lurkers-guide/guide/071

<!-- TITLE The Long Night -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
As the Army of Light prepares to strike, Londo and Vir
continue to plot Cartagia's downfall.  Ivanova and Lorien look for more
First Ones.  The Shadows unleash a terrible new weapon.
</cite>

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Krimmer,+Wortham">Wortham Krimmer</a> as Emperor Cartagia.
</blockquote>

<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/071">8.82</a>

Production number: 405
Original air week: January 27, 1997
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DGBEY/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: January 6, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John LaFia
</pre>

<p>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ADJQ/thelurkersguidet">An 
episodic soundtrack is available.</a>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@854665360 The Shadows have deployed a planet-killer of their own,
	striking against Vorlon-aligned worlds much as the Vorlons are
	decimating worlds touched by the Shadows.

   <li>@@@854665360 After the success of his assassination plot, Londo has
	taken Cartagia's place as head of the Centauri, though for the moment
	only as prime minister, not as emperor.

   <li>@@@854665360 Making good on his promise to G'Kar in
	<a href="068.html">"Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"</a>
	Londo has ordered the withdrawal of Centauri forces from Narn.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@854665360 Who were the Centuari nobles in the secret meeting with
	Londo and Vir?

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@854665360 Now that Narn is free, will G'Kar retain his stature?  Or
	will most of his countrymen come to feel the way the Narn in the
	palace did, that G'Kar's sacrifice wasn't significant and doesn't
	give him any special moral authority?
	
	<p>
	It's unlikely the Narn could
	mount any meaningful offensive against the Centauri regardless of
	their antagonism, given the near-total destruction of their fleet and
	the razing of their planet.  But G'Kar's warnings have a habit of
	being ignored until it's too late
	(<a href="024.html">"Revelations"</a>
	and
	<a href="042.html">"The Long, Twilight Struggle,"</a>
	to name two instances) and given the justifiable rage many Narn no
	doubt feel, they may well ignore him again.

<p>
   <li>@@@864689600 The Narn clearly don't know why the Centauri really left
	their world.  How will they react if and when they learn that it was
	a bargain on G'Kar's part, not the stubborn resistance of the Narn
	people as a whole, that caused their invaders to leave?

<p>
   <li>@@@854665360 In
	<a href="070.html">"Falling Toward Apotheosis,"</a>
	Garibaldi speculated that in a week's time, the crush of incoming
	refugees would overwhelm Babylon 5's resources.  That doesn't seem to
	have happened.  Has the diversion of people to the surface of Epsilon
	3 gone smoothly enough to take the load off the station?

<p>
   <li>@@@854665360 This episode marks the first time Sheridan has been shown
	ordering someone to certain death, though perhaps it's
	something he had to do during the Earth-Minbari War as well.  His
	death and rebirth on Z'ha'dum likely makes such orders more credible:
	he was willing to die for the cause, so he's clearly not sending
	others into the fire just to save his own skin.  Delenn, on the other
	hand, might not be ready for that aspect of command; as Lennier
	pointed out in
	<a href="063.html">"Grey 17 Is Missing,"</a>
	she holds individual lives in high esteem and is reluctant to risk them
	even for a greater good.

<p>
   <li>@@@854693608 What did Londo mean when he told the other Centauri that
	when he died, there would be a reckoning?  He could have been
	referring to his own alleged complicity in the death of Prime Minister
	Malachi,
	or to a reckoning for Refa's actions.  If the former, he was probably
	thinking in particular of his rather ignoble death, strangulation at
	the hands of G'Kar as foreseen in his dream
	(<a href="031.html">"The Coming of Shadows,"</a>
	<a href="061.html">"War Without End, Part Two."</a>)

<p>
  <li>@@@855251439 Although it was clearly unintentional (see
	<a href="#JS.vir">jms speaks</a>)
	one of Vir's earliest appearances has what could be considered
	foreshadowing of his killing of Cartagia.  In
	<a href="003.html">"Born to the Purple,"</a>
	Londo asks Vir, "What do you want, you moon-faced assassin of joy?"
	Vir has turned out to be an assassin, and by killing 
	Cartagia, Vir has undone some of the damage that began when Londo first 
	answered Morden's question, "What do you want?" in
	<a href="013.html">"Signs and Portents."</a>

<p>
   <li>@@@865730716 Another possible unintentional foreshadowing of Vir's
	actions was the Minbari rebirth ceremony in
	<a href="005.html">"The Parliament of Dreams."</a>
	During the ceremony, Delenn handed out fruits while she recited a
	Minbari holy text.  As she gave Londo his fruit, she spoke of birth;
	Vir's, death and renewal.  Obviously it wasn't JMS's intent at the
	time, but Londo can be seen as bringing on the birth of the newly
	ascendant Centauri Republic by helping Refa bring Cartagia to power.
	Vir brings its death in the form of the assassination, and its
	rebirth in the resulting shift in power.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@854352579 The poem recited by Sheridan at the end of the episode was
	probably left by Sinclair, who quoted it to Delenn as far back as
	<a href="000.html">"The Gathering."</a>
	It is Tennyson's
	<a href="/lurk/making/ulysses.html">"Ulysses."</a>

   <li>@@@854665360 When Londo first saw G'Kar, G'Kar commented that his eye
	offended Cartagia.  That's no doubt a Biblical reference, to
	<a href="http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=English&version=KJV&passage=Matthew+18:8-9">Matthew 18:9.</a>

   <li>@@@854957172 G'Kar's newfound vision bears some resemblance to Norse
	mythology, in which the god Odin sacrificed one of his eyes in
	exchange for the ability to perceive things beyond the normal senses.

   <li>@@@854352661 In the initial US broadcast, the third-season theme was
	played over the closing credits.

   <li>@@@851839066 The Shadow weapon was devised by Harlan Ellison.

   <li>@@@865967620 Effects glitch: About a half-second before the executive
	producer credit, as the fleet is leaving Babylon 5, some Starfuries
	enter the picture on the right side.  As they appear, they flicker
	out of existence for a frame or two.  The effect is visible (barely)
	at normal speed, more obvious in slow motion.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@855428420 <em>Was the use of the third season end theme
	deliberate?</em><br>
	It was an error...but as with many errors on the show, it
	worked to our benefit.  It's the ABA principle....Art By Accident.

<p>
   <li>@@@854727959 I'm quite happy with this episode.  It's fun.

<p>
   <li>@@@840408489 <a name="JS.vir">I'm writing 405,</a> "The
	Long Night," and there's something that one character was supposed to
	do in the script, that had been the plan all along, that was my intent
	even as near as 1 page from where it was going to happen...then just as
	I got to that scene, another character stepped up and said, "no, let me
	do it."  I was kinda flummoxed.  "You?!  You're the LAST person anyone
	would think to do this." The character nodded.  "Exactly."  And the
	symmetry was perfect, the impact would be greater...so that's who did
	it.

	<p>
	On one level, it's always wonderful when this happens; on
	another, it scares the hell out of me....

	<p>
	It's at the bottom of act two, you'll figure it out when you get
	there.

<p>
   <li>@@@852231899 <em>Which character has surprised you the most?</em><br>
	Probably Vir.  He's surprised me on many levels.  Suffice to say that in
	the first 6 somewhere next season, there's something I'd slotted for
	another character to do.  I'd intended for that character to do it right
	up....  until the page before that other character was going to do it,
	when Vir stepped up in my brain and said, "No, *I* should do this."  And
	as soon as he said it, I knew it was right.  You'll see.

<p>
   <li>@@@854693845 It was gonna be Londo right up until 2 pages before the
	scene...then Vir said, "Nope."

<p>
   <li>@@@854957225 Nothing about it was at all accidental...he had to go
	pick it up, turn, move to Cartagia, stick it in, and then pull the
	trigger. Nothing accidental about it.  But if we'd shown him doing all
	the prep, the shock wouldn't have been as substantial.

<p>
   <li>@@@852471331 "Has a character (not actor) ever suggested a direction
	to you that you didn't take, but later on seemed like the direction you
	should have taken? I would think they would all be fighting for
	screen-time, or is that just some actors?"

	<p>
	Not really, mainly because if my subconscious mind is sufficiently up in
	arms about something as to throw a fictional character at me and yell at
	me, it's usually a sign that I should Shut The Hell Up And Do As I'm
	Told.  So when it happens, I *very* rarely ignore it.  

<p>
   <li>@@@855249305 <em>What did Londo mean when he said there'd be a
	reckoning?</em><br>
	Well, the reckoning in the next life for his actions in this
	one, would be the best way of putting it.  That's what he expects.

<p>
   <li>@@@859454157 <em>Was G'Kar's stock a visual reference to Jesus on
	the cross?</em><br>
	I think one can make the argument there is some symbolism in
	there from christian literature, but that kind of scene takes place in
	other belief systems as well, and historically that sort of torture was
	used in many places, including the Roman empire in general.

<p>
   <li>@@@855249226 <em>Did Londo's men weaken the chains after all, or was
	G'Kar just really determined?</em><br>
	That was one determined Narn.

<p>
   <li>@@@854694708 The White Star mission in that ep has definite roots;
	during WW2 to convince the Germans we weren't going to land at
	Normandy, our own agents were fed incorrect information, set
	loose...and then info was leaked to the Germans allowing them to pick
	up the agents and torture the information out of them.  This wasn't
	quite as bad as that, the crew at least knew what they were getting
	into...but there are often no good choices in war.

<p>
   <li>@@@854957259 <em>The Ericsson scene was moving.</em><br>
	Thanks...I think a lot of it there has to do also with the
	performance of the actor playing Ericsson.  He brought a real sense of
	presence to the job.

<p>
   <li>@@@855334858 He asked if Ericsson was married because, if he was,
	that was a call that Sheridan would have to make, over Stellarcom or in
	person, to notify her that her husband was dead.  And, for Sheridan, I
	suppose there was a tinge of relief, knowing that at least he wouldn't
	be creating a widow as well as ordering Ericsson to do what was
	necessary.

<p>
   <li>@@@872263596 <em>What was the meaning of the phrase Ericsson used when
	he signed off?</em><br>
	The Minbari phrase was the standard way for Rangers to end a
	conversation, with a salute to the Entil-zha, the head of the Rangers,
	which is Delenn in this case.

<p>
   <li>@@@854871953 <em>Why did the promo feature Ericsson when his was a
	pretty minor part?</em><br>
	Certainly I would never have made a big deal about the Ericsson
	thing, because then it *does* set up certain expectations.  I didn't
	hear about the promo until you did.

	<p>
	There actually *was* a Lorien scene in that episode, but it got
	slid a bit when we ran out of time in that ep.

<p>
   <li>@@@855479889 <em>Sheridan should have known Ericsson wasn't
	married.</em><br>
	First, the Rangers situation is not a typical military situation.  They
	are primarily from Minbar, both in terms of actual Minbari and humans
	trained there.  They are specifically under Delenn's charge, with
	Sheridan *sharing* that authority.  He did not know Ericsson because
	they're a large bunch to whom he has not been introduced, and likely
	they don't have very large records on them.  This is a *de facto* army,
	not a *de jure* (I hope I spelled that right) army...there ain't a lot
	of paperwork on the Rangers.

	<p>
	Second, it was Delenn who sent for this particular White Star, more for
	its strategic location...which Sheridan used because it was closest to
	the goal.  Your observation is like saying that General Patton should
	know *instantly* about every soldier on the line in battle, however
	distant he is.  Which is simply absurd.  Watch some old WW2 footage
	someday...there's General MacArthur walking among some troops..."What's
	your name, son? Where are you from?"  By your lights, he should have
	known that.  

	<p>
	Third, re: the encryption notice...of *course* they're all
	encrypted...what Sheridan said was "we're RE-encrypting this message
	EVERY THREE SECONDS, so be sure to have your system keep up."  That's an
	escalation in layers of encryption so elaborate and involved that it
	makes the system actually slow down.

<p>
   <li>@@@865288361 <em>More on Sheridan's sacrifice of the ship</em><br>
	I think it also showed the League that he was willing to
	sacrifice his own people, that he *means business*...and is prepared to
	go all the way for this, and they'd damned well better be as well.

</ul>