1. Synopsis

2. Arc significance

3. Production details

4. Literary References

5. References

6. External links

"The Geometry of Shadows" is an episode from the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. The episode is notable because it includes the first appearance of the Technomages.

Synopsis

Lord Refa, while visiting Babylon 5, is pleased with what Ambassador has been able to do with Quadrant 37, and suggests that should he play his cards right, he may be to become the Centauri emperor one day. Mollari and Vir see Refa off, when Mollari witnesses three Technomages debark from an arriving ship. Knowing that seeing a single Technomage, whom rarely travel and stay to themselves, is usually a precursor to trouble, he is concerned about seeing three. However, Mollari later recalls that the current Centauri emperor had been visited by three Technomages at the start of his reign, and considers it might be a good sign. He has Vir try to make contact, but the lead Technomage Elric states they are only passing through to the galactic rim and do not have time to talk with others. Captain Sheridan hears of the Technomages aboard, and asks to speak to Elric, expressing only concern for the station's safety. While they are chatting, Mollari arrives and tries to make small talk, only for Elric to discover Mollari was trying to record the conversation. For that, Elric casts a demon virus on Mollari's computer systems, wreaking havoc with his finances and records. Mollari ends up apologizing for the disruption and explains he only wanted to know what his future held. Elric does state that he sees great shadows in Mollari's future, and that his many victims will be screaming his name.

Separately, Sheridan tries to convince Garibaldi to return to work now that he has been cleared to return, but Garibaldi is reluctant, feeling that has he had not seen his own aide working against him, he is not proficient enough for the job. Elsewhere, Sheridan promotes Ivanova to Commander, and as her first responsibility, to resolve a dispute between feuding Drazi. Ivanova calls the Drazi to the council chambers to determine what is going on, and the leaders explain that they have split themselves into two sides by pulling green and purple sashes out of a barrel, thus denoting which side of the conflict they are on. When Ivanova questions this by moving a sash from one Drazi to another, a fight breaks out, and Ivanova's leg is broken. She tries to take another approach, but then learns that the same conflict has broken out on the Drazi homeworld where they have started killing each other; too late she finds out the same has started to happen on the station. Ivanova approaches the leader of the green faction, trying to find a recourse. The green leader instead says they've already convinced the purple faction to a loading bay with plans to open it to space and eject them all. They capture Ivanova and use her com-link to send a message to station security to help in their plan. Garibaldi encounters his staff rushing to follow these orders, but becomes suspicious when the orders only came via message and not via voice. He tracks down Ivanova's last location, frees her from the Drazi holding her, and together they race to beat the green faction to the loading bay. Ivanona again questions the entire process the Drazi have used, and to emphasis this, she pulls the green sash off the lead Drazi. The other Drazi stand in awe, and she is told that since she holds the green leader sash, she is their leader. After a moment, she leads the Drazi away to put an end to the conflict indefinitely by dying their sashes purple and then putting all the Drazi to work to repair the damage they did to 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 with his relationship with the Shadows.
• Londo Mollari receives a prophecy from the Technomage Elric, who 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 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 4 being transported a millennium back in time and becoming a part of Minbari mythology.

Production details

• The script had to be revised when Claudia Christian 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.^[1]
• While not all Technomages are human, all the Technomages in this episode are human.^[2]

Literary References

• Elric is a name most closely associated with Michael Moorcock's fictional character, Elric 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!"^[3]

• Elric's warning to Vir is almost verbatim from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in which Gildor Inglorion makes the statement to Frodo Baggins (speaking about Gandalf).^[2] See original quote.

References

External links

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