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

Overview

Some of the crew are caught with the Brakiri as they celebrate their "Day of the Dead," a remembrance of the recently deceased. A pair of famous entertainers visits the station. Harlan Ellison as the voice of Zooty. Bridget Flanery as Zoe. Penn and Teller as Rebo and Zooty. Ed Wasser as Morden.

P5 Rating: 8.44

Production number: 511
Original air date: March 11, 1998
DVD release date: April 13, 2004

Written by Neil Gaiman
Directed by Doug Lefler

Plot Points

• Once every 200 years, a comet approaches the Brakiri homeworld and signals the Day of the Dead, in which, for one night, people can interact with those who've died.
• In their youth, Lochley and her friend Zoe spent much of their time on drugs and lived in squalid conditions. Lochley's father, an EarthForce marine, had no idea where she was. Zoe eventually committed suicide, something which has haunted Lochley her entire life. After the suicide, Lochley's father located her, and shortly thereafter, putting her old life behind her, Lochley enrolled in the military.
• Kosh has sent a message to Sheridan via one of the visiting deceased: "When the long night comes, return to the end of the beginning."
• According to Morden, Lennier is fated to betray the Rangers. Morden also hinted that Lennier would die soon.
• Rebo and Zooty have starred in a variety of shows and movies. Zooty speaks via a small handheld device, and both of them have studied Minbari, Narn, and other forms of humor. Minbari humor, Rebo says, is based on failure to attain spiritual enlightenment, though puns seem to be effective in Minbari humor as well.

Unanswered Questions

• What does Kosh's message mean? Any relation to the episode "The Long Night?"
• Was Morden's prediction about Lennier correct? If so, how and why will Lennier betray the Rangers?
• What is Zooty's machine? What does it tell him to do?

Analysis

• There are two possible explanations for the visitations. First, one of Lochley's suspicions may have been correct, that the whole affair was an illusion or a trick of some kind. A sufficiently powerful telepath might have pulled memories of Dodger, Adira, Zoe, and Morden from the people in the Brakiri section. The memories of Morden would more likely have come from Londo than from Lennier, of course. Zoe's message from Kosh could have been based on Lennier's memories; Lennier almost certainly knew about the close relationship between Kosh and Sheridan.

  The other possibility, of course, is that what appeared to happen really did happen: the dead returned.

  If the Day of the Dead can be taken at face value, then given Lyta's description of being inside someone's mind at the time of death ("The Paragon of Animals") and Byron's description of the echoes of a sentient mind persisting in nearby objects after death ("A View from the Gallery") it seems that there's more going on with death in the B5 universe than meets the eye.

  It's possible that the echoes mentioned by Byron never actually go away, and that a powerful enough telepath can pick them up long after the fact. In that case, the Day of the Dead may be the result of group telepathy on the part of the Brakiri (several telepaths joining together can produce greatly amplified powers, e.g. in "A Race Through Dark Places.")

  Clues to another possibility are found in the Soul Hunters' practice of capturing the souls of the dying ("Soul Hunter.") Perhaps the Soul Hunters aren't the only ones doing so -- and whoever else is involved does it on a much larger scale and in such a way that they aren't noticed. In that case, the tunnel of light Lyta saw in "The Paragon of Animals" might simply be a representation of the dying person's mind being extracted for storage. And her belief that the living aren't supposed to know what's on the other side of that tunnel would be consistent with a clandestine Soul Hunter-esque group that wanted its presence to remain unknown. If that's what's happening, a natural question is, why? And why would that group allow some minds to escape on a day of significance only to the Brakiri? Perhaps the Brakiri are involved with the group somehow.

• All the people who returned suffered untimely or violent deaths: Morden was decapitated on Londo's orders ("Into the Fire,") Adira was poisoned ("Interludes and Examinations,") Zoe committed suicide, and Dodger was killed in combat ("GROPOS.") Is that significant, or is it simply that people who die in such a manner are more likely to have unfinished business with the living?

• Lochley's escape from the squalid lifestyle she described was a sort of rebirth. Perhaps that's why she has a phoenix on her flight helmet ("Strange Relations.")

• Judging by Garibaldi's interaction with Dodger, he and Lise are still together. Is she still on Mars? In the past, she wasn't willing to tolerate Garibaldi going off to live on Babylon 5 while she stayed on Mars ("Babylon Squared.") Has her attitude changed now, or is she expecting him to return in the near future?

• Dodger mentioned "technomancy" as a possible explanation for her appearance. A reference, most likely to the technomages ("The Geometry of Shadows.") How widely-known is the existence of the technomages?

• Lennier told Morden that Sheridan hadn't died on Z'ha'dum. Did he simply mean that Sheridan didn't die permanently, or does he not believe Sheridan died at all? Given Lennier's jealous feelings toward Sheridan (manifested, for instance, by referring to him as "your partner" to Delenn rather than by name) it's possible he's not inclined to believe in any of the larger-than-life stories concerning Sheridan.

  Also of note is Morden's surprise that Sheridan wasn't back for the Day of the Dead. Is that a sign that Morden, or what's left of him, doesn't know that Sheridan survived? That's unlikely, given that Morden himself survived long enough to hear about Sheridan's return to Babylon 5 ("The Summoning.") Or does Morden know something Sheridan doesn't about the nature of Sheridan's second lease on life?

• Morden said to Lennier, "And you want wisdom?" Lennier replied yes. That marks the first time he's been able to find out what a Minbari wants (he failed to get an answer to that question from Delenn in "Signs and Portents.") Telling Morden what one wants, and getting it, has usually had disastrous consequences in the past. Is Lennier's willingness to answer the question further foreshadowing of his alleged betrayal of the Rangers? Will his betrayal hinge on acquiring some sort of wisdom?

• Morden told Lennier, "One does not go to the dead for wisdom." That's not an opinion shared by the Brakiri, though: the greeting for the holiday, judging by the conversation between the merchant and Londo, is, "May the Comet bring you wisdom."

• Morden told Lennier that the other end of the corridor was over 200 million light-years away, while Lochley said to Sheridan that she was 27 light-years away. Who was right? If Morden was right, where was the Brakiri section really taken? 200 million light-years is a distance on an intergalactic scale. The fact that Lochley was able to contact Sheridan in real time suggests that Morden was exaggerating the distance.

• As is often the case with his pronouncements, Kosh's message can be taken several ways. "The long night" may refer to Sheridan's death in 19 years. "The end of the beginning" is more ambiguous. Does it refer to the end of Sheridan's original life? If so, it might mean Sheridan should return to Z'ha'dum (odd, since Z'ha'dum was destroyed in "Epiphanies") or perhaps that he should seek out Lorien. It's even possible Kosh was referring to Coriana 6, where, as Sheridan said, the second age of mankind ended; what good it would do Sheridan to return there isn't clear.

  It might also refer to the end of Babylon 5, which was the site of the beginning of the Interstellar Alliance. If Sheridan is to take up residence on Minbar as planned ("No Compromises") but returns to Babylon 5 at the end of his life in 2282, also the year of the station's destruction ("The Deconstruction of Falling Stars") that might account for the ambiguity surrounding his place of death ("Deconstruction.")

Notes

• Morden likes coffee.

• Brakiri are nocturnal.

• Garibaldi sleeps with a gun under his pillow.

• Morden's head is still on the pike outside the Centauri Imperial Palace ("Into the Fire.")

• Universe Today front-page headlines:
  • Meet Rebo & Zooty Up Close and Personal
  • Babylon 5 will air Rebo & Zooty Movie Marathon
  • Rebo and Zooty Arrive
  • Interstellar Alliance Talks to Resume
  • Londo Mollari to Become Centauri Emperor (this news story was briefly referred to by the Brakiri merchant Londo talked to: "You are Centauri emperor-to-be. Universe Today.")
  • Reclamation of San Diego Wasteland gets Underway (the nuking of San Diego was mentioned in "Midnight on the Firing Line," and the wasteland was shown in "Spider in the Web.")
  Back page headlines:
  • Stocks: How your credit Rates
  • Narn Consulate Opens on Mars amid Controversy
  • Earth Senate Votes More Money for Titan Terraforming

• The poem Dodger recited was actually "A Few Figs from Thistles" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, not an Emily Dickinson poem. Garibaldi's attempt was by Dickinson, however, a poem titled "Because I could not stop for Death."

  Because I could not stop for Death--
  He kindly stopped for me--
  The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
  And Immortality.

  We slowly drove--He knew no haste
  And I had put away
  My labor and my leisure too,
  For His Civility--

  We passed the School, where Children strove
  At Recess--in the Ring--
  We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
  We passed the Setting Sun--

  He passed Us--
  The Dews drew quivering and chill--
  For only Gossamer, my Gown--
  My Tippet--only Tulle--Or rather--

  We paused before a House that seemed
  A Swelling of the Ground--
  The Roof was scarcely visible--
  The Cornice--in the Ground--

  Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
  Feels shorter than the Day
  I first surmised the Horses' Heads
  Were toward Eternity--

• Dodger's parting line, "Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell," is from another Emily Dickinson poem, "#1732," published in 1896:

  My life closed twice before its close -
  It yet remains to see
  If Immortality unveil
  A third event to me

  So huge, so hopless to conceive
  As these that twice befell.
  Parting is all we know of heaven,
  And all we need of hell.

• Rebo's line upon arriving in customs, "I have nothing to declare except my genius," is a quote from Victor Hugo (later quoted by Oscar Wilde among others.)

• Morden's comment that he could see the future, but not the past, may be a reference to Dante's "Inferno." In Canto X, Farinata degli Uberti, a heretic, prophesizes Dante's banishment from Florence. When Farinata is asked how the dead can know the future, but not the present, he replies that according to the Divine Plan, the damned can see far into the future, but nothing of what is present or what has happened. After Judgement, when there is no longer any future, the intellects of the damned will be void.

  "Ah, so may your soul sometime have rest,"
  I [Dante] begged him [Farinata], "solve the riddle that pursues me
  through this dark place and leaves my mind perplexed:

  you seem to see in advance all time's intent,
  if I have heard and understood correctly;
  but you seem to lack all knowledge of the present."

  "We see asquint, like those whose twisted sight
  can make out only the far-off," he said,
  "for all the King of All still grants us that much light.

  When things draw near, or happen, we perceive
  nothing of them. Except what others bring us
  we have no news of those who are alive.

  So may you understand that all we know
  will be dead forever from that day and hour
  when the portal of the Future is swung to."

• Dodger was a visiting ground-pounder in "GROPOS;" she died in battle. Adira met Londo in "Born to the Purple" and was killed in "Interludes and Examinations."

• The comet as a symbol of death among the Brakiri was first mentioned in "A Day in the Strife," which, by coincidence, aired in reruns on TNT the same day this episode premiered.

• Rebo and Zooty were previously mentioned in "Rumors, Bargains and Lies" and "Rising Star." In the former episode Londo complained that he didn't find them funny, an opinion he no longer holds.

• Another coincidence: On the day the episode premiered, news organizations reported that an asteroid was expected to make a close pass by Earth in 2028. The Brakiri comet's close approach, of course, is what signals the start of the Day of the Dead.

• The Day of the Dead has an Earthly equivalent; there's a Mexican holiday of the same name on November 2 (it's celebrated elsewhere in Latin America too.) It's based partially on the Roman Catholic day of remembrance for the deceased, All Souls Day. Candy skulls are a common feature of Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations.

• One of Rebo and Zooty's movies was called "Sons of the New Desert." That's a reference to a 1933 Laurel and Hardy film, "Sons of the Desert."

• "Zoe" means "life" in Greek.

• This episode was the first one not written by JMS since "Knives" in season two.

• According to Neil Gaiman on The Dreaming, "It's a ghost story about religion, or a drama about comedy and the nature of metaphor, or something like that."

• Production start date: November 13, 1997.

• Harlan Ellison, who played the voice of Zooty's machine, played another machine voice previously: Sparky the computer ("Ceremonies of Light and Dark.")

• This episode was originally supposed to be three slots later in the airing sequence, but was pulled back due to the spring hiatus on TNT (see JMS Speaks.)

• TNT used the intended the airing sequence when the episode was rebroadcast, putting it between "Phoenix Rising" and "The Ragged Edge," but that causes a continuity problem: Londo and G'Kar are featured in this episode, and neither of them is on the station between "Phoenix Rising" and "The Ragged Edge."

• Continuity glitch, possibly due to the aforementioned schedule shuffling: at the end of "Strange Relations," Londo and G'Kar left for the Centauri homeworld, yet they were on the station again in this episode. Not necessarily a glitch, since they could have been to Centauri Prime and back again, but that wasn't mentioned.

• Londo's comment, "If Vir can be emperor, an Earth cat can be emperor," may be a reference to "Chrysalis," in which Londo and Vir confused cats and ducks.

jms speaks

• About the casting of Rebo and Zooty
  Their name came up in discussions, and they just seemed a perfect match.

• Neil wrote for R&Z, and we looked around for casting...it occured to someone -- may have been me, maybe casting, I don't remember -- that it might be better to use a real comedy team than create one. B5 called P&T, and they said yes.

• Do both characters have lines?

  Yes and no.

• "Was it always part of the script for Zooty to speak through a machine, or was that something added so that Teller won't have to speak on camera?"

  The latter.

• Was the audience's laughter genuine or just acting?
  Depending on which take was being shot...half and half.

• Why was this episode shot after "Phoenix Rising," which was originally scheduled to air first?
  We shot it out of story-sequence to give us more time to prep 512, which was a big episode. So it'll actually be aired as 513.

• It was originally intended to be set after "Phoenix Rising."

• We felt it wise to adjust the airing order so we could ramp up the following episodes prior to the NBA delay without having any interruption in the tone of the episodes (i.e., 2 tense, 1 funny, 2 tense vs 1 funny and 4 tense in a row).

• We suggested moving up DotD because the NBA playoffs will hit after #12, and better to have 3-4 intense episodes in a row, culminating in 12, than to break up the middle, which would've been okay as a respite if there wasn't going to be a break, but since there is a break now, I want to slam the last few before it hits for more impact.

• How much do you have to get involved in outside scripts?
  It varies, I get involved to different degrees with different writers; with Neil, it was more "What do you want to write?" He noodled around with some ideas, ran one past me that he liked, and I liked it...he asked for a truckload of scripts for reference, picked the characters he wanted to use, researched them, we talked on the phone and via email a number of times as he refined his ideas further, then wrote the script. I tucked and nipped a little here and there, but pretty much left it alone.

• Neil kept the humor sort of off-base...operating on the assumption that there are some things that become au courant or funny because of context: Steve Martin's "excuuuuse me," for instance. Now, it ain't funny, it's just annoying...at the time, EVERYbody was saying it and laughing. R&Z are similar cultural phenomena...their "with a machine" catchphrase, for instance, which the crowd new and reacted to. To us, and Lochely, it didn't mean anything. Lochley's reaction was tailored to be EXACTLY the same as most women's (and some guy's) reaction to the Three Stooges: either it's funny, or you can't figure out why people are laughing.

• Why didn't you have Marcus visit Lennier?
  I didn't write it. It's Neil's script. The characters he chose are the ones he wanted to play with.

• How did Neil know what Kosh's message should be?
  Actually, in that scene, Neil didn't write Kosh's message. He asked what it would be, and I gave him that, knowing that I'd been looking for a way to slip that in as early as season 4.

Last update: May 27, 2024