The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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_Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
- [13]Notes - [14]JMS
_________________________________________________________________
Overview
Delenn is in danger when a soul hunter, an alien who captures the
souls of the dying, arrives at the station. [15]W. Morgan Sheppard
as Soul Hunter #1. [16]John Snyder as Soul Hunter #2.
Sub-genre: Suspense
[17]P5 Rating: [18]7.05
Production number: 102
Original air date: February 2, 1994
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jim Johnston
Watch For
* The Soul Hunter mentions the death of someone to Sinclair. That
name will come up again.
* [19]A fluid flowing the wrong way.
_________________________________________________________________
Backplot
* The soul hunter of this episode has visited Earth before.
* Minbari are trained from childhood to protect their souls from
soul hunters.
* The soul hunter had a unique perspective on a significant event in
Minbari history:
[to Sinclair] "Minbari: jealous, selfish, private. We have saved
only a few - very rare. The rarest of all, their leader Dukat,
dying; your fault, your war; the pinnacle of Minbari evolution. We
came, I, others. They made a wall of bodies to stop us! He died.
And his dreams, his ideas - all that he was, all that he could ever
be - gone... wasted... jealous..."
Later he recognizes Delenn from the Grey Council, which was
responsible for stopping him.
Unanswered Questions
* Why do all races but humans know about soul hunters? Since they
all share the Minbari's fear of them, do most of them share the
[20]Minbari belief in reincarnation?
* Why are so many non-humans [21]moving to Earth? They must face a
fair amount of prejudice there. (cf: [22]"The War Prayer")
* What are the "certain classes" of Minbari in which Delenn says
soul hunters have always taken a particular interest?
* "Your fault, your war," says the soul hunter to Sinclair,
recounting [23]Dukat's death. Was he referring to humans in
general, Sinclair in particular, or Dukat?
* "If only you could see," says the soul hunter to Franklin.
Apparently he can actually observe the soul's departure from a
dying body. Later we see, possibly through Delenn's eyes, a blue
wispy something escape as she breaks a soul vessel. Does this mean
that Minbari too can see souls?
* With a glimpse into Delenn's soul, the soul hunter exclaims, "You
would plan such a thing? You would _do_ such a thing? Incredible."
He's had a long history with the Minbari - what would so surprise
him? (Revealed in [24]"Chrysalis" and [25]"Revelations")
* Recovering in Medlab, Delenn says to Sinclair, "I knew you would
come. We were right about you." Clearly, the Minbari have made
predictions about him. However, Sinclair didn't really prove
anything about his character by rescuing Delenn - someone else
could easily have been the one to find her. Perhaps he's just
fulfilled part of a prophecy, thereby confirming his role in it.
(cf: [26]"Parliament of Dreams")
* Combining the above questions, does Delenn's incredible plan
involve the Minbari predictions about Sinclair?
* As the soul hunter himself challenged, why is one of the great
Minbari leaders acting as their ambassador on Babylon 5? Sinclair
is now wondering the same thing.
Analysis
* Delenn meets Sinclair just as he's going to check out the injured
pilot, and offers to help him ID the fellow. She has a knack for
being at the right place at the right time. (cf: [27]"The
Gathering").
* Sinclair did not call for backup when he encountered the soul
hunter, even though there were four others nearby searching for
Delenn. He has a tendency to put himself into dangerous
situations. (cf: [28]"Infection")
* During this episode there are three different stories told about
the soul. Sinclair heard all three, and doesn't know which to
believe. All he knows is what he saw.
_Franklin:_
There is no soul that survives the body. With advanced
technology, he allows, one could preserve a record of
someone's personality, but death is death.
_Delenn:_
All sentients have immortal souls. When a Minbari dies
its soul merges with the souls of other dead Minbari.
These are recycled into future generations, so as
individuals advance their own souls, the Minbari as a
whole advance.
_soul hunter:_
All sentients have _ephemeral_ souls. When a person dies,
the soul expires into oblivion. However, soul hunters
have a prescient attraction to death - if they so choose
they can capture and preserve a soul "for the greater
good" at the moment it leaves the body. They carry with
them a bag full of the souls they have "saved", each in
its own glass vessel.
For a Minbari, the soul hunter's method of preservation is true
death, for it cuts a soul off from the rest and diminishes the
next generation; for a soul hunter, the true loss is _uncollected_
souls.
These are completely irreconcilable belief systems.
Notes
* Dr. Franklin arrives on the starliner Asimov, which we see again
later.
* Dr. Kyle is on his way to a new assignment working with the
president. He's much needed there what with "so many aliens
migrating to Earth," as Franklin puts it.
* The average human lifespan is almost 100 years.
* Ivanova conducts a simple funeral with these words: "From the
stars we came, and to the stars we return, from now until the end
of time. We therefore commit this body to the deep."
* The soul hunter tells Sinclair his opinion of the Minbari: "pale,
bloodless, look in their eyes and see nothing but mirrors,
infinities of reflection..."
* When Delenn is recovering in medlab at the end of the episode,
she's attached to a machine that should presumably be pumping
blood back into her body. But the fluid is flowing out of her
instead. The shot was played backwards so the director could get
the camera movement he wanted.
jms speaks
* Well, I just saw a cut of the episode that's going to air second,
the one guest-starring Morgan Shepherd. Oh, man...on the question
of Did you learn anything from the pilot...this thing *moves* like
a sumbitch. It's a very unusual, very *creepy* episode in many
ways. And filled with character stuff...and a good bit of
background about some of our characters rendered in active ways.
I'm really dying to see what people think of this one when it
airs. It manages to take what would normally be considered a
science *fantasy* issue, and deal with it from a science fiction
perspective, without compromising on the latter at all. It's a
very, *very* strong episode.
* _Who's right, the soul hunter or the minbari?_
Yes.
* We leave the question open: Is he actually taking souls, or simply
encoding the personality matrix and, in essence, creating an
artificial version of the individual's personality?
* The various characters take their own stands, which vary. Franklin
only considers the possibility of cloning someone's personality
matrix, for instance. And again, it depends on how you *define*
soul. The Soul Hunter defines it not as something supernatural,
but as the collection of thoughts, personality, feelings and the
very essence of the person that dies with the body. That
definition is broad enough to encompass just about anything. Then
you get into the more specific ideas of what a soul is.
One person at a post production house we've used has indicated
that he has "theological problems" with working on that episode;
not because it's *against* what he believes -- he's worked on
horror movies and stuff with devils and the like -- but because it
takes a point of view he doesn't much like...in that he has to sit
and defend the whole *context* of his ideas...meaning, it's making
him think. He can just poo-poo the stuff against what he believes,
support what he does believe in...but he isn't quite sure where
this show comes down, or where it makes *him* come down. I've had
any number of problems with people on a show before, but this is
the first time I've run into a theological problem.
* What the soul was, who's right, and even whether this is SF or
Science Fantasy, was it explained enough to merit one over the
other ... how can I put this...? I don't want to spoon-feed stuff
to people. What I want is not to hit someone with a MORAL, or a
message, or "This is what a soul is," or "This is what makes it an
SF series," I want to start discussions. Arguments. Preferably a
bar fight or two.
We present an issue. Here are the sides. Now...what do YOU think
about it? I want this show to ask, "Who are you? Where are you
going?" That's half the fun. Some of my favorites pastimes in
college were sitting in the commons, or the library, arguing this
stuff from every possible angle. You think I'm gonna tell you what
to think? What it means? No. The goal is to provoke discussion.
Preferably passionate discussion.
Otherwise I might as well just start renting billboards and
putting up signs.
* Re: why soul hunter #1's ship was out of control...the second soul
hunter comments that they've been tracking him, and caught up with
him a few days ago. They attacked, "and he escaped, his ship
damaged." That is what brought him here...and led his pursuers to
this place as well.
* _Will we see more soul hunters?_
Eventually.
* And yes, humans would probably have *heard* of Soul Hunters,
distantly, as a legend. I see no reason why they would believe
they existed, particularly with a title like that, unless and
until actually encountering one.
* Re: Sinclair's actions toward the Soul Hunter...the device he uses
was trained on Delenn. It was spiraling up to full power
throughout the scene. Just as Sinclair's thrown, you see it
starting to come to critical mass...it's shooting at Delenn. There
isn't/wasn't time to sit there and figure out how it works, and
shut off the right button. He turned it so that it faced away from
her...and the Hunter was caught in his own machine.
There was nowhere else to go with the machine.
* In "Soul Hunter," Franklin notes that the average human life span
is now about a hundred years. It's quite a bit longer for the
other races; G'Kar is about 70 or more, but is considered
mid-range, equal to a human in early 40s, among Narns. Delenn is
in about the same position, equal to 30s-40s in her terms, but in
years a bit older. They are a pretty long lived people. Centauri
aren't quite as long-lived, but they do a bit better than the
Narns. The Vorlons......are.
* To the question about a Soul Hunter's strength...yes, it is *very*
considerable. Even with one arm he was able to slam the hell out
of the commander, pick him up and again slam him against a wall
before throwing him about 10 feet across the room. Had he not been
stopped, and stopped good, yes, he would've torn Sinclair to
ribbons.
* Delenn was shattering the soul globes in order to let the souls
escape, rather than playing with them. Look on the floor around
her, and you'll see shattered globes. There should also be a sound
of them breaking in her hands, the light goes out, and something
escapes....
* You're most definitely welcome; it was something we did to honor
Asimov, who determined the shape of this genre for many writers.
* Why is part of me tempted to decide that around the year 2223 the
most revered figure in Earthforce Command was General Ira Asimov,
a brilliant strategist for whom the liner was named....?
There are certain benefits to a design-your-own-future
universe....
* I deeply admired Asimov. Harlan Ellison, this series consultant,
was as dear a friend to Asimov as anyone could be. I named the
starliner after Asimov shortly after his death, because I will
personally miss him, and for Harlan, as his friend.
* In your complaints regarding the commander flying off on
occasional missions (and he only does it about 3 times out of 22
episodes, so I hardly see this as a problem), you are forgetting
several other *realities* of military life. If you're a pilot,
even as a commander, you have to log in X-number of hours flying
time per month in order to continue to qualify for flight pay.
This is a *requirement*. And it doesn't just mean flying around
the station a few times.
Second, many commanders -- as recently as Vietnam and afterward --
did and continue to go out on missions and sorties because it is
rather expected of them, and because it maintains the respect of
the rest of the squadron(s).
Third, and possibly most important, Earthforce is the same as the
contermporary Air Force in one important respect: promotion up the
ranks is tied *directly* to combat experience and, in this case,
combat flying. That's why women fighter pilots and helicopter
pilots have been fighting so *vigorously* to be allowed to fly
combat missions; they know that they can't be promoted fully up
the line without that. Sinclair has no desire to be a commander
all his life, he'd like to move on. Hence it behooves him to get
in combat time whenever possible.
Your statement that it "doesn't wash" has nothing to do with how
the military *actually* works, and everything to do with the
skewed and inaccurate portrayal of the military that you get from
Trek. This is absolutely legitimate, and the B5 mailbox these days
is partly crammed with letters from vets thanking us for getting
this part right.
I suppose I could mention this in passing in dialogue, but then it
becomes a matter of sticking in dialogue not because it's
important to an episode, but because some folks would like things
explained to them. I don't think that's my responsibility.
* I answered you elsewhere here on this topic earlier this evening.
To just nit for a moment, to say that Sinclair picks up "every
derelict ship" seems a little unfair...he's picked up *one*, and
only one, and only picks up one this entire season. Why him? A)
Because he's good at it, B) he could use the flight pay, C) it'll
look good on his record, and D) because as he says as he leaves,
it's a potential first-contact situation. (NOt to mention E, that
he has a death-wish.)
I would submit to you that this is NOT the same as having one
character do a zillion different jobs on the station. I think that
you're reacting to something you've seen on Trek, and are assuming
based on an example of one that we're doing it in B5 as well.
We're not. Also, in "Purple," Garibaldi sends a different team out
to handle the gunfire, so there are others who do things. Question
becomes, how many new and recurring characters do you want to
introduce? There are currently *14* regular and recurring
characters on B5, and there are many folks who are saying that's
too many. As it is, we do introduce an aide to Garibaldi who takes
care of some stuff for him. Just as Sinclair delegates to Ivanova,
and Ivanova delegates to the observation dome techs.
I just feel that you're leaping to a conclusion based on a paucity
of evidence, built upon your experiences with another show. We're
simply not doing this.
* Normally, I don't tend to respond to negatives, because I don't
generally want to get in the way or be perceived to be getting in
the way of criticism. I don't. But I feel I have to respond to
some of this. If the show is open to criticism, then it seems to
me that some of the critiques should be open as well. And some of
these I think are quite unfair.
1) When did they move the jump gate (re: the time required to get
from the gate by Kosh's ship, as opposed to the Hunter ship).
They/we didn't. Once again, and I wish people could remember this,
Kosh's ship BEGAN TO DECELERATE the instant it emerged from the
gate, in order to dock with B5 without smashing into it. The Soul
Hunter ship was out of control, careening in at full speed. (This
was a widely discussed reason why the Vorlon fleet got to B5 so
quickly as vs. Kosh's ship. They were moving fast to get into
striking position.)
2) The Hunter's ship was on autopilot, set to come out of the
first gate it came to.
3) There was still time for the station's defense grid to blow the
ship. Yes, pieces would have continued onward, but a hell of a lot
of its inertia would've been taken out by the incoming fire, and
any remaining pieces would've either been taken out as well, or
would have been so small as to not damage the hull (which is
*very* thick at that point) given its blast-enforced deceleration.
4) Yes, Sinclair would've gone up with it. You pays your money,
you takes your chances.
5) There was no "the Earth is going to explode" story here; you
have a ship colliding with the station, that has to be stopped. It
has to be stopped within the period between when it emerges from
the gate, and the time it would collide. You want to know how much
time you have to work in. Maybe it's a dramatic device, but it's
also exactly what you would do. What would you prefer? "Lieutenant
Commander, how much longer until impact?" "Uh...I dunno...can you
hang on a second?"
6) Re: the "funny forehead" comment...it was not what I've
understood the FF syndrome to mean...a regular head with a little
treatment on the front. This was a whole-head prosthetic, covering
the entire back of the head. So wrong on that one. And re: n'grath
having 6 legs rather than 4...who're you to say that? Ever seen a
praying mantis? Do all insects all over the galaxy have to have
six legs to qualify? You don't like minimal makeup, you don't like
full-body prosthetics ...you understand that this comes out as
"nothing will please me except a real alien." You tell me where to
find one in Central Casting, and I'll hire him.
7) Okay, here's my biggest gripe: the note that the soul aspect
was Trek and "katra." Let me be clear on this: I don't give a damn
what Trek has or has not done now, long ago, or will do in the
future. We can't be constantly looking over our shoulder, limiting
our universe because of another show. If your only frame of
reference when it comes to discussing the soul is Star Trek, then
that's profoundly disappointing, but it's got nothing to do with
me. The basic concept goes back to the beginnings of civilization
(that your soul can be captured somehow). Further, there were no
soul hunters in ST, it was placement of one's spirit in another
body. I'm getting real tired of the notion that if Trek did
something, nobody else ever can do it. Like the person who said
that Trek invented nanotechnology, and thus when we used it in the
pilot episode in the nanotech machine G'Kar swallows, we were just
copying Trek's nanites.
I refuse to surrender creative control of this series to the ghost
of Star Trek's used notions. From time to time, we'll cross into
areas they have also touched. We'll touch it differently. Deal
with it. But please don't put a Star Trek (tm) tag on the soul,
and the history of the soul.
8) You say a guard's gun was taken *twice* in this episode. Where
is #2 (if #1 is the medlab guard)? I see a guard being attacked
from behind, but not his gun being taken.
9) Re: the second soul hunter's makeup being "inferior" to the
first: they were essentially exactly the same...same material,
same design, minus the stone, which varied...I'm sorry, but they
were made, applied and used in exactly the same way.
10) Why drain her of blood? Why the hell not? In some countries,
that was used as a means of execution. Bleeding was also used (in
theory) to heal. Okay, let's say he used poison. "Why use poison?"
you probably would've asked. "Oh, it was the old poison gag, and
they find a convenient antidote." There's no difference.
11) How did the hunter relate his sense of death to a wall map? I
ask again...why not? If you can buy it happens at all, why not?
How is that any different than walking through a hall, or being
drawn to a planet? This is strictly a straw-man example, as is
much of what you cite.
This, frankly, is what I find so offensive in your note. You take
things that as a matter of opinion you might have done
differently, and then try to hold it up as a fault. You set up
straw man arguments that could be just as easily turned around on
anything, mischaracterizing something in order to take a cheap
shot.
12) Why didn't Sinclair link in when he found the hunter? Because
he only "found" the hunter when he was being SHOT AT. And at that
point you don't want to raise your voice because you'll be shot at
again.
13) You complain that the soul globes seemed to wait until the
moment Sinclair freed them to act (as though it were the bag that
had been holding them in). Sure, they could've emerged...and
floated. A lot of good that would've done them. What they needed
was someone who could stop him, and that was Sinclair's task. They
were able to distract the hunter long enough for that to happen.
Minus Sinclair, what were they supposed to do, bedazzle him to
death?
14) Re: shining things into the camera = NBC Mystery Movie. See
point 11a above. I'm not responsible for your cultural reference
points.
I don't mean to yell, but thing is, I don't mind genuine
criticism, if we specifically do something that is objectively
*wrong*. If you don't like something, that's also fine. But I'm
tired of people who confuse opinion with fact, and that if it
isn't done their way, then it isn't somehow *right*...and the
notion that Star Trek has invented, patented and qualified for
sole claim on whole aspects of our history, literature, culture,
theology and language, and that anybody who touches on these areas
is just doing Trek stuff.
As far as I'm concerned, the Trek-soul-katra thing treated the
soul as little more than a misplaced pair of sunglasses. Here we
tried to get into the issues *behind* the soul...where does it
come from, where does it go, does it survive the death of the
body, or does it go on ...to give some mystery and beauty to the
notion. To have it dismissed as just another riff on katra is
offensive and insulting and narrow. And all of those issues just
seemed to flit by without comment.
I don't mean to get angry, but this is one I'm very proud of, and
to see it sideswiped and mischaracterized and straw-man'd to death
in this fashion is just something that I had to respond to.
* Re: your statement that the headwear of the S.H. is "stolen" from
the Ferengi...may I be so bold as to respond to your rather loud
note with some volume of my own? To wit: watch something other
than Star Trek, and maybe spend a little time learning stuff about
your own world. The headware is based upon the kind used in
various african and aboriginal tribes. Trek didn't invent it; we
have photos of its use through history, as well as sketches going
back further. As it happens, the costume designer has never seen
"DS9," doesn't watch TNG, has no idea what a Ferengi is. Neither
do I intend to not do something, based in real history, just
because some other show has done drawn on that same background.
You clearly think that if something appeared in ST, then ST must
have invented it, and that if it appears anywhere else, it must've
been influenced by ST. Wrong on both counts. I would suggest that
you have been watching too much ST, and not nearly enough of the
Discovery Channel.
* Re: the medical tools...we brought in a medical science
consultant, who helped us design our instruments. His sense was
that we're moving more and more toward light as a system of
treatment, non-invasive procedures, that sort of thing. No, there
aren't anything like those devices in today's operating
rooms...but this is 250 years from now. In any event, it *is*
based on the latest info we're getting on new science from our
medical advisor.
* I would not describe n'grath as a "Mafia boss," since that's a
very specific term. Nor is it really any kind of organization.
He's a fixer, somebody you go to when you need something...a
bodyguard, forged identicards, what-have-you.
* Garibaldi is quite aware of n'grath...and knowing that if he just
vanished, somebody'd take his place in five minutes, prefers the
trouble he knows to the trouble he'd have to track down.
_________________________________________________________________
Originally compiled by Matthew Ryan _matt@uhs.uchicago.edu_
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[35]Last update: January 28, 1998
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