"It is my understanding that, with the exception of the pilot, B5 is
filmed in widescreen format; episodes are then cropped to standard TV
size. While I can appreciate the beauty and grandeur that widescreen
provides, I wonder if it also inflates B5's special effects, or
filming budgets."

Negative. You have a *slightly* higher cost per foot for film stock, but
that's fairly minimal. Once it's in the camera, it's no more expensive
than anything else. The only cost factor comes in once somebody decides
to re-telecine all the film stock *back* to that format. But that's a
one-time price.


jms