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

Overview

The Narn-Centauri War reaches a turning point. Sheridan is contacted by a powerful ally, who offers assistance. John Schuck. W. Morgan Sheppard as Warleader G'Sten. William Forward as Refa.

Sub-genre: Action/Intrigue
P5 Rating: 9.49

Production number: 219
Original air date: August 1, 1995 (UK)
                   October 18, 1995 (US)
DVD release date: April 29, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Flinn

Note: this episode is more momentous than most. Think twice before proceeding to the spoilers; it's worth seeing unawares.

Watch For

• A change in the number of candles in G'Kar's quarters.

Backplot

• The new Centauri emperor, Cartargia, is acting mostly as a figurehead, a front for Refa and his compatriots.
• A treaty among all the aligned worlds outlawed the use of mass drivers as a weapon of war, similar to the Earth treaties outlawing the use of chemical and biological weapons.
• Draal says he has found other beings on Epsilon 3, ones who take care of the great Machine Draal is at the heart of. One of them is a fellow named Zathras (cf. "Babylon Squared.")
• Delenn has been in charge of all the Rangers on Babylon 5. She now shares that command with Sheridan.
• Sheridan does not know that Sinclair is behind the Rangers.
• The Centauri seem to have gravity control technology. Londo watches as the Centauri bombard the Narn homeworld, standing -- seemingly in gravity -- aboard a motionless ship. (Either that, or they have magnetic shoes.)

Unanswered Questions

• What's Zathras doing on Epsilon 3, and how did he get there? If the planet has been undisturbed for at least the past 500 years ("A Voice in the Wilderness, part 2,") is he that old?
• Where was Zathras such that Draal, with sight that extends across light-years, couldn't find him? Perhaps he wasn't in another place, but another time (see "Babylon Squared.")
• Will the great machine be involved in pulling Babylon 4 through time?
• Now that Londo has stated he no longer wishes to associate with the Shadows, his usefulness to Lord Refa is at an end. How will Refa handle this?
• What exactly was G'Kar told to do in the Kha'Ri's last message? Ask for sanctuary, obviously, but anything else?
• What other technology do the Shadows have that we haven't seen yet?
• Have the Narn unwittingly discovered a weakness of the Shadows? (see Analysis)
• Now that G'Kar has been stripped of his homeworld and position on Babylon 5, what can he contribute to the battle against the Shadows?

Analysis

• Londo is now convinced that his associates are far too powerful for their motives to be solely for his benefit. He realises that he has become a pawn in their larger game, and that his personal quest for more power has lead to the death of esteemed friends and many innocents. While convinced of this, and that he has allowed himself to be maneuvered at every turn by the will of others, he still carries through with his role as a paper tiger politician/ambassador.

• The Shadows show some new weaponry. It appears that each ship can "give birth" to a cluster of forty or so of the smaller fighters G'Kar encountered at Z'ha'dum in "Revelations." We are not shown that these fighters are re-assimilated at the end of the confrontation, and it is also unknown how many times each Shadow can do this.

  The second weapon has the ability to disrupt a jump point so that it is fatal for any ship to attempt to use it. Once an attack against the Shadows begins it appears you can leave only when they so allow it.

• The Shadow "wounded" during the battle is thrown off course by the loss of one of its spines. After the battle is finished, a second Shadow joins with it as if to assist it. The broken spine is clearly visible on the ship that does not move during the docking procedure. It suggests that the damaged Shadow was unable to function as effectively, perhaps because it was in pain.

• With Draal offering the resources of the highly advanced technology at his command, it appears that Babylon 5 is one of the few places that may withstand a Shadow assault. That it can become the base of operations for the Army of Light is now clear.

  Perhaps more importantly, Babylon 5 can probably also withstand a frontal assault by Earthforce, though they might prefer to destroy it from within.

• The Centauri use of mass drivers flauts all previously signed conventions, and it appears (cf. "And Now for a Word," where the Centauri are discovered using Babylon 5 to transport mass drivers and energy weapons) that they have been planning this kind of assault on the Narn homeworld for some time.

• A mass driver uses a heavy object (such as a small asteroid) launched from orbit toward a planet's surface at low speed. As it falls through the planet's gravity well it gains considerable momentum. On impact the immediate area becomes a crater, and huge quantities of dust are thrown up into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight and causing something like a nuclear winter. E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, written from 1937 to 1948, is the first literary SF work to use mass drivers as weapons for planetary bombardment as shown in this episode. (If you know of an earlier work, send me mail!)

• All of the major governments (with the exception of the Vorlons) are now under serious internal stress. They are either introspective (Earth,) skeptical of present danger (Minbari,) overextended (Centauri,) or occupied (Narn). It appears that the Shadows have achieved, either directly or indirectly, effective destabilization of every major power that might stand up to their forces.

• Ambassador Kosh openly lets the Rangers know of his involvement.

• It appears that Garibaldi's friendship with Londo has strained to the breaking point.

• Sheridan now has access to the Rangers. This appears to be fulfilling the dream induced by Kosh (cf. "All Alone in the Night") where he is described as being "The Hand." Presumably this reference is to his role as someone who will help lead the forces of light as the right hand man of "The One."

• A fully prepared numerically superior Narn task force is easily destroyed by the Shadows. Unless more effective combat techniques are discovered, the battle with darkness will have to involve more subtle tactics.

• Londo hasn't forgiven Refa for the death of his friend Urza Jaddo ("Knives.")

• Londo's cough in the council chamber scene sounds suspiciously like the one in his dream in "The Coming of Shadows." Could he be coming down with something? (See jms speaks)

Notes

• JMS premiered this episode at the Chicago Comicon on July 1, 1995.
• W. Morgan Sheppard also appeared in the first season episode "Soul Hunter" as the title character.
• The episode's initial airing, in the UK, was 50 years, almost to the day, after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. Considering the obvious parallels between the Centauri use of mass drivers and the American use of the atomic bomb, that's a serindipitous, if unintentional, bit of timing.
• "Now the trumpet summons us again: not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though in battle we are; but as a call to bear the burdens of a long, twilight struggle--year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation--a struggle against the common enemies of man--tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." --John Fitzgerald Kennedy. An audio version of his speech is available.
• In the first Londo-Refa scene, just before Refa sits, what looks like a wooden duck with its wings outstretched is visible on a shelf beside the throne. Perhaps it's a Centauri cat (cf. "Chrysalis.")
• Candles are used subtly to represent hope, here and in previous episodes (see jms speaks.) At the beginning of G'Kar's prayer scene, the shelf behind him is filled with burning candles -- but by the end, as his people's last hope is destroyed by the Shadows, they've all gone out.
• Likewise, when Londo and Refa are talking, they're both cloaked in shadow -- until Londo expresses misgivings about his associates and emerges into the light.
• The battle sequence was directed by Mojo of Foundation Imaging; the mass-driver sequence was directed by John Teska. The episode has more effects footage than any previous one, nearly five minutes' worth. The effects took almost a month to produce.

jms speaks

• "The Long, Twilight Struggle" is probably the biggest episode of the entire two years to date, story and EFX and character wise, and will have a profound effect on the series that I'd compare to a cross between "Signs and Portents" and "Chrysalis".

• I don't want to say anything about "The Long Twilight Struggle" at this time, to avoid hyping people. Suffice to say it's a very strong episode.

• Hell, in some ways, when compared with "Struggle," "The Coming of Shadows" is a light comedy in which nothing much happens.

• Without spoiling anything...yes, in this regard, I've always noted that there are some echoes of WW II in the overall storyline, and some applies here. Also, again, the purpose of a large measure of the show is to elicit discussion of such issues as this...where are the mora, (moral) responsibilities in such a situation? What are the ethics of mass warfare? Where does expediency begin and compassion end? *Should* compassion have to end for the greater good?

  If we can start some bar fights, I'll have done my job.

  Fact is, I don't have one single damned good answer. But I've got a whole LOTTA questions...

• Thanks. Yes, there's a WW II parallel, not in terms of justifying one or the other -- one can make compelling arguments for and against the use of atomic weapons to close the war, but I leave it to those who were there to have made the right decision, because they had to live with it -- but in terms of strategy and wartime logic.

• Thank you. I'm quite frankly thrilled beyond words at the preliminary reactions from the UK to this episode; we worked *really* hard on it, and I can't tell you what the reactions mean to us.

• Thanks. It's definitely one of my favorite episodes. The intensity is terrific.

• Yes, "They're being bombed back to the stone age" is a Vietnam era quote.

• Re: what you could see of the planet's surface...one of the side effects of the technology used is that, realistically, it would throw up a *hideous* amount of smoke, dust and debris, and you wouldn't see much of anything.

• Why isn't Londo floating weightless?
  Some races, like the Centauri and the Minbari, use drive systems built to varying degrees on magnetic and gravitational forces; some of them don't so much go to a planet as create a situation where they are drawn toward it. One of the side effects of this is a field allowing for artificial gravity. Earth doesn't have this level of technology, however.

• Re: your note about 500 Narns for every 1 Centauri...you may want to check our own history. During the occupation of some parts of Europe during WW II, similar tactics were used. In some cases the threat rose as high as 100-200 Jews or Russians executed for every Nazi killed; much the same has been done in earlier history. Five hundred to one is a figure relatively consistent with what humans have done from time to time when we wish to instill terror. So I find this a curious quibble.

• Actually, Londo *specifies* that the 500 will include "the perpetrator's own family."

• Was Draal's voice dubbed?
  No, his voice wasn't dubbed, or changed, by anyone; might've been a glitch in local audio or something.

• Thanks. Draal's played by John Shuck, who did a great job. And yes, we'll definitely be seeing him again. (We first met him in "A Voice in the Wilderness.")

• I loved the part with Draal calling out for Zathras
  Yeah, that was a rather Draal bit of humor, wasn't it?

• In part it's John's take on the character, but what I indicated to him was that Draal's gone through some considerable changes by entering the heart of the machine; it's given him greater understanding, and the freeing aspects of greater humor. It's almost like -- and I hate to even use the reference because somebody'll say "Oh, that's what he's doing," and I ain't, it's just a point of comparison -- Tom Bombadil in LoTR...quite funny, but also someone not to be trifled with.

• It wasn't intended that Delenn should touch Draal; it sorta happened on the set, and no one really noticed, and it wasn't worth going back and reshooting the whole thing. My sense is that if it's like a virtual reality situation, she would "feel" it even though it's not there, if the image was impinging correctly on the brain.

  But in either event, the image is not and should not be considered to be solid.

  As for Londo's shot...the director called "cut" I think a bit too soon, we used every frame we had to extend that shot (and, in fact, we even went so far as to freeze the final frame and extend the shot by a smidge, if you look at it carefully). Nonetheless, I think it works pretty spiffily.

  As for the mass drivers, the amount of energy required to move something that big would generate huge amounts of heat, possibly making them even white-hot hence the glow.

• An actor's job is to physicalize the script. Can you give an example?
  Yes, I think that's accurate. The most obvious place where it worked was where Londo looks through the window to Narn being bombed below. There's no dialogue, and he has to convey a range of emotions just through his face....which is a terribly difficult thing to do, and he did a superb job of it.

• Mass drivers use asteroids freely available in space, accelerated and fired into a planetary atmosphere. EA non-rotational ships have zero g. EA tech is generally much lower in weapons tech and other areas than the Minbari and Vorlons, among others.

• Actually, what Delenn said was, "...the Rangers *in this area* are under my direct command." So Sinclair's post as Ranger One remains back on Minbar.

  And yes, Sinclair has apparently been described as the One...but you must ask...the one *what*?

  Expect final answers to this one late this coming season.

• On each season's music for the opening credits reflecting the mood of the season
  What do I have in mind for season three? What I indicated to Chris Franke was to look at a piece of music he did in "The Long, Twilight Struggle" and interpolate some elements of that into the main theme, with a very hard sound. The piece in question is about the middle of the first really...um...busy scene after the act break.

• Until "The Long Twilight Struggle," nothing else has come close to that scene [the attack on the Narn outpost in "Coming of Shadows"] for me. But there's some stuff in there that finally manages to to surpass it. Just gorgeous and scary and awe-inspiring.

• These Narn heavy cruisers were different than the ones in "Midnight on the Firing Line."
  There are various kinds of ships the Narns have, some older than others; the ones in the first ep were older ones.

• About the Narn/Shadow battle
  Thanks. Yeah, that scene is one of my favorites; a lot of work went into it, and I think it shows.

• Secret of Narn success in injuring a Shadow ship?
  Not much to the secret...they coordinated their firepower on one of the ships, in hopes of doing damage.

• G'Kar's prayers would have been unrelated to the wounding of the shadow vessel.

• Was the Shadow ship permanently disabled?
  It was in shock, but it would've recovered in a bit more time.

• Were there four Shadow ships stacked together after the battle?
  Actually, what's probably confusing is that the shadow vessels are bi-level, so when two come together it looks like four or so; but it's just the two.

• Thanks. One of the things I wanted to try was to find a way to stage long-range combat. One of the things everyone says is that even though real aerial combat tends to be at great distance -- and space combat would be conducted over thousands of kilometers, you probably wouldn't be able to even SEE your opponent at that range, just pick up the enemy ships on your scanners -- you can't do that for TV because you need to have both in frame, hammering each other short-range, to make it work for viewers.

  But I've always liked a challenge, so I thought I'd see if I could make it work. The two sides are, as noted, thousands of kilometers apart, and take most of that sequences just to catch up with each other. And frankly, I think it's probably one of the most dynamic battle sequences we've ever done, so you can expect more in the future, now that I've kind of got the hang of how to do this.

• Agreed. The use of different tactics and weapons at different distances gives a sense that there is a *strategy* behind what's going on, that it's not just two ships coming with city blocks of one another and clobbering each other. Strategy implies intelligence, and to see intelligence in the shadow vessels is scary indeed.....

• The reason for the placement of the jump points is *very* straight forward.

  By virtue of their size and the tremendous forces unleashed by punching a hole into hyperspace, you want to form it a little distance away or risk being severely damaged. If they formed the points between them and the enemy, which was quite capable of avoiding them, it would be entirely possible for the shadows to get in front of the point and cut off their sole means of escape. Usually, better to form them behind you, so the enemy can't block your way out, and take a possible hit or two to your aft sections than be totally cut off. They didn't anticipate the extra weapons the shadows had.

• Were those Narn cruisers especially big?
  The cruiser is the same size as that sent to look into Z'ha'dum; it's just a matter of perspective and how close the camera gets.

• Did the shadow ships phase out to avoid the energy mines?
  No, they didn't phase out so much as absorb the energy, at cost of great pain.

• Well, they're organic technology, so they can feel, but only after a fashion.

• "Why didn't the fighters do anything?"

  They did. Look more closely. They engaged the Narn fighters in dogfights all over the place. They're hardly more than specks against the huge ships, but they're definitely there.

• One Shadow ship in "Signs and Portents," two in "Chrysalis," three in "The Coming of Shadows," four here?
  Give Tim Lynch a ceegar. Yes, more ships are starting to appear, as more ships become available.

• They only have four ships?
  Never said you're seeing their entire fleet, you're seeing what they can afford to send out at any given moment on relatively low-priority jobs.

• Dave: yup. Londo's never coughed before, and this was very deliberately placed. He's on the path, like it or not.

• The Vorlons lodged an official protest! Is this the first time they've taken an action like that?
  Yeah, that's pretty much the first time since the pilot where the Vorlons got involved with the Sinclair situation.

• Bingo. As I mentioned before, the "long twilight struggle" title is a quote; you correctly identified the source in the JFK quote.

• About Sheridan's closing speech
  Certainly, Sheridan is slowly growing more into a leader who must be able to step to the front in this kind of way, yes.

• What does "the balloon is going up" mean?
  There have been many explanations for where this phrase comes from. Most of them are obviously spook etymology, but the first one I heard -- and who knows if this is right -- comes from WW I, where just before one side would go into battle, they'd send one man up in a hot air balloon to scout the enemy's location. If you saw the balloon going up, you knew combat wasn't far behind.

  Wherever it comes from, though, that's the general meaning of the phrase.

  Editor's note: Apparently the term dates back to the American Civil War, during which balloons were deployed by the Signal Corps before battles.

• Candles are, I think, wonderfully emblematic of life, and of being a single ray of light, or hope, in a dark place. The Grey Council stands between the candle and the star; watch G'Kar's action re: a candle in his quarters...and in that scene (for those who've seen TLTS) note how many candles are in the room in the beginning, and at the end.

  We are the candle that burns brightly, stubbornly, effectively...but briefly.

• The candles in G'Kar's quarters
  Sherry...thank you. The level of attention to detail is the *only* way that this story will be told properly. It means you sit down with the director, and others, and you make totally clear -- there, and in the script -- what you saw in your head when you wrote it. As well as repeatd verbal themes, cues, phraseologies, it's important (since this is a visual medium) to incorporate visual cues that add to the thematic thrust of the piece, that create a mood, or convey an emotion or a thought on an almost cellular level. The hardest part is being careful not to OVER use them, because then they lose all meaning and impact.

• Re: G'Kar's position on the council...Sheridan could have carried on, but it would've been basically useless. The Centauri now occupy and run Narn, and thanks to the surrender and agreement to the Centauri terms, call the shots as far as who can legitimately speak for Narn. Sheridan could've kept G'Kar *in the room*, but he'd still be powerless, without portfolio, and the whole concept of the council would be shot. He is now simply Citizen G'Kar, same as any other Narn. No, Londo isn't of higher rank in the council than Sheridan, but he speaks for the Centauri, and the Centauri speak for Narn.

• Re: Earth's attitude toward the Centauri...stick around for 2 more episodes.

  Re: not recognizing the Centauri rule...on what basis would or could Earth do this? If the Narns had not agreed to total and unconditional surrender, sure, there might be a case you could make...otherwise, one doesn't have a leg to stand on.

  Vampyr...okay, (poink), I've now made you Babylon 5 Person here. So how could Sheridan "take Londo down a peg" in any manner consistent with reality? Yell at him? Sure, but to what effect? He had nothing to back it up. Before, in "Shadows," he had a bluff he could run; now that's not relevant because the actions have all been taken, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. Sometimes, things happen in the real world, and we'd love to see the person taken down a peg, as you say...but sometimes actually *doing* that in a real world situation, or a fairly rigorous fictional situation, is a different matter.

Last update: May 27, 2024