Vorlon Homeworld

[Dipper]

In my opinion the Babylon 5- technomages-tie-in was extremely well done and supported the original story. The original episode never made sense to me, because why in hell should they gather in the most public places if they didn't have an agenda .. in the book it is revealed that they did have plan and a reason for being there.

On the matter of Galen at Z'ha'dum I'm still trying to decide if it was good or not. In my mind it fitted the technomage story perfectly, but not so on the original episode. I think I would've liked it more if Sheridan never knew that Galen was there, but Galen would've done something small to help him.

-Dip

[moreorless]

Not read the TM books but I'd agree with the idea that excessive linking of events ultimately hurts a story and makes the universe it takes place in seem smaller. I don't have a great problem with the Earth Force links though as when your dealing with somewhere like B5 you'd expect people to call in those they could trust.

To use the obvious example of LOTR I took Sheridans sucess at attacking the Shadows to be a rather similar situation to Sauron not being able to predict that anyone would want to destroy his ring. For all the knowledge and power they possesed their whole philosophy was based on the idea that self interest drives peoples actions so the idea that Sheridan(not some "grunt" forced into service) would willingly sacrifce himself was beyond there understanding.

[Morden]

I agree, JoeD80. The Shadows didn't realize Sheridans plan until it was too late for them. I like how Sheridan is shown as a desperate hero here (in the episode), I like the epic last moments before the Whitestar crashes, I never had the feeling that this sequence didn't make sense. I hated the artificial pseudo-tie-in of the TM-book, it steals the prevoius magic of this moments.
Macbeth is also correct, IMO they should have left alone the main arcs of the show or just tangle it, the TM-books would have worked perfectly without ruining some of the key moments of the show.

[JoeD80]

When I first watched the episode Z'ha'dum it made no sense to me that Sheridan's Whitestar was allowed to dive-bomb it. .

The Shadows were trying to convince Sheridan to join their cause, so why would they bother with defenses. They didn't know he might attack -- they were betting he would join.

Where were the shadow ships/defense systems raining insta-death?

The shadow ships were threataning to destroy Babylon 5 at the time, as shown in the episode.

[Herazade]

Absolutely Grumbler. It was the unnecessariness (?) of the whole thing that is my problem. Why the hell could the Technomage story not stand in its' own and at best be tagential to the B5 story. Good story, interesting setting, why muddy the waters.

It was the exact opposite for me. The point of all the tie-ins was to show how the Technomages were meddlers/manipulators, they can't help but be drawn to the center of things. The Shadows programmed them that way.

When I first watched the episode Z'ha'dum it made no sense to me that Sheridan's Whitestar was allowed to dive-bomb it. Where were the shadow ships/defense systems raining insta-death? Dovetailing it into the TM trilogy was very well done. But I loves the drama, your mileage clearly varied.

[JoeD80]

Why couldn't Lochley have just been an outstanding officer with great integrity Sheridan respected and possibly had met once.

jms says in the script books (Volume 11):

It was only after writing the first draft of this script [No Compromises] that I decided it might be ineteresting to give Sheridan and Lochley a common history, in this case that they had been married for all of about ten minutes before realizing they'd made a hideous error. It's for this reason that the draft included in this volume has Sheridan say he's happy to meet her, which was changed later when I made the decision to give them that past. The idea worked in some ways, and didn't work in others. The tension that this past created between Lochley and Delenn was, in retrospect, perhaps a bit too close to the situation she'd encountered with Anna Sheridan, and in other ways verged too close to soap opera.

Franklin knew Sinclair well

Sinclair probably picked people he knew for his staff.

Ivanova served with Sheridan

It's not unlikely that one could serve with the same captain twice I would think.

[Macbeth]

Absolutely Grumbler. It was the unnecessariness (?) of the whole thing that is my problem. Why the hell could the Technomage story not stand in its' own and at best be tagential to the B5 story. Good story, interesting setting, why muddy the waters.

These ersatz connections bug me and make the 'universe' a smaller and less interesting place. Why couldn't Lochley have just been an outstanding officer with great integrity Sheridan respected and possibly had met once.

For every speech by G'Kar (eg the "ant" speech from Mind War) about the scope and winders of the universe we get Franklin knew Sinclair well, Ivanova served with Sheridan, Lochley and Sheridan were married. How small is Earthforce?

[grumbler]

I agree completely it is this persistent idea that as sequels or things are added that somehow they must all be connected.

Oh yeah and Anakin built C3PO and oh John Sheridan had a first first wife and oh yeah the technomages were behind everything and oh Sisko meets the Tribbles and Kirk saves Picard and oh Sheridan and Ivanova served together...bleh

Agree that the Technomage books would have been better had they pretty much ignored B5 and the main story. Adding in those bits was unnecessary to either story, and counterproductive at least to the B5 story (and to the Technomage books to th extent they violated the "told story" continuity).

Having said that, the Technomage books were excellent for what it told us of the mages, their motivations, and the traps inherent in their tech. If Galen had "cleansed" himself just once more, though, the book would have sprouted wings and flown across the room!

The writing wasn't top-notch, but it was better than the other trilogies.

[glindros]

And so my next big ebay hunt begins!

[galego25]

Welcome, galego25!

That's a great site you linked to, thanks. Is it yours?

Jan

Thank you Jan!
The site isn't mine, I found it on google.

[Jan]

Welcome, galego25!

That's a great site you linked to, thanks. Is it yours?

Jan

[galego25]

Can anyone tell me where this short story appeared?

It was published in the Official B5 Magazine #24 (August/2000).
This site has some information about them: http://code7r.net/B5ShortStories.htm

[glindros]

We may not have seen the Vorlon Homeworld, but in the short story
The Nautilus Coil ( where Lyta and Garibaldi go to a planet where the Vorlons
had a big experimental station) some of their technology is described,
like the organic structures that produces food, water, heat, etc...
The place Lyta showed Byron may be in that planet.
The Nautilus Coil could be a great "Lost Tales" story...

Can anyone tell me where this short story appeared?

[galego25]

We may not have seen the Vorlon Homeworld, but in the short story
The Nautilus Coil ( where Lyta and Garibaldi go to a planet where the Vorlons
had a big experimental station) some of their technology is described,
like the organic structures that produces food, water, heat, etc...
The place Lyta showed Byron may be in that planet.
The Nautilus Coil could be a great "Lost Tales" story...

[Macbeth]

I wasn't talking about that kind of "demystification". I wanted to point out, just like Flynn2000 did before me, that I didn't like how the epic last moments of episode "Z'ha'Dum" and Sheridans decision to sacrifice himself by going to the Shadows' homeworld were kind of demystified by making them like they were just orchestrated and overseen by some technomages. I do like the way the "magic" is explained, I do like the twist that the origin of the technomages' powers is Shadow technology.

I agree completely it is this persistent idea that as sequels or things are added that somehow they must all be connected.

Oh yeah and Anakin built C3PO and oh John Sheridan had a first first wife and oh yeah the technomages were behind everything and oh Sisko meets the Tribbles and Kirk saves Picard and oh Sheridan and Ivanova served together...bleh