Text 17014, 123 rader
Skriven 2007-08-10 14:32:59 av Mac Breck (3491.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: ATTN JMS: How did you come up with Lochley's story?
===============================================================
"Shabaz" <shabaz.x@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1186759516.143596.211840@j4g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Aug 10, 2:11 pm, Gregory Weston <u...@splook.com> wrote:
> > In article <1186428953.545514.186...@e9g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> >
> > I've had trouble with the underlying question since it popped up in
'Is
> > there any reasonable way to interpret "Over Here" without accpeting
the
> > existence of god, devil and divine miracles?'.
> >
> > Given all the things we've been asked to accept as possible over the
> > years of Babylon 5 content, it seems only a small stretch to add
into
> > that universe an ancient race that is capable of hitching a ride in
the
> > brains of lesser, but still technological, creatures and
occasionally
> > exerting its will. You'd probably end up assuming that those beings
are
> > the origin of much human mythology without having to accept that
they
> > manifest true divinity. After that, the athiests and the theists are
> > just arguing about terminology.
>
> Yeah. If we take the definition of what supernatural is, it's that
> which isn't part of the natural world. But over the years the B5
> universe has told us at least some of the things the demon did were
> possible in the natural world. To do a quick summation:
>
> 1) Inhabiting another person. We've seen the Vorlons do this on
> multiple occasions, without it ever being implied that it is
> supernatural in nature. Probably beyond the understanding of the
> natural world of most of the non-First Ones, but not necessarily
> outside of the natural world.
>
> 2) We see him overhearing Lochley and the Priest. This is very
> explicitly possible and to some extent understood in the B5 universe;
> it's telepathy. It's with physical barriers in between and without a
> direct line of sight, so it would have to be a pretty strong telepath,
> but the act of reading minds has been established. And Kosh managed to
> get a telepathic link going with various people despite such barriers,
> including Sheridan when Kosh was dying, so it's possible.
>
> 3) The big fire thing. Could've been a really powerful telepathically
> induced vision,

Agreed.


> though it also showed up on station sensors and the
> exterior shot implied it was visible from space.

Or was that all part of the vision it was projecting?  Part telepathy
and perhaps part telekinesis (the wind effect on Lochley and Father
Cassidy)?  Both are possible in the B5 universe.


> Which would mean the
> vision would have to reach a lot of people. Could be a proper energy
> discharge by an energy being, maybe.

It didn't actually have to be an energy discharge.  Where were the
effects of the "fire" in the cell after the "vision" was over?  Was the
fire outside the station any more real?  Could it have been a hologram
like Alwyn was capable of making (Crusade - "The Long Road" - the dragon
and the holodemons in the bar, the latter having substance and being
able to cause lasting physical changes in the real world)?


> 4) The DNA-less blood. This would imply some really tight control on
> the sub-cellular level,  but it still seems to fall in the natural
> world. I could see some of the descriptions of Ironheart's abilities
> implying that he could pull of such a feat, and some of the energy
> beings like the Vorlons might be able to pull it off.

Could be part of a vision.  Was the "blood" persistent, or did the
evidence and test results vanish ?


> I think the biggest thing we need to remember is the source of most of
> the religious context the story has. It was from a clearly
> manipulative being exploiting the faith of two people. In some senses
> his behavior being a mirror of those of the Vorlon, and their
> exploiting of genuine faith by adopting religious personas.

Exactly.


> If it is a proper Demon, servant of Lucifer, fallen angel of God, what
> we saw was still a manifestation of it that doesn't necessarily force
> you to accept the supernatural realm. It explicitly keeps open the
> door for those that do accept the supernatural as real to put it in
> that context, but B5's natural world seems to already incorporate
> various things that make it so that this story isn't explainable only
> by an appeal to the supernatural. And on the other hand, even if you
> do completely place it in the natural world, the religious
> interpretation doesn't become completely invalid either, it's indeed
> then just a difference in terminology. It could be that it is an alien
> entity, and that it also is a demon, which as a being from another
> world with great powers fall under both definitions.
>
> I'm actually curious if we'll see them again. Mostly because of that
> one line about them remembering Lochley. Which with any other show
> would seem like a throwaway line, but hey, this is Babylon 5.

It'd be a shame if this *didn't* connect to other stories in the B5
universe.


-- 
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-------------------------------
"Babylon 5: Crusade" (1999)
Galen: "There is always hope, only because it's the one thing that no
one has figured out how to kill yet."

"Brimstone" (1998)
Angel: Oh, there's one more thing you should know. Your fate was never
determined until you killed Gilbert Jax. All in all, you've led a good
life, Ezekiel. Have faith. Your work's appreciated.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
 * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)