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lurkers-guide


								<!-- TITLE Shadow Dancing -->


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								Sheridan launches a preemptive strike against the Shadows.  Franklin

								jeopardizes his life while trying to do a good deed.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Prestia,+Shirley">Shirley Prestia</a> as Barbara.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Gilbert-Boxleitner,+Melissa">Melissa Gilbert</a> as Anna.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/065">9.25</a>


								Production number: 321

								Original air week: September 15, 1996 (UK)

								                   October 21, 1996 (US)

								<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 Kim Friedman

								</pre>


								<p>

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002VUX/thelurkersguidet">An

								episodic soundtrack is available.</a>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


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


								<ul>


								   <li> 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.


								</ul>


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


								<ul>


								   <li> How many ships did the League worlds withhold from the battle?


								   <li> How many ships were destroyed in the battle? How many people died?


								   <li> Why has Anna Sheridan come to Babylon 5? Is she as much of a pawn of the

									Shadows as Morden? (See <a href="#AN">Analysis</a>)


								   <li> How will Anna Sheridan's presence affect Sheridan's near-engagement to

									Delenn?


								   <li>@@@847013324 How did Anna get into Sheridan's quarters?


								   <li> Why have the Shadows not yet attacked Babylon 5?


								   <li> How badly were the Shadows hurt by this battle?


								   <li> 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?


								   <li> How did Anna know Delenn's name?  Did Morden tell her?


								   <li> Were the Vorlons approached to be part of the battle fleet?


								   <li> Who else might have survived the Icarus?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li> In this battle, it's said that for each Shadow ship that was destroyed,

									two Army of Light ships were destroyed. This forces 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?


								   <li> 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?


								   <li>@@@847042418 Delenn had a flashforward to Anna's arrival

									(<a href="061.html">"War Without End, Part Two."</a>)

									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.


								   <li> This episode resolves, at least initially,  most of Sheridan's dream

									from

									<a href="033.html">"All Alone in the Night."</a>

									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

									(<a href="041.html">"Divided Loyalties."</a>)

									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.


								   <li> 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.


								   <li>@@@846747133 "The man in between" implies someone on the other side.

									Who might that be?


								   <li>@@@846745949 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?


								   <li>@@@846746028 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.


								   <li>@@@865734490 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

									(<a href="011.html">"Survivors,"</a>

									among other episodes.)  He presumably knows something of what

									Franklin has been through.


								   <li>@@@910036385 When Franklin and Sheridan are discussing Franklin's

									experience, the doctor comments, "Moments are all we have."

									Sheridan pauses as if remembering something.  He may be recalling

									Delenn's similar comment in

									<a href="061.html">"War Without End part 2:"</a>

									"Savor the moments, for they will never come again."


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@844798195 Franklin's stumble into the crowd was reminiscent of

									two scenes from

									<a href="022.html">"Chrysalis,"</a>

									both Petrov's approach toward Garibaldi, and Garibaldi's later

									emergence at the party.


								   <li> In Britain, Channel 4 edited out seven seconds of the attack on

									Franklin.


								   <li> In a video message in

									<A HREF="024.html">"Revelations,"</A>

									Anna Sheridan was originally played by Beth Toussaint, not

									Melissa Gilbert.


								   <li>@@@844077101 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.


								   <li>@@@898569598 The Egyptian blessing was first mentioned in

									<a href="026.html">"A Distant Star."</a>


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li> 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.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Which of the last five episodes is your

									favorite?</em><br>

									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.


									<p>

									They're both just lovely, knockout episodes.  And, at times, scary as

									hell.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>About the UK possibly not showing the episode due to

									violent content</em><br>

									Yeah, when you get "Shadow Dancing," I'd love to see

									how much they slice outta this one....


								<p>

								   <li>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li> 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.


								<p>

								   <li> "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..."


									<p>

									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:


									<p>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li> 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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864605945 <em>Have you ever gone walkabout?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864605945 Here's a funny thing.


									<p>

									Well, funny weird.


									<p>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864605945 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.


									<p>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>In response to a review</em><br>

									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....

									<em>[That quote is from the architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe.]</em>


								<p>

								   <li> The Minbari greeting is a hoot...there's a lot in that episode I

									just like a lot.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@850550678 <em>Earth is still letting people come to Babylon

									5 as tourists?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@846747781 <em>How did Marcus heal so quickly?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@847068834 <em>How did you think up the Shadows' strategy?</em><br>

									I dunno...I just thunk it up as efficient and ruthless.  I

									guess it comes naturally when you're a producer.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@846747495 "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."


									<p>

									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.


									<p>

									"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!"


									<p>

									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.


									<p>

									"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)."


									<p>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864690006 <em>Why didn't the Shadows emerge right next to their

									targets?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864690006 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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864690006 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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@847069906 <em>Did the Minbari telepaths need line of sight to

									affect the Shadow ships?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864690006 <em>We couldn't hear the characters speak at the end of

									the battle.  Audio problem?</em><br>

									No, we just figured we'd let the music take it.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@846747653 "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?"


									<p>

									yup.


								<p>

								   <li> 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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@864690006 <em>Why did Kosh send those dream images?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li> 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."


								<p>

								   <li> 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.


									<p>

									And thanks again...you definitely won't be disappointed.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Was "Commander Ivanova is on channel 4" a reference to the UK

									network?  And what could possibly come next?</em><br>

									Yeah, the channel 4 reference was a nod to the UK.  Wondered if

									it'd get noticed....


									<p>

									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?


									<p>

									I think we figured it out....


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why not show more of Sheridan getting ready to sleep, with Delenn

									watching over him?</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why did the White Star make its own jump point when there was

									a jumpgate nearby?</em><br>

									And then, there are just times you do it 'cause it feels more dramatic

									that way....


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Do people on Earth hear about events like this battle?</em><br>

									They've heard rumors, usually the ones furthest away from Clark's

									confining influence....


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why the change in actresses playing Anna?</em><br>

									There was a combination of reasons, including production schedules,

									for the decision.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Why were station personnel seemingly surprised to see Anna?  And

									why did Melissa Gilbert come last in the list of guest stars?</em><br>

									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.


									<p>

									The ordering of credits was done to de-emphasize and hide (as much as

									possible) the appearance of Melissa.


								<p>

								   <li> 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.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>Were the Vorlons absent from the battle because of the death of

									Kosh, or for some other reason?</em><br>

									There are other reasons, which yes, will be addressed soon....


								<p>

								   <li>@@@844797198 <em>Why didn't they call in the Walkers from Sigma 957

									(<a href="049.html">"Voices of Authority?"</a>)</em><br>

									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.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@844393815 <em>Was the bit about true faces taken from an existing

									religion on Earth?</em><br>

									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.


									<p>

									Though one person did comment, "So a man's true face is all

									mushed up against the pillow and drooling?"


									<p>

									We don't talk anymore.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@846747092 "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!"


									<p>

									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.


									<p>

									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.


								</ul>