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- ### GUIDE ### [3][Background] [4][Synopsis] [5][Credits] [6][Episode
- List] [7][Previous] [8][Next]
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- _Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
- - [13]Notes - [14]JMS
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Overview
-
- A violent attack on a Minbari poet rocks B5 and leaves Sinclair
- scrambling to flush out a vicious pro-Earth group. Two star-crossed
- young Centauri lovers seek Londo's protection. Ivanova is shaken
- when a man from her past arrives at the outpost. [15]Nancy Lee
- Grahn as Shaal Mayan. [16]Danica McKellar as Aria Tensus.
- [17]Rodney Eastman as Kiron Maray. [18]Tristan Rogers as Malcolm
- Biggs. [19]Michael Paul Chan as Roberts.
-
- Sub-genre: Suspense
- [20]P5 Rating: [21]6.82
-
- Production number: 107
- Original air date: March 9, 1994
-
- Written by D. C. Fontana
- Directed by Richard Compton
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Backplot
-
- * The Homeguard, a radical pro-Earth group, has wide support among
- humans, and is growing in popularity back on Earth.
- * Shaal Mayan is a renowned Minbari poet. "I create and perform
- Tee'la," she says: "poem songs that attempt to recall old memories
- and prompt new ideas."
- * The only two human beings ever to have direct contact with a
- Vorlon have since been transferred to Earth - Dr. Kyle to work
- closely with the president (cf "[22]Infection"), and the telepath
- Lyta Alexander just a week later. Neither of them shared their
- experiences with anyone on the station. (cf [23]"The Gathering")
- * Londo has [24]three wives, all of them arranged marriages, all of
- them "great sacrifices." "They inspire me! Knowing that they are
- waiting at home for me is what keeps me here, [25]75 light years
- away."
- * Ivanova used to be involved with a fellow named [26]Malcolm Biggs,
- but left him when she enlisted in Earth Force 8 years ago.
- * More insight into Londo's personality and Minbari beliefs:
- _Mayan:_ Ambassador, you should listen to the girl. We Minbari
- consider love to be a most potent force for healing. She cares
- deeply for him. Such feelings can turn the tide when all else
- fails.
- _Londo:_ Oh I see. And if he dies, despite this great power of lo-
- _Mayan:_ _If he dies,_ she will suffer enormous grief, but every
- moment together will make her grief a little less.
- _Londo:_ I would expect such logic from a poet. What can a Minbari
- know about Centauri feeling?
- _Mayan:_ Ambassador, I have traveled far and seen much. And what I
- have seen tells me that all sentient beings are defined by their
- capacity and need for love.
- _Londo:_ And she will learn to live without it!
- _Mayan:_ As you did?
- * [later...]
- _Vir:_ Kiron may die because our "glorious" tradition values
- wealth and power over _love._
- _Londo:_ My shoes are too tight.
- _Vir:_ Excuse me?
- _Londo:_ Something my father said. He was old, very old at the
- time. I went into his room, and he was sitting alone in the dark,
- crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "My shoes are
- too tight, but it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to
- dance." I never understood what that meant until now. _My_ shoes
- are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.
-
- Unanswered Questions
-
- * The black light camouflage suits worn by the Homeguard henchmen
- were developed by Earth Force; friends of [27]Malcolm's procured
- some prototypes for them. Is a faction of Earth Force actually
- backing the Homeguard for its own reasons?
- * Londo seems to have had a troubled childhood (see [28]Backplot).
- What happened that he's so aggressive and melancholy? None of the
- other Centauri seem particularly so.
- * Why is Kosh studying human history, as [29]Sinclair's conversation
- with him appears to reveal, especially when he says "We have no
- interest in the affairs of others?" Perhaps for some reason Kosh
- does not consider humans "others." Or perhaps by "affairs" he
- meant the passing events of the day, as compared to the millennia
- of a civilization.
-
- Analysis
-
- * The Homeguard sign branded onto Shaal Mayan's forehead is a
- combination of male and female symbols from ancient Greek mythos.
- Perhaps it's a contemporary symbol for humankind.
- * Vir passed himself off as the Centauri ambassador in letters to
- his cousins, and later [30]rebukes Londo to his face about his
- decision on the matter. This is quite bold compared to the
- quavering fop he's been before.
- * Londo's nicknames for his wives are "Pestilence, Famine, and
- Death" - three of the four horsemen of the apocalypse from ancient
- Christian mythos. Who is the fourth horseman War? Perhaps Londo
- himself.
- * [31]Talking to Kosh about the attacks on non-humans, Sinclair
- breaks off right after asking him to "lend a hand." Not long later
- Sinclair wonders aloud to Ivanova how an assassin had managed to
- poison Kosh on the "hand," _through_ his encounter suit. (cf
- [32]"The Gathering")
- * Sinclair was brusque and callous to Delenn and the Abbai
- agricultural representative at the diplomatic reception. He also
- declared to the assembled Council that the hate-crime
- investigation was closed, offering neither arrests nor evidence of
- safety. This was part of his ruse to win the Homeguard's trust,
- but he may still have injured his reputation with other races.
- * The Homeguard plot on the station was, according to its leader
- Malcolm Biggs, part of a much bigger plot to kill prominent aliens
- all over the Earth Alliance.
- * Black light camouflage is a similar technology to the chameleon
- net the assassin used in [33]"The Gathering." However, it requires
- an entire body-suit and only works while the user is motionless.
- No mention was made of what was done with the four suits captured
- with the Homeguard henchmen - Garibaldi may have stashed them away
- somewhere. And it's unlikely that those were the only four suits
- in existence; perhaps the technology will be seen again (cf.
- [34]"Babylon Squared".)
-
- Notes
-
- * Mayan, a childhood friend of Delenn's, arrived on the station on a
- tour of other worlds. Earth was to have been her next stop.
- * _Mayan_ (of her attacker): "All I could see was a shadow. It was a
- shadow, that is all I know."
- (cf [35]"Signs and Portents", perhaps?)
- * Ivanova is illegally growing coffee in the station hydroponics
- area.
- * Kosh speaks.
- [...]
- _Sinclair:_ Meanwhile it might be helpful if you spoke with the
- other ambassadors.
- _Kosh:_ We take no interest in the affairs of others.
- _Sinclair:_ Well I hope you'll reconsider. If you could give us a
- hand, we -
- _Kosh:_ Yes?
- _Sinclair:_ Nothing. We'll respect your wishes. [pause]
- That's quite a viewer. I've never seen anything like it before.
- What is it?
- _Kosh:_ Efficient.
- _Sinclair:_ Those are images from my world. If I may ask, what are
- you -
- _Kosh:_ I am studying.
- _Sinclair:_ Studying what?
- _Kosh:_ [shuts down]
- * The images on Kosh's levitating viewer were zoom-ins on pictorial
- records from Earth history throughout the span of its
- civilization.
-
- jms speaks
-
- * Correct; the title of "The War Prayer" is a nod to [36]Twain's
- piece of the same name, which should be read by *everyone*. Given
- the growing problems with illiteracy, I try to refer not to pop
- society so much, as to literature...Tennyson, Twain, even writers
- whose last names don't begin with T.
- * Of course, you're assuming that a Centauri year is the same as our
- year. The speed of light is constant...but defined by us by our
- own 12-month year. For instance, in one episode, we mention that
- B5 is 12 of our light years from the Narn homeworld, which is
- equal to about 10 of their years.
- So without knowing the Centauri year, the figures are faulty.
- * For those out there who still think the skin tab getting through
- Kosh's encounter suit was an error...we're going to be dealing
- with that, and some other interesting threads in [this] episode.
- Sinclair comments on the whole question of how the poison ever got
- into him...and notes how curious it is that, within weeks of that
- incident, Dr. Kyle was transferred back to Earth to work directly
- with the Earth Alliance President on matters of alien immigration,
- and Lyta Alexander was similarly transferred a week or so after
- that. The only two people to have personal knowledge of a Vorlon
- have been shipped off and possibly locked up.
- * By the way...on the Kosh poisoning thread, which was originally to
- be discussed in "Parliament"...we ended up about 3 minutes long on
- "Parliament," and three minutes short on D.C. Fontana's "War
- Prayer." So we lifted that scene and inserted it into her episode,
- doing a small bit of ADR to facilitate the move. It's now quite
- seamless.
- * _Why was Delenn unfamiliar with poetry in [37]"The Gathering?"_
- For the Minbari, it's tee'la, which is a kind of poem-song, sort
- of. Delenn was mainly just unfamiliar with the term.
- * Y'know...it's a funny old world. And sometimes it just astonishes
- you.
- About 2 months ago, one of our freelancers turned in a script that
- has to do with a hate group, in the course of which a guest
- character -- a Minbari -- is attacked and has her head branded
- with the symbol of the group.
- So you will doubtless understand my astonishment when I turned on
- DS9 and saw the same thing happen.
- Unfortunately, we've already shot that episode, it's in the can,
- so ther nothing we can do about it now. Further -- and let me be
- totally clear about this -- there's no way that DS9 could've
- borrowed the idea from us, or in any way been influence by us, and
- no way we could've been influenced by them. To get on the air now,
- they would've had to shoot their episode some time before the
- writer turned in that draft for our show. And none of us were in
- any way aware of what was going on there until we saw it the night
- of the broadcast...and came in the next day with looks of absolute
- shock.
- These things do happen...and when you're dealing with similar
- general areas -- humans vs. aliens, or one alien group vs. another
- alien group -- then something like this becomes inevitable. And
- given the foreheads on Ferengi, and the foreheads on Minbari, the
- obviousness of that target becomes clear. Still, it's amazing when
- it happens. And I guess I just wanted it to be clear when this
- thing airs that the sequence in our show was in the can and done
- when the DS9 episode aired.
- * We're in discussions to see if there's any way we can cut this
- from the show...the only problem is that the brand stays on
- throughout the show. If it were just in one shot, we'd cut the
- shot and find some other way around it. The only way we can lose
- it now would be if we literally wiped off the brand by going into
- every frame in which it appears and digitally removing it from the
- frame...which is a *real* pain in the butt...but we are
- considering it.
- * The points made above are essentially correct; the brand goes on
- in the very top of the show, in the teaser, and stay on throughout
- the episode...and part of the story is dealing with this, and what
- it means. An offer is made to remove it, but the victim decides
- *not* to have it removed, because there are lessons in these
- things...and it becomes almost a badge of defiance.
- In addition to the notes here, I've received a whole bunch of
- email notes saying to leave it in, on the grounds that it *does*
- happen in real life (or incidents close to it), and how we're
- handling it *is* very different. (Some indicated that it can
- illustrate how the two hows handle their themes in different
- ways.) So it's a tough call ...to change would also mean some
- re-shooting...but given the responses here, I think it's okay to
- leave it in place.
- File this one away the next time someone asks, "What sort of ways
- has the BBS discussion actually affected Babylon 5?"
- * There is some limited life within the garden...some birds (which
- you can hear sometimes), and insects, and the like. (In one shot
- you can see an insect fly off one of our actors. Yeah, sure, like
- we planned that....) It's generally one season in the Garden, and
- plants requiringvariation are raised in a separate hydroponics
- area, such as the orchard (seen in "War Prayer").
- * Lennier is not in the cargo area during the beating, nor is he in
- BG during the negotiations. That's a Minbari of the worker class.
- (You can generally tell from the orange-ish smock-thingie they
- wear.) Sorry.
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Originally compiled by Matthew Ryan _matt@uhs.uchicago.edu_
-
- [43][Next]
-
- [44]Last update: August 8, 1997
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- References
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