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The ''Omega''-class destroyer is a fictional vessel used by Earthforce, the military branch of the Earth Alliance, in the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5''. The CGI model of the ship created through an early version of Lightwave made its first appearance during the opening scene of the opening episode of the second season, "Points Of Departure", which was initially aired in the United states on November 2nd, 1994. It also appears in the later, and short lived, ''Crusade'' television series, the TV movies ''A Call to Arms'' and ''In the Beginning'' as well as ''The Lost Tales'' (the first in an anthology series which were to be released on DVD, now aborted due to funding issues) plus a number of written short stories and novels based in the same Fictional universe. ==Origin and design== As with most of the computer generated models seen in the first 3 seasons of Babylon 5, the ''Omega'' was both designed and built by a member of Foundation Imaging. In this instance, Paul Bryant who co-founded the company in 1992 with partner Ron Thornton. The model was referred to as the "Aggie" in house due to the name of the first ship to appear in the script, the ''Agamemnon''. The original, fully detailed version contained over 250,000 polygons although it was designed so that layers of detail could easily be removed to reduce the polygon count.〔Creating layers of model detail described in page 5 of Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz interview at B5Scrolls.]〕 This was necessary due to the limits of the computer systems at the time, primarily the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) they could use. Removing detail (and thus the number of polygons) would permit reduced rendering times and allow the computer animations for the various television episodes to be created in a practical time scale due to the tight production schedules. This stripping down process was normally only required when a large number of models appeared in an animated sequence (such as the season 4 episode "Endgame") and was usually limited to the vessels appearing in the background. The closer adherence to real physics with regards to how human (not alien) vessels would be portrayed in Babylon 5 was introduced by Foundation Imagining and is the reason for the inclusion of rotating sections to designs, such as the ''Omega'', in order to emulate artificial gravity. The design also originally included a complex engine design to continue the theme of a more scientifically realistic approach, as it was necessary to accurately portray how such a massive spacecraft, with a large rotating section, could maneuver.
The final, time saving and less problematic, design which Bryant used was partially modeled on WWII pulse engines similar to those seen on the German V-1 flying bomb. This design bore similarities to Syd Mead's design of the Leonov, a fictional Russian space ship that appeared in the 1984 movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact. When asked for an explanation, J. Michael Straczynski stated on the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated newsgroup:
However, years later Paul Bryant shed light on the subject:
The ''Omega'' was also designed to appear both un-aerodynamic and imposing. Part of this approach was the inclusion of what later became known as the 'hammer head' by some fans of the show. Namely, the 'cheeks' on either side of the forward-facing fighter recovery bay which were inspired by the Smoke deflectors (or lifters) that appeared on some later steam locomotives. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Omega-class destroyer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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