Screw the plague! (possible sp
strac...@genie.geis.com
see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly. When I wrote
the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which
really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF. (And I'm sorry, but
don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
jms
Kurt Reisler
<strac...@genie.geis.com> wrote:
SNIP
> (And I'm sorry, but
>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
> jms
ST:V was "on" in the background (it was a bad Monday for TV) when I
heard the line "take this cheese to sick bay". I was reaching for the
remote when one of my larger teddy bears dove for the TV and hit the off
button.
<--- SPF1 for the discussion sensitive
I think that those who are focused on the mechanics of the Draffa plague
are missing the boat. This was a story about PEOPLE and their REACTIONS
to a SITUATION that was very nearly OUT OF CONTROL.
Look at the reactions of Franklin and his medical staff; the reaction of
Garibaldi and security; the Minbari (Delenn and Lannier); Ivonova and
Sheridan; the rest of the population (human and alien). Listen to the
news cast at the end of the program. In other words, pay attention -- there
will be a written test at the end of the season.
Human nature can be quite ugly, and it can be quite beautiful.
--
Kurt Reisler (UNIX SIG Chair, DECUS US Chapter)
Captain, UNISIG International Luge Team
Only a guest at k...@umbc.edu
<*> The sound you were making is part of human meditation? <*>
Rex A. Simmons
|> Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and
|> see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly. When I wrote
|> the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
|> hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
|> known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
|> anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
|> dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which
|> don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
|> threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
|>
|> jms
My favorite line of the week:
"Take that cheese to sickbay!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! :)
Nearly as good as some of the lines from the infamous "lungs" episode.
:)
Rex
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rex A. Simmons | "I've had it up to HERE with you people
| Intergraph Corporation | ...oh, I thought you were a circus
| Huntsville, AL | midget." - "Fire Dogs," Ren & Stimpy
| Standard disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not for my employer,
| nor for any other person on the face of the
| planet blah blah woof woof
----------------------------------------------------------------------
James HG Redekop
>In article <199505240449...@relay1.geis.com>,
>
> SNIP
>> (And I'm sorry, but
>>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
>>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>>
>> jms
>
>heard the line "take this cheese to sick bay". I was reaching for the
>remote when one of my larger teddy bears dove for the TV and hit the off
>button.
Was this the one I caught the end of, where they had to rev up the warp
engines for a plasma burst to cure the crew?
I loved it when they got the engines up to "360 Kelvins!"... A little bit
more, and they could have boiled water for Capt. Picard's Earl Grey Tea.
--
James H.G. Redekop Free confidential counselling for
tz...@publix.empath.on.ca SURVIVORS OF DECONSTRUCTION
tz...@csd.uwo.ca Call 1-800-MEANING
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~tzoq/ Ap(point)ments may be continually postponed.
Jay Denebeim
>see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly.
Joe,
That's a good question. This has happened many many times before,
why is it that in hollywood it seems fairly common that lots of people
hit upon the same idea at the same time? Judging by how close I
believe people play this stuff to their chest, I really find it hard
to believe they're all me too things.
Whenever there's a real popular story, it seems that a dozen people
have thought of telling the same sort of story at the same time. This
glut of plague stories, corresponding with a real plague outbreak
(Ebola) at about the same time is very strange. It happens all the
time though.
Any theories about this?
Jay
--
Sig under construction
Jay Denebeim
j...@deepthot.cary.nc.us dene...@deepthot.cary.nc.us
dene...@deepthot.cybernetics.net duke!wolves!deepthot!denebeim
Christopher Johnson
mention that lousy show in the same breath as B5.
Mike Van Pelt
>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
> jms
This plot development was completely predictable, and probably
inevitable, considering how incredibly cheesy Voyager's plots
have been lately.
(OW! Where did those bat-wielding Narns come from? OW! OW! OW!)
--
Mike Van Pelt m...@netcom.com KE6BVH
The electronic networks, of course, have always been the terrorist's
most reliable ally, for they have never failed to bend over backwards
to give him what he craves: extravagant publicity. -- Petr Beckmann
Christopher Novosad
Jay Denebeim <dene...@deepthot.cary.nc.us> wrote:
>have thought of telling the same sort of story at the same time. This
>glut of plague stories, corresponding with a real plague outbreak
>(Ebola) at about the same time is very strange. It happens all the
>time though.
>
>Any theories about this?
It's the universe trying to figure itself out. Today's universal topic:
disease.
-Voltayre
Rob Landry
>...the ship is
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.
"Get the cheese to sick bay!"
"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor not a pizza chef!"
.
Jason Snell
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
Well, I mean... they _were_ trying to be funny.
Weren't they?
-jason
--
Jason Snell | Editor, InterText -- inte...@etext.org
jsn...@etext.org | Assistant Editor, MacUser -- jsn...@macuser.ziff.com
King of the Monkeys | http://www.etext.org/Zines/InterText/jason.html
Geoff Weasel
> Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and
> the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
> hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
> known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
> anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
> dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which
> don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
OK, maybe I did go off a LITTLE bit half cocked about the plague-in-B5 thing,
but it really is something that's been bugging me, what with the glut (and yes,
there IS a glut of them) going on...I realize it's not my place to say how you
should write B5.
And as far as the VOYAGER thing, well, hey, we were all trashed when we watched
it, so it was a good excuse to let off some of the sillies :)
--- Geoff We@sel
JUMPGATE -- The Central Indiana BABYLON 5 Information Service
http://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/gweasel/jumpgate.html
Elayne Wechsler-Chaput
: Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and
: see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly. When I wrote
: the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
: hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
: known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
: anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
: dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which
: really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF.
That was really my assumption when reading the synopsis of this episode,
that it dealt more with our reactions to people who have various sorts of
plagues than the diseases themselves (eg., an AIDS allegory). I thought
that was pretty clear (not having seen the episode in question yet, but
the angle seemed pretty clear to me from reading the synopsis alone).
: (And I'm sorry, but
: don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
: threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
Oh, I don't take that much on VOYAGER all that seriously. I thought it
showed a very good sense of humor on the part of the writers (who,
frankly, had trouble escaping the ol' paper bag on that Full Omicron
Particle Jacket plotline), and I chuckled mightly at all the cheese
jokes. That's the first time the show has made me laugh this much in
quite awhile...
- Elayne
--
"I am de Head of de Fireheads. I am de Head Firehead. I am de #~~
Firehead Head..." (E-Mail me for more information about the )#(
official Firesign Theatre newsletter, Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal!) ( # )
^^^
Ken Majewski
> don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> threatened by a cheese contamination?
Yes, but some of us have known this from day 1. ;-)
--
Ken Majewski maje...@lfs.loral.com
My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will,
never, never surrender to what is right
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, in a speech
to the Christian Coalition
Thomas Farrell
: don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
: threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
You're still bothering to watch Voyager?
--
______
\ / Anything worth doing gets
\ / Patricia Ireland arrested.
\/ -Lynn Lavner
Gholston J James
> In article <199505240449...@relay1.geis.com>, <strac...@genie.geis.com> wrote:
> >(And I'm sorry, but
> >threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
> This plot development was completely predictable, and probably
> inevitable, considering how incredibly cheesy Voyager's plots
> have been lately.
> (OW! Where did those bat-wielding Narns come from? OW! OW! OW!)
EVERYWHERE
Vorlon Terse Verbage Squad
Mr. Blaise Byron Faint
Thank you once again for creating B5...
Karen J. Cravens
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
I don't watch ST:V and so missed the actual episode, but this comment
synergistically combined with prior threads complaining about various
newTreks recycling ST:TOS eps, and produced a mental image of little
cheese-tribbles... I almost fell off *my* chair.
Silver
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's not just a mistake, it's an adventure!"
finger pho...@tyrell.net for information on online roleplaying
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil V. Stracchino
] don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
] threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
Hey, what do you expect? It's a cheesy show. =)
(Sorry, couldn't resist it.)
--
Phil Stracchino | "Don't Tread On Me!" | The Babylon Project is
The Renaissance Man | Ask me about the Santa | now online. You are
ala...@babcom.com | Clara Liberty Brigade. | cleared for docking at
PGP key available | Join the Brigade!! | http://www.babcom.com
Pirate (Anthony Taylor)
>
> Whenever there's a real popular story, it seems that a dozen people
>glut of plague stories, corresponding with a real plague outbreak
>(Ebola) at about the same time is very strange. It happens all the
>time though.
>
>Any theories about this?
Yes. Gharlane taps into JMS' brain with an Eddorian device that has the
unfortunate side-effect of re-broadcasting near the area of the tap, a kind of
psionic slop effect (also known as pse, pronounced "se" where the 'e' is a schwa).
These less-worthy producers make very bad copies of JMS' ideas.
Gharlane's been doing this for years. That's why we had the mass of bad undersea
horror stories when "The Abyss" came out-- he's also tapping Cameron's mind. Some
say Gharlane is actually *controlling* them, feeding them ideas, but I doubt it.
- Tony
Darin Johnson
> : don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> : threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
Why not? What is it about some B5 fans that presupposes that the TV
must only be on 1 hour a week (not a bad idea actually), or that
watching another show is wrong, *especially* a Star Trek one? Maybe
Voyager isn't that great, but most things out there are even worse :-)
--
Darin Johnson
djoh...@ucsd.edu
"You used to be big."
"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."
Eric Tolle
>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
Heh. I for one found the entire Voyager story truly sill, as well as
disconnected. But then, evidently, the worse the writing, and the more
inaccurate the science, the more popular the episode.
What struck me about C & L was that a plague struck a race, and there was
nothing that could be done. They _all_ died. Gone. Extinct. Now an
unhappy ending like that ST really doesen't have the guts to take on
any more.
Eric Tolle unde...@mcl.ucsb.edu
"This is all looking suspiciously like a 'heartwarming story. How
disgusting." Me, watching Voyager
Karen J. Cravens
djoh...@tartarus.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) wrote:
>Why not? What is it about some B5 fans that presupposes that the TV
>must only be on 1 hour a week (not a bad idea actually), or that
Hour and a half, if the Tick isn't in reruns.
Silver
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A censor is a man who thinks he knows more than you ought to.
Mel Wilson
KL>In article <199505240449...@relay1.geis.com>,
KL> <strac...@genie.geis.com> wrote:
KL>> [ ... ] cheese contamination?
KL>ST:V was "on" in the background (it was a bad Monday for TV) when I
KL>heard the line "take this cheese to sick bay".
I want a FULL SCAN of writing credits. Keep a PARTICULAR watch for
people from Firesign Theatre.
KL>I think that those who are focused on the mechanics of the Draffa plague
KL>are missing the boat. This was a story about PEOPLE and their REACTIONS
KL>to a SITUATION that was very nearly OUT OF CONTROL.
Very true. My misgivings about the details of the outbreak (and there
have to be details.. it would be a lousily told story if there were no
details) are just a sideshow.
Regards. Mel.
---
* SLMR 2.1a * "Yes, it IS a catchy little number."
Dave Mansell
dene...@deepthot.cary.nc.us (Jay Denebeim)
> >see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly.
>
>
> That's a good question. This has happened many many times before,
> why is it that in hollywood it seems fairly common that lots of people
> hit upon the same idea at the same time? Judging by how close I
> believe people play this stuff to their chest, I really find it hard
> to believe they're all me too things.
>
> have thought of telling the same sort of story at the same time. This
> glut of plague stories, corresponding with a real plague outbreak
> (Ebola) at about the same time is very strange. It happens all the
> time though.
>
> Any theories about this?
>
It's obvious really, the odds of this happening are exactly
a million to one.
hint: read some Terry Pratchett ;-)
--------------------------------------------
Dave Mansell
Citadel Software Limited
Cornwall, England
--------------------------------------------
I don't do cameos... my initials do cameos
(J Michael Straczynski at Babcom'95)
--------------------------------------------
Michael A. Chary
(strac...@genie.geis.com) writes:
> really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF. (And I'm sorry, but
> don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
ASctually, I thought the Voyager episode (which was rather silly on general
principles, I mean, isn't the doctor part of the circuits?) Also made a
fairly important point whther it meant to or not. Space exploration
can be dangerous. You never *know* what's out there.
--
When there's no one there, it's Norg.
"The BBC's trailer department keeps calling the O J Simpson case "the trial
of the century." Sure, OJ's a big name, but I still think the title belongs,
narrowly, to Nuremberg." - Jack Hughes, "The Independent on Sunday."
R Sutton
>> Whenever there's a real popular story, it seems that a dozen people
>> have thought of telling the same sort of story at the same time. This
>> glut of plague stories, corresponding with a real plague outbreak
>> (Ebola) at about the same time is very strange. It happens all the
>> time though.
>>
>> Any theories about this?
>>
>> Jay
>It's obvious really, the odds of this happening are exactly
>a million to one.
>hint: read some Terry Pratchett ;-)
"Million to one chances crop up nine times out of ten"?
Rebecca Sutton
be...@malcop.u-net.com (used to be be...@stylo.demon.co.uk)
Brian McCullough
wrote
>the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
>hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
>known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
>anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
>dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this,
which
>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
R
e
p
l
y
F
o
l
l
o
w
s
Chris Morton
> really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF. (And I'm sorry, but
> don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
And it wasn't even a GOOD cheese!
Perhaps next season B-5 could be threatened by a yeast infection....
--
****************************************************************************
* It takes a pair of hands to build a bomb. *
* It takes a government to build a concentration camp. *
****************************************************************************
Chris Morton
> Voyager isn't that great, but most things out there are even worse :-)
I wouldn't go THAT far. I've seen wittier porn films.
Nice theme music though....
Chris Morton
> What struck me about C & L was that a plague struck a race, and there was
> nothing that could be done. They _all_ died. Gone. Extinct. Now an
> unhappy ending like that ST really doesen't have the guts to take on
> any more.
Actually they SORT of did once in ST-NG.
There was an old guy living on this planet with his wife, and the planet was
threatened by some alien race.
[From memory] the alien race turned out to be an illusion. What really happened
was that the old guy was really an omnipotent alien being himself who'd fallen
in love with a human and gone to that planet to be with her. The REAL aliens
attacked, killing her.
This made the alien angry, VERY angry.
[Ryker, or other suitable character] - "So then what happened after the [call
them Bosnian Serbs] killed your wife?"
Alien - "I killed the Bosnian Serbs."
[Ryker] - "Well, that's certainly understandable, they'd just killed your wife."
Alien - "No, I killed ALL of the Bosnian Serbs, EVERY single one, EVERYWHERE."
[Ryker] - "Oh...."
Actually not a bad episode, considering the namby-pambyism which tends to be
pervasive in the TNG universe.
Candide
: In article <3pv7he$o...@umbc7.umbc.edu>, Kurt Reisler <k...@umbc.edu> wrote:
: >In article <199505240449...@relay1.geis.com>,
: > <strac...@genie.geis.com> wrote:
: > SNIP
: >> (And I'm sorry, but
: >>don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
: >>threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
: >> jms
: Was this the one I caught the end of, where they had to rev up the warp
: engines for a plasma burst to cure the crew?
: I loved it when they got the engines up to "360 Kelvins!"... A little bit
: more, and they could have boiled water for Capt. Picard's Earl Grey Tea.
Even better is when they're "scanning for magnetons." Being a grad
student in physics, I happen to know what a magneton is. It's a unit
describing the magnetic field strength of subatomic particles, e.g. an
electron has a field of one magneton. In other words, a magneton is a
measurement unit, like inches, cenitmeters, ounces, minutes, etc. So,
"scanning space for magnetons" is like scanning space for pounds.
Someone at Paramount needs to retake high school physics.......
--
-Candide [wei...@ucsuc.colorado.edu] http://ucsub.Colorado.EDU/~weissjp/Home.html
"Tread carefully through the mountains, lest they fall from
beneath your feet..."
The_Doge of St. Louis
V. Stracchino) wrote:
> In article <199505240449...@relay1.geis.com>,
> <strac...@genie.geis.com> wrote:
> ] (And I'm sorry, but
> ] don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is
> ] threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)
>
>
> Hey, what do you expect? It's a cheesy show. =)
Once again, the Firesign Theatre is seen to be prophetic; they came up
with a cheap Japanese monster movie entitled "Gorgonzola, the Cheese
Monster" YEARS before "Voyager" was even contemplated!
"Take that cheese to sick bay" is a priceless Trek quote, all things
considered.
--
*******************************************************************************
* The_Doge of St. Louis |"One Step Beyond"-Sundays 3 pm, 88.1 FM*
* >> http://www.crl.com/~thedoge/index.html << *
*******************************************************************************
Elayne Wechsler-Chaput
: In article <3q40qt$1...@news1.best.com>, ala...@babylon5.babcom.com (Phil
: V. Stracchino) wrote:
: > Hey, what do you expect? It's a cheesy show. =)
: Once again, the Firesign Theatre is seen to be prophetic; they came up
: with a cheap Japanese monster movie entitled "Gorgonzola, the Cheese
: Monster" YEARS before "Voyager" was even contemplated!
Not to be confused with "Worms out of a hot cheese log..."
And then of course there's... The Plague... (right before Side Six, I
believe).
: "Take that cheese to sick bay" is a priceless Trek quote, all things
: considered.
I keep getting this follow-up line to the tune of a country song...
"Take that cheese to Sick Bay
I ain't working' here no more..."
I have to get out more.
C. Baden
: Any theories about this?
Random events occur in groups.
--
ha...@netcom.com - Home of Margarita Jell-O, an alcoholic use for lime
jello. Email me w/ "request margarita" as subject or message for recipe.
* L.A.con III * World Science Fiction Convention * lacon...@netcom.com
* Aug29-Sep02 '96, Anaheim CA * Ftp = ftp.netcom.com:/pub/la/lacon3-info/
**> L.A.Con III web page = http://sundry.hsc.usc.edu/lacon3/
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* Join for $90 * L.A.con III, c/o SCIFI P.O. Box 8442, Van Nuys CA 91409
* Rate goes up to $110 as of July 1, 1995; even more at the door. Join early!
Ned Brickley
>Even better is when they're "scanning for magnetons." Being a grad
>student in physics, I happen to know what a magneton is. It's a unit
>describing the magnetic field strength of subatomic particles, e.g. an
>electron has a field of one magneton. In other words, a magneton is a
>measurement unit, like inches, cenitmeters, ounces, minutes, etc. So,
>"scanning space for magnetons" is like scanning space for pounds.
>Someone at Paramount needs to retake high school physics.......
>--
Don't forget Star Wars. When Han Solo brags about making the Kessel run in less
then 12 parsecs, everbody jumped on that. The wiggled theor way out of that in
one of the books. Do to there being some black holes in the area, you had to
take a long round-a-bout route to get to Kessel. Han found a way to chop down
the actual distance to less then 12 parsecs. Nice dodge huh?
*********************************************************************
Ned Brickley, trav...@empire.net http://www.empire.net/~traveler
Empire.Net, Inc Nashua, New Hampshire 03060 Tel. (603)889-1220
finger trav...@empire.net for my PGP public key.
*********************************************************************
Byran Lee
MBB> @FROM Screw the plague! (possible sp
MBB> Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.91.950525...@isisa.oit.unc.edu
MBB> Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 Organization: The University
MBB> of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MBB> Voyager isn't quite living up to expectations, is it? :)
MBB> Thank you once again for creating B5...
MBB> On 24 May 1995 strac...@genie.geis.com wrote:
> (And I'm sorry, but don't even *try* to bring the Voyager
> story into this; the ship is threatened by a cheese
> contamination? I almost fell off my chair.) jms
> >
Spock's Brain is looking better and better as time passes....
... Sex is dirty only if you're doing it right!
~~~ [ LHL v2.32, Copie d'Ｗaluation (30 jours) - Produit quＣＤois... ]
colin sebastian roald
|James HG Redekop (tz...@csd.uwo.ca) wrote:
|: I loved it when they got the engines up to "360 Kelvins!"... A little bit
|: more, and they could have boiled water for Capt. Picard's Earl Grey Tea.
|Even better is when they're "scanning for magnetons." Being a grad
My personal favourite was when they ran into a cloud of "dark matter"
that was radiating strongly in the electromagnetic.
("Well, you know, the thing about dark matter--the really key thing--is
that it's, you know, *dark*." --Holly, more-or-less.)
--
colin | after all, we don't want the locals seeing grannies clipped to
roald | trashbins by their teeth, now do we? (mr gone, _the maxx_)
Matt Dillon
:In article <3q2dal$g...@panix.com>,
:Elayne Wechsler-Chaput <fire...@panix.com> wrote:
:>strac...@genie.geis.com wrote:
:>: Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and
:>: see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly. When I wrote
:>: the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager
:>: hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do...if I'd
:>: known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so
:>: anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its'
:>: dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which
:>: really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF.
:>
:>That was really my assumption when reading the synopsis of this episode,
:>that it dealt more with our reactions to people who have various sorts of
:...
:>
:>Oh, I don't take that much on VOYAGER all that seriously. I thought it
:>showed a very good sense of humor on the part of the writers (who,
:>frankly, had trouble escaping the ol' paper bag on that Full Omicron
:...
I was hopeful of Voyager after the episode showing the destruction
a badly redesigned replicator could cause... showed how taking
technology for granted can sometimes bite you back.
Those hopes were dashed after the episode with the cheese. Considering
the incredible amount of bacteria and other micro-organisms that would
have to exist (a lot of it symbiotic with humans and necessary), it
would take an idiot to believe that the 'bio-neural' circuitry would
be designed to be exposed enough to contract something.
Now, if a couple of those jellibags had been damaged at some point and
exposed... *that* would have been believable. But, no.... they need
to do something that endangers the whole friggin ship every single
episode!
What I would like is to see the ship break down and then manage to
flag down a passing superior race (like maybe 100 years ahead of
the federation re: technology), then bargin for replacement parts
and maybe an upgrade for the doctor as a pretext for giving him
abilities which he already appears to have despite the fact that nobody
has really fiddled with his original program all that much.
--
I thought the B5 plague episode was good except for two things:
(1) Mira's (Delan) acting wasn't so good this episode except for one
short segment near the end where they are walking back towards
Sheridan through the piles of dead bodies (when she isn't talking).
But then she blows it again. Sigh. Bill Mumy's acting was,
of course, excellent! And that saved it... I just concentrated
on him rather then her.
(2) Even an airborn virus would not likely wipe out an entire
population, even with the incubation period. And I do not
think the most important fact: at which points in its cycle
is the disease contagious was mentioned at all. That
little newsclip at the end would have been more effective
if the casualties had not been 100% on the planet.
On the otherhand, species-jumping viruses can be incredibly
lethal to the species they jump to. If that fact were
brought out with more force, it would have legitimized
the episode a bit more.
-Matt
--
Matthew Dillon VP Engineering, BEST Internet Communications, Inc.
<dil...@best.com>, <dil...@apollo.west.oic.com>
[always include a portion of the original email in any response!]