[1][ISMAP]-[2][Home] ### GUIDE ### [3][Background] [4][Synopsis] [5][Credits] [6][Episode List] [7][Previous] [8][Next] _Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis - [13]Notes - [14]JMS _________________________________________________________________ Overview When President Clark tries to seize control of Babylon 5 by force, Sheridan is faced with the prospect of severing the station's ties with Earth. Delenn receives disturbing news from a Ranger. [15]Bruce McGill as Major Ryan. [16]Kim Miyori as Captain Hiroshi. [17]James Parks as Drakhen. [18]P5 Rating: [19]9.81 Production number: 310 Original air week: April 1, 1996 Written by J. Michael Straczynski Directed by David Eagle Winner of the 1997 Hugo award for Best Dramatic Presentation. _Note: this episode is more momentous than most. Think twice before proceeding to the spoilers if you haven't seen it._ _________________________________________________________________ Backplot * The former Minbari leader, Dukhat, died in Delenn's arms. Before he died, he named her as his chosen successor. * Clark has been filling command positions with his people since taking office, thus enabling him to retain control of most of Earth Force; many officers who oppose his policies feel forced to go along, since their superiors will accuse them of treason otherwise. * The Shadows have formed alliances with many of the non-aligned worlds, allegedly to protect them from Centauri aggression; later, they've prompted those races to attack their neighbors with the belief that association with the Shadows is a guarantee of victory. Unanswered Questions * Was Londo finally able to leave the station? Where was he going? (Or, if he was coming aboard, where was he coming from?) * Is there more to the prophecy of the return of the Shadows, or has it now played itself out, leaving the future uncertain? * What _does_ Sheridan's mother do with her time? * What has ISN known for a year but been unable to talk about? Did they find out about Santiago's death, or perhaps about Earth's involvement with the Shadows? Analysis * Sheridan said he wanted to keep Draal a secret, and thus didn't ask for help defending the station. But anyone with two eyes now knows he has some interesting non-human technology at his disposal; he used the Great Machine to broadcast his holographic image all over the station. While Earth has free-floating holography (such as the Knights' image of Sinclair at the beginning of [20]"And the Sky Full of Stars") it's a far cry from what Sheridan did. * Five hooded Councilors followed Delenn from the council chamber; presumably the remaining four were all warrior caste, as established in [21]"All Alone in the Night." (Only three are visible onscreen, but the whole Council wasn't visible at the start of the scene, either.) * Where did the religious and worker castes get three Minbari warships and the crews to pilot them? Are there more on Delenn's side, or just those? In [22]"Matters of Honor," Lennier implied that the religious-caste crew of the White Star was rare, if not unheard-of. Did some of the warrior caste side with Delenn? (See [23]jms speaks) * Delenn's confrontation with the Grey Council is counter to her own stated goal of laying low so the Shadows aren't forced to attack immediately. She accused them of standing by and doing nothing in the face of Shadow encroachment -- but doing nothing was exactly what she insisted on in [24]"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," among other places. If the warrior caste had moved to prevent some of the non-aligned worlds from warring, as she seemed to be suggesting, it surely would have alerted the Shadows to the fact that their return has been discovered. On the other hand, it may be that she was accusing them of not even preparing for eventual open conflict with the Shadows; perhaps she believed their current indifference would continue even after the army of light was fully assembled. Finally, she may have wanted them to simply take a stand in the local conflicts without addressing the Shadows' presence directly. * Sheridan's secession from the Earth Alliance plays directly into Clark's hands in some respects. Clark can use the secession, and the Minbari involvement, to paint a picture of an alien-supported military coup against an elected civilian government, further proof of the need for martial law, the Nightwatch, and other draconian measures. No doubt he'll be able to make that version of the story believable to a large number of people back home, thus solidifying his power base. * Why did only four destroyers jump into Babylon 5 space for the initial attack? Perhaps the fleet commander didn't want to increase the chance of casualties from friendly fire, but that seems dubious at best; or perhaps he didn't know there were more ships on the way. * Which side of the war does the Agamemnon and its crew support? Will Sheridan be forced into conflict with his old ship, something he definitely doesn't want? ([25]"Messages From Earth") * Given the reason for the Minbari surrender during the war ([26]"Points of Departure") would Delenn have made good on her threat to fire on the Earth ships? Minbari religious beliefs would forbid her from doing so, though she might well consider it a necessary evil. * During the initial attack on the Alexander, Major Ryan claims that they can't jump to hyperspace without losing their fighters. But fighters have been shown jumping alongside a larger ship before -- some emerged with the destroyers to attack Babylon 5 later in the same episode -- so what would have kept the fighters from jumping with the Alexander? (See [27]jms speaks) * The Shadows are apparently perfectly willing to double-cross the Centauri, at least in words. By offering to protect the League worlds from Centauri aggression, when the Centauri are using the Shadows to act out that aggression, they've effectively taken control of both sides of any potential Centauri border conflicts. What they'll do with that control, and why they want it, remains to be seen. Notes * The new Starfury in this episode is called a "Thunderbolt." * Many of the Nightwatch members in this episode are production staff members, including the production secretary and an assistant director. * Minor effects mismatch: A group of Starfuries attacks a friendly destroyer. Its name is clearly visible as the Churchill. But the scene immediately cuts to Major Ryan reacting to the hit -- even though he's on the Alexander, not the Churchill. (See [28]jms speaks) * Just after Major Ryan says, "Right down their throats," a Starfury shoots another one with B5 in the background. For one frame, the exploding Starfury is replaced with a bright yellow square; then the explosion replaces it. * Four ships emerge from the jumpgate at the end of act three, two Omega-class destroyers and two older Hyperion-style heavy cruisers ([29]"A Voice In the Wilderness, part 2.") But we only see and hear about two, the Agrippa and the Roanoke. One possible explanation is that the destroyer rammed by the Churchill isn't supposed to be the Roanoke; since Sheridan offers assistance to the Roanoke at the end of the battle, that's plausible. However, the rammed ship's name is (barely) visible as "Roanoke" during the collision. * One of the two destroyers in the second wave was called the Nimrod; the second was the Olympic. * The Roanoke is named after an early English colony in North Carolina. After a hard winter, a ship came to check on the colony and found it totally deserted, no sign of the inhabitants or of a struggle, just the word CROATAN carved into a tree. The fate of the colonists was never discovered. * The Agrippa was probably named for the famed Roman general/admiral, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He served for Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus), the nephew of Julius Caesar. He was the inventor of the harpax, or harpago, which was a pole with a hook on the end which was attached to a rope. Fired toward another ship, it allowed the two ships to be pulled together, allowing the Romans to board. It was first used in 36 BC at the battle of Naulochos (Mylae), and later at the battle of Actium, where it helped to defeat Mark Anthony's fleet, leading to the eventual crowning of Octavian as Augustus, the first Roman emperor in 27 BC. * In the UK video release, three seconds were cut from the episode, presumably from one of the boarding-party fight scenes. jms speaks * The number of scenes varies depending on the amount of action required. On balance, the average TV script has about 60-75 scenes or shots in it. From time to time, in B5, we've gone as high as 130 shots in episodes like "Twilight" or "Fall." I think we just blew out our record here with "Severed Dreams," which has close to 140. Number of scenes shot on any day depends on how long the scene; you can do 4 really long shots or 8 fairly short scenes. The amount of rehearsal varies depending on the scene, how many extras or what kind of action/stunts are required. The more action, the more you rehearse, to ensure nobody gets hurt. * Much as I'd have wished PTEN would've aired 10, the final part of the 3-episode arc that changes direction on the show, a week after 9, even though it'd be out of sweeps period...it's probably for the best. When producer George Johnson saw the scrpt for #10, "Severed Dreams," he laughed, walked over to me and said, "Boy, this is the best episode we're never gonna deliver. ARE YOU NUTS?!" As an example of "ARE YOU NUTS?!" in "The Fall of Night," in the sequence between the first Garden shot and the end of Sheridan's rescue, about 6-7 pages of script, there were, I think, about 60 or 65 EFX and practical shots. In just the span of 4 pages in 310 there are roughly 100 EFX and practical shots. In EFX terms, it's probably one of the biggest shows we've done, so it's better to give Foundation a little extra time to get it right rather than rush them. * All I'll say here is that there were *so* many EFX here that we mixed the episode a few days before delivery, and got it down there 2 hours before the process for uplinking the episode to stations. It was the hardest thing we've ever done...but it was worth it. * _Why are these three episodes not marked as a three-parter?_ For the most part, it's a matter of how the episodes feel to me, what length they feel as if they require. When I did the big three this year -- Messages, Point and Dreams -- I hadn't really figured they'd be as tightly connected as they ended up being. I knew they'd relate strongly to one another, but in a sense, they're really a three parter. The War Without End story I knew was WAY too big for one episode, but due to the structure of the story wouldn't take being extended for one more episode; at that point you'd just be dragging it out. It's all instinct, I wish I had a more concrete answer. * I think you hit the distinction between MfE and PoNR...the former is exciting, the latter is tense, with "Severed Dreams" a good blend of the two, particularly the latter. We did our final producer's cut today, and man, it moves.... * _Why the title?_ If B5 was a dream given form, and the EA had the potential to be something more than it has become, and the two part ways, then you have severed dreams. (I had a much more elegant and interesting reply, but obviously it entered Vorlon space and hasn't been allowed out again.) * "Messages," for my money, is so far the best we've ever done, though I'll be more able to lock that down once I've seen the final CGI. It and "Dreams" are real CGI blowouts; in the latter, there are literally 100 shots -- CGI, live action, and compositing -- in *four pages* of action. This is an all time record for us (and that doesn't count the stuff earlier in the episode). * Have begun shooting episode 11, "Messages From Earth," a hideously complex episode, outmatched only by #10, "Severed Dreams," which is the single most visually ambitious episode we've done in the three years of the show. It's just totally outrageous, and it'll probably kill us in sheer man-hours to produce...but the result should drop jaws all over the place. * Re: Foundation "adding a new flame effect"...sort of. One night, we just went out into the parking lot, set up a camera pointing up behind a plexiglass screen, and set off a bunch of explosions above it. Went great until one of the blasts was so big it melted through the plex *and* the camera lens.... Looked good though, didn't it? * _The PPG blasts looked different._ That was because there were so MANY of them; our PPG bursts usually take a great deal of work. If we'd given all of them in this scene that amount of work, we'd still be doing them. * _How did you do the lighting as Ivanova's ship tumbled?_ We fixed a light atop a gimble, and pre-determined the rotation of the starfury, then moved the lighting to match. Gives it a much more realistic feel. * "In an ep like "Severed Dreams" where cgi effects take up literally almost 1/4 of the script, how much input does the director have on "camera" angles, close ups of 'Fury pilots, and the way in which the SFX is intercut with live action? Or is that entirely your job?" Generally, a lot of that material is either storyboarded, or supervised by our on set EFX supervisor, who determines the angles to be used. This is especially important in an episode like Severed Dreams when you have to make sure that the pilots are oriented the right way on camera (i.e., going from left to right, and facing left to right) if that's the direction their ships are going in; otherwise you'd have to flop the film to make it match. In larger set pieces, using virtual sets and composite shots, the director has more influence. * _From coproducer George Johnsen, about the [30]effects glitch_ The show was seriously under the gun for delivery when those shots were done. If I remember correctly, a couple of these shots came in on the same day we were to deliver, and there was no time to re-render them and still make the satellite. If I were to tell you it would never happen again, I would be a big liar, or a deluded optomist, but we try. Animators are human, after all! :-) * Funny thing is, how much as you note the show corresponds to some of the things Mira's been through...some of it intentional, knowing that if I dig into this area, it'll come out of her with the ring of truth...some of it quite unintentional. When I finished writing "Severed Dreams," and the actors got it, Mira's first words to me were, "So...how long DID you live in Yugoslavia?" The parallel wasn't intentional...but it fit. * Toni: thanks. All of the characters shine in this one, Mira in particular as Delenn. It's a nice contrast; her speech to the Grey Council is an intense piece of work that goes on for a while; her declaration to the EA ships is short, to the point, and absolutely deadly. The right tool for the right job. I'm utterly pleased and proud of the job we did here. Partly because it's just so nifty on its own terms, and partly because it gives us a new level to try and beat. Up until now, I've been looking to top "Coming of Shadows;" now the goal is to top this one...and I think it's possible there may be one or two even this season that'll do that, but tonally I think they're different enough that it might end up as a tie. I definitely wanted the close-in, hand-to-hand fighting to personalize what's going on. It's also very logical strategically. You send in your forces to disable or overwhelm C&C, distract them, slip in a cadre of troops to a station that (you hope) didn't know you were coming...then they race to C&C and seize control from inside, shooting anyone they have to en route. If Sheridan et al hadn't known the ships were coming in, this could've gone very differently. But once they were in, they were in close quarters, and you want to get in closer if you're on the defensive side so that they can't use their weapons without cutting down their own people. After that you have to hope you can overwhelm the intruders with sheer force of numbers. It's an ugly, awful way to win a fight, because it *guarantees* casualties...but what war doesn't? Something to bear in mind when rewatching, btw...it was during this scene that Jerry fell and broke his right arm and right wrist. And they still had one last scene to film. He stuck it out and they rolled film, to get the shot of him and Zack at the end of the fight. Next time you watch it, keep an eye on the right arm as he releases the helmet...it bends in directions never intended by evolution. * I agree, but Jerry was determined to do it, and more time would've been lost arguing about it than it took to do the takes. * The arm broken was his right arm and wrist; we worked it into the show, in a way which actually worked well with what went right before it. Jerry's doing fine now. * Oddly enough, Jerry's broken arm tied *beautifully* into something that had happened in the course of the episode we were filming, so all it took was a line or two to sell it. The funny thing is...in the very next episode after the incident, there was a line in the script I'd written *weeks* earlier, and it freaked everybody out...when Garibaldi asks someone to do something, and the person responds, "What, you've got a broken arm or something?" At first some people thought I'd put it in there to pink Jerry, but it'd been there the whole time. Similarly, in the Claudia incident, there was a line (cut for time) where Sheridan says talking to the Drazi is like trying to talk to your right foot...and Ivanova replies "I'll have you know I have a sublime relationship with my right foot." Yep, the next day...that's the foot she broke. Just recently, I was trying to explain time travel to one of the actors. I used the analogy, over lunch, "Suppose you finished eating your chicken here, then got sick as a dog a few hours later, then got in a time machine to go back in time and warn yourself not to eat the chicken." Well, a few hours after that...the actor got sick as a dog from the chicken. I have been asked, expressly, not to make any further mention of actors' body parts in scripts.... * We shot that last scene with Garibaldi *after* we'd shot the sequence showing his injured leg. We don't shoot in sequence. So we had to cover it in the next episode. * We shot the last scene with the cane *before* we shot the scene in which Jerry broke his arm. It costs way too much to go back and reshoot. At the time we shot the later scene, he hadn't yet broken his arm. And G'Kar isn't all the way in yet; he wants to be, but so far he's still being held at arm's length a bit...he may make an issue of this. * Actually, though, because he *did* have his hand in his pocket, it let me handle the break in the next episode without stretching credulity too far. It was...well...I guess you'd call that part of it a lucky break. * _Is General Hague shown?_ Foxworth was slated for "Severed Dreams" when he bailed on us. * We had booked Foxworth long in advance. Later, out of the blue, a rep for the actor said that by accident he'd been double-booked on B5 and DS9 for the same period...and even though we had prior claim, because the other was a two-parter, more money, they went for that. One can only wonder when the other offer *really* came in.... * The Foxworth bail resulted in a change of about three lines, that's about it. You'll know which lines when you hear them. * We'd booked the actor long, long in advance. At the last minute, he bailed to do a DS9 episode playing, essentially, the same character, despite our having first dibs. So I killed off the character. Didn't change the story by the smallest measure. May actually have helped, since it raised the stakes in the story right from the start. Rule #1: Never honk off the writer. * Regarding Hague...it's much harder to hold an actor on a once-in-a-while basis. Every show is hostage to that. It's a reality of life. We don't have contracts with folks who play one or two parts a year. Screen Actors Guild doesn't allow that; you make deals as they come up. You can't stop an actor if he wants to jump ship under those conditions; and if you try, you have an unhappy actor on your set who'll just walk through it because he or she doesn't want to be there. * Re: Foxworth...it was really the only thing to do. I'd created the character *specifically* to have him available for this episode, after which he'd basically fade away while others took up his standard. It was all leading up to this. Without being in this episode, there was nothing more to do with Hague, hence I felt quite comfortable with his fate, it changed nothing. * _Major Ryan was overstepping his rank._ Except, of course, you now have an extraordinary situation in which the Major, through the death of his CO, was now the commanding officer of the Alexander. In ordinary circumstances, this would mean he'd be given a field promotion. Second, I don't recall any situation where the Major was "giving orders to a commander." The aide on the deck of the Alexander was a Lieutenant, as I recall. Also, if Hague indicated that he was to be given command as he died, that would likely be honored. Finally, yes, the Major was involved in the discussions of strategy, but in *every case* he presented Sheridan and Hiroshi with options, and because it was Sheridan's neck of the woods, it was left to Sheridan to give orders. He coordinated the defense, and was the only one speaking directly with the Agrippa. * I think Sheridan was kinda up to his ears in matters graver than the Major's field promotion, though you're right, he had one coming (as I noted in an earlier message). Given that they'd just broken away from Earthforce, and walked away from the rank structure to some extent, it would seem a rather indulgent exercise, since Earth certainly wouldn't recognize the field promotion of a renegade officer. * "...hit between the eyes." Yeah, that's the correct reaction, I'd say. Yes, it's easy to fire on the enemy when it's a faceless entity; not as easy when it's someone you know. Kinda brings it home, makes it personal. * Exactly. If you're going to do something as monumental as what Sheridan does here re: B5's status and Earth, it can't be done lightly or frivolously or without sufficient cause. It has to be an absolutely last resort. If we'd done it any sooner, it would've been less effective, and more of a cheat. And yes, after two breather stories, "Ship of Tears" starts the arc moving again, and with very few exceptions doesn't let up for the rest of the season. * _About the warning sign in [31]"Dust to Dust"_ Yes, the sign does indeed say warning. Look for another sign right behind somebody at the end of "Severed Dreams." * Actually, yes, I tend to ask for musical counterpoint in the show from time to time. For instance, when Sheridan et al were going to the area where the crowd was waiting, I told Chris to fool us...give us an ominous sounding sting going into what's going to be a very "up" scene. In the battle earlier on, when you'd normally do something fast and exciting, I asked him to give me something more somber, to pull out the Requiem theme in a few places. Sometimes, in other shows, I ask for music that works against a scene to control the emotional core of it; if it's a bit too silly, perhaps, then I go for a more serious musical cue to balance it out. Where a scene would seem to ask for major keys, I go for minor chords. It's all just part of the tapestry. (BTW, a little secret...just for fun, I wrote a couple of songs that you'll be hearing in an upcoming episode. I used to write songs here and there, even did a couple for an ABC prime-time special, and figured I'd try it again. I wrote the lyrics, discussed the music with Chris, and he took care of the score, and it's about what I first conceived. Came out pretty well, actually.) * _Where was Kosh during all this?_ Yeah...Kosh seems to have retreated a bit so far...worrying, that. * _Why didn't Sheridan ask for help from Draal or Delenn?_ The other thing to bear in mind about all this is the question of a "clean fight." If Sheridan were to bring in alien forces at his order to kill humans, it would pretty much destroy his credibility. Delenn came in at the end but only after he'd made his stand on his own. One of the things that kicked off the French Revolution was the allegation that the King had brought in or was bringing in Prussian troops to help put down dissenters. As long as it was all more or less in the family, that was one thing...but to bring in outsiders was an absolute affront to them. (One of the singular incidents that started the fighting itself was a group of Prussian soldiers sighted sitting in a cafe having lunch, which caused this rumor about outsiders coming in to spread like wildfire, and led to the some of the first major incidents of rioting.) Two brothers may fight one another, but let a third unrelated person come in and shove one of the brothers around, and they'll *both* turn on him. During the worst days of the civil war, even Lincoln was offered assistance in troops from at least one other country; he declined, because it was an internal matter, and had to be resolved by those involved, not outsiders. Sheridan's logic was exactly the same. It had to be a clean fight. * We'll establish in coming episodes that they have to become more self sufficient; the Minbari will help some, others will also have a reason to help support the station for the advantages it gives them, the services it provides, and eventually docking fees will have to rise if they can make a go of it. * I'd have to check my figures, which are at the office and I'm at home, but I *think* we've got about 600 crew and support on a Minbari cruiser. * Yes, the push in on Delenn revealed her in the White Star, and yes, a fair number of the new 'furies B5 inherited are Thunderbolt class. * "Severed Dreams had a line that was better than Ivanava's sex scene. Wow, do these women get lines!" Can't help it. I've always been vastly enamoured of strong, sharp, funny, independent and strong-willed women. (Well, me and 99% of the rest of the male population, most of them just won't admit it.) I love it when anyone -- male or female -- comes up with a killer line. Claudia and I are always going at it, each trying to top the other...and I've found out the hard way that you don't challenge her on the theory that she'll back down. Won't happen. Ivanova's just the same. Mira is also dedicated, fierce in her convictions, extremely bright and worldly. So why should their characters be any less than the women themselves? * "...my favorite part, I must say was when Sheridan kissed Delenns hand. I've been waiting anxiously for this to happen and it finally did! My housemates all laughed at me but I guess I'm just an incurable romantic." This is a problem? We are in need of more romance. * _Aren't Starfuries space-only craft?_ Yes, the Thunderbolt furies were seen both on Mars and attacking B5. A normal Starfury can't function in an atmosphere environment. The new Thunderbolt models have airfoils/wings that are folded back over the body of the ship for non-atmospheric maneuvering, and then extend out to full sized wings when entering an atmosphere. (You'll get to see in detail how this works back and forth in "Ship of Tears.") * _How does ejection from a Starfury work?_ You can see explosive bolts going off, and a series of small thrusters behind the cockpit are which allow for navigation. This gets the pilot away from the main body which has either been crippled, or is about to explode, the same way a modern fighter has an ejection system. (Check the main credit sequence for a better shot of an ejection.) * _How did the pilots tell which other Starfuries were which?_ FOF...Friend Or Foe systems on board the furies. * _About the Alexander/Clarkstown battle_ The interceptors have two components, one that throws a ball of energy at an incoming weapons charge (physical or energy) and causes dissipation, and the other is a net-like energy web that reduces the severity, but does not deflect or absorb, beam type energy. This allows some time for maneuvers after beam contact. Note that Major Ryan (He'll always be D-Day to my brother!) was very reticent to fire on the Clarkstown at all. Knowing that the Interceptors were down made his job all the more difficult. The rear facing beamn on the Alexander is similar in design to the front facers on the Clarkstown. When the C-town fired on the rotating section ofthe Alexander, it did not explode, as the interceptors were still active. George Johnsen CoProducer, B5 * If you're opening a jump point, usually you make it a habit to have all your fighters on board or else risk leaving them behind. A jump gate can be more easily used and held open for fighters. When you arrive at your destination, you can launch your fighters as you emerge. * "Why was it impossible to jump into hyperspace (in the beginning of the show) and not take the Starfuries with the ship? We've seen it done before." No, I don't believe so. You've seen a jump GATE used, but that's different from a jump POINT which basically closes right behind the ship like a rabbit pulling its hole in after it. If the ships stayed behind to protect its rear, they'd be left behind. Ships coming out of a jump point into normal space sometimes will let their fighters zip out AS they're coming out, alongside the main ship. * In "Severed Dreams," the dilemma faced by the Alexander in the teaser is that if they jump, they'll end up leaving their fighters behind. A jump engine rips the area open for that one ship, and closes it again right behind it. What sometimes happens, as in "All Alone," is that *as a ship comes out*, it releases its fighters. But you can't just follow a ship into a jump point formed by another ship. You'd probably get torn apart when space folded back on you, because the field opening the point is primarily around the other ship. * _Why didn't they shut down the jumpgate? Why did the EA ships use it?_ The answer to both your questions is about the same. It takes about a day to power down, or power up a jump gate. It operates more like a fusion reactor than a light bulb. So not only wasn't there enough time, even if they *had* had enough time, you'd want to leave the gate up and running in case you needed to evacuate for any reason; otherwise you'd cut off your main escape route. For the incoming fleet, knowing the gate was active was the way to go, since it would let them launch their fighters prior to coming in; if you use a jump point, you kinda have to launch while you're coming out to avoid anyone being stuck behind. * _What good are small fighters if it's the big ships that decide the battle?_ A lot more ships came in with the Roanoke and the Agrippa, support ships and others. Probably more breaching pods. They took out those. They're also used to keep the enemy starfuries from disabling the defense grid on the station, leaving B5 free to use its weapons on the larger target/worse threat. They're often used to soften up the enemy, harrass them like a pack of hounds falling on a prey. In "Fall of Night," we saw a Centauri vessel in large measure taken out by the Starfuries with some B5 support. So they definitely play a part. * Starfuries serve a *lot* of functions which we've shown before on the series. They can take out a ship's defensive screens and countermeasures, allowing access by the big ships' armaments. In a group, they can take out a good sized ship on their own (a la the Centauri cruiser in "Fall of Night"). They also serve to protect the station's defense grid from aggressor starfuries. Also, a number of small support ships, including a Hyperion class ship came through as part of the "carrier group" that went after the station. It was up to the starfuries to take care of those ships while B5 and the other destroyers took out the biggest threats. * _What about all the debris from the battle?_ We've shown clean-up crews before outside, including a hazmat station that goes out to clear away fuel cores or other toxic material. They would've been dispatched for this. * Fighters re-enter via the main docking bay and are recharged and lowered into the fighter bays. No question, spare parts would be a problem, and they'll have to cannibalize a lot (plus whatever they scrounged up from the fighters blown apart outside). * Bear in mind that if we had gone over to the other captains and what was going on in the other ships, to make room for those scenes we would've had to cut anywhere from 3-5 minutes of the other stuff. You can't just add to the show's time; if that goes in, something else has to come out. So you'd probably have to cut the scene between Sheridan and his father since that was the only stand-alone set piece. Any time you write something, you must decide "who is it about?" This episode was about *our characters*, the ones we've come to care about, and how they deal with this. To take away from that and spend time with people we've never seen before, and won't see again, would be to cheat our characters of the time on screen needed to pay off all the things we've set up over the years. Would it have been an interesting aside to show the other captains? Sure. In a movie, with an open-ended running time, I probably would have. But there's nothing I would want to cut out of the episode as it now stands to make room for it. * _Why no scenes from the opposition's point of view?_ We haven't seen those scenes because we don't know anyone there really, and in an hour show you only have so much time, and within our budget we only can do so much. Every speaking role you add costs thousands of dollars. Every set costs thousands of dollars. We're doing the absolute best we can with a budget roughly 1/2 of any of the ST episodes. If it isn't *absolutely necessary* to the scene, it isn't in. Yeah, seeing some folks in EA talking back and forth about well, maybe this isn't a good idea, maybe it is, well, let's get back to work...it'd be an interesting aside, but in addition to slowing down the pace of the episode, and this one had to move like a house afire, it's just not something I felt we could or should do. * _About the boarding party's uniforms_ Instead of going for a sinister EA look, I wanted the uniforms to be something we're used to, "our side," as you say. There aren't many blacks-and-whites on this show. It's all greys...and sometimes olive drab. * Garibaldi wanted to hold up, cut off the boarding party at a bottleneck, but the Narns, *being* Narns, raced right into the battle. At that point Garibaldi had to follow them in or let them get wiped out for no good reason. * _About the Narn sacrifice_ What you also have to bear in mind sometimes is that *this* is the only way to get things done. When the Allies stormed Normandy Beach, they knew that German bunkers and machine nests and fortified positions were right there on the beach waiting for them. But they stormed out, onto the beach, and the first lines were cut down, one after another after another, hundreds, literally thousands of soldiers. But those behind were able to get through, take up position as best they could. Some of them clung to the edges of cliffs as Germans above laughed and threw down grenades into their midst. Sometimes there's no other way. But you do it because those who command you have the moral authority to say "You probably will not come back, but the cause is just, and fair, and necessary." Thus do we go off to die. * _Themes of personal sacrifice_ "It's all this stuff that I think really makes the show. The mystery certainly helps, but the puzzles are no longer my main reason for watching." Aaron: exactly. This was something I said a lot around the first part of the second season, that this really *isn't* a mystery novel, in any conventional sense, no more so than any novel whose ending is yet to be revealed. You picked up on exactly the themes that are present in the show, with some more to come shortly. Personal sacrifice for a cause -- perhaps a good cause, perhaps not, depending on how wisely we make our decisions -- is probably the dominant theme at this point in the story. It's worth mentioning that this story was initially conceived in the midst of the Me Generation, the decade of "I've got mine, jack, screw you all." Since then the culture has gotten increasingly factionalized, groups of Me's pulling and tugging at the fabric not only of the country, bvut of the planet itself. The idea of personal sacrifice, of personal service to a cause, seems to have become...passe. Old fashioned. Silly. We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and trusts. That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be exploited. But it does mean that we should look out for one another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has consequences of a very real and profound nature. We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We're told every day, "You can't change the world." But the world is changing every day. Only question is...who's doing it? You or somebody else? Will you choose to lead, or be led by others? (Y'know, there are moments I look at the preceding paragraphs, and I realize that it wa said more succinctly, and better, and more movingly in "Lost Horizon," with this simple sentence: "Be *kind* to one another.") * The easy thing to do, the TeeVee thing to do, would've been to go from Sheridan's line "All ships return to base," to the exterior with the big ships, and fade out. But I try to keep this show from doing the easy thing. Yes, you had a victory. Yes, it was necessary. But what's the cost? We shouldn't glamorize these things. Even at the end, as you notice, even at the end of the reception...we go out on an ominous note. * The older I get, the more I realize there are things you can do with silence you can't do with words, though I still love the form of the speech. There was a lot of counterpoint in this episode, a tool I'm still playing with as a writer; eventually I'll figure out how to really use it properly. (Though there's an interesting scene up later this season using another kind of ironic counterpoint which I think works pretty well.) * _Counterpoint?_ In a sense, it's going from one emotion or thematic element to a very different, but equally strong one, either as bookends or through intercutting. Going from the high of the victory, to the sudden shot of the dead troops, is thematic counterpoint. Here's another...in "Cabaret" you've got a scene where the performers in the Cabaret are doing the sort of German dance where you slap your knees and thighs and chest...and they take it a bit further, slapping one another, it's all for comic effect...but during this, you're intercutting the owner of the cabaret being beaten to within an inch of his life by some Brownshirts outside. You go from comic to brutal and back, with the result that the happy little dance suddenly takes on ugly characteristics, and the beating takes on the sense that the participants are having a sick kind of fun, that it's all just another kind of dance, a ritual. That's what you have to look at as a writer...how this scene works, and how it interacts with the scenes in front, behind and "beside" it (for things happening simultaneously). Sometimes, with the proper counterpoint, you can add whole new levels of meaning to a scene, or make the scene much stronger than it would've been on its own. * _Did the Earth ships recognize the White Star as the ship from the incident on Ganymede?_ Probably not. * Well, President Clark would know it [the White Star], from the Aggy records, but the general population wouldn't know it yet, since those records weren't released. But it does give him a card to play at some point in the future. * _Any relation between Captain Hiroshi and the Hiroshi on Garibaldi's staff from [32]"Convictions?"_ No intentional relation, no. * _Why wasn't the boarding party coming up through the floor?_ I figured that they'd come in through the outer hull, secure the inner hull area, then go up in and through a side wall, which would be faster for purposes of a mass entrance. If you blow a hole in the floor, everybody has to crawl out one at a time; you blow a hole in the wall, bunches can come through at once. There was a fair amount of distance between where they came in, and the hull. * Yes and no. They came through the "floor" which would be the outer hull. Like any good ship, the station has two hulls for protection, an inner hull and an outer hull. Once breaching the outer hull, they moved into the inner hull, then angled up for a wall they could blow out. I figured this would make more tactical sense because if they just blew through the floor, they'd have to *crawl* out one or two at a time, whereas if they angled in safely and then came in through a wall, they could pour in more quickly, en masse, and be less vulnerable. * _From coproducer George Johnsen_ We don't really know where the Marines actually penetrated, but their first hole would be through the "floor". If we assume that they know the station well, it is likely they would punch through an "unimproved", or storage area first, as it would be easier than to burn through a fully habitable area. Then they would go through a wall or a door to get at the goal. We postulate that they actually were shown entering through their second burn, and entering the occupied area. * _Was there not much blood in the on-station fight because the guns were firing plasma?_ Correct, PPG bursts, being superheated helium, tend to cauterize the wounds as they go through. * No, it's a different scene than the flash-forward in Babylon Squared. * Thanks. That's exactly the impression I wanted...you do the dolly/zoom move, isolating Sheridan visually...you don't cut back to the others as they speak, just let the camera stay on him, put the other voices down under the music and off to the side, just *HOLD* there...works great. * I'm always getting this confused in my own mind, but basically it's using two contradictory moves with the camera. You dolly in (push the camera toward the object) and push out with the lens (or vice versa...that's the part I'm forever getting confused about...like remembering battery connections, is it positive to positive or positive to negative...?). In either event, you're basically going in and out/away at the same moment. It's a nifty effect. * "There is a certain sweetness between Sheridan and his father. Sheridan's father is certainly the one that I wish I had. Is he yours, JMS?" Not by the farthest stretch of the imagination, which is all I'll say on this. * _Was that Ashan (from [33]"There All the Honor Lies") blocking Delenn?_ That wasn't Ashan, no. * _Why isn't the Council on Minbar?_ We've hinted at it...the Grey Council always stays on its ship, being part of the universe, giving it an exotic, distant feel for its people...as though among the gods. * The Grey Council could've taken a lot more action to be supportive behind the scenes, getting the warrior caste more involved with the rangers, giving aid to the non-aligned worlds...there was a LOT they could have been doing all this time that wouldn't have required tipping their hand. Instead they sat and did nothing. And now, with B5 on the edge of falling, to say it's not their problem was too much. Now is the time they have to start coming forward. * Basically, the warrior caste doesn't think it's their war; there's also a certain amount of resentment in it, I think...they *led* the last war, they *did* their job, and got yanked back and forced to surrender. That was a terrible blow to their pride, caused in part by an alien race, so their attitude now tends to be more or less, "Screw 'em." * _How did Delenn know B5 needed help?_ Real simple. Lennier was still on-station. All she had to do was check in with him en route and find out. Also, she went to the council for the purpose of getting military support because she knew heavy stuff was coming down, in one form or another. Knowing that "the humans are fighting one another" as she said to the council, it's evident that if they didn't come to B5 that day, they'd come shortly thereafter. * She already knew that civil war had broken out between EA ships and forces, and that B5 had already faced one takeover bid, and that whether or not it happened today or the next day, it was definitely coming. That was unmistakeable. Also, bear in mind that Lennier stayed behind. She would have checked in with him en route and found out what was going on, or picked up the radio broadcasts of the battle in progress. I could've shown this, but that would''ve blown the surprise of her arrival. * At this point, with the Council broken, Delenn isn't currently running Minbar...there's a vacuum of power. The system can carry on for a while, the balance between the castes is pretty efficient, but this is going to have to be resolved, and some in the warrior caste may suspect Delenn of doing this so she *can* rise to power. As part of Valen's covenant, to prevent one caste from taking over the other, each caste has access to its own warships. This was done to create trust a thousand years ago, and since then, since there hasn't been any conflict between Minbari, the three castes own their own warships still, but in general are assigned to Warrior caste as a courtesy, which can be revoked. As Delenn noted, the worker and religious castes control 2/3rds of their forces. * Each caste populates the ships in their jurisdiction with their own people. Which is why those on the Minbari warships that came in, which we'll see shortly, are religious caste, no warriors among them...but even the religious caste is well trained in combat, as part of their education in temple. We've seen some of this already in Lennier's abilities in a fight. * No, 5 left the council with her. And one can wonder, Did she turn down the position of leader of the Grey Council, which would be a balance for that role, in order to eliminate the council and become primary ruler? (That is what some of the warrior caste are bound to begin wondering after a while.) * _Was the brief pause as one of the council members left a sign of a single caste breaking apart?_ No, just a member of the warrior caste making sure one he considered a friend *really* wanted to do this.... * I was living in Delenn's head when she uttered those lines for the first time. She wasn't bluffing. Delenn *never* bluffs. * Thanks, and yes, there's definitely fire and steel in Delenn, which she calls upon when she needs it. And nobody crosses her when that happens. * Now that she's gone through her own personal fire, she's a much stronger character, and very interesting to write. There's steel, and there's humanity and compassion, and she feels no need to defend or justify any of those traits. What she is, she is. * _Sinclair survived a battle with Minbari warships._ Her exact line was, "No human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet." Sinclair wasn't a captain. * Dukhat was killed at the start of the Minbari war (that *caused* the Minbari war), and the Council did without a leader for a long time. She was taught and sponsored by Dukhat. * _Does Delenn feel responsible for Dukhat's death?_ No, she doesn't feel responsible; it's an artifact of the way they approach certain things. "His word is on my lips, his spirit is in my eyes." It's almost a way of saying he's speaking through me, back off. * _About Sheridan asking the Roanoke to surrender_ Yeah...the reference was kafuffled. There was so much going on, so many EFX shots, so much rearranging of shots to make everything work (we literally delivered this 2 hours before the process for uplinking started) that this slipped past. I'll assume that Sheridan got excited and said the wrong name. It'd happen to anyone. Right? Right? * Roanoke is a place rich with history. Some of it a little odd, given the colony's disappearance, but rich nonetheless. (Clark has edged away from giving Omega class destroyers and others names from Greek mythology and history, toward more conventional names like the Clarkstown and the Roanoke.) * President Clark got away from the tradition of using Greek names. And the Roanoke was a Virginia colony that disappeared in the 1600s. * _What about the disappearing destroyer?_ That would've been killed off-camera. We tried to fit in every ship getting nailed, but finally realized it would've required another half an act. * _What did ISN know?_ I'm sorry, but we cannot answer your question at this time. We are experiencing temporary transmission problems with ISN, but hope to have the situation remedied very soon. Meanwhile, you can direct any inquiries for information to the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry for Public Information, which has been aiding all public information broadcasts for almost two years now. At the tone, please leave your name and identicard number. Don't worry about calling back. We'll find you. * Clark had inside info that ISN would be going public soon with info on what was *really* going on on Mars, his planned attack on B5, and other stuff he wanted quiet. * I'm looking to find a way to bring Franklin's father back into the storyline now, to help resolve this. (Note: no suggestions, please.) I think he would tend to fall on the other side, and it'd be good to show that some people may think that yes, there's a problem, but you solve that problem from within, not by breaking away. Could make for some nice drama.... [39][Next] [40]Last update: January 12, 1998 References 1. file://localhost/cgi-bin/imagemap/titlebar 2. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/lurk/maps/maps.html#titlebar 3. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/background/054.shtml 4. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/synops/054.html 5. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/credits/054.html 6. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php 7. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/053.html 8. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/055.html 9. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#OV 10. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#BP 11. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#UQ 12. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#AN 13. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#NO 14. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#JS 15. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+McGill,+Bruce 16. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Miyori,+Kim 17. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Parks,+James 18. file://localhost/lurk/p5/intro.html 19. file://localhost/lurk/p5/054 20. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/008.html 21. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/033.html 22. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/045.html 23. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#JS.ships 24. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/038.html 25. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/052.html 26. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/023.html 27. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#JS.jump 28. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#JS.glitch 29. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/019.html 30. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#NO.glitch 31. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/050.html 32. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/046.html 33. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/036.html 34. file://localhost/lurk/lurker.html 35. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/054.html#TOP 36. file://localhost/cgi-bin/uncgi/lgmail 37. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php 38. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/053.html 39. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/055.html 40. file://localhost/lurk/lastmod.html