Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

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. John Snyder as Orin Zento. Katy Boyer as Neeoma Connoly. Aki Aleong as Senator Hidoshi.

Sub-genre: Drama
P5 rating: 7.84

Production number:  114
Original air date:  May 11, 1994

Written by Kathryn Drennan
Directed by Jim Johnston

Backplot

• The Narn homeworld is 10 Narn light years away, about 12 Earth light years.
• Narn ranks seem to connote some kind of religious authority; the highest-ranked Narn is expected to lead religious services.
• The Rush Act, put in place during the Earth-Minbari War, allows the Earth government to break up labor strikes using any means necessary.

Unanswered Questions

• How much trouble did Londo go through to get the G'Quan Eth plant, and did he do it solely to upset G'Kar?

Analysis

• The Earth government has a very low tolerance for troublemakers, it seems -- at least, troublemakers who operate in the open.

Notes

• 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.
• The Rush Act was named after conservative American television and radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

jms speaks

• 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.

• 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.

• A UK poster inquires about Rush Limbaugh, for whom the Rush Act in this episode was named
  Re: who is Rush Limbaugh....

  Leading American proctologist.

  Trust me.

• Sinclair's decision is legal...but not politic, and it will come back as one of many decisions to haunt him in "Eyes."

• 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.

• 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).

  Still dancing as fast as I can....

• 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.

• 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.

  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.

• 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.

  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.)

  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.

  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.

  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.

  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.

  Anyway...there you have it.

• 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.

Last update: November 12, 1998