lurkers-guide/guide/017

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

<blockquote><cite>
A girl entering puberty exhibits telepathic abilities, and the crew
must decide whether to turn her over to the Psi Corps.  The corpse of the
Minbari military leader who oversaw the Battle of the Line is the focus
of a diplomatic incident.

</cite>
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Vickery,+John">John Vickery</a> as Neroon.
Grace Una as Alisa Beldon.
</blockquote>

<pre>
Sub-genre: Intrigue
<a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/017">7.87</a>

Production number: 115
Original air date: July 20, 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 Bruce Seth Green
</pre>

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

<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
The Grey Council ordered the surrender at the Battle of the Line.
<li>
Many among the Minbari warrior caste do not approve of the surrender, a
fact which has caused something of a rift between the religious and
warrior caste.
<li>
Caste membership is determined by heritage.  Membership in the religious
caste takes precedence if one parent is in the religious caste and the
other is a warrior.  (This is ambiguous; Delenn's statement on the matter
could be interpreted to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence over
the father's.)
<li>
The Earth-Minbari War began with the death of Dukhat, the head of the Grey
Council at the time.
<li>
The war was regarded as a holy war among the Minbari, and had the full
support of the religious caste at least part of the time.
<li>
One of the warleaders (heads of the military clans?) committed suicide
rather than obey the order to surrender.
<li>
Telepaths are highly regarded among the Minbari, and are fed and clothed
by people in exchange for providing their services.
<li>
The Narn keep alien slaves, or at least are reported to do so.
</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
What is the significance of the word "chrysalis?"  Note that this is the
title of the first-season finale.
<li>
How was Delenn able to sense that she was being probed?
</ul>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
Delenn's identity doesn't seem to be a secret among the warrior caste, or
at least its upper echelons.  The warriors seem to be playing along and
keeping her secret safe.
<li>
As JMS mentions below, in the original airing order, this episode came after
<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared."</a>
If that is the intended chronological order of the two episodes, then
Delenn's statement to Neroon that she speaks for the entire Grey Council
takes on different connotations; it is plausible in that case that she is
lying and hadn't even consulted the Council.
<li>
Likewise, the device used to stun the guard appears to be a triluminary;
its presence makes much more sense if this episode is after
<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared."</a>
Its exact function is still a mystery; did it in fact stun the guard, put
him in some sort of stasis, or something else?
</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
The only first season
script that was developed outside the B5 offices.
</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
Originally, this ep was to be broadcast later in the run, because I
didn't want two PsiCorps episodes back-to-back, and for one little detail that
will become clearer after "Babylon Squared" airs; it would've been better to
have followed that episode, but again, these eps are made to be watched in
just about any order, so it's okay in the long run.

<p>
<li>
Yeah, the audio thing with Talia is something I thought of during the
final audio mix.  We wanted to convey somehow her trying to get 
through and initially it was just distortion.  Then I figured, wait a
second, she is going to be thinking what she's going to say before 
she says it, why not pre-lap the dialogue?  Unfortunately, for some
damned reason, the high-tech studio wasn't set up to do that effect,
so we took Talia's dialogue, digitized it, laid it in on a second side
track, and played the one over the other, one preceding the other by I
think about 20 frames or so.  The key was to make the *second* 
voicing the one synched to her lips, not the first one.  Worked out
pretty cool.

<p>
<li>
You will see some of the warrior caste in "Legacies," coming up in
July.  You don't see them much because they only go where they're
needed.

<p>
<li>
Generally, the religious caste takes precedence over the warrior caste.

<p>
<li>
From cradle to grave, the Minbari are taught that there is no greater
goal, no nobler thing than to serve.  They are raised to be totally 
self-sacrificing.  The only exception is when someone in the religious
caste believes he or she has received a calling, which if sincerely
felt cannot be contravened (since usually this too involves serving).
So for a Minbari telepath, this is their means by which they may
serve, and they are given great respect.  It never even occurs to them
to do otherwise.
<p>
Lately, there has been a bit of a change brewing; "a self-involvement
above the needs of others" (as someone notes in "Voice") that has 
begun creeping into the Minbari race.  And they're not happy about it.

<p>
<li>
Overall, I'd say that "Legacies" came out better than "War Prayer,"
because Dorothy had more time to get to know the characters, and 
because it was better directed.  (As a parenthetical, Larry DiTillio
has developed some of his own scripts as well, specifically "TKO" and
"Eyes."  "Legacies" is the one I'd say was developed "outside the 
office" in the sense of being a freelance effort.  Everything else 
was either an assigned premise or done in-house by staff.)

<p>
<li>
Stuff like wearing gloves is only enforced if you're a member of Psi
Corps; Allysa wasn't.  In addition, though she had P10 *potential*, 
the talent was sporadic, came and went.

<p>
<li>
Regarding "Legacies," there's one brief blip in there
that we're going to see  again; I'm not sure I'd call it a
clue, but certainly a cue...a hint of something to  come.  You
won't have to wonder what it is; it'll be shown in a flashback
in that  particular yet-to-air episode.

</ul>