Drakh

[Recoil]

Ok,

I realize there are 2 types of Drakh. You might call one type the "leaders" and the other type the "soldiers." The leader types seemt to be dark greenish and scaly with little points in the sides of their heads. The soldiers have a whiteish head that sorta looks like a skull, with red eyes.

My question is about the Soldier Drakh. Why is it, when you first saw them in "Lines of Communication" they had that weird, creepy, shifting effect to them, but EVERY other time you see them (in the Centauri Palace in Season 5, and in Crusade several times) they no longer have that shifty effect, and are just looking normal.

Frankly I thought they looked a lot creepier with their shifting effect. Every other time I saw them, I always thought they were the most fake looking alien in Babylon 5. Well...other than Nagrath.

Any ideas why? Was it some sort of tech that they only used once? (although that seems odd, you would think they would want to bust that out every time they could)

 

[sleepy_shadow]

Would you, as a peace-loving Shadow minion, knowingly board a Minbari ship of hell-knows-what origin... without taking along a limited-issue computer graphics effect for personal protection against unexpected assault?

 

[Elric]

I've often wondered the same thing myself. Maybe it is just down to budget - it probably costs a fair bit of time & money to do that effect

I also agree that they were the least convincing aliens that the makeup guys created. I was always impressed by their prosthetics (especially the Narn) so it was strange to see the Drakh done the way they were (unless it was intentional of course?)

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I've often wondered the same thing myself. Maybe it is just down to budget - it probably costs a fair bit of time & money to do that effect

Time and budget were a factor, but not the way you're thinking. The shifting, blurry effect was added to "Lines of Coummunications" because JMS was so unhappy with the original makeup developed for the Drakh. (He was probably haunted by memories of the Zarg from "Grey 17".) There wasn't time during production to keep trying new versions, or to reshoot the Drakh scenes, so the only way to salvage the episode was to add the blurr effect and obscure the makeup as much as possible. They kept working on the makeup thereafter to have something better ready for the Drakh's next appearance.

I don't think the later Drakh make-ups were so bad. They were, after all, supposed to be an ugly bunch, and the actors under it were not expected to do the kind of subtle emoting that Andreas and others did through the layers of Narn makeup.

Regards,

Joe

 

[B5_Obsessed]

At least they came up with a new addition to the arsenal of ineffective weapons against bad makeup. The previous champions were:

1. The frenetic quick-cut
2. The stilted-motion video effect
3. The fabulous shaky-cam (Empire of the Ants, anyone?)

and perhaps most effective.....

4. Darkness

The funny thing is that both the Zarg and the original Drakh look very good in still photos, but when they're moving around they look terrible. So, in JMS's defense, he wouldn't really know a practical makeup job was going to suck until it came lurching out onto the set.

I would have recommended lowering the light levels on the Whitestar and giving the Drakh a much deeper hood on his cloak to obscure most of his face. Hey wait, that sounds like the Servants of The Hand!

 

[FlipperPA]

I've always liked to think of the Drakh as not necessarily once race, but possible several. "Drakh" as a term could be thought of, perhaps, as "shadow minions". Then you could have one race, being soldiers, another leading, another as ambassadors...

Don't forget the Drakh under the Centauri Royal Palace in S5 looks different from Shiv'Kala, the soldiers, or the ambassador.

The "soldier of darkness" in "The Long Dark" may have been Drakh as well. ;-)

-Tim

 

[Shaal Mayan]

I liked the swaying movement of the drakh in Lines and was sorry to see it go when season 5 came around it seemed to give their race a mystery about them that no others had .

 

[Nukemall]

I disagree with the with all that swaying motion business. Thought that the Drakh in Lines still looked crap with all that blurring.

OTOH, I thought that Shivkala looked quite demonic when he appeared in The Fall of Centauri Prime, which I liked.

 

[Zathras]

I've always liked to think of the Drakh as not necessarily once race, but possible several. "Drakh" as a term could be thought of, perhaps, as "shadow minions".

When Delenn questions the Drakh emmissary aboard her White Star in "Lines of Communication," she asks him, "Is 'Drakh' your name or the name of your species?". The Drakh's reply is simply (and in typical fashion after hanging around First Ones too much) "Yes."

After this episode, I figured that the Drakh must have some sort of hive mind or similar social structure at work and that they don't really have names - maybe just designations. Then, in Crusade, they start spouting off proper names (i.e. Shiv'Kala). I don't get it. Either the "soldiers" don't have names, or only the Ambassadors have names, or they all have names and the Drakh in "Lines" was just being cheeky.

 

[KoshN]

Ok,

I realize there are 2 types of Drakh. You might call one type the "leaders" and the other type the "soldiers." The leader types seem to be dark greenish and scaly with little points in the sides of their heads. The soldiers have a whiteish head that sorta looks like a skull, with red eyes.

The Drakh we see in the Centauri palace are leader Drakh (e.g. Shiv'kala, from the Legions of Fire trilogy), not soldier Drakh. In Crusade's "War Zone" we see some soldier Drakh (as CGI firing on the first shuttle, as CGI marching toward Trace in the view through his binoculars, as CGI on the cliff side, and as live action inside the Drakh ship during the firefight, all without the shimmer effect. In Crusade's "War Zone" we also see some leader Drakh (the ship captains).

In all other episodes of Crusade (as well as "A Call to Arms") we see leader Drakh, who never displayed the shimmer effect.

Personally, I liked the shimmer effect we saw on the Drakh emissary in B5's "Lines of Communication."

 

[Recoil]

Yea I liked it too and was sorry to see the shimmer effect go.

 

[KoshN]

Hey Recoil, looking at your sig., check this out.

http://forums.b5tv.com/printthread.php?Board=UBB5&main=233652&type=post (to isolate my post)

 

[Recoil]

Heh yea

Ive had this sig for almost a year I think...I lose track. I tried to change it to the bit with Peter and Lawrence in their apartment, but its just too much text to fit in a sig. I really should get around to changing it though...

 

[Lord Refa]

I kind of remember a post by JMS saying there were 3 kinds of Drakh, and that we got to know about all of them in the Technomage novels. I've read those novels, but I don't know any more about the Drakh then I did after season 5.

The shifting, blurry effect was added to "Lines of Coummunications" because JMS was so unhappy with the original makeup developed for the Drakh. (He was probably haunted by memories of the Zarg from "Grey 17".)

Are you sure about this? I did not think the drakh makeup looked bad. There was a pagesize picture in one of the B5 magazines of the Drakhs head from 'Lines of communication'. I think it looks great. If you look at the makeup in the neck and face, it is the same as in season 5 episodes where we see Shiv'Kala. The only difference is the exo-sceleton covering most of the face. I think the exo-sceleton was used as some sort of breather and scare-tactics. The shifting adds to the scary part, making the drakh appear are a very frightful and mysterious race.
I believe we saw something like a Drakh ambassador, and they chance their looks when showing themselves to other races. All the other time we saw Drakh we did so in their environment: Drakh ships, or their new home on Centauri Prime. I see no need to camouflage yourself at home, you only do that when going out.


BTW, did anyone notice the Drakhs appearance in Season 3? In 'Ship of tears' , they bring in the pilot of the ship they just rescued from the Shadows. There isn't much left of the pilot, but if you look closely, you can see it was a Drakh like in 'Lines', complete with exo-sceleton.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Maybe it wasn't the makeup. That's what I remember JMS saying, but I'll have to dig up the post.

Here's what "The Lurker's Guide" has to say on the subject:

The real reason the Drakh shimmered, according to special effects technician Ken Busick, was that the costume didn't look convincing enough. So to give the Drakh an otherworldly appearance, the scene was digitally manipulated in postproduction.

Regards,

Joe

 

[vacantlook]

BTW, did anyone notice the Drakhs appearance in Season 3? In 'Ship of tears' , they bring in the pilot of the ship they just rescued from the Shadows. There isn't much left of the pilot, but if you look closely, you can see it was a Drakh like in 'Lines', complete with exo-sceleton.

If I remember the scene correctly, the head of the dead alien being rolled away on the medical gurney looked a whole lot more like a pair of background aliens that were among the recipiants of telepaths being stationed on ships to help fight off Shadow ships in that really short scene of telepaths being assigned to various ships in whichever late 3rd season episode it is that that scene is in (I can't remember which episode is is right now and my DVD player is being uncooperative preventing me from looking it up).

 

[KoshN]

BTW, did anyone notice the Drakhs appearance in Season 3? In 'Ship of tears' , they bring in the pilot of the ship they just rescued from the Shadows. There isn't much left of the pilot, but if you look closely, you can see it was a Drakh like in 'Lines', complete with exo-sceleton.

If I remember the scene correctly, the head of the dead alien being rolled away on the medical gurney looked a whole lot more like a pair of background aliens that were among the recipiants of telepaths being stationed on ships to help fight off Shadow ships in that really short scene of telepaths being assigned to various ships in whichever late 3rd season episode it is that that scene is in (I can't remember which episode is is right now and my DVD player is being uncooperative preventing me from looking it up).

The episode, IIRC, was "Grey 17 is Missing." The scene was at the start of the episode, and I don't remember any aliens in that scene that looked even remotely "Drakh."


No, Lord Refa was right when he wrote:

BTW, did anyone notice the Drakhs appearance in Season 3? In 'Ship of tears' , they bring in the pilot of the ship they just rescued from the Shadows. There isn't much left of the pilot, but if you look closely, you can see it was a Drakh like in 'Lines', complete with exo-sceleton.

The dead pilot in "Ship of Tears" looked like a soldier Drakh whose facial exoskeleton had been eaten away by the acid mentioned.

 

[Zathras]

If I remember the scene correctly, the head of the dead alien being rolled away on the medical gurney looked a whole lot more like a pair of background aliens that were among the recipiants of telepaths being stationed on ships to help fight off Shadow ships in that really short scene of telepaths being assigned to various ships in whichever late 3rd season episode it is that that scene is in (I can't remember which episode is is right now and my DVD player is being uncooperative preventing me from looking it up).

And the winner of B5TV.com's longest sentence competition is...

Vacantlook! Congratulations!



DISCLAIMER: This contest is not sanctioned by management. The only prize is the admiration of your peers and the disdain of grammar teachers worldwide. Thank you.

 

[vacantlook]

LOL Zathras.

I don't usually do too many runon sentences being that I generally self-edit for grammar since it's quite possibly my most eagerly pursued basic subject. But sometimes when I find myself lost in thought and talking/typing with quite a bit of freeflow, I can end up going on and on.

And I stand by my statement, the funky face of the alien brought in on the stretcher is the same species as two of the quite background aliens in the telepath-to-ship distribution scene. They have very large foreheads with a bit of an odd ribbed look and funky noses.

 

[KoshN]

And I stand by my statement, the funky face of the alien brought in on the stretcher is the same species as two of the quite background aliens in the telepath-to-ship distribution scene. They have very large foreheads with a bit of an odd ribbed look and funky noses.

"And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place"
Beginning of scene 1, upper left corner.

Those two aren't Drakh. Good catch though with the resemblence between the two backround aliens and the dead ship captain in "Ship of Tears". I'm getting some comparison screencaps.