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289 lines
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289 lines
16 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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Marcus and Dr. Franklin combat an invasion by parasitic aliens that
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attach themselves to humans. Ivanova investigates the possibility
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of bringing a new member into the conspiracy. [15]Joshua Cox as
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Corwin. [16]Aubrey Morris as Duncan. [17]James Warwick as Matthew
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Duffin.
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[18]P5 Rating: [19]7.34
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Production number: 307
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Original air week: February 12, 1996
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Written by J. Michael Straczynski
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Directed by Kevin Cremin
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Watch For
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* Signs on the wall in the Brown Sector marketplace.
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_________________________________________________________________
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Backplot
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* A race of symbiotes, the Vindrizi, has existed for half a million
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years. They were created as recorders, observing events all over
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the galaxy so that others can learn about the past when all the
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books and records have been swallowed by the next dark age. They
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survive by passing from host to host, always seeking volunteers
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who have nothing left to live for and want to live out their lives
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participating in a grand endeavor.
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* The Shadows have been building up forces in sector 800, near the
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border of Centauri space.
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Unanswered Questions
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* What is the "package" from Mars that Marcus is waiting for?
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* Why are the Shadows building up their forces in sector 800?
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* Will Corwin prove problematic for the conspiracy of light?
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* Who created the Vindrizi half a million years ago, and what made
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them think such living histories would become necessary?
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Analysis
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* It's never made clear how much time has passed before the
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Vindrizi's departure, but it's odd that Sheridan and company
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didn't jump at the chance to get all the information they could
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about the Shadows and the previous wars while the Vindrizi were
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still aboard. Of course, it's possible such discussions took
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place, but they're never mentioned.
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* Now that Sheridan and his people know about the Vindrizi, perhaps
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they'll call upon them in the future.
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* What came in on the ship at the beginning of the episode? The two
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people waiting for the ship were quite happy to see it arrive.
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Were they not yet joined with the Vindrizi, or did the ship simply
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carry more of their kind?
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* Marcus seems a good deal less concerned with secrecy than his
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coconspirators; he was talking to Garibaldi openly, and loudly,
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about his network of contacts in a public place. By contrast,
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Ivanova and Sheridan didn't even want to be _seen_ with him at the
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Earhart's party for fear of raising questions.
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* Why is Ivanova so hostile toward Marcus? Have her last few
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romantic experiences made her want to discourage any new
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developments in that area? (For example, [20]"The War Prayer" and
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[21]"Divided Loyalties.")
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* During the medical staff meeting, Franklin mentions that there's a
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need for Drazi blood. Is the station being flooded with Drazi
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refugees, much like it was with Narn refugees while the
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Narn-Centauri War was at its peak? If so, is Babylon 5 becoming a
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sort of haven for refugees of all stripes?
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Notes
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* Duncan's line, "I don't like being poked by doctors," is also
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spoken by the main character Alex in Stanley Kubrick's [22]"A
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Clockwork Orange."
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* The ship carrying the Vindrizi is called the Dyson, most likely
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named for physicist Freeman Dyson.
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* Marcus quotes from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to Garibaldi, and
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from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" when he wakes Duncan up. Note that
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Marcus refers to Macbeth as "the Scottish play," and replaces
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"Macbeth" with "Marcus" in his quote -- there is a superstition
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among actors that referring to Macbeth by name is bad luck. (See
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[23]jms speaks)
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The particular Macbeth quotes are from Act II, scene 2:
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Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more!
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Macbeth does murder sleep" -- the innocent sleep,
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Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
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The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
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Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
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Chief nourisher in life's feast.
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Then, a moment later:
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Still it cried "Sleep no more!" to all the house.
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"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
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Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more."
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Glamis and Cawdor are two earl titles that Macbeth holds.
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* Marcus refers to his fighting staff as a "Copeland J5000" while
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trying to convince the Vindrizi it's a medical instrument. That's
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most likely a reference to producer John Copeland.
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* The Vindrizi's musing about what they've experienced is
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reminiscent of Batty's dying words at the end of the movie
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[24]"Blade Runner."
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jms speaks
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* "Exogenesis," which we just started filming this week, is probably
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our most "ordinary" story of the batch, though it puts a new spin
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on several traditional story elements.
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* Sometimes I do like to take stories that have always been done one
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way, and turn them on their heads to see what new possibilities
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tumble out. It's fun....
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* "Exogenesis" - The last non-arc episode for some time. Puts Dr.
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Franklin and Marcus together investigating some odd happenings in
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DownBelow that may indicate some kind of alien influence. Does,
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however, introduce a thread that will play out over time.
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* Another "oh, yeah, I nearly forgot"...for those out there who have
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young kids, or if you're a bit on the squeamish side
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yourself...there's one EFX shot at the end of the teaser for
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"Exogenesis" that you may want to avoid. When it was finished,
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John Copeland brought it into my office, fired it up on my TV, and
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looked away, saying, "You look, it creeps me out too much to look
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at it again." It's...pretty strong. So you'll miss the minimum
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possible, here's the sequence: first there's the Screaming Man
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(a), then a cutaway to two people (b), then back at the Man for
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the first part of the shot (c), the two people again (d), the man
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(e), and finally the two people. What you want to avoid, if there
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are real young kids in the room, are shots c and e. That's it for
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the whole episode. For non-netted folks, it'll go by pretty fast,
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but I figured it'd be worth mentioning as an added piece of info
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for the netted amongst us.
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* _How is your mental image of the arc holding up?_
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The overview still holds up pretty well, I think. Toward the end
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of season two, I think things got just a *tad* too convoluted in
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places, so that's being cleared up a bit, the dry brush trimmed
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back, the red herrings cleared away, because we've got to start
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focusing on the real story, not the misdirections. That's probably
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the one thing I'd go back and revise, because in general, you
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can't just bring something up and walk away form (from) it later;
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it's got to either fit, or be reasonably, logically explained
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away. So some time has to be spent on that now. But that's been
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done pretty effectively in this first batch of episodes, and now
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we're down to really cranking on the shadow war.
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In four more episodes (writing-wise), I'll be at the exact
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midpoint in the story, which on one level is a little hard to
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believe; it's gont (gone) by so fast. Seems like yesterday that we
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just got started. Which is why the overview is very helpful; by
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constantly reminding me where we should be, it doesn't let me get
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lost in the neverwhere of TV production.
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All things considered...we've had some bumps on the ride, a detour
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here and there, the occasional flat tire, but doggone it if the
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old thing seems to have a mind of its own; I started writing #7
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the other day, and I'm well past halfway finished writing it, it's
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coming out almost as though it already existed, and I've just
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managed to "tune into" it, like the sculpter who knows that inside
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a block of wood is a horse, he just has to start chopping and
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cutting until he finds and relases it.
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So long answer to a short question...we're still on course, and
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I'm still quite pleased with where we're going, and how we're
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getting there.
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* Thanks. Yeah, Exo is the last non-arc episode for a long time, and
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the last chance to catch one's breath before the big fall.
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My personal evaluation of the episode is that it's okay. The
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second half, I think, isn't as strong as the first half. Halfway
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through writing the episode, we had a problem come up in
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production that unexpectedly took me away from the script for
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about a week. (Nothing major, but it had to be dealt with and it
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took time.) Usually, I write copious notes on a script before I
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begin writing it. In this case, the story was so crystalline clear
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in my head that I just dived in, and was blasting away terrific
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when the hit came midway through. By the time I got back, I'd lost
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some of the fingerprints of the story, and had to kind of re-find
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them again. Mainly, I think the expository sequence at the end
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could've been done better.
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Needless to say, that's the last time I trusted myself without
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notes, no matter how well I "see" the episode in my head. It'd be
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a great script for second or first season, but we have to keep
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raising the bar, every aspect has to be better than the last thing
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we did, so for my money it's not quite up to that standard.
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Happily, it's the *only* episode this season that I feel that way
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about...the rest are all just nifty.
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That said, I think it has some great moments for Marcus, Franklin
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and others...and yes, there's a lot more planned with Franklin
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coming up this season, particularly toward the latter third of the
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season.
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* Thanks (I think). Yeah, I've said from the git-go that in my view
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the second half of Exo isn't up to the first half. It is, in my
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view, the weakest of this season's 22. On the flip side, that
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means the other 21 are pretty nifty.
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Agree with you on Marcus. I'm finding I have the same problem with
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him I have with Londo...getting him to shut up once I wire him up
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and let him go. He's a lot of fun to write, in that he can do the
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physical action stuff very well, he can do comedy, more dramatic
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emotional stuff...the whole range. I can take him places and do
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things with him that I can't in some ways for the other
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characters, in that he has only one responsibility, whereas the
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others have larger responsibilities to more people.
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* _What did Joshua Cox think of Corwin getting to leave C&C for a
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change?_
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He loved it.
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* _[25]About the avoidance of the name "Macbeth" _
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Just figured I'd use that description of it rather than Macbeth,
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to make it a bit more obscure, but also some actors do have a
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problem saying the name Macbeth or being around it when it's said
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(note: Jason isn't one of them). so it was also a courtesy. (Later
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on, while shooting "A Late Delivery From Avalon," one of the hair
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dressers made the error of referring to Macbeth out loud in front
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of Michael York, and had to go through the whole undo-the-curse
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routine, walking around the stages three times, etc.)
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* I like Marcus quoting literature, Shakespeare included. So it's
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something I've peppered through his character, though trying to
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avoid too much of it.
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* Yes, Marcus and Ivanova should get along well...assuming one
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doesn't kill the other first....
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* _Why doesn't Marcus wear a link?_
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I just summoned up Marcus in my head. Here's what he said:
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"Because I won't wear the bloody thing, that's why. Bad enough
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you've got those pagers you wear in 1996, no privacy, no chance to
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get away, always at somebody's beck and call. Why not just put a
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leash around your neck and get it over with? It'd be faster and a
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good deal more honest. I'm down in the bar trying to be
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inconspicuous, dangerous characters on all sides, trying not to be
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noticed...and the link goes off, and I'm dead. Or at minimum
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seriously thumped. No, absolutely not. You'll never get me to wear
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one of those."
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(This is btw the reason why I absolutely *refuse* to wear a pager
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myself.)
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* _Was that Sean Connery's voice at the beginning?_
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It was a voice in the walla group that basically came out sounding
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that way.
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* _Response to the above from producer George Johnsen_
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No, it is Doug Cook, one of our Walla people doing a fair Sean
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imitation which was not his intention.
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* _Where did Franklin's stim abuse problem go?_
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It hasn't come to a head yet. Any abuser of substances has moments
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when he's up, and moments when he's down, moments when he seems
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fine, moments when he's not.
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[31][Next]
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[32]Last update: July 22, 1997
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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/051.shtml
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4. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/synops/051.html
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5. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/credits/051.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/050.html
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8. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/052.html
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9. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#OV
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10. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#BP
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11. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#UQ
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12. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#AN
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13. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#NO
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14. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#JS
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15. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Cox,+Joshua
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16. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Morris,+Aubrey
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17. http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Warwick,+James
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18. file://localhost/lurk/p5/intro.html
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19. file://localhost/lurk/p5/051
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20. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/007.html
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21. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/041.html
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22. http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?title=A+Clockwork+Orange
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23. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#JS.macbeth
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24. http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi/br/off-world.html
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25. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#NO.macbeth
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26. file://localhost/lurk/lurker.html
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27. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/051.html#TOP
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28. file://localhost/cgi-bin/uncgi/lgmail
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29. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
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30. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/050.html
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31. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/guide/052.html
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32. file://localhost/lurk/lastmod.html
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