Episode Review (Fall of Night): To Script Writers

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: Episode Review (Fall of Night): To Script Writers
+  1: Nov 10, 1995: "Paul Boduch (ES 1997)" <pboduch at minerva.cis.yale.edu>
   2: Nov 10, 1995: stuart at cs.york.ac.uk (Stuart Mitchell)
   3: Nov 10, 1995: tzoq at csd.uwo.ca (James HG Redekop)
+  4: Nov 10, 1995: benv at accessnv.com (Ben Violette)
*  5: Nov 11, 1995: straczynski at genie.geis.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

From: "Paul Boduch (ES 1997)" <pboduch at minerva.cis.yale.edu>
Lines: 38

	Now, I love the show, but there are a couple dumb things about
the last episode (the Fall of Night) that really annoy me. This message is
primarily intended for the script writers if they read this newsgroup and
anyone else who can shed some light.
 First, why the hell are Shadow ships visible in hyper-space and why the heck
can they be so easily tracked (the neutrino signature)? I though they
usually used anaphasic cloak (to borrow Startrek terminology), one that
made them invisible and allowed them to pass through normal matter (as we
saw the Shadows following Mr. Morgen around Bab 5). Why the heck would
they travel uncloaked in hyperspace allowing themselves to be so easily
spotted if they valued their secrecy so much? I think an answer that
anaphasic cloak does not work in hyperspace is too easy an out here.
        Second, if they are supposedly such an ancient and extremely advanced
civilization, why the heck can do they emit such an obvious signature
        Second, if they are supposedly such an ancient and extremely advanced
civilization, why the heck can do they emit such an obvious signature
that can be tracked by a civilization only a couple thousand years old at
best (or the human StarFuries in Bab 5)? The great emphasis they put on
secrecy here is again highly contradictory.
        Third, if Zeta Leader was so scared shitless of the "Big Black
Spider," why the heck did he follow a huge, unknown alien ship for so
long? Why not just take a single picture, or a 1 sec tape, and then get
the heck out of there considering the fact that it took the "highly
advanced" (sarcasm intended) shadow ship so long to locate him?
        These are the first things I've seen in the show that don't seem
at all believable and they worry me. It was inconsistencies like these
that made Star Trek the Next Generation the laughing stock of its fans in
its last three seasons and ultimately brought dwon the show. If the
Shadow ships were going to be spotted, I would have certainly made that
scene more dramatic and believable since it's such a pivotal turning
point in the series. Having one ship miraculously survive during a Shadow
Attack with some of its sensor data intact would have been far better.
Now, these may be small details, but everything counts and I am not the
only sophisticated fan out there! I truly hope the show doesn't
deteriorate anymore.
 
                                Best Regards.  Paul


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

From: benv at accessnv.com (Ben Violette)
Lines: 9

(alot of nitpicking cut out)

I'm sure B5's writers will hire you immediately to write for them since you 
are so much better at stuff like that. But anyways, to actually add something 
this, maybe since these ships live and hangout in hyperspace they don't bother 
cloaking themselves or hiding very well. I think they hide when they are doing 
a suprise attack on a world or against ships. But when they're in hyperspace 
they don't need to hide. Ships don't fly around and hang out in there. They 
just pass through as quick as they can.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

From: straczynski at genie.geis.com
Lines: 19

      Paul: I'd suggest that many of the "dumb things" about the episode
are things you've concocted in your own perception.

     Much of your message is based on the premise that shadow shipw
(ships) can cloak...from this follows your notes about how come it's so
easy to break, on and on.  Shadow ships don't have cloaking devices.  They
phase in and out of hyperspace, that's all (as you'll see more clearly in
"Matters").  That's also why they can be seen in hyperspace (your other
concern).  You're making an assumption, that they can cloak, and then
using this as a basis for criticizing that cloaking being done
inconsistently, when the basic premise you're applying is incorrect.

     The shadows don't much care about if you can track them, because if
you try, you're dead.

     We haven't "deteriorated" Paul.  The error was in making assumptions
instead of simpy first asking if a given premise was accurate.

                                                                jms