lurkers-guide/guide/007

<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
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.
</cite>

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Grahn,+Nancy">Nancy Lee Grahn</a> as Shaal Mayan.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+McKellar,+Danica">Danica McKellar</a> as Aria Tensus.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Eastman,+Rodney">Rodney Eastman</a> as Kiron Maray.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Rogers,+Tristan">Tristan Rogers</a> as Malcolm Biggs.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Chan,+Michael+Paul">Michael Paul Chan</a> as Roberts.
</blockquote>

<pre>
Sub-genre: Suspense
<a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/007">6.82</a>

Production number: 107
Original air date: March 9, 1994
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006HAZ4/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: November 5, 2002

Written by D. C. Fontana
Directed by Richard Compton
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>
<p>

<H2><A NAME="BP">Backplot</A></H2>

<ul>

<li> <A NAME="BP:1">The Homeguard,</A> a radical pro-Earth group, has
     wide support among humans, and is growing in popularity back on
     Earth.

<li> <A NAME="BP:2">Shaal Mayan</A> 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."

<li> <A NAME="BP:3">The only two human beings</A> ever to have direct
     contact with a Vorlon have since been transferred to Earth -
     Dr. Kyle to work closely with the president 
     (cf "<A HREF="004.html">Infection</A>"), and the telepath Lyta
     Alexander just a week later.  Neither of them shared their
     experiences with anyone on the station. (cf <A HREF="000.html">"The
     Gathering"</A>)

<li> <A NAME="BP:4">Londo</A> has <A HREF="#AN:3">three wives</A>, 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, <A HREF="#JS">75 light years away.</A>"

<li> <A NAME="BP:5">Ivanova</A> used to be involved with a fellow named
     <A HREF="#AN:6"> Malcolm Biggs</A>, but left him when she enlisted
     in Earth Force 8 years ago.

<li> <A NAME="BP:6">More insight into Londo's personality and Minbari
     beliefs:</A><br>
     <B>Mayan:</B> 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.<br>
     <B>Londo:</B> Oh I see.  And if he dies, despite this great power
     of lo-<br>
     <B>Mayan:</B> <I>If he dies,</I> she will suffer enormous grief,
     but every moment together will make her grief a little less.<br>
     <B>Londo:</B> I would expect such logic from a poet.  What can a
     Minbari know about Centauri feeling?<br>
     <B>Mayan:</B> 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.<br>
     <B>Londo:</B> And she will learn to live without it!<br>
     <B>Mayan:</B> As you did?<br>
<li> <A NAME="BP:7">[later...]</A><br>
     <B>Vir:</B> Kiron may die because our "glorious" tradition values 
     wealth and power over <I>love.</I><br>
     <B>Londo:</B> My shoes are too tight.<br>
     <B>Vir:</B> Excuse me?<br>
     <B>Londo:</B> 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.  <I>My</I> shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to
     dance.

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="UQ">Unanswered Questions</A></H2>

<ul>

<li> <A NAME="UQ:1">The black light camouflage suits</A> worn by the
     Homeguard henchmen were developed by Earth Force; friends of 
     <A HREF="#AN:6">Malcolm's</A> procured some prototypes for them.
     Is a faction of Earth Force actually backing the Homeguard for its
     own reasons?

<li> <A NAME="UQ:2">Londo</A> seems to have had a troubled childhood
     (see <A HREF="#BP:7"> Backplot</A>).  What happened that he's so
     aggressive and melancholy?  None of the other Centauri seem
     particularly so.

<li> <A NAME="UQ:3">Why is Kosh studying human history,</A> as 
     <A HREF="#NO:4">Sinclair's conversation with him</A> 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.

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="AN">Analysis</A></H2>

<ul>

<li> <A NAME="AN:1">The Homeguard sign</A> 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.

<li> <A NAME="AN:2">Vir</A> passed himself off as the Centauri
     ambassador in letters to his cousins, and later 
     <A HREF="#BP:7">rebukes</A> Londo to his face about his decision on
     the matter.  This is quite bold compared to the quavering fop he's
     been before.

<li> <A NAME="AN:3">Londo's nicknames for his wives</A> 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.

<li> <A NAME="AN:4" HREF="#NO:4">Talking to Kosh</A> 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,"
     <I>through</I> his encounter suit.  (cf <A HREF="000.html">"The
     Gathering"</A>)

<li> <A NAME="AN:5">Sinclair was brusque and callous</A> 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.

<li> <A NAME="AN:6">The Homeguard plot</A> 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.

<li> <A NAME="AN:7">Black light camouflage</A> is a similar technology
     to the chameleon net the assassin used in <A HREF="000.html">"The
     Gathering."</A>  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.
     <a href="020.html#AN:inv">"Babylon Squared"</a>.)

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="NO">Notes</A></H2>

<ul> 

<li> <A NAME="NO:1">Mayan,</A> a childhood friend of Delenn's, arrived
     on the station on a tour of other worlds.  Earth was to have been
     her next stop.

<li> <A NAME="NO:2"><B>Mayan</B></A> (of her attacker): "All I could see
     was a shadow.  It was a shadow, that is all I know."<br> 
     (cf <A HREF="013.html">"Signs and Portents"</A>, perhaps?)

<li> <A NAME="NO:3">Ivanova</A> is illegally growing coffee in the
     station hydroponics area.

<li> <A NAME="NO:4">Kosh speaks.</A><br>
     [...]<br>
     <B>Sinclair:</B> Meanwhile it might be
     helpful if you spoke with the other ambassadors.<br>
     <B>Kosh:</B> We take no interest in the affairs of others.<br>
     <B>Sinclair:</B> Well I hope you'll reconsider.  If you could give
     us a hand, we -<br>
     <B>Kosh:</B> Yes?<br>
     <B>Sinclair:</B> Nothing.  We'll respect your wishes. [pause]<br>
     That's quite a viewer.  I've never seen anything like it before.
     What is it?<br>
     <B>Kosh:</B> Efficient.<br>
     <B>Sinclair:</B> Those are images from my world.  If I may ask, what
     are you -<br>
     <B>Kosh:</B> I am studying.<br>
     <B>Sinclair:</B> Studying what?<br>
     <B>Kosh:</B> [shuts down]

<li> <A NAME="NO:5">The images</A> on Kosh's levitating viewer were
     zoom-ins on pictorial records from Earth history throughout the
     span of its civilization.

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="JS">jms speaks</A></H2>

<ul>

<li>  Correct; the title of "The War Prayer" is a nod to
	<a href="/lurk/making/warprayer.html">Twain's piece of
	the same name</a>,
	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.

<p>
<li> 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.

	<p>
	So without knowing the Centauri year, the figures are faulty.

<p>
<li> 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.

<p>
<li> 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.

<p>
<li> <em>Why was Delenn unfamiliar with poetry in
	<a href="000.html">"The Gathering?"</a></em><br>
	For the Minbari, it's tee'la, which is a kind of poem-song, sort of.
	Delenn was mainly just unfamiliar with the term.

<p>
<li> Y'know...it's a funny old world.  And sometimes it just astonishes
	you.

	<p>
	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.

	<p>
	So you will doubtless understand my astonishment when I turned on 
	DS9 and saw the same thing happen.

	<p>
	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.

	<p>
	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.

<p>
<li> 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.

<p>
<li> 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.

	<p>
	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.

	<p>
	File this one away the next time someone asks, "What sort of ways has
	the BBS discussion actually affected Babylon 5?"

<p>
<li> 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").

<p>
<li> 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.

</ul>

<HR>
Originally compiled by Matthew Ryan <i>mattryan@pobox.com</i>