Guide Page: "Matters of Honor" (original) (raw)

• 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.