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326 lines
12 KiB
326 lines
12 KiB
<!-- TITLE The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father -->
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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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Bester pursues a murderous telepath, using the pursuit to train two rookie
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Psi Cops in the finer points of their new jobs.
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</cite>
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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/p5/101">8.42</a>
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Production number: 514
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Original air date: April 15, 1998
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019071C/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: April 13, 2004
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Written by J. Michael Straczynski
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Directed by Stephen Furst
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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>@@@892694760 Very high on the Corps' list of priorities is that
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mundanes believe that nothing ever goes wrong within the Corps. To
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that end, and because they justifiably don't believe mundane security
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forces would be of much use in capturing rogue telepaths, they use
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the Psi Cops to track down rogues with a minimum of publicity.
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<li>@@@892694760 The Psi Corps maintains a fleet of large transport ships
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in hyperspace, where they're used to ferry shuttles back and forth
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between jump points. Eventually they'll be used for some other
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unspecified purpose. Nobody outside the Corps is supposed to know
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the ships exist.
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<li>@@@892694760 Psi Corps field operatives must be able to maintain a
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mental block against a telepathic probe for at least one hour to
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ensure that they're safe against attack by untrained rogues. Even the
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most powerful rogues, according to Bester, can't sustain a psi attack
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for more than 30 or 40 minutes.
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<li>@@@892694760 Bester's parents were killed in an accident when he was
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barely a month old. The Corps found him thanks to a random DNA
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screening, and raised him from childhood.
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<li>@@@893010614 The Corps is training some of its members in offensive
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skills known as "mind shredding." A P10-rated shredder is a danger
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even to a P12-rated telepath, and a P12-rated shredder can kill a
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mundane telepathically in a matter of seconds.
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<li>@@@892694760 If a telepath has multiple personalities, each of the
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personalities can exhibit different levels of psi ability. The
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Corps' screening program doesn't detect multiple personalities.
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<li>@@@892694760 Even new Corps trainees are willing to act as judge, jury,
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and executioner for mundanes who kill telepaths.
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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>@@@892694760 What are the Corps motherships for, aside from ferrying
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shuttles?
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<li>@@@892695282 What were the circumstances of Bester's parents' deaths?
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<li>@@@892855690 What <em>is</em> a Pak'ma'ra's hump?
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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>@@@892694760 According to the Corps propaganda film, 42.5% of
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telepaths who leave the Corps commit suicide within nine months of
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leaving the Corps. How many of those
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"suicides" are thanks to the Psi Cops? Even if the Cops don't
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kill a significant number of rogues directly, the very fact that a
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rogue is being relentlessly pursued might make suicide or an accident
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more likely.
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<p>@@@893010973
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And of course, Gordon only said that the suicides were committed by
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people who'd left the Corps, not rogues; how many of the suicides were
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telepaths forced to take sleeper drugs like Ivanova's mother?
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<p>
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<li>@@@892694760 Why didn't anyone in the Corps communicate
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telepathically within their own walls? As Bester told Sinclair
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(<a href="006.html">"Mind War,"</a>)
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telepathic communication saves time. It's perhaps understandable that
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the Corps would want its members to speak to each other verbally while
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in public, to avoid appearing needlessly strange to mundanes, but that
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consideration wouldn't apply within the walls of a Corps training
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academy. Perhaps telepathic communication requires more effort than
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speech.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892717633 Bester believes that to be a telepath is to be something
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special, and that telepaths have to stick together and protect one
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another, even more so than mundanes. That's very similar to Byron's
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philosophy
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(<a href="091.html">"The Paragon of Animals."</a>)
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<p>
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<li>@@@892751325 What was Bester doing with the mirror just before his
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departure for Babylon 5? Since he didn't glean any useful information
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from his vision of Harris, it was most likely just an exercise in
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intuition, a moment of deep concentration to try to figure out some
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reason why Harris might have committed the murder.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892751552 The Corps motherships are perhaps not as well-kept a
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secret as Bester would like to think. There are probably lots of
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rogue telepaths who learned of them before leaving the Corps. For
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example, Byron would almost certainly have known about them (he had
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gone out on missions with Bester) and thus it's plausible that some
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or all of the other members of his group know as well. Since they
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have no particular stake in keeping the ships' existence secret,
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information about them might well have already leaked out.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892717633 When Lauren mentioned to Bester that she wished there
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were a way to record thoughts, he said, "Give us time." Is the Corps
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working on such a capability? Does that imply that they've discovered
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a technological means for reading other people's thoughts? If so, the
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implications could be far-reaching, not least the possibility that
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mundanes could be equipped with simulated telepathy.
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<p>
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Abbut's recording of Talia's thoughts
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(<a href="009.html">"Deathwalker"</a>)
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indicates that the process is possible, though perhaps not without
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the involvement of a living brain.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892694760 The Corps' inability to detect multiple personalities
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is consistent with Talia's hidden personality
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(<a href="041.html">"Divided Loyalties."</a>)
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Talia was in close contact, even linked briefly, with a group of
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telepaths
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(<a href="030.html">"A Race Through Dark Places"</a>)
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who failed to detect her alternate personality.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892847338 If different personalities can have different psi
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abilities, the Corps might not have gotten anything useful out of
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their examination of Talia after she returned to them
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(<a href="050.html">"Dust to Dust."</a>)
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Her Ironheart-enhanced psi abilities
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(<a href="006.html">"Mind War"</a>)
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might have been destroyed along with her original personality.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892752034 Lauren's visualization of the attack/block exercise had
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a subtext she probably didn't recognize: the attacker was probing with
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spikes not dissimilar to the spines on a Shadow vessel, while the
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attacker was encased in what looked like shards of ice, not unlike the
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ice surrounding Sheridan's vision of the Vorlon in
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<a href="072.html">"Into the Fire."</a>
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Vorlons created human telepaths and the Shadows wanted to destroy or
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undermine them, which is consistent with that imagery.
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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>@@@892694760 The love of Bester's life is Carolyn Sanderson, who is
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most likely still in stasis awaiting removal of her Shadow implants
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(<a href="059.html">"Ship of Tears."</a>)
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Whether or not she's still on Babylon 5 isn't clear; Sheridan mentioned
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transferring her to Earth for further medical study
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(<a href="087.html">"Rising Star"</a>)
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but that might not have happened yet.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892752340 "Prisoner"esque signs on the walls at the Corps academy
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(not a complete list yet):
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<ul>
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<li> The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father
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<li> Protect the Family.
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<li> Obey
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<li> Trust the Corps
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<li> Maternis, Paternis (this also appears on the Psi Corps logo
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during the training film)
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</ul>
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<p>
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<li>@@@892752340 Babylon 5 uses its sword and shield logo even on its
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commercial sales literature.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892950054 Text of the cover of the Babcom brochure:
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<blockquote>
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Stay in touch with<br>
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family and business<br>
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alike with state of the<br>
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art communications and<br>
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delivery services. Let<br>
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us be your new partner.
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<p>
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BABYLON 5<br>
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FOR THE<br>
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BUSINESS<br>
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OF TODAY<br>
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AND THE<br>
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HOPE OF<br>
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TOMORROW
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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<li>@@@895442513 <a name="NO.2264">One of Harris' documents,</a>
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visible when Bester examines
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them, is dated 2264, even though the episode takes place in 2262. (See
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<a href="#JS.2264">jms speaks.</a>)
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<p>
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<li>@@@892695183 Bester's childhood was recounted differently in comic
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<a href="/lurk/comic/011.html">"The Psi Corps and You."</a>
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The official Corps propaganda about Bester is that he entered its
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ranks at age 10.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892752034 Bester keeps his disabled hand gloved even when he's
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home by himself.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892798144 The rogue's name was Jonathan Harris. That name might
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be familiar to some fans; another
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Harris,+Jonathan+(I)">Jonathan
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Harris</a>
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played Dr. Smith on the original "Lost in Space" TV series, which
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also starred Bill Mumy (Lennier) as Will Robinson. However, that's
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not the reference here. By coincidence, Jonathan Harris was the name
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of the winner of a raffle run by the B5 Fan Club at a convention (the
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1997 Worldcon in San Antonio.) The raffle's grand prize was the
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winner's name appearing in an episode.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892752168 One of the interns, Chen Hikaru, shares a name with
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Hikaru Sulu of the original "Star Trek." Sulu was a colleague and
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friend of Chekov, played by Walter Koenig (Bester.)
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<p>
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<li>@@@892717873 This is the third episode directed by Stephen Furst, who
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also plays Vir. All three of his episodes (this one,
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<a href="074.html">"The Illusion of Truth,"</a>
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and
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<a href="088.html">"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"</a>)
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are told from the points of view of people other than the series' main
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characters.
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<p>
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<li>@@@892694848 The title sequence was changed for this episode: instead
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of the "Babylon 5" title, a Psi Corps logo with the words "Trust the
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Corps" was substituted. The B5 logo was moved to the back of the
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station in the closing FX shot, and JMS's name was displayed as a
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normal credit.
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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>@@@885925487 <em>About TNT's decision to postpone the episodes
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the ones following this one until the fall of 1998</em><br>
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Re: the schedule...it was brought to our attention that the NBA
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coverage would lead to episodes being shunted around and pre-empted for
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a number of weeks. Obviously this concerned us, and would concern
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viewers, so we discussed it with TNT, and they came back to us with the
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notion that we would continue new episodes until hitting #100, break
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for the NBA games, then come back (starting with another possible
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half-hour special) afterward at the same time to finish the season.
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<p>
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It was either this, or get shuffled around the schedule due to
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the NBA, and the former is infinitely preferable.
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<p>
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<li>@@@887319407 Bester is NOT a nice guy...but not everyone sees him in
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that light, which is why I did one episode from inside the Psi Corps
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this season, to show how others in the PC see him....
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<p>
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Even Hitler painted roses.
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<p>
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<li>@@@893095748 <em>Shouldn't the other Psi Cops have been afraid of
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Bester?</em><br>
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I don't consider it a mistake at all...you never heard much of
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other Psi Cops talking about Bester, and they would have more knowledge
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of him than anyone else. As with Dirty Harry, some of the other
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officers above and below him liked him...and he scared the crap out of
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others. Same here.
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<p>
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<li>@@@893270106 <em>What</em> is <em>a Pak'ma'ra's hump?</em><br>
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I was thinking that the hump is where their mates are...they're
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symbiotically bonded, and the female is much smaller than the male,
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reflecting similar disparities in the insect kingdom.
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<p>
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<li>@@@895442513 <em><a href="#NO.2264">About the oddly-dated
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document</a></em><br>
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One of his personalities was a Time Lord.
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<p>
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<li>@@@895442513 And let us also remember, about this guy getting the date wrong on
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what he was writing....
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<p>
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HE WAS A NUT.
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<p>
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thankyew
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</ul>
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