Just some quick random thoughts....

For those who've been nudging other folks to try out B5, you may want
to tell them that this coming batch of eps is probably the best time to
dive in. In particular, our second new show (airing the first week of
May) is designed in part to help new viewers coming to the show to catch
up on background. (No, not a clip show, or anything like that...I think
you'll like it.) I also *strongly* recommend that you videotape this
episode, entitled "And Now For a Word." There's something in there just
(or primarily) for the videotapers. Consider this a heads-up from the
inside. You'll know what it is when you sorta see it.)

For those who've asked...yes, I'll be doing another cycle of the B5
comic, a 4-issue arc that'll probably hit the newsstands about the time
our second season (PTEN willing) goes on the air. I've decided that tat
(at) this stage it'll follow a Ranger, bringing us into contact with lots
of different parts of the B5 universe, and may also use it as a kind of
bridge between seasons 2 and 3.

We should know officially about the fate of our third season by the
end of this month. We continue to be cautiously optimistic.

For all the bitching I've done about Creation, I have to say that
I'm very pleased by something that just came through my office for
approval: a B5 jacket with the silhouette of the station embroidered on
the back, and the B5 symbol in front. It's *very* nicely done.

The B5 trading cards, originally to come from Cardz, will now be
coming out from Fleer, and I'm actually quite pleased by that, since I
really like a lot of the work Fleer has done on their comics-related
stuff.

Unrelated to B5: I just picked up the laserdisk for the letterboxed
version of "The Haunting (of Hill House)" and it's amazing. I've never
seen it in that format, only the version altered for conventional TV
aspect ratio. There's stuff going on in the edges of this film that are
brilliant. Just seeing ALL of Hill House, vast against the night, rather
than the one dark clump in the center of the frame, is worth the price of
admission. (An example: just as the lead character stands in the hallway,
thinking aloud that the house seems to be reaching for her, you see in the
letterbox a spider-plant just past her shoulder that does indeed, from the
way its' shot, seem to be grasping at her, something you can't see in the
regular version.) The film is *full* of stuff like this, and I feel as
though I've seen the movie for the first time, even though I've watched
the prior version literally dozens of times. (Yes, along with "Seconds,"
it's one of my favorite films.)

If you have a laserdisk player, pick this one up. It's nifty.

On Monday we begin our last week of filming. We're going for an
eight-day shoot this one time, rather than our usual seven-day shoot,
because of the extraordinary EFX requirements to pull off the finale. It
should be a doozy.

jms