{original post had no questions}

Actually, the B5 budget is about half the average ST budget,
sometimes a bit less.

We don't apply savings in CGI to alien makeup; they're totally
different areas, each with their own costs. Whatever they cost is
what they cost. But the reason we can do what we do is that we take
new approaches to both the EFX and the prosthetics. Optic Nerve, who
does the prosthetics work as a contract deal, have found ways to make
their masks more lifelike, easier to apply, and faster to apply, than
the norm; so you tend to get more bang for your buck. We've had as
many as 40 or more complete aliens -- full prosthetics and costumes --
not just in one episode, but often in one SCENE, which would kill you
in any other kind of show...unless you came up with some smarter ways
of doing things.

That's one of the important things about B5...we don't tend to
do things the way they've always been done because they've always been
done that way. We tend to ride the wave of technology in whichever
area we're doing, and take whatever's newest, fastest, best.

That was ultimately the reason we went with CGI, more than any
fiscal savings. We can *do more* with CGI, get closer, have more
ships, bigger scenes, make the B5 universe come alive.

(BTW, a lot of folks still compare the models used on ST with
the CGI on B5, not aware that a fair amount of ST EFX now are done with
CGI; some of them have even been done by Foundation, our CGI
providers...the solar sail recently, for example.)

jms