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<!-- TITLE What Ever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi? -->
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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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G'Kar tries
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to avoid capture by the Centauri while continuing his search. Delenn urges
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the Rangers to strike against the Shadows.
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</cite>
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Alexander,+Wayne">Wayne Alexander</a> as Lorien.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Krimmer,+Wortham">Wortham Krimmer</a> as Emperor Cartagia.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Citrano,+Lenny">Lenny Citrano</a> as Isaac.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+DeLongis,+Anthony">Anthony DeLongis</a> as Harry.
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</blockquote>
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<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/068">8.98</a>
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Production number: 402
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Original air week: November 11, 1996
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DGBEY/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: January 6, 2004
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Written by J. Michael Straczynski
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Directed by Kevin Dobson
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</pre>
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<p>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ADJP/thelurkersguidet">An
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episodic soundtrack is available.</a>
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<p>
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<hr size=3>
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<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@847699354 Garibaldi's Starfury was found abandoned in space, but
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someone from Interplanetary Expeditions
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(<a href="004.html">"Infection,"</a>
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<a href="066.html">"Z'ha'dum"</a>)
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knew where to find it. Garibaldi was captured and is apparently
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in the custody of Psi Corps.
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<li>@@@847699354 Lorien claims to be the first of the First Ones, and lives
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deep within Z'ha'dum. He says the Shadows return to Z'ha'dum because
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he's there, and that Kosh knew about his presence when he told Sheridan
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to jump.
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<li>@@@847907490 G'Kar has been captured by the Centauri. In exchange
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for help overthrowing Emperor Cartagia, Londo has promised G'Kar
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that the Centauri will withdraw from Narn after Cartagia is gone.
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@847699354 Exactly who captured Garibaldi, and why? The Psi
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Corps, or some other group associated with them? How did they
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recover him from the inside of a Shadow vessel? Did the Shadows
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give him up voluntarily?
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<li>@@@847699354 Why did they want to know what he remembered?
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<li>@@@847699354 Is Lorien's claim true? Is he a member of a race of
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elder beings, or is he somehow the first intelligent lifeform in
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the galaxy? What is he, exactly?
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<li>@@@848432708 When, and under what circumstances, did Lorien meet Kosh?
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<li>@@@847699354 How is Londo planning to use G'Kar to unseat Cartagia?
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<p>
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<li>@@@847907011 If Garibaldi has indeed been captured by the Psi Corps,
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why do they need to question him? Presumably they could just pick
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whatever information they need out of his mind. Perhaps they're
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simply trying to get him to cooperate, on the assumption that if he
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cooperates in one area, he'll be more malleable in others.
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<p>
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@@@848787762 Alternately, perhaps they're making sure he doesn't
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remember what happened to him because they've done something to him and
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wiped his memory of the event. That would explain the conclusion of the
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interrogation scene; they gassed him to transport him elsewhere once
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they were satisfied that their memory wipe was solid.
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<p>
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<li>@@@847907011 Centauri torture is likely to result in the loss of
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G'Kar's left eye
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(<a href="031.html">"The Coming of Shadows,"</a>
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<a href="061.html">"War Without End, Part Two."</a>)
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Whether that eye is the subject of Lady Morella's prophecy
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|
(<a href="053.html">"Point of No Return"</a>)
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isn't clear; it's certainly plausible that Londo could redeem himself
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by halting the torture of G'Kar, but there are other eyes that don't
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see (e.g. the Shadows' Eye at Z'ha'dum in
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<a href="067.html">"The Hour of the Wolf,"</a>
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or the Centauri Eye from
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<a href="013.html">"Signs and Portents."</a>)
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<p>
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<li>@@@865731365 Given Lorien's assessment of his situation,
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Sheridan presumably qualifies as "the one who is already
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dead" in Morella's prophecy. And, in fact, Londo spares his life 17
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years in the future
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(<a href="061.html">"War Without End, Part Two."</a>)
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Assuming the prophecy is correct and Londo was thus redeemed, obviating
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the need for a third chance, what form would that chance have taken?
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<p>
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<li>@@@847699354 Why is Lorien so interested in what happens to Sheridan?
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He said Sheridan was "the only one to make it this far." Was he
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referring to the physical descent down the chasm, or some more
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|
spiritual journey?
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<p>
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<li>@@@848360087 Lorien said neither Kosh nor Sheridan wanted to die.
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Assuming he was able to resurrect Sheridan, is Kosh also still alive?
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If so, what did Kosh find to live for?
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<p>
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<li>@@@847913276 Lorien said he had been waiting for someone to talk to.
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He also said, several times, that Sheridan was trapped between life and
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death, between seconds. Given that he was there with Sheridan, and
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|
that Kosh knew about Lorien's presence, it's plausible that Lorien, not
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Justin, is in fact "the
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man in between" from Sheridan's Kosh-induced dream
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|
(<a href="033.html">"All Alone in the Night."</a>)
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If so, what will he do now that he's found Sheridan?
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<p>
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<li>@@@847699354 Lorien, if that's who the formless being in Sheridan's
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dream is, asked both the Vorlon and the Shadow questions. Why are
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those questions significant to him? He said that there was no good
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answer to "Who are you," implying perhaps that the search for an
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|
answer is what matters.
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<p>
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Did the Shadows and the Vorlons get those questions from Lorien?
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Lorien claims to have met Kosh (who, oddly, he knew by name, which
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|
would seem to contradict the new Kosh's statement that "we are all
|
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Kosh") so presumably he has also met the Shadows. Perhaps each race
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latched onto one of the two questions, adopting it as its own.
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<p>
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<li>@@@848344773 Later, however, Lorien asked Sheridan <em>three</em>
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|
questions: who he was, why he was, and what he wanted. The middle
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|
question is new. If the Vorlons and the Shadows are supposed to
|
|
ask the first and last questions, is there supposed to be another
|
|
group asking the second? (See
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|
<a href="#JS.question">jms speaks</a>)
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<p>
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<li>@@@848612588 One person did ask all three questions once: Sinclair,
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|
when he was captured during the Battle of the Line
|
|
(<a href="008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars."</a>)
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<p>
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|
<li>@@@850550166 Kosh may have implied the presence of a third question in
|
|
<a href="009.html">"Deathwalker"</a>
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|
when he told Talia, "Understanding is a three-edged sword."
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|
|
<p>
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|
<li>@@@854122542 Lorien echoed another statement of Sinclair's, also from
|
|
<a href="008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars."</a>
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|
Sinclair said of his wingman Mitchell, "I tried to warn you, but
|
|
you wouldn't listen... you never listened." Lorien said the same
|
|
of the Shadows and Vorlons, or so it seemed, though he didn't provide
|
|
any more context or explanation.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Vir made a similar comment to G'Kar in
|
|
<a href="043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor:"</a>
|
|
"I wish... there was something that I could do. I tried telling them,
|
|
but they wouldn't listen. They never listen..."
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|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@867026668 In
|
|
<a href="004.html">"Infection,"</a>
|
|
Garibaldi observed to Sinclair that people look for things to die for,
|
|
because it's easier than finding something to live for. Lorien echoed
|
|
that sentiment at the end of this episode.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@847699354 Lorien said he hated to see his children fighting. Does
|
|
that imply he doesn't approve of Sheridan's war against the Shadows?
|
|
For that matter, does it mean he doesn't approve of the Vorlons and
|
|
the Shadows fighting? If so, can he do anything about it?
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@847699354 Can Lorien leave Z'ha'dum? Perhaps the planet is part
|
|
of him, or he's bound to it in some way; in that case, Delenn's plan
|
|
to attack Z'ha'dum could prove disastrous, assuming the Vorlons are
|
|
as interested in Lorien as the Shadows are.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@847907011 Lorien said the Shadows think they return to Z'ha'dum to
|
|
show him respect, but that they don't understand any more. What don't
|
|
they understand? Why did they originally start returning to Z'ha'dum,
|
|
and why don't they understand now what they did long ago?
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
<li>@@@847907490 The lighting at the end of the prison cell scene is
|
|
symbolic; as soon as Londo agrees to free Narn, the cell door opens
|
|
and G'Kar is bathed in white light, his life's goal finally within
|
|
reach.
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|
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|
<li>@@@848345720 The passage of time on Z'ha'dum, or at least in Sheridan's
|
|
condition, is similar to the effect of a black hole at the event
|
|
horizon: time slows down to a standstill from the point of view
|
|
of an outside observer.
|
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|
<li>@@@870367756 As originally broadcast, Franklin cites the date as January
|
|
8 in his opening monologue, and says it's been 14 days since Sheridan
|
|
disappeared. In the second US broadcast of the episode
|
|
Franklin's opening monologue was fixed
|
|
to say it was 9 days since both Sheridan and Garibaldi disappeared.
|
|
(See
|
|
<a href="#JS.days">jms speaks</a>)
|
|
However, the UK broadcast, and possibly others, used the original
|
|
incorrect date.
|
|
|
|
<li>@@@905790308 The engine part G'Kar handed to the man in the bar
|
|
is an overthruster prop from "Buckaroo Banzai."
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
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|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
<li>@@@846744605 I just got a copy of the ad that's going to run in TV
|
|
Guide for "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?" in two weeks. It's a
|
|
great ad, well composed, well done, but it's also a major spoiler for
|
|
something you will NOT want spoiled. So avoid the ad if possible.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@847907011 The script was easy to write story-wise, I think it
|
|
only took me a few days (in general, the faster the write, the better
|
|
the script, when it comes to something like this...writing in white
|
|
heat is best), but *very* difficult from an emotional standpoint. I
|
|
was just about as wasted after writing it as you were after seeing
|
|
it. There's a lot of stuff in there that's difficult or painful to
|
|
touch, and you can only hope that it comes out okay. I'm happy it
|
|
did.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848311051 <em>Sheridan's fall was like Gandalf's in "The Lord of
|
|
the Rings," or like the descent into the underworld in Dante's
|
|
"Inferno."</em><br>
|
|
I've mentioned elsewhere that I was going more for
|
|
the roots of this. Though the Dante thread you mention is closest in
|
|
many ways (again, you dig into archetypes you end up with similar
|
|
structures, that's the nature of the beast), it was Orpheus going into
|
|
the underworld for his wife, and losing her, that was in the back of my
|
|
head when I was blocking out that part of the story. (You can also
|
|
toss in Christ's temptation by the devil, and descent into the
|
|
wilderness, if you want.)
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This will probably get me in trouble, but...on the one hand, I
|
|
am always delighted and impressed with the breadth and depth of
|
|
analyses and thought of the larger group of SF fans, and the
|
|
insightfulness with which they apply those perceptions.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
On the flip side of this discussion...for a certain percentage
|
|
of them, that breadth and depth is only or primarily within SF and
|
|
mainstream fantasy. The wellspring of material from which to draw when
|
|
making comparisons is not often as broad as it should be in classical
|
|
literature, mythology, medieval studies, and so on. They see a drop
|
|
into a chasm, they think "Oh, Gandalf." Not understanding that the root
|
|
of this goes back way, way, way further...to Orpheus and his kindred
|
|
spirits.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
I was copied a note from someone on another newsgroup who
|
|
insisted that everything in the show had an elvish/Tolkein base,
|
|
including and *especially* the names of everyone, citing the Agamemnon
|
|
as meaning something or other in LoTR elvish. The symbol is RIGHT
|
|
THERE, in the name, Agamemnon, and the whole unfortunate history of
|
|
that character and his wife, and the Cassandra character (which is at
|
|
the center of G'Kar's character)...and yet she says, "No, no, it's all
|
|
a clue, it means this thing over here."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
My background is as an SF fan myself, so I offer the above
|
|
without stereotype or pejorative intent. But as well as reading SF, I
|
|
spent most of my early adult life reading from classical sources.
|
|
Goethe's FAUST informs Londo in many ways, as well as the history of
|
|
early Rome, and Hegelian notions on the role of conflict, and the
|
|
divine role of the emperor. You're talking to someone who read
|
|
Plotinus' The Aenneads just for kicks, and whose favorite character was
|
|
Zeno and his paradoxes. You want to talk Plato's perfect forms? The
|
|
Socratic method of teaching? Greek tragic structure as embodied in
|
|
Oedipus? The overall work of Sophocles? The Bible? I've read that
|
|
one cover to cover twice...anyone else in the room who's done that,
|
|
raise your hands and tell me you didn't fall asleep halfway through
|
|
Numbers and Deuteronomy, the two most boring books in the whole darned
|
|
thing.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
There was a period in my life -- from around 1976 through 1981
|
|
-- when I devoured everything I could in these areas. Mythology.
|
|
Existentialism. Zen. 18th century literature. I took part time jobs in
|
|
libraries so I could get access to the widest possible range of books,
|
|
especially new ones in areas that interested me. A lot of the details
|
|
have washed away over the years, but the cumulative *sense* of that
|
|
remains. I can still remember how excited I was when a brand new
|
|
translation of the Inferno, the Purgatario and the Paradisio came out
|
|
(from Penguin, I think), putting it all back into the proper lyric
|
|
form, and I devoured them, one day each, then read them all again using
|
|
the footnotes and marginalia.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
All that time, I never knew I was preparing myself to write this
|
|
show, because it could *only* be done with a generalist background,
|
|
knowing a little about a lot of areas...just enough to get into
|
|
trouble, ususally, but still the grounding is there.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Funny thing...about two, three weeks ago, I got an email from a
|
|
woman who is a professor of medieval studies at a major university, who
|
|
said she'd been nudged into watching the show by her graduate students,
|
|
and is now a big fan of the show. She said that as she watched, she
|
|
"clicked" constantly on the sources from medieval and classical
|
|
literature, mythology, and other deep well sources, and was pleased to
|
|
see them being used in a contermporary or futuristic venue.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Anyway, it's what I've always said about this show...you see the
|
|
paradigm with which you are most familiar. Sometimes that's great,
|
|
and sometimes it's a curse.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@851242973 But the thing is, I wasn't *thinking* of LoTR...I was
|
|
thinking of Orpheus going into the underworld, of the classical notion
|
|
of descending into hell to find oneself or something else...it just
|
|
bugs me when someone assumes that they know what was in my head at a
|
|
time when I wrote something, and then take that as a given and start
|
|
making me explain it or acting as if this is true, when it ain't.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@843865104 Larry DiTillio made the point, while on the
|
|
show, that some SF
|
|
fans reared on ST expect everyone to talk like English earls, very
|
|
proper. We go for vernacular every time. I like the rough edges, the
|
|
hesitations, the stumbles. In editing 402 the other day, there's
|
|
several takes to choose from in a particular scene, but I picked the
|
|
one where the actor slightly stumbled over the line, because it was at
|
|
the heat of the moment, and in that kind of situation, we all get
|
|
flustered. It made it feel more real.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Slang and idiom have been with us forever, and always will be.
|
|
Now, on the other hand, I don't go full-tilt bozo with it, by peppering
|
|
the dialogue with lots of techtalk and futureslang because I think it
|
|
becomes intrusive. So we try to find a balance. Some people don't like
|
|
it, and like their SF to all sound the same. That's fine. Tastes
|
|
vary.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Also, I use some dialogue styles that lean toward the
|
|
theatrical, what you'd see on the stage, or hear in a radio drama.
|
|
Other times I'm right in the gutter. You use different tools for
|
|
different jobs. My influences are from Rod Serling and Charles
|
|
Beaumont and Norman Corwin and Ray Bradbury, so you're going to hear
|
|
those colors from time to time, and because you don't hear a lot of
|
|
that particular style in TV these days, some people think it's
|
|
bad...no, it's just a different approach to dialogue.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Look at Harold Pinter, then look at Christopher Fry, then look
|
|
at Joe Orton. Between just those three you've got three very stylized,
|
|
consistent approaches to dialogue, not like the other two at all, and
|
|
between them more diversity than in a hundred TV shows. In theater,
|
|
which is where I cut my teeth, it's *okay* to have dialogue that's
|
|
somewhat stylized, or a bit more formal, a bit more literate, or
|
|
whatever. In TeeVee it's all gotta be the same. To which I say...why?
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
(I've also made the mental assumption of a return to a new
|
|
formality in 2260, since styles go in and out of fashion. People use
|
|
the word Mr. and Ms. more often, there's a more formal stance with
|
|
people you often get when a culture comes out of a major war, as we did
|
|
after WW2.)
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
But dialogue tastes are utterly individual; what works for one
|
|
may not and likely will not work for someone else. And that's okay.
|
|
That's as it should be. As long as the totality works.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848344884 "I watched _What Ever Happened to Mr Garibaldi_ last
|
|
night and was struck by the scene where Mr. G was being questioned by
|
|
the disembodied voice. That scene was very similar to the style of
|
|
another one of my favorite shows _Homicide: Life on the Streets_. I'm
|
|
just wondering if that was an intentional nod to that show."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This is kind of embarrassing, but...see, I don't watch much TV
|
|
anymore. I don't have time. I think I've seen maybe two episodes of
|
|
Homicide, total. So we were in with the editor to do our producer's
|
|
cut of 402, and I was trying to describe what I wanted...jarring,
|
|
disorienting cuts, don't worry if it matches, use conflicting takes or
|
|
overlaps of takes...and finally the editor said, "Oh, you mean the
|
|
Homicide look." And it'd been so long that I asked them to explain to
|
|
me what that meant, and John got into it, me with him, and ended up
|
|
with what we've got. I've got to start watching TV again, beyond
|
|
X-Files, 60 Minutes and Simpsons. (Well, I've added Millennium, so
|
|
that helps.)
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848389230 Actually, the Garibaldi intercuts like that were something
|
|
that I came up with in the editing room, and John Copeland and I
|
|
thereafter assembled it, with the editor.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@864607391 This one's a favorite of mine as well. On the
|
|
Garibaldi scene, it was shot fairly conventionally, but as we got into
|
|
editing, I said, "Let's do something we don't normally do, let's try a
|
|
visual approach that's not usually part of SF shows." So we put that
|
|
sequence together. Again, my feeling is, break your format once in a
|
|
while or get stuck in a rut. Take chances. The worst that'll happen
|
|
is that you'll fail.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
It's a lovely episode.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@864607391 <em>Is the director the same Kevin Dobson who was on
|
|
"Kojak?"</em><br>
|
|
No, this Kevin is an Australian director.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@864607391 <em>About the voiceover recap at the top of the
|
|
episode</em><br>
|
|
I figured, since this year was much more serial than in the
|
|
past, you kinda *had* to put little recaps at the top...also, it gives
|
|
it a different, narrative feel, which I kinda like.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848360273 <em><a name="JS.days">Franklin said it was 14 days</a>
|
|
since Sheridan's death
|
|
and 9 days since Garibaldi's disappearance, but the two happened
|
|
at the same time.</em><br>
|
|
This is a case where jms screwed up.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Originally, the script read, "It's now 14 days since Captain Sheridan
|
|
left for Z'ha'dum and was presumed killed. Nine days since Mr.
|
|
Garibaldi disappeared while on patrol."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
I went to edit the first sentence to make it active rather than passive
|
|
syntax. In handwriting on the page (after the first draft, the typists
|
|
take revisions and implement them), I meant to write, "It is now 9 days
|
|
since Captain Sheridan was presumed killed at Z'ha'dum." I either
|
|
missed changing the days, or the typist didn't put it in (it happens),
|
|
and that draft of the script is long gone. But without knowing which,
|
|
I'll just take the rap for it.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848607080 I'm considering revoicing it...we just didn't catch it until
|
|
it was gone.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850298170 "In WHTMG, Marcus is talking to G'Kar about his friends
|
|
and says he's had "Damn few of them, and most of them are dead." My
|
|
instant reaction was "That can't be an allusion to Return to Zork." Can
|
|
it?"
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Y'know, if I were to read this group as an outsider, I'd think that
|
|
this jms person was incapable of coming up with a single line on his
|
|
own.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
NO, it wasn't a Zork reference, for chrissakes. Can we possibly get
|
|
any more obscure here? I don't even know what this REFERS to. Marcus
|
|
came from a mining colony. The shadows struck, and killed everyone
|
|
there. Hence, the line above.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
There was some goofing around with SF references early on in the show;
|
|
this got out of hand, and it stopped. I don't sit here, thinking,
|
|
"Oh, goody, I can make a reference to The Day The Earth Stood Still
|
|
here," or some other show. I write what is appropriate for the
|
|
character to say. Period.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
I'm sorry if I'm a bit cranky in answering this, but jesus christ,
|
|
people, give it a rest and stop looking for references that don't
|
|
exist. There are only so many permutations in the english language,
|
|
and something has got to echo somewhere for everyone...but that ain't
|
|
the source. "Oh, look, he use the word THE in this episode, he must
|
|
be nodding at "The Ipcriss Files" or "THEM" just leaving off the M to
|
|
throw us off."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Your point of reference is your point of reference, it's nothing to do
|
|
with me. It's like a Rorscharch test, you see what you're familiar
|
|
with.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
As a writer, you work your brains out trying to come up with
|
|
something, and you try your damndest to make it original, and fresh,
|
|
and interesting...do you have any idea how infuriating, how maddening,
|
|
how bottomlin *insulting* it is to have 10,000 people parsing every
|
|
sentence and saying, "Oh, here, did you take this from that? Is this
|
|
a reference to this over here?"
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
NO, IT'S NOT.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
I allowed a little of that in the first season or so, often in scripts
|
|
by other people, on a couple of occasions by myself, but that's the
|
|
end of it, because everyone decided that the show was one big easter
|
|
egg hunt. Fanfic is full of this stuff, which is perhaps why everyone
|
|
keeps looking for it here.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
If it's an absolutely blantant, and extremely recognizeable line, like
|
|
the Tolkein reference in year two's "Geometry," then yeah...but some
|
|
of this is getting so obscure and ridiculous that it's starting to
|
|
make me crazy.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Can we *please* declare a moratorium on this for a while?
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848469520 <em>About the final scene with Sheridan remembering
|
|
Delenn</em><br>
|
|
During the music spotting session, where I indicate where music comes in
|
|
and goes out, my main note to Chris on that final sequence was, "Break
|
|
our heart."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
He did.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848469520 <em>About the shot of Sheridan as he sees the pit</em><br>
|
|
"Was this scene redone for WHtMG? I'd have to compare, but I think I
|
|
would've noticed that hopeful smile at the end of Z. It would've been
|
|
just a -little- out of place, under the circumstances."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
It's *exactly* the same footage, frame for frame. Only your perspective
|
|
has changed.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Sort of like Shroedinger's TV show.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848310677 <em>About Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas</em><br>
|
|
Yeah, those two are terrific. You know you can write *anything*
|
|
for them, and they can play it. Just terrific stuff.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848389230 <em>Who thought up the cat sound when G'Kar extended
|
|
the pike?</em><br>
|
|
The cat was my idea. Cats are endless sources of humor.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848346518 <em>Ivanova wasn't in this episode. Was she supposed to
|
|
be the one cleaning out Sheridan's quarters?</em><br>
|
|
No, those scenes were always written with Franklin in mind. There was a
|
|
brief scene with Ivanova originally in the ep, but it was snipped for
|
|
time.<br>
|
|
<em>The scene was inserted into the next episode.</em>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848607080 <em>Londo is very careful with his wording around
|
|
Cartagia.</em><br>
|
|
Which is why Cartagia likes Londo...he stands up to Cartagia,
|
|
but does so in such a way that Cartagia can't touch him...doesn't give
|
|
him any excuse or way in. He's got nowhere to go...and in a way, he
|
|
admires and respects that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850299355 I will, on *rare* occasions, address a note or correction
|
|
directly to an actor while we're shooting, but in general I give any
|
|
notes to the director on the set, who passes them on to the actor.
|
|
There really can't be a multiplicity of voices talking to actors on the
|
|
set...it can become confusing, and they can get contradictory
|
|
directions. They can get skittish and lose concentration.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
One occasion where I *did* do this recently...in the scene
|
|
where Londo explains to Cartagia why he shouldn't be killed for being
|
|
late, the director had Londo playing that scene submissive and nervous
|
|
in rehearsals, didn't understand that the whole point of the exercise
|
|
was Londo standing up to Cartagia, but doing so in a very sly way, not
|
|
giving him any room to maneuver. Cartagia likes Londo because there's
|
|
intelligence and steel, in a very manipulative fashion..."you think the
|
|
same way I do," Cartagia says. So before we shot the scene, I pulled
|
|
Peter aside and gave him the correction, and that's how we shot it.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
But, again, those incidents are fairly rare.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850299471 <em>Do actors ever ask you for clarification?</em><br>
|
|
That, yes...very often, while the actor is prepping, they'll
|
|
come by my office, or at lunch ask about a particular passage, for
|
|
clarification on my part, as opposed to an adjustment on their
|
|
performance.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848607080 <em>Wasn't Londo afraid G'Kar's cell was bugged?</em><br>
|
|
I figured Londo would've bribed the guards to shut down the
|
|
bugs. Also, there's reason to bug a political figure's quarters...but a
|
|
cell in which there is just one person, who in theory has no allies
|
|
with whom to conspire...that would likely have a low priority.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848310677 Female is an irrelevant concept to the vorlons.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850550307 I think Lorien is beyond concepts of male and female as they
|
|
pertain to the Vorlons...that's our perception of them, not his.
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<li>@@@848311051 <em>How long can bits of Vorlon consciousness
|
|
survive?</em><br>
|
|
They can't survive for long on their own.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850298282 <em>What did the Vorlons tell Lyta about their
|
|
intentions?</em><br>
|
|
Only that they'd still respect her in the morning.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848311423 <em>Was there a reason the Psi-Cop had the same build as
|
|
Bester and wore an opaque mask?</em><br>
|
|
Who would do a thing like that?
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848786247 <em>Did the interrogation scene actually happen, or is it
|
|
an implanted memory?</em><br>
|
|
No, that scene happened in reality.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848346604 <em>About Sheridan and G'Kar</em><br>
|
|
"They are being made to choose between life and death, action and
|
|
inaction, hope and despair. They are in the position of having to
|
|
either lose faith, or keep it."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Yup. Got it in one....
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848389230 <em>Is Lorien God?</em><br>
|
|
The first sentient being. He ain't god in any sense of the
|
|
word. That he's still puzzling out this "word/thought" business shows
|
|
that, even after all this time, he's still trying to suss things
|
|
out....
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848472561 <em>The first being, or the last survivor of his
|
|
race?</em><br>
|
|
First, as far as he knows. To quote from a later episode, "So
|
|
we left, and found no others like us."
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@848786174 He'll discuss his origins at considerable length in
|
|
about 3 or 4 more episodes.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@850298839 Well, technically speaking, I suppose you could say that the
|
|
Vorlons and Shadows are second ones, since Lorien's people came first,
|
|
about which you'll hear more in the next batch of eps.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@851907233 <em>Was Lorien waiting for Sheridan in particular?</em><br>
|
|
He was waiting for whoever would be first to get that far.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<li>@@@884020583 <em>About the questions</em><br>
|
|
"Why are you here?" asked by Lorien, is #3. The balance point between
|
|
the two.
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
There's a fourth question coming, though.
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|