again with a proper Minbari only design, that was Valen type in name only. Both types seemed to have a similar function, i.e. escort of diplomats.

 

[RW7427]

I remember Martel in Legend of the Rangers thought the Valen was too boxy. The Minbari probably didn't like the design that much either.

 

[babylonfan]

Maybe it was a different class of vessel? Perhaps the LotR version was a battlecruiser and the TLT version a luxury cruiser (like Nimitz vs Love Boat)?

 

[darth_librarian]

Maybe it was a different class of vessel? Perhaps the LotR version was a battlecruiser and the TLT version a luxury cruiser (like Nimitz vs Love Boat)?

If the Love Boat took on the Nimtz, it would win. That Dwarf would own them all.