The Gathering

[James TX]

So, I was watching The Gathering and one thing I could never figure out was why G'Kar was so intent on bring down Sinclair. He really seemed to have it in for him.

Also, did anyone else notice the Drahk walking around the Zocalo when Garbaldi finds Londo at the bar to question him? I thought they were supposed to be an unknown race?

[Andrew_Swallow]

Also, did anyone else notice the Drahk walking around the Zocalo when Garbaldi finds Londo at the bar to question him? I thought they were supposed to be an unknown race?

That means the Drahk know about Babylon 5, it does not mean that the humans know about the Drahk. Immigration control on Babylon 5 is weak.

[Jan]

Also, did anyone else notice the Drahk walking around the Zocalo when Garbaldi finds Londo at the bar to question him? I thought they were supposed to be an unknown race?

I haven't had a chance to look at the pilot again but the Drakh were more a forgotten race than unknown. Remember that in "Conflicts of Interest" londo recognized the name when Sheridan mentioned it.

I have a feeling that if a Drakh appeared in "The Gathering" that it was just one of the many cool aliens created for the pilot. On the other hand, it was seeded early in season one that the servants of the Shadows were gathering again plus we learned later that Anna Sheridan's group had already encountered the awakened Shadows so it's not outside the realm of possibility that there was an early scout Drakh in the pilot.

I'll have to fire up the DVD and check it out.

Jan

[Macbeth]

I am continuously impressed by the hints JMS gives and the structure to the story and how consistency hangs together. If this turns out to be a planned hint, then I will be even more agog.

My instinct though is to treat it like a "re-used" shot of a cobra bay launch. ie the practicalities of producing a TV show. I bet when the Drakh show up later in the show, the call went to the make-up/effects department for a creepy alien etc etc and somone harkened back to a left over one from the pilot. Kind of a Wayne Alexander of latex if you will.

If it was a hint, I think you might have seen more Drakh - like you saw Rangers kicking around the Zocalo. Maybe in The Geometry of Shadows, The Long Dark, or The Coming of Shadows as the most obvious ones.

I sez coincidence/realities of TV production. Although I still will rewatch the background players on those episodes because well hell it is JMS and I can't be that sure.

[Triple F]

It was Luc Mayrand who designed the Drakh emissary for season 4 (the episode weÆre introduced to them). ThereÆs a quote somewhere as well (while talking about the Drakh fighter & carrier for the same episode) where he mentions it was the first time the Drakh were to be used on the show. So IÆm guessing it was just a co-incidence that one of the aliens from the pilot looked a bit like one. Steve Burg designed most of those in the pilot.

I think itÆs important to get across that It's not so simple as pinning a single person down for all the design work, B5 was 5 years long, plus the tv movies and Crusade. A lot of us worked on various parts of it and the designs would also sometimes evolve considerably between the sketches and what finally appeared on the screen. That's actually normal, and I think it gave the show it's richness. For example, I did a concept for the make-up of the Drakh emissary seen in ôLines Of Communicationö, that episode has the feel of what I did, but the make-up was changed later, and I think it was for the better.

http://themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/...m#Screen1_03_1

[James TX]

Eh - maybe I was wrong. Looks a lot like one though - maybe an early version of a Drazi?

[JoeD80]

One of the script books has a picture labeled "an early design for the Drakh", and I think it was a picture from either the pilot or the first season. Don't have the script books in front of me though.

[Jan]

One of the script books has a picture labeled "an early design for the Drakh", and I think it was a picture from either the pilot or the first season. Don't have the script books in front of me though.

Volume 12 has it. There was obviously a lot of work done after the photo was taken because this guy looks like he's got a flat head and one ear that sticks out a lot, giving him kind of an elfish appearance--perhaps not as forbidding as they were looking for.

Jan