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								<!-- TITLE A Tragedy of Telepaths -->


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


								<blockquote><cite>

								The telepath situation continues to deteriorate.  The attacks on Alliance

								ships continue.  Londo and G'Kar find an old friend in a nearly forgotten place.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Downes,+Robin+Atkin">Robin Atkin Downes</a> as

								Byron.

								</blockquote>


								<p>

								Originally titled "Cat and Mouse"


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/098">8.18</a>


								Production number: 510

								Original air date: March 25, 1998

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019071C/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: April 13, 2004


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by Tony Dow

								</pre>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@890895097 Na'Toth was on Narn when the Centauri bombed it

									(<a href="042.html">"The Long, Twilight Struggle."</a>)

									She was captured by Centauri troops, along with other Narns, and brought

									to Centauri Prime to serve as entertainment in the royal palace.  When

									she proved insufficiently entertaining, she was locked in a cell and

									forgotten.  Londo and G'Kar have returned her to the care of the Narn,

									but G'Kar believes it'll be some time before she recovers from the

									experience of being locked in a Centauri prison cell for two years.


								   <li>@@@890895097 The militant faction of Byron's telepaths have obtained

									weapons and have staged violent attacks on station personnel.  They

									believe they're doing what they're doing because it's the only way

									to protect Byron; he is dismayed that they're killing in his name.


								   <li>@@@890895097 At Lochley's request, Bester and a team of bloodhound

									telepaths have come to the station to take the telepath colonists

									away.


								   <li>@@@890895097 The attacks (presumably still by Centauri forces) on

									Alliance ships continue.  The attackers have attempted to up the ante

									by planting evidence that points to various members of the Alliance

									being responsible for the attacks, but Sheridan has so far managed

									to keep the member races from attacking one another in revenge.


								   <li>@@@890895097 Sheridan has positioned a fleet of White Stars near a

									Drazi fleet at the border of Brakiri space.  If the Drazi attack the

									Brakiri in retaliation for the apparent Brakiri attacks on Drazi

									ships, Sheridan says, the White Stars will retaliate against the

									Drazi.  This gambit is working so far, but both the Drazi and the

									Brakiri are furious about what they see as an infringement on their

									right to self-defense.


								   <li>@@@890938620 According to reports received by Londo, Centauri weapons

									manufacturing has risen 15 percent recently, something counter to

									normal Centauri peacetime policy.


								</ul>


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


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@890938620 The increased weapons production is presumably being used

									at least in part to back the attacks on Alliance ships.  But a

									sustained increase of 15 percent in the manufacturing output of

									a technologically advanced race like the Centauri would produce a

									<em>lot</em> of weapons and supplies.  Is someone stockpiling arms

									for a larger conflict?  Are other races' production facilities

									being similarly coopted?


									<p>

									The Centauri may be easier to use for such purposes than many other

									races because of their unquestioning acceptance of monarchy, as

									Londo demonstrated; if the order to increase production looked like

									it came from the Royal Court, most Centauri probably wouldn't

									question it in public.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@890895097 Centauri don't like fresh spoo, but Narns do; Centauri

									consider it an insult to be offered fresh spoo.  That may have added

									to Londo's indignity in the Zocalo in

									<a href="001.html">"Midnight on the Firing Line,"</a>

									in which G'Kar offered him a plate of fresh spoo.


								</ul>


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

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@890000654 <em>Why the title change?</em><br>

									Cat and Mouse was a) a working

									title which I kept out there to b) avoid possible spoiling of various

									directions for as long as possible.


								   <li>@@@890333069 I figured, a flock of geese, a herd of buffalo, a tragedy

									of telepaths...actually, though, the credit for that must go to John

									Copeland, who came up with it over lunch one day.


								   <li>@@@891305244 <em>Why was Na'Toth listed in the credits at the start

									of the episode?  It spoiled the surprise.</em><br>

									Screen Actors Guild rules specify where you can and can't put credits,

									and those rules don't concern themselves with spoilers.


								   <li>@@@891547710 SAG rules specify where credits go; it's sometimes a

									bummer if you're trying to keep something secret, but there you go.


									<p>

									The Na'Toth thing was something I wanted to do, called Caitlin,

									she was up for it, and I wrote the ep.


								</ul>