Say Hi back for me.

Y'know...it's a funny old world. And sometimes it just astonishes you.

About 2 months ago, one of our freelancers turned in a script that has to
do with a hate group, in the course of which a guest character -- a Minbari --
is attacked and has her head branded with the symbol of the group.

So you will doubtless understand my astonishment when I turned on DS9 and
saw the same thing happen.

Unfortunately, we've already shot that episode, it's in the can, so
there's nothing we can do about it now. Further -- and let me be totally
clear about this -- there's no way that DS9 could've borrowed the idea from
us, or in any way been influence by us, and no way we could've been influence
by them. To get on the air now, they would've had to shoot their episode some
time before the writer turned in that draft for our show. And none of us were
in any way aware of what was going on there until we saw it the night of the
broadcast...and came in the next day with looks of absolute shock.

These things do happen...and when you're dealing with similar general
areas -- humans vs. aliens, or one alien group vs. another alien group -- then
something like this becomes inevitable. And given the foreheads on Ferengi,
and the foreheads on Minbari, the obviousness of that target becomes clear.
Still, it's amazing when it happens. And I guess I just wanted it to be clear
when this thing airs that the sequence in our show was in the can and done
when the DS9 episode aired.

jms