lurkers-guide/guide/511

<!-- TITLE The Needs of Earth -->

<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>

<blockquote><cite>
An alien refugee may hold useful secrets about the Drakh plague, but isn't
willing to give up its information easily.
</cite>

</blockquote>

<pre>
Production number: 101
Original air date: August 18, 1999
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00061QJSK/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: December 7, 2004

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Mike Vejar
</pre>

<p>
<hr size=3>

<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@935657127 Dureena was sold into slavery by her parents when she was
	young.  At one point, she was taken to Praxis 9, a seedy colony
	outside of Alliance jurisdiction; she may have been auctioned
	off there.

   <li>@@@935657127 The Rangers divide their time between enforcing the laws
	of the Alliance and searching for information that might help Earth
	fight the plague.

   <li>@@@935657127 The government of Marata 7, a world outside the Alliance,
	has destroyed all its people's art and music and literature, on the
	grounds that it's ideologically incompatible with the goals of
	the state.  One copy of the planetary archives was smuggled offworld
	by a Maratan named Natchok Var; a copy of his copy is now in the
	hands of the Excalibur crew.

</ul>

<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>

<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@935657127 Gideon told Dureena that slavery was legal on Praxis 9.
	But some of the slaves were Drazi, and were thus presumably Alliance
	citizens; what, if anything, does the Alliance do when its people are
	held by nonmembers?  Perhaps slavery is legal among the Drazi as well,
	and the Alliance is simply practicing its policy of nonintervention
	by allowing the situation to persist.

</ul>

<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@935657127 Max likes to watch pornography involving aliens,
	including titles such as "Snow White and the 7 Narns" and
	"Who's My Little Pak'ma'ra."

   <li>@@@935657127 Gideon's quip about Mozart is originally from
	Tom Lehrer's spoken introduction to the song "Alma,"
	which is in his "That Was The Year That Was" album. In
	Lehrer's case, however, Mozart had only been dead for
	two years.

</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>
<ul>

   <li>@@@936120741 <em>The show was rated as having sexual content and
	adult language.  Why?</em><br>
	No, this is actually pretty stupid...there's one shot where they think a
	nipple is visible (it isn't, we were very careful in editing) and
	another where they think a Eilerson says "goddamnit," but he doesn't.

   <li>@@@935657127 <em>About governments suppressing art</em><br>
	I think you also need only read the ongoing battle over the
	National Endowment of the Arts to realize that the battle is still an
	ongoing one.

</ul>