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   _Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
   - [13]Notes - [14]JMS
   
     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
Overview

     As Sheridan and Ivanova try to gain recognition of the station's
     new status among the alien governments, a traveler arrives with an
     unbelievable story out of distant legend. [15]Michael York.
     
[16]P5 Rating: [17]7.79

Production number: 312
Original air week: April 22, 1996

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar

     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
Backplot

     * G'Kar has been using a human courier to get messages back and
       forth between the station's Narn and the homeworld.
     * The first Earth vessel to encounter a Minbari warship was the
       Prometheus. As the Minbari ship approached with gun ports open, a
       sign of respect ([18]"Legacies") the Prometheus' captain ordered
       its crew to open fire. The resulting battle destroyed two Minbari
       warships and killed the leader of the Grey Council, Dukhat.
     * 20,000 people were sent to defend Earth in the Battle of the Line.
       Only 200 survived. (Presumably the bulk of the 20,000 were aboard
       large ships, not individual fighters.)
       
Unanswered Questions

     * Given how badly outmatched humans were during the war, how did the
       Prometheus manage to inflict so much damage? Simply a matter of
       the element of surprise?
     * How much truth is there in Marcus' joking speculation about the
       Vorlons? Or in his drawing of parallels between the B5 crew and
       Arthurian legend? (If there's a lot of truth there, then who _is_
       the Morgana Le Fay figure?)
     * What is the "dawn of a new age" Marcus referred to when he told
       Franklin about the Ranger pin? Any relation to the Third Age of
       Mankind as mentioned in the opening monologues of seasons one and
       two?
       
Analysis

     * Relying on a large number of races for the station's defense may
       turn out to be a logistical nightmare. Ivanova will have to deal
       with questions like the structure of the chain of command (does
       she have the authority to order a Vree ship to fire?) and what to
       do about races who've agreed to participate but whose enemies
       haven't, which could lead to a situation like the one in [19]"The
       Fall of Night." Still, as a simple show of force and a deterrent,
       the arrangement may well end up being sufficient.
     * How did Marcus know about the events in [20]"Comes the
       Inquisitor?" He arrived on the station after that was all over.
       Perhaps Sheridan or Delenn told him. Is the fact that the Vorlons
       have visited Earth in the past now common knowledge?
     * The Prometheus didn't destroy all the Minbari ships, since Delenn
       held Dukhat in her arms as he died ([21]"Severed Dreams.")
     * At what point did the Soul Hunter ([22]"Soul Hunter") show up
       during the battle between the Prometheus and the Minbari ships?
       From Arthur's description, it sounded like the battle didn't last
       long; the Soul Hunter would almost have had to be onboard Dukhat's
       ship before the fighting began.
     * The Drazi ambassador now speaks for the League of Non-Aligned
       Worlds, whose membership seems to have gotten much smaller than a
       year ago. Perhaps many of the races have been taken over by their
       neighbors already, with Shadow help ([23]"Severed Dreams.")
     * Arthur's line about returning "because I am most needed here and
       now" is analogous to Sebastian's description of Delenn and
       Sheridan as "the right people in the right place at the right
       time" ([24]"Comes the Inquisitor.")
       
Notes

     * For more information about Arthurian legend, see [25]Avalon:
       Arthurian Heaven. For more detail, see [26]Bulfinch's Mythology.
     * It should be noted that Arthurian legend is exactly that: legend.
       While there are historical figures who match bits and pieces of
       the legend, there almost certainly was never an actual King
       Arthur.
     * The Minbari name for the Ranger pin is Isil'zha.
     * Prometheus is a figure from Greek mythology, a Titan who gave fire
       to mankind. For more information see [27]The Creation of Man by
       Prometheus.
       
jms speaks

     * Michael York is currently shooting with us in "A Late Delivery
       From Avalon," and doing an amazing job. This may turn into one of
       our best episodes, from a performance and emotion perspective. I
       had a few doubts about the script -- it has a kind of writing
       style I don't use very often, and very stylized in appearance --
       but it's coming out great.
     * York finished with us quite some time ago. Great episode, and a
       nice man. Very friendly, very polite, nothing of the "I'm a STAR"
       attitude one often gets with...well, *stars*. He was even very
       nice when I gleepily asked him to sign my laserdisk of CABARET.
     * York's a major film actor who's starred in many films, including
       one of my personal favorites, "Cabaret." Also in the "Logan's Run"
       movie.
     * If you've got someone new to the show, who might not know the
       backstory very well, then probably the Michael York episode, "A
       Late Delivery From Avalon" would be a good one.
     * I *really* like this episode a lot. The performance, the music,
       everything works; I tried to get a little artsy, try out some
       different kinds of stuff, stretch some muscles I haven't used
       enough, and it came out very nicely. It's just nifty.
     * I like this one a lot. Not really an arc episode, except in going
       into some backstory elements, but just nicely done. I'm quite
       proud of this one.
     * The Delenn/Arthur moment played out very well; no lines, not a
       word, just the images, and the emotions under the surface.
     * I'll say one thing about one of those eps, but I won't say which
       one; when people hear what it appears to be about, the immediate
       reaction is going to be "Oh, god, they're not doing THAT are
       they?" and there'll be a lot of sarcasm and head shaking...until
       the episode airs, and folks see that what it's about...is *not*
       what it's about...and I think it'll be a very popular episode
       thereafter.
     * _About the title_
       I often labor a long time on these things, to try and give them
       many layers, or turn the title in on itself, or do a play on
       words. I can't start work on a script until I have a title,
       because the title sets the mood.
     * _Did Arthurian legends influence the heroic-epic style of B5's
       storyline?_
       Well, if you're going to look at heroic epic, sure, the Arthurian
       story is a classic...but the earliest and best of these remain the
       Illiad and the Odyssey. Homer was definitely hitting all cylinders
       with that.
       If there's an aspect that informed B5's development, it's the arc
       of that heroic epic, which if you look at it dispassionately, is
       as much about the people *around* the hero as the hero himself.
       And all too often, the hero achieves the goal, but falls or
       falters or is changed by the end of it. Much of what passes for
       contemporary "heroic epic" assumes that it means the Good Guys
       Win. Heroic here as a term goes back to its much earlier origins,
       a "heroic effort" is something that takes everything you have,
       against terrible or impossible odds.
       Yes, you achieve the goal...but you fall in battle in the fields
       of Troy. Yes, you create Camelot, but in the end you are destroyed
       and Camelot falls. There's tragedy and mistakes side by side with
       the glory and the gains. The accounts of Arthur's meeting with
       Mordred at Camlan field, and how the final battle began is classic
       ironic drama, a tragedy of great proportions...and an aspect of
       that fed directly into the development of the B5 backstory, as
       you'll learn later this season.
       Histories are written about the soldiers who won their battles;
       but songs are sung about the soldiers who fell in battle
       struggling for a greater cause. What inspires us is the unfinished
       work, the dream of picking up the fallen standard and taking it
       ten more feet up the hill, knowing that even if you fall, the next
       man in line will take it another ten feet, until finally the hill
       is taken. Humans are constantly throwing their lives away on
       causes logic tells us are hopeless...but which in time become real
       for that reason.
       It's a dangerous romance with myth, heroism, and death. On the one
       hand, it inspires an Arthur...on another, it inspires a car bomber
       to blow himself and 27 bystanders to bits en route to an
       appointment with Allah.
       What makes the heroic epic work is that it taps into all the myths
       and archetypes that have been with us for all of recorded history,
       and much of its oral history. Where B5 gets into this area is in
       trying to look at the kinds of myths and epics that have gone
       before, and finding not the specifics, but the themes which are
       universal, the *sense* and the feel of it, which are intangible,
       and which is what makes doing an epic so hard. Either you feel the
       structure, or you don't; if you try to hammer it down into a
       formula, a step-by-step process, it turns to quicksilver in your
       hands and slips away. You have to take it all in, then listen to
       the inner voice and write accordingly.
       I remember a stanza from a poem I read a long time ago; "Love will
       die if held too tightly; love will fly if held too lightly;
       lightly, tightly, how do I know, whether I'm holding or letting
       love go?" This kind of fiction operates on the same basis.
       Substitute the word epic or story for love, and the logic holds.
       So the epic hero or story can't be a *model*, to use your phrase;
       it can only be an inspiration for what has gone before...an echo
       in the back of your mind that whispers and guides you through all
       the dark places.
     * _Was the "who is Morgana Le Fay?" scene a dig at people on the net
       who say B5 is just some other story with different trappings?_
       The references given (he said vaguely, to avoid spoiling anybody)
       were first and foremost intentional to the story and to set up
       stuff...but as I wrote it, the way this stuff has been discussed
       online did come to mind, and on some level it was probably a
       slight *plink*, yes.
       Sort of a "yeah, well, TWO can play at that game, and most of you
       missed THIS particular analogy, so THERE."
       I am in serious need of a vacation, I think....
     * _Where did the 515 date for the Battle of Camlan come from?_
       I dug through a number of recent Arthurian texts, and that date
       come out the most often; I've heard the other date, which was
       about 20 years later, but the one most often used is the 515 date,
       at least in what I researched.
     * Virtually all food used is real, for health reasons. The liquid
       drunk by G'Kar and Arthur in "Avalon" is Yoo-Hoo; the mountain of
       stuff Garibaldi's eating in the Zocalo in first season is piled
       meatloaf; the spaghetti and bagna cauda was real; the only problem
       is that no matter what you do, it's going to get cold after 18
       takes, even with reheating, and by the 17th take...well, it's an
       ugly sight.
     * _Was the Excalibur in the episode a real sword?_
       Yes, it's a real sword...I'm trying to remember where we got it,
       it may have been a vendor in these things, one of many that
       frequent catalogs and Ren faires.
     * _What happened to it after Delenn took it?_
       It went back to our prop department....
     * You were being clear, I was just being puckish.
       Well, in theory.
       I actually haven't worked out what she did with the sword, or who
       has it now. I have several options on this, all of them
       interesting, and never made the final decision. Maybe they used it
       to make the new emblem. Lemme dwell on this.
     * _Was that the real Excalibur?_
       Since that wasn't really Arthur, the odds of that really being
       Excalibur are substantially reduced.
     * _Was some of the music by Clannad?_
       No, we can't use any outside music; it all has to be done via our
       composer (unless we purchase the rights, obviously). Here, though,
       it's all Chris. We had a long conversation about the kind of music
       I wanted, I encouraged him to think in terms of Celtic music,
       natural instruments primarily instead of synth or electronic
       instruments, that sort of thing. But no, no Claanad was used.
     * I think Chris did a great job on this one (he's done some
       spectacular work overall this season, on Severed, Interludes, Ship
       and others later this season). What I'd told him in this case I
       wanted was as much as possible in the way of natural instruments
       as opposed to synth, so that it fit more with the feel of the
       episode.
     * _How is the station supporting itself now that it's seceded?_
       We'll establish in coming episodes that they have to become more
       self sufficient; the Minbari will help some, others will also have
       a reason to help support the station for the advantages it gives
       them, the services it provides, and eventually docking fees will
       have to rise if they can make a go of it.
     * Marcus and Franklin make a good team, it's a nice balance. And
       Marcus did fit in well with the whole Arthur storyline (it's kind
       of an obvious but well-fitting match).
       As for Marcus' line...sometimes offhand remarks are only offhand
       remarks...and sometimes they aint....
     * Because we've played back and forth with this stuff before, a la
       the Inquisitor, it *could've* been him, which made it all the more
       interesting. Certainly Marcus *wanted* it to be him....
     * _What was Delenn told before she went to Medlab?_
       She was told the whole background...including who David really
       was. She was in a way taking the pain from someone who had
       attacked the very ship she and the other Grey council members had
       been aboard.
     * _Is there anyone among the humans from whom Delenn could receive
       absolution?_
       You're right, that's a good question.
     * The ability to forgive is certainly one of the foremost principles
       of sentient life, even Draal would agree with that.
     * The Earth/Minbari war ended in 2247, and there were several ships
       in the initial contact convoy, the Amundsen and the Prometheus.
     * You basically had two large convoys meeting one another. Two
       Minbari ships were hit and destroyed, a third damaged badly; this
       was the one carrying Dukhat and the Grey Council, including
       Delenn.
       Just for the record, what happened after that...the Minbari ships
       opened fire, and a number of the Earth ships were fragged. The
       rest fled as the Minbari ships hesitated, waiting to see what
       happened to Dukhat. When it was learned that he was killed, they
       took off and pursued the ships back to an Earth base. Initially,
       one of the Earth captains explained that they had encountered
       hostiles (trying to cover his ass), and when the Minbari ships
       appeared, all hell broke loose.
       It was shortly after this "cowardly attack" on their ships, and
       the assassination of their leader, that the Minbari declared what
       is in essence a jihad, a holy war, against Earth. The worker class
       went along with it, even though the religious caste was
       unsure...but divided, they couldn't raise sufficient objections to
       the war to stop it initially.
     * The contact was made late in the year, and while that was the
       first blow, it takes a while for any war to really get going; you
       aren't at war instantly. The Minbari had to pull their forces
       together, make the open declaration of war, establish supply lines
       and all the other elements needed for warfare.
     * _Open gun ports as a sign of respect?_
       It goes back a long time...if you look at certain members of the
       animal kingdom, they will often flash their teeth or growl to
       establish their identity, to show equality with someone else. You
       have to step outside a human perspective and ask how an alien
       would show respect, which may not be how we would logically do so.
       (Heck, in many cultures here on earth, a perfectly normal habit --
       crossing your legs and the bottom of your foot showing -- is taken
       as a grave insult in some cultures. Certain customs are deeply
       rooted in cultural backgrounds or incidents that are often
       incomprehensible to us.)
     * "Different (alien) doesn't mean illogical in my book."
       I can think of a number of Zen schools of thought that you would
       consider vastly illogical...but quite human. There are many things
       we would consider illogical to a western mind that are perfectly
       reasonable elsewhere.
     * "However, neither is it appropriate to view all alien behavior as
       acceptable just because it is different....."
       Never implied it was. In general, on the B5 station, though, if an
       alien acts toward one of its own kind in a cultural oddity (to
       us), we tend not to interfere unless so requested; if, however, an
       alien turns that cultural oddity toward one not of its own
       species, then the B5 staff would definitely intervene.
     * There's a small clue about the third age in the discussion between
       Marcus and Franklin about the ranger pin. I mean, it's really
       pretty blatant.
     * The name of the Ranger pin is spelled Isil'zha.
       The Minbari term for Ranger One, btw, is Entil'zha.
       Z'ha'dum is where the shadows live. Odd, that reversal....
       

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      [34]Last update: December 13, 1997

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