2 thoughts on “Earhart’s: “Secrets of the Soul” Spoiler Space”
One of the short stories, The Nautilus Coil, written by J. Gregory Keyes, touches this episode quite closely. It tells about Lyta’s travel to a planet in Vorlon space where telepaths were created, and more about the creation of the telepaths. It’s one of the more interesting short stories as it ties more closely to the arc than most, and it feels much like a companion piece to the Psi Corps trilogy, also written by Keyes.
Season 5 budget wasn’t smaller than for previous seasons, but the problem was that the actor contracts required a raise and yet again Warner wasn’t willing to give any more money. It had to be saved somewhere else, or there couldn’t be season five. Someone had an idea that they could shoot the episodes in six days instead of seven. Director of Photography John Flinn said that it couldn’t be done, but agreed to a bet with JMS. If JMS as a first-time director could do an episode in six days it should be possible for anyone. The bet was tried with the last episode filmed during season four, a little episode called Sleeping in Light.
There may have been some slight saving in actor appearances as well, there is on average about one main character less in each episode than in seasons three or four. Unlike in any other season no one appears in more than 20 episodes. If Secrets of the Soul had only Franklin, Lyta and Zack later there is also The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father, which has only Franklin and Zack.
This is the episode where I start to hate Babylon 5 path. This telepath story should have been Lyta’s. Majority of the series we’ve been told she is a very powerful telepath, yet she has always been submissive to the other characters. She should have been the leader of the telepath rebellion, rather than bring in a new, unknown character – Byron.
One of the short stories, The Nautilus Coil, written by J. Gregory Keyes, touches this episode quite closely. It tells about Lyta’s travel to a planet in Vorlon space where telepaths were created, and more about the creation of the telepaths. It’s one of the more interesting short stories as it ties more closely to the arc than most, and it feels much like a companion piece to the Psi Corps trilogy, also written by Keyes.
Season 5 budget wasn’t smaller than for previous seasons, but the problem was that the actor contracts required a raise and yet again Warner wasn’t willing to give any more money. It had to be saved somewhere else, or there couldn’t be season five. Someone had an idea that they could shoot the episodes in six days instead of seven. Director of Photography John Flinn said that it couldn’t be done, but agreed to a bet with JMS. If JMS as a first-time director could do an episode in six days it should be possible for anyone. The bet was tried with the last episode filmed during season four, a little episode called Sleeping in Light.
There may have been some slight saving in actor appearances as well, there is on average about one main character less in each episode than in seasons three or four. Unlike in any other season no one appears in more than 20 episodes. If Secrets of the Soul had only Franklin, Lyta and Zack later there is also The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father, which has only Franklin and Zack.
This is the episode where I start to hate Babylon 5 path. This telepath story should have been Lyta’s. Majority of the series we’ve been told she is a very powerful telepath, yet she has always been submissive to the other characters. She should have been the leader of the telepath rebellion, rather than bring in a new, unknown character – Byron.