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417 lines
16 KiB
417 lines
16 KiB
<!-- TITLE Intersections in Real Time -->
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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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Sheridan faces an inquisitor from Earthdome.
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</cite>
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Alexander,+Wayne">Wayne Alexander</a> as Drazi.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Birk,+Raye">Raye Birk</a> as William.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Gray,+Bruce">Bruce Gray</a> as Interrogator.
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</blockquote>
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<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/084">8.08</a>
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Production number: 418
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Original air week: June 16, 1997
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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 John LaFia
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</pre>
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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>@@@866580699 Sheridan continues to be held in an interrogation center,
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most likely on Mars.
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<li>@@@866580699 Clark believes Sheridan's credibility as a war hero is a
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threat to the credibility of the administration. He wants Sheridan to
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recant in public to restore the public's belief that "you can't beat
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the system."
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<li>@@@866580699 Among the weapons Earth purchased from the Narn during the
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Earth-Minbari War were paingivers
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(<a href="005.html">"The Parliament of Dreams."</a>)
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The paingivers appear to work as well on humans as they do on Narns.
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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>@@@866828767 Was the interrogation real, or was it all in Sheridan's
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mind like the interrogation of Sinclair in
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<a href="008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars?"</a>
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<li>@@@866783581 Was it really morning?
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<li>@@@866948664 Is Sheridan's father still being held?
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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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<li>@@@866617559 With Ivanova presumably continuing the campaign to retake
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Earth, it's interesting that Clark's people seem intent on breaking
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Sheridan to the exclusion of trying to interrogate him for information
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about battle plans or other practical matters. Perhaps they figure
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that he wouldn't give up such information until he had gone over to
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their side anyway, but given the fact that Clark is willing to send
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Psi Corps units out to scan the general public
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(<a href="083.html">"The Face of the Enemy"</a>)
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it's strange a telepath hasn't been brought in to pull military
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information from Sheridan's head.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867089577 In
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<a href="083.html">"The Face of the Enemy,"</a>
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Ivanova quoted Sheridan as saying, "The person is expendable. The
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job is not." The interrogator told Sheridan much the same thing,
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with one exception: Sheridan himself wasn't expendable. But that
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was only true as long as there was the possibility of him performing a
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different job: communicating to the public that Clark couldn't be
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beaten.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866828327 The interrogator appeared to have disabled the paingivers
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after Sheridan's first exposure to them; on several occasions after
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that, the two of them were close together but Sheridan wasn't shocked.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866828616 Assuming the images of Delenn weren't telepathic
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projections of some kind on her part, Sheridan's repeated visions of
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her echoed his experience on Z'ha'dum in
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<a href="068.html">"Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"</a>
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The knowledge that Delenn is still out there, awaiting his return, is
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an island of stability Sheridan can cling to.
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<p>
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The interrogator clearly knew of his relationship with Delenn -- not
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a big secret after the ISN report in
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<a href="074.html">"The Illusion of Truth."</a>
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Will the next interrogator realize that Sheridan is using her as an
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anchor, and try to undermine that directly, e.g. by presenting faked
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evidence that something has happened to her?
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<p>
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<li>@@@866951349 "Room 17" is probably a reference to George Orwell's
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"1984," in which Winston Smith, the protagonist, hears of people
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taken to Room 101, but has no idea what goes on there.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867001429 The interrogator insisted that he was telling Sheridan
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the truth, but also insisted that the truth is fluid. That means
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little, if anything, the interrogator told Sheridan can be taken
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at face value.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867173945 The interrogator said he thought his speech about poison
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was a metaphor for something, but he couldn't figure out what. In
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addition to the historical nod (see
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<a href="#NO.poison">Notes</a>)
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the speech can be interpreted as a metaphor for what he
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was trying to do to Sheridan. First he convinced Sheridan to agree
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to little lies (the time of day.) After a steady diet of small
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untruths, the interrogator hoped, Sheridan would become more and
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more receptive to bigger and bigger lies, until he was ready to
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swallow anything suggested to him.
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@866650292 The interrogator mentioned that Sheridan had been
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interrogated once before. That referred to
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<a href="043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor,"</a>
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in which Sheridan was interrogated by Jack the Ripper (played by
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Wayne Alexander, who played the Drazi in this episode.)
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<p>
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<li>@@@881045445 Possible continuity glitch: When the interrogator left the
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room and the loud voice started repeating its message, Sheridan covered
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his ears. At the beginning of the next act, when the interrogator
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returned, Sheridan's hands were bound to the chair. Of course, it's
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possible other people came into the room in the interim and forced
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him to listen.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867001429 <a name="NO.poison">The interrogator</a>
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didn't get sick from the sandwich, he
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claimed, because he'd been eating a little poison every day and had
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built up a resistance. This has historical precedent; for instance,
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King Mithridates of Pontus, 135-63 BC, who eventually tried to
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commit suicide by swallowing large quantities of poison but couldn't
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kill himself because his resistance was too great.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866951349 Perhaps simply by coincidence, this "1984"esque story
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is the 84th one-hour episode.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867570277 Taking numerology to an absurd extreme, add episode 84 to
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room 17 and you get 101, the mystery room number from "1984."
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@867048518 <em>About the title</em><br>
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Each act took place in real time, no time jumps...the
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conversation happened as it happened. Since you had act breaks in
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between them, those became intersections...in real time.
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<p>
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<li>@@@858187727 As this has the potential to be a very cool and somewhat
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experimental episode, I'd rather say nothing until later.
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<p>
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<li>@@@864893341 I don't usually comment on this, but...if I had known
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*with absolute certainty* that there would be a season 5, then season 4
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would have ended with 418, "Intersections in Real Time." So you only
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pull 4 episodes forward, really. You'll understand when you see it.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866949567 I like this one a lot. It takes some real chances, and
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it has some nasty twists and turns. I like that in a story....
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<p>
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<li>@@@866783933 Actually, one episode coming up in this batch is,
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according to John Copeland, the single most subversive thing we've ever
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done on the show. It's a *mean* episode and completely, unabashedly
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underhanded in its way of illuminating certain things. While, oddly
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enough, ending in a positive fashion, despite George Johnsen's comment
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at playback during the audio mix, "Okay, what sadistic m-----f-----
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wrote this thing?"
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<p>
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<li>@@@866999499 "You understand the concepts of breaking down a human
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psyche."
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<p>
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(shrugs) Well, sure...I work for Warner Bros.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866620204 <em>Warner Bros.' wacky scheduling is actually appropriate
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this time.</em><br>
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Yep...it is that. At last I have a proper cliffhanger and a
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proper wait afterward.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866949714 <em>Why do people do end-of-season cliffhangers?</em><br>
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It's basically a means to get the audience, which has been away
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for a long time, to come back to resolve a hanging point and jump-start
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them into the episodes. If it ends cleanly, apparently a lot of folks
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in any series will just forget to tune in the following season.
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<p>
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<li>@@@868631882 <em>Was Bruce Boxleitner's beard for real?</em><br>
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Bruce had some time between episodes, and began to grow the beard for
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real, and we darkened it down for later acts.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866999499 <em>The costumes and set design were ripoffs of "The
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Prisoner."</em><br>
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You're wrong. The costumer has never even *seen* the Prisoner,
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as far as I know, and the suit he wore was one of our standard earth
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suits which we've used before on the show, just tailored it to fit his
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form. And the set design is just your basic black room with chairs,
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nothing more. I also doubt muchly that Flinn has ever seen The
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Prisoner...which was a very well and brightly lit show, whereas this
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played to darkness.
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<p>
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<li>@@@866617925 <em>Was the Drazi really there? He was played by the
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same actor who played Jack.</em><br>
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The Drazi was really there...has to be, or the ep loses some of
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its teeth.
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And yeah, we kinda liked the symmetry of Wayne being in this ep.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867175103 Yes, the Drazi was working with the EA the whole time,
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rendering Sheridan's "victory" impotent.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867048567 <em>What was the message of this episode?</em><br>
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The message is just that, that we *all* have to choose
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to resist from time to time, and that one individual can fight the
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system. And we are all that individual at one time or another.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867168871 There was a lot of give-and-take in that episode, and
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at times maybe the interrogator was near the truth, or a form of
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it...but always distorting it, using it for his benefit. Slippery
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slopes indeed....
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<p>
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<li>@@@867168871 "Theres alot of truth to your notion of the TRUTH. It
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raises points I'd rather not think about. Where do these notions of
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yours originate?"
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<p>
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Usually at 3 in the morning when I can't sleep....
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<p>
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<li>@@@866949540 <em>Why doesn't Clark just have Bester reprogram
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Sheridan?</em><br>
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Because they don't want him reprogrammed; as William says,
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another teep could see that he'd been altered. They want him
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*sincerely broken*. Not just rewired.
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<p>
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And yeah, I wanted this to function almost as a play in
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structure. In fact, when we shot it, we did it in full-act chunks.
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The actors would come in in the morning, rehearse it as they would a
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play, then we'd shoot it the way we'd shoot a play, straight through.
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<P>
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<li>@@@866999499 <em>But if Clark is in control of the Corps, no other
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teep would scan Sheridan, right?</em><br>
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It matters because there are plenty of alien teeps out there as
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well as human ones, and you can always get a rogue in there.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867168871 <em>Did Sheridan say very little to avoid giving the
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interrogator anything to use against him?</em><br>
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That's one reason (among many) that I kept Sheridan silent
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for the most part; a) because the less he says the better overall from
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his position, and b) the audience would want to respond for him.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867168871 <em>The interrogator looked like an ordinary
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person.</em><br>
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Exactly. The banal face of evil. You look at most of the guys
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who ran Treblinka, or Bergen-Belsen, and they're largely ordinary
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looking guys, who could be accountants or repair men or car salesmen.
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They're *us*...and this was designed to remind us of that. The evil,
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mustache-twirling villain is too easy, and too far from the truth of
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it.
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<p>
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<li>@@@872709849 This was one of the elements that made the episode
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interesting for me; most SF tends to ignore the darker sides of the
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common person. They deal with the big bad guys, the evil federations
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and Darth Vaders and all the other major forces out there, but all too
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often the real damage is done not by the single Evil Leader, but by the
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ten million people who *follow* him, the bookkeepers who track the
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bodies and the trains and the pain by placing the right figures in all
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the right columns, who make the trains run on time, who run the gulags,
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who build the new state empires that will be built with slave labor, any
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or all of whom could say, as many have, "I was just doing my job."
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<p>
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Not so much "following orders," we've heard that before, applied to the
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military...but just "doing my job." To the interrogator, he was simply
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doing his job, and doing it to the best of his ability. It is something
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he does, then he goes home to his wife and kids, and has dinner, and
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sits out on the porch trying to forget what he does because he thinks
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he *has* to do it...assuming he thinks about it at all.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867513059 <em>Referring to
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<a href="043.html">"Comes the Inquisitor"</a></em><br>
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"It's Johnny who's "alone in the dark", facing unrelenting pressure to
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give up, knowing that if he dies under torture his friends may never
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know for certain what happened to him."
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<p>
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Which is what the Inquisitor said he would have to face.
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<p>
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<li>@@@867447827 <em>This story must have been based on
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"Closetland." There were a bunch of similarities...</em><br>
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The one room;
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<p>
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Interrogations usually take place in one cell. Take a look at "Midnight
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Express," or any of a dozen or so other interrogation movies.
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<p>
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the two main characters;
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<p>
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Closetland had just two; here we had others, a second interrogator, the
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Drazi, others.
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<p>
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the taunting with food and drink;
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<p>
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Standard fare for any such interrogation.
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<p>
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the recorded message about cooperation and rewards;
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<p>
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ditto
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<p>
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the talk about breaking the body to then break the mind;
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<p>
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ditto again
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<p>
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the ruse of taking the prisoner to another room, yet having it be just
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another prison.
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<p>
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Where did this happen in Closetland? It didn't, from what I dimly
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recall of the thing.
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<p>
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I based this episode on a fairly substantial amount of reading and
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background in knowing about how people are treated in prison camps and
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the like. There are only so many things you can do to someone in a
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closed room to try and break them. Heck, look at William Saroyan's
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"Hello, Out There" for other similarities that *way* precede Closetland.
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I'm sorry to astonish you, but the techniques of interrogation existed
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long before B5 or ST or Closetland came into existence, and will
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continue (sadly) long afterward. The techniques are the techniques,
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and those are well documented. The *stories* have nothing whatsoever
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in common.
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<p>
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Over the last ten years or so, there have been a number of films which
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have looked at the process of interrogation in South American and
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European countries, using a very similar structure to what was done
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here, because the ways in which the "problem" are handled are pretty
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much universal. They don't all stem from the same film, or book, or
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story...but rather from the realities involved. They did what they
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did, and we did what we did, for the same reasons: to bring this sort
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of behavior into the light. There have also been innumerable plays
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with a similar structure.
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<p>
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In cop movie #1, a suspect is arrested, read his Miranda rights, brought
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to the station, stuck into a cell with one or two other people, brought
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into an interrogation room with one or two cops, goes round and round
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with them, and finally confesses. Cop movie #2 does a similar
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thing...now, did movie #2 take from movie #1, or did it just draw on
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what is *done*?
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<p>
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No, I'm sorry, but I wasn't thinking about Closetland, or Star Trek,
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or The Prisoner, or much of anything else when I wrote this episode.
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I was thinking about this character, from this show, who must be made
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to confess to alien influence, *which has been paraded by Earthforce
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for almost a year now*. It is an absolute and logical extension of
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what has gone before. As someone who has degrees in both Psychology
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and Sociology, and who has been a supporter of PEN International (a
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multinational group that monitors the treatment of writers who are
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prisoners of conscience in other countires) for years, I have had a
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longstanding interest and familiarity with this area...and through my
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European roots with relatives who were in Germany and Poland when the
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camps were in full swing, and later when the Russian government beat
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down its people. I have plenty of personal background on this one.
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</ul>
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