lurkers-guide/guide/049

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

<blockquote><cite>
Draal helps the crew attempt to contact more of the First Ones.  Sheridan
works to hide his conspiracy from the Nightwatch.
</cite>

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Shattuck,+Shari">Shari Shattuck</a> as Julie Musante.
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Schuck,+John">John Schuck</a> as Draal.
</blockquote>

<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/049">8.20</a>

Production number: 304
Original air week: January 29, 1996
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009OOFK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 12, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Menachem Binitsky
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

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

   <li> Morden was directly involved in the assassination of President Santiago,
	and was in contact with then-Vice President Clark at the time.

   <li> There is bad blood of some kind between the Vorlons and at least some
	of the First Ones.

   <li> G'Kar's operatives have told him something of the Rangers, though
	they don't know the whole story.  He suspects Delenn is involved
	somehow.

   <li> The Ministry of Peace is planning to purge a number of high-level
	officials from the Earth government on charges of sedition, immoral
	conduct, and espionage.  It has gained even wider powers recently,
	including the ability to investigate people based on past associations.

</ul>

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

   <li> Why were the First Ones upset at the Vorlons?  Could it be related
	to the reason the Vorlons stayed behind when the other First Ones
	left?  What did they say to Ivanova?

   <li> What does G'Kar want Garibaldi to find out from the Book of G'Quan?
	The book mentions the Shadows; how detailed is its information?

   <li> How did the Machine record the conversation between Clark and Morden?
	Is it monitoring all communications in a vast region of space, or does
	it concentrate on Shadow-related conversations?

   <li> What impact will the recording have?

   <li> Will Musante return to the station?  What did she make of Zack's
	question?  Will she link it to the release of the recording?

</ul>

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

   <li> The First Ones at Sigma 957 were annoyed at the mention of the Vorlons,
	suggesting that the two races had a disagreement at some point in the
	past.  Perhaps the Vorlons prevented, intentionally or otherwise, the
	final defeat of the Shadows in the previous war.  It could also have
	something to do with the Vorlons' manipulation of younger races
	(<a href="044.html">"The Fall of Night."</a>)
	Perhaps the Vorlons didn't depart with the other First Ones because
	they weren't allowed to do so.

   <li> "When it is time, come to this place.  Call our name.  We will be
	here."  But what <em>is</em> their name?  Does Draal know?  Did the
	recognition code the White Star sent call them by name, or is this
	an additional hurdle to obtaining help from the Sigma 957 aliens?

   <li>@@@832310247 The manifestation of the First Ones bore some resemblance
	to a Native American totem, or an African wood figure.  Coincidence,
	or are the Vorlons far from the only visitors to Earth?

   <li> Ivanova was able to extract more information from the Great Machine
	than any normal human could have, according to Draal, and she managed
	to find a pretty specific recording in what must have been huge
	mountains of data (literally!)  Is that due to her latent psi ability?
	What would happen if a full telepath like Lyta were to step into the
	machine?  (See
	<a href="#AN.path">below.</a>)

   <li> The Shadows (if that's what they were) sensed Ivanova's "presence"
	at Sigma 957.  That implies that the Machine was actually projecting
	something there rather than passively scanning, and that the projection
	was tangible enough to provoke Ivanova to comment that the enemy
	"knows my name," an odd remark in itself.

   <li> There may be something significant in Draal's use of the term "the
	enemy" to describe Ivanova's visitors; he didn't say "Shadows."  On
	the other hand, given that she heard the typical Shadow chitter and
	that the floating lights were in the same pattern as the glowing
	Shadow eyes seen by Sheridan in Kosh's vision
	(<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum,"</a>
	and in the season three title sequence) it's probably safe to assume
	that she was in fact being observed by the Shadows.

   <li> Just how much contact there was between Ivanova and the Shadows wasn't
	clear.  Did they find out enough about her to know about the conspiracy
	of light?  Did they have a hand in her discovery of the Clark recording?
	Given their apparent affinity for chaos in the ranks of potential
	enemies, the release of the recording and the subsequent upheaval on
	Earth might be exactly what they want.

   <li> The fact that Ivanova was able to escape the Shadows by returning to
	the "path" that connects all living things is perhaps more significant;
	what does it imply about the Shadows that they're somehow excluded
	from that path?  Does that have anything to do with their motive in
	participating in war after war across the millenia?

   <li> Presumably the machine was projecting Ivanova's consciousness out among
	the stars; her greater-than-expected control over the machine, as
	mentioned above, suggests that the experience was telepathic in nature.
	That implies that to sense her, the Shadows must have some telepathic
	abilities as well; or perhaps they have a machine like Draal's that
	can provide the equivalent.

   <li> <a name="AN.path">The path might be related</a>
	to the way telepathy works in the first place;
	if all life is connected on some level, then perhaps telepaths are
	simply beings who can make use of those connections.  The Shadows'
	involvement with Psi Corps
	(<a href="045.html">"Matters of Honor,"</a>
	among others) suggests that they consider telepaths important; that may
	relate to their apparent exclusion from the path as noted above.  There
	may also be a reason they chose to use the Narn homeworld as a base
	in the last war
	(<a href="045.html">"Matters of Honor"</a>)
	--
	the Narn have no telepaths of their own
	(<a href="000.html">"The Gathering."</a>)
	A more sinister possibility is that the Shadow occupation is the
	<em>reason</em> there are no Narn telepaths; perhaps the Shadows
	eliminated them, leaving the Narn without the genetic code for psi
	ability.  If that's true, they may be cultivating contacts with the
	Psi Corps so they have an easy way to do the same to humans when the
	time comes.

   <li> The assignment of a "political officer"  to military units
	is reminiscent of the way in which the Soviet Union
	maintained control over military units.  Each unit had
	its own political officer whose job it was to maintain
	ideological purity.  These officers were tolerated at best,
	and were generally despised and feared.

   <li> Another link to Soviet history was Musante's allusion to
	purging a number of high officials in a very public and
	permanent way.  This brings to mind the purges experienced
	by the Soviet Union in the 30s -- the great show trials
	of prominent individuals, the mass purges of the army
	(which wrought such havoc over the military that, by the
	time that the Soviets were actively engaged in World War II, most
	of the experienced officers had been removed, thus
	weakening the Soviet army to the point where the Germans
	felt they could easily defeat the Soviets.)

   <li> Why would Musante have to be recalled to Earth?  Is she the low-level
	operative she appears to be, or someone more important?  Perhaps the
	Nightwatch is simply short-staffed enough that they need all the
	manpower they can get to deal with such a potentially damaging
	situation.

   <li> Delenn's denial of knowledge about the Rangers was an out-and-out lie,
	not a deception or a mistruth or a careful omission.  Whose honor was
	she protecting, or does that rule no longer apply to her?
	(<a href="036.html">"There All the Honor Lies"</a>)
	Perhaps, since her transformation, she no longer feels quite so bound
	by Minbari tradition; on the other hand, she still seems to cite it
	regularly.

   <li> Zack's uniform troubles may be a metaphor for his situation; he doesn't
	know where he fits in the scheme of things, and is uncomfortable no
	matter what he does.

   <li> Now that Ivanova has made contact with the First Ones at Sigma 957,
	might the forces of light be able to use the quantium-40 (if there
	actually is any on the planet) that Catherine Sakai was sent to
	investigate in
	<a href="006.html">"Mind War?"</a>

</ul>

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

   <li> The First Ones at Sigma 957 were first seen in the first-season episode
	<a href="006.html">"Mind War."</a>
	Although the existence of the First Ones hadn't been revealed at that
	point, G'Kar's description of this race coincided almost exactly with
	Delenn's description of the First Ones, an early piece of foreshadowing.

   <li> Julie Musante is named after two fans, Julie Helmer and Mark Musante.

   <li> Musante's Earth-bound ship is the Loki, named for the Norse god of fire
	and mischief.

   <li> The silhouetted figure on the Nightwatch poster on the wall during
	Musante's presentation bears a striking resemblance to the figure of
	Lenin used in Soviet propaganda posters between World Wars I and II.

   <li> The same figure also appears to have a raven on its shoulder,
	reminiscent of Ivanova's appearance in Sheridan's dream in
	<a href="033.html">"All Alone in the Night."</a>

   <li> The skeletal spines sticking out of the Sigma 957 aliens' ship are
	made of a computer model of a human footbone replicated and arranged
	in rows; that earned the ship the nickname "the footbone ship" at
	Foundation Imaging.  There are also some triceratops parts used in
	the model.

   <li> Ardwight Chamberlain, who does Kosh's voice (or rather, the English
	translation thereof) was also the voice of the First One in this
	episode.  (See
	<a href="#JS.ardwight">jms speaks.</a>)

</ul>

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

   <li> I do plan to do more with Ivanova this season, yes, and get her out
	of C&C a bit more often.  (Especially in "Voices of Authority," coming
	up.)

<p>
   <li> <em>Where's this big war we've been hearing about?</em><br>
	What we're doing in the meantime is plenty.  Originally, the fourth and
	final episode in this first batch of four was going to be "Voices of
	Authority," which deals with just this question of preparing for the war
	in a big way, has major developments, gets into the White Star...but the
	CGI requirements of that episode were hideous, so we had to move it to
	#5 in the lineup, moving up "Gethsemane."  Once we come back with new
	episodes, we'll hit the ground running hard on all this stuff.

	<p>
	Also bear in mind that wars aren't instant; in the real world, you have
	to line up support, get into alliances, move all your pieces around
	before you can get into it.  We're taking a similar path here.  Also,
	the term "shadow war" refers to more than just the shadows as a race;
	they refer to what's going on back on earth as well, as metaphor as
	well as plot point, and that's a huge part of the next batch of eps.

<p>
   <li> Yeah, I'd intended to end with "Voices of Authority," which is a HUGE
	arc episode this week, but the EFX weren't ready yet (huge
	requirements), so we put "Passing" in its place.  

<p>
   <li> It takes us no longer to make the episodes or the EFX really
	than it did before.  But PTEN will not air shows out of sweeps periods,
	for the most part. The episodes on hand now were finished weeks, and in
	a couple of cases over a month ago.  They sit on the shelf until PTEN
	decides to air them.  The only thing we did was swap "VoA" with
	"Passing Through Gethsemane" to give that one a little bit more time. 
	That's it.

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 <em>You should use Claudia Christian more.</em><br>
	You're absolutely correct, which is why in the very first episode up in
	the next batch, we send Ivanova off in the White Star as its commander,
	and we involve her and her charactder more strongly in subsequent
	episodes as well.

<p>
   <li> "Voices of Authority" - Earth begins tightening the screws on the folks
	at B5 to try and exert more control there.  Steps are taken to
	help prepare for the shadow conflict.  (Here, again, the
	"shadow war" means both the obvious, and the more subtle
	conflict brewing at home; it's description and metaphor.)  The
	White Star voyages to some territory not seen since the first
	episode, Ivanova helms the ship, a major dramatic turning point
	is reached, and there is the single funniest scene in probably
	the series to date.  A strong arc story.

<p>
   <li> If you want some fun with your wham, and there's a lot of
	fun to be had in this  one, go for the first one up, "Voices
	of Authority."  If you want serious, serious  wham, go for
	"Messages From Earth."

<p>
   <li> As y'all know, next week the latest batch of new episodes
	begins to air.  The first one up, "Voices of Authority," is an absolute
	hoot; if you've been looking to bring in other viewers, that's a good
	one to start them with, because it sets up a lot of what's going to
	happen in this episode, it has a lot of background, and it's a lot of
	fun.

	<p>
	The next two are somewhat more straightforward, stand-alones
	(to some extent; there's some arc stuff there, however, which becomes
	more important later).  Then the last two in this batch represent some
	of the best work we've ever done, "Messages From Earth" and "Point of
	No Return."  They follow directly on the footsteps of "Voices," so
	those three together would be great for new viewers.

<P>
   <li> If you're talking about the conference room scene...Draal wasn't
	put into the scene digitally.  You do a split screen, with the camera
	locked off.  In one Delenn walks over to a point just short of the
	line; in another you get a shot just of the wall; then Draal walks up. 
	You then use a dissolve technique to fade him into the room on his side
	of the split screen.  But he's not being put *into* the room, he's
	already there, so he's neither bigger nor smaller than he is in real
	life, since he IS in real life there, not added in.

<p>
   <li> <em>And what about the machine room scene on the planet?</em><br>
	We shot two plates, first with him in the machine, then him out,
	never moving the camera, so it matched exactly.

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 The crew you see on the White Star doesn't reflect those in other
	parts of the ship.  Also, being fairly advanced, it doesn't require a
	big crew in command.  You could even fly it single-handedly if it came
	to that.

<p>
   <li> <em>The First Ones sure have fragile egos.</em><br>
	The other part, I think, is that they were kind of amused to see
	this dinky little ship getting in their face, when they *knew* the
	First Ones could blast 'em to bits....

<p>
   <li> Ivanova wanted to get in the face of the First Ones, to say,
	"Look, you can blow me away, but damn it, listen to me."  If she'd said
	that "more reverently," as your friend noted, it would've worked
	against the logic of the scene and the resolution.

<p>
   <li> <em>Would it be fair to say the First Ones weren't pleased to hear
	the Vorlons mentioned?</em>
	Fair, yes.

<p>
   <li> Well, this isn't a *literal* translation, because some words don't
	translate, but the *sense* of the sentence would be "the vorlons can
	kiss my ____."

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 <em>Was the mask image just a representation, or was it
	what the Walkers actually look like?</em><br>
	It's certainly a form of representation, an icon, rather than the
	literal entity, yes.

<p>
   <li>@@@840476527 "So who is older, the Shadows or the Walkers???"

	<p>
	The shadows, but just by a smidge.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why didn't they recognize Morden's voice?</em><br>
	Who said they didn't recognize it?

<p>
   <li> What's fun, for me, about the Minipax lady, is that she *clearly*
	knows that this is a game on one level, her comment about just
	rewriting the dictionary...she knows the problems aren't *really* gone,
	they just defined them away.  But when she's in front of a crowd of
	folks predisposed to her message, she goes full-tilt.  Showmanship.....

<p>
   <li> <em>A lot of the Nightwatch members looked pretty disturbed by
	what Musante was saying.</em><br>
	Now the weeding out process starts.

<p>
   <li> <em>What do civilians think of Nightwatch?</em><br>
	Some are scared of Nightwatch, others feel it's a good thing, and
	darn it, it's about time....

<p>
   <li> On the other hand, Zack *didn't* rat out the code 7-R stuff to
	her in any detail.  He's absolutely caught between the two sides, and
	not sure which way to jump.

<p>
   <li> <em>Parallels between Nightwatch and the Gestapo?</em><br>
	While yes, there are some intentional WW II parallels here, do
	bear in mind that you don't have to go all the way back to the Gestapo
	to find this kind of mentality...Sen. McCarthy would've been quite at
	home in Nightwatch.

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 <em>Is Nightwatch going to clear the lurkers out of
	the station?</em><br>
	Nightwatch has bigger goals than dealing with lurkers....

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 <em>Is the Nightwatch the same group referred to as
	Bureau 13 in
	<a href="028.html">"A Spider in the Web?"</a></em><br>
	No, the Bureau would've been a secret organization, a la the NSA
	or a covert military/spy group.  This is a much more public face.

<p>
   <li> The political officer: improbable dialogue?  Most of it was
	taken direct from political statements, public ones, made by Goebbels,
	Hitler, Joseph McCarthy, Stalin, and other fanatics.  The kind of Big
	Lie dialogue people continue to fall for today.  Go to a Pat Buchanan
	rally sometime and tell me it's unlikely dialogue.

<p>
   <li> DLyulkin...exactly.  You don't just take something and transplant it
	wholecloth...you change and modify it.  Nightwatch was never meant to be
	on a one-to-one corrolation to the SS, or Stasi, or McCarthy...the whole
	POINT is that this kind of mentality crops up in new forms from time to
	time, in different names, different approaches, but at its heartmeat
	core the same thing.  By saying it's "That over there," we can relax,
	since that specific incident can't recur...making us vulnerable to the
	next version.

<p>
   <li> Yes, those were shadow eyes; and it was probably a raven on the
	poster.

<p>
   <li> <em>Can the machine see everywhere, or can it be blocked?</em><br>
	No, Varn's people aren't first ones...and the machine can be
	blocked.

<p>
   <li> My sense was that basically Ivanova jumped onto the wrong path as she
	fled...the shadows were in proximity, and she ended up briefly on
	their path, which took her to the interception of the transmission.

	<p>
	The one comment that I find most interesting, repeated here a few
	times, is that they didn't buy the Nightwitch (as some have dubbed
	her) because in her address to the Nightwatch, she was not exactly
	what you might call subtle, and thus nobody'd believe her, and see
	her for what she was.

	<p>
	I find it interesting because we always think we're smarter than
	that, when history proves *exactly* the opposite.  The Big Lie,
	spoken not just openly, but loudly, firmly and with conviction, has
	been one of the most successful tactics in history.  When Hitler and
	Goebbels stood before a crowd and blamed jews for destroying society,
	circulated pamphlets with ugly cariacatures, indicated that they
	weren't *really* human (this in actual newsreels provided to the
	medical profession members charged with eliminating "mental
	defectives and jews")...when Joseph McCarthy stood up in front of the
	nation waving a list of names of commies in the state department, the
	military, congress, showbiz, and the sciences...the public didn't
	suddenly wake up, hear the voice of the fanatic, and say, "Hey, this
	guy's nuts!"

	<p>
	They bought it.  Because they were primed to believe it.  Because
	they wanted to believe it.  Because they were afraid *not* to believe
	it.   No, she wasn't subtle.  Because there's a time for subtlety,
	and there's a time to perform grandly for your hand-picked audience
	and go for the Big Lie.  If she were addressing a larger audience,
	she might softpedal her message.  To the Nightwatch, she's got to
	hammer them, just as the Hitler Youth were hammered, as the
	Anti-Communist Youth meetings were hammered about the Red Peril, as
	Croatian or Serbian soldiers were hammered about the need to rape
	women of the other "race" to make the resultant babies more
	ethnically pure...which happened.

	<p>
	Most of her dialogue was paraphrased from actual speeches given over
	the decades, or longer, by fanatical leaders to their followers.
	There's bits of Hitler, of Goerring, of Goebbels...bits of McCarthy,
	bits of Stalin, bits of Pat Buchanan and Rep. Dornan.

	<p>
	Because people fell for it.  It did work.

	<p>
	It does work.

	<p>
	And it will *continue* to work...for as long as people think that
	THEY would NEVER fall for such a thing....

<p>
   <li> Never said they're all convinced of it.  Just as all Germans weren't
	convined of the views advanced by Hitler.

	<p>
	You don't need all of them.  You just need *enough* of them.

	<p>
	Preferably, enough of them with guns.

	<p>
	Remember, too, that we just came out of the Earth/Minbari War about ten
	years ago, when we stood at the edge of extinction.  The threat of a new
	alien race makes a good device.

<p>
   <li> <em>How much does Nightwatch pay members?</em><br>
	Basically, it's a weekly bonus added onto their weekly salary; 50 creds
	is a pretty enticing bump, equal to about 50 pounds British.

<p>
   <li> <em>Didn't the security people already know about the
	assassination?</em><br>
	You have to remember that all Garibaldi's people knew was that a
	few guys came through the station that may have been involved in the
	assassination. That is NOT the same thing as showing that Clark is
	involved.  There was no apparent connection.  We the audience suspect
	it, from what happens, but until now there has been no evidence of it. 
	So yes, they know that Santiago is dead; that there's some indication
	that he may have been assassinated...but that's a long way from
	pointing to Clark.

<p>
   <li>@@@864891987 <em>Why aren't Sheridan and company going public with
	this information?</em><br>
	With Clark removing all the evidence, and others giving orders to
	drop it, and knowing Clark would stop any kind of investigation, what
	is there for them to do officially?  They had to begin working covertly
	to prove it, which is what they've been doing ever since "Hunter,
	Prey."  If you're a military officer, and you're given a direct order
	from your commander in chief or the Senate Oversight Committee to drop
	something, and you violate those orders, you're up on charges or fired.

<p>
   <li> <em>Was that Ed Wasser's voice?  (He plays Morden.)</em><br>
	It was definitely Ed Wasser.

<p>
   <li> <em>Did Musante seduce Zack?</em><br>
	No, that wasn't the relationship between her and Zack, much as he
	might've wished for it.  As for the walkers at sigma 957...the
	recognition signal is their name, which is 15,000 letters long (we had
	to cut this line for time).  So I can't really repeat it here.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why did she think seducing Sheridan would work?</em><br>
	Her feeling was likely that it has always worked with her in the
	past. He's widowed, probably hasn't had any in a long time, he's
	vulnerable, a perfect target.

<p>
   <li> Basically, like many manipulative people, she projects whatever
	she thinks will work best with her audience.  Appealing to Zack's
	patriotism, trying to find Sheridan's affections by flattering him
	mercilessly (on many levels), playing the straight-chinned leader in an
	address to security forces...she puts on whatever face she thinks will
	work.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why didn't Sheridan just get rid of her?</em><br>
	This is the difference between TV logic and Real logic.  In TV
	logic, yeah, she should've tossed her outta there...but we try to be
	rigorously real about the B5 universe.  She was sent by the Senate
	Oversight Committee, as is their province, with the backing of several
	governmental offices, in an area over which Sheridan doesn't have
	jusrisdiction: the political arena back home. In the real world, you
	can't just toss somebody out the door because you don't like them...not
	if you're a career military officer who answers to a civilian authority
	or government.

<p>
   <li> <em>Did I imagine Marcus's line about the French?</em><br>
	You didn't imagine it....

	<p>
	Part of what appeals to me is the idea that the English/French
	animosity you often see (though clearly not in all cases) would
	continue not only into the future, but outside Earth.  Realistically,
	if you go into Europe, you find people holding grudges 500 years old,
	or more.  Seemed appropriate to carry this small one forward as well.

<p>
   <li>@@@852231211 I wrote that particular line; knowing the longstanding
	British/French "feud," for lack of a better term, it seemed appropriate.

<p>
   <li> <em>What does Marcus know about Vorlon theology?</em><br>
	Marcus was making that part up.

<p>
   <li> Weren't me.  It was Marcus.  Blame him.

<p>
   <li> <em>So the actor ad-libbed that line?</em><br>
	Actor?  What actor?  I'm talking about Marcus here.  I just
	write down what he says.

<p>
   <li> <em>The First Ones had Kosh's voice.</em><br>
	I figured that some elements of the First Ones should be consistent
	with one another; others should have specific differences.  Using
	Ardwight subliminally reinforced some of the consistencies.

</ul>