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

Overview

While an Earth official investigates the mystery ship encountered by Lt. Keffer in hyperspace, Londo attempts to sever his ties with Morden. Sheridan receives a new tool in the fight against the Shadows. Tucker Smallwood as David Endawi. Ed Wasser as Morden.

P5 Rating: 8.60

Production number: 301
Original air week: November 6, 1995
DVD release date: August 12, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin Cremin

Backplot

• A little over a thousand years ago, long before the Narn achieved spaceflight, the Shadows set up a base on one of the Narn homeworld's southern continents.
• Morden is involved with the Psi Corps and some part of the Earth government. The Corps knows about the Shadows. Morden has also been in contact with Lord Refa without Londo's knowledge.
• If Delenn is correct about Morden always having Shadow companions, then the Psi Corps, at least, presumably knows about the Shadows. Talia, in "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum," was able -- or even forced -- to sense the Shadows when she passed Morden in the hall; presumably a Psi Cop would easily be able to do the same. (Unless, of course, Talia's perception was a result of Ironheart's gift from "Mind War.")
• The Shadows aren't particularly interested in the section of the galaxy containing the Centauri Republic; what they're after (or rather, what they claim to be after) is on the other side.
• What they are interested in, though, is the Rangers -- interested enough to have Morden go over Londo's head and get Refa to give them a world known to house a Ranger training camp.
• The Markab homeworld has been looted by scavengers since the race became extinct ("Confessions and Lamentations.")
• The Minbari religious caste, without the knowledge of some members of the Grey Council, have built a new ship using Minbari and Vorlon technology. Called the White Star, it has been granted to Sheridan for use against the Shadows.
• The fleet of Shadow ships in Londo's dream ("The Coming of Shadows") are flying over Centauri Prime, as far as Londo can tell.
• Being seen by many people is a strain on Kosh.

Unanswered Questions

• What other details of Londo's dream weren't shown in "The Coming of Shadows?"
• What in particular are the Shadows after, that they don't care what the Centauri do with a good 30% of the galaxy? What's in the remaining section? (For example, where are the major races in relation to the boundary Morden drew?)
• How did Marcus leave Medlab? Is he able to put himself into a trance deep enough to pass unnoticed in an admittedly cursory medical examination?
• What do the Shadows know about the Rangers?
• How did Ivanova find out about the Rangers?
• What is the "program" referred to by the Psi Cop?
• Why are some on Earth working with the Shadows? What do they hope to gain from the association, and how does that tie in with whatever the Shadows want?
• Will Endawi's report ever make it to real strategic analysts? Did G'Kar tell him about Z'ha'dum?
• What else can the White Star do?
• Was the Shadow vessel actually destroyed, or did it manage to escape? If it was destroyed, did it have a chance to relay information about the White Star first? (see jms speaks)

Analysis

• Lennier says, "Not all of my people are comfortable with the idea of the Rangers." That implies that the Rangers aren't as secret an organization on the Minbari homeworld as they are elsewhere.
• Likewise, the fact that Marcus' brother was able to sign up for the Rangers, and that Marcus apparently knew about them too at the time, suggests that they're operating at least somewhat in the open. That might also explain how Ivanova and the Shadows found out about them. The fact that the Drazi government apparently knew about the Ranger training base is further evidence.
• Londo severing his ties with Morden may have little impact on the Shadows' association with the Centauri; Morden may continue to meet with Refa, rendering Londo's newly prominent position among the Centauri obsolete.
• Shadow ships are actually entering and leaving hyperspace when they shimmer in and out of sight; they aren't just becoming invisible. Obviously they know a good deal more about hyperspace than most of the other races (also evidenced by the jump-point weapon they used in "The Long, Twilight Struggle.") It's interesting to note that another ancient race, the walkers at Sigma 957 ("Mind War") also had an atypical way of entering hyperspace -- assuming that's what they were doing in that episode.
• Perhaps the fact that Kosh feels he must maintain his illusory appearance when out of his encounter suit, and the fact that doing so is a strain on him, is another reason he wears the suit in the first place. If it weren't a strain to be seen by many people, perhaps he would be willing to walk around the station in full view. (Probably not, though; otherwise he'd most likely have been more willing to show himself in the confines of his quarters.)
• Was the White Star constructed with Sheridan in mind? Giving it that name seems certain to stir up resentment among the warrior caste when they find out about it, especially if it turns out that the man they call Starkiller was the intended commander from the start. (Sheridan destroyed the Minbari cruiser Black Star in the Earth-Minbari War.)
• The White Star has some obvious Minbari characteristics, not the least of which are the distinctive spade-shaped fins at the rear (also visible on Minbari flyers and battle cruisers.) If the Shadows are at all familiar with Minbari ships, they probably won't be fooled by the White Star for long.
• Either the Minbari and Vorlons have mastered the art of intuitive user interfaces, or Ivanova is an extremely quick study; she was operating the White Star's weapons systems, presumably not a trivial task, with at most a few hours of training. Perhaps the controls are partially telepathic in nature.
• The Shadows are aware of the fact that some Narn (if only G'Kar) know about them; they don't seem to consider it significant, especially now that the Narn have been beaten into submission.
• The Shadows are even willing to be heard in public; they're plainly audible telling Morden to set up a second meeting with Londo (assuming that's what they're saying.)
• Was the Shadow base on Narn a unique thing, or did they have bases on other races' worlds as well? In "The Long Dark," the Markab ambassador claimed to have heard the same stories of an ancient enemy that G'Kar was recounting. Perhaps the Shadows had a base on the Markab homeworld as well -- and if so, perhaps they unleashed the plague ("Confessions and Lamentations") in order to reacquire that base without anyone noticing. If that's the case, Sheridan may have inadvertently helped the Shadows out by destroying the Markab jumpgate; that'll make it harder for someone to stumble on the base by accident.
• Is the former Shadow presence on Narn related to the fact that there are no Narn telepaths? ("The Gathering") Given how unpleasant -- even painful -- being near the Shadows was for Talia ("In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum") perhaps prolonged exposure to the Shadows caused so much trouble for Narn telepaths that they didn't survive to breed new generations of telepaths.
• Morden has had contact with the Centauri and with Earth. Has he also been talking to other races? The Minbari warrior caste, for instance?
• When Londo asks for assurances that the Shadows won't bother the Centauri, Morden says dismissively, "You and I both know what treaties are worth." This could be a reference to the Centauri's disregard for the treaties against mass drivers ("The Long, Twilight Struggle") -- but there's another, more recent, treaty that could also be the one in question, namely the pact with Earth.
• Sheridan has now destroyed two indestructible enemy vessels in his career.
• Marcus claims his brother was killed in a Shadow attack on a mining colony. Which colony was that? Was Marcus working on a Narn mining colony, or have the Shadows been attacking other targets as well?
• Marcus' reason for joining the Rangers is similar to Ivanova's reason for joining Earthforce ("And Now For a Word.") Both of them joined after losing a brother in a war.
• Sheridan orders the White Star's aft jump engines online. If this can be taken to mean that it has two (or more) sets of jump engines, it may be that the White Star can duplicate the Shadow-killing explosion without the aid of a jump gate by using both its jump engines at the same time. On the other hand, it may be that there's only enough power to run one set of engines at a time, or that there's something about jumpgates, rather than jump points, that causes the effect. (The closed caption quotes him as saying "Half jump engines.")
• The Centauri automated defense systems appear to be able to track the White Star, evidence that Centauri weapons technology is more advanced than Earth's ("Points of Departure.")
• Endawi says that Earth pulled the Shadow footage off ISN shortly after it first aired. In what sense? Did they just record it from ISN, or did they force ISN to stop airing the report?
• In the conference room, after Endawi leaves, Delenn tells Sheridan that she has never seen such a ship, that only descriptions of the ships have been passed down from the last war. Presumably, if the Minbari were involved in the last war against the shadows, they were capable of spaceflight (recall: the Narn, who were not capable of spaceflight, were ignored in the last war.) That they should have no recorded images of the shadow ships from that conflict seems odd, since recording technology would clearly have been within their grasp. Possibilities:
  1. Someone, or something, quietly eradicated whatever images did exist at some point in the past. We have certainly seen the Shadows act through their agents to suppress information regarding their past activities (i.e. the Narn being beaten down.) No one said all the "information suppression" had to be as spectacular as a planetary conquest. This of course begs the question, "Who are the agents?"
  2. The last shadow war was so devastating that all recorded images were lost.
  3. Delenn was lying. (There doesn't seem to be a good reason for her to do so, though.)

Notes

• A small effects glitch is visible in the opening shot. As the camera pans down from the repair crew, look at the stationary ring around the front of the station. At about the eight o'clock position, there's a small shaded area, the bottom half of which flickers on and off.
• When Endawi leaves the conference room after meeting with Sheridan, Delenn, and Ivanova, he forgets to take his data crystal with him. It is left in the viewer. He does in fact remove it when visiting Londo. Presumably, since it was pulled just after airing on ISN, he would not want to leave copies lying around.
• This episode has Delenn's first action scene of the series.
• Alcohol's effect on Minbari was first noted by Lennier in "The Quality of Mercy." It causes paranoia and homicidal rages.

jms speaks

• July 23, 1995: Finally, one week from tomorrow, we start filming on year three, with episode #301, "Matters of Honor," which also introduces a new recurring character named Marcus.

• Actually, the lead guest character in the first episode of year three, one Mr. Endawi, is a Nigerian, and our new recurring character, Marcus Cole (a Ranger) is British, and played by Jason Carter. So you have two non-American accents occupying major parts of the first ep next year.

• New sets: yes, and we're creating situations in which we can see more of Earth, Mars, our other local planets, plus Narn, Centauri, Minbari and one other major world. As the Shadow War cranks into gear, you're going to need a place to meet in security and plan for it, so we're also building that. We'll see more of Draal's place on Epsilon 3. And there's one other major set that we'll see in the first episode, and quite a bit thereafter.

  New characters: well, there's Marcus Cole, a Ranger assigned permanently to Babylon 5, played by British actor Jason Carter; we'll see Lyta Alexander more this year; and Theo...what can I say about Theo...well, perhaps better to let you see for yourself.

• It's predictable that I'd put someone into the show with who's a guy with thick, long hair...since every time I look in the mirror I realize more and more that where I'm concerned, thick, long hair will always be an unattainable, science fiction concept....

• About the title sequence
  "Why are starfuries firing on starfuries?"

  Noticed that, eh?

  Wait and see.

• Any significance to some characters' heads turning in the opening credits?
  No, I don't think even I could ever manage to be that obscure.

• Overall, I'm very happy with how this season's main title sequence came out.

• Why aren't there many scenes from season three in the title sequence?
  Because we have to make the season 3 title sequence *very* early in the shooting process; we need shots to go out in the first episode title sequence, but we've only shot a few episodes by the time we need to deliver. So most shots tend to come from the preceding season.

• What's with Ivanova's line? Isn't peace a more desirable goal than victory?
  Peace can be a surrender as well as an achievement, especially when facing an enemy dedicated to something unpleasant. Chamberlin returned from a visit to Germany with a so-called agreement in his hands, and announced that by granting concessions to Hitler, he had achieved "peace in our time."

  Peace is a byproduct of victory against those who do not want peace.

• We had considered refurbishing C&C, but didn't get around to it this season.

• Will the station still be damaged?
  Repairs will be visible being done in the first episode.

• When the fighting staff expanded, it was CGI; physical otherwise.

• What was that noise after Morden and Londo spoke?
  No, you heard something, all right...just a little bit of shadow whisper for those who got it; those who don't, won't notice.

• Are Morden and his "associates" equal partners?
  Well, he may sometimes *think* of his associates as equals...and my cat thinks he actually owns this house....

• Delenn lied! A continuity glitch?
  Re: Minbari lying...it has been established, repeatedly, that the Minbari do lie *when it means saving someone else's honor*. That was even stated, openly, in the very same episode about Sheridan's frame job, "There All The Honor Lies." Londo says, right there, that the Minbari will lie for a greater cause, another's honor. The same was done in "The Quality of Mercy." Delenn fibbed about the ship in "Matters" because in so doing, she saved Sheridan's honor.

  This is not a plot hole, it's been established clearly in the series on multiple occasions. We have never, ever, at any time said conclusively that Minbari never, ever lie. This is another example of certain persons simply not paying attention, and then blaming the show for their own lack of continuity in attention.

• Yes, Endawi is more or less a good guy, in that he's totally uninvolved with Morden or anyone on that side. He was doing what he said he'd been assigned to do.

• Was that Bester in the senator's office?
  No, it wasn't Bester at the Senator's office.

• Any reason why it wasn't?
  Yes.

• Was the Shadow ship destroyed?
  Be of good cheer; the jumpgate blast destroyed the pursuing vessel.

• It's two separate mechanisms; no one has been able to open a jump point in a jump point because of the hideous amount of energy needed by the ship in question. They used the White Star to open a jump point within a standing *jump gate* that was already there, and had a secondary source of power. The competing energies were impossible to control, and blew the whole thing.

• I don't consider the "bonehead maneuver" to be technobabble, for several reasons. For starters, the "babble" part isn't there; TB goes on into long explanations of neutrino waves and particle theory and elements that have to be recalibrated, on and on and on....

  Second, a prime requisite for TB is that it's a technology that comes out of nowhere, artifically invented to create a problem and/or create a solution. Neither applies here; we've seen jump gates and jump points now for three years; we've seen them disrupted in "The Long Twilight Struggle." It was just using the tech we've already established.

  In a way, it's kind of unfair that we get hammered when we use a little teeny piece of technology because ST has abused it for so many years. That's not our fault, and one shouldn't develop a kneejerk response so that ANY reference to technology becomes technobabble. If that's the case, then the term becomes meaningless.

  This is, also, a *science* fiction show; if sometimes we have a touch of science, it's the nature of the show; you can't have SF without at least some measure of tech...otherwise you've got fantasy. The day we do a page and a half of discussions about particles being recalibrated, particles that didn't exist twenty minutes before the need became apparent, *then* we can get gigged on technobabble.

• The more people who have to *see* Kosh as one of their own, the greater the strain on Kosh, as you'll note in the first ep of year three.

• Where Delenn gets all those wardrobe changes is one of those questions that, in a real world, doesn't warrant close scrutiny.

  And yes, her costumes tend to be emblematic of where the character is, and who she is. Consequently, there will be some year three additions to underscore her more assertive nature; there's a green costume in particular that shows up in the first episode that's just *killer*.

• Was Delenn's bone crest changed?
  Yeah, we made some small modifications to the headpiece (good call, Corun). It merges more seamlessly behind, it's raised slightly at the crest, and the ends blend more smoothly into the skin in front, to make the whole thing more natural.

• Will we ever see alcohol's effect on the Minbari?
  No immediate plans for this, but knowing how my brain works, we'll probably see this sooner or later.

• What was the plant pictured in G'Kar's book?
  The leaf shown is the G'Quon-eth, the plant featured in "By Any Means Necessary."

• Had a Minbari been running that sensor, he would've nailed it instantly; but Ivanova had never actually encountered that ship before, and was running off the initial scan reports. (Also it was just phasing in at that point.)

  The White Star uses local drive engines based on magnetic and gravitational principles; in a sense, it doesn't so much push itself toward other worlds as *pull* itself or *repel* itself. One side effect of creating a powerful gravitational system is the ability to create artificial gravity.

  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• The Minbari built the White Star, borrowing some Vorlon tech, so it's primarily Minbari, and built with their sensibilities, all the controls are in Minbari, and so on. They allow Sheridan to command it because Delenn said to do so, and in battle an unpredictable human might have options that a more regimented Minbari might not.

• The White Star was always in the plans for the series; it's an outgrowth of everything that has gone before. We've seen big warships, dreadnoughts, smaller ships, and personal fighters. This fits right in. If you're going to have a war over a long distance, you kinda need something to get in and out with.

• Shouldn't they have taken the White Star on a test flight? Why aren't they preparing for conflict with the Shadows?
  Yeah, but it's very hard to do a story about preparation in the sense you suggest. "Well, let's go check out the White Star."

  "Well...sure is a fast ship, all right...so, what're the Rangers doing? Keeping an eye on stuff? Good..good...so, what's for dinner?"

  Each individual episode must be *about* something, must have a story that can stand on its own, separate from the arc, while adding to it. For what it's worth, "Voices of Authority," which was originally slated to run in the first 4, *is* a preparation kind of story...it gets into how they should be gearing up for what's coming, the accumulation of allies and resources, all that. Had it run as planned as #4, this would be answered. But the sheer volume of CGI required, which was pretty hideous, put it into the #5 slot, which we thought would still be in the first block of episodes. Then we found that #4 was the cutoff point.

  All I can tell you is that what you're asking for is *there*, plain as can be, right in the very next batch of episodes. (Also, do bear in mind that the "shadow war" referenced in the show operates as more than just discussing the shadows themselves, but what's going on back home as well.)

• No, the Drazi was not a Ranger, only a supporter/collaborator (if I can use, or misuse that term.)

  At this stage, the Rangers are exclusively either human or minbari.

• The Ranger colony was financially supported by the Minbari; the Drazi allowed them to use one of their colony worlds as a base.

Last update: May 27, 2024