Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

A girl entering puberty exhibits telepathic abilities, and the crew must decide whether to turn her over to the Psi Corps. The corpse of the Minbari military leader who oversaw the Battle of the Line is the focus of a diplomatic incident. John Vickery as Neroon. Grace Una as Alisa Beldon.

Sub-genre: Intrigue
P5 Rating: 7.87

Production number: 115
Original air date: July 20, 1994
DVD release date: November 5, 2002

Written by D. C. Fontana
Directed by Bruce Seth Green

Backplot

• The Grey Council ordered the surrender at the Battle of the Line.
• Many among the Minbari warrior caste do not approve of the surrender, a fact which has caused something of a rift between the religious and warrior caste.
• Caste membership is determined by heritage. Membership in the religious caste takes precedence if one parent is in the religious caste and the other is a warrior. (This is ambiguous; Delenn's statement on the matter could be interpreted to mean that the mother's caste takes precedence over the father's.)
• The Earth-Minbari War began with the death of Dukhat, the head of the Grey Council at the time.
• The war was regarded as a holy war among the Minbari, and had the full support of the religious caste at least part of the time.
• One of the warleaders (heads of the military clans?) committed suicide rather than obey the order to surrender.
• Telepaths are highly regarded among the Minbari, and are fed and clothed by people in exchange for providing their services.
• The Narn keep alien slaves, or at least are reported to do so.

Unanswered Questions

• What is the significance of the word "chrysalis?" Note that this is the title of the first-season finale.
• How was Delenn able to sense that she was being probed?

Analysis

• Delenn's identity doesn't seem to be a secret among the warrior caste, or at least its upper echelons. The warriors seem to be playing along and keeping her secret safe.
• As JMS mentions below, in the original airing order, this episode came after "Babylon Squared." If that is the intended chronological order of the two episodes, then Delenn's statement to Neroon that she speaks for the entire Grey Council takes on different connotations; it is plausible in that case that she is lying and hadn't even consulted the Council.
• Likewise, the device used to stun the guard appears to be a triluminary; its presence makes much more sense if this episode is after "Babylon Squared." Its exact function is still a mystery; did it in fact stun the guard, put him in some sort of stasis, or something else?

Notes

• The only first season script that was developed outside the B5 offices.

jms speaks

• Originally, this ep was to be broadcast later in the run, because I didn't want two PsiCorps episodes back-to-back, and for one little detail that will become clearer after "Babylon Squared" airs; it would've been better to have followed that episode, but again, these eps are made to be watched in just about any order, so it's okay in the long run.

• Yeah, the audio thing with Talia is something I thought of during the final audio mix. We wanted to convey somehow her trying to get through and initially it was just distortion. Then I figured, wait a second, she is going to be thinking what she's going to say before she says it, why not pre-lap the dialogue? Unfortunately, for some damned reason, the high-tech studio wasn't set up to do that effect, so we took Talia's dialogue, digitized it, laid it in on a second side track, and played the one over the other, one preceding the other by I think about 20 frames or so. The key was to make the *second* voicing the one synched to her lips, not the first one. Worked out pretty cool.

• You will see some of the warrior caste in "Legacies," coming up in July. You don't see them much because they only go where they're needed.

• Generally, the religious caste takes precedence over the warrior caste.

• From cradle to grave, the Minbari are taught that there is no greater goal, no nobler thing than to serve. They are raised to be totally self-sacrificing. The only exception is when someone in the religious caste believes he or she has received a calling, which if sincerely felt cannot be contravened (since usually this too involves serving). So for a Minbari telepath, this is their means by which they may serve, and they are given great respect. It never even occurs to them to do otherwise.

  Lately, there has been a bit of a change brewing; "a self-involvement above the needs of others" (as someone notes in "Voice") that has begun creeping into the Minbari race. And they're not happy about it.

• Overall, I'd say that "Legacies" came out better than "War Prayer," because Dorothy had more time to get to know the characters, and because it was better directed. (As a parenthetical, Larry DiTillio has developed some of his own scripts as well, specifically "TKO" and "Eyes." "Legacies" is the one I'd say was developed "outside the office" in the sense of being a freelance effort. Everything else was either an assigned premise or done in-house by staff.)

• Stuff like wearing gloves is only enforced if you're a member of Psi Corps; Allysa wasn't. In addition, though she had P10 *potential*, the talent was sporadic, came and went.

• Regarding "Legacies," there's one brief blip in there that we're going to see again; I'm not sure I'd call it a clue, but certainly a cue...a hint of something to come. You won't have to wonder what it is; it'll be shown in a flashback in that particular yet-to-air episode.

Last update: June 10, 2018