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328 lines
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328 lines
13 KiB
<!-- TITLE Rising Star -->
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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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Earthgov decides Sheridan's fate. Delenn makes a remarkable proposition to
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the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Garibaldi searches for Lise.
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</cite>
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Gentile,+Denise">Denise Gentile</a> as Lise.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Howard,+Rance">Rance Howard</a> as David Sheridan.
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<a href="http://www.geocities.com/~beatitude/">Beata Pozniak</a> as President Luchenko.
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Koenig,+Walter">Walter Koenig</a> as Bester.
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</blockquote>
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<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/087">8.90</a>
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Production number: 421
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Original air week: October 20, 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 Tony Dow
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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>@@@877243084 Delenn has overseen the coming together of the nonaligned
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worlds, the Centauri, the Minbari, the Narn, and Earth into a new
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Interstellar Alliance, and
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Sheridan has been elected its first president. The Alliance, which
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among other things promises to share advanced technologies like
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artificial gravity with Earth, is a confederation whose members
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retain most of their sovereignty, aside from certain rules of
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conduct. Its armed forces are the Rangers and the White Star fleet,
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and its temporary headquarters are on Babylon 5 until permanent
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facilities are built in the Minbari city of Tuzanor (novel
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<a href="/lurk/novels/009.html">"To Dream In the City of Sorrows."</a>)
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<li>@@@877243084 Sheridan only used 30 telepaths out of 100 to attack the
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destroyer fleet
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(<a href="086.html">"Endgame."</a>)
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The rest, including Bester's lover Carolyn Sanderson, remained on
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Babylon 5.
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<li>@@@877630606 Clark has been succeeded by President Susanna Luchenko
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of the Russian Consortium.
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<li>@@@877243084 Ivanova has been promoted to captain and reassigned to
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shake down an experimental new Earth military vessel, a Warlock-class
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destroyer, for one year.
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<li>@@@877333607 Londo has been asked to return to Centauri Prime; the
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Regent is ill and after his death the royal court plans to name Londo
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the next Emperor.
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<li>@@@877243084 Garibaldi and Lise are together, and she has apparently
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inherited some or all of William Edgars' money.
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<li>@@@877243084 Sheridan and Delenn have been married.
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<li>@@@877243084 Sheridan's father has been released; Clark's forces never
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captured his mother.
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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>@@@877243084 Did <em>all</em> the nonaligned worlds join the Alliance?
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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>@@@877971225 Delenn's reply to Lennier's comment about unrequited love
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can be read either of two ways: that she is indeed oblivious to his
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feelings for her
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(<a href="055.html">"Ceremonies of Light and Dark"</a>)
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or, more likely, that she loves him too, albeit not
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in the same way she does Sheridan. The latter interpretation seems
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to have been lost on Lennier if true.
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<li>@@@877243084 Sheridan knew about the telepath virus
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(<a href="083.html">"The Face of the Enemy,"</a>
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among others.) How many more have been told? Will its existence
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become common knowledge, and if so, will the fact that it's known to be
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possible prompt enemies of the Corps to start trying to duplicate it?
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<li>@@@877333607 Bester goaded Sheridan about Garibaldi by telling him
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that only a scan performed by a member of Psi Corps would be
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admissible in Earth court if Garibaldi's memory were used as evidence.
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The implication was that since Bester controls the Corps to some
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degree, no Corps telepath would cooperate. But Lyta is now a Corps
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member, officially anyway
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(<a href="082.html">"The Exercise of Vital Powers"</a>)
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and is certainly no friend of Bester's. To refute her credentials
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in court, he'd have to reveal the deep-cover program he's using to
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give her the appearance of Corps membership.
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<li>@@@878759283 Sheridan told Bester he knew what it was like to lose
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someone, only to find them again and lose them again, clearly a
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reference to Anna
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(<a href="066.html">"Z'ha'dum."</a>)
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He said he'd never wish that on anyone. But
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in a sense, he's putting Delenn through the same ordeal
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over a much longer timespan: she lost him at Z'ha'dum, got him back
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thanks to Lorien, and knows that in 20 years she'll lose him again
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(<a href="070.html">"Falling Toward Apotheosis."</a>)
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<li>@@@877243084 The Alliance was most likely what Delenn was referring
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to in
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<a href="061.html">"War Without End part 2"</a>
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when she told Sheridan that they'd built something that would endure
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for a thousand years. Whether that figure was just a generality on
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her part or reflected additional knowledge about the future isn't
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clear.
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<li>@@@878022972 Sheridan and Londo have followed similar paths: both of
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them rose up against their own governments to fight Shadow influence,
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and both were helped in their quests by resistance movements working
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against those governments (the Mars resistance in Sheridan's case,
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the Narns in Londo's.) Both of them arranged to have the captive
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populations freed after defeating the old order. Are their fates
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going to be similar as well? Londo sacrificed himself to kill his
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Keeper and allow Sheridan and Delenn to escape
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(<a href="061.html">"War Without End part 2."</a>)
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Will Sheridan make a similar sacrifice to save someone? One could
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argue he already has, by dying on Z'ha'dum to save Centauri Prime
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(<a href="066.html">"Z'ha'dum."</a>)
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<p>@@@878106933
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All the major ambassadors on Babylon 5 have been offered leadership
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roles of some sort, in fact. In addition to Sheridan and Londo,
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G'Kar was offered leadership of his people in
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<a href="071.html">"The Long Night."</a>
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Delenn was elected leader of the Minbari in
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<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared."</a>
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And Sinclair became leader of the Minbari of 1000 years past in
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<a href="061.html">"War Without End part 2."</a>
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Kosh is apparently an exception, though for all anyone knows, he
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already <em>was</em> the leader of the Vorlons.
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<p>@@@879107321
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Perhaps not coincidentally, all the major ambassadors have been willing
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to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Delenn was willing to
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die to stop the Minbari civil war
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(<a href="080.html">"Moments of Transition."</a>)
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Londo was ready to give up his life to save Centauri Prime from the
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Vorlon planetkiller
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(<a href="072.html">"Into the Fire."</a>)
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Sheridan ordered a suicide run to stop Earth from being razed by a
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defense platform
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(<a href="086.html">"Endgame."</a>)
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G'Kar offered to return to Narn and face certain death to save the
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families of the Narn on Babylon 5
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(<a href="047.html">"A Day in the Strife."</a>)
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Kosh forfeited his life when he arranged for the Vorlon fleet to
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attack the Shadows
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(<a href="059.html">"Interludes and Examinations."</a>)
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<li>@@@877243084 Ivanova apparently only gets promotions when her
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commanding officers leave: she went from Lt. Commander to Commander
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when Sinclair left Babylon 5, and from Commander to Captain when
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Sheridan resigned Earthforce.
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<li>@@@877333607 Has Babylon 5 reverted to Earth ownership? If so, who's
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in command now that Sheridan is no longer a member of Earthforce?
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Presumably Corwin is in charge temporarily until a new commander
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is assigned.
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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>@@@877243147 Both Clark and Sheridan were succeeded by Russian women
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after their deaths (though Sheridan didn't remain dead.) Both women
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have similar first names.
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<li>@@@877630606 President Luchenko's comment about "the better angels of
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our nature" was a reference to the last line of
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<a href="http://douglass.speech.nwu.edu/linc_a73.htm">Abraham Lincoln's
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first inaugural address,</a>
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in which he urged the United States not to lapse into civil war.
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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>@@@877629153 "If this had been it, I would've walked away with a
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great big smile and a full heart."
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<p>
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Exactly..it doesn't *end* the story, as people kept saying, "Oh,
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the arc is being finished in year 4," it provides a sense of
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*resolution*, which is different altogether, and leaves plenty of room
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for other planned stuff.
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<p>
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<li>@@@878022574 <em>President Luchenko's accent sounded fake.</em><br>
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I love comments like that.
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<p>
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Beata, who played the President, is a native-born Russian.
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<p>@@@878182322
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<em>Ed. note: Beata Pozniak was actually born in Gdansk, Poland, not
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Russia. The accent is her own, however.</em>
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<p>
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<li>@@@877368470 <em>If Marcus had survived, it would have been a
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copout.</em><br>
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As for Marcus, that's precisely the point. If we do
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what we do to Ivanova, then let her get bailed out, then do the same
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for Marcus, it becomes a double-cheat, and that's not fair to do to the
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audience. If you bail her out but only at great cost to someone else,
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it's not a cheat on either level.
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<p>
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And yeah, generally, if you follow the threads, you can pick up
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on where things are going. It's something I learned on Murder, She
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Wrote, where at the end, when the killer's been revealed, you should be
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able to back up the tape, watch it again, and this time see all the
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little bits that point to his (or her) identity. It's basically about
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playing fair with the audience.
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<p>
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<li>@@@878327718 It was hard doing that to the character [<em>of
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Marcus</em>], but it was
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the only way to handle the situation with any integrity and honesty.
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Very hard to write.
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<p>
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<li>@@@944510023 Marcus was a martyr waiting to happen, looking for something
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worth throwing his life away on because he could find little worth in
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his own.
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<p>
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<li>@@@884374529 "In the scene with Franklin and the very upset Ivanova,
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when she uses the word "boffed" (like Marcus), was this intended as
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just a cute scene or a hint that the transfer would have had lasting
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effects?"
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<p>
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No, nothing more was intended than what was seen.
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<p>
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<li>@@@877971225 <em>Why did Lennier tell Delenn what Ivanova said?</em><br>
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Because Lennier is quite familiar with the concept of unrequited
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love, and because hope burns eternal.
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<p>
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Which is probably the most damnable part of unrequited love.
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<p>
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<li>@@@877629093 <em>Was the shot of Claudia Christian at the end from
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another episode, inserted when she decided not to return?</em><br>
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No, that's a new shot (Claudia at the window). She was shot for
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that episode for that voice-over...we just changed one line. The basic
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thrust was that she was going to take some time to *decide* whether to
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take on B5, or to take on a Warlock class destroyer. So we just went
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with the decision.
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<p>
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<li>@@@877629241 <em>What was different about the closing shot?</em><br>
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The only really different thing about the shot is the
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length of it; usually our shots average 5-8 seconds; that one was about
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15 seconds, so you have more time to get used to what you're seeing,
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and absorb it, and make it real.
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<p>
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<li>@@@877890336 <em>Everything's wrapped up now. What's left to do in
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season five?</em><br>
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Things that *could* show up (leaving in some ambiguity just to keep some
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surprises):
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<p>
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The start of the telepath war<br>
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The start of drakh war<br>
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Londo's fate on Centauri Prime<br>
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The first year trying to make the Interstellar Alliance work<br>
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Inter-faction fighting among the Alliance members<br>
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The development of Mars as an independent state<br>
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The legacy of William Edgars' black projects<br>
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Fallout from the civil war, and the feelings about it<br>
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How Lennier, Sheridan and Delenn will get along now
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<p>
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How's that just for starters?
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<p>
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<li>@@@878327395 <em>Will we see Luchenko again?</em><br>
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Would love to use her again.
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<p>
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<li>@@@878327718 The Rangers are independent in authority, answering
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only to Delenn and Sheridan and the members of the Alliance council and
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advisory board. (In roughly descending order.) But their jurisdiction
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is exclusively in interplanetary situations between various member
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races. Each member race has the sovereign authority to govern its
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people in its own way.
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<p>
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The closest comparison is that overall, the states are free to
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enact their own laws, but the US Government has sole claim over
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international matters. Except here the states would have far more
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autonomy than is currently the rule; more like pre-Civil War America.
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<p>
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<li>@@@878327718 <em>If you'd known there'd be a fifth season when
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you wrote the episode, would Delenn's speech have changed?</em><br>
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I don't know if I would've done her speech differently or not,
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to be honest...knowing it now, I'm not sure how I'd improve it.
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<p>
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<li>@@@878327718 <em>Is Sheridan and Delenn's bed horizontal or tipped up
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in the Minbari style?</em><br>
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They will alternate, as you'll see soon....
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</ul>
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