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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
-
- G'Kar brings news of a terrible new enemy. The arrival of
- Sheridan's sister opens up old wounds for the new commander. Dr.
- Franklin employs an unorthodox procedure to try to bring Garibaldi
- out of his coma. Delenn's mysterious change is completed.
- [15]Beverly Leech as Elizabeth Sheridan. [16]Macaulay Bruton as
- Garibaldi's aide.
-
- Sub-genre: Drama
- [17]P5 Rating: [18]8.40
-
- Production number: 202
- Original air date: November 9, 1994
-
- Written by J. Michael Straczynski
- Directed by Jim Johnston
-
- Watch For:
-
- * [19]A magically refilling drink.
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Backplot
-
- * Sheridan's wife Anna was killed two years ago when her ship
- exploded on its way to explore the recently discovered ruins of an
- ancient civilization on the Rim.
- * The Book of G'Quan, the holy book of G'Kar's religion (cf. [20]"By
- Any Means Necessary") mentions an ancient enemy that rose to power
- a thousand years in the past, a power so great it nearly
- overwhelmed the stars themselves. And the book contains drawings
- suspiciously siimilar to the Shadows' ships.
-
- Unanswered Questions
-
- * Is Delenn's new appearance an outward transformation, a complete
- physical rebirth, or something even more fundamental?
- * What exactly has she become?
- * Was the result what she thought it would be? She didn't seem to
- know what had happened to her when she first emerged from the
- chrysalis; clearly she didn't go into the process with detailed
- knowledge of the outcome.
- * How much does G'Kar suspect about Londo's involvement with the
- Shadows?
- * Why did President Clark order Garibaldi's aide returned to Earth?
- Was he aware that the clandestine transfer would take place, or
- did someone else arrange that to stop the prisoner from being
- interrogated by Clark's people?
-
- Analysis
-
- * The Book of G'Quan, assuming G'Kar was describing the text itself
- rather than his interpretation, says that the ancient enemy came
- from the rim of known space, the planet Z'ha'dum. That implies
- that the Narns, or some among them, were technologically advanced
- at least a thousand years ago; otherwise they would presumably
- have had no way of knowing the origin of the enemy, certainly not
- well enough to locate its home planet. Given that they are not
- particularly advanced compared to the other major races, one of
- three things must have happened:
- 1. Some event, possibly the last great war, reduced their
- capabilities enough that they had to start nearly from
- scratch.
- 2. They advanced technologically at a very slow pace, or not at
- all, over the past millenium.
- 3. Another race used the Narn (or their world) in the war,
- departing when it was over and leaving the Narn with only
- legends of the great enemy.
- If the second is true, it's possible that some of the other races
- acquired _their_ technology from the Narns, an interesting twist
- on the established idea that the Narns are obsessed with obtaining
- technology from others (cf. [21]"The Gathering.")
- * When G'Kar's wingman crashed into the Shadow fighter, the Shadow
- ship appeared to writhe in pain. It appears that employing living
- technology is a common trait of the very advanced civilizations
- (cf. [22]"Infection.") The question naturally arises: are the
- Shadow ships _ships_ in the traditional sense, with crews or
- pilots aboard, or are they autonomous entities?
- * The fact that a one-man Narn fighter was able to destroy a Shadow
- ship implies that the Shadows can be overcome by force, assuming
- they aren't so numerous as to overwhelm all their opponents.
- * Delenn flat-out lied when she said her government approved her
- transformation (cf. [23]"Points of Departure.") Yet they have made
- no move to replace her as ambassador. Perhaps they fear the
- consequences of working against the prophecy more than they fear
- what she's doing.
- * Dr. Franklin hasn't tried the healing machine on anyone, not even
- experimentally. Perhaps he hasn't been studying it -- which seems
- strange, given its potential to utterly revolutionize the practice
- of medicine. Now that he knows it works, he may be more inclined
- to use it in the future, possibly in place of hazardous
- conventional treatments.
- * Anna Sheridan's research vessel was destroyed in an apparent
- accident on the Rim, on its way to explore an ancient
- civilization. The similarities to the destruction of the Narn ship
- sent by G'Kar are too great to ignore. She very possibly was
- killed by the Shadows, something which won't endear them to
- Sheridan if he learns about it. If that's true, the question of
- how the ruins of the civilization were discovered in the first
- place remains unanswered.
-
- Notes
-
- * The poem G'Kar read to Na'Toth is from "The Second Coming" by W.
- B. Yeats (quoted sections emphasized):
-
- Turning and turning in the widening gyre
- The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
- _Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
- Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
- The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
- The ceremony of innocence is drowned;_
- The best lack all conviction, while the worst
- Are full of passionate intensity.
-
- Surely some revelation is at hand;
- Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
- The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
- When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
- Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
- A shape with lion body and the head of a man
- A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
- Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
- Reel shadows of the indigant desert birds.
- The darkness drops again; but now I know
- That twenty centuries of stony sleep
- Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
- _And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
- Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?_
- * Garibaldi's aide is named Jack, though it's easy to miss;
- Garibaldi mentions the name once after Talia leaves medlab and he
- speaks to Franklin and Ivanova.
- * The closed captioning spells G'Quan "Sh'Quon," but JMS has used
- the shorter spelling on several occasions, so it's the one used
- here.
- * Continuity gaffe: In the scene with Sheridan and his sister in his
- quarters, he drains his drink, walks toward the bar, and before he
- gets there, the glass refills and he drains it again.
-
- jms speaks
-
- * Re: the ever-improving CGI...there's an action scene in the teaser
- of the second episode, "Revelations," that is particularly
- amazing. And there is one shot of a Narn ship in extreme close-up
- toward the end of the scene that looks absolutely *solid*, and
- every bit as real and detailed as any model, and then some. It
- cannot be distinguished from a physical object.
- * One aspect of the Yeats quote, and the Lincoln quote, and the
- Tennyson quote(s), and the many others, is that I think a lot of
- folks at some point tuned out of, or aren't interested in,
- literature and poetry because they've never really been exposed to
- it. So just to be a little subversive, I work some of it into the
- show. I choose that which has meaning to the show, and the
- characters, in the hopes that (as has happened here), viewers will
- dig out the original material and be exposed to some *really*
- nifty writing. Granted that television must entertain at minimum;
- it should also elevate and ennoble and educate, and this is too
- good an opportunity to waste, provided one does not become
- didactic about it.
- * Speaking of looking into the abyss...which comes from
- "Revelations," it's a partial quote. Neitzsche: "When you look
- into the abyss, the abyss looks also into you."
- * Re: inconsistent writing and Narns...please bear in mind that
- there are two ways to encounter shadowmen: going out there, and
- them coming in to see YOU. The Narns need not be (and were not)
- spacefaring when they encountered the shadowmen. Or, more
- accurately, were encountered BY them.
- * Copies of the evidence were made, but the question is what is the
- available evidence to BE copied? Frankly, there isn't much. There
- are no witnesses, very little physical evidence. If you tried to
- make a case with what they've got, you'd be laughed out of the
- courtroom.
- * Yes, since you've sussed it...the plan was to turn Delenn from
- male to female in "Chrysalis," in my original plans, as well as
- making her half-human. And yes, it would've had one hell of an
- impact...but my concern when I made that decision not do do this
- back in the pilot was based on the reality that we couldn't do it
- well. The "male" voice, altered by computer-enhancement, just
- sounded REAL bogus; we couldn't get it right, and I had to decide
- between dropping it, and doing something the people would rightly
- describe as lame all season, just for one big payoff. It was a
- tough call, but it had to be made.
- * _Why does Delenn's hair go under her bone ridge?_
- When Delenn's structure changed, the epidermal layer on the head
- grew thinner; there is now a gap between the skin, and the bone
- which has grown out. Hair can be draped through it, or laid over
- it.
- * Correct; the Narn bridge is CGI. Re: the explosion...we shot a lot
- of live pyrotechnics for Ron's use; but don't recall offhand which
- was used here, live or CGI.
- * Anna chose to take Sheridan's last name. Her decision. You have
- the option. Some do, some don't. If you start to pass rules that
- no woman CAN take her husband's name or she's betraying something,
- then you're being just as restrictive as those who insist a woman
- MUST take her husband's name. Me, I'm pro-choice on every level.
- She felt like it.
- (And I note that my own spousal overunit kept her own name. But
- then, who in her right mind WOULD take Straczynski...?)
- * Another thing that can be now re-interpreted is the look on Jack's
- face when Garibaldi didn't go for the whitewash of the security
- guard's financial records in "Sky," and how that body managed to
- get out of the station without security being aware of it....
- * Next week, in "Revelations," you get G'Kar, Londo, Delenn,
- Lennier, Na'Toth, Kosh, Garibaldi, Talia and everybody else.
- Because there was SO much happening in #1, that got slid back a
- bit; also, there's a fair amount of time required for everything
- to do what they're supposed to be doing. (Note that we're
- operating pretty much in real-time; "Points" is around 8 days
- after the events of "Chrysalis," and "Revelations" is about
- another week after that.)
- One thing I noted here some time ago, as a large part of the
- reason I dropped "to be continued" from "Chrysalis" is that this
- is more of a three-parter than a two, and some threads pulled in
- "Chrysalis" won't be fully resolved in some ways until the third
- and fourth episodes. There is a LOT going on, and if we try to
- cram it all into one episode (as I at first tried with "Chrysalis,
- Part Two") you don't give ANY of them the proper time to have any
- impact.
- Finally, we're getting new people sampling the first episode of
- the season, as is true of most shows. Thus, you have to put into
- dialogue a fair amount of stuff that otherwise you could just
- imply or rely on past experience/prior knowledge. So you kind of
- introduce the newbies to the situation, and that requires a fair
- amount of exposition. This is pretty much localized to "Points,"
- however; with the next episode, we're up to full speed. Episode 2
- deals with as many issues/plotlines as "Chrysalis," with the main
- difference being that here, they're *resolved* rather than left
- hanging.
- * Yes, generally stories are self-contained, but in the case of
- season endings like "Chrysalis," it takes time to get everything
- back up and running again. The bigger the explosion, the longer it
- takes to clean up the mess.
- * Re: Lennier, the Grey Council fellow said, "Tell them what we've
- told YOU," not someone else. Just to clarify.
- * [Talia's] not seeing the shooter from outside Garibaldi's POV.
- That shot in particular is *exactly* from Garibaldi's POV. It's a
- lot like what is done in hypnosis, going back into somebody's
- memory and dragging out details they might have seen but not
- noted; the eye sees more than the brain recalls at any given
- moment. When we shot that scene, I was on-set, and the camera was
- put *exactly* where Garibaldi was standing, so we'd be very
- careful that it WAS his point of view. So though I hate to
- contradict you, it's not "a stupid plot hole from hell."
- * Oh, I'm quite sure there was backup made of the data. But step
- back for a moment and ask what that entails, and will any of it
- stand up in ANY court of law? There's a difference between that
- which we knor or (make that know or) believe, and that which we
- can prove. Without the one most important piece of all,
- Garibaldi's aide, the rest is speculative, inconclusive,
- circumstantial and conjectural.
- * Yes, if Laurel had stayed with the station, either she would have
- pulled the trigger on Garibaldi, or been directly involved in
- other ways.
- * "Morden is the mongoose."
- So what's needed now is a conveniently placed cobra....
- * The platform seen in the opening of "Revelations" is a hazardous
- materials platform, which is still cleaning up the radioactive
- debris and other stuff from the blown Minbari cruiser in the last
- ep.
- * _About Na'Toth's change of actresses_
- The actor wanted to pursue other avenues. She'd primarily worked
- as a romantic lead in films, then came in at the last minute to
- help with season one. She then wanted to go back to that. The
- character stayed because we need the character to have some prior
- knowledge of the situation, rather than bringing in somebody new.
- * Re: Na'Toth...you have to remember this was not our decision, but
- rather Caitlin's, in order to pursue some romantic lead parts. We
- made an offer equal to the other cast, but she opted out to pursue
- films. We cast the best actor to come in the door to fill
- Na'Toth's boots, and we need that character there because of the
- prior knowledge she needs to have to fill her role in the story.
- Mary Kay is, I think, trying to reinterpret the character. We're
- nudging in the other direction. One way or another, this will be
- made to work.
- * Actually, no, it's not a rumor; I'd mentioned this some time ago,
- but apparently some didn't see it....
- So to repeat: we'd had to replace Mary Woronov with virtually no
- notice after we found that she really had a hard time with the
- narn prosthetics (wouldn't wear the contacts, and other stuff). In
- a panic, our casting director called in a favor from Caitlin
- Brown, who is mainly a leading-lady type actor. She came in and,
- in fact, for the first episode (shooting almost immediately
- afterward) wore a variation of the Ko'Dath makeup, because there
- wasn't time to make one specific to her.
- She came in without being under the 5-year option that generally
- exists in these situations. Did one year, about 9 episodes, as
- Na'Toth. And had to turn down a couple of leading-female parts.
- During the hiatus, she did a romantic lead character in a film
- with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. And had to ask the hard
- question: do I continue to grow as a romantic lead actor in
- feature films, or play Na'Toth? She is a VERY gorgeous woman, and
- felt awkward hiding behind the mask and cutting herself out of
- leading female parts in feature films to do it.
- We went 'round and 'round about this for some time, it was a very
- difficult decision for her because she likes the show and everyone
- here, but finally opted out. On one level it's a pain in the butt,
- but we respect her decision. And it *is* her call, not ours.
- (Quick aside...pfffttthhpplttt to those who, in their theory that
- Sinclair/O'Hare quit, said that I'd naturally say it was mutual
- because I could never say it was the actors choice because somehow
- I'd get in trouble. No, I *would* say it if O'Hare had opted out
- on his own. And in this case, that's exactly what happened.)
- We didn't recast Sinclair because that character is going
- somewhere from whence he may (and will) return, and because that
- serves the story; in this case, we are recasting Na'Toth. By the
- end of season one, Na'Toth knows stuff that I need that character,
- G'Kar's aide, to know. (Though I was briefly tempted to do the
- Murphy Brown Secretary line, with G'Kar getting a new aide every
- so often due to terrible airlock accidents...but I went to lay
- down for a while and the notion passed.)
- So no, it's not a rumor, it's quite true. In fact, we just
- finished up a casting session and found someone who's very right
- for the part; and though we weren't confined to this, is actually
- about the same height, same build, same attitude as Caitlin, and
- whose voice is very similar. I don't think much difference will be
- noted in the long run, really.
- * The Narn aren't waiting. Or, more accurately, G'Kar isn't. The
- rest of the Kha'Ri (Narn inner circle government) are still
- somewhat skeptical.
- The Minbari know the shape of what's coming, but they know full
- well that if they go to us with this, we won't believe them;
- there's still enough residual dislike over the war that they feel
- we have to find this out for ourselves (and we will).
- * Let's just say for now that about a thousand years ago, Narn was
- used as a lay-over and supply spot for a Shadowman group that
- landed there for a time, and used it briefly as a base of
- operations.
- * Re: "switching places"...this is *exactly* what I noted early on;
- the intent to set up in the very beginning a situation where those
- who've seen basic SF before on the tube will go, "Oh, okay, I got
- it ...this is the Bad Guy, this is the Good Guy, this is the Comic
- Relief, this is the Ally," and so on, because that's generally
- what's been the case in TV SF; you set up the various sides from
- day one, and virtually nobody moves.
- So you get them to rely on their conditioning, then you begin to
- move the chairs around, so suddenly what you THOUGHT was the good
- guy is maybe something else; and what you THOUGHT was the comic
- relief is a tragic and dark figure; and what you THOUGHT was the
- bad guy is maybe one of the real heroes of the story. And you try
- and make the path that results in those changes as interesting,
- moving, or scary as possible.
- * Of course Londo realizes he's being...not exactly set up, but that
- he's getting into a very bad situation. But on the other hand, he
- sees that perhaps this is his last chance to grab for something
- more than what he is; he's not a young man anymore, and offers
- such as this, even though he knows there will be a price someday
- (as he states to Morden), do not come along every day.
- Here is the key to characterization: who is your character, what
- does he want, how far will he go to get it, and what is he
- prepared to lose in that process?
- * Morden is human.
- Morden dat I can't say.
- * Actually, G'Kar's makeup wasn't changed this year; the actor put
- on a few pounds over hiatus, which shows in the face, which
- changes how the prosthetic looks. This was dropped very quickly by
- Andreas, however, and the makeup has adjusted itself. (Hell, we
- all put on a few pounds during hiatus.)
- * Oddly, the new makeup takes *longer* for Mira than the old, which
- went on in a couple of fairly straightforward pieces. Now there's
- a lot more detail work and more pieces.
- Also, the intent is that G'Kar looked at both Sheridan and Londo,
- not sure which of them may have leaked the info, though I think
- the editing may have focused too much on Londo in that shot.
- * The only time a name is associated with his aide is when Garibaldi
- refers to him later, at which time he just says Jack.
- * _Jack had had contact with the PsiCops in "Mind War"_
- No, Jack wasn't *seduced* at that time ...but he WAS there to meet
- them, and escort them to see Sinclair. Why him? Perhaps a contact
- there...?
- * _What would be different if there hadn't been cast changes after
- "The Gathering?"_
- The only problem with answering how things would've been different
- is that some information might get out by inference about how
- things might still *be*. However, to do what I can with the
- question (never let it be said I don't try to accommodate....).
- If Lyta had stayed on B5, her arc would be pretty close to that of
- Talia, except that she would have begun to form a strong link to
- Kosh, first in the form of dreams, then something with
- implications that could be read as menacing or benign.
- If Dr. Kyle would have stayed around, he would have moved more
- into the position of advisor/paternal figure for Sinclair. He also
- would have continued to be more scientist than doctor.
- Takashima would have been revealed as having been in on the Vorlon
- assassination attempt by season's end, and would have betrayed
- Garibaldi in the events in "Chrysalis," either giving him over to
- those involved with the coup, or pulling the trigger herself.
- While we would know this, our characters would not, for as much as
- another full season.
- Carolyn Sykes would've gotten into major trouble with one of the
- major EarthCorps.
- Finally, if Sinclair had stayed with B5 at this juncture, the
- events in "Points" (the reveal of the Minbari surrender) would've
- taken place in episode 3 instead of 1. Episode 1 would've
- consisted mainly of the events in "Revelations," which was mainly
- as a bystander to the events around him, since the sister aspect
- specific to Sheridan obviously wouldn't be there. Basically, with
- all the events surrounding Delenn, Londo, G'Kar and others, he
- didn't have one whole hell of a lot to *DO* in the first six to
- eight episodes, since that segment was set aside primarily to
- introduce the Shadowman war and get that cranking, and Sinclair
- had no real direct connection to that.
-
-
- [29][Next]
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- [30]Last update: February 17, 1998
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