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The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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### 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
Second season premiere. As a new commander assumes control of the
station, a renegade Minbari warship arrives, threatening trouble.
[15]Robert Foxworth as General Hague.
(Originally titled "Chrysalis, Part II")
Sub-genre: Intrigue
[16]P5 Rating: [17]7.92
Production number: 201
Original air date: November 2, 1994
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Janet Greek
_________________________________________________________________
Backplot
* During the Earth-Minbari War, Captain John Sheridan managed to
score Earth's only real victory, destroying the Minbari flagship
Black Star and several cruisers by mining the asteroid belt
between Jupiter and Mars with fusion bombs. This earned him the
name "Starkiller" among the Minbari warrior caste, as well as
their continuing hatred.
* The Minbari population has been slowly declining for two millenia.
* The Grey Council ordered the end of the war after capturing
Sinclair. He was the first human to have direct contact with the
Council. Their original intent was to interrogate him and find out
about Earth's defenses, but upon scanning him, they found that
Minbari souls were somehow being reborn in human bodies. Since
Minbari religion teaches that all the souls of the Minbari form a
greater whole, continuing the war would mean, in effect, killing
part of themselves. Realizing that the knowledge that this was
happening to Minbari souls would prove destabilizing to society --
presumably some would blame humans for the shrinking population,
not to mention how the _humans_ would react to the news -- they
decided to keep their discovery a secret, and protect it with
lethal force if necessary.
* After the suicide of the warleader Sineval (cf. [18]"Legacies") at
the end of the war, the crew of his ship, the Trigati, defied the
surrender order and vanished into exile for nearly twelve years.
* Before her service on Babylon 5, Ivanova served under Sheridan at
the transfer point on Io.
Unanswered Questions
* How did a scan reveal that Minbari souls were being reborn in
humans?
* Will the crew of the Trigati be considered martyrs by the warrior
caste in spite of their death at Minbari hands?
* Why did President Clark already know why the war ended? (see
[19]jms speaks, and comic [20]"In Darkness Find Me")
Analysis
* The presence of the unnamed Grey Council member on Babylon 5
implies that the Council knew Delenn would disobey its order, and
further, that they know the purpose of the chrysalis. In fact,
there seems to be more division within the Council than they want
to admit (cf. [21]"Babylon Squared") since one of the
Councilmembers gave Delenn the triluminary even though the council
had advised her to wait.
* Sinclair was the first human to have contact with the Grey
Council, but there's still ample evidence that that's not the only
thing unique about him. Delenn has hinted that she believes he has
a great destiny (cf. [22]"Grail" and [23]"A Voice in the
Wilderness, part 2") and even in this episode, Lennier says, "A
change is coming. Sinclair was the first. There will be others,"
implying that something has happened to him that hasn't yet
happened to anyone else.
* In fact, the Council may have identified a specific Minbari soul
in Sinclair, perhaps the reincarnation of a great figure in their
history; that would explain why they're so interested in him in
particular.
* It's possible that the information about Minbari souls isn't even
known to all of the Grey Council. When Delenn visited the Council
(in [24]"Babylon Squared") she spoke of the prophecy as the reason
for ending the war, and some of the other Councilmembers weren't
sure that humans were the ones the prophecy referred to. If they
had seen whatever scan results convinced Delenn that humans had
Minbari souls, they presumably would have argued with her about
those results rather than a vague interpretation of the prophecy.
* The only thing that looked remotely like a scan in Sinclair's
recollection of his capture on the Line was when one of the
Minbari held a triluminary up to him. (cf. [25]"And the Sky Full
of Stars") It's at least plausible that the triluminary was
instrumental in determining that Sinclair had a reincarnated
Minbari soul. If its function is indeed on such a spiritual level,
the fact that it was part of Delenn's machine (cf.
[26]"Chrysalis") suggests that her transformation may be as much
mental as physical. This interpretation of the triluminary's
function is supported by the comic issue [27]"In Darkness Find
Me."
* Sheridan's comment that he was the _late_ president's choice to
replace Sinclair is odd; why would Santiago want someone who would
be sure to anger the Minbari and increase tensions?
Notes
* The Agamemnon was also a ship in the British fleet, at one point
commanded by Lord Nelson (best known for the Battle of Trafalgar.)
* Possible factual error: Sheridan said the Dalai Lama ate dinner
with him, implying an evening meal. But Buddhist monks, including
the Dalai Lama, don't eat after noon. It is, of course, possible
that Buddhist practices have changed between the twentieth and
twenty-third centuries, or that "dinner" wasn't meant to imply an
evening meal, but rather the last meal of the day.
jms speaks
* As for Chrysalis, there's about 8 to 10 days in "story time"
between it and the events in "Points." The next few shows track in
real-time.
* _Why do the Minbari have a grudge against Sheridan? It was
wartime, after all._
They don't much like the way he did it, which was rather sneaky.
My sense is that the Minbari have something of a superiority
complex; the idea of being beaten, even briefly, by a technically
inferior race is going to grate on them. Also, bear in mind, that
the military caste has not been fully informed about WHY they were
ordered to surrender...so there's a great deal of animosity just
barely submerged there, which is pointed at the only real human
they know from the war...because he cost them.
* Heads definitely rolled (figuratively speaking) in the Minbari
warrior caste after the Black Star incident. They allowed
themselves to get cocky, and didn't do a proper job, which was
more than an embarrassment to them.
* It kinda bothered their sense of superiority; also, their sense of
honor lies more in the direction of one-to-one combat, rather than
mining something as a trap. Consider it the way British troops did
toward American revolutionary fighters who hid behind trees and
used guerilla tactics rather than fighting the way the British
*wanted* them to fight, out in the open, in nice, easily shot-at
rows....
* We will be changing the main title sequence after "Revelations"
airs to include the new version of Delenn. Would be silly of us to
include the new version in episodes prior to her unveiling.
* The fact that Minbari believe in souls does not make it so.
If a story is rigorously SF, but some of the people who inhabit
the story have belief systems, does that automatically invalidate
it as SF?
I don't think it's the position of this show to state whether or
not a belief system is true but rather to explore the actions of
those who THINK it's true; not to resolve arguments, but to start
arguments. (See "Believers" for more on this one.)
What the characters believe is subjective, and is their business.
Or, as Sheridan says in a later episode, "I'm not saying what I'm
saying. I'm not saying what I'm thinking. For that matter, I'm not
even THINKING what I'm thinking."
* This is correct. Sheridan did NOT tell President Clark about the
Minbari soul situation. Clark already knew about it. Sheridan's
line is, "I spoke with the president. He is the only other person
who knows why the Minbari surrendered." Also, in the first issue
of the comic, this prior knowledge on Clark's part is clear as
well.
* BTW, and just for the heck of it...the line about paying off karma
at an accellerated rate is something Kathryn has been muttering
for ages; I popped it into the script for fun.
* Sheridan asked what kind of scanners the fighters were using
because he couldn't figure out why they were picking up the
Minbari fighters. He wanted to be sure nobody had snuck by some
kind of new tech. Once he knew they were the same tech as before,
he knew something screwy was up.
* Correct above; Sheridan says, quite specifically, in the
conference room with Ivanova after the Grey Council guy is gone,
"they used some kind of stealth technology WE'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE
TO BREAK." It's not a matter of old or cheaper tech; we just
haven't broken their technology yet.
* And yes, ships can sit in hyperspace (something also mentioned by
Laurel Takashima in the pilot, "If I were the Vorlons, I'd have a
warship standing by in hyperspace just waiting to attack."
* Basically, I decided to name the EA Lounge "Earhart's" because she
is an important figure in aviation history, and I wanted a 40s art
deco style to the place, down to big band music, and it fit
perfectly. There have been more women aviators, civilian and
elsewhere, than we know, particularly during WW II at home, and
they deserve recognition.
* The Earthforce lounge (EA personnel only) is Earhart's, named
after the famed aviator.
(Consequently, as tradition, only swing or big-band music is ever
played in Earhart's.)
Yes, we brightened things up a notch, but only a notch, because we
discovered that a lot of the good work being done on the sets and
the costumes wasn't being seen because we were too dark. So we
went up about one f-stop, but at the same time began using more
shadows, textures and colors, so the show has a denser look to it.
* As noted elsewhere...we have previously established that the Dome
is periodically on Standby Mode, when the system is performing
autmoated (automated) backups, routine maintenance, that sort of
thing. It was in "Midnight," when Garibaldi informs Ivanova that
that's where he likes to go, when it's on standby, and is quiet.
It was in "Sky," when Ivanova asks Tech 1 if there are any more
ships due in for a while, is told no, and she puts her feet up on
the console, nobody else around.
Also, B5 tends to run on human cycles of day and night, something
we try to reflect in the sets and effects, showing the Garden
bright during day times, and dark during night stuff (as around
dinner time in the Fresh Air Restaurant). Maintaining such cycles
has been found to be critical in these kinds of environments.
The standby mode only happens every 36-48 hours, for about an
hour. Most departments also have their own control areas, using
C&C mainly when command personnel are required. In addition, there
are folks monitoring C&C, and if anything *should* happen, someone
could be there within seconds.
* The Hyperion was built before the EM war, and survived.
The Agamemnon, a much superior ship, was built afterward. Sheridan
was not commanding the Aggy during the war. It's one of the best
ships we've got, almost the equivilent of an aircraft carrier or
battleship, and it took a lot of seniority and work to get it.
* Yes, you will see the Agamemnon again.
* Nothing has been dumbed down or simplified; in a first season
episode (in other words, the first episode of any given season),
you get a lot of sampling. If the show is obscure, or there's too
much prior knowledge required to get into it...they go away fast.
So there was a bit more straightforward exposition in this episode
in order to avoid scaring off new viewers.
And I stated, some time ago, that this was a lighter episode
because it's sandwiched between two very intense episodes,
"Chrysalis" and "Revelations," and I think you need some relief
there.
And as Walker noted, there are times when the dome is on standby,
as noted in "Midnight." The systems every 36 hours or so go
through a period of self-repair and maintainance for an hour or
two; if anything comes out of the gate or into local space,
someone's there within seconds.
* I wouldn't look for too much of Garibaldi in the first episode; he
was shot in the back...my feeling is that, TV logic to the
contrary, it takes TIME to recover from that. Consequently, this
will take a few episodes to get even remotely back on track.
* Yes, the quote definitely comes from Lincoln. I hated the old
Babcom logo, so we dumped it.
* Re: yankeecentrism...we always strive for balance. Yes, he quoted
Lincoln, but he also noted that on his 21st birthday, he flew to
see the new Dalai Lama being sworn in.
* Thanks. If you think PoD was a "wham," then I can't wait to see
your reaction to "Revelations."
Interestingly enough, I figured on giving Sheridan a tie to the
Civil War through his ancestor, General Philip Sheridan (sometimes
called "Little Phil" by Lincoln). Afterward, I discovered that
Bruce is a big civil war buff, so the Lincoln stuff worked very
well.
One of my favorite sequences from this episode is the stuff aboard
the Minbari cruiser during the Battle of the Line; the shots
surrounding Delenn and the other Minbari gives it a very god-like
aspect. Just wonderful.
* Yes, Sheridan is descended from Gen. Philip John Sheridan of the
Union Army.
* Sheridan is a soldier. A soldier is told, in wartime, THIS is your
enemy. You kill the enemy or your enemy kills you. Afterward,
you're in the same position American soldiers were in after the
end of WW II when it came time to reconcile with the Germans and
the Japanese. It can sometimes be very awkward...and sometimes
reconciliation takes a while.
* For what it's worth, Sheridan is neither a "space cowboy" nor a
"gung ho type." This description has nothing to do with the
character, and I'm not quite sure where you got this. Certainly I
never said or implied it.
Captain John Sheridan is a war hero, of sorts; he squeaked out the
only real victory of the Earth/Minbari War. (Which means the
Minbari don't generally like him a lot.) He did what he did
because that's his job. He's a professional soldier. For the last
two years, he's been commanding the Agamemmnon, a high-visibility
Earthforce starship on deep patrol. As such, he has had to learn
to work with a number of different races and species.
In some ways, his character is somewhat more well-rounded than was
the case with Sinclair, over whom a general sense of doom often
seemed to hang. Sheridan is often very thoughtful and
introspective; at other times, he can be just a bit eccentric; he
leads by respecting those who work under him, and givingthem room
to grow; like any career officer, he HATES the bureaucracy with a
passion, and this is the one thing that can drive him nuts; he
knows that commanding B5 is a great opportunity, but he also knows
that his presence brings certain complications with it, and he's
very ambivilant about that aspect; he's the son of a diplomatic
envoy who disappeared on his 21st birthday, running off to see (of
all things) the new Dali Lama being installed; he has a very
easygoing manner, and a great sense of humor. He quickly re-forms
a friendship with Ivanova, for whom he has great respect and
professional admiration. (For a time she served under him at Io.)
He is, actually, a fascinating and intriguing character with a lot
of different shadings...none of which have *anything* to do with
being a "space cowboy" or "gung-ho type."
Anyway...point being...when it was announced that there was going
to be a new Lieutenant-Commander, a number of folks went ballistic
and said the show would now be ruined. I said, in essence,
look...I created Takashima; I can create an interesting character
to replace her. And I thunk up Ivanova, who according to the
rec.arts.b5 poll is the most popular character on the show. When
it was announced that Sinclair would be STAYING with the show,
after the pilot, a number of folks said this was bad, he was
wooden, he stunk, get him off...and ended up being very enamored
of him. My only reply now about Bruce...give him, and me, a
chance. I genuinely think you will like what you see a *lot*.
In the course of the first season, Ivanova, Garibaldi, G'Kar,
Londo, Delenn, others...they've exploded into strong characters.
You need an equally strong character designed to hold his own, and
be memorable, in that august company. Sheridan was designed
knowing we had a much elevated playing field around the character.
Obviously, clearly, and irrefutably, an actor brings a *lot* to
any role. No question. But it tends to begin with what is created.
I've seen it said here, repeatedly, that none of the characters
are uninteresting; they all have lives, and agendas, that make
them fascinating to watch: Londo, Morden, G'Kar, Delenn,
Garibaldi, Ivanova...what those characters are came out of my
head, in terms of who tey are, what they say, what they believe,
where they came from and where they're going. Why would I invent a
new character that was any less involving, or interesting, or
multifaceted? Particularly knowing that he's going to be a central
character?
Speaking as someone who's been in fandom a long, long time, I know
there is always a tendency for panic, to assume the apocalpse is
upon us, that something is never going to be the same again. I
heard this after the Enterprise was destroyed in "The Search for
Spock." I've heard this a lot over the years. It's generally
over-reaction and worry before anyone has even seen a frame of
film.
Bottom line being...wait and see, then judge. I've tried very hard
not to let you down, and I think so far I haven't done so...I have
no intention of starting now. Bruce is doing an absolutely
*brilliant* job as Captain Sheridan, bringing a thoughtfulness and
intensity and charm and intensity to the part that is a joy to
behold. Give him a chance.
* Alas, I wrote my note about Bruce around 1 or 2 in the morning,
and I meant to balance out *intensity* with *intelligence*, but my
brain saw the first letters i-n-t-e, and vapor-locked.
* _How important to the Arc is Sheridan?_
How critical was Aragorn to the storyline of Lord of the Rings?
* The way in which Sheridan comes into the storyline is *absolutely*
consistent with everything that has come before, and everything
that follows.
* Sheridan was never on the original list [to command B5] because at
that time when the EA needed Minbari financing for B5, they knew
it'd piss off the Minbari to have it there, so he was never
considered for the post at that time.
* "Sounds like a formula to really PO the Minbari."
Yup.
* Just to clarify: in Soul Hunter we set in place the question of
what these things are, and do not resolve that question. Dr.
Franklin offers that with the correct technology, it might be
possible to make (for lack of a better term) a clone of someone's
neural patterns, copy his personality and memories into a storage
device...but also dismisses the notion of soul stealing.
I traffic in ambiguity.
* In a sense, yes, "Believers" now enters the arc...but so does
"Soul Hunter," in a big way. Replay Lennier's talk to Sheridan and
Ivanova, then play Delenn's conversation with Sinclair and the
Soul Hunter in that episode, and suddenly a lot of elements begin
to intersect.
* Re: you're noticing the line, "You talk like a Minbari" from
Neroon to Sinclair in "Legacies"....yup. Sometimes this stuff is
in broad strokes, sometimes in teeny little things like that. Also
ties in even further with where Sinclair goes.
* Note that Lennier says he wishes he could have told them (us) the
*rest* of the prophecy...and there's definitely more to Sinclair,
as will be seen later in the season. Remember, the Grey Council
never tells anyone the whole truth (note how Kalain asks that
question upon being told that Sinclair is just an ambassador).
* There really wasn't/isn't time in PoD to get into the angst
everyone has over Sinclair leaving (though some of that is given
to Sheridan, oddly enough). But it WILL get brought up in
subsequent episodes, especially from Garibaldi.
* Sinclair was the first human the Minbari (or at least the Grey
Council) had ever met, having come this far for the final victory.
The Earth Explorer vessel was part of a military fleet that
encountered a Minbari convoy, there was a miscommunication, a
misperceived threat, and our ships opened fire. There was no
person-to-person contact.
* Sure, you could blind-fire at a Minbari cruiser, but it's pretty
heavily armored. And while you're shooting at it, you're not only
being hit by cruiser blasts, but the several dozen Minbari
fighters coming in behind you. And shooting at a sublight
traveling fighter by eye would absolutely never work. It *has* to
be computer guided.
(BTW, for the sharp of eye...if you go back and sill-step through
some of the cockpit screen shots in "Sky," you'll note that on the
tac screen in Sinclair's cockpit it says something to the effect
of "Unable to lock-onto target.")
* Yes, you can go in and shoot at a Minbari *cruiser* visually...but
the reality is that any long-range weapon will be intercepted by
targeting fire, and if you get up real close and personal...well,
actually, you *can't* get up real close and personal because, as
Mitchell learned in "Sky," you get shot by the fighters.
What the fighters tend to remain engaged with are the Minbari
fighters, which are *incredibly* fast...much too fast to target
visually.
And believe me, as Sheridan stated, Earth's been *trying* to break
the stealth tech for a while, just hasn't been able to.
* Re: [Robert] Foxworth...he was someone we spoke to in case Bruce
turned out not to be available, and we liked him instantly, and he
liked the show. So for good luck, we had him come in for this
role, which may appear again. He's a terrific actor.
* _What were all those ribbons on General Hague's chest awarded for?_
I'll have to check, but probably most of those medals are for
actions during the Earth/Minbari War, and during the Dilgar War.
I'll have to check to get anything more specific than that.
* Well, my thought at the time, and I probably should've put this
into dialogue in retrospect, was that there's a window about every
36 hours when the entire C&C system goes through self-maintainance
for about half an hour, backing things up, doing self-repair,
filing logs with Earth Central, that sort of thing. They normally
pick a slow period in docking, and any other routine stuff is
handled through the backup C&C on the other side of the station
axis (you can see it directly above the docking bay when the
normal C&C is directly below it).
At first I'd considered putting that in Ivanova's mouth when she
says "Of all the time he could've picked," but then the reveal of
where he was and what he was doing fell flat; it needed to be a
surprise or it lost its impact and the humor. Ah, well....
* It has been established, in prior episodes, that there are brief
periods when C&C is in "standby mode," during which time no ships
are due, the station is in "night" cycle, and the operational
equipment in C&C goes through routine backup and maintenance. In
"Midnight on the Firing Line," our first episode, Ivanova is told
by Garibaldi that Sinclair is in C&C when it's in standby mode
because he likes the quiet during those brief periods (usually
only about an hour or so); in "Chrysalis," Ivanova asks Tech 1 if
any more ships are due in for a while, is told no, and she puts
her feet up on the console, watching the news, with the place
pretty much deserted.
This isn't the bridge of a starship; this is mainly a center of
operations for docking and other station activities requiring
command personnel. Every separate department -- environmental,
other resources -- has its own separate control center, with lots
of redundency.
In addition, there's always somebody monitoring stuff as it comes
through, so if there *were* any kind of problem, there'd be
somebody on site in C&C in thirty seconds. Basically, we're
talking an hour or so once every 36 to 48 hours. I could've
explained this in dialogue, but it would've taken the edge off the
revelation and humor, and I figured we'd done this before enough
times that it wouldn't be an issue.
* Just as an advisory...the woman who spoke up in PoD (the tech who
told Sheridan that Security wanted him) is not a Tech 1
replacement; she was there just for that one episode. We have a
number of folks floating through that area now, because logically
you would have rotating crews.
* A vibe shower would theoretically use sonic waves (in combination
with other elements, like disinfecting lighting, as seen in
"Signs") to remove dirt and kill bacteria.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
* Delenn staying while Sinclair goes is part of WHY Sinclair goes
and Delenn stays. It's absolutely part and parcel.
* Delenn had intended to tell Sinclair much about the soul issue
before entering the chrysalis.
* It's always interesting, if you have one character upon whom
everyone else leans, even depends, to *remove* that character for
a time. Because then those characters have to *react*...to either
stand or fall on their own. It shakes things up a little...and
vastly intensifies the characters.
* I'm going to test myself, and see how much I can say without
saying too much.
You have X-number of characters. They're all in the same place.
You're trying to tell a story that has a great deal of scale, and
covers all kinds of worlds, changing politics, alliances, on and
on. The question becomes, how do you *illustrate* that? To use a
line from the original Trek, when a mob guy is brought aboard the
Enterprise, he says later, "All I saw was a room and five guys."
So now you start saying, "Hmmm...what if I remove Character A from
the chessboard, and move him over *here* for a while? He wasn't
going to be doing much for the next little bit anyway. And we
won't just "deal" with that change, it's part of the story...it
broadens out the story to include Place A *and* Place B. It has
repercussions down the road. It comes up again in the future.
Elements from Place B now become known on Place A. Character A may
even make an occasional reappearance to keep us even more closely
connected with Place B, which is necessary because Place B is
very, very important."
What we have in mind here isn't quite comparable to anything
that's been done before. The character will still be alive. The
character will continue to have an impact on the story. The
character will be spotted from time to time. The character will
continue to show up in the comic and the novels. And through this
move, you have the benefit of substantially opening up the B5
universe, you help create the realignment of characters and
loyalties that was anticipated for this season, and it helps kick
over the tables, as we did in Chrysalis.
Just a slight refinement on the argument.
* I can probably answer your question a little better after you've
seen the second episode of this season. For now, let's just say
this: in working out the story for year two, Sinclair's main line
of connection was to the Minbari. But the Minbari storyline was
diminishing in ways onnected to the war in year two; obviously we
all know what is on the upswing in year two, certain dark forces.
I needed someone who has a connection to *that* side of the story
to personalize it, and Sheridan brings that connection to the mix,
although he doesn't know it yet.
* The Battle of the Line and the hole in Sinclair's mind was always
intended as the entry point or trigger to the story. It's like
Frodo being given the Ring in LoTR. The story isn't about that,
that's how we get INTO it. Frankly, there's no way you can sustain
that one element for five years, nor did we ever intend to do so.
The only difference in the resolution of that aspect is this: we
had originally intended to resolve the missing 24 hours, and the
Battle of the Line, by episode four, season two. We've simply
moved it up 3 eps to the first episode. Because new players are
coming onto the field, in the form of the Shadowmen, and other
forces, and we now have to begin turning our attention to new
mysteries.
* "Changes are coming; Sinclair was the first, there will be
others." He was referring to more changes coming.
* Sheridan, or more specifically the need for someone *like*
Sheridan began to get through clearly toward the latter part of
last season, as I began planning out season two's progression, and
kept looking at elements of the story and trying to find ways to
get Sinclair into the heart of them. They felt contrived, for the
most part; and the other characters, like Londo and G'Kar and
Delenn, were *really* moving forward in a big way. The role of
Sinclair was becoming primarily that of a "problem solver," and
when that happens, a sort of glass bell falls down around the
character, and you can't do much with him.
So what the writer has to do is break that bell in one way or
another; do something totally unexpected to him, and bring in
someone who has a direct, personal connection with the storyline
emerging in season two, so it's not contrived or forced.
* All the characters are unique; there seems to be this bone-headed
notion, that I frequently run into, of "Well, Ivanova's just
Takashima renamed," or "Sheridan's story is just the same as
Sinclair's, same guy just renamed." They're *not* and never have
been. The story of one does not devlove automatically upon the
other. If you make a change, it's because you have something
better in mind...otherwise why make it?
* I said, from the very beginning, that once the series got rolling,
no single primary question could be allowed to go more than about
one season before answering it, otherwise you get into a
frustrating Twin Peaks situation where *nothing* is resolved.
Basically, the events begun in "Chrysalis" bleed over into three
episodes; the Battle of the Line answers were initially only a
couple of episodes further down in my outline, about episode #3.
Making the change, for one thing, allowed me to move that
storyline forward to episode #1, blow through it and get the story
moving in year two faster, rather than delaying further with loose
threads from season one.
* The idea of a Chrysalis II went by the boards once I really got
into the script, and realized that C1 had tipped over too many
tables to even HOPE to resolve them in one follow-up episode. So
the threads yanked in C1 will be paid off over several episodes,
hence no C2; the first episode of year two is "Points of
Departure."
* _What about Catherine Sakai?_
This is the one thread that I'm still trying to decide about.
* They didn't get married. Wasn't time, and his new posting
precluded that.
* We're dedicated to improving all of these elements on a regular
basis; CGI, sets, directing, lighting, name it.
The music will change every year, to get in sync with where the
season is going; the tone and tenor and mood will shift.
Re: the narration...last year, Michael had the benefit of being
able to see the sequence prior to reading the narration, and
reading with the images. That was when we were shooting in July to
air in January. In this case, shooting in August to air in
November, Bruce had to wing it, without any images for reference,
just text. Now that we've got the opening completed (and we
weren't satisfied with it or done tinkering with it until a few
days before delivery), we'll probably let him do it again with the
visuals before him, so he knows what he's reading to, since it'll
have a *big* impact on how he delivers the stuff.
* There's a reason for this: due to time constraints, we have to get
Bruce to do the narration *without* having the images in front of
him; he had no way of knowing where beats would go with the
images, or what would be under it (since we were still putting the
new opening together), so we had to artifically build in pauses
when we did the final transfer (as opposed to year one, where we
had the images assembled long before we had Michael do the
narration). What took forever was that 5 fade/dissolve/wipe, which
just killed us time-wise, but is spiffy to look at.
Now that it's all together, we plan to have Bruce re-do the
narration with the images in front of him, so he can respond
naturally and make it flow, the way he would've been able to do
had we had the material ready in time.
* Re: the theme music...to me, one is neither worse nor better than
the other. They're *different*, and meant to convey different
moods and themes. Each year it'll change. This year was heavy on
strings and brass; next year it'll be heavy on percussion. The
main theme will be reinterpreted and interpolated in different
ways. In the B5 universe, change is the only constant.
* Promoting Ivanova to running the station would not be logical,
since from a military and diplomatic standpoint she has nowhere
*near* the level of experience required. It wouldn't be done in
real life.
[33][Next]
[34]Last update: February 12, 1998
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