Thirdspace Aliens
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The Thirdspace Aliens are a fictional alien race in the Babylon 5 universe. Their only appearance was in the made-for-television movie Babylon 5: Thirdspace.
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[edit] Biology
The Thirdspace aliens are large, octopus like creatures. They are powerful telepaths, and have the ability to generate electricity like an electric eel. This is evidenced by the alien technician generating a whip of energy to strike at Sheridan as he attempted to escape the device. The aliens also have a concept they call "The One." It is not clear if this is the leader of the aliens, their deity, or perhaps a unified race consciousness.
It is referred to as a him, giving thought that perhaps it is their leader. However, when the device explodes, the novelisation states that the fighters turn to enter the explosion, as if "they sensed that the death of the mother ship was irrevocable, inevitable, and they wished to share its fate, as if they were all linked somehow." This supports the hive mind theory.
[edit] Culture
The obelisks in the city of the Thirdspace aliens are decidedly similar to those of Z'ha'dum (1 runic vertical row, otherwise appearance). The Thirdspace aliens have the philosophy that they are the only ones worthy of existence which sounds like the Shadow philosophy taken too far. It's pure speculation but it has been assumed by some fans that there might somehow be a connection between the Shadows and the Thirdspace Aliens.
Despite what the Vorlons claimed, it appears that the Thirdspace Aliens don't kill everyone. When they communicated via Vir and Commander Ivanova's dreams, Vir was caressed by women while Ivanova was killed. That may have been because Vir was willing to give in to the alien influence, while Ivanova insisted on questioning it. He was rewarded for his compliance while she was punished for her resistance suggesting that they do keep the more obedient individuals as servants.
The aliens seem to reside in a place called the Dark City, which may be their capital, or perhaps their gate in the other dimension. It seems most likely that it is their gate, as it appears to be the source of their telepathic control over the residents of Babylon 5. That assumption fits in with the claim that they modified the gate to enhance their telepathy.
[edit] History
Little is known about the history of the Thirdspace aliens. Over a million years ago, the Vorlons, decided to build a jump gate to open a doorway to what they believed was the well of souls, the source of life. What they were really opening was a gate into the Thirdspace aliens' dimension. Lyta Alexander, under the control of the Vorlons, stated that the gate had to be activated from both dimensions. This would imply that the aliens in Thirdspace already had their side open and were waiting for someone from normal space to reciprocate.
The aliens took control of many Vorlons with telepathy and in the ensuing battle, the Vorlons, forced the aliens back into their own dimension, and sealed the portal. A group of Vorlons, still under the control of the Thirdspace aliens, captured the artifact and jettisoned it into hyperspace, hoping to recover it later.
The Aliens where trapped in their own dimension but they waited until the time when the gate would be found and opened again.
[edit] Ships
One Man Fighter Craft
The fighters the Thirdspace aliens use are small, slightly smaller than a Whitestar. They are 100m long. They are relatively quick fighters, but are extremely strong for their size. They have a powerful field system that can stand up to even a laser from a Whitestar for a short time. Their weaponry consists of a strong energy bolt, that can easily destroy or badly damage a Whitestar.
The Capital Ships
The capital ships of the Thirdspace aliens are large, with glowing spheres at their rear, and long straight structures on the front. Like all Babylon 5 ships, the Capital ship act as both a battle ship and an aircraft carrier, capable of launching an unspecified number of one man fighters. It appears from the images that there are both regular sized capital ships, as well as larger ships, miles long.
The spheres at end of the capital ships glow with light, and the structure is grey, almost organic. The ships appear similar in basic form to Vorlon ships which has made some fans suggest that were they examples of ancient Vorlon ship design, the aliens had kept possessed Vorlons around to use as cannon fodder in case the gate opened again, on the assumption that it might be the Vorlons doing the opening.
A question connected with the Thirdspace vessels is how much of Dr. Trent's supposition about thirdspace was correct? Barring the obvious problem of the aliens, could thirdspace be used as she described, like a faster version of hyperspace?
[edit] Trivia
- The novelisation hints that the Thirdspace aliens might be the Cthulhu as those possessed by the Thirdspace aliens chant the same lines from the book, At the Mountains of Madness, over and over again.
- The Mongoose Publishing rpg books for Babylon 5 states that the alien race known as the Hand are servants of the Thirdspace Aliens, however, this is not to be considered canon.
