Yikes, 28 messages since last I logged on. This is going to get
consistently tougher as more time is taken by production.

To try and answer some of the preceding messages....

Yes to the idea of trying an article, go for it.

On the article about B5 now in the ST newsletter...I'd love to hear more
specifics about it.

I imagine we'll have a first, rough cut of "The Gathering" by the end of
September. What's interesting is that Ron will have ALL of the computer EFX
finished within the next 10 days. So we don't have to wait around for EFX to
be delivered, slowing the editing process, we'll have them well in advance of
our completion of principal photography. (Which is also good for the actors,
since they can know EXACTLY what it is they're reacting to, rather than having
to look at a blank screen and react to a guess.)

How would I describe it in a TV Guide log-line? At this stage, I don't
know that I could. I'm just too close to it right now.

Will get a station list up soonest; I know some stations have been added
to the list, so there's some hope.

The credits sequence is still being storyboarded, will advise when we
have it finalized.

Meanwhile....

It is now just a tick over T-minus one and counting. We'll hit that as
soon as the second hand clicks past midnight. Spent all day today at the
soundstage, checking, trying not to get in the way, watching and giving
suggestions when asked. (Funny sight...a newly painted set outside which
someone had posted a sign, "Wipe Your Feet Before Entering! (Especially
Aliens!)") They're doing lighting checks, finishing painting some of the
sets, setting up dolly tracks and doing camera checks for angles and lighting.
Not really that much for me to do anymore; it has now reached terminal
velocity, having gathered its own momentum over time, and there's a certain
point where you just have to stand back or impede the process. So I spent a
little time with the wardrobe guys, making the logical progression of rank
insignia we'll be using.

(For those who know of "Captain Power," Sven Thorson, who played Tank in
that show, came by the stage to say hello and inquire about where the babes
were, and to ask where the hell his part is...he'll play an alien, a fern,
whatever...as long as the part calls for a Danish accent.)

On Monday, we (in directorial terminology) "pull the trigger." I won't
be at the studio Sunday...at that point I know I'm going to be just a little
twitchy, and better to take that time to rest, knowing what's ahead of
us...lots of long days and longer nights.

What's nice is that, where you normally get a still photographer for only
a few days out of a shoot, at most half, we're going to have one on set for
every day of the shoot, to chronicle the whole thing for the archives.
Warners, as with us, has come to the realization that this is going to be
something different, and they want to record it.

The actors are gearing up, reading lines together, getting ready for the
first scenes to be filmed (two meetings of the Babylon 5 Advisory Council, at
which someone's fate is decided, and a bunch of stuff in the central corridor
set). They're primed and ready to go.

The kind of lighting we're using, by the way, has never before been used
to this extent on any other television series. It's going to look quite
dramatic.

And then there's Ambassador Delenn. He, as you know, is the Minbari
ambassador assigned to B5. His makeup/prosthetics has taken the longest to
work out, but now we're happy with his look. And the performer who will play
Ambassador Delenn is Mira Furlan, whose work is extremely well known in
Europe. A native Yuglosavian who has appeared in such highly regarded films
as "When Father Was Away On Business" (which received the Palme D'Or at
Cannes, as well as an Oscar nomination), "Three For Happiness" (which took the
Grand Prix at the Valencia Film Festival), "Dear Video," "Southbound," "The
Condemned," "The Beauty of Sin," and nearly a dozen others, ALL of them
starring roles. There have also been starring roles in major European
productions and half a dozen major film awards. BABYLON 5 will be Mira
Furlan's entry into American television.

(pausing, waiting as the brain cells work....)

T-minus one and counting.

jms