brennen
/
lurkers-guide


								<!-- TITLE Severed Dreams -->


								<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>


								<blockquote><cite>

								When President Clark tries to seize control of Babylon 5 by force, Sheridan

								is faced with the prospect of severing the station's ties with Earth.  Delenn

								receives disturbing news from a Ranger.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+McGill,+Bruce">Bruce McGill</a> as Major Ryan.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Miyori,+Kim">Kim Miyori</a> as Captain Hiroshi.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Parks,+James">James Parks</a> as Drakhen.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/054">9.81</a>


								Production number: 310

								Original air week: April 1, 1996

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00009OOFK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 12, 2003


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by David Eagle

								</pre>


								<p>

								Winner of the 1997 Hugo award for Best Dramatic Presentation.


								<p>

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002VUU/thelurkersguidet">An

								episodic soundtrack is available.</a>


								<p>

								<strong>Note: this episode is more momentous than most.  Think twice before

								proceeding to the spoilers if you haven't seen it.</strong>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


								<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> The former Minbari leader, Dukhat, died in Delenn's arms.  Before he

									died, he named her as his chosen successor.


								   <li> Clark has been filling command positions with his people since taking

									office, thus enabling him to retain control of most of Earth Force;

									many officers who oppose his policies feel forced to go along, since

									their superiors will accuse them of treason otherwise.


								   <li> The Shadows have formed alliances with many of the non-aligned worlds,

									allegedly to protect them from Centauri aggression; later, they've

									prompted those races to attack their neighbors with the belief that

									association with the Shadows is a guarantee of victory.


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> Was Londo finally able to leave the station?  Where was he going?

									(Or, if he was coming aboard, where was he coming from?)


								   <li> Is there more to the prophecy of the return of the Shadows, or has

									it now played itself out, leaving the future uncertain?


								   <li> What <em>does</em> Sheridan's mother do with her time?


								   <li> What has ISN known for a year but been unable to talk about?  Did

									they find out about Santiago's death, or perhaps about Earth's

									involvement with the Shadows?


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> Sheridan said he wanted to keep Draal a secret, and thus didn't ask for

									help defending the station.  But anyone with two eyes now knows he has

									some interesting non-human technology at his disposal; he used the Great

									Machine to broadcast his holographic image all over the station.  While

									Earth has free-floating holography (such as the Knights' image of

									Sinclair at the beginning of

									<a href="008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</a>)

									it's a far cry from what Sheridan did.


								<p>

								   <li> Five hooded Councilors followed Delenn from the council chamber;

									presumably the remaining four were all warrior caste, as established in

									<a href="033.html">"All Alone in the Night."</a>  (Only three are

									visible onscreen, but the whole Council wasn't visible at the start

									of the scene, either.)


								<p>

								   <li> Where did the religious and worker castes get three Minbari warships

									and the crews to pilot them?  Are there more on Delenn's side, or just

									those?  In

									<a href="045.html">"Matters of Honor,"</a>

									Lennier implied that the religious-caste crew of the White Star was

									rare, if not unheard-of.  Did some of the warrior caste side with

									Delenn?  (See

									<a href="#JS.ships">jms speaks</a>)


								<p>

								   <li> Delenn's confrontation with the Grey Council is counter to her own

									stated goal of laying low so the Shadows aren't forced to attack

									immediately.  She accused them of standing by and doing nothing in

									the face of Shadow encroachment -- but doing nothing was exactly what

									she insisted on in

									<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum,"</a>

									among other places.  If the warrior caste had moved to prevent some

									of the non-aligned worlds from warring, as she seemed to be suggesting,

									it surely would have alerted the Shadows to the fact that their return

									has been discovered.


									<p>

									On the other hand, it may be that she was accusing them of not even

									preparing for eventual open conflict with the Shadows; perhaps she

									believed their current indifference would continue even after the

									army of light was fully assembled.


									<p>

									Finally, she may have wanted them to simply take a stand in the local

									conflicts without addressing the Shadows' presence directly.


								<p>

								   <li> Sheridan's secession from the Earth Alliance plays directly into Clark's

									hands in some respects.  Clark can use the secession, and the Minbari

									involvement, to paint a picture of an alien-supported military coup

									against an elected civilian government, further proof of the need for

									martial law, the Nightwatch, and other draconian measures.  No doubt

									he'll be able to make that version of the story believable to a large

									number of people back home, thus solidifying his power base.


								<p>

								   <li> Why did only four destroyers jump into Babylon 5 space for the

									initial attack?  Perhaps the fleet commander didn't want to

									increase the chance of casualties from friendly fire, but that

									seems dubious at best; or perhaps he didn't know there were more

									ships on the way.


								<p>

								   <li> Which side of the war does the Agamemnon and its crew support?  Will

									Sheridan be forced into conflict with his old ship, something he

									definitely doesn't want?

									(<a href="052.html">"Messages From Earth"</a>)


								<p>

								   <li> Given the reason for the Minbari surrender during the war

									(<a href="023.html">"Points of Departure"</a>)

									would Delenn have made good on her threat to fire on the Earth ships?

									Minbari religious beliefs would forbid her from doing so, though she

									might well consider it a necessary evil.


								<p>

								   <li> During the initial attack on the Alexander, Major Ryan claims that

									they can't jump to hyperspace without losing their fighters.  But

									fighters have been shown jumping alongside a larger ship before --

									some emerged with the destroyers to attack Babylon 5 later in the

									same episode -- so what would have kept the fighters from jumping

									with the Alexander?  (See

									<a href="#JS.jump">jms speaks</a>)


								<p>

								   <li> The Shadows are apparently perfectly willing to double-cross the

									Centauri, at least in words.  By offering to protect the League

									worlds from Centauri aggression, when the Centauri are using the

									Shadows to act out that aggression, they've effectively taken

									control of both sides of any potential Centauri border conflicts.

									What they'll do with that control, and why they want it, remains to

									be seen.


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> The new Starfury in this episode is called a "Thunderbolt."


								   <li> Many of the Nightwatch members in this episode are production staff

									members, including the production secretary and an assistant director.


								   <li> <a name="NO.glitch">Minor effects mismatch:</a>

									A group of Starfuries attacks a friendly

									destroyer.  Its name is clearly visible as the Churchill.  But the

									scene immediately cuts to Major Ryan reacting to the hit -- even though

									he's on the Alexander, not the Churchill.  (See

									<a href="#JS.glitch">jms speaks</a>)


								   <li>@@@865359100 Just after Major Ryan says, "Right down their throats,"

									a Starfury shoots another one with B5 in the background.  For one

									frame, the exploding Starfury is replaced with a bright yellow square;

									then the explosion replaces it.


								   <li> Four ships emerge from the jumpgate at the end of act three, two

									Omega-class destroyers and two older Hyperion-style heavy cruisers

									(<a href="019.html">"A Voice In the Wilderness, part 2."</a>)

									But we only see and hear about two, the Agrippa and the Roanoke.  One

									possible explanation is that the destroyer rammed by the Churchill

									isn't supposed to be the Roanoke; since Sheridan offers assistance to

									the Roanoke at the end of the battle, that's plausible.  However, the

									rammed ship's name is (barely) visible as "Roanoke" during the

									collision.


								   <li>@@@833301876 One of the two destroyers in the second wave was called

									the Nimrod; the second was the Olympic.


								   <li> The Roanoke is named after an early English colony in North Carolina.

									After a hard winter, a ship came to check on the colony and

									found it totally deserted, no sign of the inhabitants or of a

									struggle, just the word CROATAN carved into a tree.  The fate of

									the colonists was never discovered.


								   <li>@@@872747538 The Agrippa was probably named for the

									famed Roman general/admiral, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

									He served for Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus),

									the nephew of Julius Caesar.  He was the inventor of the

									harpax, or harpago, which was a pole with a hook on the end

									which was attached to a rope.  Fired toward another ship,

									it allowed the two ships to be pulled together, allowing

									the Romans to board.  It was first used in 36 BC at the battle

									of Naulochos (Mylae), and later at the battle of

									Actium, where it helped to defeat Mark Anthony's fleet,

									leading to the eventual crowning of Octavian as Augustus,

									the first Roman emperor in 27 BC.


								   <li>@@@864920329 In the UK video release, three seconds were cut from the

									episode, presumably from one of the boarding-party fight scenes.


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li> The number of scenes varies depending on the amount of action

									required.  On balance, the average TV script has about 60-75 scenes or

									shots in it.  From time to time, in B5, we've gone as high as 130 shots

									in episodes like "Twilight" or "Fall."  I think we just blew out our

									record here with "Severed Dreams," which has close to 140.


									<p>

									Number of scenes shot on any day depends on how long the scene; you

									can do 4 really long shots or 8 fairly short scenes.  The amount of

									rehearsal varies depending on the scene, how many extras or what kind of

									action/stunts are required.  The more action, the more you rehearse, to

									ensure nobody gets hurt.


								<p>

								   <li> Much as I'd

									have wished PTEN would've aired 10, the final part of the 3-episode arc

									that changes direction on the show, a week after 9, even though it'd be

									out of sweeps period...it's probably for the best.  When producer George

									Johnson saw the scrpt for #10, "Severed Dreams," he laughed, walked over

									to me and said, "Boy, this is the best episode we're never gonna

									deliver.  ARE YOU NUTS?!"


									<p>

									As an example of "ARE YOU NUTS?!" in "The Fall of Night," in the

									sequence between the first Garden shot and the end of Sheridan's rescue,

									about 6-7 pages of script, there were, I think, about 60 or 65 EFX and

									practical shots.  In just the span of 4 pages in 310 there are roughly

									100 EFX and practical shots.  In EFX terms, it's probably one of the

									biggest shows we've done, so it's better to give Foundation a little

									extra time to get it right rather than rush them.


								<p>

								   <li> All I'll say here is that there were *so* many EFX here that we

									mixed the episode a few days before delivery, and got it down there 2

									hours before the process for uplinking the episode to stations.  It was

									the hardest thing we've ever done...but it was worth it.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why are these three episodes not marked as a three-parter?</em><br>

									For the most part, it's a matter of how the episodes feel to

									me, what length they feel as if they require.  When I did the big three

									this year -- Messages, Point and Dreams -- I hadn't really figured

									they'd be as tightly connected as they ended up being.  I knew they'd

									relate strongly to one another, but in a sense, they're really a three

									parter.  The War Without End story I knew was WAY too big for one

									episode, but due to the structure of the story wouldn't take being

									extended for one more episode; at that point you'd just be dragging it

									out.


									<p>

									It's all instinct, I wish I had a more concrete answer.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 I think you hit the distinction between MfE and PoNR...the

									former is exciting, the latter is tense, with "Severed Dreams" a good

									blend of the two, particularly the latter.  We did our final producer's

									cut today, and man, it moves....


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why the title?</em><br>

									If B5 was a dream given form, and the EA had the potential to be

									something more than it has become, and the two part ways, then you have

									severed dreams.  (I had a much more elegant and interesting reply, but

									obviously it entered Vorlon space and hasn't been allowed out again.)


								<p>

								   <li> "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).


								<p>

								   <li> Have begun shooting episode 11, "Messages From Earth," a hideously

									complex episode, outmatched only by #10, "Severed Dreams," which is the

									single most visually ambitious episode we've done in the three years of

									the show.  It's just totally outrageous, and it'll probably kill us in

									sheer man-hours to produce...but the result should drop jaws all over

									the place.


								<p>

								   <li> Re: Foundation "adding a new flame effect"...sort of.  One

									night, we just went out into the parking lot, set up a camera pointing

									up behind a plexiglass screen, and set off a bunch of explosions above

									it.  Went great until one of the blasts was so big it melted through

									the plex *and* the camera lens....


									<p>

									Looked good though, didn't it?


								<p>

								   <li> <em>The PPG blasts looked different.</em><br>

									That was because there were so MANY of them; our PPG bursts

									usually take a great deal of work.  If we'd given all of them in this

									scene that amount of work, we'd still be doing them.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>How did you do the lighting as Ivanova's ship tumbled?</em><br>

									We fixed a light atop a gimble, and pre-determined the

									rotation of the starfury, then moved the lighting to match.  Gives it a

									much more realistic feel.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@837965380 "In an ep like "Severed Dreams" where cgi effects take

									up literally almost 1/4 of the script, how much input does the director

									have on "camera" angles, close ups of 'Fury pilots, and the way in

									which the SFX is intercut with live action?  Or is that entirely your

									job?"


									<p>

									Generally, a lot of that material is either storyboarded, or

									supervised by our on set EFX supervisor, who determines the angles to

									be used.  This is especially important in an episode like Severed

									Dreams when you have to make sure that the pilots are oriented the

									right way on camera (i.e., going from left to right, and facing left

									to right) if that's the direction their ships are going in; otherwise

									you'd have to flop the film to make it match.  In larger set pieces,

									using virtual sets and composite shots, the director has more

									influence.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@860697367 <em>From coproducer George Johnsen, about the

									<a href="#NO.glitch">effects glitch</a></em><br>

									The show was seriously under the gun for delivery when those shots

									were done.  If I remember correctly, a couple of these shots came in on

									the same day we were to deliver, and there was no time to re-render them

									and still make the satellite.


									<p>

									If I were to tell you it would never happen again, I would be a big

									liar, or a deluded optomist, but we try.  Animators are human, after

									all!  :-)


								<p>

								   <li> Funny thing is, how much as you note the show corresponds to some of

									the things Mira's been through...some of it intentional, knowing that

									if I dig into this area, it'll come out of her with the ring of

									truth...some of it quite unintentional.  When I finished writing

									"Severed Dreams," and the actors got it, Mira's first words to me were,

									"So...how long DID you live in Yugoslavia?"  The parallel wasn't

									intentional...but it fit.


								<p>

								   <li> Toni: thanks.  All of the characters shine in this one, Mira in

									particular as Delenn.  It's a nice contrast; her speech to the Grey

									Council is an intense piece of work that goes on for a while; her

									declaration to the EA ships is short, to the point, and absolutely

									deadly.  The right tool for the right job.


									<p>

									I'm utterly pleased and proud of the job we did here.  Partly

									because it's just so nifty on its own terms, and partly because it

									gives us a new level to try and beat.  Up until now, I've been looking

									to top "Coming of Shadows;" now the goal is to top this one...and I

									think it's possible there may be one or two even this season that'll do

									that, but tonally I think they're different enough that it might end up

									as a tie.


									<p>

									I definitely wanted the close-in, hand-to-hand fighting to

									personalize what's going on.  It's also very logical strategically.

									You send in your forces to disable or overwhelm C&C, distract them,

									slip in a cadre of troops to a station that (you hope) didn't know you

									were coming...then they race to C&C and seize control from inside,

									shooting anyone they have to en route.  If Sheridan et al hadn't known

									the ships were coming in, this could've gone very differently.  But

									once they were in, they were in close quarters, and you want to get in

									closer if you're on the defensive side so that they can't use their

									weapons without cutting down their own people.  After that you have to

									hope you can overwhelm the intruders with sheer force of numbers.  It's

									an ugly, awful way to win a fight, because it *guarantees*

									casualties...but what war doesn't?


									<p>

									Something to bear in mind when rewatching, btw...it was during

									this scene that Jerry fell and broke his right arm and right wrist.

									And they still had one last scene to film.  He stuck it out and they

									rolled film, to get the shot of him and Zack at the end of the fight.

									Next time you watch it, keep an eye on the right arm as he releases the

									helmet...it bends in directions never intended by evolution.


								<p>

								   <li> I agree, but Jerry was determined to do it, and more time

									would've been lost arguing about it than it took to do the takes.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 The arm broken was his right arm and wrist; we worked it

									into the show, in a way which actually worked well with what went right

									before it. Jerry's doing fine now.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 Oddly enough, Jerry's broken arm tied *beautifully* into

									something that had happened in the course of the episode we were

									filming, so all it took was a line or two to sell it.


									<p>

									The funny thing is...in the very next episode after the incident,

									there was a line in the script I'd written *weeks* earlier, and it

									freaked everybody out...when Garibaldi asks someone to do something,

									and the person responds, "What, you've got a broken arm or

									something?"  At first some people thought I'd put it in there to

									pink Jerry, but it'd been there the whole time.  Similarly, in the

									Claudia incident, there was a line (cut for time) where Sheridan

									says talking to the Drazi is like trying to talk to your right

									foot...and Ivanova replies "I'll have you know I have a sublime

									relationship with my right foot."  Yep, the next day...that's the

									foot she broke.


									<p>

									Just recently, I was trying to explain time travel to one of the

									actors.  I used the analogy, over lunch, "Suppose you finished

									eating your chicken here, then got sick as a dog a few hours later,

									then got in a time machine to go back in time and warn yourself not

									to eat the chicken."  Well, a few hours after that...the actor got

									sick as a dog from the chicken.


									<p>

									I have been asked, expressly, not to make any further mention of

									actors' body parts in scripts....


								<p>

								   <li> We shot that last scene with Garibaldi *after* we'd shot the sequence

									showing his injured leg.  We don't shoot in sequence.  So we had to

									cover it in the next episode.


								<p>

								   <li> We shot the last scene with the cane *before* we shot the scene

									in which Jerry broke his arm.  It costs way too much to go back and

									reshoot.  At the time we shot the later scene, he hadn't yet broken his

									arm.


									<p>

									And G'Kar isn't all the way in yet; he wants to be, but so far

									he's still being held at arm's length a bit...he may make an issue of

									this.


								<p>

								   <li> Actually, though, because he *did* have his hand in his pocket,

									it let me handle the break in the next episode without stretching

									credulity too far. It was...well...I guess you'd call that part of it a

									lucky break.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Is General Hague shown?</em><br>

									Foxworth was slated for "Severed Dreams" when he bailed on us.


								<p>

								   <li> We had booked Foxworth

									long in advance.  Later, out of the blue, a rep for the actor said that

									by accident he'd been double-booked on B5 and DS9 for the same

									period...and even though we had prior claim, because the other was a

									two-parter, more money, they went for that.  One can only wonder when

									the other offer *really* came in....


								<p>

								   <li> The Foxworth bail resulted in a change of about three lines,

									that's about it.  You'll know which lines when you hear them.


								<p>

								   <li> We'd booked the actor long, long in advance.  At the last

									minute, he bailed to do a DS9 episode playing, essentially, the same

									character, despite our having first dibs.


									<p>

									So I killed off the character.  Didn't change the story by the

									smallest measure.  May actually have helped, since it raised the stakes

									in the story right from the start.


									<p>

									Rule #1: Never honk off the writer.


								<p>

								   <li> Regarding Hague...it's much harder to hold an actor on a once-in-a-while

									basis.  Every show is hostage to that.  It's a reality of life.  We

									don't have contracts with folks who play one or two parts a year.

									Screen Actors Guild doesn't allow that; you make deals as they come up.

									You can't stop an actor if he wants to jump ship under those conditions;

									and if you try, you have an unhappy actor on your set who'll just walk

									through it because he or she doesn't want to be there.


								<p>

								   <li> Re: Foxworth...it was really the only thing to do.  I'd created

									the character *specifically* to have him available for this episode,

									after which he'd basically fade away while others took up his standard.

									It was all leading up to this.  Without being in this episode, there

									was nothing more to do with Hague, hence I felt quite comfortable with

									his fate, it changed nothing.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Major Ryan was overstepping his rank.</em><br>

									Except, of course, you now have an extraordinary situation in

									which the Major, through the death of his CO, was now the commanding

									officer of the Alexander.  In ordinary circumstances, this would mean

									he'd be given a field promotion.


									<p>

									Second, I don't recall any situation where the Major was "giving

									orders to a commander."  The aide on the deck of the Alexander was a

									Lieutenant, as I recall.  Also, if Hague indicated that he was to be

									given command as he died, that would likely be honored.  Finally, yes,

									the Major was involved in the discussions of strategy, but in *every

									case* he presented Sheridan and Hiroshi with options, and because it

									was Sheridan's neck of the woods, it was left to Sheridan to give

									orders.  He coordinated the defense, and was the only one speaking

									directly with the Agrippa.


								<p>

								   <li> I think Sheridan was kinda up to his ears in matters graver than

									the Major's field promotion, though you're right, he had one coming (as

									I noted in an earlier message).  Given that they'd just broken away

									from Earthforce, and walked away from the rank structure to some

									extent, it would seem a rather indulgent exercise, since Earth

									certainly wouldn't recognize the field promotion of a renegade officer.


								<p>

								   <li> "...hit between the eyes."   Yeah, that's the correct reaction,

									I'd say.


									<p>

									Yes, it's easy to fire on the enemy when it's a faceless

									entity; not as easy when it's someone you know.  Kinda brings it home,

									makes it personal.


								<p>

								   <li> Exactly.  If you're going to do something as monumental as what

									Sheridan does here re: B5's status and Earth, it can't be done lightly

									or frivolously or without sufficient cause.  It has to be an absolutely

									last resort.  If we'd done it any sooner, it would've been less

									effective, and more of a cheat.


									<p>

									And yes, after two breather stories, "Ship of Tears" starts the

									arc moving again, and with very few exceptions doesn't let up for the

									rest of the season.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>About the warning sign in

									<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust"</a></em><br>

									Yes, the sign does indeed say warning.  Look for another sign

									right behind somebody at the end of "Severed Dreams."


								<p>

								   <li> Actually, yes, I tend to ask for musical counterpoint in the

									show from time to time.  For instance, when Sheridan et al were going

									to the area where the crowd was waiting, I told Chris to fool us...give

									us an ominous sounding sting going into what's going to be a very "up"

									scene.  In the battle earlier on, when you'd normally do something fast

									and exciting, I asked him to give me something more somber, to pull out

									the Requiem theme in a few places. Sometimes, in other shows, I ask for

									music that works against a scene to control the emotional core of it;

									if it's a bit too silly, perhaps, then I go for a more serious musical

									cue to balance it out.  Where a scene would seem to ask for major keys,

									I go for minor chords.


									<p>

									It's all just part of the tapestry.


									<p>

									(BTW, a little secret...just for fun, I wrote a couple of songs

									that you'll be hearing in an upcoming episode.  I used to write songs

									here and there, even did a couple for an ABC prime-time special, and

									figured I'd try it again.  I wrote the lyrics, discussed the music with

									Chris, and he took care of the score, and it's about what I first

									conceived.  Came out pretty well, actually.)


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Where was Kosh during all this?</em><br>

									Yeah...Kosh seems to have retreated a bit so far...worrying,

									that.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why didn't Sheridan ask for help from Draal or Delenn?</em><br>

									The other thing to bear in mind about all this is the question of a

									"clean fight."  If Sheridan were to bring in alien forces at his order

									to kill humans, it would pretty much destroy his credibility.  Delenn

									came in at the end but only after he'd made his stand on his own.


									<p>

									One of the things that kicked off the French Revolution was the

									allegation that the King had brought in or was bringing in

									Prussian troops to help put down dissenters.  As long as it was

									all more or less in the family, that was one thing...but to

									bring in outsiders was an absolute affront to them.  (One of

									the singular incidents that started the fighting itself was a

									group of Prussian soldiers sighted sitting in a cafe having

									lunch, which caused this rumor about outsiders coming in to

									spread like wildfire, and led to the some of the first major

									incidents of rioting.)


									<p>

									Two brothers may fight one another, but let a third unrelated person

									come in and shove one of the brothers around, and they'll *both* turn

									on him.


									<p>

									During the worst days of the civil war, even Lincoln was offered

									assistance in troops from at least one other country; he declined,

									because it was an internal matter, and had to be resolved by those

									involved, not outsiders.


									<p>

									Sheridan's logic was exactly the same.  It had to be a clean fight.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405641 We'll establish in coming episodes that they have to

									become more

									self sufficient; the Minbari will help some, others will also have a

									reason to help support the station for the advantages it gives them,

									the services it provides, and eventually docking fees will have to rise

									if they can make a go of it.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405641 I'd have to check my figures, which are at the office and I'm

									at home, but I *think* we've got about 600 crew and support on a

									Minbari cruiser.


								<p>

								   <li> Yes, the push in on Delenn revealed her in the White Star, and

									yes, a fair number of the new 'furies B5 inherited are Thunderbolt

									class.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 "Severed Dreams had a line that was better than Ivanava's

									sex scene.  Wow, do these women get lines!"


									<p>

									Can't help it.  I've always been vastly enamoured of strong, sharp,

									funny, independent and strong-willed women.  (Well, me and 99% of the

									rest of the male population, most of them just won't admit it.)


									<p>

									I love it when anyone -- male or female -- comes up with a killer line.

									Claudia and I are always going at it, each trying to top the other...and

									I've found out the hard way that you don't challenge her on the theory

									that she'll back down.  Won't happen.  Ivanova's just the same.  Mira is

									also dedicated, fierce in her convictions, extremely bright and worldly.


									<p>

									So why should their characters be any less than the women themselves?


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 "...my favorite part, I must say was when Sheridan kissed

									Delenns hand.  I've been waiting anxiously for this to happen and it

									finally did!  My housemates all laughed at me but I guess I'm just an

									incurable romantic."


									<p>

									This is a problem?


									<p>

									We are in need of more romance.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Aren't Starfuries space-only craft?</em><br>

									Yes, the Thunderbolt furies were seen both on Mars and

									attacking B5.


									<p>

									A normal Starfury can't function in an atmosphere environment.

									The new Thunderbolt models have airfoils/wings that are folded back

									over the body of the ship for non-atmospheric maneuvering, and then

									extend out to full sized wings when entering an atmosphere.  (You'll

									get to see in detail how this works back and forth in "Ship of Tears.")


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405641 <em>How does ejection from a Starfury work?</em><br>

									You can see explosive bolts going off, and a series of small

									thrusters behind the cockpit are which allow for navigation.  This

									gets the pilot away from the main body which has either been crippled,

									or is about to explode, the same way a modern fighter has an ejection

									system.  (Check the main credit sequence for a better shot of an

									ejection.)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405641 <em>How did the pilots tell which other Starfuries were

									which?</em><br>

									FOF...Friend Or Foe systems on board the furies.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864846873 <em>About the Alexander/Clarkstown battle</em><br>

									The interceptors have two components, one that throws a ball of energy

									at an incoming weapons charge (physical or energy) and causes

									dissipation, and the other is a net-like energy web that reduces the

									severity, but does not deflect or absorb, beam type energy.  This allows

									some time for maneuvers after beam contact.


									<p>

									Note that Major Ryan (He'll always be D-Day to my brother!) was very

									reticent to fire on the Clarkstown at all.  Knowing that the

									Interceptors were down made his job all the more difficult.  The rear

									facing beamn on the Alexander is similar in design to the front facers

									on the Clarkstown.  When the C-town fired on the rotating section ofthe

									Alexander, it did not explode, as the interceptors were still active.


									<p>

									George Johnsen<br>

									CoProducer, B5


								<p>

								   <li> <a name="JS.jump">If you're opening a jump point,</a>

									usually you make it a habit to have all

									your fighters on board or else risk leaving them behind.  A jump gate

									can be more easily used and held open for fighters.  When you arrive at

									your destination, you can launch your fighters as you emerge.


								<p>

								   <li> "Why was it impossible to jump into hyperspace (in the beginning of the

									show) and not take the Starfuries with the ship?  We've seen it done

									before."


									<p>

									No, I don't believe so.  You've seen a jump GATE used, but that's

									different from a jump POINT which basically closes right behind the ship

									like a rabbit pulling its hole in after it.  If the ships stayed behind

									to protect its rear, they'd be left behind.  Ships coming out of a jump

									point into normal space sometimes will let their fighters zip out AS

									they're coming out, alongside the main ship.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@852231474 In "Severed Dreams," the dilemma faced by the Alexander

									in the teaser is that if they jump, they'll end up leaving their

									fighters behind.  A jump engine rips the area open for that one ship,

									and closes it again right behind it.  What sometimes happens, as in

									"All Alone," is that *as a ship comes out*, it releases its fighters.

									But you can't just follow a ship into a jump point formed by another

									ship.  You'd probably get torn apart when space folded back on you,

									because the field opening the point is primarily around the other ship.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why didn't they shut down the jumpgate?  Why did the EA ships

									use it?</em><br>

									The answer to both your questions is about the same.  It takes

									about a day to power down, or power up a jump gate.  It operates more

									like a fusion reactor than a light bulb.  So not only wasn't there

									enough time, even if they *had* had enough time, you'd want to leave

									the gate up and running in case you needed to evacuate for any reason;

									otherwise you'd cut off your main escape route.


									<p>

									For the incoming fleet, knowing the gate was active was the way

									to go, since it would let them launch their fighters prior to coming

									in; if you use a jump point, you kinda have to launch while you're

									coming out to avoid anyone being stuck behind.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>What good are small fighters if it's the big ships that decide

									the battle?</em><br>

									A lot more ships came in with the Roanoke and the Agrippa, support

									ships and others.  Probably more breaching pods.  They took out those.

									They're also used to keep the enemy starfuries from disabling the

									defense grid on the station, leaving B5 free to use its weapons on the

									larger target/worse threat.  They're often used to soften up the enemy,

									harrass them like a pack of hounds falling on a prey.  In "Fall of

									Night," we saw a Centauri vessel in large measure taken out by the

									Starfuries with some B5 support.  So they definitely play a part.


								<p>

								   <li> Starfuries serve a *lot* of functions which we've shown before

									on the series.


									<p>

									They can take out a ship's defensive screens and

									countermeasures, allowing access by the big ships' armaments.  In a

									group, they can take out a good sized ship on their own (a la the

									Centauri cruiser in "Fall of Night"). They also serve to protect the

									station's defense grid from aggressor starfuries.


									<p>

									Also, a number of small support ships, including a Hyperion

									class ship came through as part of the "carrier group" that went after

									the station.  It was up to the starfuries to take care of those ships

									while B5 and the other destroyers took out the biggest threats.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>What about all the debris from the battle?</em><br>

									We've shown clean-up crews before outside, including a hazmat

									station that goes out to clear away fuel cores or other toxic material.

									They would've been dispatched for this.


								<p>

								   <li> Fighters re-enter via the main docking bay and are recharged

									and lowered into the fighter bays.


									<p>

									No question, spare parts would be a problem, and they'll have

									to cannibalize a lot (plus whatever they scrounged up from the fighters

									blown apart outside).


								<p>

								   <li> Bear in mind that if we had gone over to the other captains and

									what was going on in the other ships, to make room for those scenes we

									would've had to cut anywhere from 3-5 minutes of the other stuff.  You

									can't just add to the show's time; if that goes in, something else has

									to come out.  So you'd probably have to cut the scene between Sheridan

									and his father since that was the only stand-alone set piece.


									<p>

									Any time you write something, you must decide "who is it

									about?" This episode was about *our characters*, the ones we've come to

									care about, and how they deal with this.  To take away from that and

									spend time with people we've never seen before, and won't see again,

									would be to cheat our characters of the time on screen needed to pay

									off all the things we've set up over the years.


									<p>

									Would it have been an interesting aside to show the other

									captains? Sure.  In a movie, with an open-ended running time, I

									probably would have. But there's nothing I would want to cut out of the

									episode as it now stands to make room for it.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405115 <em>Why no scenes from the opposition's point of

									view?</em><br>

									We haven't seen those scenes because we don't know anyone there

									really, and in an hour show you only have so much time, and within our

									budget we only can do so much.  Every speaking role you add costs

									thousands of dollars. Every set costs thousands of dollars.


									<p>

									We're doing the absolute best we can with a budget roughly 1/2

									of any of the ST episodes.


									<p>

									If it isn't *absolutely necessary* to the scene, it isn't in.

									Yeah, seeing some folks in EA talking back and forth about well, maybe

									this isn't a good idea, maybe it is, well, let's get back to

									work...it'd be an interesting aside, but in addition to slowing down

									the pace of the episode, and this one had to move like a house afire,

									it's just not something I felt we could or should do.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405115 <em>About the boarding party's uniforms</em><br>

									Instead of going for a sinister EA look, I wanted the

									uniforms to be something we're used to, "our side," as you say.  There

									aren't many blacks-and-whites on this show.  It's all greys...and

									sometimes olive drab.


								<p>

								   <li> Garibaldi wanted to hold up, cut off the boarding party at a bottleneck,

									but the Narns, *being* Narns, raced right into the battle.  At that

									point Garibaldi had to follow them in or let them get wiped out for no

									good reason.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>About the Narn sacrifice</em><br>

									What you also have to bear in mind sometimes is that *this* is

									the only way to get things done.  When the Allies stormed Normandy

									Beach, they knew that German bunkers and machine nests and fortified

									positions were right there on the beach waiting for them.  But they

									stormed out, onto the beach, and the first lines were cut down, one

									after another after another, hundreds, literally thousands of soldiers.

									But those behind were able to get through, take up position as best

									they could.  Some of them clung to the edges of cliffs as Germans above

									laughed and threw down grenades into their midst.


									<p>

									Sometimes there's no other way.  But you do it because those who

									command you have the moral authority to say "You probably will not come

									back, but the cause is just, and fair, and necessary."


									<p>

									Thus do we go off to die.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Themes of personal sacrifice</em><br>

									"It's all this stuff that I think really makes the show. The mystery

									certainly helps, but the puzzles are no longer my main reason for

									watching."


									<p>

									Aaron: exactly.  This was something I said a lot around the

									first part of the second season, that this really *isn't* a

									mystery novel, in any conventional sense, no more so than any

									novel whose ending is yet to be revealed.


									<p>

									You picked up on exactly the themes that are present in the

									show, with some more to come shortly.  Personal sacrifice for a

									cause -- perhaps a good cause, perhaps not, depending on how

									wisely we make our decisions -- is probably the dominant theme

									at this point in the story.


									<p>

									It's worth mentioning that this story was initially

									conceived in the midst of the Me Generation, the decade of

									"I've got mine, jack, screw you all." Since then the culture

									has gotten increasingly factionalized, groups of Me's pulling

									and tugging at the fabric not only of the country, bvut of the

									planet itself.  The idea of personal sacrifice, of personal

									service to a cause, seems to have become...passe.  Old

									fashioned.  Silly.


									<p>

									We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and

									trusts.  That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be

									exploited.  But it does mean that we should look out for one

									another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal

									responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has

									consequences of a very real and profound nature.  We are not

									powerless.  We have tremendous potential for good or ill.  How

									we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must

									choose to use it.  We're told every day, "You can't change the

									world."


									<p>

									But the world is changing every day.  Only question

									is...who's doing it?  You or somebody else?  Will you choose to

									lead, or be led by others?


									<p>

									(Y'know, there are moments I look at the preceding

									paragraphs, and I realize that it wa said more succinctly, and

									better, and more movingly in "Lost Horizon," with this simple

									sentence: "Be *kind* to one another.")


								<p>

								   <li> The easy thing to do, the TeeVee thing to do, would've

									been to go from Sheridan's line "All ships return to base," to the

									exterior with the big ships, and fade out.  But I try to keep this show

									from doing the easy thing.  Yes, you had a victory.  Yes, it was

									necessary.  But what's the cost? We shouldn't glamorize these things.

									Even at the end, as you notice, even at the end of the reception...we

									go out on an ominous note.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405115 The older I get, the more I realize there are

									things you can do with silence you can't do with words, though I still

									love the form of the speech.  There was a lot of counterpoint in this

									episode, a tool I'm still playing with as a writer; eventually I'll

									figure out how to really use it properly.  (Though there's an

									interesting scene up later this season using another kind of ironic

									counterpoint which I think works pretty well.)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405115 <em>Counterpoint?</em><br>

									In a sense, it's going from one emotion or thematic element to a

									very different, but equally strong one, either as bookends or through

									intercutting. Going from the high of the victory, to the sudden shot of

									the dead troops, is thematic counterpoint.


									<p>

									Here's another...in "Cabaret" you've got a scene where the

									performers in the Cabaret are doing the sort of German dance where you

									slap your knees and thighs and chest...and they take it a bit further,

									slapping one another, it's all for comic effect...but during this,

									you're intercutting the owner of the cabaret being beaten to within an

									inch of his life by some Brownshirts outside.  You go from comic to

									brutal and back, with the result that the happy little dance suddenly

									takes on ugly characteristics, and the beating takes on the sense that

									the participants are having a sick kind of fun, that it's all just

									another kind of dance, a ritual.


									<p>

									That's what you have to look at as a writer...how this scene

									works, and how it interacts with the scenes in front, behind and

									"beside" it (for things happening simultaneously).  Sometimes, with the

									proper counterpoint, you can add whole new levels of meaning to a

									scene, or make the scene much stronger than it would've been on its

									own.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Did the Earth ships recognize the White Star as the ship from

									the incident on Ganymede?</em><br>

									Probably not.


								<p>

								   <li> Well, President Clark would know it [the White Star], from the Aggy

									records, but the general population wouldn't know it yet, since those

									records weren't released. But it does give him a card to play at some

									point in the future.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Any relation between Captain Hiroshi and the Hiroshi on Garibaldi's

									staff from

									<a href="046.html">"Convictions?"</a></em><br>

									No intentional relation, no.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why wasn't the boarding party coming up through the floor?</em><br>

									I figured that they'd come in through the outer hull, secure the inner

									hull area, then go up in and through a side wall, which would be faster

									for purposes of a mass entrance.  If you blow a hole in the floor,

									everybody has to crawl out one at a time; you blow a hole in the wall,

									bunches can come through at once.  There was a fair amount of distance

									between where they came in, and the hull.


								<p>

								   <li> Yes and no.  They came through the "floor" which would be the

									outer hull.  Like any good ship, the station has two hulls for

									protection, an inner hull and an outer hull.  Once breaching the outer

									hull, they moved into the inner hull, then angled up for a wall they

									could blow out.


									<p>

									I figured this would make more tactical sense because if they

									just blew through the floor, they'd have to *crawl* out one or two at a

									time, whereas if they angled in safely and then came in through a wall,

									they could pour in more quickly, en masse, and be less vulnerable.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865282739 <em>From coproducer George Johnsen</em><br>

									We don't really know where the Marines actually penetrated, but their

									first hole would be through the "floor". If we assume that they know the

									station well, it is likely they would punch through an "unimproved", or

									storage area first, as it would be easier than to burn through a fully

									habitable area. Then they would go through a wall or a door to get at

									the goal.  We postulate that they actually were shown entering through

									their second burn, and entering the occupied area.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Was there not much blood in the on-station fight because the guns

									were firing plasma?</em><br>

									Correct, PPG bursts, being superheated helium, tend to

									cauterize the wounds as they go through.


								<p>

								   <li> No, it's a different scene than the flash-forward in Babylon

									Squared.


								<p>

								   <li> Thanks.  That's exactly the impression I wanted...you do the

									dolly/zoom move, isolating Sheridan visually...you don't cut back to

									the others as they speak, just let the camera stay on him, put the

									other voices down under the music and off to the side, just *HOLD*

									there...works great.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765 I'm always getting this confused in my own mind, but

									basically it's using two contradictory moves with the camera.  You dolly

									in (push the camera toward the object) and push out with the lens (or

									vice versa...that's the part I'm forever getting confused about...like

									remembering battery connections, is it positive to positive or positive

									to negative...?).  In either event, you're basically going in and

									out/away at the same moment.  It's a nifty effect.


								<p>

								   <li> "There is a certain sweetness between Sheridan and his father.

									Sheridan's father is certainly the one that I wish I had.  Is he yours,

									JMS?"


									<p>

									Not by the farthest stretch of the imagination, which is all I'll say on

									this.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Was that Ashan (from

									<a href="036.html">"There All the Honor Lies"</a>)

									blocking Delenn?</em><br>

									That wasn't Ashan, no.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why isn't the Council on Minbar?</em><br>

									We've hinted at it...the Grey Council always stays on its ship, being

									part of the universe, giving it an exotic, distant feel for its

									people...as though among the gods.


								<p>

								   <li> The Grey Council could've taken a lot more action to be

									supportive behind the scenes, getting the warrior caste more involved

									with the rangers, giving aid to the non-aligned worlds...there was a

									LOT they could have been doing all this time that wouldn't have

									required tipping their hand. Instead they sat and did nothing.  And

									now, with B5 on the edge of falling, to say it's not their problem was

									too much.  Now is the time they have to start coming forward.


								<p>

								   <li> Basically, the warrior caste doesn't think it's their war;

									there's also a certain amount of resentment in it, I think...they *led*

									the last war, they *did* their job, and got yanked back and forced to

									surrender.  That was a terrible blow to their pride, caused in part by

									an alien race, so their attitude now tends to be more or less, "Screw

									'em."


								<p>

								   <li> <em>How did Delenn know B5 needed help?</em><br>

									Real simple.  Lennier was still on-station.  All she had to do

									was check in with him en route and find out.  Also, she went to the

									council for the purpose of getting military support because she knew

									heavy stuff was coming down, in one form or another.  Knowing that "the

									humans are fighting one another" as she said to the council, it's

									evident that if they didn't come to B5 that day, they'd come shortly

									thereafter.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865183765

									She already knew that civil war had broken out between EA ships and

									forces, and that B5 had already faced one takeover bid, and that

									whether or not it happened today or the next day, it was definitely

									coming.  That was unmistakeable.  Also, bear in mind that Lennier

									stayed behind.  She would have checked in with him en route and

									found out what was going on, or picked up the radio broadcasts of

									the battle in progress.  I could've shown this, but that would''ve

									blown the surprise of her arrival.


								<p>

								   <li> At this point, with the Council broken, Delenn isn't currently

									running Minbar...there's a vacuum of power.  The system can carry on

									for a while, the balance between the castes is pretty efficient, but

									this is going to have to be resolved, and some in the warrior caste may

									suspect Delenn of doing this so she *can* rise to power.


									<p>

									<a name="JS.ships">

									As part of Valen's covenant, to prevent one caste from taking

									</a>

									over the other, each caste has access to its own warships.  This was

									done to create trust a thousand years ago, and since then, since there

									hasn't been any conflict between Minbari, the three castes own their

									own warships still, but in general are assigned to Warrior caste as a

									courtesy, which can be revoked. As Delenn noted, the worker and

									religious castes control 2/3rds of their forces.


								<p>

								   <li> Each caste populates the ships in their jurisdiction with their

									own people.  Which is why those on the Minbari warships that came in,

									which we'll see shortly, are religious caste, no warriors among

									them...but even the religious caste is well trained in combat, as part

									of their education in temple.  We've seen some of this already in

									Lennier's abilities in a fight.


								<p>

								   <li> No, 5 left the council with her.  And one can wonder, Did she

									turn down the position of leader of the Grey Council, which would be a

									balance for that role, in order to eliminate the council and become

									primary ruler? (That is what some of the warrior caste are bound to

									begin wondering after a while.)


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Was the brief pause as one of the council members left a sign

									of a single caste breaking apart?</em><br>

									No, just a member of the warrior caste making sure one he

									considered a friend *really* wanted to do this....


								<p>

								   <li> I was living in Delenn's head when she uttered those lines for the first

									time.


									<p>

									She wasn't bluffing.


									<p>

									Delenn *never* bluffs.


								<p>

								   <li> Thanks, and yes, there's definitely fire and steel in Delenn,

									which she calls upon when she needs it.  And nobody crosses her when

									that happens.


								<p>

								   <li> Now that she's gone through her own personal fire,

									she's a much stronger character, and very interesting to write.

									There's steel, and there's humanity and compassion, and she feels no

									need to defend or justify any of those traits.  What she is, she is.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Sinclair survived a battle with Minbari warships.</em><br>

									Her exact line was, "No human captain has ever survived battle with a

									Minbari fleet."  Sinclair wasn't a captain.


								<p>

								   <li> Dukhat was killed at the start of the Minbari war (that

									*caused* the Minbari war), and the Council did without a leader for a

									long time.  She was taught and sponsored by Dukhat.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Does Delenn feel responsible for Dukhat's death?</em><br>

									No, she doesn't feel responsible; it's an artifact of the way

									they approach certain things.  "His word is on my lips, his spirit is

									in my eyes." It's almost a way of saying he's speaking through me, back

									off.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>About Sheridan asking the Roanoke to surrender</em><br>

									Yeah...the reference was kafuffled.  There was so much going on,

									so many EFX shots, so much rearranging of shots to make everything work

									(we literally delivered this 2 hours before the process for uplinking

									started) that this slipped past.  I'll assume that Sheridan got excited

									and said the wrong name. It'd happen to anyone.  Right?  Right?


								<p>

								   <li> Roanoke is a place rich with history.  Some of it a little

									odd, given the colony's disappearance, but rich nonetheless.  (Clark

									has edged away from giving Omega class destroyers and others names from

									Greek mythology and history, toward more conventional names like the

									Clarkstown and the Roanoke.)


								<p>

								   <li> President Clark got away from the tradition of using Greek

									names.  And the Roanoke was a Virginia colony that disappeared in the

									1600s.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>What about the disappearing destroyer?</em><br>

									That would've been killed off-camera.  We tried to fit in every

									ship getting nailed, but finally realized it would've required another

									half an act.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>What did ISN know?</em><br>

									I'm sorry, but we cannot answer your question at this time.  We

									are experiencing temporary transmission problems with ISN, but hope to

									have the situation remedied very soon.  Meanwhile, you can direct any

									inquiries for information to the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry

									for Public Information, which has been aiding all public information

									broadcasts for almost two years now.


									<p>

									At the tone, please leave your name and identicard number.

									Don't worry about calling back.  We'll find you.


									<p>

									&lt;beep&gt;


								<p>

								   <li>@@@862241018 Clark had inside info that ISN would be going public

									soon with info on what was *really* going on on Mars, his planned

									attack on B5, and other stuff he wanted quiet.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@840405641 I'm looking to find a way to bring Franklin's father

									back into the storyline now, to help resolve this.  (Note: no

									suggestions, please.)  I think he would tend to fall on the other side,

									and it'd be good to show that some people may think that yes, there's a

									problem, but you solve that problem from within, not by breaking away.

									Could make for some nice drama....


								</ul>