PREDICTIVE PROGRAMMING
(Hollywood Foreshadowing)

Predictive Programming is the concept whereby conspirators plan a false flag operation, they hide references to it in the popular media before the atrocity takes place; when the event occurs, the public has softened up, and therefore passively accepts it rather than offering resistance or opposition.

Season 1 DVD Cover

DRAKH PLAGUE
(BABYLON 5/CRUSADE)

The Drakh plague is the name given to a bio-genetic nano-virus actually developed by the Shadows and inherited by their Drakh servants when they and the other First Ones left the galaxy in 2261, following the Battle of Coriana VI.

The nano-virus works by intelligently adapting itself to the species that it has infected. After that it is simply a matter of time before it finds the right trigger to kill the entire species outright.

Around the time of the First Shadow War, the Shadows attacked another unnamed planet when they refused to allow a base to be built on their world. The Shadows released a strain of the same plague that later infected Earth. The people of this planet studied the plague virus for three years before deciding to put their entire race into suspended animation. One person was brought out of suspended animation to take care of the machines and continue the tests on the aliens. 500 people had died in that service by 2267.

In December 2266, at the onset of the Drakh War, Earth was infected with the plague by the Drakh in an act of spite after their attempt to destroy the planet with a Death Cloud was thwarted. The Drakh had originally intended to use the plague on Minbar after deploying the Death Cloud against Earth.

The crew of the Excalibur discovered a nano-virus created by a techno-mage on an unnamed planet. Dr. Sarah Chambers was able to reverse engineer this nano-virus and create a way to temporarily block the similarly designed Drakh plague from infecting a person for up to 48 hours. This technique to temporarily block infection by the Drakh plague is later used on Theta 49 and is briefly mentioned at the Plague Eradication Management Strategies Mars Conference on Mars.

Earth was placed under a quarantine for several years before a cure was finally discovered and by 2271, the plague had been completely eradicated. Following the plague, Earth Alliance officials continued some of the quarantine policies that had been enacted, fearing another such biological disaster would be visited upon Earth if they did not carefully scrutinize individuals visiting Earth.

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Crusade (1999) Intro

CRUSADE (1999)
[TNT]

Crusade was a spin-off of Babylon 5, released in 1999. The TV movie A Call to Arms serves as a lead-in, linking from the original series. J. Michael Straczynski noted in the DVD Commentary to A Call to Arms that Crusade was intended to have a five year story arc, just like Babylon 5, however he also noted that the Drakh plague storyline would have been wrapped up by the end of the intended second season and the show would have moved on to other story arcs. However, conflicts arose between the producers and executives at TNT, and production was canceled before the first episode was broadcast. Thirteen episodes were made and broadcast by TNT, with at least four more scripted. The Sci-Fi Channel attempted to pick up the show and continue production, but was unable to find room in its budget. There have also been three different running orders of the episodes, with the third final chronological viewing order authorised by J. Michael Straczynski as it appears in The Babylon 5 Historical Database as published in Across Time and Space: The Chronologies of Babylon 5.

SERIES PREMISE

The series starts just after the events of A Call to Arms, in which the Drakh infected Earth with a bio-genetic plague that will wipe out all life inside of five years. Captain Matthew Gideon is summoned to Mars, where he is to take command of the Excalibur to begin a mission to find a cure for the Drakh plague somewhere in the depths of space. Captain Gideon was handpicked to command the Excalibur by ISA President John Sheridan, due to the fact that Gideon has proved that he is willing to take chances and will not let diplomacy interfere with completing his mission. The first challenge Gideon faced was assembling his crew; there was some reluctance about bringing Dureena Nafeel onto the crew as she was a member of the Thieves Guild. However, Gideon was able to get her on board. She then informed him of Galen. Galen met with Gideon on a planet and after questioning Gideon, he agreed to join the crew. With his crew assembled, Gideon left in search of a cure.

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Promotional Poster

BABYLON 5 (1993)

Babylon 5 is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski’s Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Television. After the successful airing of a test pilot movie on February 22, 1993, Babylon 5: The Gathering, Warner Bros. commissioned the series for production in May 1993 as part of its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN). The show premiered in the US on January 26, 1994, and ran for five 22-episode seasons.

The series follows the human military staff and alien diplomats stationed on a space station, Babylon 5, built in the aftermath of several major inter-species wars as a neutral ground for galactic diplomacy and trade. Major plotlines included Babylon 5′s embroilment in a millennial cyclic conflict between ancient races, inter-race wars and their aftermaths, and intra-race intrigue and upheaval. The human characters, in particular, become pivotal to the resistance against Earth’s descent into totalitarianism.

Many episodes focused on the effect of wider events on individual characters, with episodes containing themes such as personal change, loss, oppression, corruption and redemption.

Unusually for the time, Babylon 5 was conceived as a “novel for television” with a pre-planned five-year story arc, each episode envisioned as a “chapter”. Whereas contemporary television shows tended to maintain the overall status quo, confining conflicts to individual episodes, Babylon 5 featured story arcs which spanned multiple episodes and even seasons, effecting permanent changes to the series universe. Tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories were also developed to play a significant canonical part in the overall story.

Source: Wikipedia

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999) Trailer

BABYLON 5:
A CALL TO ARMS (1999)

A Call to Arms is the fifth of six Babylon 5 TV movies. It is set in the year 2266, five years after the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. The TV movie serves as a prelude to the short lived spin-off series Crusade.

PLOT SUMMARY

Michael Garibaldi meets ISA president John Sheridan aboard a White Star. Unbeknownst to them, their ship is being pursued by a probe, which sends images to a mysterious figure named Galen. The two of them proceed to a space dock where two prototype destroyers are being completed using a combination of Human, Minbari and Vorlon technology. They then board one of the vessels, the Excalibur. During the tour of the bridge President Sheridan receives a message through StellarCom supposedly from ISA Vice President Delenn; however the message is just gibberish and Sheridan is in a catatonic-like state staring at the monitor for twenty-five minutes, though he states to Garibaldi it felt like mere seconds.

Meanwhile, on Babylon 5, Dureena Nafeel is stopped by security for weapons violations and must surrender all arms she is carrying after which she is allowed to enter Downbelow.

As President Sheridan sleeps, the Techno-mage Galen appears. They stand together on the surface of a dead world, and Galen claims the planet was destroyed due to a weapons test. Galen reveals that the message purportedly from Delenn was actually from him. The alien race which destroyed the planet returns to observe the results and so Galen leaves to evade detection, hastingly phrasing “Daltron 7” as well as scribing it into the dirt, at which point Sheridan regains his consciousness on the Excalibur.

In Downbelow, Nafeel attempts to locate fellow members of the Thieves Guild. However, she is knocked unconscious by a man. Nafeel then wakes up on the same dead planet that Galen and Sheridan had observed, with a false image of Sheridan appearing behind her. Nafeel lunges at him, however he vanishes replaced by a Drakh, and then shortly afterwards disappears also after observing a projecction of a galaxy. Galen then appears and proclaims “This is not your world, Dureena Nafeel, but it shares the same fate. When the time comes be sure to pick the right target for you will only get one shot”.

Nafeel then awakes in Downbelow in chains surrounded by members of the Thieves Guild. Nafeel then breaks the chains and attacks the man who knocked her, prompting the leader of the Guild to welcome her as a fellow thief and questioning her on how she became a thief.

On the Excalibur a weapons test is due, the Excalibur is evaluated by Sheridan and Geribaldi attending as it carries out firing Level 1 and, consequently, Level 2 of the main guns. Level 1 has the same level of firepower as a White Star’s main gun. However, Level 2 is a focused blast based on Vorlon design, and it was intended for ships far more advanced than the Excalibur and as such firing the main guns drains the ships power for one minute, leaving it vulnerable.

Sheridan noting on this last statement and awaiting a reply turning around in his seat, is now seen on another planet, where the Techno-Mages are. Galen is being criticized by his colleagues for involving Sheridan and is warned that if his actions in helping Sheridan compromises their hiding place he will die first. Galen reveals that his order went hiding to avoid the carnage of the Shadow War. Galen then conjures up an image of Z’Ha’Dum and asks Sheridan if he recognizes it. Sheridan says he indeed does. Galen now informs Sheridan that the Drakh are on the move testing their resources, power, weapons and destructive abilities. Galen informs Sheridan that he must find out how much of a threat the Drakh pose as he believes that they will start their war by attacking Earth, because of the role of humans in the outcome of the Shadow War. Galen also reveals that he has done all he can and Sheridan must find the answers on his own, and not to tell anyone what he is doing or why, and if he doesn’t act soon, that Earth may suffer the fate of Daltron 7. Sheridan is then seen again on the Excalibur and tells Garibaldi they must leave immediately for Babylon 5.

On Babylon 5, Sheridan encounters Nafeel and an Earthforce Captain, Leonard Anderson; seeing Sheridan, Nafeel attacks him, where it is revealed that Nafeel’s planet was destroyed by the Shadows during the war and she blames him because he didn’t come to the aid of her people during the war. Sheridan convinces Nafeel that the Drakh are responsible and not him and both Nafeel and Captain Anderson agree to help.

Nafeel, Captain Anderson and Sheridan leave on Anderson’s ship, the EAS Charon, en route to the docks. Sheridan contacts the leader of the construction operation, Mr. Drake, and tells him to not accept any orders from anyone except him. Sheridan, Nafeel, and half of Captain Anderson’s crew board the Excalibur and commandeer it. While Captain Anderson and the remainder of his crew board the other ship, the Victory. Then both ships head for Daltron 7. When they arrive, they find out that a the planet has been devastated. However, they pick up a Drazi distress signal and Sheridan, Nafeel and Anderson proceed down to the planet’s surface. They find the Drazi dead. A detailed surface analysis shows that the destruction was caused by a Shadow Planet Killer and occurred only a few weeks ago, meaning that the Drakh have located one of the Shadow Planet Killers which were hidden away by the Shadows and left behind after they departed for the Rim. Nafeel locates the data crystal in a flap under the Drazi’s arm.

On the data crystal, the Drazi reveals that the dreams told him to come here and when he arrived the planet killer was there and that the Drakh were operating it. He followed them as far as he could, but returned to Daltron 7 to find any survivors after the Drakh ship met up with reinforcements. The Victory then contacts the Excalibur and tells Sheridan’s away team on the planet that a number of Drakh ships are approaching. The Drakh scan the 2 ships and then attempt to communicate with the Excalibur demanding to identify itself. A signal is then sent to the Drakh ships, originating outside the system. The Victory and Excalibur are suddenly engaged in combat by the Drakh. The Drakh then flee and the Excalibur pursues where it finds hundreds of Drakh vessels, they pursue the Excalibur and Victory. However, both ships are able to escape into hyperspace, where they head for Earth at maximum speed.

Sheridan contacts Captain Elizabeth Lochley onboard Babylon 5 urging her to mobilize a fleet in defense of Earth. Sheridan then contacts Garibaldi, where they deduce that Mr. Drake is an agent of the Drakh and that he sent the communication to them just before the engagement between the Drakh, the Victory and the Excalibur. Garibaldi discovers that the Drakh, fortunely have only one Planet Killer. After dealing with Mr. Drake’s betrayal, the Victory and the Excalibur drop out of hyperspace around Earth.

A large fleet is assembled around Earth, at which point a number of Drakh vessels drop out of hyperspace. A large battle ensues during which the captain of the Victory sacrifices the ship ensuring the destruction of the Planet Killer and imminent danger to Earth. However the remaining Drakh vessels release a biogenetic plague, engineered by the Shadows, into Earth’s atmosphere. Its analysis reveal that it’s designed to adapt to its host and will destroy all life on Earth within a probable timeframe of five years. President Sheridan determines that a cure must be out there as it must been used before, so he re-assigns the Excalibur to finding a cure.

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