Whenever I have spoken of Berman and Pillar to the press, I have
characterized them as honorable people. The press goes out of its way to
foment controversy, and after my initial reaction to the DS9 premise, it was
my eventual decision to simply produce the show and, at that point, it
survives or falls on its own merits. If Pillar is going to get into name-
calling and characterizations and this kind of playground vernacular, I see no
reason to join him there.

BTW...flew back this morning from Houston, where on behalf of B5, I
received the award from the Space Frontier Foundation for Best Vision of the
Future. Based in part on our attempt -- within the confines of dramatic TV --
to stick with real science...ships that move the right way in space,
commercial use of space surveying, civilian ships, the use of an O'Neill-type
station for the first time in TV or movies, and so on. At my table was co-
recipient astronaut Pete Conrad. (I commented to him that, as someone who
*writes* about space, to sit across from someone who LIVED there, was like
being a lay priest called upon to say High Mass at the Vatican, before the
Pope, on Easter sunday. He laughed.)

We have worked hard to make B5 as accurate a presentation of a possible
future as we can, and the receipt of this award, from a national group of
scientists, engineers, astronauts, researchers and others (some involved
heavily in the Delta Clipper project) makes it equal to the Emmy, in my view,
however much more emphasis the media may place on the former.

jms