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B5 short stories

N

Nancy

Beyond the rim
I heard a while back that the B5 short stories were maybe going to be published, does anyone know if this is true? I hope this will happen 'cause I'm missing only part of the story "Space, Time and the Incurable Romantic" because pages and pieces of pages got ripped beyond recognition because of my friend's stupid dog. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Can anyone tell me how much I'm missing? I don't think it's much. The story was up to the part where (caution spoiler)

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Marcus and Ivanova have arrived on the planet and she asks the statis and ...
 
You're missing incredibly little. I don't have a copy handy, but it sounds to me like you're missing maybe a quarter page. (The story is extremely short.)

Oh, great. I gather this latest upgrade, in addition to making the quote boxes look really dumb, has also cost us our spoiler code again. *sigh*

OK, spoiler space:

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Marcus explains that they have crashed landed, have no communication are pretty much stuck there until and unless someone finds them. Susan eventually, and rather begrudingly, thanks Marcus for saving her life. Then they go off in search of water, or to start building a shelter or some similar "immediate survival" activity. Marcus decides that begrudging thanks will do for a start, and decides to let the future take its course. The story (deliberately) doesn't resolve anything, and doesn't really tell you how things are going to work out. Each reader can decide for him/herself. Me, I think she kills him and then herself within a year. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Regards,

Joe
 
I would have figured that she'd boff him at least once. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
I don't think it is "illegal" to ask for them but it is for people to post them on this public forum. You can have someone send it to you via email if you want to post it. JoeDM posted a nice summary but if you want the actual text, that is best done privately. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
From channe's sig.:

"Jeremiah is an artichoke."


Whatever do you mean by that? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I believe Channe is actually quoting herself /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif from one of her own reviews. I believe it's a compliment; artichokes have many layers and are delicious with butter all over them.
 
Obsessed is completely, totally, and fully right. And especially if they're stuffed artichokes. That's even better. Yum. I'm salivating for more Jeremiah already.

Some of my metaphors and allusions are fairly wacko. That's one of 'em. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
And he always had some mighty fine wine.

But we're getting off-topic. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
"Me, I think she kills him and then herself within a year. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif"

I seem to remember Delenn having said something to Sheridan to the effect (affect?) that if he ever had a chance to sit quietly on a beach somewhere, his head would explode. (See "Thirdspace"?) Ivanova is so much like him in that particular way that my first thought, upon reading the story, was that she'd be bored out of her skull within a month. Then, again, putting a positive spin on it, she'd probably find things to do to keep herself from going crazy from having nothing to do. For openers, she'd have Marcus teach her to fight with a denn'bok/Minbari fighting staff. Then she'd decide that it might be a good idea for them to explore the planet, so that they'd be able to report their findings when, and if, they were rescued. Luckily for Ivanova, exploring even a small planet, especially if one is trying to map it and note the flora and faun without the aid of modern technology, is likely to be a lifetime's work, even for a literally small world. Then there's the major detail that they'd have to grow and/or catch their own food, eventually. Who knows? There might be hope for these two yet.
 
Ivanova - the Ivanova we know - would never desert the Army of Light in the middle of a war, which is what the Ivanova on Marcus' planet would have thought she would be doing, because the war was still going on when she died. This was made plain as day throughout the series.

JMS *really* missed the boat on that one.
 
Well, it's not like she'd have a choice. Their ship was destroyed. Susan may not have liked it, but without a space ship you just can't get off the planet.

Believe me, I've tried.
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Believe me, I've tried.

[/quote]

LOL! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I feel your pain.

As for the story, I've always seen "Space, Time..." as JMS's revenge on those fans who insisted, in spite of everything he said and everything he had done in the series, that Marcus come back somehow. They couldn't leave well enough (and dead enough) alone.

So he said, "OK. You want Marcus back and you want him and Susan together? Well, this is the only way that could happen given the technology seen in B5 and without violating everything established in the show. Happy?"

It seems to me that Marcus is genuinely insane by the end of the story. The "Suasan" he's created isn't really "his" Susan - can't be. That kind of perfect duplication isn't possible, as he's told in the story. And the Susan he has created is essentially a slave. He had her made-to-order for the express purpose of living out the life he chose for her, under circumstances he dictates. For all the fairy-tale surface of the story, it is really disturbing if you consider and ethics and/or morality of the whole thing. Marcus, who died selflessly, commits a monstrously selfish act in the end.

The lovely thing about the story is that it is set so far outside the rest of the B5 chronology (also no accident, JMS's way of saying, "You can have him back, but not in any future TV movies or series") that I think we can fairly treat it as an "optional" bit of B5 history. I, for one, prefer to think that it never happened, that it is more of a JMS "What If?" story than part of the series "canon". As far as I'm concerned Marcus stayed in that tube forever, a monument to missed opportunities and to the enduring power of hope.

Regards,

Joe
 
Yeah, we did use up a lot of bandwidth debating the moral implications of this story way back when. Are we sure we want to get that ball rolling again? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Hell, just bring the actor back as another character. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

It would hardly be the first time that's happened in a science fiction show.

This would, of course, assume there were more B5 shows or movies to be had, though. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

(I still say, with the state of sci-fi on tv these days, we need a "weepy" smilie. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif)
 
Channa said, “Ivanova - the Ivanova we know - would never desert the Army of Light in the middle of a war, which is what the Ivanova on Marcus' planet would have thought she would be doing, because the war was still going on when she died. This was made plain as day throughout the series.”

Maybe my memory is playing tricks with me, but I have a distinct recollection that Marcus made it clear to Ivanova that the Army of Light had won the war and that Sheridan had become president (though he never mentioned the InterStellar Alliance, presumably preferring to let her think Sheridan had become president of EarthGov). He told her that their ship had crashed on the way back from a victory celebration on Earth.

Joe D. said, “It seems to me that Marcus is genuinely insane by the end of the story." I don’t know about Marcus being insane, but he’s certainly obsessed. "And the Susan he has created is essentially a slave. He had her made-to-order for the express purpose of living out the life he chose for her, under circumstances he dictates. For all the fairy-tale surface of the story, it is really disturbing if you consider and ethics and/or morality of the whole thing. Marcus, who died selflessly, commits a monstrously selfish act in the end.” Your point about Susan being a slave, forced to live the life he chose for her, is something I never considered. Marcus was so selfless during his "first" life that it's hard for me to think of him any other way. Unfortunately, what you said makes sense. You really do a number on us romantics with that kind of logical thinking. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif (Grumble, grumble, frelling Vulcan, grumble, grumble).
 
Sigh. Unfortunately, Joe D., you've convinced me. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Consequently, I've changed my signature. As you can see, you have the honor of being quoted in my new one.
 
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