lurkers-guide/guide/030

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

<blockquote><cite>
Bester asks Talia to investigate an "underground railroad" of unregistered
telepaths.
</cite>

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Koenig,+Walter">Walter Koenig</a> as Bester.
</blockquote>

<pre>
Sub-genre: Intrigue
<a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/030">8.38</a>

Production number: 207
Original air date: January 25, 1995
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000087EYB/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: April 29, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jim Johnston
</pre>

<h3>Watch For</h3>

A minor character from a previous episode, who turns out not to be so
minor after all.

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>

Michael Garibaldi says, "The Corps got started because of our own fears."  The
sudden appearance of real psi abilities in otherwise unremarkable people
caused so much concern among the general population that those showing such
talents were gathered together into a group that could be more easily
controlled -- and Psi-Corps was born.  Its members are deeply conditioned to
prevent any psi from using his or her talents to dominate normal people or
disrupt society.  But this conditioning isn't absolute, and attitudes molded
early in life can still evolve over a persons lifetime.

<P>
Given that psis were forced into this essentially closed society, shunned by
the rest of humanity, it isn't surprising that the loyalties of the telepaths
turned to the Corps itself.  Soon Psi-Corps gained control of itself, and
eventually the organization began pursuing its own goals.  The leadership
began to exert ever greater control over the lives of the members, in an
effort to enhance the abilities of their people.  

<P>
The level of control exerted by the Corps over its members grew as they 
began seeking to enhance the abilities of their people, extending even to
marriage and reproduction.  Eventually the onus became too great and too
pervasive for newly awakened psis to tolerate, and they began seeking ways
to escape.  The Psi-Cops exist to counter this, to search for and either
capture or eliminate psi talented people who escaped early detection or who
fled Psi-Corps.

<P>
Now the Corps has become a power in its own right.  Though the organization
was intended to keep psis under control, it has itself come under the control
of those very people.  As a group, they <em>must</em> feel
seperate and different if not outright superior to the rest of society, and
who have long been held in a position of subservience.  They are
organized, ruthless, and determined to pursue their own agenda. 

<P>
"We created our own monster." -- John Sheridan

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>

<UL>
   <LI> Where have all the unregistered psis been going?
   <LI> How long has this "underground railroad" been running?
   <LI> We see Ivanova giving Sheridan his morning briefing, and in it she says
	that B5 has been running in the red for a while because, "there's been
	a lot of Earth Force military transports coming through."  Where were
	they going?
   <li> Has Talia turned completely against the Corps?
   <li> Why, and by whom, was Bester told that Sheridan would be sympathetic
	to the Psi-Corps?
   <li> How much did Talia tell Ivanova about the situation, and about
	what's happened to her?
   <li> "What am I?"  "The future."  What does that mean?  The future of
	telepaths?  Of humans in general?  Does it refer to Talia's new
	powers, to the fact that she's now likely to work against Psi-Corps
	from within, or something else?  Is there even more to Ironheart's
	gift?
   <li> Will Bester notice that his gun was never actually fired?
</UL>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>

<UL>

<P>
   <LI>The core of Psi-Corps indoctrination was summed up by Bester.
	<blockquote>
	You were raised by the Corps,<br>
	Clothed by the Corps.<br>
	We are your father,<br>
	And your mother.<br>
	</blockquote>

	<P>
	What Psi-Corps has become was also demonstrated by Bester.  Standing
	with another Psi-Cop, he looks down at a captured rogue telepath who
	he has just forcibly mind-scanned.  "He's dead," the other Psi-Cop
	says.  "It doesn't matter," Bester replies, apparently assuming she
	was concerned he wouldn't be able to read the man any more.  Talia
	doesn't see
	this, since it happened on Mars Colony, but she does meet a stream of
	rogues who are on B5, in transit through the "underground railroad."
	From them she learns, first hand and with undeniable truth, that the
	experience she has had with the Corps is far from unique.  Indeed,
	her experiences were mild compared to the stories she hears.
	Abductions.  Experiments.  Breeding programs that don't rely on
	volunteers for subjects.  And as a telepath speaking <I>to</I>
	telepaths, she can't avoid the full truth and force of the events
	she hears.  

<P>
   <LI>How can a Psi-Corps operative turn against the Corps?  The impossibility
	of it is clear:  The highest rated, strongest telepaths are "turned
	into" Psi-Cops.  When the guardians are stronger than everyone else,
	how do you turn against them?  Unless you are truly exceptional like
	Matthew Stoner in <a href="029.html">"Soul Mates"</a> you can only
	flee, immediately, before someone else scans you and reads your
	intention.  Matthew Stoner may or may not have eluded the clutches
	of Psi-Corps for a time, but in the end he was firmly returned to
	them.  Talia Winters' whole life experience tells her that she
	<STRONG>cannot</STRONG> turn against the Corps, no matter what her
	opinions may be about the integrity or intentions of the organization.

	<P>
	But several events changed her mind about this -- and it was not the
	tales of woe told by the folks in the underground railroad, though
	they undoubtedly inclined her toward rebellion.  What allowed her to
	rebel was the realization that her shields were much stronger than
	she thought they were.  A year ago Jason Ironheart, a victim of
	Psi-Corps experimentation, visited the station (cf.
	<a href="006.html">"Mind War."</a>)
	He became something
	vastly powerful, and departed.  But before he left, he gave his onetime
	love Talia Winters a gift, the very thing that Psi-Corps was
	trying to induce in him: telekinesis.  And the strength to keep
	that gift secret.

<p>
   <li> Talia's telekinetic powers are at least somewhat stronger than
	suggested at the end of
	<a href="006.html">"Mind War."</a>
	She can not only move her penny with her thoughts -- she can cause
	it to fly across the room with enough force to embed itself in the
	wall.

<p>
   <li> Telepaths can combine their powers through physical contact.  What
	are the limits to such unions?  Would a hundred linked telepaths
	begin to approach some of Ironheart's power, or perhaps become
	greater than just a collection of individuals?  Does this perhaps
	have something to do with the Minbari prophecy suggesting that
	humans are destined to walk among the stars? (cf.
	<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared"</a>)

	<p>
	Or it could simply be that by touching, the telepaths were able to
	help each other focus their individual energies; that's supported by
	the railroad leader's comment that what they did shouldn't have
	worked.

<P>
   <LI>	The "Underground Railroad."  The timeline of the underground railroad
	stretches back to before B5.  There is a group of people that have
	actively been working to keep people with psi ability out of
	Psi-Corps.  Dr. Franklin implied that it was mostly doctors, and it
	makes sense that their ability to alter or manipulate medical and
	genetic records would make them logical and necessary members.  But
	there is no reason to assume that the organization is comprised
	solely of doctors.

	<P>
	Dr. Franklin was a member before he came to Babylon 5.  When Jason
	Ironheart came to B5 he brought with him another rogue, who disappeared
	into downbelow while Jason went through his spectacular confrontation
	with Bester and his subsequent transformation.  This unnamed telepath
	(who we've met before, in 
	<a href="022.html">"Chrysalis"</a>)
	apparently contacted Dr. Franklin.  Between them, they extended the
	underground railroad through B5 -- though where the rogues were going
	<EM>after</EM> B5 is unclear.  Nor is it clear that Dr. Franklin will
	actually put a stop to the railroad.  Dr. Franklin's answers to Captain
	Sheridan's demand that he put a stop to it were quite evasive.  The
	telepaths actually at the station agreed to leave, which they intended
	to do anyway.  Dr. Franklin admitted that his part in it was over,
	and that others would have to take over -- but he never actually said
	it would stop.

	<P>
	Ironically, the person Garibaldi first suspected was aiding the
	railroad was Ivanova.  He was wrong.  She wasn't connected to it.
	But neither was Talia at the time.  Now Talia is talking to Ivanova.
	What did they discuss, alone and late at night in Ivanova's quarters?

<p>
   <li> Did Ironheart's unnamed friend have ulterior motives when he put
	Garibaldi onto Devereaux' trail in
	<a href="022.html">"Chrysalis?"</a>
	There's evidence the Corps was involved in Santiago's death (cf.
	<a href="024.html">"Revelations"</a>)
	so it's plausible the man knew something of the plot, and wanted to
	foil it without revealing himself.

<p>
   <li> Along similar lines, Bester's request to Talia that she keep an eye
	on Sheridan and the others for their reactions to President Santiago's
	death implies that he knows something other than an accident occurred,
	even that he (or someone he's associated with) was involved.  His
	offhand comment that he'd been told Sheridan would be sympathetic
	to the Psi-Corps also implies that there may be more to Sheridan's
	appointment as head of Babylon 5 than meets the eye.

<P>
   <LI>"Who'd have thought?" John Sheridan asks Ambassador Delenn.  He was
	speaking at the time about the common trait of laughter, shared by
	humans and Minbari, but he could equally have been speaking of the
	whole scene.  A human ship captain, commanding a giant station
	on the fringe of human controlled space, having a quiet dinner with
	the Minbari ambassador -- who also happens to be a member of their
	ruling body and who is also, to some degree "half-human."  Moreover,
	she has apparently chosen him to teach her about humanity on a
	personal level.  How personal this can get... who can say?

<p>
   <LI> Finally, there is a telepath who can
	operate on the side of the "good guys."  True, there are all the
	telepaths who have passed through the "underground railroad," but
	they are untrained or at best, trained but fleeing.  Talia is fully
	trained and Psi-Corps doesn't know that she has turned--and she is
	strong enough to maintain her independence.  It's likely she will be
	a very important player now, and her personality may develop in new
	directions now that she isn't under the heavy hand of Psi-Corps.

</UL>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<UL>

   <LI> This episode takes place in March, 2259, three months into
	Sheridan's tour of duty with B5.

   <LI> There is a subthread in this episode about lack of sleep.  Bester gets
	Talia out of bed, Talia gets Ivanova out of bed, and Ivanova and
	Sheridan spend a night sacked out in his office (he in his chair, she
	on the couch).  Coincidence?  

   <LI> "Knock Knock"  (who's there)  "Kosh"  (Kosh who?)  "Gesundheit!"
	-- Sheridan

   <li>@@@876775538 Judy Levitt, who plays the Psi Cop opposite Bester in the
	scene on Mars, is Walter Koenig's wife.

   <li> Production gaffe: In the scene outside Earhart's, when Delenn is asking
	Sheridan to dinner, a boom microphone is visible for an instant at the
	top of the screen.
</UL>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>

<ul>

   <li> Favorite line in the next new episode, from Sheridan: "I'm not saying
	what I'm saying.  I'm not saying what I'm *thinking*.  For that matter,
	I'm not even *thinking* what I'm thinking."

   <li> BTW, just to note a little something you might not notice in the
	show...we've adopted the tradition of putting the symbol for a given
	ship onto the bar in Earhart's, as many real contemporary officers'
	clubs and airforce/naval base clubs put the logos or markings of big
	planes or ships that come through there.  The Cortez symbol is the
	most visible among the various emblems you can see in a shot of the
	bar in "A Race Through Dark Places."  It comes at the moment we follow
	*another* old military tradition.

   <li>@@@846703182 As for the sound mix...yeah, we put a great deal of work
	into that aspect, for the surround effect.  If you fire up "Race"
	there's a LOT going on in that one.  It takes a great deal of time, but
	it's worth it.

   <li> Yes, originally, "Soul Mates" was to air after "Race."  At that
	time, PTEN was initially going to show just 6 new episodes, and we would
	have come in after the rerun break with "Race," then "Soul."  When the
	ratings came in and looked good, they didn't want to interfere with
	the growth, and indicated they wanted to show 7 new eps in the first
	batch.  "Race," as you can see, was a very complex episode visually, and
	the only way to get it ready to run #7 in the first batch would've been
	to compromise the integrity of the show, and we simply won't do that for
	ANY reason.  "Soul Mates," on the other hand, required very little in
	the way of post production, so that was moved forward into the #7 slot.

   <li> Q: How many telepaths does it take to screw in a lightbulb?<br>
	A:

   <li> I always have to have a title before I begin writing, since the
	title always influences the feel of the show.  I try to design one 
	that is literary, or refers to a literary influence; it should have a 
	certain rhythm, and avoid coming at the subject of the episode too 
	dead-on.  For instance, one could call the recent Psi Cop episode with
	Bester, "Capture" or "Chase."  But I wanted it to be evocative, to 
	conjure up the image of people slipping through the shadows, pursued by
	others, and to continue this season's trend toward titles that indicate
	a coming night.  Hence, "A Race Through Dark Places."

   <li> <em>No repeat of Bester's salute from "Mind War"</em><br>
	Also, bear in mind that Bester's parting shot in "Mind War" was
	exactly that, in essence an "Up yours" but subtle.  There was no 
	reason for that to be given to anyone in "Race."

   <li>@@@846703182 Correct, the penny was/is a keepsake.

   <li> <em>Where did Ivanova's outfit in the last scene come from?</em><br>
	I think it came out of the Victoria's Secrets catalog....

</ul>


<hr>
Originally compiled by Dave Zimmerman
<hr>