B5: Point of No Return

[ORCACommander]

and we see the true name in marcus

[Darth Wedgius]

Yes, most of the Security people who went over to the Night Watch were not necessarily bad, they just did not have the conviction that Garibaldi had to say "no" to these orders.

In fairness, many may have simply bought the alien conspiracy story put out by EarthGov. They're lower-decks personnel; they don't have the knowledge that the main characters do.
I don't know if that was intentional on JMS's part or not, but B5 often did a great job dealing with who knows what, who can be allowed to know what, and the occasionally high price of secrets.

[Madner Kami]

It's also easy to forget, because the Earth Alliance somehow appears as a power-house among the major powers by the time B5's story is told, but Humanity very recently, literally only a decade ago, faced total and complete annihilation and extinction by an alien superpower. It's easy to be paranoid under such circumstances.

[Naldiin]

It's also easy to forget, because the Earth Alliance somehow appears as a power-house among the major powers by the time B5's story is told, but Humanity very recently, literally only a decade ago, faced total and complete annihilation and extinction by an alien superpower. It's easy to be paranoid under such circumstances.

I don't think I'd say 'power-house.' The state-of-play in Season 1 (before things get crazy) suggests that the common perception is that there are five 'great powers" (states powerful enough to stand on their own): The Mimbari, the Vorlons, the Earth Alliance, the Centuari Republic, and the Narn Regime. We see characters, especially in Season 1 and 2, try to interact with the Vorlons on this basis and fail (both Sinclair and Sheridan's early efforts at contact) because, of course, the Vorlons aren't part of a 'great power' system, but rather a superpower that doesn't do anything.

In the remaining Great Power system, the Mimbari are, unquestioned, the strongest, but also isolated. The power relationship, at the show's beginning, between the Narn, the Centuari and the Earth Alliance is unclear - none of them have fought each other. What we see suggests that the Centuari have been vastly underestimated by most people: while the Shadows help them win, even without direct Shadow aid, the Centuari are actually a lot stronger than the Narn, and probably the Earth Alliance. Everyone assumes that the Centuari were a spent force: everyone was terribly wrong.

Thus, if we were ranking great powers, I think we'd say 0) Vorlons, 1) Mimbari, 2) Centuari, 3) Earth Alliance, 4) Narn.

That fits with what we see in terms of technology. Narn ships have no artificial gravity, human ships have limited artificial gravity, Centuari ships have full artificial gravity, and Mimbari ships appear to not only have artificial gravity, but also reactionless drives and advanced jamming/stealth tech.

The rest of what you've said is totally fair - I think the paranoia is heightened by the probably sobering realization in Earth Dome that even the Centuari - those silly, decadent Centuari - are actually far more dangerous than anyone thought.

[Wargriffin]

Cause Everybody was far more dangerous then the EA maybe except the Narn who had the numbers advantage well before the Narn Centauri war

The EA had stumbled out into the Galaxy and had pulled off a miracle win against the Dilgar with League support 'and then the supernova did the rest'

The Minbari fiasco was spurred on by Human Hubris 'WE dealt with the Dilgar, We can Handle the Minbari" and then the EA got its ass kicked inside out

Its Funny that the Centauri and The Minbari pretty much gave each other a wide berth... perhaps the Minbari knew exactly the type of sleeping dragon the Centauri could be if motivated, It explains the way Delenn treats G'kar like a blow hard not realizing the fight he is getting into.

once the war starts even without the Shadows help the Centauri with the kids gloves off are wiping the floor with the Narn even in battles where the Narn have superior numbers

Hell if you take Voices into account the Centauri are still capable of breaking out of the Alliance and ravaging the EA section which would have had years of Minbari tech sharing.

[Beastro]

Morella's prophecy only doesn't make sense if you consider the desired outcome to be Londo saving himself and not Londo saving his people and the Centauri's future.

since we're on a Star Trek mets B5 bent

Londo to me kinda has Worf's deal... Londo starts thinking he'll make the Centauri great again and he'll enjoy the wealth and glory but by the end Those things don't matter only his Race's future concern.

Similar to how Worf will do the Honorably thing for Honor and The Empire's sake like in Sins of the Father

I think Worf by the end was more on par with G'kar's arc. Which makes sense. From the Pilot movie the Narn were telegraphed to be the shows Klingons in every way possible. Overbearing arrogant militaristic. From the first moments we were led to see G'kar as our standard SCi Fi Villain following the TOS Klingon trope. JMS tricked us using the common story language of SF of the day. Then it slowly got turned on its head. By the end none of the characters or races are black and white. We see the evil in the holy Mimbari. We see compassion even in Londo. We see the true nature of faith in G'kar.

I only had a passing feel that they were like the Klingons getting into it.

What's always stood out and screamed at me about the Narn has been them being like post-Colonial Africa and how things have gone for it.

It's also easy to forget, because the Earth Alliance somehow appears as a power-house among the major powers by the time B5's story is told, but Humanity very recently, literally only a decade ago, faced total and complete annihilation and extinction by an alien superpower. It's easy to be paranoid under such circumstances.

The EA is more akin to Italy or Japan in the 19th Century, a newly risen power that was clearly not a minor one, but still was new enough, and weak enough, for them to be included with the Great Powers only just barely and that being defined more than anything by them taking the lead during the Dilgar War and showing that they stood out from the rest to get such a reaction.

Their actions during the Dilgar War have a vibe of the Spanish-American War with the EA looking for a cause to prove themselves with and gain prestige from in the hierarchy of powers as a result.