Jan
Regular
This is basically a reprint of what I posted to JMSNews.com and the moderated newsgroup:
Hi, all! I'm back from the convention for the day. Today was the B5 group signing at 3:15 PM and then the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales panel at 6:00 PM.
By a sheer stroke of luck I ended up being the first one in line for the group signing. All I did was ask where and when the line would be formed and the lady decided that it was right there and then. That was a little over an hour before the scheduled start to the group signing. I don't know how long the line got but within a minute there were at least ten people behind me and they cut off the line to new people about 10 minutes before the signing was due to start.
The signing started a few minutes late. As always, JMS was on time (early, actually) and Bruce and Samm Barnes were with him. Tracy and Doug Netter were a bit late. Apparently the car Tracy was in got stuck while a train crossed in front of the convention center. While we waited, JMS went out and talked to the fans a bit. I was really excited that Doug Netter was there and signing!
As Joe Nazzaro had told us, there were some special mini-comics that were being handed out at the group signing. Please believe that I'm not being mean when I tell you that I'm not going to tell you about it...for now. Once you've seen the DVD, I'll tell you because the comic expands on a comment made (twice, if the script is accurate) in the DVD. JMS wrote it and it's lovely.
Immediately after the signing I headed upstairs to get in line to get into the room where the panel was going to be. In just a few minutes Jon joined me and soon after we were in the room where a panel on 'Eureka' preceded the B5 panel. As soon as that was over, Jon went to try to get us seats near the mike. There were a bunch of seats that said they were reserved for studio attendees but somebody had taken the rope down so Jon and I sat there. Unfortunately, once the room was almost entirely full an official came by and made us move. Before we did, though, we snagged a little something that Joe Nazzaro brought. Sock puppets!!! Joe brought several dozen black socks with big white eyes.
Just as we moved they also started handing out Babylon 5: The Lost Tales 'medallions' that have blinking lights. I'm sure they'd be really popular with a much younger person than I am.
Joe Nazzaro came out as moderator and then JMS, Bruce, Tracy, Peter W. Samm Barnes and Doug Netter came out. JMS had them show a long clip of one of the segments of the movie (the Sheridan/Galen segment) as well as the trailer shown on the website. Then Joe N. wanted to have us show our sock puppets but JMS simply wouldn't cooperate! I think he knew something was up. Anyway, we watched the 'video blog' where JMS tried to convince Gregg Maday that sock puppet actors were the way to go, and demonstrated his idea. Gregg Maday was obviously overcome by it all and utterly speechless. At last we were able to show JMS that we were all ready, willing and able to help out and proudly displayed our puppets. Tracy was in stitches.
Joe N did a great job and asked really good questions and kept things moving. Unfortunately my recorder decided not to work JUST as the panel started. Jon pulled out his laptop and began to transcribe things (boy, can he *type*!) until his laptop battery died. I think he got most of Joe N's questions but not the audience's. That's okay, they didn't really ask very interesting ones, mostly of the "will we see ___fitb___, JMS" sort and JMS finding a dozen different ways to say "Maybe, we'll see."
Two items of interest: JMS verified that the script for TLT would eventually be available via the script books and he said to watch the boards in the next month or so for an announcement on a future project. He didn't seem to be talking about his non-B5 projects.
It was a great time and a great day all around. Jon and I will work on transcribing some of the questions tomorrow. Joe Nazzaro did a GREAT job as moderator!
Jan
Hi, all! I'm back from the convention for the day. Today was the B5 group signing at 3:15 PM and then the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales panel at 6:00 PM.
By a sheer stroke of luck I ended up being the first one in line for the group signing. All I did was ask where and when the line would be formed and the lady decided that it was right there and then. That was a little over an hour before the scheduled start to the group signing. I don't know how long the line got but within a minute there were at least ten people behind me and they cut off the line to new people about 10 minutes before the signing was due to start.
The signing started a few minutes late. As always, JMS was on time (early, actually) and Bruce and Samm Barnes were with him. Tracy and Doug Netter were a bit late. Apparently the car Tracy was in got stuck while a train crossed in front of the convention center. While we waited, JMS went out and talked to the fans a bit. I was really excited that Doug Netter was there and signing!
As Joe Nazzaro had told us, there were some special mini-comics that were being handed out at the group signing. Please believe that I'm not being mean when I tell you that I'm not going to tell you about it...for now. Once you've seen the DVD, I'll tell you because the comic expands on a comment made (twice, if the script is accurate) in the DVD. JMS wrote it and it's lovely.
Immediately after the signing I headed upstairs to get in line to get into the room where the panel was going to be. In just a few minutes Jon joined me and soon after we were in the room where a panel on 'Eureka' preceded the B5 panel. As soon as that was over, Jon went to try to get us seats near the mike. There were a bunch of seats that said they were reserved for studio attendees but somebody had taken the rope down so Jon and I sat there. Unfortunately, once the room was almost entirely full an official came by and made us move. Before we did, though, we snagged a little something that Joe Nazzaro brought. Sock puppets!!! Joe brought several dozen black socks with big white eyes.
Just as we moved they also started handing out Babylon 5: The Lost Tales 'medallions' that have blinking lights. I'm sure they'd be really popular with a much younger person than I am.
Joe Nazzaro came out as moderator and then JMS, Bruce, Tracy, Peter W. Samm Barnes and Doug Netter came out. JMS had them show a long clip of one of the segments of the movie (the Sheridan/Galen segment) as well as the trailer shown on the website. Then Joe N. wanted to have us show our sock puppets but JMS simply wouldn't cooperate! I think he knew something was up. Anyway, we watched the 'video blog' where JMS tried to convince Gregg Maday that sock puppet actors were the way to go, and demonstrated his idea. Gregg Maday was obviously overcome by it all and utterly speechless. At last we were able to show JMS that we were all ready, willing and able to help out and proudly displayed our puppets. Tracy was in stitches.
Joe N did a great job and asked really good questions and kept things moving. Unfortunately my recorder decided not to work JUST as the panel started. Jon pulled out his laptop and began to transcribe things (boy, can he *type*!) until his laptop battery died. I think he got most of Joe N's questions but not the audience's. That's okay, they didn't really ask very interesting ones, mostly of the "will we see ___fitb___, JMS" sort and JMS finding a dozen different ways to say "Maybe, we'll see."
Two items of interest: JMS verified that the script for TLT would eventually be available via the script books and he said to watch the boards in the next month or so for an announcement on a future project. He didn't seem to be talking about his non-B5 projects.
It was a great time and a great day all around. Jon and I will work on transcribing some of the questions tomorrow. Joe Nazzaro did a GREAT job as moderator!
Jan