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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
Earthgov decides Sheridan's fate. Delenn makes a remarkable
proposition to the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Garibaldi searches
for Lise. [15]Denise Gentile as Lise. [16]Rance Howard as David
Sheridan. [17]Beata Pozniak as President Luchenko. [18]Walter
Koenig as Bester.
[19]P5 Rating: [20]8.90
Production number: 421
Original air week: October 20, 1997
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
_________________________________________________________________
Plot Points
* Delenn has overseen the coming together of the nonaligned worlds,
the Centauri, the Minbari, the Narn, and Earth into a new
Interstellar Alliance, and Sheridan has been elected its first
president. The Alliance, which among other things promises to
share advanced technologies like artificial gravity with Earth, is
a confederation whose members retain most of their sovereignty,
aside from certain rules of conduct. Its armed forces are the
Rangers and the White Star fleet, and its temporary headquarters
are on Babylon 5 until permanent facilities are built in the
Minbari city of Tuzanor (novel [21]"To Dream In the City of
Sorrows.")
* Sheridan only used 30 telepaths out of 100 to attack the destroyer
fleet ([22]"Endgame.") The rest, including Bester's lover Carolyn
Sanderson, remained on Babylon 5.
* Clark has been succeeded by President Susanna Luchenko of the
Russian Consortium.
* Ivanova has been promoted to captain and reassigned to shake down
an experimental new Earth military vessel, a Warlock-class
destroyer, for one year.
* Londo has been asked to return to Centauri Prime; the Regent is
ill and after his death the royal court plans to name Londo the
next Emperor.
* Garibaldi and Lise are together, and she has apparently inherited
some or all of William Edgars' money.
* Sheridan and Delenn have been married.
* Sheridan's father has been released; Clark's forces never captured
his mother.
Unanswered Questions
* Did _all_ the nonaligned worlds join the Alliance?
Analysis
* Delenn's reply to Lennier's comment about unrequited love can be
read either of two ways: that she is indeed oblivious to his
feelings for her ([23]"Ceremonies of Light and Dark") or, more
likely, that she loves him too, albeit not in the same way she
does Sheridan. The latter interpretation seems to have been lost
on Lennier if true.
* Sheridan knew about the telepath virus ([24]"The Face of the
Enemy," among others.) How many more have been told? Will its
existence become common knowledge, and if so, will the fact that
it's known to be possible prompt enemies of the Corps to start
trying to duplicate it?
* Bester goaded Sheridan about Garibaldi by telling him that only a
scan performed by a member of Psi Corps would be admissible in
Earth court if Garibaldi's memory were used as evidence. The
implication was that since Bester controls the Corps to some
degree, no Corps telepath would cooperate. But Lyta is now a Corps
member, officially anyway ([25]"The Exercise of Vital Powers") and
is certainly no friend of Bester's. To refute her credentials in
court, he'd have to reveal the deep-cover program he's using to
give her the appearance of Corps membership.
* Sheridan told Bester he knew what it was like to lose someone,
only to find them again and lose them again, clearly a reference
to Anna ([26]"Z'ha'dum.") He said he'd never wish that on anyone.
But in a sense, he's putting Delenn through the same ordeal over a
much longer timespan: she lost him at Z'ha'dum, got him back
thanks to Lorien, and knows that in 20 years she'll lose him again
([27]"Falling Toward Apotheosis.")
* The Alliance was most likely what Delenn was referring to in
[28]"War Without End part 2" when she told Sheridan that they'd
built something that would endure for a thousand years. Whether
that figure was just a generality on her part or reflected
additional knowledge about the future isn't clear.
* Sheridan and Londo have followed similar paths: both of them rose
up against their own governments to fight Shadow influence, and
both were helped in their quests by resistance movements working
against those governments (the Mars resistance in Sheridan's case,
the Narns in Londo's.) Both of them arranged to have the captive
populations freed after defeating the old order. Are their fates
going to be similar as well? Londo sacrificed himself to kill his
Keeper and allow Sheridan and Delenn to escape ([29]"War Without
End part 2.") Will Sheridan make a similar sacrifice to save
someone? One could argue he already has, by dying on Z'ha'dum to
save Centauri Prime ([30]"Z'ha'dum.")
All the major ambassadors on Babylon 5 have been offered
leadership roles of some sort, in fact. In addition to Sheridan
and Londo, G'Kar was offered leadership of his people in [31]"The
Long Night." Delenn was elected leader of the Minbari in
[32]"Babylon Squared." And Sinclair became leader of the Minbari
of 1000 years past in [33]"War Without End part 2." Kosh is
apparently an exception, though for all anyone knows, he already
_was_ the leader of the Vorlons.
Perhaps not coincidentally, all the major ambassadors have been
willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Delenn was
willing to die to stop the Minbari civil war ([34]"Moments of
Transition.") Londo was ready to give up his live to save Centauri
Prime from the Vorlon planetkiller ([35]"Into the Fire.") Sheridan
ordered a suicide run to stop Earth from being razed by a defense
platform ([36]"Endgame.") G'Kar offered to return to Narn and face
certain death to save the families of the Narn on Babylon 5
([37]"A Day in the Strife.") Kosh forfeited his life when he
arranged for the Vorlon fleet to attack the Shadows
([38]"Interludes and Examinations.")
* Ivanova apparently only gets promotions when her commanding
officers leave: she went from Lt. Commander to Commander when
Sinclair left Babylon 5, and from Commander to Captain when
Sheridan resigned Earthforce.
* Has Babylon 5 reverted to Earth ownership? If so, who's in command
now that Sheridan is no longer a member of Earthforce? Presumably
Corwin is in charge temporarily until a new commander is assigned.
Notes
* Both Clark and Sheridan were succeeded by Russian women after
their deaths (though Sheridan didn't remain dead.) Both women have
similar first names.
* President Luchenko's comment about "the better angels of our
nature" was a reference to the last line of [39]Abraham Lincoln's
first inaugural address, in which he urged the United States not
to lapse into civil war.
jms speaks
* "If this had been it, I would've walked away with a great big
smile and a full heart."
Exactly..it doesn't *end* the story, as people kept saying, "Oh,
the arc is being finished in year 4," it provides a sense of
*resolution*, which is different altogether, and leaves plenty of
room for other planned stuff.
* _President Luchenko's accent sounded fake._
I love comments like that.
Beata, who played the President, is a native-born Russian.
_Ed. note: Beata Pozniak was actually born in Gdansk, Poland, not
Russia. The accent is her own, however._
* _If Marcus had survived, it would have been a copout._
As for Marcus, that's precisely the point. If we do what we do to
Ivanova, then let her get bailed out, then do the same for Marcus,
it becomes a double-cheat, and that's not fair to do to the
audience. If you bail her out but only at great cost to someone
else, it's not a cheat on either level.
And yeah, generally, if you follow the threads, you can pick up on
where things are going. It's something I learned on Murder, She
Wrote, where at the end, when the killer's been revealed, you
should be able to back up the tape, watch it again, and this time
see all the little bits that point to his (or her) identity. It's
basically about playing fair with the audience.
* It was hard doing that to the character [_of Marcus_], but it was
the only way to handle the situation with any integrity and
honesty. Very hard to write.
* "In the scene with Franklin and the very upset Ivanova, when she
uses the word "boffed" (like Marcus), was this intended as just a
cute scene or a hint that the transfer would have had lasting
effects?"
No, nothing more was intended than what was seen.
* _Why did Lennier tell Delenn what Ivanova said?_
Because Lennier is quite familiar with the concept of unrequited
love, and because hope burns eternal.
Which is probably the most damnable part of unrequited love.
* _Was the shot of Claudia Christian at the end from another
episode, inserted when she decided not to return?_
No, that's a new shot (Claudia at the window). She was shot for
that episode for that voice-over...we just changed one line. The
basic thrust was that she was going to take some time to *decide*
whether to take on B5, or to take on a Warlock class destroyer. So
we just went with the decision.
* _What was different about the closing shot?_
The only really different thing about the shot is the length of
it; usually our shots average 5-8 seconds; that one was about 15
seconds, so you have more time to get used to what you're seeing,
and absorb it, and make it real.
* _Everything's wrapped up now. What's left to do in season five?_
Things that *could* show up (leaving in some ambiguity just to
keep some surprises):
The start of the telepath war
The start of drakh war
Londo's fate on Centauri Prime
The first year trying to make the Interstellar Alliance work
Inter-faction fighting among the Alliance members
The development of Mars as an independent state
The legacy of William Edgars' black projects
Fallout from the civil war, and the feelings about it
How Lennier, Sheridan and Delenn will get along now
How's that just for starters?
* _Will we see Luchenko again?_
Would love to use her again.
* The Rangers are independent in authority, answering only to Delenn
and Sheridan and the members of the Alliance council and advisory
board. (In roughly descending order.) But their jurisdiction is
exclusively in interplanetary situations between various member
races. Each member race has the sovereign authority to govern its
people in its own way.
The closest comparison is that overall, the states are free to
enact their own laws, but the US Government has sole claim over
international matters. Except here the states would have far more
autonomy than is currently the rule; more like pre-Civil War
America.
* _If you'd known there'd be a fifth season when you wrote the
episode, would Delenn's speech have changed?_
I don't know if I would've done her speech differently or not, to
be honest...knowing it now, I'm not sure how I'd improve it.
* _Is Sheridan and Delenn's bed horizontal or tipped up in the
Minbari style?_
They will alternate, as you'll see soon....
[45][Next]
[46]Last update: January 9, 1998
References
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