brennen
/
lurkers-guide


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								An accident in the docking area kills a worker, threatening to spark an

								illegal strike.  Londo interferes in an

								important Narn religious observation which leads to a

								confrontation between him and G'Kar.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Snyder,+John+(I)">John Snyder</a> as Orin Zento.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Boyer,+Katy">Katy Boyer</a> as Neeoma Connoly.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/M/person-exact?+Aleong,+Aki">Aki Aleong</a> as Senator Hidoshi.

								</blockquote>


								Originally titled "Backlash"


								<pre>

								Sub-genre: Drama

								<a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/012">7.84</a>


								Production number: 114

								Original air date: May 11, 1994

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006HAZ4/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: November 5, 2002


								Written by Kathryn Drennan

								Directed by Jim Johnston

								</pre>


								<p>

								<hr>

								<p>


								<h2><a name="BP">Backplot</a></h2>

								<ul>

								   <li> The Narn homeworld is 10 Narn light years away, about 12 Earth

									light years.

								   <li> Narn ranks seem to connote some kind of religious authority; the

									highest-ranked Narn is expected to lead religious services.

								   <li> The Rush Act, put in place during the Earth-Minbari War, allows the

									Earth government to break up labor strikes using any means necessary.

								</ul>


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

								<ul>

								   <li> How much trouble did Londo go through to get the G'Quan Eth plant,

									and did he do it solely to upset G'Kar?

								</ul>


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

								<ul>

								   <li> The Earth government has a very low tolerance for troublemakers,

									it seems -- at least, troublemakers who operate in the open.

								</ul>


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

								<ul>

								   <li>@@@877717497 The G'Quan Eth plant, used in Narn religious rituals, is

									prized by the Centauri for use as a pleasure drug, a use the Narn

									consider sacrilige.


								   <li> The Rush Act was named after conservative American television and radio

									commentator

									<a href="http://www.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Radio/Programs/Political/Rush_Limbaugh/">Rush Limbaugh.</a>

								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								<p>

								   <li> Nearly all of our production crew appear in "By Any Means Necessary"

									at various spots; the guy yelling "I say we STRIKE!" is our director,

									Jim Johnston.  And yes, John Flinn ["Grail"] was played by John Flinn,

									our DP.


								<p>

								   <li> The Rush Act only refers to unions, for the most part; it's not a

									wide-ranging law. It was developed during the Earth/Minbari war to

									deal quickly and effectively with corporations or unions which were

									being difficult and otherwise holding up the war effort. (The air

									traffic controllers union would be a good example of the government

									doing whatever it felt necessary to resolve the situation.) The law

									grants extraordinary power to resolve any kind of strike or union

									action which endangers the operation of a military base or other

									military operation, as Zento states. It applies only to that area,

									and remains on the books, though (as is also pointed out) it hasn't

									been used in a while.


								<p>

								   <li> <em>A UK poster inquires about Rush Limbaugh, for whom the Rush Act

									in this episode was named</em><br>

									Re: who is Rush Limbaugh....

									<p>

									Leading American proctologist.

									<p>

									Trust me.


								<p>

								   <li> Sinclair's decision is legal...but not politic, and it will come back as

									one of many decisions to haunt him in "Eyes."


								<p>

								   <li> As for happy endings...you want some variety, I think; we had a tough

									ending in "Believers," a bittersweet ending in "Survivors," and here

									things worked out for G'Kar and Connoly, but in a way did *not* work

									out for Sinclair.  He's going to be hearing about this decision of

									his again, in the not too distant future.  He's getting further and

									further behind the eight-ball with some of these decisions, and he's

									going to get hammered about it.


								<p>

								   <li> Exactly my point; there are differences between similar alien groups

									(like the Narn) in culture, language and religion, with BAMN being

									a good demonstration of the latter.  Which is why I could only shrug

									and say "Wait" after people started hammering on me here about

									monolithic alien religions after "Parliament."  We'd already filmed

									BAMN by then, so I knew it was there.  That's one thing about this

									show that some have found out...generally, what you'd like us to do,

									we've probably done or are about to do (hence the many times, when

									I'm asked about something, that we can just say, "Wait until X airs

									in 2 weeks" or somesush).


									<p>

									Still dancing as fast as I can....


								<p>

								   <li> The writer for "By Any Means Necessary" is Kathryn Drennan, who is

									very astute politically, a believer in the rights of workers (and all

									folks, actually), and think that characters are more interesting if

									they act smart than if they act stupid.


								<p>

								   <li> Kathryn's last name is Drennan.  Her full credit is Kathryn M.

									Drennan.  Not Straczynski.  Probably displaying considerable wisdom

									on her part.  Ten thousand letters, no vowels.


									<p>

									Absent a collaboration on a series of articles for TZ Magazine a few

									years ago (a guide to the Night Gallery series), we don't collaborate.

									Ever.  I also don't collaborate with Larry D., or any other of my

									writer friends.  As I learned before, particularly on the one occasion

									when Larry and I tried it -- we co-wrote a pilot and bible for CBS

									based on the "Elfquest" books -- all parties concerned will live a LOT

									longer by keeping a respectable distance.


								<p>

								   <li> One thing I can mention now, since it's nearly finished: see, I have

									this real problem with nepotism.  Specifically...I hate it.  As a

									result, I make people I know work twice as hard.  The closer the tie,

									the more the person has to work to prove him or herself.


									<p>

									Kathryn Drennan, my Spousal Overunit, is also a writer, and has

									written for many other shows, primarily in animation, but with some

									forays into other areas.  (She was co-author on the Night Gallery

									series of articles I wrote for Twilight Zone Magazine, as one

									fr'instance, and was a producer with public televison for some time.)


									<p>

									Anyway, she desperately wanted to write a B5 script.  But because of

									my feelings about nepotism, I refused to give her an assignment.  (I

									can be a REAL pain in the ass.)  Something similar happened when I was

									working on The Real Ghostbusters; she loved the show, and wanted to

									write for it.  I put her through the wringer: she had to submit

									written premises, just like any other freelance writer, which were

									then sent on to the producers for final approval.  They did not know

									of any relation between her and me; they based their approval only on

									the merits of the story.  Period.  And she ended up writing two

									episodes: "Egon's Dragon" and "The Man Who Never Reached Home."  (The

									former is considered a favorite by many viewers of the show.)  Only

									long after we finished production did the exec producers on TRGBs

									learn that there was a relationship there; it was all based on the

									quality of the work.


									<p>

									But in the case of B5, I *am* the exec producer, so it became more

									difficult.  At first I said simply no.  Finally, I set into place a

									number of conditions/provisions.  NOT because she wouldn't do a great

									script, but only because I don't like the look of nepotism; I hate it,

									and I hate the way this town operates on the principles of nepotism.

									The conditions were that she had to write the script completely on

									spec, no assignment; not a spec outline, which is shorter, but a spec

									*script*.   It would then have to pass muster in-house; if even one

									person thought it wasn't up to snuff, it got deep sixed.  And

									revisions would not be handled by me, for the most part; she would

									have to work with Larry, who has a reputation (as Katherine Lawrence

									can attest) to not pulling his punches.  No favoritism.  Then the

									script would have to pass muster with Warners.  IF, after all that,

									the script was approved, then it would be bought, and not a moment

									before.  If anywhere along the line it didn't meet one of those

									criteria...then it would be a 50 page learning experience and nothing

									more.


									<p>

									Well, I'm pleased to say that it *did* pass muster with everyone, and

									"By Any Means Necessary" is now over halfway through production, with

									a number of people -- including Michael O'Hare -- saying it's their

									favorite so far, mainly for very odd reasons.  The premise is one that

									ST would never, EVER do, which is one thing I like about it; it also

									shows us more on the inner workings of B5, the blue-collar types who

									keep the whole place operational...and what happens when that falls

									apart.  The B story gets into a confrontation between G'Kar and Londo

									when Londo interferes in an important Narn religious observation.


									<p>

									We brought back John Snyder (Soul Hunter #2) minus prosthetics for

									one guest role, and Katy Boyer as our other guest star.  They're both

									doing terrific jobs, and it's a very intense script in which we

									basically put Sinclair through the wringer for 48 hours and try and

									make him absolutely nuts.  And succeed, for the most part.


									<p>

									Anyway...there you have it.


								<p>

								   <li> The reference in "By Any Means" is to Matewan, where a terrible

									labor strike took place (and a film was made about it); the other is

									Matawan, which is where I lived for a while, but the reference is to

									the former, not the latter.


								</ul>