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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
Sheridan launches a preemptive strike against the Shadows. Franklin
jeopardizes his life while trying to do a good deed. [15]Shirley
Prestia as Barbara. [16]Melissa Gilbert as Anna.
[17]P5 Rating: [18]9.25
Production number: 321
Original air week: September 15, 1996 (UK)
October 21, 1996 (US)
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kim Friedman
_________________________________________________________________
Backplot
* In Minbari tradition, when two Minbari become close it is the
custom for the female to keep vigil at the male's side for three
nights while he sleeps. This is thought to reveal the male's true
personality, because while you're asleep, you can't keep up your
guard, and this helps the female decide whether the relationship
should continue.
Unanswered Questions
* How many ships did the League worlds withhold from the battle?
* How many ships were destroyed in the battle? How many people died?
* Why has Anna Sheridan come to Babylon 5? Is she as much of a pawn
of the Shadows as Morden? (See [19]Analysis)
* How will Anna Sheridan's presence affect Sheridan's
near-engagement to Delenn?
* How did Anna get into Sheridan's quarters?
* Why have the Shadows not yet attacked Babylon 5?
* How badly were the Shadows hurt by this battle?
* Why did Sheridan keep dreaming the dream after Kosh died? Is it
because of the piece of the Vorlon inside of him, and if so, is it
somehow guiding him?
* How did Anna know Delenn's name? Did Morden tell her?
* Were the Vorlons approached to be part of the battle fleet?
* Who else might have survived the Icarus?
Analysis
* In this battle, it's said that for each Shadow ship that was
destroyed, two Army of Light ships were destroyed. This begs the
question: who has more ships, the Army of Light, or the Shadows?
And if the Shadows have as many or more, what does that bode for
the coming battles of this war?
* It's plausible that Anna Sheridan is acting on behalf of the
Shadows just as Morden is. Will Sheridan react to her presence
with an understanding that she's now an emissary of the Shadows?
* Delenn had a flashforward to Anna's arrival ([20]"War Without End,
Part Two.") Why, then, was she surprised to see Anna? Perhaps she
didn't expect it to happen that night. It's also true that Anna
didn't identify herself in Delenn's flash, so perhaps Delenn
didn't get as complete a view of the future as Sheridan (and
earlier, Garibaldi and Sinclair) did.
* This episode resolves, at least initially, most of Sheridan's
dream from [21]"All Alone in the Night." Sheridan is "the hand,"
one half of a pair of opposing forces. He wears the Psi Corps
badge to signify their alliance with Bester, and his position as
someone in charge of large numbers of telepaths. Ivanova's
statement, "Do you know who I am?" refers to her latent telepathic
ability ([22]"Divided Loyalties.") However, it's still not clear
who the "man in between" is. It's also not clear whether
Sheridan's analysis, even with the help of Delenn and Ivanova, is
actually correct.
* Perhaps Anna Sheridan is the "man in between" from Sheridan's
dream, despite the personal pronoun problems. Or perhaps she's an
envoy of that man.
* "The man in between" implies someone on the other side. Who might
that be?
* Sheridan openly talked about Ivanova's latent telepathy in front
of Delenn. Does Ivanova no longer consider it such a secret, now
that she's presumably beyond the reach of the Psi Corps? Or does
Sheridan simply trust Delenn so much that it didn't occur to him
he might be violating Ivanova's trust?
* Who is the third spotlight on the Minbari flagship meant for? Most
likely it's simply a result of the Minbari doing everything in
threes. Sheridan and Delenn gave orders from more than one place
in the tactical center, so it's probably not a matter of the
lights denoting different functions.
* Garibaldi's empathy for Franklin, to the point of waiting next to
Franklin's bed, is likely due at least in part to Garibaldi's own
experience with substance abuse ([23]"Survivors," among other
episodes.) He presumably knows something of what Franklin has been
through.
Notes
* Franklin's stumble into the crowd was reminiscent of two scenes
from [24]"Chrysalis," both Petrov's approach toward Garibaldi, and
Garibaldi's later emergence at the party.
* In Britain, Channel 4 edited out seven seconds of the attack on
Franklin.
* In a video message in [25]"Revelations," Anna Sheridan was
originally played by Beth Toussaint, not Melissa Gilbert.
* Some people have pointed out an apparent continuity glitch, but
it's not. When Franklin is being wheeled into medlab after being
stabbed, he sees Garibaldi, Ivanova, and Sheridan above him, even
though Sheridan hasn't yet arrived on the station. But if you look
at the surrounding shots from Franklin's point of view, it's clear
he's simply hallucinating and imagining that the doctors around
the gurney are his fellow officers; nowhere but that one shot do
any people in command uniforms appear.
jms speaks
* It takes 7 days to film an episode. My favorite is probably
"Shadow Dancing," which you haven't seen yet, mainly because I
haven't been able to poke any holes in it yet. It's a good ep.
* _Which of the last five episodes is your favorite?_
It would be an even tie I think between the final two, "Shadow
Dancing" and "Z'ha'dum." The two episodes are also linked at the
hip, so they're really more like one unit...not so much a
two-parter, but siamese twins, story-wise. They're both very
exciting, move the arc forward hugely, and though they rely on a
lot of backstory, are also good points for folks new to the show
to dive in, because they also *explain* a lot of backstory, so
they can get into it.
They're both just lovely, knockout episodes. And, at times, scary
as hell.
* _About the UK possibly not showing the episode due to violent
content_
Yeah, when you get "Shadow Dancing," I'd love to see how much they
slice outta this one....
* It is, not to put too fine a point on it...EXTREMELY important to
see "Shadow Dancing." If they choose to cut the nasty bits that's
one thing, it won't affect what You Need To See, but to not run it
at all would be a disaster of substantial dimensions. Still, I
imagine they'll run it; the nasty bits can be excised pretty well,
if necessary, I should think.
* If they cut 7 seconds, it's likely the 7 seconds of the actual
stabbing itself, which is implicit in what happens afterward, so
it shouldn't have a major effect on being able to follow the
story. It's a reasonable edit, and about what I'd expect given the
general attitudes on TV violence among the UK TV networks.
* "You've mentioned a couple times that the upcoming "Shadow
Dancing" will be quite violent. Should I be concerned about, say,
my two-year old watching it? She's as hooked on the show as I am,
and would probably feel quite left out..."
This is a tough one...I've given it a lot of thought since I saw
this, and my sense is to advise the following:
If you possibly can, videotape the episode. Get the time code on
the various pieces. We cut in and out of two stories, an A and a B
story. One is violent, the other is not. You don't have to see the
one, or see much of it, to follow the other. For someone as young
as 2, I'd suggest fast-forwarding past the B story stuff. It's
still within what's generally permitted on TV, but it is kinda
harsh.
* I've seen and received some email recently that seems to have
taken a message of mine and misconstrued it. Someone asked me if
it were possible that "Shadow Dancing" might be snipped or dropped
for some of the violence therein. I offered an *opinion* that it
might be edited, and have no idea what their plans are for airing
the episode itself. Let me repeat: this was only my opinion,
offered in response to a hypothetical question. I have *no*
information on anything C4 might -- or might NOT -- do with
"Shadow Dancing," so my inclination would be to wait and see what
happens rather than acting prematurely on something that might not
happen.
* _Have you ever gone walkabout?_
Well....yeah, kinda. Back when I was living in San Diego (before
it got nuked...well, that hasn't happened yet, but soon)...I got
into a kind of similar mode of thought, and would go for walks
through....downtown San Diego at 2-4 in the morning. Hours, hours,
hours, just walking through parts of the area where I could've
gotten killed. When folks asked me why, I couldn't answer, all I
could come up with...was that I was looking for something. And I
found it, kinda, and in a somewhat similar situation... but that
gets into some other personal areas, and this may not be the right
forum for that. Suffice to say I was....almost killed myself, and
leave it at that.
* Here's a funny thing.
Well, funny weird.
See, every so often, someone will ask, "How much of you goes into
a script?" and I'll answer, "More than I know at the time," and
they ask for an example. A few questions ago, someone asked about
if I'd ever gone...on walkabout, and I thought of the San Diego
thing...and it suddenly dawned on me that that was behind the
Franklin thing. Long story short: I got attacked and mugged by a
gang, and beaten nearly to death....and survived only by a sheer
act of will. And I'd honestly never, ever put that together with
Walkabout, until the question, and suddenly there it was, I was
working out *exactly* what I'd gone though, denying it to
myself...the whole time that it was going on. Well. Anyway. That
just hit me like a ton of bricks, and thought I'd pass it along.
* In retrospect, that was something I probably should not have
mentioned, and would not have, had the thing not just utterly
blindsided me in the middle of the conference. What got me through
the attack, and its aftermath, those years ago, was sheer
unadulterated rage...that I would not allow them to take my life
because I had stories left in me to tell. And no matter what, I'd
tell those stories. At first, I'd made my peace with myself...I'd
never gone out of my way to hurt anyone, had helped where I could,
had done some good work...I had a few things on the shelf, not a
lot, but a start...but then I just started to get mad about it,
and pulled myself back from the edge.
So yeah, in a sense, I've faced that black, implacable wall...and
it does drive you, after a while. And I do think, to a large
degree, I'm still trying to define myself, to find what it is
that's at the center for me, beyond the work. But then, I don't
think that's terribly special...it seems to be the standard
dilemma in an industrial society.
* _In response to a review_
Slight correction to the preview of the final 5 scenes at
Worldcon; in the Delenn/Sheridan scene, she never said female
Minbari can cut off the partner's sexual organs if they're
pressed...what she said was, "If he forces the issue, she can
complain to the elders, leave once he is asleep, even cut of his
--" she searches for the right word "-- *access* to her family."
The humor is in his horror at what she might've been searching for
in that word. A small correction in an otherwise great review, but
as someone once said, god is in the details.... _[That quote is
from the architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe.]_
* The Minbari greeting is a hoot...there's a lot in that episode I
just like a lot.
* _Earth is still letting people come to Babylon 5 as tourists?_
It's difficult and limited, but yes, there's still some travel,
just as one may travel to countries that the US does not recognize
officially or have diplomatic relations with. How long they
continue to allow this...we'll see.
* _How did Marcus heal so quickly?_
For starters, we're talking about more than two weeks of story
time. Between Grey 17 and Rock was several weeks, then you've got
about 2 weeks from Rock to Shadow Dancing. That's five weeks, and
now you've got the issue of medicine 250 years from now...and you
can be sure that these kinds of injuries will be fixed much more
quickly. It isn't like he showed up the very next day like this,
we *did* allow for proper amounts of time.
* _How did you think up the Shadows' strategy?_
I dunno...I just thunk it up as efficient and ruthless. I guess it
comes naturally when you're a producer.
* "Seems to me the strategy is: wait in hyperspace "near" the flock
of refugee ships, and when they signal for help (as they will when
the Shadow fleet appears), pop out of hyperspace and engage the
Shadow fleet. The point is, the Shadow fleet is going after a
known target (or so Sheridan guesses), if you hang around near the
target, they will tell you when the attackers appear. No need to
for your ships, even a scout, to sit in normal space, the refugee
ships are all "scout ships" in a sense."
Massive logic problem. If you wait until they're right on top of
the refugee ships, or very near, they'll just dive into the midst
of the refugee ships and there's no way you can have a clean
battle without resulting in *MASSIVE* amounts of civilian
casualties. What you suggest would all but insure that the refugee
ships would be destroyed (defeating the purpose of the mission)
and the piles of civilian ships running for cover in every
direction would hinder our side, but not the other side, and we'd
lose even MORE of our own ships.
"2) Delenn and Sheridan spend the night together and we get to
watch... comercials. Talk about giving "short shrift" to a rather
interesting event. Couldn't this have been pushed into a different
episode? I mean, here they are, alone together, in a "ostensibly"
romantic situation, lots for them to talk about I should think.
Well, I'd like to know what was said... And what do we see?
Sheridan is already asleep!"
It's not a matter of being pressed for time. The whole point of
the ritual was to watch him sleeping. We had that nice moment
right before they took off with the fleet, and bunches of others,
including the big kiss, right in the previous episode and
throughout the whole thing.
"3) I think the battle could have been done with a bit more of an
"umph" to it. Perhaps the use of intercutting between the two
plots was distracting in this case. It was a good battle, just not
quite as effective as "Severed Dreams" or "Long Twilight Struggle"
(which did have effective intercutting)."
That's because there was more emotional content to the other two
battles you mention; the bombing of the Narn homeworld, and EA
fighting EA in SD. Not all battles are created equal, it's a
matter of context. You can't expect to get exactly the same
reaction to all of them.
* _Why didn't the Shadows emerge right next to their targets?_
So they could drive any other ships toward the center, into the
killing zone. If they come in into the center, everybody splits in
every possible direction, and that makes running 'em all down
harder.
* If the shadows were to materialize in the midst of the refugee
ships, they'd just scatter in every direction. The purpose is to
wipe out all those ships quickly and efficiently...so you start at
the outer fringe, drive everyone inward, and then wipe them all
out. To jump into the middle of them makes it very hard to do
this...it's like herding kittens.
* Most refugee ships are NOT jump capable. Remember, it takes a LOT
of power...you've got the heavy cruisers, and long range
exploratory vessels, and not much else. That's what makes the
White Star so special, that it can be as small as it is and still
generate a jump point. The Asimov class passenger liners, for
instance, can't jump, and have to rely on gates. The smaller ships
the refugees would've been using would have had to get to their
local gate, and then line up to go through it in small groups.
Which means 85% of them would've been trapped there, ducks in a
shooting gallery.
* _Did the Minbari telepaths need line of sight to affect the Shadow
ships?_
Actually, we never showed what the Minbari telepaths were looking
at; for all you could tell, there could've been viewers or other
ports above their beds.
* _We couldn't hear the characters speak at the end of the battle.
Audio problem?_
No, we just figured we'd let the music take it.
* "When I saw "A Late Arrival at Avalon," Marcus's line asking "Who
is Morgana La Fey" got me to begin speculating that Anna Sheridan
was alive and that she was working for the Shadows. My question is
whether or not Marcus's line was intended that way--i.e. as
foreshadowing that a significant female figure not presently on
the scene (Anna?) would arrive at B5 to play Morgana to Delenn's
Lady of the Lake?"
yup.
* No, Sheridan isn't the man in the middle...the man in the middle
is the one out there who sent Anna. As Ivanova says, his opposite
number.
* _Why did Kosh send those dream images?_
Well, certainly Kosh was accessing that which he could, in part to
prove he knew what he knew, in part to set things up. Although who
knows, there may be more to it...that that's what they came up
with doesn't necessarily mean that is the full extent of it.
* The snow globe was shown as a flash-forward in "WWE-2," and we did
see that image of Sheridan in Psi Cop uniform in "All Alone."
* With "Shadow" my hope is really to erase most (though obviously
not all) suspicions or predictions on how the last one will go. If
we already had our big EFX battle, it won't be that...Anna's here,
so it can't be that...it can't ever be a return to tabula rasa, an
empty slate, but by doing what's normally done in the season
closer one episode prior to that, it may help ease the way for a
different tonality to come in.
And thanks again...you definitely won't be disappointed.
* _Was "Commander Ivanova is on channel 4" a reference to the UK
network? And what could possibly come next?_
Yeah, the channel 4 reference was a nod to the UK. Wondered if
it'd get noticed....
Good point, when you do a battle like that...what do you do next
that won't seem anticlimatic? Usually you save something like that
for your last episode of the season, not your next-to-last, or
you've blown your big EFX show 1 show early. It makes for a real
challenge...what do you do to follow THAT up?
I think we figured it out....
* _Why not show more of Sheridan getting ready to sleep, with Delenn
watching over him?_
Basically...we've got 44 or so minutes...we could've shown the
whole battle as shown, or shown Sheridan trying to sleep. One
would have to go to make room to include the other.
* _Why did the White Star make its own jump point when there was a
jumpgate nearby?_
And then, there are just times you do it 'cause it feels more
dramatic that way....
* _Do people on Earth hear about events like this battle?_
They've heard rumors, usually the ones furthest away from Clark's
confining influence....
* _Why the change in actresses playing Anna?_
There was a combination of reasons, including production
schedules, for the decision.
* _Why were station personnel seemingly surprised to see Anna? And
why did Melissa Gilbert come last in the list of guest stars?_
The script said the extras shouldn't make a big deal about seeing
her. The director did that on the set. That's not what I had in
mind, but it isn't that big a deal...I figure she's a striking
looking woman, maybe that's a good justification.
The ordering of credits was done to de-emphasize and hide (as much
as possible) the appearance of Melissa.
* Under SAG rules, you must put guest stars of a certain calibre in
the opening credits; also, for Melissa to take back-billing would
have been a break in her work to date elsewhere. We had no choice
in this, it's all stuff regulated by the guilds.
* _Were the Vorlons absent from the battle because of the death of
Kosh, or for some other reason?_
There are other reasons, which yes, will be addressed soon....
* _Why didn't they call in the Walkers from Sigma 957 ([26]"Voices
of Authority?")_
Simple....you don't bring in the big guns like that until you're
ready for the final assault. You don't whistle 'em up when
convenient. You can probably go to the well just once with these
guys, and you want to do so only when you're ready for D-Day.
* _Was the bit about true faces taken from an existing religion on
Earth?_
As far as I *know*, at least, that bit about seeing your true face
revealed as you sleep is something I came up with on my own.
There's just something I like about it, and if you've ever watched
someone's face while they're sleeping, you understand.
Though one person did comment, "So a man's true face is all mushed
up against the pillow and drooling?"
We don't talk anymore.
* "I gritted my teeth tighter when the dialogue launched into some
anti-male paranoia about "What if the male demands the female stay
a second night?", and the various "vengeances" she could take for
a custom that is, after all, steeply in her favor. I could accept
all that in an anthropological sense: "Look what anti-male customs
the Minbari have. Isn't that fascinating, if you put the moral
judgements aside?". But then... Yeesh!"
The "vengeances" she cites, should the male insist she stay
another night, are "she can leave once he falls asleep, complain
to the elders, even cut off his access to her family." These
hardly sound like anti-male rhetoric, but rather precautions taken
to deal reasonably *should* someone get out of line. It doesn't
state that all men do this, but sets in place what to do should
*some* men do this.
This is not a problem of context. It is a problem of perception.
It has nothing to do with the scene, and everything to do with how
you perceive the role of males in society.
[32][Next]
[33]Last update: June 7, 1997
References
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