Could this have been the cure for the plague...?

[Droshalla]

I have read that the cure for the Drkh plague would have been found, but turn out to be "Worse that the disease".

I just watched "Deathwalker" again for the first time in ages, and was thinking about Jha'Dur's serum. Turns out, JMS said that it wouldn't just disappear but:
"you'd be surprised what'll be showing up again down the road a piece..."
(reffering to this).

Seen as it never did show up again, could it have been the cure? It would fit in with being worse than the disease because you needed something from living beings to make it. As Jha'Dur said, the people of Earth would be turning on each other and murdering in the millions to get it.

Well, thats a possiblilty that I've never seen metioned. What do you think the likelihood is...?


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"If it isn't then it's not;
and if it is, well then there you are."

 

[LightNZ]

Maybe

But the needing something from living beings comes up with the shadows if you read the technomage trilogy (book 3 has that part in it)

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"Will you follow me into fire? Into storm, into darkness, into death?!

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I have read that the cure for the Drakh plague would have been found, but turn out to be "Worse that the disease".<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's a paraphrase. What JMS actually said was that the cure found in S2 would turn out not to be quite what everyone thought it was, as Excalibur's crew would discover. No one would listen to them, which would lead to their turning renegade. He never said the cure would literally be "worse than the disease", nor did he indicate what the flaw or problem with the cure would be.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>As Jha'Dur said, the people of Earth would be turning on each other and murdering in the millions to get it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I understood Jha'Dur's comment to mean that the races represented at B5 would turn on one another, as each used members of the others as raw material to make its own people immortal - not that individuals on Earth would turn on one another.

The JMS quote you cite is ambiguous. Here's the full version:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>"It also adds another piece of miracle tech never to be seen again."

Wrong.

In point of fact, virtually *none* of the new tech stuff is just gone... you'd be surprised what'll be showing up again down the road a piece...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

While this appeared in a "Deathwalker" thread, we don't know what, specifically, the original writer meant by "miracle tech". It could have been Jha'dur's serum, or some other aspect of the episode, or something from another episode entirely.

JMS's response is a general one. (He probably also had the alien healing device in mind, since it was another item the people assumed would just be dropped, as well as the EarthForce Bio-Weapons division, introduced in "Infection".) I'm not sure he is particularly referring to Jha'dur's serum.

Also, since this was a "continuity" thread, he may have meant nothing more than that the Deathwalker incident would be referred to again. Another first season "concern" among fans was Sinclair's constant skirting of the rules, and how he never suffered any adverse consequences for his actions. This was dealt with in "Eyes", when Sinclair nearly lost his command. The Deathwalker incident was one of the issues in the hearing, and that alone may have been what JMS meant.

As for Jha'dur's serum having something to do with the cure (either the initial one or the final resolution) - it is possible but not likely. Jha'dur, after all, was dead, and I believe she had all her samples with her when her ship was destroyed. The only information left in EarthGov's possession would be Franklin's very preliminary analytical data - which probably isn't nearly enough to replicate Jha'dur's formula.

If there is a relationship between the serum and the cure, it may lie in the origin of the serum, the Drakh plague and the eventual cure. All three may have been based initially on Shadow technology. (Jha'dur's protectors, the Wind Swords, may very well have had indirect contacts with the Shadows, as did many others. This would explain how they knew of a poison that could affect a Vorlon, how Jha'dur made such a - dangerous and amoral - leap in medical technology, and how the anti-teep virus was developed.)

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[Droshalla]

I think people are misinterpretting me. I don't mean to say that this is what the cure would have been, I was just watching "Deathwalker" today and thought it tied in quite nicely. I then read the JMS quote and though I would post it here as something to think about.

Like you, I'm pretty sure JMS wouldn't have used an obscure plot device from s1 of B5 as the cure for the Drakh plague. I just thought it was an interesting parralel to think about.

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"If it isn't then it's not;
and if it is, well then there you are."

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I have sometimes imagined this:

The Shadow virus dumped by the Drakh may be more than a weapon. If it explores all forms of life, it can no longer be a virus in the modern sense. It is probably a powerful and diverse strain of nanomachines.

In fact, it might be a tool. A tool which maps the resources and ecosystem, creatures and peculiarities. It might store the information in itself, each individual adapting in some special way, storing some specialized data. With countless trillions of individuals, it could extract and store huge amounts of knowledge.

And then it would wait... wait for its masters to come. They would access the data and make sense of it. They would set a goal, tell what they want. Not hearing them, it would probably simply cause chaos, slowly destabilizing the ecosystem.

After receiving a command, delivered as signals or a new strain of nanomachines... it would do what its creators wanted. It seems that the Drakh managed to condition it only partially. Their intent was to destroy Earth. When they failed, they used a weapon they were not ready to command. In fact, they might not know how to tell the plague what they want.

The apparent cure might be a poorly chosen command. Someone might succeed in emulating a command from the Shadows. Such as:

"Change this species to do that."
"We also want full profiles of these."
"And start growing battlecrab hulls."
"And also, remove the oceans."

The final cure would probably destroy the plague. It would probably tell it that the job is done, instructing it to decompose itself. Ever ready to listen to the advise of Shadows, the nanomachines would pass on the message to others and finally destroy themselves.

[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited February 23, 2002).]

 

[A_M_Swallow]

In "The Memory of War" we see a planet that has been destroyed by a Techno-mage Virus.

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
The virus has a controller. The planet is decontaminated by destroying the virus's controller and the virus is turned into a method of protecting the Excalibur's crew. The Techno-mage Virus killed by making the people fight.
</font></td></tr></table>

There were probably a few foreshadowing in that episode.

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Andrew Swallow

[This message has been edited by A_M_Swallow (edited February 23, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by A_M_Swallow (edited February 23, 2002).]

 

[wipster]

Lennier,

I think you're on to something there. What you said makes a lot of sense. Gotta think about this for a while...

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Wipster

"Live Long in Prosser"

 

[Mike G]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr> In fact, they might not know how to tell the plague what they want. <hr></blockquote>
Maybe the Drak don't even fully understand what the plague is suposed to do.

 

[TheInfection]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Lennier:
<font color=yellow>I have sometimes imagined this:<P>The Shadow virus dumped by the Drakh may be more than a weapon. If it explores all forms of life, it can no longer be a virus in the modern sense. It is probably a powerful and diverse strain of nanomachines.<P></font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

The plague was revealed to be nanomachines. I believe it occured in in the episode 105, "Each Night I Dream of Home".

Regards,
TheInfection