I posted this over on SciFi.com with a few slight additions here:
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The Hand: What it seems or misdirection?
Let's break it down:
1)The Hand is (are?) exactly what it seems, a malevolent civilization that is billions of tears old and happened to be out of pocket for the festivities of the Shadow War. Relationship to the other First Ones and Lorien? Who knows.
The dig was destroyed to keep a weakness from being exposed.
2)A "modern" malevolent race who *are* pretty advanced, from outside the ISA's sphere who uses this BS as an intimidation tactic. Perhaps the "helpers" are the actual players and the rest smoke & mirrors. Minister Kafta?
a) The dig was a fraud and destroyed to keep it from being exposed.
b) It was authentic but destroyed because those long dead people are NOT the ones currently claiming to be the Hand.
3)A front for the Drakh, in which case where did totally different ships come from? Or *another* leftover shadow ally.
4) Somebody *inside* the ISA who is trying to create a bogeyman to be played to their advantage in ISA politics.
With less wiggling room because of Crusade (in LOTR's future), one might be more inclined to believe this is a sideshow. But if Crusade is left for dead then JMS may just let the Hand percolate semi-below the radar until LOTR catches up with the Crusade timeframe.
This may either be a threat that lasts
1) Most of the series, perhaps just popping up from time to time.
2) Bumped off just in the first season, perhaps even pretty early, particularly if it just turns out to be pretenders to ancient power.
A few last things to think about:
I assume JMS's "can we do the same thing twice and make it work?" (paraphrase) was a joke directed at us. Whether without irony (just referring to pulling off another long-running show against the odds) or perhaps more ironic (acknowledging theapparent re-hashing with the Hand.)
If the Hand are what they seem then JMS risks cheapening all the mythology going into and coming out of the Shadow War of B5 (which is presumably THE uniquely pivotal event in the history of the younger races). Cheapening it by a rehashed plot, no matter what kind of variation/spin he puts on it.
If the Hand are not what they seem then maybe it is a classic JMS bait and switch.
BUT... if so, isn't self-parody (which appearing to recycle a major element certainly is) a lousy idea given that this is the *pilot* and the joke at our expense could backfire?
From my browsing of various boards it looks like a large majority of even those positive fans, who thought the pilot was fine or even great overall, winced at the very least about this apparently rehashed device now turning the elder races into mere gimmick.
------------------
newscaper,
from the SciFi Channel Farscape BB
-----------
The Hand: What it seems or misdirection?
Let's break it down:
1)The Hand is (are?) exactly what it seems, a malevolent civilization that is billions of tears old and happened to be out of pocket for the festivities of the Shadow War. Relationship to the other First Ones and Lorien? Who knows.
The dig was destroyed to keep a weakness from being exposed.
2)A "modern" malevolent race who *are* pretty advanced, from outside the ISA's sphere who uses this BS as an intimidation tactic. Perhaps the "helpers" are the actual players and the rest smoke & mirrors. Minister Kafta?
a) The dig was a fraud and destroyed to keep it from being exposed.
b) It was authentic but destroyed because those long dead people are NOT the ones currently claiming to be the Hand.
3)A front for the Drakh, in which case where did totally different ships come from? Or *another* leftover shadow ally.
4) Somebody *inside* the ISA who is trying to create a bogeyman to be played to their advantage in ISA politics.
With less wiggling room because of Crusade (in LOTR's future), one might be more inclined to believe this is a sideshow. But if Crusade is left for dead then JMS may just let the Hand percolate semi-below the radar until LOTR catches up with the Crusade timeframe.
This may either be a threat that lasts
1) Most of the series, perhaps just popping up from time to time.
2) Bumped off just in the first season, perhaps even pretty early, particularly if it just turns out to be pretenders to ancient power.
A few last things to think about:
I assume JMS's "can we do the same thing twice and make it work?" (paraphrase) was a joke directed at us. Whether without irony (just referring to pulling off another long-running show against the odds) or perhaps more ironic (acknowledging theapparent re-hashing with the Hand.)
If the Hand are what they seem then JMS risks cheapening all the mythology going into and coming out of the Shadow War of B5 (which is presumably THE uniquely pivotal event in the history of the younger races). Cheapening it by a rehashed plot, no matter what kind of variation/spin he puts on it.
If the Hand are not what they seem then maybe it is a classic JMS bait and switch.
BUT... if so, isn't self-parody (which appearing to recycle a major element certainly is) a lousy idea given that this is the *pilot* and the joke at our expense could backfire?
From my browsing of various boards it looks like a large majority of even those positive fans, who thought the pilot was fine or even great overall, winced at the very least about this apparently rehashed device now turning the elder races into mere gimmick.
------------------
newscaper,
from the SciFi Channel Farscape BB
