The Shadow's Long-Term Memory Problem

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Laura Appelbaum" <l-appelbaum at mindspring.com>
Date: 15 Oct 2000 08:47:42 -0700
Lines: 25

Watching "Signs and Portents" again the other night, I started reflecting on
the whole premise of the episode -- that Morden is acting as an agent for
the Shadows, scouting out a race they can use in their "comeback" appearance
after a thousand years.  Now, while the first time around, okay, the first
dozen times around <G> this seemed like a nifty plot devise that eased us
into a mystery we spent a year debating about here on the group, in
retrospect and in context of the "universe" of B5, it didn't seem so smart.

Ok, so Morden doesn't ask Sinclair The Question because 1. the answer they'd
get from him would be highly principled and wouldn't reflect the corrupt
Earth government back home and 2. they're already in cahoots with said
government (at least the Psi Corps division of it) so they don't need his
answer.  So far so good.  OTOH, why talk to G'Kar?  1000, G'Quon and his
contemporaries, tho' not yet spacefaring themselves, made Narn an unpleasant
enough environment for the Shadows that they left; don't they remember this?
Even *more* significantly, 1000 years ago, Valen and the Anla'Shok (we'll
assume they didn't recognize him in Sinclair, even if Kosh and the Grey
Council have) kicked their sorry butts right off their homeworld and into a
millenium of exile!  You mean to tell me they don't remember THAT?  Methinks
the Shadows needed a good dose of Gingko Biloba!

LMA




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 15 Oct 2000 14:23:41 -0700
Lines: 31

> OTOH, why talk to G'Kar?  1000, G'Quon and his
>contemporaries, tho' not yet spacefaring themselves, made Narn an unpleasant
>enough environment for the Shadows that they left; don't they remember this?
>Even *more* significantly, 1000 years ago, Valen and the Anla'Shok (we'll
>assume they didn't recognize him in Sinclair, even if Kosh and the Grey
>Council have) kicked their sorry butts right off their homeworld and into a
>millenium of exile!  You mean to tell me they don't remember THAT?  Methinks
>the Shadows needed a good dose of Gingko Biloba!
>

No, because in every group there is always someone who can be corrupted by
offering him or her what he/she wants.  Many on Narn wouldn't believe G'Kar's
suspicions, remember?  So those individuals would be perfect foils for shadow
involvement, step by step, until it's too late to get out.

Races aren't monolithic or always consistent.  Some of the most ruthless men in
concentration camps during WW2 were the capos or collaborators, Russians or
other groups who sold out their own kind to survive themselves.  We do it; no
reason to suspect someone else wouldn't.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)




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