Guide Page: "The Fall of Night" (original) (raw)

Think twice before reading what's below if you haven't seen the episode -- major spoilers follow!

• Janet [Greek] was not available to us for most of this season due to illness (flu turning into pneumonia), but she's better now, and will be directing our season-ender, "[The Fall of Night]." We hope to have her do five or six next year, and will of course try to get her for our first and last as with this year and the last of year one; she's kind of our good luck charm.
• On Monday we begin our last week of filming. We're going for an eight-day shoot this one time, rather than our usual seven-day shoot, because of the extraordinary EFX requirements to pull off the finale. It should be a doozy.
• How does the finale compare? Hmmm...depends on what you're looking for. "Inquisitor" is primarily a character piece, virtually no EFX, but very intense. The story is kind of straightforward, with a few kickers along the way. "Twilight" is a heavy story episode, that zips all over the B5 landscape, between the Narns, the Centauri, and elsewhere (he said vaguely). The finale, "The Fall of Night," is actually kind of deceptive; it starts out fairly calmly and tightens fairly fast. The story is not as back-and-forth or layered as Twilight or Coming, it's really about one thing. Visually, it's the most ambitious thing we've done to date, and probably the most ambitious EFX stuff done for a TV series *ever*. I don't think you'll feel left wanting after the episode is done.
• No, the last ep of this season wasn't per se a cliffhanger, though it does tip over a few things, so it flows from 222 to 301 fairly smoothly.
• Yeah, this is the other structure that's kind of a favorite of mine. I used it also in "Coming of Shadows." It starts out kind of slow, it lulls you into a sense that this is going to be a fairly ordinary story, nothing major...allowing me to sneak up behind you in the story and just *whack* you real hard when you're not expecting it.
• We've been consistently giving Jeff Conaway more and more to do in the show because he's a very gifted actor; there are some moments in the coming month's episodes, particularly "The Fall of Night," that should knock the word "mediocre" out of anyone's mouth.
• This episode had enough votes for a Hugo nomination, but JMS didn't accept the nomination.
  Yes, since the last time we were in Hugo contention, the splitting of votes cost us the award (combined votes would've been enough going in to win), the folks gave us the option of withdrawing one of the two, and since "The Coming of Shadows" seems the overall favorite, that one was the one kept.
  One other good thing about the withdrawl of one episode was that it allowed Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys" onto the ballot, which otherwise would've been frozen out, and it deserves the recognition of the nomination.
  We're all *very* pleased and excited by the nomination.
• They gave me the option of having the two nominations or withdrawing one of the two, and we decided to go ahead and withdraw "Fall," to avoid splitting the vote, and to allow another entry into the field, which was apparently "12 Monkeys," which definitely deserves the recognition of the nomination.
• Apparently this option is often given.
• In a few days we will begin shooting the final episode of season two: "The Fall of Night." In terms of action, this is the biggest thing we've ever attempted. Where normally our scripts have 50-80 scenes/shots (as noted in numerical sluglines), this one has 134; of which 64 are EFX shots, some in combinations. To understand the weight of that, there were 60 EFX shots in the entire two-hour pilot. In addition, this has more and more *complex* CGI than the first 13 episodes of our first season put TOGETHER. Nothing on quite this scale has ever been attempted in series TV before, and the irony is that the major part of this covers only a few minutes in the fourth act.
  This stuff is going to involve every one of our EFX divisions, compositing, makeup, prosthetics, costuming, practical effects, mattes, CGI; the visual EFX meeting was the biggest we've ever had, and everyone's both sober and excited. Because there are only two options when you go for something this substantial: either you're going to do something truly amazing, or you're going to massively fall on your face. For our EFX people, this is kinda like boarding the wildest ride at Magic Mountain and leaving off your seatbelt on a dare...it's one hell of a ride, but boy is it dangerous.
  But as Ron Thornton pointed out: no guts, no glory.
  This is also going to be a Janet Greek-directed episode, who for various reasons was only available to do our first episode prior to this, but she's kind of our good luck charm, and we wanted someone who's done as much for us as she has to come in here and helm this...because it could probably break a less experienced (on B5) director.
• Thanks. That last sequence is the single biggest effects sequence done for TV, insofar as I know. There are 34 composite shots in a matter of just a few minutes. Our guys nearly went blind doing it, but it's cool. The whole feel, I think, is quite nice.
• Definite agreement on the shuttle sequence, works nicely.
• A wire harness was used; and the effect you ask about [Kosh] was a mix of CGI, live action, and rotoscope.
• I think the Kosh stuff is *very* cool...but I don't want to over-sell it; best to see it cold.
• Kosh's wings looked like those of the aliens in "The Abyss."
  There was no deliberate homage, but the individual who helped design that, working with me, was Steve Burg, who has worked on Abyss and T2.
• How long did the Kosh scene take to get right?
  It took, literally, months of trial and error, design and redesign, which is why we did it as the last episode of that season.
• Since "The Fall of Night" has now aired in the UK, and word is getting out, herewith a post I left on GEnie about Kosh's now-revealed identity. I thought it came out fairly well, so I'm repeating it here.
  *****
  Okay. Here it is. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna reveal Kosh.
  I'm not kidding. Bail now if you're looking in and don't want to know.
  No backsies.
  I mean it.
  Last chance.
  Okay, this is it.
  "If he leaves his encounter suit, he will be recognized."
  "By who?"
  "Everyone."
  "The First Ones taught the younger races, explored beyond the rim, built civilizations...."
  Kosh is what you're pointing at when you say "That's Kosh."
  "Yes, the Vorlons have been to Earth, the Vorlons have been everywhere. The Vorlons *are*."
  They *are*.
  "For centuries, the Vorlons have helped the younger races, guiding us, and --" "And manipulating us?" "It is, as you say, a matter... of perspective."
  They *are*...a matter of perspective.
  Each race who sees them, sees something out of their own past, their own legends, religions, faiths. A being of light, if you will, but a Drazi sees the Drazi version of that, Droshalla; the Minbari see the Minbari version of that, Valeria; humans see a human version of that.
  It is the mirror in which we see our beliefs reflected, but is it the progenitor of those beliefs...or an implanted image that overlays that vision on top of the true form of the Vorlon? Is it revelation, or is it manipulation?
  The Vorlons are a cypher. The Vorlons are a matter of perspective. The Vorlons are guides...or users, emissaries or puppeteers, who wish to be seen a certain way, so that we will react properly.
  Is this good, or is this bad?
  And the truth is, even though you have seen a Vorlon, have you seen THE Vorlon, the one behind the image that dances somewhere between your optic nerve and your brain?
  Or to quote a message I left long ago, paraphrased from memory, "The hand Sinclair sees is not the hand Sinclair sees, and the hand Sinclair sees is not the same hand someone else in the room sees, and is not even the hand that that person sees."
  The Vorlons Are.
• Kosh is weak. He allowed himself to be poisoned by a Minbari and attacked by Morden. He needed a Vicar to probe Talia and needed Sebastian to test Delenn. He rarely does anything directly, preferring to use others. I find Kosh slightly righteous.
  Thanks. And finding Kosh slightly righteous is pretty much the desired intent. So you're clicking on all the right cylinders.
• Was he really poisoned, or just pretending? ("The Gathering")
  No, he wasn't faking it. Understand that their appearance as a being of light is only how they want to appear; they are life forms much the same as many others, and can be poisoned if one knows the right combination of substances.
• Kosh is an angel! But which one?
  Actually, no, not really; Kosh is what you see when you look at him. And if a Drazi looks at him, the Drazi sees something different than a Minbari; yes, a being of light, BUT....
  Is that what they actually ARE, or how they have programmed us to react when we see them? As Sheridan said, have we been *manipulated* to seeing them a certain way, seeing a certain image? We may not be seeing what they ARE, but what they WANT us to see.
  It goes a heck of a lot deeper than what it seems.
• "Joe identified the figure Sheridan saw as the angel Gabriel."
  No I didn't.
• Kosh *appears* to us as a being of light...doesn't mean that's entirely what he is, that's how we've been programmed to see him.
• That's the irony, in a sense...what's inside Kosh's biomechanical encounter suit...is a *perceptual* encounter suit....
• Would a Hindu, or a Buddhist, see Kosh differently?
  Yes, there would be some amount of variation among humans, though not in terms of beliefs that may have come along post-Vorlon influence. This sort of thing has been implanted almost at a genetic level, and they do have a hand, or a mind, in activating it when seen. The more people who see them in different ways, the longer they must maintain that, the greater the strain on them.
• 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.
• Being seen by one person is automatic, no strain involved, it's almost an autonomic reflex...it's extending the influence to more than one person that's difficult.
• The Vorlons aren't prepared to fight? They'll refuse?
  As for the Vorlons line..."prepared" should be taken in the same sense as "ready"...so they may not yet be ready.
• Yes, the Shadows know that the Vorlons are still around, and that Kosh is there. That's never been any kind of secret. They're just hoping that the Vorlons and anyone who might believe them won't find out that they're out and about again until too [late.]
• The vorlons were never intending to hide themselves from the shadows; they both know where the other can be found. The concern was in the vorlons potentially revealing themselves to others, and standing openly as what they were.
• The Vorlons aren't yet ready; they can't take on the shadows by themselves, and must bring together other forces.
  And in each case, re: Kosh, what they saw was not the *head* of their belief, but in essence a supporting being of light; it wasn't G'Quon, but G'Lan that G'Kar saw, which was a being that story tells us served G'Quon. So you wouldn't see the head of the religion, since there can only be one of those, and lots of Vorlons, but each tends to have a supporting cast, for lack of a better term. Those are what we perceive the vorlons to be.
  And remember, we didn't see any other human's POV of Kosh but Sheridan's.
• No, she wouldn't. Again, you don't see the *top* of the echelon of any belief, because there can be only one of those; it's the servants of light you see (and even the Old Testament makes reference to such things).
• Yes, those are pretty much the two interpretations... that the Vorlons *created* the myth of angels, or that they came in and *exploited* it for their own purposes. In my view, the latter seems more logical in some ways.
• It has not been stated anywhere that the Vorlons created the angel element; they could easily just have come in and tried to exploit it....
• I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks the use of an angelic (or seemingly angelic character), whose likes have been written about for, oh, about 4,000 years, is ripping off Star Trek, has his head so thoroughly up his ass as to have blipped into an entirely new intestinally-based reality and desperately needs to get a wider frame of reference.
• When one Vorlon looks at another, he sees a proper Vorlon.
• Will WE see a proper Vorlon?
  We will see them. Eventually.
• What, I should begin catering to prurient interests? Broadcasting picture postcards (likely French) of Vorlons in provocative poses, in lingerie? A terrible thing, that a nice young man such as yourself should be asking about. Does your mother know you're out here doing this? Good heavens.
  And who said they reproduce anymore?
• Where did Kosh go afterwards?
  First he returned to his encounter suit, then he went to his ship, and stayed there for quite a while.
• Yes, he had the momentum from his jump, plus that of the core shuttle itself (which is considerable), plus the wind currents toward the center of the station area/garden, which area also considerable. Together that would be enough to keep him moving toward the outer edge of the garden area.
• What keeps people on their seats in the core shuttle?
  There are mag-strips, also hand-holds, seat belts and foot-straps. As you enter you hear the voice warning that this is a reduced gravity area, and to exercise proper precautions.
• Nnnnnnoo, not really; the Centauri don't actually have an equivalent to G'Quan or Valen.
  Believe it or not, this one answer may add another layer to a scene in one of the last episodes of this season. You can infer it backwards once you see it, but now you'll have it going in.
• They [Centauri] believe in a variety of afterlives; the god you worship, of the centauri pantheon, holds dominion over a given "heaven" or afterworld. If you appease the god sufficiently during life, it will accept you into that afterworld, in preparation for the day when all heavens are united; if not, you will have to be reborn and choose another until one accepts you.
• Londo saw what he said he saw.
• Basically, all that was indicated in the script was that he for a beat isn't sure what's up...then lets it go. I generally don't drop specific points explaining foreshadowing in the scripts, in case they leak out. If a line like that isn't sufficiently clear for the actor's intent, they then come to me and I explain it verbally. This was done in particular when we had to shoot "Chrysalis" before "Signs and Portents," even though the latter aired before the former.
• "It doesn't matter. This place has been blessed." Nobody was trying to claim it was only THEIR deity.
  Thanks. I think that, with so many races around, you couldn't go into holy wars or jihads at every occasion. In a way, what was seen was a validation for many...a moment they all came together, instead of coming apart.
• Why didn't Clark reprimand Sheridan personally?
  From a strictly logical standpoint, a president would not lower himself to deal with this personally. When MacArthur and Patton earned the disfavor of the president, it was intermediaries who pulled them aside and registered this. Also, gradually more authority is being vested in Nightwatch and the Ministry of Peace, as that's his arm, and so he'd be inclined to use that since he's in most direct control. (Just to explain why what was done was done.)
• About Zack trusting the Nightwatch
  And bear in mind that it's never just a common sense "oh, these guys are lying to me from Nightwatch, they're the bad guys." It's always couched in such a way that it sounds like it *might* be a real concern. That was how McCarthy and others terrorized this country during the 1950s. There were plenty of people who really *believed* that the Reds had infiltrated every aspect of society, as well as those who might've had doubts, but figured that maybe where there's smoke there IS fire.
• There's also a certain amount of McCarthyism inherent in the Nightwatch, the emphasis on revealing spies in our midst, enemies of the people.
  The problem with pointing to the Nazis or the Gestapo exclusively is that it allows us the safety of saying, "Well, it happened just there, and only once, *we* could never fall for that."
  Wrong.
• Bear in mind that Sheridan specifically states that the treaty had *not* been finalized yet between Earth and the Centauri, so the attack was not a violation of a treaty that hadn't been signed yet. (And very likely the Centauri captain was unaware of it *anyway*, just as Sheridan was taken by surprise by it all.)
• I hope Sheridan verified those orders.
  And the really great thing is...you're quite right about verifying orders from one arm of the government with another...as we'll see in the first third of the coming season. Good call.
• After the Centauri tried to kill him, the need for an apology was somewhat obviated. Had he still been forced to do so, the one he rehearsed was the one he intended to give.
• The "peace in our time" reference
  Yes, it was a definite nod to Chamberlain, and a bit of foreshadowing for ominous things to come.
• There are a number of metaphors in the show that operate on many different levels; it can't be a one-to-one corrolary to WW II, because that limits and makes predictable your story.
  In musical terms, it's almost a tonal piece, taking elements to which we respond, almost subconsciously, and then rearranging them into something that is, one hopes, a new construct. You can find here echoes of Vietnam, of Kennedy, of Chamberlain, of WW II, of Korea, of the Mideast; in a way, it's a thematic piece that touches how we have come to think of war, and conflict, across the development of the 20th century, and the role of the individual in that regard.
  We have learned to think of war as something now on a huge scale, an entity in itself. Once upon a time, before the gatling gun and the automatic rifle, combat was something individual, even in larger wars, one person against the enemy...and that person was honored, one person could turn the tide against the enemy. In a world in which weapons of mass destruction exist, where then is the individual? Where then the bravery, the struggle, the triumph...and the failure? Where, fundamentally, is the responsibility?
  All of that is intertwined with the storyline, and to communicate that I'm not averse to taking elements of history that resonate with that theme and reworking them, knowing that on a cellular level, we *recognize* that aspect, we've seen it...but now in a new context, we can see it differently, discuss its implications, *learn* from it.
  This is one of the things I rarely talk about, because it's the kind of thing that is best left simply implied, or implicit, in the work, and because if you have to draw attention to something in the work, somehow I think it lessens it, because it works best unspoken. And because I guess it sounds kinda presumptuous, and high-falutin' and self-indulgent. But it's one the things that matters to me in the context of the story.
• Symbolism in Ivanova's candle-lighting
  Moshe: an excellent analysis of the theme behind that scene, which as you state ties directly into the theme of the whole episode, and moreover, somewhat sets up the theme for the coming season...who will determine your identity, the rules you follow, who will lead you, and who you are...the question of, as you say, those who wish to accommodate and give in to pressures from within and from without.
  Didn't want to be heavy-handed about it, so I figured those who got it, got it; those who didn't, would see a nice candle scene which sets the mood, even if they don't get the full thematic/symbolic aspects that others would get.
  (not a Talmudic scholar, but I play one on TeeVee....)
• The narrative [at the end] was a tonal setup for next season.
• Imagery in Season Two episode titles?
  Yes; work it out as you have, but take it further...we start with a point of departure...then after some revelations, examine the geometry of shadows, then begin to more forward, a race through dark places. We come toward the long dark, our past a distant star. We carry the motif of a world getting dark. The coming of shadows that darkens into the long twilight struggle, the last period between day and night...and we end the season on...the fall of night.
• Actually, the "snitch" was the C&C tech, NOT the pilot, they just have a somewhat similar appearance.
  We've established that klaxons go off elsewhere in the station during an attack to warn civilians, but they aren't going off in C&C because they make it impossible to concentrate, as per military tradition (see"And Now For a Word" to confirm this).
  There wasn't time to call Draal, and they can't begin relying on him for every problem; they have to be able to hold their own. You would only bring in Draal on something really major.
• Is Keffer dead?
  He is an Ex-Keffer.
• Does that mean he's dead?
  Dead as the proverbial doorknob.
• Keffer jettisoned his recording as soon as the Shadow ship started scanning him. But the ISN broadcast showed the Shadow ship turning and firing.
  Yeah, I kinda figured that recorders like this would be outfitted with a receiver for the ship's gun camera. This would be vital to locate ships that got lost, and track as long as possible what happened after the log was ejected, and before the recorder moved out of range.
• Yes, the camera was still mounted on the Starfury, but cameras even today are constantly transmitting to other locations; TV cameras don't just transmit on a cable to the box they're attached to, they are uplinked to other places. Similarly, the recording device continued to receive transmission from the Starfury until such time as it either went out of range or, in this case, the transmitter was destroyed.
• What was the part of the station that was shot off?
  It's an area for helping secure ships while being offloaded into the zero-G cargo bay right behind it.
• We'll see both the tines being repaired, and the core shuttle being fixed, in ep 1 of year 3. The tines are mainly to stabilize incoming cargo ships so they can be offloaded (something we've shown there from time to time) into the zero-g cargo bay.
• What does "time on target" mean?
  It's an actual military term for launching a lot of stuff, so that even though it's launched at different times, it all arrives at once.
• The interceptors line refers to the fact that there are so many incoming bursts that the interceptors are only knocking down 90% of them at this point, meaning that some of them (the incoming bursts) are getting through.
• Visually, yeah, I'd have to say TFoN is one of our biggest from year two, and I'm quite fond of it; the only reason that it isn't in my top three is because while the last half is very intense, it takes a little bit to get there; I like 'em intense from the first frame on.
  For the growing use of montage/intercutting...it's really just a process of continuing to learn my craft. So I try out and experiment with different techniques. While I love dialogue, and lots of it, I'm also coming more and more to appreciate moments where you *only* play the visuals, and the music, and get out of the way of the Moment.
• It's fair to say that you will be seeing that Narn cruiser again; it's still out there.
• Keffer wears a blue scarf with white stars; Mitch wears a white scarf with red stars. Is scarf color indicative of squadron?
  I do believe they relate to squadrons, yes.

Originally compiled by Jason Snell.