Revelations

Overview

G'Kar brings news of a terrible new enemy. The arrival of Sheridan's sister opens up old wounds for the new commander. Dr. Franklin employs an unorthodox procedure to try to bring Garibaldi out of his coma. Delenn's mysterious change is completed. Beverly Leech as Elizabeth Sheridan. Macaulay Bruton as Garibaldi's aide. 
Sub-genre: Drama
P5 Rating: 8.40

Production number: 202
Original air date: November 9, 1994
DVD release date: April 29, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Jim Johnston

Watch For:

Backplot

  • Sheridan's wife Anna was killed two years ago when her ship exploded on its way to explore the recently discovered ruins of an ancient civilization on the Rim.
  • The Book of G'Quan, the holy book of G'Kar's religion (cf. "By Any Means Necessary") mentions an ancient enemy that rose to power a thousand years in the past, a power so great it nearly overwhelmed the stars themselves. And the book contains drawings suspiciously siimilar to the Shadows' ships.

Unanswered Questions

  • Is Delenn's new appearance an outward transformation, a complete physical rebirth, or something even more fundamental?
  • What exactly has she become?
  • Was the result what she thought it would be? She didn't seem to know what had happened to her when she first emerged from the chrysalis; clearly she didn't go into the process with detailed knowledge of the outcome.
  • How much does G'Kar suspect about Londo's involvement with the Shadows?
  • Why did President Clark order Garibaldi's aide returned to Earth? Was he aware that the clandestine transfer would take place, or did someone else arrange that to stop the prisoner from being interrogated by Clark's people?

Analysis

  • The Book of G'Quan, assuming G'Kar was describing the text itself rather than his interpretation, says that the ancient enemy came from the rim of known space, the planet Z'ha'dum. That implies that the Narns, or some among them, were technologically advanced at least a thousand years ago; otherwise they would presumably have had no way of knowing the origin of the enemy, certainly not well enough to locate its home planet. Given that they are not particularly advanced compared to the other major races, one of three things must have happened:
    1. Some event, possibly the last great war, reduced their capabilities enough that they had to start nearly from scratch.
    2. They advanced technologically at a very slow pace, or not at all, over the past millenium.
    3. Another race used the Narn (or their world) in the war, departing when it was over and leaving the Narn with only legends of the great enemy.
    If the second is true, it's possible that some of the other races acquired their technology from the Narns, an interesting twist on the established idea that the Narns are obsessed with obtaining technology from others (cf. "The Gathering.")
  • When G'Kar's wingman crashed into the Shadow fighter, the Shadow ship appeared to writhe in pain. It appears that employing living technology is a common trait of the very advanced civilizations (cf. "Infection.") The question naturally arises: are the Shadow ships ships in the traditional sense, with crews or pilots aboard, or are they autonomous entities?
  • The fact that a one-man Narn fighter was able to destroy a Shadow ship implies that the Shadows can be overcome by force, assuming they aren't so numerous as to overwhelm all their opponents.
  • Delenn flat-out lied when she said her government approved her transformation (cf. "Points of Departure.") Yet they have made no move to replace her as ambassador. Perhaps they fear the consequences of working against the prophecy more than they fear what she's doing.
  • Dr. Franklin hasn't tried the healing machine on anyone, not even experimentally. Perhaps he hasn't been studying it -- which seems strange, given its potential to utterly revolutionize the practice of medicine. Now that he knows it works, he may be more inclined to use it in the future, possibly in place of hazardous conventional treatments.
  • Anna Sheridan's research vessel was destroyed in an apparent accident on the Rim, on its way to explore an ancient civilization. The similarities to the destruction of the Narn ship sent by G'Kar are too great to ignore. She very possibly was killed by the Shadows, something which won't endear them to Sheridan if he learns about it. If that's true, the question of how the ruins of the civilization were discovered in the first place remains unanswered.

Notes

  • The poem G'Kar read to Na'Toth is from "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats (quoted sections emphasized):
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
    Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Reel shadows of the indigant desert birds.
    The darkness drops again; but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
  • Garibaldi's aide is named Jack, though it's easy to miss; Garibaldi mentions the name once after Talia leaves medlab and he speaks to Franklin and Ivanova.
  • The closed captioning spells G'Quan "Sh'Quon," but JMS has used the shorter spelling on several occasions, so it's the one used here.
  • Continuity gaffe: In the scene with Sheridan and his sister in his quarters, he drains his drink, walks toward the bar, and before he gets there, the glass refills and he drains it again.

jms speaks

  • Re: the ever-improving CGI...there's an action scene in the teaser of the second episode, "Revelations," that is particularly amazing. And there is one shot of a Narn ship in extreme close-up toward the end of the scene that looks absolutely *solid*, and every bit as real and detailed as any model, and then some. It cannot be distinguished from a physical object.

  • One aspect of the Yeats quote, and the Lincoln quote, and the Tennyson quote(s), and the many others, is that I think a lot of folks at some point tuned out of, or aren't interested in, literature and poetry because they've never really been exposed to it. So just to be a little subversive, I work some of it into the show. I choose that which has meaning to the show, and the characters, in the hopes that (as has happened here), viewers will dig out the original material and be exposed to some *really* nifty writing. Granted that television must entertain at minimum; it should also elevate and ennoble and educate, and this is too good an opportunity to waste, provided one does not become didactic about it.

  • Speaking of looking into the abyss...which comes from "Revelations," it's a partial quote. Neitzsche: "When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks also into you."

  • Re: inconsistent writing and Narns...please bear in mind that there are two ways to encounter shadowmen: going out there, and them coming in to see YOU. The Narns need not be (and were not) spacefaring when they encountered the shadowmen. Or, more accurately, were encountered BY them.

  • Copies of the evidence were made, but the question is what is the available evidence to BE copied? Frankly, there isn't much. There are no witnesses, very little physical evidence. If you tried to make a case with what they've got, you'd be laughed out of the courtroom.

  • Yes, since you've sussed it...the plan was to turn Delenn from male to female in "Chrysalis," in my original plans, as well as making her half-human. And yes, it would've had one hell of an impact...but my concern when I made that decision not do do this back in the pilot was based on the reality that we couldn't do it well. The "male" voice, altered by computer-enhancement, just sounded REAL bogus; we couldn't get it right, and I had to decide between dropping it, and doing something the people would rightly describe as lame all season, just for one big payoff. It was a tough call, but it had to be made.

  • Why does Delenn's hair go under her bone ridge?
    When Delenn's structure changed, the epidermal layer on the head grew thinner; there is now a gap between the skin, and the bone which has grown out. Hair can be draped through it, or laid over it.

  • Correct; the Narn bridge is CGI. Re: the explosion...we shot a lot of live pyrotechnics for Ron's use; but don't recall offhand which was used here, live or CGI.

  • Anna chose to take Sheridan's last name. Her decision. You have the option. Some do, some don't. If you start to pass rules that no woman CAN take her husband's name or she's betraying something, then you're being just as restrictive as those who insist a woman MUST take her husband's name. Me, I'm pro-choice on every level. She felt like it.

    (And I note that my own spousal overunit kept her own name. But then, who in her right mind WOULD take Straczynski...?)

  • Another thing that can be now re-interpreted is the look on Jack's face when Garibaldi didn't go for the whitewash of the security guard's financial records in "Sky," and how that body managed to get out of the station without security being aware of it....

  • Next week, in "Revelations," you get G'Kar, Londo, Delenn, Lennier, Na'Toth, Kosh, Garibaldi, Talia and everybody else. Because there was SO much happening in #1, that got slid back a bit; also, there's a fair amount of time required for everything to do what they're supposed to be doing. (Note that we're operating pretty much in real-time; "Points" is around 8 days after the events of "Chrysalis," and "Revelations" is about another week after that.)

    One thing I noted here some time ago, as a large part of the reason I dropped "to be continued" from "Chrysalis" is that this is more of a three-parter than a two, and some threads pulled in "Chrysalis" won't be fully resolved in some ways until the third and fourth episodes. There is a LOT going on, and if we try to cram it all into one episode (as I at first tried with "Chrysalis, Part Two") you don't give ANY of them the proper time to have any impact.

    Finally, we're getting new people sampling the first episode of the season, as is true of most shows. Thus, you have to put into dialogue a fair amount of stuff that otherwise you could just imply or rely on past experience/prior knowledge. So you kind of introduce the newbies to the situation, and that requires a fair amount of exposition. This is pretty much localized to "Points," however; with the next episode, we're up to full speed. Episode 2 deals with as many issues/plotlines as "Chrysalis," with the main difference being that here, they're *resolved* rather than left hanging.

  • Yes, generally stories are self-contained, but in the case of season endings like "Chrysalis," it takes time to get everything back up and running again. The bigger the explosion, the longer it takes to clean up the mess.

  • Re: Lennier, the Grey Council fellow said, "Tell them what we've told YOU," not someone else. Just to clarify.

  • [Talia's] not seeing the shooter from outside Garibaldi's POV. That shot in particular is *exactly* from Garibaldi's POV. It's a lot like what is done in hypnosis, going back into somebody's memory and dragging out details they might have seen but not noted; the eye sees more than the brain recalls at any given moment. When we shot that scene, I was on-set, and the camera was put *exactly* where Garibaldi was standing, so we'd be very careful that it WAS his point of view. So though I hate to contradict you, it's not "a stupid plot hole from hell."

  • Oh, I'm quite sure there was backup made of the data. But step back for a moment and ask what that entails, and will any of it stand up in ANY court of law? There's a difference between that which we knor or (make that know or) believe, and that which we can prove. Without the one most important piece of all, Garibaldi's aide, the rest is speculative, inconclusive, circumstantial and conjectural.

  • Yes, if Laurel had stayed with the station, either she would have pulled the trigger on Garibaldi, or been directly involved in other ways.

  • "Morden is the mongoose."

    So what's needed now is a conveniently placed cobra....

  • The platform seen in the opening of "Revelations" is a hazardous materials platform, which is still cleaning up the radioactive debris and other stuff from the blown Minbari cruiser in the last ep.

  • About Na'Toth's change of actresses
    The actor wanted to pursue other avenues. She'd primarily worked as a romantic lead in films, then came in at the last minute to help with season one. She then wanted to go back to that. The character stayed because we need the character to have some prior knowledge of the situation, rather than bringing in somebody new.

  • Re: Na'Toth...you have to remember this was not our decision, but rather Caitlin's, in order to pursue some romantic lead parts. We made an offer equal to the other cast, but she opted out to pursue films. We cast the best actor to come in the door to fill Na'Toth's boots, and we need that character there because of the prior knowledge she needs to have to fill her role in the story. Mary Kay is, I think, trying to reinterpret the character. We're nudging in the other direction. One way or another, this will be made to work.

  • Actually, no, it's not a rumor; I'd mentioned this some time ago, but apparently some didn't see it....

    So to repeat: we'd had to replace Mary Woronov with virtually no notice after we found that she really had a hard time with the narn prosthetics (wouldn't wear the contacts, and other stuff). In a panic, our casting director called in a favor from Caitlin Brown, who is mainly a leading-lady type actor. She came in and, in fact, for the first episode (shooting almost immediately afterward) wore a variation of the Ko'Dath makeup, because there wasn't time to make one specific to her.

    She came in without being under the 5-year option that generally exists in these situations. Did one year, about 9 episodes, as Na'Toth. And had to turn down a couple of leading-female parts. During the hiatus, she did a romantic lead character in a film with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. And had to ask the hard question: do I continue to grow as a romantic lead actor in feature films, or play Na'Toth? She is a VERY gorgeous woman, and felt awkward hiding behind the mask and cutting herself out of leading female parts in feature films to do it.

    We went 'round and 'round about this for some time, it was a very difficult decision for her because she likes the show and everyone here, but finally opted out. On one level it's a pain in the butt, but we respect her decision. And it *is* her call, not ours.

    (Quick aside...pfffttthhpplttt to those who, in their theory that Sinclair/O'Hare quit, said that I'd naturally say it was mutual because I could never say it was the actors choice because somehow I'd get in trouble. No, I *would* say it if O'Hare had opted out on his own. And in this case, that's exactly what happened.)

    We didn't recast Sinclair because that character is going somewhere from whence he may (and will) return, and because that serves the story; in this case, we are recasting Na'Toth. By the end of season one, Na'Toth knows stuff that I need that character, G'Kar's aide, to know. (Though I was briefly tempted to do the Murphy Brown Secretary line, with G'Kar getting a new aide every so often due to terrible airlock accidents...but I went to lay down for a while and the notion passed.)

    So no, it's not a rumor, it's quite true. In fact, we just finished up a casting session and found someone who's very right for the part; and though we weren't confined to this, is actually about the same height, same build, same attitude as Caitlin, and whose voice is very similar. I don't think much difference will be noted in the long run, really.

  • The Narn aren't waiting. Or, more accurately, G'Kar isn't. The rest of the Kha'Ri (Narn inner circle government) are still somewhat skeptical.

    The Minbari know the shape of what's coming, but they know full well that if they go to us with this, we won't believe them; there's still enough residual dislike over the war that they feel we have to find this out for ourselves (and we will).

  • Let's just say for now that about a thousand years ago, Narn was used as a lay-over and supply spot for a Shadowman group that landed there for a time, and used it briefly as a base of operations.

  • @@@931198604 Is the name "Z'ha'dum" a reference to Khazad-dum from "The Lord of the Rings?"
    Not really, no...I always imagined that Z'ha'dum was originally the Minbari word for the place, and the Z'ha has echoes in Entil-zha and Isil-zha. The dum (doom) part is obvious. Not to say I wasn't aware of Khazad-dum, but it wasn't on my mind at the time.

  • Re: "switching places"...this is *exactly* what I noted early on; the intent to set up in the very beginning a situation where those who've seen basic SF before on the tube will go, "Oh, okay, I got it ...this is the Bad Guy, this is the Good Guy, this is the Comic Relief, this is the Ally," and so on, because that's generally what's been the case in TV SF; you set up the various sides from day one, and virtually nobody moves.

    So you get them to rely on their conditioning, then you begin to move the chairs around, so suddenly what you THOUGHT was the good guy is maybe something else; and what you THOUGHT was the comic relief is a tragic and dark figure; and what you THOUGHT was the bad guy is maybe one of the real heroes of the story. And you try and make the path that results in those changes as interesting, moving, or scary as possible.

  • Of course Londo realizes he's being...not exactly set up, but that he's getting into a very bad situation. But on the other hand, he sees that perhaps this is his last chance to grab for something more than what he is; he's not a young man anymore, and offers such as this, even though he knows there will be a price someday (as he states to Morden), do not come along every day.

    Here is the key to characterization: who is your character, what does he want, how far will he go to get it, and what is he prepared to lose in that process?

  • Morden is human.

    Morden dat I can't say.

  • Actually, G'Kar's makeup wasn't changed this year; the actor put on a few pounds over hiatus, which shows in the face, which changes how the prosthetic looks. This was dropped very quickly by Andreas, however, and the makeup has adjusted itself. (Hell, we all put on a few pounds during hiatus.)

  • Oddly, the new makeup takes *longer* for Mira than the old, which went on in a couple of fairly straightforward pieces. Now there's a lot more detail work and more pieces.

    Also, the intent is that G'Kar looked at both Sheridan and Londo, not sure which of them may have leaked the info, though I think the editing may have focused too much on Londo in that shot.

  • The only time a name is associated with his aide is when Garibaldi refers to him later, at which time he just says Jack.

  • Jack had had contact with the PsiCops in "Mind War"
    No, Jack wasn't *seduced* at that time ...but he WAS there to meet them, and escort them to see Sinclair. Why him? Perhaps a contact there...?

  • What would be different if there hadn't been cast changes after "The Gathering?"
    The only problem with answering how things would've been different is that some information might get out by inference about how things might still *be*. However, to do what I can with the question (never let it be said I don't try to accommodate....).

    If Lyta had stayed on B5, her arc would be pretty close to that of Talia, except that she would have begun to form a strong link to Kosh, first in the form of dreams, then something with implications that could be read as menacing or benign.

    If Dr. Kyle would have stayed around, he would have moved more into the position of advisor/paternal figure for Sinclair. He also would have continued to be more scientist than doctor.

    Takashima would have been revealed as having been in on the Vorlon assassination attempt by season's end, and would have betrayed Garibaldi in the events in "Chrysalis," either giving him over to those involved with the coup, or pulling the trigger herself. While we would know this, our characters would not, for as much as another full season.

    Carolyn Sykes would've gotten into major trouble with one of the major EarthCorps.

    Finally, if Sinclair had stayed with B5 at this juncture, the events in "Points" (the reveal of the Minbari surrender) would've taken place in episode 3 instead of 1. Episode 1 would've consisted mainly of the events in "Revelations," which was mainly as a bystander to the events around him, since the sister aspect specific to Sheridan obviously wouldn't be there. Basically, with all the events surrounding Delenn, Londo, G'Kar and others, he didn't have one whole hell of a lot to *DO* in the first six to eight episodes, since that segment was set aside primarily to introduce the Shadowman war and get that cranking, and Sinclair had no real direct connection to that.