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305 lines
17 KiB
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[1][ISMAP]-[2][Home]
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### GUIDE ### [3][Background] [4][Synopsis] [5][Credits] [6][Episode
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List] [7][Previous] [8][Next]
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_Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
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- [13]Notes - [14]JMS
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_________________________________________________________________
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Overview
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Disaster strikes an old friend of Captain Sheridan. Dr. Franklin
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offers nutritional advice to some reluctant patients. [15]Russ
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Tamblyn as Capt. Maynard. [16]Miguel A. Nuñez, Jr. as Orwell.
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Sub-genre: Suspense
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[17]P5 Rating: [18]7.34
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Production number: 204
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Original air date: November 23, 1994
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Written by D.C. Fontana
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Directed by Jim Johnston
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Watch For:
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* Captain Maynard's footwear.
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_________________________________________________________________
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Backplot
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* Sheridan's first commander, on Earth-Mars patrol duty, was Jack
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Maynard, who Sheridan admired greatly. "I thought he knew
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everything," Sheridan says. "He _did_, too."
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* The Earth Alliance has a small fleet of huge Explorer-class ships
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that travel out on the rim of known space, mapping new systems and
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installing new jump gates. More specialized scout ships follow
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later to perform detailed or specific surveys of these newly
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opened systems.
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* The Explorer ships, which are considered choice commands, can also
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repair jumpgates.
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* Navigation in hyperspace involves locking onto jumpgate signals.
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There seem to be no natural reference points in hyperspace, so a
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ship must keep its own internal navigation references or lock onto
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the signals of nearby gates or it will become lost. Until this
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episode, no ship lost in hyperspace had ever been rescued.
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* Minbari society is built upon a strict caste structure and
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obedience to superiors within that caste structure. Delenn has
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challanged that organization, and the Minbari are beginning to
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react.
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Unanswered Questions
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* _Is_ something living in hyperspace? (This isn't a new question;
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it was the subject of a front-page Universe Today story in
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[19]"And the Sky Full of Stars.")
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* Why does Delenn feel she is more "one of us" now than she's ever
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been? Is it because she views humans and Minbari as joined, and
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she feels she's a part of both halves?
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* How does hyperspace work in the B5 universe?
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Analysis
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* The appearance of his friend and mentor Jack Maynard suddenly
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throws Sheridan's new duties aboard Babylon 5 into contrast with
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his training and experience, kindling a strong sense of
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dissatisfaction with the job. "I've been beached," he says. This
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is sure to crop up again in the future. Despite his newfound
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energy at the end of the episode, what Captain Maynard said is
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still true; being a governor and a diplomat isn't what Sheridan
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trained or even wished for. If he's itching for action when a
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crisis comes up, that might cause him to look less thoroughly for
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peaceful solutions than someone like Sinclair might.
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* Delenn's transformation is something that's clearly a mystery to
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the general Minbari population, suggesting that it is either
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unprecedented or so rare as to be unheard-of. Yet she seemed to
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know what she was doing, as did at least some of the Grey Council.
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The Council is likely harboring many secrets that aren't simple
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matters of religion and spirituality; what other technologies do
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they possess that the Minbari public knows nothing about?
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* Jumpgates act as locator beacons in hyperspace, providing a three
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dimensional homing signal detectable for a thousand kilometers or
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so there. To be useful in the featureless and chaotic void of
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hyperspace it would have to provide both a relative and an
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absolute reference much like a VOR does for aircraft. If the
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beacon can respond to ship data requests, then range data and
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traffic information could also be transmitted to the approaching
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(or departing) ship. Just how this works is not explained.
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* Hyperspace is a featureless place, yet it has currents and eddies
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that corrospond to gravity in normal space. Sheridan says, "We
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know there is a drift in hyperspace that can pull a ship down the
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gravitational incline." Gravity works in hyperspace, though
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apparently not in quite the same way that it works in real space.
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Electromagnetic waves also propogate in hyperspace, but become
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distorted rapidly over distance in a random and variable way.
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Jumpgate beacons are, therefore, very short range -- more like
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lighthouses in hyperspace -- and communications with ships in
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hyperspace is possible only when the vessel is near a jumpgate.
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* What looks like a great deal of hand-waving over the Cortez
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accident can be explained upon close examination of the
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circumstances. The timeline of the accident seems to be:
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1. Cortez enters the jumpgate.
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2. Cortez exits the jumppoint in hyperspace and attempts a
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restart of her primary power system. The fusion reactor
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restart fails, and the power system spikes, producing a
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powerful electro-magnetic pulse (and presumably a sizable
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radiation pulse) which takes out some systems aboard Cortez,
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including main propulsion, navigation, and some computer
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systems. Cortez is now adrift.
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3. Many hours later Cortez gets some main power back and systems
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running. Captain Maynard, after getting a damage report that
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tells him that nav won't be back up for 48 hours, puts up a
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distress call, which is received (barely) by B5. At this
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point Cortez is under power, but without reference points the
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best they can do is hold station against the pull of a nearby
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gravity well.
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4. B5 receives the distress signal, and Captain Sheridan decides
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to make a rescue attempt. Cortez is effectively just
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"offshore" in hyperspace, and despite Ivonova's misgivings he
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feels they stand a chance of recovering her. Five fighters
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are launched into hyperspace by B5, and they form up on a
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line facing down the local gravity well at 1000km intervals.
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5. The fighters set up the search pattern, with Cdr. Galus
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(fighter group commander) and Lt. Keffer together at the far
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end. This puts them about 4000km away from B5.
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6. A shadow ship enters hyperspace almost on top of Galus,
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colliding with and destroying his fighter. It also rams
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Keffer's Star Fury, but only knocks out some systems (comms,
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nav, and propulsion). Keffer begins firing (presumably on
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internal references) in the direction of Galus's last
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position. Cortez figures it out, and at about the same time
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Keffer's fighter gets communications back online. Rather than
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risk losing a good bearing back to the jumpgate, Keffer tells
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Captain Maynard to take Cortez directly back to the gate,
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leaving him behind in his unmaneuverable Star Fury. He is
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unable to keep station and will drift, eventually losing any
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reference back to B5.
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7. About 24 hours later (more or less -- it seems like the next
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night, end of shift in C&C, about midnight) Keffer is running
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out of oxygen--but his Star Fury has succeeded in getting his
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thruster systems back online. Shortly after that he spots
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another shadow ship, and using that as a reference point he
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navigates back to the jumpgate and returns to B5.
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* This _may_ not have been as much of a crisis as it seemed to be.
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Cortez, given its stated function of running about on the rim,
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must carry its own jumppoint generator. The problem was the lack
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of main power. Since it has already been stated that opening a
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jumppoint takes a great deal of energy, the size of the Cortez
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fusion plant would therefore be determined by the power
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requirements for creating the jumppoint. With only partial main
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power, she was unable to do so. But given the size of the ship and
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its presumed independence, it is possible that Cortez could have
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repaired her main power plant herself, and then opened a jumpgate
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of her own. This possibility explains why Captain Maynard didn't
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broadcast a mayday immediately following the accident -- he
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assumed they could get Cortez out of trouble themselves. It was
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only after he received the damage report detailing the slow
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recovery of main power and the long repair time for navigation
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that he decided to call for assistance.
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* This episode further delineates the technological capabilities of
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the Shadows, though not explicitly. They use the same hyperspace
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the major races do. (As opposed to, for example, the Sigma 957
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aliens from [20]"Mind War," who appeared to use something
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different.)
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* Though the Shadows presumably noticed the Starfuries and the
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Cortez and realized they could be seen as well, they took no
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action against the human ships. This is somewhat in contrast to
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their apparent desire to remain undetected. Several explanations
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are possible. Perhaps the Shadow ship was in a hurry; perhaps its
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weapons aren't functional in hyperspace; or, most intriguing,
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perhaps it realized that the ships were from Earth and chose to
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leave them alone for that reason.
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Notes
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* Captain Maynard has seen a shadow ship in the past, though he
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didn't recognize it as such, and now Lt. Keffer has seen one as
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well.
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* Garibaldi's special dinner:
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Bagna Cauda (from Jeff Smith's -The Frugal Gourmet-)
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1/2 cup olive oil
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1/4 lb. butter (1 stick) - not margarine!
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5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
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6 anchovy fillets, mashed
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black pepper
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Heat oil and butter together in top of double boiler. In a small
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skillet cook the garlic in a bit of this oil until soft. Add the
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anchovies, and cook till the fish turns into a paste, about 5 min.
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Mix this paste with the hot oil and butter. Transfer to a chafing
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dish or fondue pot to keep warm on the table (it congeals as it
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cools.)
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* The Egyptian blessing: "God be between you and harm, in all the
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empty places where you must walk." This blessing was quoted by
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creative consultant Harlan Ellison in his short story, "Paladin of
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the Lost Hour."
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* Delenn's speech about "starstuff" is very similar to a section of
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Carl Sagan's Cosmos, as well as a section of the play The Effect
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of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
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* (unverified) As the Cortez exits the jumpgate, its hull numbers
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can be read, "14286." Later, when Sheridan grants clearance for it
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to leave, its number is stated as "C199."
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jms speaks
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* To be filed under the heading of, "What I does, I takes the rap
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for; what I does not, I doesn't take the rap for," when we
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discussed the hyperspace accident in our production meetings, Jim
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-- our director -- asked if he could so some fratzing and
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sparking, some fire...I said I did not *want* huge gouts of flame,
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just a few small sparks, fine, a bit of smoke from components
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burned out, fine...and that day I was over in the other facility
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overseeing a mixdown of the audio...and guess what he did in my
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absence? Yup.
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* So many questions about hyperspace came up over the last year or
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so that we figured they should be addressed; be assured, we're
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staying as clear of technobabble as ever, despite my Spousal
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Overunit's absolute and unshakeable conviction that *everything*
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is, at its root, a math problem.
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* To get in and out of hyperspace you have to know where you are and
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where you're going, otherwise you'll come out even *more* lost,
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hundreds of light years from home; you jump in, and you're even
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further gone now.
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* Once in hyperspace, you can ride the navigational beams between
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beacons (narrow beam stuff, to cut through the interference, as
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noted in "Distant Star"), and by corrolating the beacons, know
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where you have to come out.
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That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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* And the Cortez might've been able to locate some stars, but any
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fix on its position would only have been within a few light-years,
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not nearly precise enough for their purposes. They'd still be
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lost.
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* _Should a ship have been named after Cortez, considering what
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effect his arrival had on the native Americans?_
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If Cortez had NOT landed in northern Mexico, do you think it would
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have remained undiscovered until now?
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Fact #1: somebody was bound to discover the Americas.
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Fact #2: any sufficiently advanced civilization or culture will
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inevitably attempt to exploit any civilization or culture not
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sufficiently advanced to fight back on a level playing field.
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Blaming explorers for exploring has always seemed to me really
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kind of silly; do people *really* think that if Columbus hadn't
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landed here, it'd be 1994 and we still wouldn't know the world was
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round and that this continent was here? It doesn't matter who
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discovered it, the same result would've come. Somebody had to
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discover it sooner or later.
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* _Did the Cortez spin to produce gravity?_
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Yes, it rotated to create its gravity, as you can see quite
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clearly in the episode.
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* (He coughs and speaks in his Executive Producer Voice:) "I *LIKE*
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the opening title sequence."
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Now...onto other matters.
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We re-mixed the narration and music today in the titles, and it's
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a LOT better. I slightly shifted the placement of some of the
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lines, and Bruce's rendition is very nice. Really carries the
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weight. Look for it to appear starting in episode #4.
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* Actually, we just redid the narration with Bruce yesterday, and
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it's MUCH better. We'll be able to get it in starting in episode
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#4.
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While we were at it, btw, we took the opportunity to re-do the
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faceplate shot in the main title sequence. It was fine, but it
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could've been better. Now it is. Expect it around the same time as
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the new VO.
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_________________________________________________________________
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Originally compiled by Dave Zimmerman
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_________________________________________________________________
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[26][Next]
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[27]Last update: January 30, 1998
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References
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1. file://localhost/cgi-bin/imagemap/titlebar
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2. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/lurk/maps/maps.html#titlebar
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3. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/background/026.shtml
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4. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/synops/026.html
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5. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/credits/026.html
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6. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
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7. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/025.html
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8. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/027.html
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9. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#OV
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10. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#BP
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11. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#UQ
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12. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#AN
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13. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#NO
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14. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#JS
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15. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Tamblyn,+Russ
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16. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?Nu%F1ez+Jr%2E%2C+Miguel+A%2E
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17. file://localhost/lurk/p5/intro.html
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18. file://localhost/lurk/p5/026
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19. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/008.html
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20. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/006.html
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21. file://localhost/lurk/lurker.html
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22. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/026.html#TOP
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23. file://localhost/cgi-bin/uncgi/lgmail
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24. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
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25. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/025.html
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26. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/027.html
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27. file://localhost/lurk/lastmod.html
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