lurkers-guide/guide/058

<!-- TITLE Ship of Tears -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
Bester finds himself at odds with others within the Psi Corps and seeks
Sheridan's help, offering information about the Shadows in return.
G'Kar presses for admission to the conspiracy of light.
</cite>

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

<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/058">8.70</a>

Production number: 314
Original air week: April 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 Mike Vejar
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

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

   <li> Telepaths who refuse to take sleeper drugs to suppress their
	abilities, or to join the Psi Corps, are sent to reeducation camps,
	one of which is on Mars.   The Corps refers to them informally as
	"blips."

   <li> The Shadows killed most of the Narn telepaths a thousand years ago.
	They were driven off by G'Quan and the remaining telepaths.

   <li> Telepaths can disrupt the link between Shadow ships and their
	non-telepathic pilots.  The Shadows have thus been infiltrating
	Psi Corps, taking control of it from inside to prevent it from
	being used as a weapon against them.  They are also capturing
	rogue human telepaths and altering them with cybernetic implants,
	possibly with the intent of using them as telepath-proof pilots.

   <li> Telepaths can locate ships by focusing on the occupants' thought
	patterns.  Their range is greatly expanded in hyperspace.  Psi Corps
	kept that a secret to prevent the Earth military from putting its
	members on the front lines.

   <li> Psi Cops are trained to pilot all the latest Earth Alliance vessels.

</ul>

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

   <li> Were Franklin and Bester able to save Carolyn?

   <li> Are the rest of the telepaths still in cryonic suspension and on B5?
	Where were they taken, if not?

   <li> How much more does Bester know about the Shadows and their involvement
	with the Corps?

   <li> Who were the aliens in Carolyn's flashback and on the bridge of the
	cargo ship?

   <li> Was Carolyn telekinetic, or did her modifications give her that
	ability?  If the latter, are the Shadows telekinetic too?

</ul>

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

   <li> Delenn still isn't being completely open with G'Kar -- she neglected
	to tell him about Kosh's involvement, for instance.  Perhaps she knows
	of Kosh's manipulation of G'Kar
	(<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust"</a>)
	and doesn't want the illusion shattered.

   <li> Even someone as highly ranked as Bester isn't immune from the Corps'
	rules about arranged marriages.  On the other hand, given his obvious
	sense of genetic superiority, he may feel it's his duty to the future
	of the human race to help breed a better telepath.

   <li> The mere presence of Bester stopped the Shadow warship from attacking
	the White Star (assuming it didn't stop to avoid risking damage to
	the "weapons components.")  Was that because it couldn't get close
	enough to attack without Bester interfering with its pilot's bond?
	In any case, the effect is consistent with Talia's experience in
	<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum,"</a>
	in which she was able to sense, even see, the Shadows without
	consciously probing for them.

   <li> A telepath who consciously chooses to disrupt a Shadow ship might be
	even more dangerous to them, though that isn't clear.

   <li> Is there a reason the Shadows are choosing human telepaths in
	particular?  Sheridan speculated that "they're using humans to pilot
	their ships."  Is that universally true, or are humans simply one
	of a large number of races being used for that purpose?  Would, for
	instance, a Centauri telepath be any good against a Shadow ship with
	a human pilot?  The events on Narn suggest that telepathy's effect on
	the Shadows isn't race-specific.

   <li> If telepathy is a weapon against the Shadows, Sheridan may want to
	stock up on Dust
	(<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust."</a>)
	And given that the Psi Corps produces the stuff, Bester may be able
	to arrange that.

   <li> The Shadows may also be looking for telepaths for use as hyperspace
	trackers; presumably they know about the scanning abilities revealed
	by Bester.

   <li> Is detecting other ships in hyperspace something peculiar to human
	telepaths?  If not, do other races use telepaths for that purpose?
	It seems odd that the ability would remain a secret for so long if all
	races with telepaths can use them to scout in hyperspace.  On the
	other hand, each race who's discovered the effect might consider it
	a military advantage and thus keep it under wraps.

   <li> Did Bester find out about Ivanova when she slapped him?  Physical
	contact intensifies psi ability (established as early as
	<a href="000.html">"The Gathering"</a>)
	but the slap was probably too brief to be of any use.  However, he did
	take care to make her angry, which, as she herself has observed
	(<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust"</a>)
	makes scans much easier.

   <li> Does Ivanova's latent telepathy provide any protection against attack
	by a Shadow ship?  Ivanova has only encountered a Shadow ship once, in
	<a href="045.html">"Matters of Honor,"</a>
	and it fired at the White Star -- but it didn't <em>hit</em> the
	White Star.  Perhaps Sheridan was wrong about why the Shadows missed.
	On the other hand, given the behavior of the Shadow ship in this
	episode, it's unlikely the ship in the previous encounter would have
	pursued the White Star like it did.  (See
	<a href="#JS.ivanova">jms speaks</a>)

   <li> As the only major race without telepaths, the Narn may be in for even
	more bloodshed and loss; they will be unable to protect themselves
	from the Shadows as they were (barely) able to before.

   <li> The cybernetic implants were perhaps put in place at the Mars facility
	destroyed by Garibaldi and Sinclair in comic #8,
	<a href="/lurk/comic/008.html">"Silent Enemies."</a>
	If so, it implies that the Corps, or some component of it, was abetting
	the Shadows in their quest to make human telepaths useless as weapons.
	However, the presence of the unidentified aliens, both on the cargo
	ship and in Carolyn's flashback, strongly suggests that the operation
	was performed elsewhere, or without the Corps' assistance.

   <li> Carolyn's entanglement is slightly reminiscent of Draal's attachment
	to the Great Machine in Epsilon 3
	(<a href="049.html">"Voices of Authority."</a>)
	When she said that telepaths prevent her from "hearing the machine,"
	was she talking about Shadow ships, or something similar to Epsilon 3?
	The Machine does seem to be affected by telepathy; witness Ivanova's
	ability to pull extra information out of it when she was there.

   <li> What effect will Carolyn's modifications have on her unborn child,
	assuming the Shadows' agents allowed it to live?

   <li> The White Star can no longer be considered even remotely secret now
	that Bester has been allowed to wander around the bridge.  Even if
	he truly opposes the Shadows, his primary motives might prompt him to
	tell others about the ship.

   <li> Bester is presumably still safely in his position at the Psi Corps;
	even if he's unable to get any Corps telepaths to help combat the
	Shadows, he'll likely be able to arrange for Franklin's
	underground railroad to continue its work unmolested, providing the
	army of light with a supply of telepaths with which to man its ships.

   <li> His discovery of the Shadows and their involvement with the Corps,
	though, indicates that he's not above unauthorized scans of his own
	people if it suits his purposes.  Presumably he's very careful to
	only scan people he's confident won't be able to sense him; or he
	scans them on some other pretense and they're unable to tell that
	he's pulling Shadow information from their heads too.

   <li> Bester claimed he last saw Carolyn four weeks earlier, but never
	elaborated on what happened to her after that.  Was she spirited off
	on official pretenses, or did the Shadows or their agents kidnap her
	out of the middle of a Psi Corps installation on Mars?

   <li>@@@831919911 Bester's entrance into the army of light bears similarity to Marcus'
	and Sheridan's.  All three vowed to fight on the side of light after a
	loved one was killed or taken by the Shadows.

   <li> Now that G'Kar is a full member of the war council, perhaps he'll
	save Garibaldi the trouble of poring slowly through the Book of G'Quan
	for clues and will tell the others everything his people know about
	the Shadows and how to defeat them.

</ul>

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

   <li> The title may be a reference to the Trail of Tears, the forced march
	of thousands of American Indians away from their ancestral lands
	onto government-apportioned reservations half a continent away.

   <li> Vorlons also dislike telepaths, according to Garibaldi in
	<a href="009.html">"Deathwalker."</a>

   <li> Bester quotes from Edgar Allan Poe's
	<a href="http://www.literature.org/Works/Edgar-Allan-Poe/amontillado.html">"The Cask of Amontillado."</a>

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@865184465 Today Walter Koenig and Bill Mumy had a scene together;
	this (saith Bill) marks the first time a Lost in Space regular and a
	Star Trek regular have acted together in the same scene.

<p>
   <li> <em>How does Bester fit into the Shadows/Psi Corps connection?</em><br>
	This question will be dealt with in "Ship of Tears," around mid-season.

<p>
   <li> The Christmas hiatus ends after the 1st, so we're back at work on
	the 2nd shooting "Ship of Tears," with Walter Koenig returning as
	Bester.  Expect some major revelations about Bester's background, and
	where his character is going.

<p>
   <li> <em>Was Bester's first name a reference to Alfred Bester, the writer?
	</em><br>
	Yes, it's certainly a tribute to Alfie, a giant in the field.

<p>
   <li> <em>Where did the prop for the book come from?</em><br>
	The book was made by Mark Walters of our prop department; and
	when all is said and done...it'll likely end up in my office....

	<p>
	Creation hath its perks.

<p>
   <li> <em>Where did you put the war room set?</em><br>
	Since we're not using the casino much this season -- not a lot
	of room for frivolity -- we yanked it out and put up the war room on
	stage C.

<p>
   <li> <em>How were the reflections on Sheridan's faceplate done?</em><br>
	The reflections you cite were all done real-time with an LCD projector.

<p>
   <li>@@@832965854 <em>Was Garibaldi's voice dubbed?</em><br>
	If this refers to the War Room scene with Garibaldi at the end...yes,
	there was some looping done.  The best performed scene had some
	unacceptable noise in it from the chair Jerry had been sitting in at the
	first part, then he went slightly off-mike at the second point.

<p>
   <li> Who's behind the shadows?  Nobody.  The shadows are the shadows (though
	that's not the name by which they call themselves), a race of their own.
	Question is, why are they doing what they're doing?

	<p>
	You'll find out by season's end.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why did Garibaldi need a computer to read the Book of G'Quan?</em>
	<br>
	To follow the book, there still has to be a knowledge of the language.
	You need to have a dictionary around, which is what was used.

	<p>
	The comparison, I suppose, would be those who say that Jorge Luis
	Borges' work can only be most truly appreciated in the original
	Spanish.  There's a *translated* version, which someone has gone through
	and made the translation for you, written it all out in English...or
	you can learn the language, and then read the original manuscript.

	<p>
	Garibaldi doesn't know Narn, so how other than with a dictionary could
	he read the original material, except by sleeping with it under his
	pillow and praying for divine intervention.

<p>
   <li> <em>How could G'Quan and the Narn telepaths fight the Shadows if the
	Narn telepaths were all killed?</em><br>
	Those were the last remaining ones, the older telepaths, their
	children all killed, too old now to produce any further children, and
	the technology of cloning or genetics was still way beyond them.

	<p>
	The story of the last crusade of G'Quan is actually quite
	interesting; I hope to get it into the show at some point.  Right now
	it's mainly background, even though I've worked it out fully.

<p>
   <li> <em>How about an episode showing G'Quan's crusade?</em><br>
	No, because that would mean doing a story without our main
	characters, since G'Quan's story took place about a thousand years ago,
	and I don't think I could sell that.  (Unless I did another time travel
	number, and I only intend to go to that well once, with the B4
	storyline.)

<p>
   <li>@@@839200015 <em>Then how about telling us the story online?</em><br>
	I think I'd rather hold it for now, on the chance that I can use
	it somewhere, or in time turn it into something larger.

<p>
   <li> That's one of the things about the show that makes it
	very appealing to write; you can go from fall down funny, broad comedy
	in "Vir" to something more emotional, almost lyrical but serious in
	"Avalon," then right into something vaguely horrific in "Ship."  You
	get to use all your muscles, not just the same ones over and over.  I
	like to stretch, try something I haven't tried before.  Which means
	from time to time I fall on my face, but that's okay; it's the only way
	to learn.  I have absolutely no qualms about making an ass of myself
	and failing if it means that the next time, I can do it right.

	<p>
	I didn't give Mira or Andreas any instructions on that scene
	except what was in the script, which was minimal.  When you have two
	performers that solid in the room, just give them the lines and run
	like hell.

	<p>
	Speaking of going back and rewatching episodes...part of this
	goes right back to the *pilot*, where, you'll recall, G'Kar tried to
	seduce Lyta, mentioning that there are no Narn telepaths, and they feel
	very strongly it's important to their survival that they start breeding
	them at the first opportunity.

	<p>
	Ding....!

<p>
   <li> <em>Did the lack of Narn telepaths give the Shadows an extra advantage
	during recent encounters?</em><br>
	Certainly, that there were no teeps on Narn made them easy
	targets, as were their ships.  They would also have a vested interest
	in subduing them because of the knowledge they have, revealed here.  If
	you'll remember, in "Matters of Honor," they mention to Morden that
	they've only been able to track down some Narn legends.  Morden's
	reply: "Well, we've taken care of that problem."  Had G'Kar not been
	out and about, they might have succeeded.

<p>
   <li>@@@846742790 <em>Why didn't all the Narn support G'Kar's request to
	send an expedition to Z'ha'dum in
	<a href="024.html">"Revelations,"</a>
	if G'Quon wrote about the Shadows?</em><br>
	Narn is somewhat factionalized itself, as is every world; there are
	different followers of different denominations of sometimes similar
	basic beliefs.  Catholics and Protestants are both members of the same
	faith, but a Protestant doesn't recognize the power of the Pope; neither
	does a Mormon, or a Lutheran.  Similarly, not everyone invests G'Quon
	with the same amount of reverence or credibility.  And G'Kar can call
	upon those who believe similarly to send out an expedition, but may not
	have the clout in the rest of the government to do much more afterward.

	<p>
	And yes, initially the shadows had no interest in the Narns, until 
	such time as the Narns, led by G'Quon, began to engage in sabotage and 
	direct attacks to drive them off their homeworld.  Then the killing
	started.

<p>
   <li> Minbari telepaths can also have an effect, as we'll see
	soon.

<p>
   <li>@@@846742790 <em>Bester's line about being the only thing standing
	between humanity and the abyss in
	<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust"</a>
	wasn't as arrogant as it sounded.</em><br>
	Yeah...we're slippery that way....

<p>
   <li> Everybody's agendas remain the same...but for the
	moment, they are on the same alignment.  As soon as it's over, as
	Ivanova says, he'll turn on them, no mistake.  Enlightened
	self-interest, nothing more.

	<p>
	The new command center was cobbled from what's on the station,
	with some additional Minbari funding.  And yes, by now, pretty much the
	whole crew knows what's at stake with the shadows.  And now that
	they're not hiding anymore, the whole *thing* is out in the open.

<p>
   <li> <em>Was the cargo ship's pilot the same species as the surgeons?</em>
	<br>
	Yep.  Same species.

<p>
   <li> There's no relation between the aliens working for the shadows
	and the Streib.  The ones you saw in the flash were "doctors" of a sort
	doing the work; there was no abduction required except of course the
	covert kidnapping from the Psi Corps Re-education Center.  As for
	Bester's look behind, he was just looking to the guards behind him, and
	the ones in front of him.

<p>
   <li> The implants are part of the preparation process Delenn
	referred to in "Messages."

<p>
   <li> <em>Did Bester read Ivanova when she slapped him?</em><br>
	I think the contact would've been too fleeting, and too much a shock
	(and it likely hurt like the dickens) that by the time he knew it was
	there, it was too late, and she would've sensed it in either event.

<p>
   <li>@@@833443567 "Was it just me, or did anyone stop to think just how
	Bester got to B-5 space in a Starfury without using the local jumpgate.
	Who brought him and more important, why?"

	<p>
	He simply tagged along with an Earthforce jump-capable ship, and asked
	to be dropped off.  I considered bringing this up, but it was just dead
	exposition; it would be easy enough to do.

<p>
   <li>@@@839200015 <em>Why didn't B5's sensors pick up the jump point when
	he was dropped off?</em><br>
	It's far enough outside B5...about an
	hour or so in normal space...that they wouldn't have picked it up.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why didn't Bester stay with Carolyn?</em><br>
	Logically, he can't just go away indefinitely, and it's going to
	take a long time before they can get Carolyn in shape.  A very long
	time.  If he stays, he'd be noticed and hunted down by the Corps, which
	ends his usefulness.  His staying served no purpose.

<p>
   <li> It'll be a long time before Bester's ladyfriend comes anywhere
	near being whole again.

<p>
   <li> <em>Will Bester covertly help B5?</em><br>
	Yes, that'll be something Bester will do now.

<p>
   <li> <em>Was this change of heart planned from the start?</em><br>
	Yes, this was definitely intended from the start with Bester.

<p>
   <li> "If the theme of the relationship is "All Bester needed was to love
	and be loved, or he wouldn't have been the slimeball he is today", I
	will be a bit disappointed."

	<p>
	Then you won't be.

	<p>
	"It's just a little too simplistic."

	<p>
	Absolutely.

	<p>
	One mongoose can love another; that won't change its attitude toward
	pythons.

<p>
   <li> <em>Bester's connection to Carolyn was too much of a coincidence.
	It would have worked better if they'd brought him a list of names and
	he'd seen her there.</em><br>
	Yeah, they could've brought him a list...and he'd have seen the
	name instantly, and wouldn't have been hit with his own "blip" careless
	attitude right in his face...also, she needed to be already being
	defrosted at that point, and you can't defrost all of them at once.

	<p>
	Yeah, it was a coincidence.  Synchronicity.  It happens.  It
	doesn't happen much on this show, hardly ever.  I figured she'd be one
	of the last in, and thus the first out.  Synchronicity and coincidences
	*do* happen.  How many times have you reached for the phone to call
	someone to find the phone ringing, and it's them on the other end? 
	What're the odds of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother
	out of all the possible kingdoms in the area?  It happens.  As long as
	it doesn't happen to excess, it's not something I'm worried about.

<p>
   <li>@@@833443567 "Then out of the hundred popcycles in the Shadow transport,
	we just happen to pick the one guiding light in Bester's life. God,
	aren't we lucky."

	<p>
	Yes, and how amazingly coincidental that of all the women
	around, Oedipus would just happen to murder his father and
	marry his mother without knowing he had done so.  Okay, it was
	a coincidence, I'll own up to that.  We have very, very few of
	them on the show.  And the reason the word "coincidence"
	exists, and the word "synchronicity," is that sometimes stuff
	like that does happen.  You ever pick up the phone to call
	somebody and have that person already on the line calling you?
	You ever think of someone you haven't seen in a while and run
	into them the next day?  It happens.  As long as it doesn't
	happen to excess, and become a venue for sloppy storytelling
	every week, it doesn't bother me, it's a legitimate plot
	device.

	<p>
	And you misspelled popcicle.

<p>
   <li> There are a number of medlabs, which are broken into various
	areas; each has a larger wing attached to it, which we've seen on
	occasion, such as when the young girl in "Legacies" is in the infirmary
	in bed, same with Shon in "Believers."  They each have a pretty fair
	capacity for patients.

<p>
   <li> <em>Why aren't other TV networks available?  What happened to the two
	reporters at the ISN desk when it was shut down?</em><br>
	ISN is one of the only interstellar networks bounced via the
	tachyon relay systems from Earth to the outer colonies and beyond. 
	There are lots of other channels back home, but to get this far out you
	need the support of the government.

	<p>
	The other two reporters are, to say the least, in deep guano.

<p>
   <li> That's Brakiri space they attacked; more on that in the next
	episode. (They're a League world.)

<p>
   <li>@@@832236637 Ivanova isn't a strong
	enough teep for the incoming shadow vessel to really even notice.

<p>
   <li>@@@839200015 <em>How close does a telepath need to be to read
	someone?</em><br>
	The person has to be in their line of sight;
	they don't have to look into the person's eyes or anything as silly as
	that.  It doesn't matter if the person's head or body are covered, as
	long as there's a definite "focus" for them.

<p>
   <li>@@@839200015 If the person is behind a door, or otherwise can't be
	located visually, it's difficult to impossible to scan.


</ul>