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The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
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[1][ISMAP]-[2][Home]
### GUIDE ### [3][Background] [4][Synopsis] [5][Credits] [6][Episode
List] [7][Previous] [8][Next]
_Contents:_ [9]Overview - [10]Backplot - [11]Questions - [12]Analysis
- [13]Notes - [14]JMS
_________________________________________________________________
Overview
As the Senate continues to investigate President Clark, an
archaeologist brings news of a development back home that forces
Sheridan to act against the Earth government. The Nightwatch
tightens its grip on the civilian population. [15]Nancy Stafford as
Dr. Kirkish.
[16]P5 Rating: [17]9.06
Production number: 308
Original air week: February 19, 1996
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar
_________________________________________________________________
Backplot
* Seven years ago, an archaeological team working for Interplanetary
Expeditions (see [18]"Infection") discovered a disabled Shadow
ship buried 300 feet under the Martian surface, underground for at
least a thousand years. Another Shadow ship, apparently with the
cooperation of Earth, finished excavating the first, and both flew
away. Garibaldi was witness, and recovered a Psi Corps badge from
the site. See comic issue 8, [19]"Silent Enemies." Most of the
archaeologists have died or disappeared since.
* More recently, a second Shadow ship was discovered under the ice
on Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
* A Shadow ship requires a living being at its core; the two merge,
becoming one entity. If the pilot isn't properly prepared, the
result is a confused, insane ship.
* Translating the Book of G'Quan is considered sacrilege by the
Narn. "It must be read in the mother tongue, or not at all," says
G'Kar.
* Shadow forces have continued to build up on the edge of Centauri
space.
Unanswered Questions
* What were Shadow ships doing on Mars and Ganymede a millenium ago?
Was Earth involved in the last war?
* How does Delenn know that Shadow ships have sentient beings at
their core? What else does she know about them that she hasn't
told Sheridan?
* What kind of preparation is needed to properly merge with a Shadow
ship?
Analysis
* Sheridan's unwillingness to fire on the Agamemnon may be a sign of
trouble to come; he's not ready to think of Earth's military as an
enemy. How long that loyalty will last is unclear, but at some
point, if conditions on Earth continue to escalate and Sheridan
continues to act covertly against the government, he'll be forced
to choose between firing on his own people and death or capture.
* The White Star is a Minbari vessel, yet Sheridan believed the
Agamemnon would be able to track it. (See [20]"Points of
Departure.") Perhaps that was simply because the White Star was in
Jupiter's atmosphere; it was thus unable to outrun the Agamemnon,
and could be tracked via atmospheric disturbances.
* The White Star is a formidable vessel, in any case; it has as much
firepower as several Narn heavy cruisers, judging by its attack on
the Shadow vessel (see [21]"The Long, Twilight Struggle,")
although this Shadow ship might have been smaller than those faced
by the Narn. The Agamemnon was able to damage the White Star, but
only after it had been grazed by a Shadow weapon and subjected to
atmospheric conditions far outside its safety limits.
* G'Kar's book should make for interesting reading now that he knows
what's going on from Londo's point of view as well as his own
([22]"Dust to Dust.") Given his visitation by what he believes to
be G'Lan in that episode, will he consider his writings to be on
the same level as the Book of G'Quan? More importantly, will other
Narn feel the same way, and become followers of the Book of G'Kar?
* Dr. Kirkish says of Earth, regarding the Shadows, "They want us to
become more like them." What does she mean by that? How can humans
become more like Shadows, and what would that entail?
* Someone on Earth wanted to go behind the Shadows' backs; if the
Shadows discover that (assuming they don't already know,) the
consequences for Earth could be disastrous. Assuming, of course,
that the Shadows didn't tell Earth about the second ship for their
own reasons.
* The events on Mars make it clear that the Shadows were awake to
some degree before the Icarus visited Z'ha'dum ([23]"In the Shadow
of Z'ha'dum.") The Icarus visited Z'ha'dum in 2256, but Kirkish
saw a functioning Shadow vessel seven years ago, in 2253. The
Psi-Corps connection also implies that the Shadows were aware of
humanity at the time.
* Given Marcus' apparent disregard for secrecy ([24]"Exogenesis")
Ivanova would be well-advised to make sure his chart is destroyed
or hidden lest a Nightwatch sympathizer stumble across it.
* Perhaps the Shadows bury their ships underground intentionally.
Since the ships are at least partially alive, it's even
concievable that the Shadows bury an egg or something similar,
then dig up the fully grown ship later on. In that case, where
else are such ships buried? Do the Shadows know, or did they lose
track of their ships in the last war?
* The Shadows attacked the mining colony where Marcus and his
brother lived ([25]"Matters of Honor.") Could they have been
trying to prevent the miners from discovering another buried ship?
* Now that the Agamemnon has observed the White Star at close
proximity, Earth Force will presumably treat it as hostile on
sight in the future. That will probably severely limit Sheridan's
ability to finesse his way out of another fight.
* The Shadows are far from alone in requiring living beings to merge
with their machinery. In fact, it seems to be a staple of advanced
technologies in the B5 universe:
+ The Ikarran weapon in [26]"Infection."
+ The anti-agathic drug in [27]"Deathwalker," which required an
extract from another living being.
+ The Great Machine in Epsilon 3, which goes berserk without a
core ([28]"A Voice in the Wilderness.")
+ Shadow ships, as shown here.
Are Vorlon ships similarly powered? They show up as living beings
in scans, though that isn't conclusive one way or the other.
* Delenn's promise to Sheridan, "I will watch and catch you if you
should fall," is strikingly similar to the Soul Hunter's comment
to her when she was being held captive: "You will feel as if you
are falling; do not be afraid, I will be there to catch you."
([29]"Soul Hunter.")
Notes
* Narn is written from right to left.
* "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom" is a variation on a
quote from Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United
States (1801-1809.) The original meaning was that people should
closely watch their governments to avoid excessive encroachment on
personal liberty; its use by a Nightwatch member is especially
ironic.
* The events on Mars were first revealed in the comic series, issues
[30]"Survival the Hard Way" and [31]"Silent Enemies," six months
before this episode's first airing. Garibaldi also made a
reference to the story contained therein in the first-season
episode [32]"Infection."
* In the middle of the White Star's jump to hyperspace, there's a
single frame of note. The frame takes place as the White Star
emerges into hyperspace, as it heads toward the camera. The
hyperspace background changes to what looks like an alien
cityscape. Apparently it's a shot from [33]Hypernauts, a
children's sci-fi show whose special effects are being done by
B5's effects company. (See [34]jms speaks.)
jms speaks
* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
For a couple months now, I've been looking down the road at
episode #7, because I couldn't quite see the shape of it...I knew
what I had to do in it, but I couldn't break the spine of the
story...until ten minutes ago, and it hit me with all the force of
a meat axe right smack between the eyeballs.
Hot damn...if I can pull this script off, it may well be the best
one of the series to date. Granted it'll probably give Ron a
cardiac infarction, but what the heck, he's had it too easy
lately.
Oh, man, is this gonna be cool, assuming I can pull it off.
Working title: "Messages from Earth."
* _A bit of a bland title?_
Whether it's "bland" or not depends on what the messsages might
be, yes? The only thing I'll say for the episode is that it may be
one of the biggest whams of the first half of year three, and one
of our most ambitious episodes of the series. Generally, my
feeling is that titles should augment the episode, or add
something, or collapse something into a thematic whole. When you
see what convictions are at hand, the episode "Convictions" as a
title works better; ditto for "Messages."
Besides, a nice, quiet, inoffensive little title gives me a better
chance to sneak up behind you and whack the heck out of you....
* "Messages," for my money, is so far the best we've ever done,
though I'll be more able to lock that down once I've seen the
final CGI. It and "Dreams" are real CGI blowouts; in the latter,
there are literally 100 shots -- CGI, live action, and compositing
-- in *four pages* of action. This is an all time record for us
(and that doesn't count the stuff earlier in the episode).
I don't usually go this far, but folks, let me give you my
personal guarantee: you're in for one hell of a ride come
mid-season, with these three episodes.
* Not only did "Messages From Earth" come out as well as I'd hoped
or thought it would, it came out *better*. It is, potentially,
either one of the best or the best thing we've ever done in the
whole series to date. There are some episodes that come close this
season, like "Point of No Return," "A Late Delivery From Avalon,"
"Sic Transit Vir" (for absolutely different reasons), and parts of
"Dust to Dust," but so far -- at least until the CGI for "Severed
Dreams" is finished, which has at least a shot at knocking
"Messages" out of the box -- "Messages" is as close to perfect as
we've ever come.
Like "The Coming of Shadows" there's a real sense of a *story*
being told, and major events happening at breakneck speed. It's
just a joy to watch.
* I'd suggest, btw, that if there are any folks you've been waiting
to bring into the fold on B5, you may want to consider 8 and 9 in
the new cycle, the last of that bunch in February. Eight is
potentially one of the best, possibly the best episode we've
produced to date.
* Here's something that occured to me today. Any time you have
someone you're trying to convince about the quality of a show, and
you say, "Here, just watch it next week," that's always the one
that comes a-cropper.
"Messages From Earth" airing this coming week is possibly the best
thing we've done to that point. It's guaranteed to grab anybody
who watches it. So this would be a good one to use.
Pick ten friends who you know haven't yet tried B5, or are
diffident about it, and give them a call. Tell them to give THIS
one a look. Then all you have to do is sit back, and wait for the
jaws to drop.
* "Messages From Earth" - This begins the three-episode mini-arc
within the larger arc that, by its conclusion, totally changes the
structure of the B5 universe. A mega-wham episode. Because so much
comes to a head so quickly, little can be said about it without
spoiling stuff. Our characters begin making the final and
irrevocable steps that will put them on a collision course with
everything they have believed in until now. There are four or five
episodes this season that push the limits of our effects and CGI
to the absolute wall; this is one of the biggest.
* Re: an "edge" to the show....I suspect you're going to get all the
edge you could possibly want with episodes 8, 9 and especially 10.
Be *very* careful what you wish for.
* "...I didn't think things would start moving this fast so soon!"
Well, this is what I kinda kept trying to tell people was coming,
when they said things were moving too slowly....
* Randy, I honestly don't think, after episodes 8-10 have aired,
that you're going to have any problems with how fast the main
story is progressing. And do bear in mind that the "main story"
isn't just the war; if you wanted to do that, you'd just do Space
A&B. It's operating on a whole lot of other levels.
Nonetheless...this entire season is much faster overall in
developing than the two before. The first two seasons we were
mainly putting the guns into position. Now we're pulling all the
triggers.
* Thanks. Bruce did an excellet job in this episode, I agree. As did
everyone else. This is, in my opinion, about as flawless an
episode as we have ever made. It's one of those cases where the
sum is even greater than the sum of its parts...and the sum of its
parts ain't bad.
From here on through the next batch, the intensity level continues
to crank up.
We definitely pushed the envelope in terms of EFX this time out;
mixing and matching, and in sheer amounts of shots, and their
complexity. But the result, I think, is eminently worth the
effort.
* I entirely agree; I think she did a dynamite job as Kirkish.
Totally convincing. When she walked into the audition, and did the
part, there was no question...it was her.
* [35]About the alien city
The executive producer thinks, "He's mistaken, has to be; it must
be a series of patterns in the image that look like a city." Being
a thorough person, however, the executive producer fires up his
copy of the tape, and fast forwards to the shot in question.
Pauses, then advances, frame by frame.
Then stops. The executive producer stares at the screen for a
very, very long time. Eventually, words form. The executive
producer knows that if he posts those words here, not only will
they throw him off the system, they will come to his house, burn
it down, and sow the ground with salt.
The executive producer knows what that single frame is, knows that
it has nothing to do with his show, knows that it's a frame from
Hypernauts that somehow crossed into the EFX shot in
double-exposure via a computer glitch while rendering. No one saw
it. No one noticed it. Until now.
Tomorrow morning, the executive producer is going to make phone
calls, and say all the words he can't say here. When he is
finished, twenty seven miles of telephone coaxial cable are going
to hang melted from the telephone poles. Shortly thereafter, the
executive producer is going to put a gun to his head and blow his
brains out, in the sure knowledge that if he does not do so, he
will most assuredly do it to someone else.
The executive producer thanks you for bringing this to his
attention, and would write further, but is currently modeming from
a laptop computer on top of his roof, from which he is considering
jumping, and the wind up here is causing line noise.
* _The White Star looked different._
Different camera work, mainly.
* The Eternal Vigilance line is from history, not Wing Commander.
Ten Green Drazi points to the person who can name its origin.
* _Where's the press during all this Nightwatch buildup?_
You'll find more on this in the next three episodes.
* You need a clear and present danger, and with a population that
nearly got wiped out by the Minbari, who are skittish to begin
with, you drag out the possibility of someone else doing the same
thing and it makes it a lot easier to do what you want to do.
* _Why aren't eggs and bacon available?_
Mainly it's the expense involved per volume. It still costs big
bucks, and you generally need refrigeration.
* Basically, it's the cost involved in transporting something as
basically trivial as eggs. Yes, it can be done, but the cost per
egg would be quite substantial, given limited space in ships.
Space flight is still very expensive.
And yes, a shadow vessel has one "core" sentient, and once in,
it's very difficult for that person to ever get out again.
* _Wouldn't Ivanova's religion keep her from eating bacon?_
Ivanova's not what you'd call orthodox under any circumstances.
* _What was the blue goop?_
Actually, I think it was blueberry yogurt.
* _Any relation to the moment of perfect beauty in [36]"There All
the Honor Lies?"_
Yes, the way Sheridan removes his EA pin here is an echo, or a
shadow, so to speak, of his moment in "Honor." The latter is meant
to sort of indicate what might be ahead for him, what he may have
to do at some point along the line. He has to give up things that
mean something to him. (We'll get more of this philosophy in a few
more eps, I don't want to get too specific here.) Visual
foreshadowing.
From here on in, things get very interesting....
* Yes, what he's writing will, in time, become the Book of G'Kar.
And correct, I went for a different feel in this episode, on the
theory that a little change is a good thing, if used to a purpose.
It's built like a series of waves, with quite moments in between.
This is the second so far to strongly tie into the comic, yes.
* _Does G'Kar consider his book on par with G'Quon's?_
No, he hasn't thought of it that far yet...but it will find that
role.
* IXP has been in business, in one form or another, for between
50-80 years.
* _Who was the human in the Shadow ship?_
It doesn't really matter in the long run; some poor shlub who got
conned into it.
* _Would a human be sane after piloting a Shadow ship?_
Almost certainly not.
* _Could someone on Sheridan's side "pilot" a Shadow ship, or are
the ships intrinsically evil?_
It's certainly a *very* good question.
* No, I wouldn't say there's a corrolation to life force and the
shadow ships; they need a living organism as the central
processing unit because an organic unit can think faster than most
computer systems, and react faster in terms of formulating
strategy and the like.
* _What condition was the ship on Mars in?_
It was dormant. The core element was dead, certainly.
* Yes, the first batch of eps from season 3, up through 9 or so,
give a lot more background on the shadow ships, what they are and
how they work. And as you say, virtually everything in this show
is here for a reason; there's an offhand remark from Garibaldi in
"Infection" about his long struggle out of the Martian desert that
pays off in both the comic, and in a third-season episode. So some
of the year three stuff was being set up as early as episode 2 of
year 1, in what was designed to look like just plain old throwaway
dialogue.
* _Is a Shadow ship itself a kind of Shadow?_
It's not a kind of shadow, no.
* _Is there an official name for the Shadow ships?_
I just call them shadow vessels. For now.
* _Why didn't Sheridan use the jumpgate trick again?_
Because there wasn't a jumpgate he had access to, only a jump
point created by the White Star. In the prior situation, he blew
up a standing jump gate. The only one in the vicinity would be at
the transfer point near Io, which if destroyed would seriously
harm Earth interests.
* Three days is the time to the jumpgate off Io. Once you're within
our solar system, it takes another several days or more to reach
Earth itself. It's fairly common to keep your jump gate a bit
removed from your "core" planet so you have warning if any
aggressors come out of it.
* _How could the Agamemnon detect the White Star?_
It can be for a number of reasons. The White Star was moving
through a highly charged atmosphere, which would leave detectable
trails; it was being fired at by the shadow vessel, which would've
attracted considerable attention from the flares; diving at that
speed and coming back up there would be considerble heat on the
surface of the ship (not normally a problem in space); and it was
pretty much shaken up/partially damaged during the fight. Also, at
that range, once you're near enough, you can pick it up visually
as it gets close; it's not a cloaking system, only a stealth
system.
* Neither situation relied on introducing new technology, only on
taking advantage of what's known currently. It's a simple
equation: ship A is more powerful than ship B. In a head-to-head
situation, ship A (shadow) will destroy ship B (white star). If
you can't directly confront a stronger enemy, you have to find
some way to work around it, outsmart it. (And fortunately, this
one was flawed, "insane," as Delenn put it.)
And the minbari know more than they're saying. But then that's
generally true of them.
And yes, the shadow ship arrived with a new "core" for the buried
ship.
* _How does Delenn know so much about Shadow ships?_
The info came from the Vorlons, and from the last war the Minbari
fought against them.
* The ship was hidden there to avoid it being destroyed during the
war. May or may not see General Franklin again anytime soon.
* The shadows had allies, who watched over their cities, maintained
their machines, waited for their awakening...one of their tasks
was to send out one of the few dormant shadow vessels whenever one
was discovered or unearthed. This way, slowly, over centuries, the
fleet would be built back up in strength.
* There are no shadow vessels buried on Narn, no. The shadow
influence on the Psi Corps has been growing for about 7 years now.
* _Who sent the second ship to Mars?_
They had some of their servants and allies taking care of things;
whenever a signal was sent, and a ship found, they'd dispatch one
of the standby ships to go and pick it up, slowly regathering
their forces.
* _How is Sheridan going to defeat a Shadow ship head-to-head?_
Exactly. The goal would seem to be impossible. So how do we do it?
Is there a vulnerability that's been laid out but not picked up
yet? Is there an advantage we don't necessarily see yet?
We have to be smarter. Humans are at our best when against the
wall. And we have to do it ourselves, in the final analysis,
nobody else can do it for us.
* _Was the spine that the White Star shot off the Shadow vessel
recovered?_
Nope.
* The shadow vessel was still a little wobbly from its long
hibernation and the improper melding.
* Given that we're looking at a high-energy weapon capable of
burning through a four-mile wide Narn orbital base as though it
were made of butter, it's putting out enough energy, I figured, to
lead to a reaction with the hydrogen, whether it's a fusion
reaction of some other.
We're talking a concentrated level of energy equal to a
thermonuclear reaction on a controlled level, or a fusion weapons
system with an energy output well beyond contemporary science to
calculate (particularly since this system is capable of delivering
the energy, undiluted, to targets tens or dozens of miles
distant).
* Yeah, perhaps a better word than ignite could've been used. But
hey, the guy was being shot at...I'd be sitting in a corner going
bibble-bibble...
* _About the massing Shadow forces_
The forces will continue to build over the course of this season.
The White Star would be detected because it was inside the
atmosphere, where it could be picked up by its emissions, the
disruption caused in the air by the engines, and frankly by plain
sight.
* _What's the symbol at the front of the White Star bridge?_
The symbol on the WS isn't on the floor, it's the top of a console
that can be used for holographic tactical displays.
* _The shot of G'Kar writing was flipped!_
Not a gaffe; we flopped the shot because the writing was done left
to right, instead of right to left, which is Narnish script.
* Thanks. We've featured Minbari script going straight up and down
like Japanese, right to left with Narns, and other variations.
Because they would naturally occur.
* Also, bear in mind that Sheridan went into Earth-space knowing the
risks. For him to fire on the Aggy would be selfish, and wrong; he
knew full well that this could be a one-way ride.
If you're going to have a situation where Sheridan fires on EA
ships, it has to be the ONLY way of dealing with the situation,
and it has to be SUPREMELY motivated, so that it's not just him or
one of our guys who's at stake. It has to be a big situation to
merit taking the lives of fellow officers, in the same service.
* _Nobody seemed to be translating Sheridan's orders to the White
Star's crew._
Lennier was muttering his translations off-screen.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
* I think they know the White Star (aka the unidentified ship) got
away, but they put the best face on it back home. Which is one
more reason why Clark's declared martial law. Things are spinning
out of control, he's in increasingly hot water back home, and he
has to seize control. Whoever was in that alien ship knows too
much about his operations...if that were to come out, he's
finished.
* _Are rights suspended during Clark's martial law?_
Yes, right to assemble, free speech rights, they're all open to
abridgement. Travel can also be restricted.
* _What happened to Ivanova's discovery in [37]"Voices of
Authority?"_
That information was sent to Earth, where it's led directly to the
series of current investigations that were launched...and which
forced Clark's hand into declaring martial law to distract from
all that.
* _Are we near the end of the Nightwatch plot thread?_
The thread will diminish for a while, then return down the road in
later seasons, after the story takes its third major turn.
* _Why does anyone on Earth believe Clark?_
It all depends on how you frame the issue...i.e., the attacks are
groundless, baseless, and part of a campaign to destroy the
government, he's the attacked innocent....
* _Sheridan's conspiracy should be falling apart about now._
Of course it can't hold. And they're going to go through plenty of
fire. Remember, this is the first of three that accomplish that.
Each escalates upon what went before. Don't worry...you'll get
your wish.
* Yes, the current mini-arc (8-10) is the second major turn in the
storyline. The third starts with the last episode of this season,
going into the fourth year. Then you've got one more big turn
about the last quarter or one-third of year four, and then a bit
of a flip at the end.
* _We already knew everything this episode revealed._
If I can, let me address one aspect of this, for your
consideration.
Back when I was working on MURDER, SHE WROTE, we'd sometimes get
letters saying, "This wasn't a good episode because I figured out
the ending. It wasn't a surprise." (Which is, to some extent, your
point here.)
The problem we had with that particular letter was this: of COURSE
you figured it out. Because you were paying attention to all the
clues we had put out there in the episode.
There seems to be this notion that nobody should be able to jump
ahead, or else something's wrong or bad about the episode.
Absolutely not true. If you're going to play fair with the
audience, whether it's B5 or M,SW, you've got to put enough bits
of information out on the table so that the person who's really
following it can figure it out...so that at the end, those who
*didn't* figure it out can back up the tape, watch for the clues
or leads, and see where it all came from. That's playing fair.
If NObody gets it, you haven't done your job right.
If EVERYbody gets it, you haven't done your job right.
The best case scenario is a bell-shaped curve. Some don't have a
clue what's coming, some manage to figure it out, and the majority
have a kind of vague sense where it's going, but there are still
surprises along the way. If the bell-curve shifts one direction or
the other, then you're in trouble.
So far, B5 seems to be hewing right to the bell-curve. For every
person who says "okay, this was expected," there's been another
saying, "I had no *idea* this was going to happen here, or so
fast." (Many of these have been right on this forum, in fact.)
Finally, do bear in mind that you have an advantage here that 99%
of all the viewers don't: the discussion here on CIS, and direct
comments from me. For instance, I just noted elsewhere that we've
got major turns at the end of this season, and one 2/3rds into
year 4. Now, if at those points, somebody says, "Well, I knew this
was coming, that's bad," I intend to whap them, because the reason
they likely knew it was coming was because I *said so* right here.
But that same 99% doesn't have this advantage.
This is the main difference I've noted in the mail that's come in:
the net-folks are constantly trying to figure out what's coming up
next, treating it like a mystery story (which, really, it's not,
any more than ANY novel is a mystery in that you don't necessarily
know its turns and twists as you're reading it), whereas the
non-netted folks tend to just take it as it comes.
See, that's the other part of this. People on the nets tend to
treat it as though it's a mystery novel, and when it doesn't hit
that aspect, say it's flawed as a result...when it was never
INTENDED to function as a mystery novel. It's a novel period. A
mystery novel depends absolutely on the riddle at the center of
it. This is a saga, which uses a different structure. It isn't a
mystery any more than Lord of the Rings is a mystery, even though
when I first read it I was wondering what was going to happen
next.
Also, a mystery novel is done when the mystery is finally
unraveled. Not so the B5 story. By the end of this season, most of
the mysteries will be unraveled, and the pieces laid on the table
for all to see. It then becomes a matter of what the characters
*do* about it thereafter.
If I'm doing my job right, and setting up things to come properly,
and giving all the clues to it, then by definition a certain
number of people HAVE to figure out what's coming. As long as it's
the smaller portion, that's as it *should* be. So you'll
understand why I tend to get in here for a moment when that's held
up as something bad or poorly done. (And, again, even you note
that the only reason you knew about the shadows on Mars was via
reading it here, or others read it via the comics. Again, that's a
very small portion of the audience; most I've heard from had NO
idea about that aspect of it. If you hadn't read it here, you
likely would have been surprised by it.)
Anyway, just something to consider in all of this....
* "Was the "package" mentioned in Exo the blonde woman giving us the
Mars Shadow info? Or was it the eggs and bacon? Or have we not
seen it yet?"
Yes, the package referred to Kirkish.
"It seems Sheridan is destroying his Shadow ships by using tricks
- not a straight up battle. At some point won't he be one on one
with a Shadow and have to deal with it?"
Sooner or later. Right now he's outgunned hideously. He'll have to
find a way.
"At some point won't Sheridan have to fight Earth? (I really don't
expect an answer to this one)"
Stick around.
* _Why didn't Kirkish notice the huge Psi-Corps installation as
shown in the comic?_
The building was a lot bigger in the book than it should've been,
more like a quonset hut arrangment hastily erected.
* I don't know if the shadow pilot was aware of the Psi Corps
research installation...they're not really aware of much of
*anything*, except their orders...I'd just suggest that there may
be something beneath that particular installation, and a reason
they built it there.
* _Why didn't Garibaldi mention he was with Sinclair?_
There was an outsider, Kirkish, in the room. Yes, she's helped
him, but he's still going to hold back some info because he
doesn't know what impact it might have on Sinclair. He's
protective of him.
* _Didn't Sheridan already know about the badge, from the comic
issue [38]"Silent Enemies?"_
I believe Sheridan wasn't shown the badge in the comic; and
Garibaldi is always cautious about what he says in front of
others, like Kirkish.
* Yes, Kosh should've been there. Kosh wasn't. Kosh hasn't been
carrying his weight, if you ask me. I hope this doesn't cause a
problem somewhere....
* Don't have the shadow dimensions offhand; and yes, you'd think
Sheridan might begin to wonder about Kosh's level of involvement.
* _Weren't the cameras at Ganymede recording?_
Of course. But who controls those cameras? Answer: the very folks
who wouldn't want it to get out what they had there.
[44][Next]
[45]Last update: January 12, 1998
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