JMS on CompuServe (Feb 06, 1998) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Sat Feb 7 00:16:33 EST 1998
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #18421-#Any Seas.1-4 re-edited?
Sb: #18461-<Paragon> thoughts
Sb: #18440-<tPoA> Piece of Work
Sb: #18475-#<TPoA: Delenn...>
Sb: #18485-#<Paragon>thought blocks?
Sb: #18492-The Paragon of Animals
[ Summary: "May I ask if any of the Season 1-4 episodes have been
re-edited for TNT re-broadcast?" ]
#: 18501 S2/Bab 5: General
05-Feb-98 23:44:12
Sb: #18421-#Any Seas.1-4 re-edited?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, we haven't had a chance yet to get into any revionist editing.
jms
#: 18461 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 19:31:04
Sb: #18378-<Paragon> thoughts
Fm: TOM KNUDSEN
David,
<Remember what the guy from 100 years in the future said Sheridan Was
a full to believe that they could controll the Telepaths">
OK. Here's the problem. Byron is 100% correct about MOST of what he
was saying. Telepaths should NOT be treated as slaves. They should be
treated with respect, the same respect that any sentient life form deserves.
He also said that unless they needed to find a way to "help each other". My
take on this was that he was talking about teeps and mundanes. I'm disturbed
by his superiority complex, but I think these teeps, influenced by Lyta and
maybe even Sheridan and Delenn, are the key to the future. I wouldn't be
surprised to see Byron realize that the mundanes have talents that teeps
generally do not. Are any teeps the tactical/intelligence geniouses that
Garibaldi is? Do they have the charismatic leadership abilities of Sheridan
or Delenn? Can they heal people as well as Franklin? Obviously not.
There IS one thing that bothers me about all this. Most of the other
races have teeps that are integrated into their societies. Why is this such a
problem for the humans and why aren't the races who ARE integrated offering
advice on how they accomplished this.
Tom^^^^
#: 18514 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
06-Feb-98 00:59:10
Sb: #18461-<Paragon> thoughts
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"I wouldn't be surprised to see Byron realize that the mundanes have talents
that teeps generally do not."
Clog dancing...?
jms
#: 18440 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 17:48:13
Sb: <tPoA> Piece of Work
Fm: REBECCA ESCHLIMAN
Your really are giving to airy nothing a local habitation (Babylon 5) and a
name (many names, actually).
"G'Kar Michael Straczynski" and the Declaration of Principles -- I can foresee
that suitably calligraphied scrolls will be the next homegrown B5 collectibles
at cons (now trying to figure out some way to include the DoP in the '99
calendar).
What a piece of work is man -- you took this to many levels in this ep.
Depression -- With Sheridan using this term jocularly and Byron using it
ironically, you set up a nice foreshadowing for Lyta's actual (and ultimately
dangerous) depression. Isn't part of clinical depression a sense of
dislocation from one's surroundings? Lyta's drawing on of her gloves seemed
to me her attempt to reconnect with reality by distancing herself from her
proxy-death-experience into her Bester-imposed routine existence (and the
speculation as to the source of Bester's "mal-de-merde" was a nice bit of
story-holography).
Idealism vs. Pragmatism -- absent the "Big Threat," idealism is hard to
maintain. Garibaldi's teep suggestion is not the only "slippery slope" the
Alliance must negotiate. Garibaldi's urging of force is both inappopriate and
precogniscient -- Delenn's urging of force is both appropriate and not
precogniscient, and yet the Enfili (through the action of the Ranger) reap the
true benefit of both and embody the idealism of the Alliance.
The Lyta/Ranger death scene seems to me to somewhat underline the
Idealism/Pragmatism split -- the soul/personality is split from physicality
(*very* nicely echoed by the visuals of Delenn and Franklin and their
reflections previously and by the Enfili "those are not stars" -- but they
are, White Stars, later). The soul/intangible of the Ranger's memories of the
Enfili are more important than the tangible of the body's destruction.
Caring as a Principle from the Declaration -- G'Kar's enunciation of caring is
focussed through Lyta -- the earlier uncaring treatment of her by other
station-staff is now reaping the whirlwind. Byron uses civility/caring as a
weapon to separate Lyta from the supposed uncaring others. Ironically, the
reading of the Declaration of Principles ("We Are One") leads straight into
Lyta's alienation (although, even more ironically, because she is a telepath,
Lyta is more likely to feel the "oneness" with others). Lyta's apartness when
passing by the Council Chamber scene is poignant in that it seems self-imposed
(how odd that a telepath would blind herself to her worth and place in what
happened).
And yet the seemingly inconsequential moment of Sheridan's care to avoid
waking Delenn underlines the importance of caring one-being-to-another
underpinning the Principle of Aliens-as-a-Whole caring for other
Aliens-as-a-Whole.
Byron is setting off major alarm bells for me -- his modus operandi seems to
be so much like what we have seen in hindsight in charismatic religious
cult-leaders like Jim Jones, for whom "caring" becomes a prime tool for
power-play (which is only heightened by the whole telepathic dynamic). After
all, if Byron was so truly caring, why would he wait to reveal the Drazi
scheme until he could use it as a tool to ensnare Lyta. And yet...and
yet...he does have a point (or several) about telepaths being dehumanized as
tools (and he wouldn't have any leverage with Lyta had not basic
caring/civility not been an issue). To be sure, one of the most interesting
confrontations was between Byron and Garibaldi -- two very (and seemingly
caring) murky shades of grey in opposition.
Random Moments -- Sheridan's impression of Mollari was delightful --
Garibaldi's "never met a fact I didn't like" made me remember the
"Deconstruction" byplay of "goodfacts" -- your introduction of ambiguity in
the stupidity of Sheridan's decision vis-a-vis the telepaths foretold in
"Deconstruction" (was his mistake to allow them to live on the station, to
allow them to be used as info-operatives, or something we have yet to see? --
after 4 years we should know better than to take "Deconstruction's" take at
face value, shouldn't we? <g>)
-rje-
The best thing we can do is to make wherever we're lost in look as much like
home as we can. -- Christopher Fry
#: 18502 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 23:44:12
Sb: #18440-<tPoA> Piece of Work
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
A really very nice analysis of the themes and counterpoints in the
thing. I hope somebody's collecting these things.
jms
#: 18475 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 20:33:11
Sb: <TPoA: Delenn...>
Fm: BRENT BARRETT
Hey, Joe;
Was that wine I saw both Sheridan and Delenn drinking at dinner? So I
take it the minbari inability to consume alcohol went away with her
transformation?
It was in a wine glass, was the right color, and didn't have any
carbonation, so I was just wondering.
Thanks,
-- Brent
#: 18503 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 23:44:12
Sb: #18475-#<TPoA: Delenn...>
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Nonalcoholic wine, at worst...I sometimes have it myself, since I don't
drink.
jms
#: 18485 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 21:17:11
Sb: <Paragon>thought blocks?
Fm: MARA K. MALOVANY
I really enjoyed "Paragon", definitely my favorite of the season so
far.
Quick question: regarding what Byron said about the amount of effort
it takes to block out the thoughts of mundanes, I was wondering--have any
non-teep humans given thought, time, or effort to creating any sort of
artificial 'shielding' device to keep their thoughts to themselves? Is it
impossible, or just not something they would bother with, figuring it's up to
the teeps to deal with it?
Garibaldi's trip to Byron's commune was perhaps the creepiest scene,
to me. After what Bester did to him, that had to be awful--I felt like I was
watching Jamie Lee Curtis in an old horror flick.
As for Lyta, I felt like she was sort of an abused child, always
looking for that benevolent authority figure. First she thought it was Kosh,
and for him she left the Corp. Once that went sour, she stuck with Sheridan,
and now she's sort of in limbo again. I just hope for her sake that her final
choices in the coming conflagration are made for the right reasons, and that
Byron doesn't just become her new Kosh. It was good to see someone being nice
to her.
Her experience of the Ranger's death was great. At first, when I saw
the tunnel and the light, I wasn't sure what you were doing, but that one bit
of camera-work, the tight shot of her eyes and the zoom-out made it clear that
we'd just seen what was going on in her head. I don't know if I buy the idea
of death of the soul, but if it explains Bester, I guess I can swallow it.<g>
Mara
#: 18504 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 23:44:13
Sb: #18485-#<Paragon>thought blocks?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
"Quick question: regarding what Byron said about the amount of effort it takes
to block out the thoughts of mundanes, I was wondering--have any non-teep
humans given thought, time, or effort to creating any sort of artificial
'shielding' device to keep their thoughts to themselves? Is it impossible, or
just not something they would bother with, figuring it's up to the teeps to
deal with it?"
Some of them have trained at it a bit, and learned little tricks that
can help...one such tries it later this season.
"As for Lyta, I felt like she was sort of an abused child, always looking for
that benevolent authority figure."
Yep, that's what she's doing, looking for someone to believe in.
"I don't know if I buy the idea of death of the soul, but if it explains
Bester, I guess I can swallow it.<g>"
Bear in mind, though, that Lyta also said that that's the mind's only
way of interpreting what it's seeing, not that it *is* what she's seeing, so
it doesn't necessarily validate or invalidate the notion of a soul.
jms
[ Summary: "The actor playing the Drazi Ambassador often plays aliens
on b5." And, "What is your take on Hamlet's 'What a piece of work is
man' speech?" ]
#: 18505 S5/Seas. 5 SPOILERS
05-Feb-98 23:44:13
Sb: #18492-The Paragon of Animals
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
He does tend to play Drazis a lot, primarily the ambassador, for
purposes of continuity, unless he's not available.
Re: Hamlet...one of the wonderful aspects of Shakespeare's work is that
it lends itself to reinterpretation and reinvention; cynical lines can be read
with hope, and vice versa, and somehow, the darned thing tracks. One recent
version of Hamlet mounted by Joseph Papp starred a woman actor in the title
role, and it worked beautifully.
jms
[END]
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