Gary-

As to what the process sounds like, I'll leave that to your imagination,
but the rest of the process goes something like this:

The script will dictate a direction to look. Joe has some amazing
pictures in his head, and sometimes they actually pop out and leak onto
paper! Other times it takes more help. There is a discussion around a
table not unlike the one that you describe, where the general
characteristics of the race and their mode of conveyance are discussed
in detail. The ideas that result are communicated to a designer
(creature specialist, futurist, technical illustrator, theortical
scientist, or animator- depends on the type of design required) for a
concept sketch. Once that is adjusted and approved, a modeler builds
the object in the appropriate animation software, and the surfacing
begins!

At completion of that point, a move test is done, approved or rejected
by myself, John Copeland, and JMS, and the object is added to the
animator's arsenal.

Yes, it is collaborative, and fairly time consuming, but it does result
in some cool ships that no single vision could produce!

George Johnsen
CoProducer, B5