lurkers-guide/guide/510

<!-- TITLE The Memory of War -->

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

<blockquote><cite>
While exploring the ruins of a long-dead planet, the crew discovers the
remains of a terrible weapon.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 102
Original air date: August 11, 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 Tony Dow
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

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

<p>
   <li>@@@936001244 About a hundred years ago, one of two warring parties on a
	planet hired a technomage to build a weapon.  He designed a virus using
	<a href="http://nano.xerox.com/nano/">nanotechnology</a>
	that infected the minds of its victims, causing them to murder each
	other.

	<p>
	The apocalypse box guided Gideon to the planet, claiming there was
	something of value there.

	<p>
	Galen and Dr. Chambers have adapted a quantity of the nanovirus
	to form a shield to line the insides of the lungs; the shield allows
	someone to enter an area infected with the Drakh plague for up to
	about 48 hours without becoming infected themselves.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@936001244 What other guiding principles have the technomages ignored?

   <li>@@@936001244 What were the devices implanted in Galen's back?

   <li>@@@936001244 What does Galen's staff do, exactly?  How is it linked to
	him?

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@936001244 Why did the apocalypse box recommend that Gideon not trust
	Galen?  Is it lying to him?  This may be a continuity glitch, a
	reference to
	<a href="503.html">"The Well of Forever."</a>
	That episode was produced after this one and was probably originally
	supposed to take place later in the series' timeline.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@936001244 The Pope's name in 2267 is Bernadette II.  The first
	reference to a female Pope was made by Garibaldi in
	<a href="076.html">"Racing Mars."</a>

   <li>@@@936001244 Galen's staff is linked to him; he says it's like a part
	of him, and refers to it as a control mechanism.

   <li>@@@936001244 Continuity glitch: the nanovirus shield invented in this
	episode was used in an earlier story,
	<a href="505.html">"Patterns of the Soul."</a>
	That episode was produced after this one, so the shield was probably
	considered a piece of established background information at that point.

   <li>@@@936001244 A similar continuity glitch occurred in
	<a href="503.html">"The Well of Forever."</a>
	In that episode, Gideon referred to Galen's comment that the Excalibur
	crew is like his family now.

</ul>

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

   <li>@@@936120549 <em>Was Gideon's PPG double-barrelled?</em><br>
	It's a targeting sight.

<p>
   <li>@@@936120662 <em>The nanovirus shield seems like a silly plot
	device.</em><br>
	Funny...the microbiology experts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who
	vetted the script thought it would be a) a useful thing indeed, and b)
	extremely useful as a template in attempting to understand how the
	Drakh virus works.

<p>
   <li>@@@936121215 "'The Memory of War' by JMS brings a level of intensity
	to Crusade that is surprising for what would have originally been the
	second episode."

	<p>
	That's because we knew what the show was from the git-go.

	<p>
	Second one we shot, and we were already fully up to speed.

</ul>