Could Someone Spoil the Telepath War For Me???

A few years ago, I bought the first book in the telepath trilogy. I couldn't really get into it. If I remember correcly, it skipped around in time a lot, involved a lot of unfamiliar characters, and I'm not really as interested in telepath and Psi-Corps material except how it directly affects the main B5 characters.

I've heard there's a lot of good information more related to our B5 main characters in the 3rd and possibly 2nd book. I may try reading the first book again sometime or maybe even skip to the last book, but I'd settle for someone just telling me what happens in it.

If anyone's bored and has nothing better to do, could you summarize the last book for me? I don't even mind hearing about the first two books as long as the summaries are brief.

Thanks ahead of time.


Just so I don't sound like a total loser, I'll say that I did read the Technomage and Centauri Prime trilogies. I was frustrated with the pace and writing style of the Technomage trilogy, but I did trugdge all the way through it. The CP trilogy was slow in spots also, but I liked it alot better, and the last book made it all worth it.

A few years ago, I bought the first book in the telepath trilogy. I couldn't really get into it. If I remember correcly, it skipped around in time a lot, involved a lot of unfamiliar characters, and I'm not really as interested in telepath and Psi-Corps material except how it directly affects the main B5 characters.

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The first book covers more time than either of the other two in the trilogy, although "skipping around" in time implies forward and backward in time, and the novels only go forward (no flashbacks or time travel). Could someone spoil the telepath war for you??? No, because the book series skips over it. 2258-2271 are not covered.

Dark Genesis - The Birth of the Psi Corps (2115-2189)
Deadly Relations - Bester Ascendant (2189-2258)
Final Reckoning - The Fate of Bester (2271-2281)


SPOILERS BELOW!

















My notes from "Dark Genesis" (haven't compiled the notes from the second two):

"Dark Genesis - The Birth of the Psi Corps"
Technology & Privacy Committee -The Metasensory Regulation Authority (MRA) -The Psi Corps.
Page 34 less than 100 years old (Psi gene), so the Vorlons started introducing the gene ~2025?
Page 52 Senator Crawford and Alice Kimbrell (get married on Page 61).
Page 56 Little boy James.
Page 78 Kevin Vacit.
Page 80 Akimba Ironheart (Jason Ironheart's ancestor).
Page 111 middle, A telepath bomb?
Page 113 Organic Technology
Page 117 Shell Alexander
Page 119 Centauri discovered in 2156.
Page 120 Psi Corps. first mentioned. Senator Crawford - 1st Head of Psi Corps.
Page 122 Kevin Vacit IS a TEEP! He was little boy James (of page 56) raised by Monkey (Jack O' Hannlon) and the little boy of pages 21-22. Senator Crawford dies at age 80, killed by Monkey and Kevin Vacit.
Page 133 Natasha Alexander
Page 137 2179 Natasha Alexander starts working for Kevin Vacit.
Page 145 Fiona Temple
Page 169 Natasha Alexander finds out Vacit is a teep.
Page 169 Parts of a telepath bomb (exploded parts).
Page 185 "shining angels" (Vorlons)
Page 186 Teeps ~2050-2060
Page 187 Vorlons abducted people from Antarctica, and introduced the gene to make teeps.
Page 190 "A thing, a structure..." paragraph = VORLON.
Page 190 "And pain. An enemy, a darkness. ...." paragraph = SHADOW.
Page 201 a teek (telekinetic) called Remy.
Page 214 Narns first mentioned.
Page 220 bottom paragraph through Page 226. VORLONS on Venus. The Vorlons are behind the Psi Corps, and are against the resistance. Psi Corps=Order=Vorlon desire for obedience. Natasha Alexander's line foreshadowing to Lyta as the Vorlon weapon against the Shadows!!!
Page 225 Kevin Vacit was carrying a piece of a Vorlon?
Page 242 Jenny Winters (Talia Winters ancestor).
Page 248 September 3, 2189, Stephen Kevin Dexter (Alfred Bester) is born.
Page 255 Hounds (definition? Psi Rating?)
Page 262 Fiona Temple and Matthew Dexter die in a battle with the Psi-Corps.
Page 266 Kevin Vacit and The Psi Corps have Stee (Fiona and Matthew's son), Stephen Kevin Dexter, renamed ALFRED BESTER by Kevin Vacit, his grandfather).



damned horizontal reformatting

From Psi Corps Novel #1 - Dark Genesis - The Birth of the Psi Corps.

Lyta Alexander's Line

Female Side/Male Side

Desa Alexander (Blood Woman)/Jack O' Hannlon (Monkey)

Brenna Alexander/unknown

Shell (Michelle) Alexander*/unknown

Natasha Alexander/unknown



Al Bester's Line


Female Side/Male Side

Ninon Davion/Kevin Vacit**

Fiona Temple/Matthew Dexter

/Stephen Kevin Dexter (a.k.a. Al Bester)
(Bester born ~9/3/2189)

Bester's marriage, pairing, or children (if there were any) are not mentioned in the trilogy.


* marriage arranged by the MRA
** has a piece of a Vorlon inside him (a gift from his mother). This is why he can hide his teep ability from other teeps.

According to the Crusade script about Bester, the Teep War never happened. EarthGov was smart enough to realize what Bester was doing, and they arrested him and his cohorts. The End.

Like most things Bester says, the Teep War turned out to be nothing but hot air/propaganda.

According to the Crusade script about Bester, the Teep War never happened. EarthGov was smart enough to realize what Bester was doing, and they arrested him and his cohorts. The End.

Like most things Bester says, the Teep War turned out to be nothing but hot air/propaganda.

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I haven't heard that one before. Can't imagine it's true eiher, although if it is it doesn't really matter since the episode was never made anyway.

According to the Crusade script about Bester, the Teep War never happened. EarthGov was smart enough to realize what Bester was doing, and they arrested him and his cohorts. The End.

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Don't know if it is really necessary, but better safe than sorry ...

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I haven't read this script (Value Judgements, I believe), but from what I have read of it my understanding was that Bester was discovered whilst in hiding as a war criminal - much the same as the Bester that we find in the final book of the Telepath Trilogy.

I hardly think that indicates that the "teep war never happened".

Likewise I doubt that EarthGov sussing out what Bester was up to and arresting him and his cohorts, would lead to the wholesale dismantling of PsiCorps and the setting up of a brand new form of oversight for Teeps, such as we see in Crusade.

From what I understand

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the Teep war was a Teep Civil War. As we saw in Crusade, the war climaxed with the nuking of the PsiCorps base at Syria Planum by the rogue telepaths, wiping out most of the PsiCorps leadership as they were fixing to finish off the rogues (and presumably open up the "Russian Front" on the mundanes).

Where, exactly, the IA was going to get involved (in other than an Interpol sense) isn't clear to me.

Thanks, everyone, for the information you've given so far.

Specifically, what happened to Bester, Lyta, Garibaldi, and any other major characters? I believe I've heard somewhere that the final fates of Bester and Lyta lie within the telepath war, and that it also brings closure to Garibaldi's desire for revenge against Bester. Is all this true?

Also, does the Interstellar Alliance get involved in the conflict, or is it strictly an internal Earth/Mars affair? Lastly, are there any more details on the organization that replaces Psi-Corps (this may come more from Crusade than from the books, I'm not sure)?

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Lyta was part of the telepath resistance. She was supposed to have been the woman Lt Matheson helped in TPoS and was thus killed (in the script, anayway) along with Lennier in the resulting blast.

Bester escaped and hid out for years (running into the Crusade crew in one of the unproduced scripts). He was finally tracked down back on earth by Garibaldi in something like 2270.

Thanks, everyone, for the information you've given so far.

Specifically, what happened to Bester, Lyta, Garibaldi, and any other major characters?

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I don't know why you want to be spoiled for all of this. I'd HATE that.

Read the books.

<ul type="square">[*] Dark Genesis - The Birth of the Psi Corps (2115-2189)
[*] Deadly Relations - Bester Ascendant (2189-2258)
Note: This skips the main period of B5 (2258-2262), and Crusade (planned 2267-2271).
[*] Final Reckoning - The Fate of Bester (2271-2281)
[/list]

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Bester and Garibaldi - revealed in "Final Reckoning - The Fate of Bester." Bester dies quietly, in his sleep, in prison.

Lyta and Lennier - killed during the telepath civil war. It was to have happened in Crusade "The Path of Sorrows (Matheson's flashback showing the nuking of Psi Corps Headquarters). Since they could not get Pat Tallman for the role, they used another teep in the flashback, and the scene that ther were going to show with Lyta, was scrapped. Lennier would have been shown from the back, in the distance, with Lyta calling to him. Bill Mumy would not have been in the episode since the part was so short. I hope they use that scene in the movie, if they do the Telepath Civil War as a feature film.

I believe I've heard somewhere that the final fates of Bester and Lyta lie within the telepath war,

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Lyta, yes. Bester no. Bester dies in 2281, after Sheridan.

and that it also brings closure to Garibaldi's desire for revenge against Bester.

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That part's true. Garibaldi puts a stake in the ground of Bester's grave (like staking a vampire, to make sure he stays dead).

I don't know why you want to be spoiled for all of this. I'd HATE that.

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It's been a while since I bought the first book in the Telepath Trilogy, but I remember really disliking the writing style and even the material, to a certain extent. If I remember correctly, the first book has a lot of history. I don't care about that; I just care about our main characters. Actually, it'd be more acurate to say, I'm interested in the history, but I'd rather get through a timeline or summary than a story of unfamiliar characters.

I'm assuming the 2nd book is mostly about Bester. I could possibly put up with that, but Bester is better in small quantities.

How about a compromise... If I were to get the third book in the trilogy--without having finished the first or even getting the second book, would I be totally lost, or could I pick up fairly well at that point in the story? If the third book is where the Garibaldi, Lyta, and Lennier stuff is, that's all I care about.

In fact, I almost forgot about Lennier being involved in the trilogy. That always seemed weird to me. What was his part in the conflict? I'm assuming it had something to do with his role as a Ranger.

Any chance Sheridan, Ivanova, G'Kar, Londo, or Delenn have a part in the trilogy?

Telepath book spoilers.









Book 1 - Story of the creation of Psi Corps and the history of the human telepaths up to the birth of Bester.

Book 2 - Life of Bester as he grows up, becomes a Psi Cop, meets Lyta and ends with him going to Babylon 5.

Book 3 - After the telepath War Garibaldi chases Bester.

It's been a while since I bought the first book in the Telepath Trilogy, but I remember really disliking the writing style and even the material, to a certain extent. If I remember correctly, the first book has a lot of history. I don't care about that; I just care about our main characters. Actually, it'd be more acurate to say, I'm interested in the history, but I'd rather get through a timeline or summary than a story of unfamiliar characters.

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Did you finish the first book?

I'm assuming the 2nd book is mostly about Bester. I could possibly put up with that, but Bester is better in small quantities.

How about a compromise... If I were to get the third book in the trilogy--without having finished the first or even getting the second book, would I be totally lost, or could I pick up fairly well at that point in the story?

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The first book was the hardest one to follow. If you skip the second book, you won't understand how the Bester we see in 2258's "Mind War" came to be. Also, Lyta has a small part in Book #2.

If the third book is where the Garibaldi, Lyta, and Lennier stuff is, that's all I care about.

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Book #3 is mainly Bester and Garibaldi. Lennier never shows up in the book, and was to be in the Crusade episode that shows a brief glimpse of the Telepath Civil War (The Path of Sorrows - Matheson's flashback). Book #3 starts after the Telepath Civil War, after Lennier and Lyta are already dead (killed in the Telepath Civil War), after the five years that would have been the TV series "Crusade," and ends after B5's "Sleeping in Light."

In fact, I almost forgot about Lennier being involved in the trilogy.

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He isn't.

That always seemed weird to me. What was his part in the conflict? I'm assuming it had something to do with his role as a Ranger.

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The conflict was the Telepath Civil War, and that is not covered in the trilogy. As I've said before, it's skipped by the trilogy. JMS has left it for a feature film.

Any chance Sheridan, Ivanova, G'Kar, Londo, or Delenn have a part in the trilogy?

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Book #2:
p. 204 - Ms. Donne (from "The Shadow Within")
p. 214 - Lyta Alexander
p. 241 - Byron (Gordon)
p. 251 - Bester, Bryon and Mr. Morden.
p. 266 - Jason Ironheart mentioned.


Book #3
p. 36 & 105 - re. Bester and Byron
p. 212-213 & 228 - Lyta & Byron mentioned (mostly about Lyta).

According to the Crusade script about Bester, the Teep War never happened. EarthGov was smart enough to realize what Bester was doing, and they arrested him and his cohorts. The End.

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You need to read the script again, because this is totally wrong. There was a war, as bester himself insists. (He rejects the official designation of "Telepath Conflict") Bester is a fugitive war criminal in "Value Judgments". That makes it pretty clear there was a war at some point.

Regards,

Joe