lurkers-guide/guide/040

<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
The outbreak of a fatal disease among the Markab population prompts a panic on
the station; Dr. Franklin races against time to find a cure.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Sub-genre: Drama
<a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/040">7.85</a>

Production number: 218
Original air date: May 24, 1995
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000087EYB/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: April 29, 2003

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin Cremin
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li> The Minbari expect Valen, the holy figure who founded the Grey Council
	a thousand years ago (perhaps during the last conflict with the
	Shadows) to return some day -- or at least, they have a religious
	ceremony suggesting so.

   <li> A deadly virus appeared on an isolated island on the Markab homeworld
	several hundred years ago, wiping the entire population out.  The
	inhabitants of the island were known for what was widely considered
	sinful behavior, and the virus came to be viewed as divine retribution
	by the Markab.

   <li> Dr. Franklin visited the Markab homeworld once while he was hitchhiking
	on starships in his youth.

   <li> Keffer has been taking trips into hyperspace in his spare time, looking
	for the mysterious ship (a Shadow ship) he saw in
	<a href="026.html">"A Distant Star."</a>

   <li> When Delenn was a small child, she was separated from her parents in
	an unfamiliar Minbari city.  Eventually she found refuge in an old,
	apparently unused, temple, where she waited for hours.  Then, just
	before her parents found her, she saw a vision of a figure, bathed
	in light, who told her, "I will not allow my little ones to come to
	harm in this place."

</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li> Was the virus created artificially?  If so, who did it and why?  (See
	<a href="#AN:timing">Analysis</a>)

   <li> How many Markab are still alive?

   <li> What's going on between Delenn and Sheridan?

   <li> Will someone lay claim to the dead Markab worlds?  Who?

   <li> Was Delenn's story about the temple true, or just a story to comfort
	the lost Markab child?  If true, who or what appeared before her? (See
	<a href="#JS:delenn">jms speaks</a>)

   <li> Will the disease spread among the Pak'ma'ra as well, or will Franklin's
	treatment stop it from wiping them out?

</ul>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li> This episode's plague theme meshes with the story and ritual
	practice of Passover. The Minbari dinnner ceremony Sheridan, Delenn, and
	Lennier participate in is a ritualized meal, like Passover: foods must
	be eaten in a particular order, and a table setting is left for a
	revered historical figure (Elijah, Valen) who is supposed to return
	some day. As the Markabs enter the de facto "quarantine" chamber, the
	Markab ambassador suggests that if they pray and are pure, the plague
	will "pass over" them -- a parallel with the original passover story,
	where a certain sign on the house door made a plague attacking the
	Egyptians pass over the Jews.  Franklin's discussion of the Black Death
	also mentions how Jews were unjustly accused of spreading the infection.

<p>
   <li> Franklin appears to have forgotten about the alien healing device he
	acquired in
	<a href="021.html">"The Quality of Mercy"</a>
	and used on Garibaldi in
	<a href="024.html">"Revelations,"</a>
	which he could have used to help his friend and thus increase
	the chance of finding a real cure.
	Or perhaps he knows enough about it now to know that it wouldn't have
	worked on plague victims for some reason.  (Obviously it wouldn't
	have been of much use to the Markab population in general, since it
	only works on one person at a time and only with a donor.)

<p>
   <li> Babylon 5's crew may have inadvertently helped the disease spread
	when they gathered all the Markab for blood tests; presumably some
	of the subjects would have remained in their quarters if they
	hadn't been dragged out and tested in a room full of possible
	carriers.

<p>
   <li> Sheridan presumably ordered Keffer to stop his expeditions because he
	suspects Keffer's mystery ship is a Shadow vessel.  Will he let
	Keffer in on that information, or will he continue to keep it to
	himself and simply let the order stand?

<p>
   <li> Franklin's frequent use of stims to stay awake while a medical crisis
	is going on (cf.
	<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"</a>)
	may spell big trouble for him if he keeps it up.  Doctors on stims
	are more likely to make mistakes (cf. Dr. Rosen in
	<a href="021.html">"The Quality of Mercy"</a>)
	and it appears the Earth medical community doesn't look kindly on the
	practice of doctors drugging themselves to stay awake -- Dr. Rosen
	lost her medical license as a result.
	
	<p>
	Whatever his good intentions,
	his obsession with solving everything on his own may lead him into
	a regrettable situation down the road.  There isn't yet enough evidence
	to show that he's actually addicted to the stims, though.
	(See <a href="#JS:stims">jms speaks</a>)

<p>
   <li> It's been argued that the Markab <em>did</em> die for their sins --
	specifically, the sin of pride, by believing that they could keep the
	disease to themselves and not involve any outsiders.  Had Franklin
	learned of the disease when it first hit the station, he (or another
	non-Markab doctor) might well have been able to save a billion lives.

<p>
   <li> Delenn seems to be coming apart at the seams in many ways, probably as
	a result of being made a pariah among her people.  If she's telling the
	truth, or at least part of the truth, about undergoing her change to
	help draw humans and Minbari closer together (cf.
	<a href="024.html">"Revelations"</a>)
	it must be frustrating in the extreme to be reviled by her own kind,
	and resented by many humans (cf.
	<a href="037.html">"And Now For a Word."</a>)
	Especially if she believes that she's special somehow, a unique player
	in an immense drama (cf.
	<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared."</a>)
	This, in combination with the influence of her new biology, may explain
	why she's reaching out to Sheridan now; he at least seems to respect
	her and relate to her as an equal, and she probably trusts him a lot
	more now that she sees he can be trusted with one of her biggest
	secrets (cf.
	<a href="038.html">"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum."</a>)

	<p>
	Or, of course, she could be planning something.  She's been trying to
	get closer to Sheridan for quite some time (cf.
	<a href="030.html">"A Race Through Dark Places"</a>)
	and this could simply be the next step.

<p>
   <li> On a similar note, being locked in a room and helplessly watching
	thousands of people die all around can't be good for Delenn's emotional
	stability.  It remains to be seen if this will have an impact on her
	personality; for many people it would be a profound shock.

<p>
   <li> But Sheridan's statement that Delenn wouldn't be able to come back
	out if she entered the contaminated area doesn't make sense, given
	that the plague was known to be airborne; she'd be exposed to it
	either way, given that the station's air is recycled (as stated in
	the episode.)  Presumably he was just trying to keep her from going in.

<p>
   <li> <a name="AN:timing">The timing of the plague's reappearance,</a> with
	all the other events going on, is suspicious.  Of course, it might be a
	simple coincidence, as
	Franklin suspects, just a dormant disease whose time has come.  But
	another interpretation is that the outbreak on the Markab island
	centuries earlier was an early biological warfare test on an isolated
	population, and the events in this episode were the real attack.  If
	that's true, who is responsible, and do they have any connection with
	the approaching Great War?

	<p>
	Note that the Markab did have some contact with the Shadows last time
	they rose up, as evidenced by the Markab ambassador's speech in
	<a href="027.html">"The Long Dark"</a>
	-- perhaps someone (not necessarily the Shadows; maybe the man at the
	bar was right) didn't want the Markab around to participate this time.

<p>
   <li> Franklin's cure protects possible victims against attack, rather than
	eliminating the disease.  B5, with its recycled air supply, now
	permanently carries the disease, which is dangerous to species with
	yellow and green blood-cells (or cells that perform a similar function,
	namely the manufacture of certain neurotransmitters) and might well
	mutate to endanger
	others.  This could affect the willingness of alien groups to use the
	station in the future.  Even species not vulnerable to the disease
	might keep away just to be safe.

<p>
   <li>@@@834865421 When Sheridan wakes up from his nap in Delenn's quarters,
	he mumbles, "In the memory of the nine and the one."  Presumably the
	nine refers to the Grey Council, and the one refers either to Valen
	or to The One, as mentioned in
	<a href="020.html">"Babylon Squared."</a>
	There's also an echo of the story told in the Minbari ceremony in
	<a href="005.html">"The Parliament of Dreams."</a>

</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li> This episode features a previously unseen alien (or at least, a
	humanoid who's presumably alien) wearing a suit with an elaborate
	helmet.  The helmet bears a striking resemblance to the mask of
	Morpheus, the King of Dreams, from Neil Gaiman's
	<a href="http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/">"Sandman"</a>
	comic book.  As "Sandman" is one of JMS's favorite comics, this may be
	an intentional homage.

   <li> "Markab" is Arabic for "boat."

</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li> "Confessions" isn't per se a wham episode, for instance, but it does
	have some very sharp turns, and it's an extremely intense episode on a
	par with "Believers."  It makes no compromises and takes no prisoners,
	and I imagine it'll stir up about as much debate as did "Believers," if
	not more.  When we did playback after doing the audio mix a few days
	ago, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

<p>
   <li> I would also point out that, upon returning from the Moon, Apollo
	astronauts were quarantined routinely in case any virus might have been
	encountered; also, Mars probes today are carefully sterilized prior to
	launch to prevent any virus from our ecosystem interacting with anything
	that might be there.  Further, there have been numerous hearings within
	NASA, and in at least one case in the Senate Science Subcommittee, in
	which biologists and scientists have expressed concern about the
	possibility of viral contamination from new species.  So anyone who says
	this isn't possible simply isn't reading the literature.

<p>
   <li> Tom, we *do* have a medical/biological advisor, whose primary
	comment on the notion that a virus couldn't pass between one species
	and another..."We have yet to contact one other alien life form to make
	an analysis.  We do not know for a fact that their biology will be
	radically different than our own.  Until we actually make contact, it's
	as likely as not."  A biologist works from what's known; unless you've
	got a specimen of alien life somewhere and aren't showing it to anyone,
	or you're simply making a guess, which is neither more nor less correct
	until we have something testable in our hands.

<p>
   <li> I will not defend the notion that
	the episode stated that all Americans felt that AIDS was a penalty from
	god because it never said that.  Ever.  In any way, manner, shape or
	form.  The problem is that some people are so caught up in the current
	situation that they lose all sense of perspective.  Fact is, most
	people DID think that the Black Death was a punishment from God, or the
	work of the devil, as Franklin says.  The Markabs had a similar belief.
	Nowhere was that applied in dialogue to humans or the AIDS situation.

	<p>
	The whole point of the episode is NOT political; it says that if you
	make a disease political on either side, you're gonna die.  You have to
	set aside all that crap and just Deal With The Problem.  The only "side"
	this episode took was in advocating compassion for those afflicted.

	<p>
	I have enough just dealing with what's actually *in* my series; don't
	compound the problem by adding things that you saw only in your own
	head, and which exist nowhere in dialogue or in the story.  You are
	adding the template of your own beliefs as an overlay, and seeing this
	story through it.  That ain't my problem.  If you see this disease as
	political, that's your lookout.  This show says that ANY attempt to
	politicize a disease is species-dangerous thinking.  Period.

<p>
   <li> On one level, this does indicate that we really *are* crazy over here at
	B5.  Here we developed this race for nearly two years.  Developed their
	culture.  Mentioned them prominently just last episode.  Had them speak
	before the full Council (in "Long Dark").  Spent substantial amounts of
	money making them the biggest single alien group we've got (some of the
	group shots had 40-50 or more Markabs, all in full prosthetics and full
	costume)...and now, never to be seen again.

	<p>
	It couldn't be a race we've never seen before, not if it was to have the
	impact I wanted.  It had to be a group that's been with us from the
	start.

	<p>
	In Council scenes for the balance of the season, the Markab seat remains
	empty.

<p>
   <li> "No disease in human history is 100% fatal."

	<p>
	Not correct.  The Black Death was fatal to everyone infected by it.  It
	was not, as Drafa, 100% contagious, but it *was* about 90% contagious.
	The Black Death wiped out *three-quarters of the entire European
	population*.  <em>(Editor's note: not quite true; three-quarters of
	the population in some areas was wiped out, but the total toll was
	closer to one quarter -- still pretty devastating.  The mortality
	rate was high, but some people survived and were immune thereafter.
	It also hit Africa and Asia.)</em>

	<p>
	Roll that around for a while.  Three-quarters.

	<p>
	The only thing that saved areas of Europe was that there wasn't as much
	travel then as today between countries; it was reserved for those with
	enough money to afford it, which were very few.  There were also fewer
	means of entry; a river and a bridge closed to refugees was often enough
	to keep people out.  There is now MUCH freer travel.  Had there been
	freer travel in the 14th century, it's entirely possible that the
	entire European population might have been completely eradicated, with
	those few who might've been immune dying from associated diseases,
	hunger and other problems caused by the presence of the disease.

	<p>
	One person I spoke with at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) said
	that, hypothetically speaking, the sudden eruption of a disease like
	this is possible.  How likely depends on various circumstances.  There
	are, for instance, regions in the Amazon and South America where certain
	kinds of plant and animal life can only be found; and those specific
	lifeforms can transfer diseases to humans...diseases that literally
	melt the flesh off your body, or in another case, cause worm-like
	infestations to burst through the skin covering the entire body.  (Let
	me tell you, researching this was just a whole lotta laughs.) They are
	*highly* contagious.  The only thing that has (so far) prevented a
	massive outbreak is the fact that by the time you can generally get
	OUT of these remote areas...you're dead.

	<p>
	A particularly aggressive disease could perform very much like what is
	described in the episode.

<p>
   <li>@@@846704089 Any time there's a big disease,
	we get Stupid.  The same exact thing happened with the Black Plague, as
	was mentioned in the episode...instead of blaming gays, the leaders of
	the time blamed jews and lepers.  The whole *point* is to drop politics
	and scapegoating whichEVER disease it happens to be next...and there is
	always a next...and focus on the problem: the disease.

<p>
   <li>@@@834982268 There would've been a very few on deep space patrols, or on
	isolated worlds that would've survived, yes, as was indicated in the
	narration at the close of the episode, but you're talking about very,
	very small numbers.  The race is still effectively dead.

<p>
   <li> What Colin misses, obviously, is that not *all* of the markabs are
	"mindless religious fanatics," in that Dr. Lazarenn was not one, but
	that was mainly because he had long been exposed to human/outsider
	ideas, which most of his reclusive people are not.

	<p>
	Second, y'know, I get asked a lot, "Give us ALIEN aliens."  So I do. And
	then I get gigged because they don't act like we'd expect humans to act.
	Sometimes I just throw up my hands....

<p>
   <li> You have to listen a little closer.  The dormancy period is several days
	to several weeks, as Franklin says; once the disease *comes out of
	dormancy*, then it kills within about a day.

<p>
   <li> I don't think his behavior was boorish at all.  After a very long day,
	in which (he stated) he hadn't eaten a thing, he sits down in a cross
	legged position for (if you track the time in the story) 3-5 *hours*,
	alternately eating and meditating in a small, quiet room...who
	*wouldn't* fall asleep?

<p>
   <li> The fighters aren't *inexpensive*, but not hideously costly either.  
	Also, the pilots like to spend as much time out on patrol as possible,
	to garner more flight pay.  Keffer's squad was already out earlier (as
	noted by Sheridan); Keffer chose to stay out a little longer doing a bit
	of reconnaisance.  Most of the hassle is in prepping the ship for
	launch, maintainance and so on; once it's out, it's just a matter of a
	bit more fuel. If he left *strictly* for this purpose, then yeah,
	they'd nail his butt to the flight deck.  But since he was out anyway,
	it's not as big an issue.

<p>
   <li> <em>(Delenn's childhood experience)</em><br>
	<a name="JS:delenn">Well, it's about TIME somebody noticed</a> that
	little exchange in "Confessions and Lamentations."  Sometimes I stick
	stuff so obviously in the foreground that I'm afraid it's going to be
	too blatant, and then nobody seems to notice it, looking instead at
	the tiny stuff in the background.

	<p>
	Unfortunately, all I can say for now is that it is significant to
	Delenn's character and growth, and her sense of being special, and
	called into the religious caste.

<p>
   <li> We joked a few times about having a mass burial for the Markab
	prosthetics and costumes behind the stage....

<p>
   <li> A man is shot by a gun.  Now, you can either do a story about the guy 
	and his life up to the moment he was shot and killed, or you can do a 
	story about the people who are affected by his death.  The former 
	story ends kinda fast.  But both are perfectly valid.  The main thrust
	is how this story AFFECTS our main characters.  Would they have been 
	more affected if it were the Drazi rather than the Markabs?  No.  It 
	would've been just the same.  My job is not to sit here and say, "Hmm
	... do I think audience members like the Drazi or the Markabs more?" 
	and thus base my decision based on that.  I write my stories based on
	what's right for the story, period.  In this case, I knew it had to
	be one of the League races, and in particular, those prosthetics 
	capable of expressing broad ranges of emotion, potentially sympathetic
	characters.  The instantly cut out the pak'ma'ra as primary characters.
	I considered the Drazi, but my sense was that the prosthetics couldn't
	convey the depth of emotion I needed.   Finally, that led me to the 
	Markabs.

	<p>
	Enough terrible things happened, and continue to happen, to our major
	races; best to give them a break and see how they react when it's 
	someone else.

<p>
   <li> <em>Delenn and Lennier's exchange after Sheridan leaves</em><br>
	Isn't it more fun to leave the piece untranslated?  Shouldn't some
	things be left to the imagination?

<p>
   <li> <em>Plague stories are trendy these days.</em><br>
	Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and
	see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly.  When I 
	wrote the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about,
	Voyager hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do
	...if I'd known there would be such a glut...well, I probably 
	would've done so anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague
	and saying its' dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are 
	confronted by this, which really hasn't been dealt with that much in
	SF.  (And I'm sorry, but don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story
	into this; the ship is threatened by a cheese contamination?  I almost
	fell off my chair.)

<p>
   <li> What you also have to do is step back for a moment and remember that
	the dinner began prior to Keffer and the rest leaving B5; and was 
	ending about the time they got back.  Add up the time indicated, and
	you've got a ritual that has gone on for at LEAST 3-4 hours now, 
	probably closer to 5-6; seated in a small room, legs crossed, after
	what was almost certainly a busy day.  Show me somebody who WOULDN'T
	doze off after a while.

<p>
   <li> <em>The alien with a breathing apparatus a "Sandman" reference?</em><br>
	It's mainly an extrapolation on an alien breather based on WW II
	style gas masks.

<p>
   <li> <a name="JS:stims"><em>Franklin's use of stims here and in
	"Z'ha'dum;" their disastrous consequences for Dr. Rosen in QoM</em></a>
	<br>
	Ah, about time; I was wondering when someone would get around to
	remembering "Quality of Mercy" in this....

<p>
   <li> The use of markabs was definitely NOT a reference to Scientology in
	any way, manner, shape or form.

<p>
   <li>@@@846704089 There is absolutely, positively, NO scientology link or
	reference in the name markabs.  I find the organization generally
	abhorrent.

<p>
   <li>@@@846704089 I had no idea that scientologists used an alien group
	called Markab, and frankly would've changed it if I had known.

<p>
   <li>@@@834859198 Marcabs had warships, though not a lot of them.

</ul>