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Thoughts on the Technomage Trilogy

It's funny how when someone points out a factual error the offender calls it "nit-picking." If they point out errors they're standing up for the truth. The issue is not that Ms. Cavelos includes details of a story that don't occur in the television episode. That's all fine; that's to be expected in a novel. The problem is correlating Sheridan's words when he gives permission for the technomage vessel to depart, starts twirling the flower and what happens the next instant (p. 318). In the book the very next event is the explosion of the Ondavi. In the television episode, the next event after "permission granted" and flower twirling is Sheridan's repeating Elric's ditty and watching a freighter with technomages moving into the jump gate. Moreover, the movement of the camera from the point of Sheridan's giving permission to viewing the departing ship does not allow the extra time Ms. Cavelos wants the reader to infer into the story. Now, if she had said that the Ondavi departure clearance and explosion all occurred before the C&C scene in the television episode and Sheridan was fond of twirling flowers, then there might be a plausible explanation. But, she doesn't offer that solution, which means we are left to try to fit a series of actions that could take perhaps an hour or more for HAZMAT teams to clear debris and certify the safety of navigation into a few seconds. Sorry, it just doesn't work. Sheridan would not treat a ship explosion as something trivial because he believed only a few technomages were on it and the whole C&C scene would likely have gone differently. If Cavelos had included Sheridan's speech she would have had to resolve that continuity problem.

QMCO5
 
I just watched "Geometry of Shadows" recently and many of my annoyances with the Technomage Trilogy again came to the surface. Elric seems less imposing somehow when you know that internally he's manipulating constantly, deeply concerned and even scared. And the Ondavi explosion annoys me no end. It just doesn't happen in the episode. It feels like rewriting history to tack it on in the book.

Also, out of all the technomages we see in the episdoe, only Elric is scoured. How does that scan with the book? I'm not sure it does... and the episode wins out over the books any day of the week.
 
It's funny how when someone points out a factual error the offender calls it "nit-picking." If they point out errors they're standing up for the truth.

That was the original title of the discussion on the Usenet, and what I forwarded to Cavelos. There is no "offender" here.


The issue is not that Ms. Cavelos includes details of a story that don't occur in the television episode. That's all fine; that's to be expected in a novel. The problem is correlating Sheridan's words when he gives permission for the technomage vessel to depart, starts twirling the flower and what happens the next instant (p. 318). In the book the very next event is the explosion of the Ondavi. In the television episode, the next event after "permission granted" and flower twirling is Sheridan's repeating Elric's ditty and watching a freighter with technomages moving into the jump gate. Moreover, the movement of the camera from the point of Sheridan's giving permission to viewing the departing ship does not allow the extra time Ms. Cavelos wants the reader to infer into the story. Now, if she had said that the Ondavi departure clearance and explosion all occurred before the C&C scene in the television episode and Sheridan was fond of twirling flowers, then there might be a plausible explanation. But, she doesn't offer that solution, which means we are left to try to fit a series of actions that could take perhaps an hour or more for HAZMAT teams to clear debris and certify the safety of navigation into a few seconds. Sorry, it just doesn't work. Sheridan would not treat a ship explosion as something trivial because he believed only a few technomages were on it and the whole C&C scene would likely have gone differently. If Cavelos had included Sheridan's speech she would have had to resolve that continuity problem.

QMCO5

She did a great job except for that part. It's been hard to get her to see the problem. I think it's a bigger deal than she does.
 
That was the original title of the discussion on the Usenet, and what I forwarded to Cavelos. There is no "offender" here.


No inference intended. Cavelos used the word "nitpicking" so I was reacting to her reaction.

QMCO5
 
The tone of Sheridan at the end of the episode is not one of someone who just saw even a few people he respected sacrificed to save others. Look at every time this happened during the series, no flower twirling.

The Narns were jumping in and jumping out leaving no time for the eye to act. When Delenn, Lyta etc went searching for Sheridan it took some time for the eye to kick in and start talking to them.
 

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