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								<!-- TITLE Thirdspace -->


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								Two-hour TV movie.

								The crew discovers a mysterious, ancient artifact in hyperspace.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Belafonte-Harper,+Shari">Shari Belafonte</a> as Dr. Trent.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/112">8.05</a>


								Production number: TNTCF1

								Original air date: July 19, 1998

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002B15UQ/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 17, 2004


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by Jesus Trevi&ntilde;o

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345424549/thelurkersguidet">Novelization</a> by Peter David

								</pre>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@900914902 Over a million years ago, the Vorlons, believing

									themselves just one step short of godhood, decided to build a device

									to open a doorway to what they believed was the well of souls, the

									source of life.  The device, similar in basic function to a jumpgate,

									did open a hole to another place: a universe

									inhabited by an alien race even more powerful than the Vorlons, a

									race that believed itself the only intelligence worthy of existence.

									The aliens were extremely powerful telepaths, able to take control of

									many of the Vorlons and turn them against their own kind.  Eventually

									the aliens were beaten back, but before the device could be destroyed,

									some of the Vorlons under alien influence flung it into hyperspace.

									The Vorlons never found it.


								   <li>@@@900918110 The Vorlons implanted Lyta with a memory fragment

									detailing the story of the device, and instructions for its destruction

									should it be found.  They also left her with memories of some of their

									other mistakes.


								   <li>@@@900914902 Interplanetary Expeditions operates outside the bounds

									of the Earth Alliance regulations that govern most companies.


								   <li>@@@900914902 Babylon 5 carries a small supply of tactical nuclear

									weapons small enough to be carried by hand.


								   <li>@@@900962814 Zack wants to date Lyta, and has gone so far as to tell

									her so.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@900914902 What were the Vorlons' other mistakes?  What else does

									Lyta know about Vorlon history?


								   <li>@@@900974298 How long did it take the Vorlons to vanquish the aliens?


								   <li>@@@900919178 What did the Vorlon writing on the artifact say?


								   <li>@@@900918110 Who built the original set of jumpgates?


								   <li>@@@900919178 What was the alien city, and what was the spire in its

									center?  Why were so many people having visions of it?  Possibly

									the city was on the alien homeworld, but why would they broadcast

									images of their world to strangers?


								   <li>@@@900914902 How much of Dr. Trent's supposition about thirdspace was

									correct?  Barring the obvious problem of the alien race, could

									thirdspace be used as she described, like a faster version of

									hyperspace?  Are there other spaces beyond thirdspace, perhaps an

									infinite number of them?


								   <li>@@@900956645 Does Lyta remember anything Zack said to her?


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900953736 <a name="chron">This story took place after</a>

									the Shadow War, but before the declaration of war against Earth.  That

									puts it between

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

									and

									<a href="080.html">"Moments of Transition."</a>


									<p>

									Other clues allow it to be placed more precisely.  It took place after

									<a href="074.html">"The Illusion of Truth"</a>

									because that was the last time Zack wore his Earth Alliance uniform.

									Just after Zack was fitted with his new uniform in

									<a href="075.html">"Atonement,"</a>

									Delenn greeted Callenn and told him she'd be ready to leave for

									Minbar in one day, less than the amount of time elapsed in this story

									(Sheridan remarked to Trent that she'd had five days to examine the

									artifact.)  It couldn't have taken place after

									<a href="075.html">"Atonement"</a>

									since Dr. Franklin left in that episode before Delenn returned; the two

									of them weren't on the station at the same time again until after the

									declaration of war.


									<p>

									That puts "Thirdspace" between the first and second scenes of

									<a href="075.html">"Atonement"</a>

									(a slight inconsistency since Callenn's ship can be seen to arrive

									in the opening shot, before Zack's fitting) unless Zack's visit to the

									Minbari tailors wasn't the first time he wore the uniform.  If his visit

									was just an adjustment, possibly a result of being in fistfights

									in "Thirdspace," the story takes place between

									<a href="074.html">"The Illusion of Truth"</a>

									and

									<a href="075.html">"Atonement."</a>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900918111 The raiders fighting Ivanova's squadron were attempting

									to steal a shipment of Quantium 40, which is used in jumpgate

									construction

									(<a href="006.html">"Mind War."</a>)

									That resonates with the discussion between Trent and Morishi about

									the building of jumpgates.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900919178 Why didn't the White Stars open jump points for Ivanova's

									squadron after the fight with the raiders, rather than forcing her

									to travel slowly to the nearest jumpgate?  One answer is that

									Starfuries aren't equipped to navigate in hyperspace unless they

									start off from a known location and can follow a beacon.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900918111 How did Dr. Trent know that the Vorlons enhanced Lyta's

									telepathic abilities?  One possibility is that Bester, or someone

									else in the Psi Corps, told IPX about it.  Bester discovered Lyta's

									enhancement in

									<a href="073.html">"Epiphanies."</a>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900962752 In Ivanova's dream, Vir was caressed by women while Ivanova

									was killed.  That may have been because Vir was willing to give in to

									the alien influence, while Ivanova insisted on questioning it.  He was

									rewarded for his compliance while she was punished for her resistance.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900956361 How did the Vorlons get into thirdspace to begin with?

									If, as Lyta said, the door has to be opened from both sides, that

									would imply that the aliens in thirdspace already had their side

									open and were waiting for someone from normal space to reciprocate.

									Or maybe they somehow become aware of what the Vorlons were up to, and

									opened their side at roughly the same time.  Either way, they've been

									waiting for the door to reopen for over a million years, though of

									course time may not pass at the same rate in thirdspace and normal

									space.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900956645 The fighters that emerged from the gateway appeared

									similar in basic form to Vorlon ships.  Were they examples of ancient

									Vorlon ship design?  The aliens might have kept possessed Vorlons

									around to use as cannon fodder in case the gate opened again, on the

									assumption that it might be the Vorlons doing the opening.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900956361 Were the Vorlons alone in their fight against the aliens?

									Given the potential danger, it's possible the Vorlons found themselves

									fighting alongside the Shadows and other First Ones against the alien

									forces; the Shadows would have as much of a vested interest as anyone

									else in seeing the aliens beaten back (though it'd be consistent with

									Vorlon arrogance to not mention anyone else's involvement to Sheridan.)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900919179 It may have been the conflict with the alien race that

									prompted the Vorlons to invest effort into researching and developing

									telepathy.  The Vorlons were almost certainly strong telepaths before

									the conflict, though, since Lyta mentioned that they had already been

									making themselves appear as beings of light when they visited other

									worlds.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900924492 Though it was never stated outright, the purpose of

									concentrating fire on the front of the artifact (which itself begs

									the question of which side was the "front") was probably to redirect

									shield energy away from the other side.  That's evidenced by the fact

									that a hole opened in the force field in the rear when Ivanova ordered

									everyone to fire at the same time.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900924492 Why wasn't Draal's help enlisted?  The Great Machine might

									not have had enough power to destroy the artifact outright, but its

									weaponry would presumably have been helpful in the assault.  Given

									the high stakes -- a powerful, implacable enemy even the Vorlons

									considered a threat -- it's not clear what reason Sheridan would

									have had for holding Draal in reserve.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900914902 What were the creatures in the artifact?  Were they members

									of the alien race?  Did they arrive after the artifact was powered

									on, or were they lying dormant for millenia?  The fact that they

									had the same shape as the shadow in Lyta's vision, and their tentacles

									looked like the one in Ivanova's dream, suggests that they were from

									thirdspace.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900914902 This was the fourth time Sheridan used nuclear weapons

									against vastly superior alien forces; he used nuclear mines to destroy

									the Minbari cruiser Black Star

									(<a href="111.html">"In the Beginning"</a>)

									and a Shadow city

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

									He also used nukes to get the attention of the Vorlons and Shadows at

									Coriana 6

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


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@882989498 Chronologically, the movie takes place during

									season four, after

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


								<p>

								   <li>@@@867698018 According to producer George Johnsen, "Thirdspace" contains

									more new special effects shots than all of season one combined.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@869037257 Noted science-fiction illustrator

									<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Author=Barlowe%2C%20Wayne%20Douglas/">Wayne Barlowe,</a>

									author of

									<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0894803247/">"Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials,"</a>

									designed the artifact.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900914902 Deuce also appeared in the season-one episode

									<a href="015.html">"Grail."</a>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@900921140 In the crowd scene on the observation deck just after the

									artifact is powered up, the albino smuggler from

									<a href="076.html">"Racing Mars"</a>

									can be seen briefly.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@901169987 Spelling error: during Trent's voiceover, when she's

									examining the displays on several of the monitors in her office,

									the text "EMF EMMISSIONS" can be seen running vertically down the

									side of one of the computer displays.  It should be "emissions."


								<p>

								   <li>@@@901351057 Science goof: Ivanova claimed that carbon dating was

									used to determine that the artifact was over one million years old.

									Unless she meant some different process than what's referred to as

									"carbon dating" today, that wouldn't have been possible.  Carbon

									dating is a very specific process: it is used to determine the age

									of dead plants and animals, and is based on the assumption that the

									amount of carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, in the Earth's

									atmosphere has remained more or less constant over time.  The theory

									is that a living organism will ingest C14 from the air and maintain

									about the same ratio of C14 to normal carbon in its body as exists

									in the atmosphere.


									<p>

									After an organism dies, the C14 in its body breaks down and isn't

									replaced; a rough time of death is determined by measuring the

									difference between the amount of C14 in the atmosphere and the amount

									remaining in the organism's body.


									<p>

									Thus there are several reasons the B5 crew couldn't have used carbon

									dating to determine the age of the artifact.  First, the artifact

									wasn't alive (though that point is debatable considering its Vorlon

									origin.)  Second, given that the B5 crew had no idea where the artifact

									came from, they wouldn't have had a baseline to compare against, and

									thus couldn't have determined a difference in C14 levels.  Third,

									C14 has a fairly short half-life; carbon dating can't be used to

									determine ages much beyond 50,000 years since all the C14 breaks

									down in that amount of time.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@901351057 Sheridan's passphrase contained the word "Abraxas."

									The Abraxas was a figure from Gnostic mythology, most commonly found

									on small talismans called

									<a href="http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/abraxas.html">"Abraxas

									stones"</a>

									which were popular for a time in the Roman Empire.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@889482571 <em>When will it air?</em><br>

									I checked my figures, and apparently it's either

									the 9th or the 19th of July for Thirdspace...they've moved it up at TNT

									from their original November plans as sort of a way of giving a present

									to B5 fans after having to wait for the NBA Playoffs to finish.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@889503710 Barlow did a great job for us designing very alien looking

									stuff that looks different than what we've done before...a nice break

									in our format...


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865269566 "You mentioned that you were already shooting Thirdspace,

									the first B5 movie. Wasn't "In The Beginning" the Minbari war story

									going to be first?"


									<p>

									The prequel is aired first, but produced second, because B5

									didn't exist during the prequel time period, so rather than tear and

									and rebuild sets, we're doing Thirdspace first.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@865969769 <em>How is having more money affecting the

									production?  How is the crew handling making a movie?</em><br>

									Actually, we don't really have that much more money.  Each

									episode costs a tick under $1 million; for purposes of discussion,

									let's round that up to 1. So you're now talking 2 million for 2 hours.

									Now you've got another million to spend.  *But* ALL the prices go up by

									union scale and whatever else can be negotiated.  Actors fees go up,

									writers fees go up, directors fees go up, crew fees go up...so at the

									end of the day, you find you have a *little* more to spend, but not

									really that much.


									<p>

									As for how everyone's handling it...really no different than the

									series. Actors learn their lines, directors do their shots, the

									atmosphere on set really isn't much different.  The only substantive

									difference is that, because we know we won't be airing these until

									January and March/April, at soonest, we have more time in post and can

									therefore do more EFX.


									<p>

									George calculated that there are as many EFX in "Thirdspace" as

									in the entire first season of B5.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@890333528 <em>Early season five doesn't seem to have much

									CGI.</em><br>

									I did keep the first batch just a *bit* on the light side in

									order to have room to do the massive amount of rendering on "In the

									Beginning" and "Thirdspace," the latter of which has (finally delivered)

									topped out at 27 minutes of CGI out of 94 minutes, which has got to be

									some kind of record.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@882989498 <a name="JS.when"><em>Is it set at the end of season

									four?</em><br>

									No, it would be about mid-fourth season.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@902700637 Anybody can follow this movie and enjoy it; whether

									you've seen the show before or not.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@884031156 "I have heard that Thirdspace might be the pilot or

									lead-up to Crusade. True,untrue?"


									<p>

									Untrue.


								</ul>