While exploring the ruins of a long-dead planet, the crew discovers the
remains of a terrible weapon.
Production number: 102
Original air date: August 11, 1999
DVD release date: December 7, 2004
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Tony Dow
- @@@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
nanotechnology
that infected the minds of its victims, causing them to murder each
other.
The apocalypse box guided Gideon to the planet, claiming there was
something of value there.
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.
- @@@936001244 What other guiding principles have the technomages ignored?
- @@@936001244 What were the devices implanted in Galen's back?
- @@@936001244 What does Galen's staff do, exactly? How is it linked to
him?
- @@@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
"The Well of Forever."
That episode was produced after this one and was probably originally
supposed to take place later in the series' timeline.
- @@@936001244 The Pope's name in 2267 is Bernadette II. The first
reference to a female Pope was made by Garibaldi in
"Racing Mars."
- @@@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.
- @@@936001244 Continuity glitch: the nanovirus shield invented in this
episode was used in an earlier story,
"Patterns of the Soul."
That episode was produced after this one, so the shield was probably
considered a piece of established background information at that point.
- @@@936001244 A similar continuity glitch occurred in
"The Well of Forever."
In that episode, Gideon referred to Galen's comment that the Excalibur
crew is like his family now.
- @@@936120549 Was Gideon's PPG double-barrelled?
It's a targeting sight.
- @@@936120662 The nanovirus shield seems like a silly plot
device.
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.
- @@@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."
That's because we knew what the show was from the git-go.
Second one we shot, and we were already fully up to speed.