A labor action leading to a strike, with people shouting
"strike!" and "union!" hits aboard a space station, inspired in part by
a person of Irish descent whose ancestor was killed in the course of a
famous strike. A government rep arrives to quash the strike, stating
that he will use "any means necessary" toward that goal, which is
finally achieved when the person in the middle redistributes his
finances, giving the strikers what they want while circumventing the
system.

Quick...is that a DS9 episode or a B5 episode?

jms

Daniel M. Upton <75442.1331@compuserve.com> asks:
> So how come they can get away with it?
> I know that you wont sue them, but *if* you did would they have
> any kind of defense?

I dunno...still, I prefer to do what I do in the marketplace of
free ideas. There's how we did it, and how they did it. Let the
viewer take it from there.

jms

John R. Finnan (Ireland) <100012.3073@compuserve.com> asks:
> Is that a B5 episode, or a DS9?

Yeah, given that our script was floating around for months
before this was shot, and Foxworth had *already agreed* to do our
episode, and his agent, and they brushed us off to do the DS9....

jms

Joe Salemi [ZD Net] <72631.23@compuserve.com> asks:
> Does this mean that General Hague was originally supposed to be
> in MfE, or are you refering to something else?

Foxworth was slated for "Severed Dreams" when he bailed on us.

jms

Cherns Major <75026.3723@compuserve.com> asks:
> Just out of curiosity, what would be the general time, from story
> inception to broadcast, of a typical 1-hr sf show? So is there a
> rule-of-thumb length of time during which we can assume that plot
> similarities could be attributable to coincidence rather than,
> er, "homage" (to put a nicer face on it than it deserves)? Or is
> script security in the industry so lax that the question is
> irrelevant?

Well, there are a number of factors going into this, including
that as we develop threads over time, they become apparent outside even
before the script appears (as noted by some who've anticipated some
revelations here, in broad strokes).

One other element is that B5 is only able to do what we do on
budget because we prepare a LONG time in advance. We have scripts on
the deck, ready to shoot, 4-6 weeks sometimes before we roll film.
During that time, scripts circulate to agents and others as casting and
other production elements start moving. In many TV shows, the script
often doesn't land on the stage floor until a few days before
filming...in some cases, pages are still landing *as* they're filming.

Once an episode is filmed, a 7 day process, it takes 52 days of
post production before it's ready to air.

jms