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452 lines
18 KiB
452 lines
18 KiB
<!-- TITLE A Call to Arms -->
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<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
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<blockquote><cite>
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The Drakh launch a devastating attack against Earth.
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Leads into the sequel series,
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<a href="113.html">"Crusade."</a>
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</cite>
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<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Todd,+Tony">Tony Todd</a> as Captain Anderson.
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</blockquote>
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<pre>
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Production number: TNT MoW4
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Original air date: January 3, 1999
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002B15UQ/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 17, 2004
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Written by J. Michael Straczynski
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Directed by Mike Vejar
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345431553/thelurkersguidet">Novelization</a> by Robert Sheckley
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</pre>
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<p>
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<hr size=3>
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<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@915442325 The telepath war took place sometime between 2262 and 2267.
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<li>@@@915442325 The Drakh obtained a Shadow planet-killer when their
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masters left. It was the only one, and it has been destroyed.
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<li>@@@915442325 As a result of the joint human-Minbari effort to build
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a new class of large warships
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(<a href="105.html">"Movements of Fire and Shadow"</a>)
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two prototypes were built, the Excalibur and the Victory. Both
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feature powerful weaponry, including a main gun that almost
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completely discharges the ship's power reserves in one burst.
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The Victory was destroyed defending Earth and the Drakh wiped out
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the Alliance's shipyard, leaving the Excalibur the only ship of its
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class for some time to come.
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<li>@@@915442325 Earth has been infected with an extremely advanced
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plague built with Shadow technology. It was released into Earth's
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atmosphere before the Drakh could adjust it to attack Earth's
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biologies. Alliance scientists, though they lack the technical
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ability to counteract the plague, have examined it and believe that
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it will take the disease about five years to fully adjust to human
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physiology. Some people will fall victim earlier, but once the
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disease has adapted itself, nobody will be left alive on Earth.
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<li>@@@915442325 As a result of the plague, Earth has been quarantined.
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<li>@@@915442325 The Rangers have been given a new top priority: seeking
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out all the worlds where ancient races have walked, in the hopes of
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uncovering technologies that might help cure the plague. The
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Excalibur will act as a research vessel and will follow up on any
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leads the Rangers uncover.
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@915442325 Where are the technomages?
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<li>@@@915442325 Is Dureena the last of her kind, or were others able
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to escape before the Shadows destroyed her world?
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<li>@@@915442325 For what purpose did the Shadows build the plague? Was
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it simply intended as a means of genocide, or does it do something
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else as well?
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<li>@@@915442325 Why did Galen go to Babylon 5?
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<li>@@@916161855 Were any of the B5 crew (Ivanova and Franklin, for
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instance) on Earth during the attack?
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<p>
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<li>@@@915442325 One element of technomage society is a group known as
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the Circle. It's unclear whether there's just one, but individual
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technomages appear to be accountable to the Circle.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915442325 How long has the Thieves' Guild operated on Babylon 5?
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Garibaldi clearly learned about it at some point. Was he aware of
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it while he was head of security on the station? Has he told Zack
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about it?
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<p>
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<li>@@@915442325 The jump points formed by various Alliance and Drakh
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ships looked different than earlier in the series. Was there an
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advance in hyperspace technology in the five years since the founding
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of the Alliance?
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<p>
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At least one advance in hyperspace technology (Earth's, anyway) was
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in evidence: Sheridan ordered the Excalibur to move off the hyperspace
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beacon to slip around the Drakh fleet. Perhaps improved hyperspace
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navigation is a benefit of the Minbari or Vorlon components of the
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Excalibur's design; Earth-built ships were previously unable
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to navigate in hyperspace without using the beacons
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(<a href="027.html">"A Distant Star"</a>).
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Whether the rest of Earth's fleet has been upgraded with improved
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navigation systems remains to be seen.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915443113 What was the null-space effect that took the Excalibur
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from Daltron 7 to the Drakh fleet? Do the Drakh have the ability to
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set up an instantaneous link between two points in space? If so,
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that's a capability that's beyond anything the Shadows were seen to
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have; Shadow ships traveled in hyperspace regularly.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915442325 The Shadow plague may be nanotechnological rather than
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biological in nature. The fact that it's known to be actively
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adapting to Earth's biology implies that it possesses at least
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rudimentary analytical powers; if it were simply mutating at
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random there would be no way to give any kind of estimate of
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how long it'd take to affect humans.
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<p>
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Does each individual germ or nanodevice act autonomously or are they
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in communication with each other? Perhaps the plague as a whole is
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a sentient being of sorts, its component parts exchanging information
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as neurons do but on a much larger scale.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915442325 Sheridan appeared to believe that on some world, there
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would be a ready-made cure for the plague; he didn't state the
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Excalibur's mission in terms of seeking out new technologies that
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might allow a cure to be developed by the Alliance. His assumption
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only holds true if the Shadows used their plague in the distant
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past; in that case some of the older races might have found a way
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to combat it. If, on the other hand, the plague was a more recent
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development or it was never deployed, the First Ones might not
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have had an opportunity to develop a cure specifically aimed at it.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915602941 Since he seemed to have some knowledge of the whereabouts
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of the First Ones
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(<a href="049.html">"Voices of Authority"</a>)
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Draal and the Great Machine might be a logical place to begin the
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search for a cure to the plague. Exactly how much information he
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has is unclear; he might have only known about those First Ones
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who were still around when he took up stewardship of the Great Machine.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915471360 As a key member of the Alliance, Earth is no doubt host
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to thousands of alien visitors of various races. Will they be wiped
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out by the plague as well? Will it adapt to their respective biologies
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at the same rate as humans', or will it leave them alone in favor of
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eliminating the dominant lifeforms on the planet?
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<p>
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<li>@@@915701816 Sheridan is probably not terribly popular on Earth. He
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mentioned people are still wary of him from "the last time
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[he] led a fleet to Earth Space." He is also actively
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supporting Mars, which may not be very popular on Earth.
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<p>
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And now, many will probably blame him for the plague the
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Drakh unleashed on Earth, as it was revenge for the Shadow
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War, a war in which Earth took little to no part. It is
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likely that many people will die in the plague, even if
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a cure is eventually found (Sheridan said some would
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die of it sooner than others).
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<p>
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This may help explain the attitude of the academics 100 years
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in the future
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(<a href="088.html">"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"</a>),
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who seemed annoyed at the mythology surrounding Sheridan.
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<p>
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<li>@@@916162342 How will the quarantine be maintained? There are
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undoubtedly some number of people on Earth who'll want to leave
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despite the quarantine -- maybe they don't believe the plague really
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exists, for example. How will they be prevented from piloting a
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ship off the planet?
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<p>
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An Alliance blockade is a likely possibility; it'd be too risky to
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allow Earth to patrol its own skies since the people on patrol might
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very well be the ones who decide to leave.
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<p>
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If there are in fact alien ships orbiting Earth shooting down anyone
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who tries to leave, that probably serves to make Sheridan even less
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popular, even among those who believe the plague really exists. No
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doubt some on Earth will use the situation to stir up the same
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anti-alien sentiment President Clark was able to tap into. If so,
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after a cure is found and the quarantine ends, Earth might not be a
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very supportive member of the Alliance. Resentment from the time of
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the plague may well be the seeds of Earth's later break from the
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Alliance
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(<a href="088.html">"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"</a>).
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li>@@@915700823 Technomages were introduced in the season-two episode
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<a href="025.html">"The Geometry of Shadows."</a>
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<li>@@@915827189 The flu hasn't been cured in 2267.
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<li>@@@915442325 This movie acts as a bridge between the original B5
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series and the sequel,
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<a href="113.html">"Crusade."</a>
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Originally, TNT planned to premiere the movie on January 3, 1999
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and begin airing "Crusade" the same week, but "Crusade" ended up
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being delayed.
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<li>@@@915471020 Drazi sex organs are located under their left arms,
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and include an orifice that can be used to stash small items.
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<p>
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<li>@@@889490546 Just got clarification and verification:
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Thirdspace does indeed air July 19th, and another B5 TV movie airs
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November 23rd, and one more on January 3rd.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 <em>Why wasn't the movie promoted heavily?</em><br>
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I am in total darkness when it comes to understanding TNT's
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philosophy of promotion. They did little for this, I guess because it
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was the last of B5 in someone's view, promoted the hell out of the
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Houdini flick, which cost about 3 times more than we did...and we ended
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up getting exactly the same ratings. With a little real promotion, we
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could've done even better.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 It did 2.8, which was a higher number than they were expecting
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(they'd sold the ads at 2.7, which means they made money off it), and
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equal to the Houdini movie.
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<p>
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<li>@@@894388070 A Call to Arms isn't a Crusade pilot, it's a B5 movie that
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somewhat sets the stage for the new show, but is not a part of it.
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<p>
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<li>@@@911070058 <em>How would you characterize the movie?</em><br>
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It's very different than all the rest; I thought that River would be the
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better story of the last two, but Call is a better *movie*, oddly
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enough. It rips straight through with the action of ItB, but very
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self-contained.
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<p>
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<li>@@@894134577 <em>Why no Mira Furlan in this movie?</em><br>
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Basically, I'm just trying to move around the characters because we
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have a huge cast, and we can't afford to have every one of them in
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every movie. Mira had big parts in two of the movies, so we gave
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some other folks a chance (like Josh Cox, who had not been in any of
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them, and Tracy). We even did one without Bruce (River) so we could
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again spread things around a bit in an attempt to be fair to
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the largest number of cast members.
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<p>
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<li>@@@912704656 <em>When does Crusade take place?</em><br>
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Five years after the events of Season 5.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 <em>About the score by Evan Chen</em><br>
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I suppose we could've stayed with the safe choice, with Chris,
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or done a nice, safe, droning Voyager style score that you don't even
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notice, but we're looking to take chances, and that means some people
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will like what you do, some won't. Some won't like it because it's
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different. Neil Gaiman told me that a number of fans of any form,
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including his own, say they want something new and challenging that
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takes chances...but if they don't like the form of that chance, they
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blame you for somehow doing it wrong...and they want the next new thing
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to be just like the last thing you did.
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<p>
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I can't tell you the number of people who said "why can't you
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just do the John Williams style music instead of this?" Because it's
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been done, and it's cliche, and by god we're going to push what's
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"expected" to try some new things. Otherwise what the hell's the
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point?
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<p>
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"Of course, you've been through this before. I seem to recall a lot
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of people complaining when Christopher Franke replaced the composer for
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the pilot. I don't doubt that a lot of the people screaming loudest
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now are the very ones who complained about Franke when he started."
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<p>
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I don't know about the latter, but I can sure confirm the
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former. And that's why I sometimes wish the viewer responses were
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logged as much as my own have been. When we brought in Chris to
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replace Stewart Copeland, you can't *believe* how much email I got from
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people saying to trash him, fire him, it's that "euro-trash techno-
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crap" most called it. "He uses sounds and banging instead of music,"
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people complained (which he did mainly in the first two seasons), "it's
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distracting and it's not appropriate, get rid of him."
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<p>
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But we didn't. I told people to give him time to settle into
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the show, and on the other hand to let them get used to a different
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kind of sound than what they expected. ("I guess you couldn't afford
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to hire a real composer like TNG uses," was another popular line.)
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<p>
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Evan ain't Chris, nor should he be, nor should he *have* to be.
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He is a brilliantly talented composer. This is his first shot at a
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dramatic series, and as he settles in (as Chris settled in), I think
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people are going to be as loyal to what he's doing in Crusade as they
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were to Chris in B5. He's a classically trained composer, who threw it
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all away to come study jazz under some of the best jazz men in
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Chicago...washing dishes to support himself when he had been at the top
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of his field in China...because he loves music, and loves to
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experiment.
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<p>
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In the course of Crusade, we're going to see some places we've
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never seen before...and thanks to Evan, we're going to hear some things
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we've never heard before. He's a find, and a genuine, fresh talent,
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and I stand behind him 100%.
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<p>
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And the people who say they are fans of Chris Franke's should
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think twice before doing to him what so many people did so rudely to
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Chris when he first came aboard.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 It kind of goes to show you how thin the layer of trust
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goes...you'd think by now, after doing 5 years of B5, people would
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think to cut a little slack and give a chance, assume that there's an
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intent here, rather than saying suddenly I'm an idiot for not putting
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in the kind of music they expected.
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<p>
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What's most interesting, and in some ways most galling, is the
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number of posts I've seen in the last day or so from people who watched
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CTA again, and said, "On second viewing, the music didn't bother me as
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much, and I kind of like it in places." Maybe they should've been a
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little less quick on the trigger and the condemnation.
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<p>
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As for some of the comments I've seen, basically saying he
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should be killed (literally, someone suggested putting a gun to his
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head and pulling the trigger) to some *very* xenophobic comments about
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his being asian and that's the problem, with *that kind* of
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music...they do not even merit a reply.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 Actually, Chris Franke is sufficiently impressed with
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Chen -- who has never scored a TV show before, this is his first shot
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and he shows much potential, we're very happy -- that he's going to
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release Chen's score to ACtA and later episodes via his own label.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 "Is Franke gone then with the end of B5 and is Chen
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the Man behind Crusade's music? Or is Call an interim step music?"
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<p>
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Yes and no. If there are any other B5 TV movies, or features,
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we'll almost certainly use Chris. For Crusade, it's Evan.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 "Submitted for your consideration: sometimes the
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music and sound effects became confused - was that a weapons
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discharge/hit, or a techno-percussion note? Were the repeated
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clashing/crunching sounds at the end of the battle mood conveying
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music, or the sound of the Drahk hatches opening to spew out the
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bio-weapon? I also thought that the music was occasionally mixed too
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loudly."
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<p>
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The first part of that is a common problem in an action show;
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most of the really interesting music happens at the bottom, using the
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lower frequencies. But the lower frequencies are also where you'll
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usually find explosions, clashing, crunching, banging and the like...so
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sometimes the two get muddy. You clear out one or the other as much as
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you can, but sometimes it overlaps and you get fuzziness in the track.
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<p>
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As for mixing it loudly...yeah, I've generally done that on B5.
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I like my music loud.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 I like the music. I like the edginess of it. I wouldn't do
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that particular style on a regular basis, because I think it would wear
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thin after a while, but for this movie it was right. He's doing more
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thematic stuff for the series, but keeping the approach of using a
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variety of styles, including Chinese scales and stuff, which makes the
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episodes sound nifty and exotic.
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<p>
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So yeah, I like it...but I also like the kind of edgy, growly
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stuff Ry Cooder did for LAST MAN STANDING, so go figure.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 I spot the music on everything, from movies to the
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episodes. That means sitting with the composer and saying "music in at
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1:07:13 (one minute, seven seconds, 13 frames), out at 2:23:18." When
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we did the pilot, I wasn't sure how much music it did or didn't need,
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never having done this before, so I went drier than I should have.
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<p>
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In the case of CtA, I knew we were going to have some wall-to-
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wall music later, so I held back a bit earlier on, otherwise you do way
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too much to fit in, and you over-burden the composer. River was also
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spare at the top.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915610802 <em>What's "ramming speed?"</em><br>
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Ramming Speed.
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<p>
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If you are approaching a target at speed X, you still have a
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chance to peel away at the last moment. If you are approaching a
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target at the top speed your engines can provide, such that you cannot
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turn away or be deflected, that's speed Y. Speed Y is ramming speed.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 "Seems an odd order. Why not maximum speed or full
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speed ahead? Does EF rules provide for ramming of other starships?"
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<p>
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Because it also implies "...and we're going to HIT that ship."
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Ramming speed says both. You could say, "Give me maximum speed, set a
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course to RAM the ship," or you could say "Ramming speed." Same exact
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content, shorter terms. Brevity is our friend. Pedantry is not.
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<p>
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<li>@@@915700588 <em>Will the disease be totally implausible to
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people who know about biology?</em><br>
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We have covered all three of the virus concerns in the way we
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built this particular virus, thanks to help from the Jet Propulsion
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Laboratory, which consulted with us on its design. Trust me, it's
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solid, and totally thought-through.
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<p>
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<li>@@@921525450 <em>The novelization says Galen was an apprentice
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to Elric. Is that official or just the author's invention?</em><br>
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Yes, that's canonical.
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</ul>
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