Ask B5 Writer Kathryn Drennan Your Questions

[Jan]

I've been asked by a publication to interview Kathryn Drennan about her B5 first season episode ôBy Any Means Necessaryö. The goal of the interview is to ask the questions fans want to know about this episode and her experience writing for Babylon 5.

Of the non-JMS scripts this is a particular fan favorite, so please email me questions you would like to have her answer. Once the article is done I will be able to announce when and where you can read it. Send as many questions as you like to [email protected]

Here is a synopsis of the episode:

Following a fatal accident in a docking bay the workers stage an illegal strike. Earth Central sends in a negotiator who inflames the situation further and invokes the ôRush Actö whereby striking workers can be arrested and replaced. Meanwhile, due to the accident in the docking bay, a plant necessary for a Narn religious ceremony was destroyed and Londo Mollari possesses the only one of its kind on the station. ItÆs up to Commander Sinclair to find a solution to all of these issues.

Jan

[OmahaStar]

When will you need the questions?

[Jan]

When will you need the questions?

As soon as you can get them to me. Feel free to send multiple emails if you want to just shoot off questions as you think of them.

Thanks for the help!
Jan

[Joe Nazzaro]

I was looking through some of my old notes and Larry DiTillio told me that Kathryn had done two drafts of the script, after which JMS did a rewrite, which turned out to be a bit tentative, mainly because the two were married. DiTillio suggested to JMS that he do the rewrite because he could be more onjective, and then worked with director Jim Johnston, going through all the drafts, resructuring things a bit and taking the best bits from all the drafts. Incidnetally, the guy who stands up and tells the workers to strike is Johnston himself.

[Jan]

That's really interesting, Joe! Thanks.

Jan

[RMcD]

I like this episode a lot. It's one of the ones that really underlines the differences between B5 and Trek, which seemed quite an important thing to do early on, in that in the B5 universe human beings haven't outgrown human problems. It also does a good job of conveying a sense of the scale of B5 - the fact that there's a whole community of workers living in its underbelly.

Anyway, I thought up a question, which I've emailed you.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I want to know if she's planning on writing any more novels! Her work is excellent.

[sftv]

I've been asked by a publication to interview Kathryn Drennan about her B5 first season episode ôBy Any Means Necessaryö. The goal of the interview is to ask the questions fans want to know about this episode and her experience writing for Babylon 5.

I suppose your article is supposed to stick to just the episode. It would be nice to get her perspective on Joe's "celebrity" since she rarely makes any appearances at cons or such, aside from hanging off to the side when Joe speaks. Or her take on various things Joe has done from his rescue of Buddy, when he worked himself to the point of exhaustion, and maybe in general her thoughts on seeing Joe going from a TV writer/producer to a Hollywood screenwriter. It's also been a while since Joe really said much about his "Spousal Overunit", a phrase I think he started using back in the days of Captain Power. She's kind of this mystery person behind the public figure, much like Neil Gaiman's wife, who rarely figures into Gaiman's online journal (while his kids at time get center stage).

Lee Whiteside

[Jan]

I can understand the curiosity but since the interview is about her episode I don't think it would be approriate to bring up anything personal unless she does herself.

Jan

[mandragora]

I can understand the curiosity but since the interview is about her episode I don't think it would be approriate to bring up anything personal unless she does herself.

Jan

Even though I've looked there seems to be next to no information about her own work as a writer. I find this a bit unfortunate, I thought the B5 episode as well as her novel was very good. If you do get a chance to ask questions that are unrelated to the episode, I think it would be interesting if she has any current projects she's working on, fiction or non-fiction, and if there's any chance she'd do another B5 episode, for instance for future installments of TLT.

[Jan]

More questions please? Email to [email protected]

Thanks!

Jan

[glindros]

Questions sent. Hope some are original.

[OmahaStar]

More questions please? Email to [email protected]

Thanks!

Jan

Ok, sent a few ... hopefully it's not too late.

[Jan]

Thanks, Omaha, those are great.

Anybody else? Send questions to [email protected]

Jan

[Dan Dassow]

Twenty Five Questions for Kathryn Drennan

Thanks, Omaha, those are great.

Anybody else? Send questions to [email protected]

Jan

Jan,

I just emailed twenty-five questions to [email protected]. The first twenty-one question are directly related to the topic. If you do not receive them, I will retransmit.

Dan Dassow