brennen
/
lurkers-guide


								<!-- TITLE Epiphanies -->


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								Bester arrives with news of an Earth Alliance plan to further isolate

								Babylon 5.  Garibaldi delivers some surprising news to Sheridan.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Koenig,+Walter">Walter Koenig</a> as Bester.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+London,+Damian">Damian London</a> as Minister.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/073">8.43</a>


								Production number: 407

								Original air week: February 10, 1997

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DGBEY/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: January 6, 2004


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by John Flinn III

								</pre>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


								<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@855596642 With his Shadow allies gone, President Clark now views

									Babylon 5 as a significant threat to his power.  There are still

									elements of the Psi-Corps loyal to the Shadows.


								   <li>@@@855596642 The telepaths rescued from the Shadows in

									<a href="058.html">"Ship of Tears"</a>

									are being kept aboard Babylon 5 in cryonic suspension until a means

									can be found of disentangling them from their implants.


								   <li>@@@855596642 Lyta's telepathic powers have definitely been enhanced

									by the Vorlons, to the point where she can easily block a scan by

									a P12-level telepath while making telepathic contact across

									several light-years.


								   <li>@@@855596642 Z'ha'dum has been destroyed, but not before the Shadows'

									allies left with unknown quantities of Shadow technology and artifacts.


								   <li>@@@855596642 The Shadows' allies have arrived on Centauri Prime and

									begun deploying the keepers seen in

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


								   <li>@@@855694042 After receiving a strange message from an unknown source,

									likely related to what was done to him in

									<a href="068.html">"Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"</a>

									Garibaldi has resigned as head of security.  Zack has been promoted

									to take his place.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@855596642 Since some in the Psi Corps apparently still side with

									the Shadows, did the Corps participate in the looting of Z'ha'dum?

									If not, is the Corps in contact with the looters?


								   <li>@@@855596642 Did all the Shadows' allies go to Centauri Prime, or

									are there more of them headed for other destinations?


								   <li>@@@855596642 Exactly how powerful is Lyta now?  Does she in fact have

									additional programming of which she's not yet aware?


								   <li>@@@855635078 What does Bester know about Lyta that she doesn't want

									others to find out?


								   <li>@@@855596642 What was the message Garibaldi received?  If it activated

									an implanted personality or some hidden programming, why did he resign

									after receiving the message?


								   <li>@@@856342884 What exactly were the "station lock-down codes" Garibaldi

									gave Zack?  Are they something Garibaldi knows, or something he might

									have kept a copy of?


								   <li>@@@855596642 What is Bester's "ace in the hole?"  Is it Garibaldi?


								   <li>@@@855635078 How does he plan to recover Carolyn?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855596642 Even Bester isn't let in on the entirety of Clark's plan,

									just the part involving the Black Omega squadron.  What else is

									planned?  Bester's superior said the plan involves the Ministry of

									Peace and the Nightwatch, at least.


									<p>

									Apparently Bester either isn't strong enough to scan his superior

									without being detected (telepathic strength may determine one's

									placement in the Corps, so that's not surprising,) or he's loyal

									enough to the Corps as a whole to simply accept his boss's statement

									that he doesn't need to know the entire plan.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@857587089 Bester took quite a personal risk by warning Babylon 5 of

									Clark's impending plan.  The entire plan was known only by a select

									few, according to Bester's superior; presumably only Bester and his

									superior knew about the Black Omega operation.  If that was the only

									part of the plan that failed, some degree of suspicion would naturally

									fall on Bester as head of the squadron, subjecting his recent

									activities to scrutiny.  And if even one Nightwatch member noticed

									Bester's presence on Babylon 5 -- not too farfetched, since he entered

									through a public customs area -- Clark's people would presumably be

									able to put two and two together and conclude that Bester must have

									leaked the information.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855943187 The Shadows, according to Anna Sheridan

									(<a href="066.html">"Z'ha'dum"</a>)

									believed they'd die if anything Vorlon touched Z'ha'dum.  Many of

									them did die when Sheridan arrived with a piece of Kosh.  And now

									Lyta's telepathy, enhanced by the Vorlons (and, indeed, genetically

									seeded by the Vorlons in the first place) has triggered the

									destruction of Z'ha'dum itself.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@857890334 Why did Sheridan not realize where the Shadows' minions

									were headed?  In

									<a href="060.html">"War Without End, Part One,"</a>

									he saw that they had gone to Centauri Prime.  His failure to do

									anything about their arrival there probably explains Londo's

									accusation in that episode.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856343437 The pattern of light in Garibaldi's message resembles the

									light shining on him from above in the escape pod in

									<a href="069.html">"The Summoning."</a>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856651345 Why did Bester, who took pleasure in needling Garibaldi

									on his previous visits to Babylon 5, make no inquiry about Garibaldi's

									absence from the station's command staff?


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855943187 If Garibaldi's resignation is indeed a sign that he's

									been programmed, the programming may be much more subtle than the

									Control personality implanted into Talia Winters

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

									The effect of the programming may simply be to cause Garibaldi to

									become disillusioned about Sheridan and his cause.  That would be

									useful to Clark, who could use Garibaldi as a weapon in his

									propaganda attack on Babylon 5.


								<P>

								   <li>@@@856812639 On the other hand, it may be that Garibaldi's programming

									hasn't been fully activated, and his resignation is his own choice;

									he may believe he can't be trusted until he can piece together what

									happened to him, and doesn't want to be in a position where he can

									compromise Babylon 5.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@857892236 In either case, Garibaldi's situation was foreshadowed in

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

									in which he pretended briefly to be Control while Lyta was sending

									the password to the command staff.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856651346 Was Delenn's remark to Sheridan, "We are old souls," a

									casual observation, or does it have something to do with Minbari-human

									soul migration?  Might it relate to her observation in

									<a href="029.html">"Soul Mates"</a>

									that Minbari believe that souls that have known one another in one life

									meet again in later lives to relive good relationships and to

									correct bad ones?


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855943486 Do the Vorlons have allies like the Shadows do?  If so,

									are they looting the Vorlon homeworld?  The Vorlons have been known

									to keep members of other races on their homeworld (e.g. Sebastian in

									<a href="043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor"</a>)

									and presumably those people were left behind when the Vorlons

									departed the galaxy.  What will become of them?


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855943486 At least some Vorlon technology was left behind: the

									White Star Fleet.  That would seem to give Sheridan a huge military

									edge against Earth, whose armed forces aren't even on par with the

									Minbari, let alone the Vorlons.  (Assuming, of course, that Clark

									and the Psi Corps didn't manage to procure any Shadow technology.)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855997432 Who is in charge on Centauri Prime?  The minister told

									Londo that the position of regent was mostly ceremonial.  Londo is off

									on Babylon 5, presumably not spending his time dealing with matters

									of state.  That would seem to leave a rather large power vacuum.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856167448 Why did G'Kar return to Babylon 5?  It's not a sanctuary

									for him any more, now that the Centauri have left Narn.  Perhaps

									he was simply returning to collect his belongings, or perhaps he

									intends to resume his role as ambassador from Narn.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855997432 Sheridan's comment about further troubles at the beginning

									of the episode, "But that's tomorrow," echoes Vir's admonition to

									Londo to be happy about his victories

									(<a href="072.html">"Into the Fire."</a>)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855997432 Zack and Garibaldi parallel each other to some extent.

									Garibaldi was willing to go on instinct and hire Zack when he was

									warned against it.  Sinclair made the same leap of faith by hiring

									Garibaldi

									(<a href="000.html">"The Gathering."</a>)

									Further, Zack's socializing with Lyta parallels Garibaldi's interest

									in Talia Winters.  Given the way Garibaldi is acting now, do these

									parallels foreshadow any unpleasant developments for Zack?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@855943187 Bester founded the Black Omega Squadron.


								   <li>@@@855597447 The season-three theme music was played at the end of

									the end of this episode during the original US broadcast, just like

									<a href="071.html">"The Long Night"</a>

									and

									<a href="072.html">"Into the Fire."</a>


								   <li>@@@856303420 A visual pun: Zack commented to his staff that he wanted

									to get away before the next person came through the customs area, since

									with his luck it'd be the Second Coming.  The next people through the

									door were three Kings -- Elvis impersonators, a little far from

									Bethlehem.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@855593777 The rest of the season will actually continue to

									increase in intensity, not decrease.  "Epiphanies" for me is an episode

									where I can feel the gears changing between war and post-war just a

									bit, but overall it's not bad.  And there's some *mean* stuff coming up

									very soon.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856812689 That's one more reason why I wanted to get the war out

									of the way...because too many people were focusing in on the show as

									being about the war.  It ain't.  It's about the changes that happen

									before, during, and *after* a war.  And what's coming up is in some

									ways stronger because it's more personal.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856337711 <em>About the dance music</em><br>

									Chris [Franke] wrote the music for us, in Big Band style.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@860653613 <em>How was Garibaldi's message produced?<br>

									(Answered by coproducer George Johnsen)</em><br>

									Believe it or not, that piece started as color bars.  It was twisted

									using Flint software from Discreet Logoc on an SGI Maximum Impact using

									fractal morphing plug ins.


									<p>

									Feedback is a wonderful thing......


									<p>

									It is certainly concievable that Fractint would work to create a similar

									effect.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855800798 <em>Sheridan was very sharp with Bester.</em><br>

									Yeah...Sheridan's taking a different tone with a lot of people

									these days.  I guess being dead for a while does that to you....


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855800798 <em>Was Bester trying to scan everyone at the conference

									table?</em><br>

									He tried to scan, but she kept blocking him.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855997598 <em>The scene between Sheridan and Delenn on the White

									Star was edited.</em><br>

									"Was this your intention - to get a response from those of us who follow

									the Sheridan and Delenn story line closely? Some how, I feel manipulated

									and very disappointed."


									<p>

									Yes, as I sat in the editing room, I thought, "Hmmm...if I do this,

									it'll get the Sheridan and Delenn fans' knickers all in a knot...."


									<p>

									Every scene goes through some editing...there is barely a scene we film

									that doesn't get a line or two or three snipped.  Sometimes the edit is

									noticeable, sometimes it ain't.  The only thing you can decide is, "Does

									this move the story along or not?"  I was chasing about another 20

									seconds (which was all we're talking about here), and the back-and-forth

									didn't really add anything to what was already in that scene.  I treated

									it the same as I would treat any other scene.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855996602 Lyta doesn't officially work for Sheridan, but she has

									nowhere else to go, and is beholden to him just for everyday survival

									and protection against the Corps.  That makes her answerable to him.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855941071 <em>Why didn't Londo have guards while he was

									shopping?</em><br>

									Because Londo wouldn't abide that for more than five minutes;

									it'd cramp his style.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856342615 The G'Kar/Londo dynamic isn't quite over yet...there's

									more to come, and that relationship is going to continue having its ups

									and downs.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@856337851 RE: the regent...well, if you want to do something

									really nasty, you want to do it to somebody everybody kinda likes, so

									you feel for the situation.


									<p>

									Ah likes doing that sorta thing...dropping anvils on characters

									to see what pattern splat they make....


								<p>

								   <li>@@@855996861 <em>Disneyplanet?</em><br>

									Give 'em time, and they'll try to buy a planet.  It's

									inevitable.


									<p>

									With Earth now in the present, that'd make two.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@857554667 Speaking of visual puns, someone pointed out that

									in "Epiphanies," you've got Zack leaving customs, saying of whoever

									comes through next, "it might be the Second Coming and I'm five sins

									behind on penance," and who walks in...but the Three Kings....


								</ul>