Leto II
Regular
Analysis: Weaving Together the Events of \"War Zone\" and \"Racing the Night\"...
Okay, I know that a LOT of you out there are wondering just how the two separate, distinct "beginnings" to Gideon's mission as presented on "Crusade" could intertwine and co-exist. The answer is: They can, and quite interestingly, at that. JMS knew what he was doing when he went back and wrote the _new_ first episode taking place immediately after "B5: A Call to Arms," and there are no real contradictions.
Here is how it all falls together:
1. First, of course, is the Drakh attack upon the Earth and the subsequent commissioning of the _Excalibur_ for the cure-finding mission. During the aftermath, Captain Gideon's _Explorer_-class ship emerges from hyperspace at Earth, a near-mutiny is avoided, and they are ordered to set course for Mars.
2. Upon arriving at Mars, Gideon goes to meet with the Senator there, and is told of the mission and how much they would like for him to be involved as its commander, per Sheridan's recommendation. We then segue to the events transpiring near and on Ceti 4, with the EA destroyer being annihilated and Eilerson's shuttle man being blasted out of the sky.
3. At this juncture, it should become apparent that this is where the sequence taking place on Babylon 5 with Gideon being given the _Excalibur_ and placing the wager with the alien ambasadors occurs. Between the two act-breaks, Gideon goes from Mars to striding onto the bridge of the ship, and is already quite familiar with her; this would, of course, logically necessitate the placement of the scene where he lays eyes on her for the first time in between these two scenes in "War Zone." Some familiarization would have to occur with the ship's systems and whatnot in the interrim period. It seems that a goodly amount of time should be placed between the scene where the captain meets with the Senator and then the crash of the Drakh ship. Also note that--by coincidence or otherwise--we never even see what Gideon's uniform looks like in the flashback sequence, despite the earlier filming of "Racing the Night." Quite fortuitous, that.
4. So now, in command of the _Excalibur_, Captain Gideon orders a course back to Mars from Babylon 5, and meets with Lt. Matheson and Dr. Chambers and Dureena there. The "Racing the Night" scenes also flow seamlessly into continuity here when one watches the scene where Dureena and Gideon are on their way up to the ship: He describes her in intricate detail (the ship, not Dureena), and, of course, she is already quite familiar with her (Dureena and the ship, respectively), when she says something along the lines of, "It'll do."
5. Now, of course, they are en route to the testing range when they pick up the distress signal from he IPX expedition on Ceti 4...and events now proceed normally.
As one can tell, the events of "War Zone" span a slightly longer period of time than is apparent before one views "Racing the Night" for the very first time...or rather, if one caught the series during the original TNT run. So, hopefully this little illustration (so to speak) will assist you in pieceing together the chronology of events in a fairly linear fashion.
Any thoughts? Discuss 'em here!
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[This message has been edited by Leto II (edited April 29, 2001).]
Okay, I know that a LOT of you out there are wondering just how the two separate, distinct "beginnings" to Gideon's mission as presented on "Crusade" could intertwine and co-exist. The answer is: They can, and quite interestingly, at that. JMS knew what he was doing when he went back and wrote the _new_ first episode taking place immediately after "B5: A Call to Arms," and there are no real contradictions.
Here is how it all falls together:
1. First, of course, is the Drakh attack upon the Earth and the subsequent commissioning of the _Excalibur_ for the cure-finding mission. During the aftermath, Captain Gideon's _Explorer_-class ship emerges from hyperspace at Earth, a near-mutiny is avoided, and they are ordered to set course for Mars.
2. Upon arriving at Mars, Gideon goes to meet with the Senator there, and is told of the mission and how much they would like for him to be involved as its commander, per Sheridan's recommendation. We then segue to the events transpiring near and on Ceti 4, with the EA destroyer being annihilated and Eilerson's shuttle man being blasted out of the sky.
3. At this juncture, it should become apparent that this is where the sequence taking place on Babylon 5 with Gideon being given the _Excalibur_ and placing the wager with the alien ambasadors occurs. Between the two act-breaks, Gideon goes from Mars to striding onto the bridge of the ship, and is already quite familiar with her; this would, of course, logically necessitate the placement of the scene where he lays eyes on her for the first time in between these two scenes in "War Zone." Some familiarization would have to occur with the ship's systems and whatnot in the interrim period. It seems that a goodly amount of time should be placed between the scene where the captain meets with the Senator and then the crash of the Drakh ship. Also note that--by coincidence or otherwise--we never even see what Gideon's uniform looks like in the flashback sequence, despite the earlier filming of "Racing the Night." Quite fortuitous, that.
4. So now, in command of the _Excalibur_, Captain Gideon orders a course back to Mars from Babylon 5, and meets with Lt. Matheson and Dr. Chambers and Dureena there. The "Racing the Night" scenes also flow seamlessly into continuity here when one watches the scene where Dureena and Gideon are on their way up to the ship: He describes her in intricate detail (the ship, not Dureena), and, of course, she is already quite familiar with her (Dureena and the ship, respectively), when she says something along the lines of, "It'll do."
5. Now, of course, they are en route to the testing range when they pick up the distress signal from he IPX expedition on Ceti 4...and events now proceed normally.
As one can tell, the events of "War Zone" span a slightly longer period of time than is apparent before one views "Racing the Night" for the very first time...or rather, if one caught the series during the original TNT run. So, hopefully this little illustration (so to speak) will assist you in pieceing together the chronology of events in a fairly linear fashion.
Any thoughts? Discuss 'em here!
------------------
[This message has been edited by Leto II (edited April 29, 2001).]
