lurkers-guide/guide/509

<!-- TITLE Racing the Night -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
The crew discovers a planet that was devastated by a plague similar to the
one threatening Earth.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 103
Original air date: August 4, 1999
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00061QJSK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: December 7, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@934310143 The Shadows used the plague in the last Shadow War, a
	thousand years ago.  They infected a planet, not yet technologically
	advanced enough for starflight, that refused to allow
	them to set up a base.  After three years of struggling to find a
	cure, the inhabitants of that planet froze themselves.  Every two
	years, when the five-year clock expires, another individual is
	awakened to guard over the planet.  Anyone who stumbles onto
	the planet is abducted and dissected in the hopes that they'll
	prove immune to the plague and thus show the way to a cure.

   <li>@@@934310143 Gideon consults the apocalypse box
	(<a href="504.html">"The Path of Sorrows"</a>)
	to find out about new planets to explore.  It knows about worlds the
	Rangers haven't discovered yet.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@934310143 How did the apocalypse box know about the planet?
	Did it know what was really going on there?

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@934310143 In
	<a href="115.html">"A Call to Arms,"</a>
	Sheridan said that the reason the plague will take five years to kill
	everyone on Earth is that the Drakh didn't have time to adjust it for
	Earth biology before releasing it.  If that's true, why didn't the
	plague act more quickly on the aliens, given that it was the Shadows
	themselves who released it?  Maybe they released it at the very end
	of the last Shadow War and, like the Drakh, didn't have time to
	adjust it beforehand, but it's also possible that the analysis Sheridan
	was quoting was flawed.  If so, the five-year figure might be incorrect
	as well.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@931207368 This episode was originally slated to air first, until
	TNT decided that it preferred to have some introductory episodes
	to ease viewers into the series' premise.

   <li>@@@934310691 Galen's closing line, "Expect me when you see me," is
	a quote from "The Lord of the Rings," spoken by Gandalf.  The quote
	was also used by G'Kar in
	<a href="022.html">"Chrysalis."</a>

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@936120977 Racing was finished last December.

<p>
   <li>@@@936120833 <em>What does the box say to Gideon?</em><br>
	"Things change...long time gone."

	<p>
	And in later instances when the box talks, it's Gideon's/Gary's
	voice. You may take that as foreshadowing if you wish.

<p>
   <li>@@@936120977 Also, no one else on the crew knows about the box.  Well,
	officially. One other person knows about it, but he's not supposed to
	know.  And Galen suspects something amiss from his passing comment at
	the end of the ep.

<p>
   <li>@@@936120977 "Do we find out who this is in the remaining four
	(*sniff*) episodes? And if not, can you give us a little hint?"

	<p>
	Nope.

<p>
   <li>@@@936121166 <em>Gideon can take the moral high ground now.  But how
	long will he keep being polite when there are billions of lives at
	stake?</em><br>
	Exactly.

	<p>
	As Eilerson said, "Wouldn't you sacrifice a hundred Narns to
	save Earth?"  It was a question Gideon didn't answer.

<p>
   <li>@@@936121166 "JMS has hinted elsewhere that the cure might be found
	before the end of the series. He's also said the show we think we're
	watching will turn out not to be the show we're actually watching.  Put
	these two together, and I wonder greatly if, had the next few years
	played out, he might have gradually uncovered some other, greater theme
	or conflict that would overshadow the plague, and take over the plot
	for the last year or so."

	<p>
	If not sooner....

</ul>