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- ### GUIDE ### [3][Background] [4][Synopsis] [5][Credits] [6][Episode
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- _Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
- - [13]Notes - [14]JMS
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Overview
-
- Sheridan is in hot water when he kills a Minbari warrior in
- self-defense. [15]Caitlin Brown as Guinevere Corey. [16]Sean
- Gregory Sullivan as Ashan.
-
- Sub-genre: Mystery
- [17]P5 Rating: [18]7.75
-
- Production number: 215
- Original air date: April 26, 1995
-
- Written by Peter David
- Directed by Mike Vejar
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Backplot
-
- * Minbari clans are like close-knit families. One surrenders some of
- one's identity to the clan, and in return the clan is expected to
- shoulder the responsibility for one's actions. Despite this, clan
- leaders sometimes engage in secret plots without the knowledge of
- the clan members at large.
- * Sheridan's tactics in the Earth-Minbari War (cf. [19]"Points of
- Departure") are considered completely without honor by many
- Minbari; he used a fake distress signal to lure the Black Star
- into a minefield.
- * Vir was considered a failure by his family. He was sent to Babylon
- 5 at their behest, mostly to get him out of their hair. There was
- little competition for the post, which was thought to be something
- of a joke.
-
- Unanswered Questions
-
- * What was Sheridan supposed to learn from Kosh's lesson? (see
- [20]Analysis)
- * How did Kosh know what Sheridan would find in the chamber?
- * Who were the people living there?
- * Will Vir's family take him up on Londo's offer?
- * What fate awaits the teddy bear?
- * Who was the human who stole Sheridan's link? Did he have an
- ulterior motive for helping with the setup, or was he simply doing
- it for money?
-
- Analysis
-
- * Considering her dramatic entrance, Sheridan's lawyer didn't
- actually do much of anything. Who sent her, and what was she
- supposed to be doing for Sheridan?
- * One interpretation of Kosh's lesson is that he was teaching
- Sheridan to give humanity the benefit of the doubt. Even in what
- Sheridan considered the most dangerous, nasty place on the
- station, one can find beauty. If Kosh's pledge in [21]"Hunter,
- Prey" to teach Sheridan "about _you_" is taken broadly to mean
- "about your kind," this is at least a plausible scenario.
- * Another possible interpretation: Going to the darkest, dingiest,
- "worst part" of B5 was an analogy to Sheridan's current very "bad"
- situation. This is partly confirmed by Kosh's statement that
- having a "bad day" was perfectly appropriate for the lesson he had
- planned. What Sheridan saw there was "beauty... in the dark",
- which was exactly what he needed. He was obviously relaxed and
- feeling much better after the experience, and he thanked Kosh for
- helping him.
- The lesson? When things are at their absolute worst, don't simply
- satisfy your basic needs (eating, sleeping), take time out to
- enjoy something that will make you feel better despite the
- conditions. It will help you deal with adversity. Alternatively,
- the lesson is that even in some of the worst places/situations,
- there can still be beauty if you allow yourself to look for it.
- * Why the monastic chant? Sheridan said in [22]"Points of Departure"
- that he had met the Dalai Lama in Tibet. The chant wasn't Tibetan
- -- it is a Gregorian chant, part of the Christmas Mass. The entire
- incident may have been projected into Sheridan's mind by Kosh or
- by someone else. The fact that Sheridan could see it might also be
- related to his dream in [23]"All Alone in the Night."
- The Latin lyrics:
-
- Puer natus est nobis et filius datus est nobis;
- cujus imperium super humerum ejus;
- et vocabitur nomen ejus,
- consilii Angelus.
-
- Cantate Domino canticum novum;
- quia mirabilia fecit.
- One English translation of which is:
-
- Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;
- on whose shoulders the world's dominion rests;
- whose name is;
- He who was sent to us from the great Heavenly Wonder-Counselor.
-
- Sing unto the Lord a new song. He has made wonders.
- There are two quotes here, one from Isaiah 9:6, the other from
- Psalm 98:1:
-
- For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
- government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
- Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
- Prince of Peace.
-
- O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous
- things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the
- victory.
- Whether this particular chant has any bearing on the story, or was
- just selected because it sounds good, is an interesting question,
- but a couple rather tenuous connections can be made:
- The second verse mentions a "hand" being victorious; recall that
- Sheridan was told, "You are the hand," in [24]"All Alone in the
- Night."
- The fourth issue of the [25]comic series, dealing with Sinclair's
- appointment to the Minbari homeworld, is titled "The Price of
- Peace," one letter removed from the description of Jesus above.
- (That one is probably just a coincidence.)
- * It's also worth comparing Kosh's lessons to his encounter with
- Talia in [26]"Deathwalker." When she asked what his negotiations
- meant, he advised her to "listen to the music, not the words" --
- advice that might apply to Sheridan's lesson as well.
- * The plight of the teddy bear mirrors the story Sheridan told to
- Delenn; if the bear is really supposed to represent Sheridan, is
- its fate perhaps a foreshadowing of Sheridan's?
-
- Notes
-
- * Londo's mention of "a certain Minbari" lying is probably a
- reference to Lennier's lie in [27]"The Quality of Mercy."
- * The Centauri expect their dolls to be anatomically correct.
- * "Honour and shame from no condition rise;
- Act well your part, there all the honour lies."
- - Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Man" Epistle IV, 1733-34
- * Possible Ranger sighting: When Vir and Londo are talking in the
- Zocalo, a man in what looks like a Ranger uniform walks by twice.
- Once as Vir says, "Centauri Prime is sending a replacement," and
- again as he says, "It's my problem, not yours."
- * The bear is from the [28]Vermont Teddy-Bear Company. It's a
- "twenty inch" with "JS" embroidered on the front and "Ba-bear-lon
- 5" on the back. Peter David says:
-
- Specifically, on page 13 of their 1994 Winter Collection Catalogue,
- they have the Custom Embroidered Bears. Ordered with a baseball
- shirt and hat (NOT jacket), he's 20 inches high and his fur color
- is 'Pockets (thick milk chocolate)'...
-
- I should point out that ordering the bear for Joe was my wife's
- idea. She's a big bear fan. At present she's hard at work on a
- Min_bear_i...
-
- jms speaks
-
- * So after I'd read Peter's script, and decided to go with it, he
- asked about Ivanova's line, "This isn't some kind of Deep Space
- franchise, this place is ABOUT something."
- "Are you really going to use that?" he asked.
- "Absolutely," I said. "It's fall-down funny."
- Long pause. "You people really ARE dangerous over there, aren't
- you?"
- * No, the scene in the dark with the robed figures was not enhanced
- with CGI or any other device.
- * Everything featured in the Babylon Emporium was just made up by
- us. Insofar as I know, none of it is real merchandise. (Everyone,
- including the crew, are so starved for B5 stuff that when we
- finished filming the ep, we sold off the stuff, at cost, to those
- in the crew who wanted them. Two guesses who wound up with the
- Londo and G'Kar dolls....)
- * The B5 model in the gift shop in "Honor" is now in Sheridan's
- office, bronzed, as is his right as captain.
- Once the show is finally off the air, be assured that the model
- will end up in THIS captain's office.
- * Here's the story of the bear.
- I hate cute. Everybody knows me, knows that. So after buying Peter
- David's script #2, Peter sends me a gift. A bear. A teddy bear.
- With my initials JS in front, and Bear-ba-lon 5 in the back. I
- call Peter back. I say that I must now get him for this. He asks
- what I had in mind. I said wait and see.
- So I wrote the entire bear thing at the end of the show, and
- inserted it into his script.
- Never send me something cute.
- Best part was during filming, we shot the bear against blue-screen
- to be composited into the CGI. And there's our EFX supervisor,
- standing there on film, against blue-screen, with this long rod up
- the teddy bear's ass, spinning it round and round and round....
- Whilst doing that, I also wrote and inserted the Kosh/Perfect
- Beauty scenes, since I was already in it at that point anyway, and
- I figured it'd be cool.
- It also keeps the Sheridan Learning Stuff thread going, and works
- in a nice balance to the rest of the episode. Here he's going
- nuts, being harrassed, and his command is on the line...so he has
- to learn to bend his knee, accept silence, give up his command
- symbolically by giving up the stat bar, and finding one perfect
- moment of peace.
- * Yes, Kosh asking Sheridan "what is this place?" was more for his
- benefit than Kosh's, to underline where they were, and what he was
- about to experience even in such a place. Also, in
- psychotheraputic terms, specifically dream analysis, when you
- travel to your cellar in your dream, it's in part to confront
- something in your subconscious, to learn something that may not be
- expressable in words.
- * Yes, he did send a fake distress call, and took out the Black Star
- when it came in to (they thought) wipe out a disabled ship. He's
- never denied this to anybody.
- * Sheridan sent an EA distress signal; the Minbari were in genocidal
- mode, so it didn't matter to them the condition of their enemy.
-
-
- [34][Next]
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- [35]Last update: May 7, 1997
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- References
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- 1. file://localhost/cgi-bin/imagemap/titlebar
- 2. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/lurk/maps/maps.html#titlebar
- 3. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/background/036.shtml
- 4. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/synops/036.html
- 5. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/credits/036.html
- 6. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
- 7. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/035.html
- 8. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/037.html
- 9. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/036.html#OV
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- 14. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/036.html#JS
- 15. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Brown,+Caitlin
- 16. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Sullivan,+Sean+Gregory
- 17. file://localhost/lurk/p5/intro.html
- 18. file://localhost/lurk/p5/036
- 19. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/023.html
- 20. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/036.html#lesson
- 21. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/035.html
- 22. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/023.html
- 23. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/033.html
- 24. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/033.html
- 25. file://localhost/lurk/comic/index.html
- 26. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/009.html
- 27. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/021.html
- 28. http://www.vtbear.com/
- 29. file://localhost/lurk/lurker.html
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- 31. file://localhost/cgi-bin/uncgi/lgmail
- 32. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
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- 34. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/037.html
- 35. file://localhost/lurk/lastmod.html
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