Yes, Warners is distributing B5 through the newly-formed Warner Bros.
Consortium of Stations. WWOR New York has just been purchased and added to
the Chris-Craft line of stations that's at the core of the consortium, so
doubtless they'll be carrying B5 as well.

I'm already on tap for a con over Labor Day, so that let's out Tri Con,
and as for Shorleave...for reasons that are probably obvious, I'm trying to
avoid cons which have a prime connection to ST at this time. First, I don't
think all parties concerned would be comfortable with it. Second, we're
trying to establish our own image, and don't want to piggyback on anyone else.
So my general rule of thumb is that if the con has the words ST in its title,
or that title derives from ST, then we steer clear. There are plenty of
others, though, that will fit the bill nicely.

International distribution is being taken care of by, natch, Warner
Bros. International Distribution, and though I haven't yet received the
specifics, I have heard that it's been doing EXTREMELY well in that regard.
When I have more details, I'll pass them along.

Over the last week, we've really been getting into the details of
creating our universe, and sometimes it's overwhelming the extent of it all.
How do we tell where we are on the station? Okay, so we color code the
sections, so that rather than saying "I'm in sector seven, level five," you
say, "I'm in blue-five," and the background _ occasional color-coded panels _
can visually confirm this.

What about language? Signs? Ron's having a guy come up with a whole
raft of alien fonts to use. If you have directional signs in the halls, what
do you do with them? (Remember, this is a freeport, so you're going to have a
lot of folks coming through, not all of whom can communicate well with one
another.) So do you have one sign in one language showing where you are,
where you've been, which way to the bar...or several? If several, which do
you choose? (We've worked this out kind of ingeniously, so I'll let it go at
that for now.)

There's just an awful lot to consider...decisions of the smallest sort.
What do the cups look like? The tables? The ports? How do you handle
lighting? How do you avoid the standard configuration rooms we've seen a
hundred times before in SF-TV? How does the construction of the station
affect architecture, design, function? What sorts of things would someone be
allowed to bring with them from Earth or wherever? Are the quarters made from
natural or synthetic materials? Are all the quarters the same, or
different...if different, how, and along what lines, given that there should
be some consistency in rationale.

This is one of the things that really sets tv aside from fiction. In
fiction, you can describe a control room or observation deck in a few words,
and move on, letting the reader's mind fill in the gaps. Same with radio.
But in TV, you have to BUILD it. You can't just say, "He sits at his desk."
What does the desk look like? What does the chair look like? Does he use a
pen and paper? Computer? How do you do the communications console
differently than before? What sort of decoration does he have on the desk?
Pictures? Holograms? Souveniers? Awards? Models of ships? Then after you
decide, you have to MAKE them all, and make sure they look real.

It can get daunting after a while. That's why you've GOT to surround
yourself with people you can trust, so that when they bring ideas and designs
to you, you don't just go nuts and throw it out, but you know that what they
bring will be good, and may just need a suggestion or two to bring it more in
line with what you want. Then they go away and do it.

As an exercise, just look around any room in your house, and ask
yourself, "What do I have here that I would not have 200 years from now?
What's not here that I *would* have 200 years from now? How would it look?"
There's not a square foot of space that's not somehow affected by that
scenario.

I think I'll go lie down for a while....

jms