JMS Clones and B5 Love Lives
Simn...@aol.com
I always thought it amusing that the B5 commanders, Jeffrey Sinclair and John
Sheridan, both share their initials with Joe Straczynski. Toss in Michael
Garibaldi, whose first name is JMS's middle name, and it's clear that JMS put
a lot of himself into the show.
What I just realized is that the ONLY male characters who end the series with
a happy marriage are those characters who are apparently named after JMS
himself. Think about it. Sheridan is married to Delenn, Garibaldi remarries
Lise, and Sinclair apparently hooks up again with Catherine Sakai when back
in the past as Valen. The other male characters have the following fates:
Londo: Has several infamous bad marriages. His one true love is killed by
Morden and her death blamed on Refa.
G'Kar: Has fetish for Earth Women, who almost certainly can't breed with him
without serious biogenetic intervention.
Zack Allan: Can't even get a date with Lyta when she's starving and
desperate, and he brings pizza.
Dr. Franklin: Has several love affairs, but they all either leave him or die
of lingering illnesses.
Marcus Cole: Dies a Virgin, widely considered a great tragedy among female
fans.
Vir Cotto: Has an arranged marriage to a psychotic mass murderer, but does
eventually get some nice concubine poontang when he's crowned emperor.
Lennier: Has unrequited passion for Delenn, goes into self-imposed exile.
Warren Keffer: Dies apparently unattached.
And unless they marry one of the JMS clones, the women of B5 don't do too
well, either.
Ivanova: Has several bad relationships, and the two that might have worked
(Talia, Marcus) both die on her.
Lyta: Falls madly for Byron, who shortly ends up a crispy critter. Last seen
wandering the galaxy with G'Kar.
Na'Toth: No known boyfriends before her 3-year incarceration on Centauri
Prime.
But even getting involved with a JMS clone has a high failure rate:
Captain Lochley: Even though she married Sheridan, it ended in divorce.
Anna Sheridan: Another ex-Sheridan Wifey, she retired to the Little House at
Ground Zero.
Dodger: One night of passion with Garibaldi before Franklin's Dad uses her as
Laser Fodder.
Carolyn Sykes: Broke up with Sinclair sometime between the Pilot and the
first episode.
Oh, and need I mention that JMS's own Spousal Overunit is named Kathryn,
while Sinclair's fiancee is named Catherine Sakai (yet another last name
beginning with "S")?
Actually, I'm probably reading too much into this. On the other hand, this
is exactly the kind of nitpicking that careers are made of in University
English Departments.
Martin "The Mess" Hohner <*> Simn...@aol.com
"Men rise from one ambition to another; first they seek
to secure themselves from attack, and then they attack
others." -- Niccolo Machiavelli, _Discorsi_, 1531
Pelzo63
>Oh, and need I mention that JMS's own Spousal >Overunit is named Kathryn,
>while Sinclair's fiancee is named Catherine Sakai (yet >another last name
>beginning with "S")?
you have forgotten something.
her last name is drennan, similar enough to delenn? <g>
i think i hear someone at my door. i'll be right back...
-Chris
Chris Lawrence
>But even getting involved with a JMS clone has a high failure rate:
>
>Captain Lochley: Even though she married Sheridan, it ended in divorce.
And then there's Gideon (if you want to go to Crusade).
Other Crusade people:
- Eilerson: Divorced, loves his cat.
- Galen: Lover is technotoast.
- Dureena: Who's she going to date? The last living Markab? ;-)
(Yes, I know she's not a Markab...)
- Matheson: Mr. Jones? ;-)
- Chambers: (perhaps w/Franklin eventually?)
Chris
--
=============================================================================
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=============================================================================
Jms at B5
Thorazine, and lots of it.
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)
John R. Campbell
>One suggestion:
>
>Thorazine, and lots of it.
>
> jms
Y'know, I've tended to think that (along with Industrial
Strength Valium) there is a demand for St. Joseph's Thorazine
for Children.
(This has been a running gag; I heard the Industrial Strength
Valium line 20 years ago; Someone theorized that it was being
sprayed into the computer center's A/C so we wouldn't get real
excited when a system crashed. Unfortunately, I have to take
the blame for positing the existence of Children's Thorazine.
I have some nieces and nephews that could use it and there are
times I'd've like to slip a dose to one of _my_ kids... But
only so I (and my finer half) could take a nap...)
--
John R. Campbell Speaker to Machines so...@jtan.com
As a SysAdmin, yes, I CAN read your e-mail, but I DON'T get that bored!
"Son, it is impossible for you to learn about impotence the hard way" - me
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are those of John Campbell alone and
do not reflect the opinions of his employer(s) or lackeys
thereof. Anyone who says differently is itching for a fight!
Michael J. Hennebry
>Londo: Has several infamous bad marriages. His one true love is killed by
They're probably not infamous. Londo more than hinted that such
marriages are the norm among Centauri, at least among the upper crust.
>Morden and her death blamed on Refa.
>G'Kar: Has fetish for Earth Women, who almost certainly can't breed with him
>without serious biogenetic intervention.
Fer sure. Probably at least a quintaluminary.
>Zack Allan: Can't even get a date with Lyta when she's starving and
>desperate, and he brings pizza.
My recollection is that he did get a date with Lyta, when she was starving
and desperate and he brought pizza. So far as I could tell, that was his
only date in five years.
>Dr. Franklin: Has several love affairs, but they all either leave him or die
>of lingering illnesses.
>Marcus Cole: Dies a Virgin, widely considered a great tragedy among female
>fans.
>Vir Cotto: Has an arranged marriage to a psychotic mass murderer, but does
She wasn't psychotic. She just believed what she was told about Narns.
Fortunately he just had a marriage arrangment. The actual marriage
didn't happen.
>eventually get some nice concubine poontang when he's crowned emperor.
???
How do we know he's not married?
How do we know he's not married to someone who actually likes him?
This one thinks that Vir would not be happy with a sex partner whom
he thought did not like him.
The probalem of finding one is not necessarily insoluble, even
for Centauri emperors.
>Lennier: Has unrequited passion for Delenn, goes into self-imposed exile.
>Warren Keffer: Dies apparently unattached.
>
>And unless they marry one of the JMS clones, the women of B5 don't do too
>well, either.
>
>Ivanova: Has several bad relationships, and the two that might have worked
>(Talia, Marcus) both die on her.
>Lyta: Falls madly for Byron, who shortly ends up a crispy critter. Last seen
>wandering the galaxy with G'Kar.
>Na'Toth: No known boyfriends before her 3-year incarceration on Centauri
>Prime.
>
>But even getting involved with a JMS clone has a high failure rate:
>
>Captain Lochley: Even though she married Sheridan, it ended in divorce.
>Anna Sheridan: Another ex-Sheridan Wifey, she retired to the Little House at
>Ground Zero.
>Dodger: One night of passion with Garibaldi before Franklin's Dad uses her as
>Laser Fodder.
Not even that. Garibaldi didn't honor her offer.
>Carolyn Sykes: Broke up with Sinclair sometime between the Pilot and the
>first episode.
>
>Oh, and need I mention that JMS's own Spousal Overunit is named Kathryn,
>while Sinclair's fiancee is named Catherine Sakai (yet another last name
>beginning with "S")?
To find out why Straczynski starts with an "S", read "Spell My Name With
an 'S'" by Isaac Asimov
>Actually, I'm probably reading too much into this. On the other hand, this
>is exactly the kind of nitpicking that careers are made of in University
>English Departments.
--
Mike henn...@plains.NoDak.edu
Iluvatar is the better part of Valar.
Michael J. Hennebry
Chris Lawrence <qua...@watervalley.net> wrote:
>- Dureena: Who's she going to date? The last living Markab? ;-)
> (Yes, I know she's not a Markab...)
Of course if she were a Markab, that would mean that she was dating
herself.
Cloning technology is available in the 23rd century. Maybe a really
good doctor could edit an X chromosome to produce a Y.
Tom Holt
> In article <46.727621...@aol.com>, <Simn...@aol.com> wrote:
> >Warren Keffer: Dies apparently unattached.
getting so a guy can't enjoy a letter from home any more")
Andrew Swallow
Hennebry) writes:
>
>In article <QcU55.7041$NP5.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>,
>Chris Lawrence <qua...@watervalley.net> wrote:
>>- Dureena: Who's she going to date? The last living Markab? ;-)
>> (Yes, I know she's not a Markab...)
>
>Of course if she were a Markab, that would mean that she was dating
>herself.
>Cloning technology is available in the 23rd century. Maybe a really
>good doctor could edit an X chromosome to produce a Y.
>
>--
JMS has arranged a nice collection of Dureena's species on
Theta 49, providing she can cure the virus. See 'Patterns of the Soul'.
Andrew Swallow
Andrew Swallow
Hennebry) writes:
>
>>Zack Allan: Can't even get a date with Lyta when she's starving and
>>desperate, and he brings pizza.
>
>My recollection is that he did get a date with Lyta, when she was starving
>and desperate and he brought pizza. So far as I could tell, that was his
>only date in five years.
>
When I first watched this I throught that this was Cinderella and
Buttons. Buttons loves Cinderella but Cinderella thinks of
Buttons as a brother. After reading 'The Nautilus Coil' I suspect
that this is Lyta and G'Kar from 'The Pilot'. The Homo Gilled
female regards the Homo Sapien as a different species.
Does anyone agree with me?
Andrew Swallow
Michael J. Hennebry
Andrew Swallow <andrewm...@cs.com> wrote:
>In article <8jq9eo$8...@plains.nodak.edu>, henn...@plains.nodak.edu (Michael J.
>Hennebry) writes:
>
>>
>>>Zack Allan: Can't even get a date with Lyta when she's starving and
>>>desperate, and he brings pizza.
>>
>>My recollection is that he did get a date with Lyta, when she was starving
>>and desperate and he brought pizza. So far as I could tell, that was his
>>only date in five years.
>>
>
>When I first watched this I throught that this was Cinderella and
>Buttons. Buttons loves Cinderella but Cinderella thinks of
>Buttons as a brother. After reading 'The Nautilus Coil' I suspect
Is Cinderella and Buttons an ancient story that just happened
to escape my notice?
It definitely escaped my notice.
>that this is Lyta and G'Kar from 'The Pilot'. The Homo Gilled
>female regards the Homo Sapien as a different species.
>
>Does anyone agree with me?
This one has not read 'The Nautilus Coil'
Michael J. Hennebry
Andrew Swallow <andrewm...@cs.com> wrote:
>JMS has arranged a nice collection of Dureena's species on
>Theta 49, providing she can cure the virus. See 'Patterns of the Soul'.
Providing she can cure the virus faster than the humans can.
Being even more susceptible than humans, she has even less than
five years.
Some earth folks owe the Theta 9 folks big time.
'Twould have been nice if someone had at least offered to put
them on ice while the problem was being worked on.
Given two infected individuals (one of each gender of the same species)
and uninfected help of another species, is it possible to produce in
more or less the old fashioned way, another individual who is not infected?
Given an infected individual and uninfected help of another species,
is it possible to make a clone that does not have the infection.
Andrew Swallow
Hennebry) writes:
>
>Some earth folks owe the Theta 9 folks big time.
>'Twould have been nice if someone had at least offered to put
>them on ice while the problem was being worked on.
>
Earth does not know that there are aliens on Theta 9. Gideon
covered their existance up. So the Earth Alliance can not
offer to supply them with cryo chambers. Hiding things can have
big, nasty consequences.
This also means that Excalibur has 1 year to cure the
virus, or at least slow it down.
Alternatively we are looking at the Markab mark 2. If this
happends Dureena Nafeel will be very angry with
humans.
Andrew Swallow
Andrew Swallow
Mark Maher
<8jvobe$6...@plains.nodak.edu>...
>Providing she can cure the virus faster than the humans can.
>Being even more susceptible than humans, she has even less than
>five years.
>
>'Twould have been nice if someone had at least offered to put
>them on ice while the problem was being worked on.
>
species)
>and uninfected help of another species, is it possible to
produce in
>more or less the old fashioned way, another individual who is
not infected?
>
>Given an infected individual and uninfected help of another
species,
>is it possible to make a clone that does not have the
infection.
>
Given what we are shown of how the virus operates, that it's
directed, I doubt that it would allow the conception of an
uninfected child. If I were building a designer pathogen to kill
off all air-breathing mammals, the reproductive system would be
the first one I'd design the things to destroy. That way, even
if they do somehow manage to kill off the virus, they still die
at the end of the current generation. Talk about your ulitmate
weapon of spite. Hopefully the Drakh didn't know enough to
activate that part of it's programming.
As the latest batch of antibiotic-resistant diseases bears
witness to, even bacteria can breed their way out of extinction
given enough time. But anything is possible.
__!_!__
Gizmo
Andrew Swallow
Hennebry) writes:
>>
>>>>Zack Allan: Can't even get a date with Lyta when she's starving and
>>>>desperate, and he brings pizza.
>>>
>>>My recollection is that he did get a date with Lyta, when she was starving
>>>and desperate and he brought pizza. So far as I could tell, that was his
>>>only date in five years.
>>>
>>
>>When I first watched this I throught that this was Cinderella and
>>Buttons. Buttons loves Cinderella but Cinderella thinks of
>>Buttons as a brother. After reading 'The Nautilus Coil' I suspect
>
>Is Cinderella and Buttons an ancient story that just happened
>to escape my notice?
>
>It definitely escaped my notice.
Cinderella is the heroine of a fairy tale, treated as a drudge
by her stepmother and stepsisters; rescued by her fairy
godmother and sent to the court ball in a dress that would
change back into rags at midnight. Disney make a famous
cartoon about it.
When performed on the stage, particularly as a pantomime,
there is a minor character called Buttons. Buttons main job
is to entertain the small children - he throws the custard pies.
>
>>that this is Lyta and G'Kar from 'The Pilot'. The Homo Gilled
>>female regards the Homo Sapien as a different species.
>>
>>Does anyone agree with me?
>
>This one has not read 'The Nautilus Coil'
>
You do not need to have read 'The Nautilus Coil', just
think through the consequences of Byron's telepath
planet. After a few generations the teeps will be unable
to breed with mundanes and be genuine aliens.
Andrew Swallow
Michael J. Hennebry
Actually the telepath planet seems close to unavoidable.
Under interstellar alliance (they really should have given it a name)
rules all that's necessary is for a population of human telepaths
to land on a habitable, but otherwise uninhabited planet, e.g. the
former Markab homeworld, and hold an election.
Whether the telepath planet eventually becomes populated with
a separate species would depend on whether they kept isolated.
Some of their best friends are humans. There might be enough
interbreeding to maintain a single homo species.
Gharlane of Eddore
In <QcU55.7041$NP5.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>,
Chris Lawrence <qua...@watervalley.net> wrote:
>
> - Dureena: Who's she going to date? The last living Markab? ;-)
> (Yes, I know she's not a Markab...)
>
My vote would be J'ha'Dur.
In <8jq9ku$f...@plains.nodak.edu>
henn...@plains.nodak.edu (Michael J. Hennebry) writes:
>
> Of course if she were a Markab, that would mean that she was dating
> herself.
> Cloning technology is available in the 23rd century. Maybe a really
> good doctor could edit an X chromosome to produce a Y.
>
You're making presumptions again; .. how do you know Dureena's
folks have the same kind of chromosomal structure as humans?
Positing that, how do you know the females don't carry both
types of chromosomes? ( Think of Terran turkeys; the *female*
carries heterozygous XY, the male is homozygous YY. )
Remember, "This is not your father's 'TREK' universe."
Dave Platt
Gharlane of Eddore <ghar...@ccshp1.ccs.csus.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Of course if she were a Markab, that would mean that she was dating
>> herself.
>> Cloning technology is available in the 23rd century. Maybe a really
>> good doctor could edit an X chromosome to produce a Y.
>>
>
>
>You're making presumptions again; .. how do you know Dureena's
>folks have the same kind of chromosomal structure as humans?
>
> Positing that, how do you know the females don't carry both
>types of chromosomes? ( Think of Terran turkeys; the *female*
>carries heterozygous XY, the male is homozygous YY. )
To make matters a bit worse... if Dureena's species has a genetic
structure anywhere near close to that of Earth species, the chances
that a "self mating" of this sort would have a good outcome are
depressingly poor.
The reason: deleterious recessive mutations. Most humans are walking
around with a fair number of non-functional gene alleles on their
chromosomes - there are a lot of genes which are essential to proper
development and health, and which can work adequately even if only
one of the two copies of the gene is functional (damage to one copy is
not lethal). During a mating, if both partners carry one damaged
allele, there's roughly one chance in four that the new embryo ends up
with two damaged copies of the gene - a high percentage of such
embryos are not viable, and a lot of the rest end up with physical
impairment, mental retardation, and so forth.
The more closely related two partners are, the higher the odds of this
happening, due to the increasing similarity in their genes... the
chance of the child inheriting two disfunctional copies of an
essential gene goes up. The odds are worst in parent/child matings,
with brother/sister and first-cousin pairings being quite substantial.
A 'self mating' via X/Y chromosome surgery would be even worse. There
would be one chance in four of _any_ given half-damaged gene pair
being inherited in the wrong way (two nonfunctioning copies). If an
individual has only 10 gene pairs with one gene being functional (out
of however many millions of genes the species possesses) then the
chances of a child having _no_ double-bad gene pairs is less than 6%.
Them ain't good odds, folks.
If Dureena turns out to be the only surviving member of her species,
and if her genome is human-like, it'd probably take _massive_ amounts
of genetic work for her to have even a single viable offspring, and
far more than that to have offspring with enough genetic variation to
allow her species to survive in good health.
I seem to recall reading that for mammals on Earth, it generally
requires a population of several thousand not-closely-related
individuals to provide sufficient genetic variation. If the species
ever "bottlenecks" (population shrinks greatly and then expands
again), the species members tend to have relatively little genetic
variation. They'll all be equally vulnerable to any given toxin or
disease, and thus the whole species can be wiped out quite rapidly if
a new disease is introduced into the population.
All in all, the chances that Dureena will be able to settle down in an
extended-family environment populated by her grandkids don't look too
good, unless the Drakh plague can be cured, or unless her species has
a great deal more redundency in its genome than we do (Viterbi
decoding and Reed-Solomon cross-interleaving at the nucleotide level?
Hmmm...)
--
Dave Platt dpl...@radagast.org
Visit the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior/
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
Gharlane of Eddore
In <smcl06...@corp.supernews.com>
dpl...@radagast.org (Dave Platt) writes:
>
> To make matters a bit worse... if Dureena's species has a genetic
> structure anywhere near close to that of Earth species, the chances
> that a "self mating" of this sort would have a good outcome are
> depressingly poor.
>
A truly advanced race would have edited its own DNA equivalent,
possibly inserting better self-repair mechanisms than would have
evolved naturally. Given appropriate environmental incentive
( high background count of ionizing radiation, anyone? ) and
no population pressure to place a species premium on aging,
it's quite possible that such mechanisms could come about
naturally, too; given a better mechanism for recombinant
procreation ( syzygystic transfer of genetic material and
retrofit upgrades on existing individuals rather than restricted
to parental-choice selected offspring , for example --- two
individuals meet, mate, exchange best genetic characteristics
with each other, and bud off two offspring with their newly
updated genetic complement... )
>
>The reason: deleterious recessive mutations. Most humans are walking
>around with a fair number of non-functional gene alleles on their
>chromosomes - there are a lot of genes which are essential to proper
>development and health, and which can work adequately even if only
>one of the two copies of the gene is functional (damage to one copy is
>not lethal). During a mating, if both partners carry one damaged
>allele, there's roughly one chance in four that the new embryo ends up
>with two damaged copies of the gene - a high percentage of such
>embryos are not viable, and a lot of the rest end up with physical
>impairment, mental retardation, and so forth.
>
The fact that humans carry about THREE BILLION base pairs, of which
only about THREE PERCENT appear to be doing anything, could also provide
an access pathway; given that most of those SINE/ALI/etc sequences
might not be necessary, a cleanup job might have salutary effect on
longevity and propagation of virally-editable mutations....
>
>The more closely related two partners are, the higher the odds of this
>happening, due to the increasing similarity in their genes... the
>chance of the child inheriting two disfunctional copies of an
>essential gene goes up. The odds are worst in parent/child matings,
>with brother/sister and first-cousin pairings being quite substantial.
>
Definitely works this way with *our* genetic code; and there's basis
for asserting equivalent development in any sexually reproduced species.
However, while sexually reproducing species had a HECK of an
evolutionary advantage, with their ability to propagate beneficial
characteristics in geologic eyeblinks, there's no reason to presume
it's the only such mechanism that could have developed.
How about a Campbellian Pseudomorph, that can eat newly encountered
life forms and copy their cellular structure? ( See "WHO GOES THERE?" )
--- and then split into as many individuals as are appropriate for
the current living environment?
>
>A 'self mating' via X/Y chromosome surgery would be even worse. There
>would be one chance in four of _any_ given half-damaged gene pair
>being inherited in the wrong way (two nonfunctioning copies). If an
>individual has only 10 gene pairs with one gene being functional (out
>of however many millions of genes the species possesses) then the
>chances of a child having _no_ double-bad gene pairs is less than 6%.
>Them ain't good odds, folks.
>
What if they get around this by fertilizing multiple eggs and retaining
only the ones that appear to be developing normally? Think of how
many egg-follicles are actually released in humans, when the FSH
triggers development of follicles into eggs.... most of them never
make it to maturity, due to gamete defects. A high-efficiency
miscarriage/tissue rejection mechanism could develop without a great
deal of evolutionary pressure/selection, given the need....
>
>If Dureena turns out to be the only surviving member of her species,
>and if her genome is human-like, it'd probably take _massive_ amounts
>of genetic work for her to have even a single viable offspring, and
>far more than that to have offspring with enough genetic variation to
>allow her species to survive in good health.
>
Since we pretty much accept the possibility of cloning ( positing
tools like telomere -- or telomere-equivalent! --- repair ) it's
obvious that SOME reproduction of functional Dureena Derivatives
could be accomplished. Since some of those are going to develop
different characteristics, due to ionizing radiation and random
chemical effects during cellular division while growing... once
you've got enough Billions of Dureena on a planet somewhere,
you can pick out the ones with more strongly variant phenotypes,
and possibly construct a sufficiently wide gene pool to engage
in some purposeful characteristic differentiation....
Besides, the universe *needs* a plethora of Dureena anyway.
There is no such thing as too much Dureena.
>
>I seem to recall reading that for mammals on Earth, it generally
>requires a population of several thousand not-closely-related
>individuals to provide sufficient genetic variation. If the species
>ever "bottlenecks" (population shrinks greatly and then expands
>again), the species members tend to have relatively little genetic
>variation. They'll all be equally vulnerable to any given toxin or
>disease, and thus the whole species can be wiped out quite rapidly if
>a new disease is introduced into the population.
>
For a while, it looked like all cheetahs were relatively genetically
identical; I recall reading that some slight variations had finally
been found, but don't know the details.
>All in all, the chances that Dureena will be able to settle down in an
>extended-family environment populated by her grandkids don't look too
>good, unless the Drakh plague can be cured, or unless her species has
>a great deal more redundency in its genome than we do (Viterbi
>decoding and Reed-Solomon cross-interleaving at the nucleotide level?
>Hmmm...)
>
Good points, but until we can be sure what all that apparently
inactive crud in our own genes is ( it can't *all* be accidentally
picked up virally embedded introns... it must have *some* value,
or we wouldn't be carrying around such a huge load of inactive
code... ) I think it's a bit iffy to presume there's no possibility
of high-grade mechanic work on genetic material.
We're *close*, though; with any luck, I'll be able to last long
enough to be able to buy a viral DNA editor in pill form that
will infect me with DNA-patching nanobots........ over the counter....
Michael J. Hennebry
In article <8k5hdk$c...@news.csus.edu>,
Gharlane of Eddore <ghar...@ccshp1.ccs.csus.edu> wrote:
>In <8jq9ku$f...@plains.nodak.edu>
>henn...@plains.nodak.edu (Michael J. Hennebry) writes:
>>
>> Of course if she were a Markab, that would mean that she was dating
>> herself.
>> Cloning technology is available in the 23rd century. Maybe a really
>> good doctor could edit an X chromosome to produce a Y.
>>
>
>
>You're making presumptions again; .. how do you know Dureena's
>folks have the same kind of chromosomal structure as humans?
>
> Positing that, how do you know the females don't carry both
>types of chromosomes? ( Think of Terran turkeys; the *female*
>carries heterozygous XY, the male is homozygous YY. )
Supposing Dureena's species does survive, I can hear the insults
the next generation of kids get from their human playmates.
Producing a YY from an XY should be even easier.
Michael J. Hennebry
Dave Platt <dpl...@radagast.org> wrote:
>To make matters a bit worse... if Dureena's species has a genetic
>structure anywhere near close to that of Earth species, the chances
>that a "self mating" of this sort would have a good outcome are
>depressingly poor.
>
>around with a fair number of non-functional gene alleles on their
>chromosomes - there are a lot of genes which are essential to proper
>development and health, and which can work adequately even if only
>one of the two copies of the gene is functional (damage to one copy is
>not lethal). During a mating, if both partners carry one damaged
>allele, there's roughly one chance in four that the new embryo ends up
>with two damaged copies of the gene - a high percentage of such
>embryos are not viable, and a lot of the rest end up with physical
>impairment, mental retardation, and so forth.
>
>happening, due to the increasing similarity in their genes... the
>chance of the child inheriting two disfunctional copies of an
>essential gene goes up. The odds are worst in parent/child matings,
>with brother/sister and first-cousin pairings being quite substantial.
>
>would be one chance in four of _any_ given half-damaged gene pair
>being inherited in the wrong way (two nonfunctioning copies). If an
>individual has only 10 gene pairs with one gene being functional (out
>of however many millions of genes the species possesses) then the
>chances of a child having _no_ double-bad gene pairs is less than 6%.
>Them ain't good odds, folks.
>
>and if her genome is human-like, it'd probably take _massive_ amounts
>of genetic work for her to have even a single viable offspring, and
>far more than that to have offspring with enough genetic variation to
>allow her species to survive in good health.
I think that you might be over-estimating the problem, at
least for the next generation.
In some US states, first-cousin marriages are legal and
ordinary.
So far as I know, brother-sister marriages aren't legal
anywhere, but matings sometimes produce children.
If Dureena's species is not already quadraploidic, it might
be possible to make her children quadraploidic.
Even so, _massive_ amounts of genetic work might be the way to go.
It would seem to be availible. Dr. Franklin was already working
on ways to save one dying species from extinction.
Getting the data in time for Dureena to use it might be a little
grim. A series of pregnancies followed by autopsies could be a
bit depressing.
Even if the problem is solved for the next generation, there
is still the limited gene pool problem. There would seem to be
three ways to go: Mating with the dead. If Dureena's fiancee
really likes her, they could ask Draal for another triluminary.
Dureena could ask Draal to open up another time field so
that she could fetch some genetic material from the past.
Maybe four. Draal's information gathering mechanism might be able
to gather enough data to allow copying genes of folks who aren't
around anymore.
For a few generations at least, cloning would probably be a good idea
to ensure that they didn't lose any genetic material.