Black Star

Ben W Bell

Mongoose
Okay I know B5 was inconsistent with itself on the destruction of the Black Star (mind you In The Beginning is almost totally inconsistent with the series), but why did Mongoose decide to use both versions of the Black Stars destruction in their books?

In Coming of Shadows it mentions about Sheridan destroying the Black Star by mining the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This obviously happened in the series as the Minbari were gearing up to mount their final attack on Earth.

However in the Earth Alliance Fact Book it is mentioned regarding his destruction of the Black Star (or Dark Star as it is here) as taking place quite some time before the Minbari locate the Sol system as mankinds home.

I know the series was inconsistent on this point, but shouldn't you have picked one version or the other and gone with it instead of having both and thus drawing question on it?
 
Not sure about the series. I'll have to go and check.

In 'In the Beginning' however, it is definitely part-way through the war, as Sheridan was captured by the Minbari and then did other things before the battle of the line. Londo talks about how he sabotaged the meeting with Lennon, just because the Narns were involved, and the bit after that, with the celtic-style music and Londo's voice over about Humans not giving an inch of space without a fight, is a favourite moment of mine in the whole movie.

I like In The Beginning - especially after reading the Centauri Prime trilogy. What has happened to Londo, who the girl looking after the children is (Senna, IIRC), how important she ends up being, it all puts it into the frame, and it makes up for the fact that it is not explained why Delenn doesn't recognise Sheridan, or G'Kar. Maybe to her, one human or Narn looks like any other human or Narn :wink:

I'd go with the EA Fact Book's interpretation on this one. I'll have to have a look at the Coming of Shadows one when I get back home.
 
It is stated quite clearly by Sheridan in Points of Departures that he hit upon the idea of mining the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and that was where he managed to destroy the Black Star.
 
Well spotted.

It could be that the Black Star was on a scouting expedition or something, and unintentionally blundered into Earth controlled space. It didn't report it's position, because it didn't realise it was actually in the Earth system (otherwise, the Minbari would have gone to Earth sooner in the war, surely, and deal with the remnants afterwards), and wanted the glory of the kill. Which Sheridan got. Pride coming before a fall, I suppose.

Well, that's a bit weak, but there you go... :?
 
Yees, that's an old one.
And everyone has his opinion about it.

Personally I tend to go with the S-2 bit about mining the sol belt and taking out the BlackStar there - I just take the fact that ItB was not a historical document, but Londo telling the story as he saw it, and maybe a bit altered to suit the audience; while in S-2 the man who really did it was seen talking about it. That'd make S-2 first-hand info, and ItB second- or third-hand.
Besides, then I can also nab another illogical thing or two with that explenation - clearly Londo talking about the Drala'fi being laid low by a measly 2 megaton nuke was the result of the aging emperor's mind slipping... same for the G'Quan that was blown up by a single volley of the Centauri Vorchan... :wink:
 
I always figured that it was just a small fleet that is sent to harass the earth forces around earth while the main fleet is doing what it has to do to wipe out everyone along the way. That way would make sense as we know that some of the warriors were getting a little cocky by that point. They probably figured on getting quite a bit of personal glory for themselves and being able to say "Look what I did during the war."
 
The other thing to consider is that jms does change his mind on occassions.

In season 1 - "Grail" in fact Lennier states flat out that the Minbari have TWO castes not the later three which was required as a later fix when Sinclair departed and Sheriden arrived (which wasn't the original arc plan...).

My gut feeling would be to run with the EA fact book version (that from "In the Begining") as it occurred later in production. However if it being a precursor to the Battle of the Line works better for your campaign, go with that.
 
In S-2 did sheridan not state that 3 support ships were taken out in addition to the Blackstar? If so it does seem to support shadowscouts veiw on the subject, as they are not shown ITB.
 
I can see it acouple of ways. The first is story based, the other probably what really happened. For "In the Beginning" the Minbari knew Sheridan's fleet were going to be where they were and decided to jump into the middle of the fleet. Destroying most of the EA vessels while doing little damage to themselves. The Black Star probably didn't even realize they were in the Sol system. :? Thin I know, but what the heck.

The second, more realistic one, JMS probably realized it was kind of silly having the Black Star destroyed in the Sol System sometime before the Battle of the Line even began, and changed the story to have the incident happen further out from Earth.

The second idea is the one I go with. My opinion follow what is in the EA sourcebook.
 
i would believe the explanation given in itb because of what sheridan does after the black star exploded.

he had the time to return to earth, and to go in neutral zone with g'kar and doc. franklin to negociate with the entil'zha of that time. After his death the war just got worse.


the fact that it is londo telling the story doesn't cover the fact that sheridan HAD to go back to eath and from them go to neutral teritory. Since the minbary only got into sol system when they decided to attack earth it could only concluded that the black star wasn't in fact in the solar system when it was destroyed.

that is to say : i agree wth the version given in the begening ;);)

Besides that, i'm fine !! ;) !!
 
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