The Geometry of Shadows
Encyclopedia
"The Geometry of Shadows" is an episode from the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5
.
fixes Londo's hair as Londo and Refa scheme. The command staff learns that the Green Drazi and Purple Drazi have a global brawl every 5 years to determine the Drazi leadership for the next 5 years. When Ivanova attempts to resolve the conflict, she learns that the distinction between the two colors of Drazi is totally random. Right before the brawl, the Drazi draw a random-colored sash out of a barrel and join that colored faction. One sash of each color has a leader pendant tied to it, whoever draws that pendant becomes the leader of that color of Drazi.
A group of Technomage
s pass through Babylon 5
en route to the galactic rim.
Ivanova
is promoted from Lt. Commander to Commander
, though she immediately begins feeling anxiety once she realizes she's been assigned to resolve the Drazi conflict.
Garibaldi
recovers further from his wound, with Sheridan
encouraging him to stay on as head of security.
Ivanova gets a broken foot attempting to settle the Drazi dispute, when she removed one of the Drazi's sashes and put it on a Drazi of the opposite color, a brawl ensued.
Londo gets in trouble with the Technomages and ends up apologizing.
Ivanova is kidnapped by the Green Drazi in order to lure the Purple Drazi into a deadly trap disguised as peace negotiations, but Garibaldi rescues her. While attempting to resolve the dispute again, she casually takes the Green Leader's sash, and notices that the Green Drazi have begun following her orders. According to the Drazi because of a problem with the Drazi rules committee, aliens can become the Drazi leaders by taking the sash from their leaders. She then uses her power over the green Drazi to prevent their further conflict.
The Technomages are allowed to leave the station.
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
.
Synopsis
VirVir Cotto
Vir Cotto is a character from the fictional Babylon 5 universe, played on screen by Stephen Furst. He is a Centauri male who was from a family of minor nobility, who would eventually become the Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5, and then became the Emperor of the Centauri Republic in 2278.Vir Cotto...
fixes Londo's hair as Londo and Refa scheme. The command staff learns that the Green Drazi and Purple Drazi have a global brawl every 5 years to determine the Drazi leadership for the next 5 years. When Ivanova attempts to resolve the conflict, she learns that the distinction between the two colors of Drazi is totally random. Right before the brawl, the Drazi draw a random-colored sash out of a barrel and join that colored faction. One sash of each color has a leader pendant tied to it, whoever draws that pendant becomes the leader of that color of Drazi.
A group of Technomage
Technomage
The Technomages are a group of sentient beings from the fictional Babylon 5 universe. The technomages shown in the television series are primarily human, but in the "Technomage Trilogy" books, apprentices and mages of other races including Centauri are named. They are described as using "science to...
s pass through Babylon 5
Babylon 5 (space station)
Babylon 5 is a fictional space station and the primary setting in the television series Babylon 5. Its design is a variation of an O'Neill cylinder....
en route to the galactic rim.
Ivanova
Susan Ivanova
Susan Ivanova is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Claudia Christian.-Character overview:...
is promoted from Lt. Commander to Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
, though she immediately begins feeling anxiety once she realizes she's been assigned to resolve the Drazi conflict.
Garibaldi
Michael Garibaldi
Michael Garibaldi is a lead fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Jerry Doyle.-Overview:...
recovers further from his wound, with Sheridan
John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
John J. Sheridan is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Bruce Boxleitner. For most of the series, he is the commander of the Babylon 5 station; during the series' final season he is the President of the Interstellar...
encouraging him to stay on as head of security.
Ivanova gets a broken foot attempting to settle the Drazi dispute, when she removed one of the Drazi's sashes and put it on a Drazi of the opposite color, a brawl ensued.
Londo gets in trouble with the Technomages and ends up apologizing.
Ivanova is kidnapped by the Green Drazi in order to lure the Purple Drazi into a deadly trap disguised as peace negotiations, but Garibaldi rescues her. While attempting to resolve the dispute again, she casually takes the Green Leader's sash, and notices that the Green Drazi have begun following her orders. According to the Drazi because of a problem with the Drazi rules committee, aliens can become the Drazi leaders by taking the sash from their leaders. She then uses her power over the green Drazi to prevent their further conflict.
The Technomages are allowed to leave the station.
Arc significance
- First appearance of the Technomages.
- The Technomages stop at Babylon 5 on their way to an unknown destination, traveling to avoid an (at the time) unknown future conflict.
- Londo asks the Technomage if he will have to spend the rest of his life paying for one little mistake. This is a subtle reference to the path that started down with his relationship with the Shadows.
- Londo Mollari receives a prophecy from the Technomage Elric, in which the Technomage tells him that he sees "a great hand reaching out of the stars, and billions of voices calling your name." Mollari is surprised, and asks, "My followers?" Elric replies solemnly, "Your victims."
- Introduces the character of Lord Refa.
- Londo's prestige rises, a result of the destruction of the Narn outpost in Quadrant 37Chrysalis (Babylon 5)"Chrysalis" is the final episode of the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:Mollari and G'Kar argue about Quadrant 37....
. - When conversing with Elric, Sheridan says, "If we went back in time a thousand years and tried to explain this place to people, they could only accept it in terms of magic," foreshadowing Babylon 4Babylon 4Babylon 4 is a fictional space station from the television series Babylon 5.In the series, Babylon 4 was the immediate predecessor of Babylon 5 and the largest of the Babylon stations...
being transported a millennium back in time and becoming a part of Minbari mythology.
Production details
- The script had to be revised when Claudia ChristianClaudia ChristianClaudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
broke her foot. The scene was added in which her character, Susan Ivanova, was trying to negotiate a peace between two warring factions of Drazi when the Drazi group exploded into a brawl, and she injures her foot when the Drazi pile on top of her. - While not all Technomages are humanHuman (Babylon 5)Humans are one of the many races in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. They appear in all seasons of Babylon 5, and all of its spinoffs. Their homeworld is Earth, from which the interstellar Earth Alliance is governed...
, all the Technomages in this episode are human.
Literary References
- Elric is a name most closely associated with Michael Moorcock'sMichael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
fictional character, Elric of MelnibonéElric of MelnibonéElric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centering in an alternate Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné...
. Moorcock commented on the usage of his character's name within Babylon 5:
"I don't mind, since the Elric reference is clearly straight homage, and I'd do the same myself in the circumstances. It stops a long way short of being plagiarism, which I tend to pursue with my big black sword! Also when you've been around as long as I have and done as much work, you have to get used to your ideas becoming standard generic tropes. It means I have to work harder all the time, of course, to come up with stuff which no longer uses tropes I regard as my own (law, chaos, balance, say -- the multiverse, as such, and so on) and this is probably good for me, too!"
- Elric's warning to Vir is almost verbatim from Tolkien'sJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, in which Gildor InglorionGildor InglorionGildor Inglorion is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was a Noldorin Elf of the House of Finrod. In The Lord of the Rings he met Frodo Baggins and his friends in the Shire...
makes the statement to Frodo BagginsFrodo BagginsFrodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.He is the main protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He was a hobbit of the Shire who inherited Sauron's Ring from Bilbo Baggins and undertook the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom...
(speaking about GandalfGandalfGandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
). See original quote.