Crusade

[Wizz]

Re: The Senator. I realize he would be part of the government "in exile" so to speak. Government of what? If there's a cure, his being one of the uninfected ones is of little significance. If he's around but all of earth's inhabitants are gone, there's not much but a scattered group looking for a new home. This particular senator, I believe, wouldn't have contributed much in the way of rebuilding as he would have worked to keep his position of importance intact.

Path of Sorrows. This one is one of my favorites. Too bad the rest of the cast didn't have time with the alien, as it would have brought out a lot of their character as well. Having read the first of the technomage trilogies, this tied in well for me with Isabel's story. I'm also wondering if Galen's ulterior motive for joining the Excalibur crew is to find those three mages responsible for her passing. His bitterness isn't soothed at all with the message from out there; he's a mage on a mission. It'd sure be nice to see this story continued; hopfully SciFi will think so too.
Although not stated so exactly, Lyta was supposed to be the renegade that Matheson was injecting. She already was a "doomsday" device, waiting to be set off; with all the head Psi Corps honchos showing up there, what a perfect way for Lyta to strike back at the corps. I think it would've been worth the weeks pay for one day's work, just to have her in this episode. It's not like she'd be able to continue in the practice of getting paid too much for her role. But, that's how things are done in Hollywood. Guess it's better not to set a trend and cause friction and high budget overruns.
Now, how are we supposed to not be suspicious of the Earth Force officer questioning Giddeon on what he saw? For crying out loud, that was a cutting beam from that strange ship. You would get fragments showing that during the investigation, such as it were. Or, Earth was working with the Shadows long before the Shadows had returned to Za'ha'dum. Which means the Shadows were present during Santiago's regime, too. Hard to say how far back it goes.
Anyway, my 2 cents worth...

[sindatur]

Wow Path of Sorrows. This was the one episode that I missed when it showed on TNT originally. Very powerful episode for me and pretty important one for me to have missed. We see Gideon get the Apocalypse box, we see Galen rescuing Gideon, we see the base on Syria Planum being blown up and we see Galen's last moments with Isabelle. What a treat this was to see.

[Wizz]

I'm pretty sure the third one was Tilar. As far as Galen was concerned, Kell was questionable, but Tilar, Elizar and Razeel were the ones to betray them.
As for grudges, could be he's no longer going after those three. As Alwyn didn't bring it up, maybe it's something that's no longer necessary to bring up. I just figured that in the short time that's passed from when Isabel died and the start of Crusade, that issue wouldn't have been resolved yet. Besides, the Drakh having access to mages would level the playing field a bit.

[AsIs]

Wiz, It has been around 8 years since Isabelle died. The events of Book One of the Technomage Trilogy takes place at the latest at the beginning of Season 2 of B5. The events at the end of Book one are mentioned by Elric in the Technomage Ep in Season 2.

[ProfCrash]

Azziz is right about the time line. Crusades takes place 5 years after the end of the series. Galen and the Mages leave known space in the first months of Season 2. So that is 3 years to the end of the series then five years to the plague = 8 years

This is one of the reasons I find the idea of Gideon beng the Captin of anything more then a bit improbable. If he was an Ensign on the Cerabus (ie fresh out of the Academy judging by the ring on his finger) it would take alot longer then 8 years for him to have been promoted up the ranks. Even granting that many snior officers retired or were charged with war crimes after Earth's civil war, it strikes me as improbable that he would hold the rank of Captian.

[ProfCrash]

Wizz, someone has to coordinate with the Alliance and other worlds to find a cure for the plague. While Sheridan is doing that, there needs to be someone representing Earth from Earth, whichis where the off world Senators come in. Its the same idea as a government in exile during a war. The top brass get out of the country and then set up shop in a friendly country to speak for their people.

Last nights ep was interesting. Gideon's explination to his superior falls on knowing ears. Remember that there were a decent number of military and Psi Corp personal who knew about the Shadows and were working with them. Mainly they were located in the top brass. For the most part, they wanted to cover up the presence of the Shadows and were doing their damndest to alter Gideon's story. Not surprising really.

What I found impressive is that Gideon was an ensign on the Cerebus. This means he was promoted pretty quickly, 9 years from Ensign to Captian? ummm me thinks something funky happened. Maybe mass retirment after the Civil War ended. Even that sounds abit fishy.

I really liked the Isabelle and Galen scenes. i had forgotten that we had seen that. As to if Galen found them, a coupe of episodes back Galen says he does not hold grudges, Gideon questions him onthat and he says the only people that he held grudges against were dead. To me that means that Elizar and Razeel were dead. During the scene with Isablle, he did not know why Kell had done what he did, so I am guessing that Kell is removed from the list of three who betrayed them. Unless he was meaning Tilar...

OK the scene which was suppose to include Lyta makes more sense now. Lyta would have been setting up the resistences largest strike and in sacrificing herself would have really hurt the Corp. Too bad the scene was soo long and descriptive, now JMS cannot say that it was Lyta, even though that is who he had wanted.

A good episode, lots of character development.

[Wizz]

Minor nit...call it 6 years, not eight. They took off for two years at least, the assumption being that the mages weren't heading back home until after the Shadows were dealt with. 25% less time to search for the trio in question. On the other hand, he was there with Vir and the cloistered mages when they wiped out the planet killer manufacturing facility. I doubt that Galen would have been much at ease if his nemisis were still around

[ProfCrash]

The Mages are not back. Galen has been tossed out of the fold because he wants to be in contact with the the rest of the Universe while the Circle feels the Mages should remain in hiding.

At the time of Crusades, the Mages are not back. That is discussed in the movie Call to Arms and at various points in the series. The Mages in the Centauri Prime books are essentially scouts, to see what is happening but to remain uninvolved as much as possible. Granted they end up ignoring that but that was their individual decisions.

The first technmage book clearly sets the time of departure as the begining of Season 2 so the 8 years is a solid number.

[Wizz]

Except Galen left with the other Mages. In the movie "A call to Arms", there were others, and part of the conversation directed at Galen was his 'removal' from the group. That doesn't necessiarily mean all the mages have returned, or that they're set up as before. But, as Alywn mentioned, Galen was part of the group that left. What may be in question is exactly when did he return. Since the original idea was they were leaving because the Shadows were coming back, it only stands to reason that they'd not return until the Shadows were gone. It could also be as little as four years, too, before Galen actually returned. Based on your assumption that the technomages never returned, the ones we saw in "A Call to Arms" are all stragglers (Galen included) comeing back on their own. Alwyn is the only one that was mentioned that didn't go at all, but there could be others like him.
8 years isn't as solid as it would appear to some.

[ProfCrash]

The Techno Mage novel is very clear that Isabelle died in 2258 (the end of season one). The show is very clear that the Mages left known space in early 2259 (season 2) and that the Drahk plague was launched at the five year anniversary of the formation of the Alliance (end of 2261 is when the Alliance is formed. Drahk plague launched 2266) Which means that it has been 8 years since Isabelle died.

Truth be told, I do not see how this can be debated since that time line is really very clearly established in the book and the series.

What is also made clear in a Call to Arms and Crusades is that the bulk fo the Mages are still hidding in 2266. The fact that the Circle expels Galen at that time for contact that might give away their loaction is a pretty clear statement that they are still hidding and don't want to be found.

Not only that, the fact that Galen is expeled for too much contact indicates that he was going back and forth between known space and the Mages hidding place up until that time.

The following is a quote from the Lurkers Guide synopsis of a Call to arms which clearly demonstrates that the Mages are still in hidding.

"Sheridan starts to reply, but finds himself elsewhere again. Several robed men are around a campfire. "It's a mistake! You shouldn't have brought him here!" one of
them says. They are chastising Galen for breaking the isolation without proof. But Galen claims that they need to break it to get the proof. And Sheridan is the only
one who can get it. The others relent, but warn Galen he will be the first to die if their security has been compromised through his actions."

This quote shows that it was the Circle who tossed Galen

"Galen is looking over the results of the battle in his crystal globe when a voice calls out to him. "The circle requires your presence." "

OK, so The Mages are still in hidding and are annoyed with Galen for his contact with humans. Supported by quotes directly from the movie Call to Arms.

The only area that I see that the show and books have not clearly answered is how many Mages are runnign around outside of their hidding place and why are they out there?

Galen and a few other Mages were running around, as seen in the Centauri Prime novels, my guess is that they would be the minority. There is also indication that the Mages in the Centauri Prime novels were sent there as scouts to see if it was safe for all the Mages to return.

Hopefully the second Mage book will give us an idea about how many Mage's stayed behind, like Alwyn. I am guessing that number is pretty small.

Why? Because the shot of all the Mage ships flying over Gideon when the Cerebus was attacked shows alot of ships. I did not bother to count them but there were alot of ships. Additionally, in Geometry of Shadows there are over 100 Mages gathering on B5 to take a chartered ship some place.

Where does this leave us? Isabelle died 8 years ago when Galen is remembering her death in Crusade. The Mages are still in hidding with, more likely then not, only a few running around. And the vast majority of Mages have been hidding for 8 years.