Possible SDCC and/or Worldcon Panel

[Kraig]

My calendar shows August 17th to be a Friday. Perhaps you mean Saturday August 18th.

I might just drive over the hill and take a look.

[Looney]

My calendar shows August 17th to be a Friday. Perhaps you mean Saturday August 18th.

I might just drive over the hill and take a look.

Saturday the 18th is what the actual schedule says. Kraig is correct.

[sftv]

I keep getting confused about which day is which. The worldcon runs from Thurday through Monday, even though Monday is not a holiday. I get in on Wednesday and leave Monday evening.

[Jan]

Hi, gang! I'm home - I've had some sleep. So...how was the panel?

I was *very* pleased! First and foremost, we had a full house of over 225 people. All seats filled and some standees! Woo-Hoo! I'd been warned not to expect too much since there was supposed to be some stiff competition.

Marc Scott Zicree writer of 'Survivors') joined the panel and had some informative things to sayabout the early days of the show. I gave a brief history and was happy to be able to announce the news about the show coming to Comet TV. Neil went ahead and answered the question about Blu-Rays before it was asked. Cheryl and Lee and Wendy had cool things to relate about the early fan participation days on GEnie and Compuserve and Usenet and AOL. There were some questions and we played a few rounds of 'Drazi Wars' (think Family Feud with B5 questions). I was a little disappointed when I had to choose a different question when neither player could name a single Crusade character.

IMO, we could easily have gone another hour and not run out of things to say. It was a lot of fun and I met/re-met quite a few fans I'd mostly known online.

[Kraig]

Hi, gang! I'm home - I've had some sleep. So...how was the panel?

I was *very* pleased! First and foremost, we had a full house of over 225 people. All seats filled and some standees! Woo-Hoo! I'd been warned not to expect too much since there was supposed to be some stiff competition.

Marc Scott Zicree writer of 'Survivors') joined the panel and had some informative things to sayabout the early days of the show. I gave a brief history and was happy to be able to announce the news about the show coming to Comet TV. Neil went ahead and answered the question about Blu-Rays before it was asked. Cheryl and Lee and Wendy had cool things to relate about the early fan participation days on GEnie and Compuserve and Usenet and AOL. There were some questions and we played a few rounds of 'Drazi Wars' (think Family Feud with B5 questions). I was a little disappointed when I had to choose a different question when neither player could name a single Crusade character.

IMO, we could easily have gone another hour and not run out of things to say. It was a lot of fun and I met/re-met quite a few fans I'd mostly known online.

I was turned away at the door by convention center staff because the room was "at capacity." I left my house with plenty of time to get there, but only if the highway I took wasn't blocked by a semi-tractor hauling a set of double trailers loaded with hay blocking both lanes, and no way to go around. I back tracked 20 miles of winding road back to the freeway on the San Joaquin side of the coastal range. My GPS then sent me to a surface street short cut from FWY 580 to FWY 680 by taking State HWY 84 around Livermore. It was under construction and down to one lane. It took an extra hour just to travel 7 miles on that road. Sorry I missed it. At least I would have shouted out "in Galen's name" when you asked about naming a Crusade character.

[Jan]

I was turned away at the door by convention center staff because the room was "at capacity."

Oh, crud! So sorry to hear that! I'd have enjoyed meeting you. I didn't realize anybody had been turned away. I know that the schedule signs had notes that standing wouldn't be allowed but that seems to have been spottily enforced. As an example, the Harlan Ellison memorial was so packed I had to leave after half an hour due to (mild) claustrophobia. Seriously, the room had every seat and every bit of floor space with people sitting on the floor or standing against the wall. That room was smaller than our room for the B5 panel.

[Ubik]

Good to hear B5 can still pack out a small room! Nice work Jan.

[Looney]

Well I am glad to hear that things went well, for the most part. That really sucks Kraig. Wish I could have been there. I don't know what I would have shouted out. LOL It would have been nice to be around so many like minded folks.

So Jan, did any of our little communities come up, JMS NEWS, B5TV, or even ISN NEWS? Did #FREEBABYLON5 get mentioned? . . . . . Okay what I really want to know is how many people asked about me and wanted to know what I am really like? LMAO

But in all seriousness I am glad to hear that, for the most part, it was a big success.

[nottenst]

So Jan, did any of our little communities come up, JMS NEWS, B5TV, or even ISN NEWS? Did #FREEBABYLON5 get mentioned? . .

Jan had #FREEBABYLON5 ribbons to give away which got a great response [later in the convention someone did ask me why Babylon 5 needed to be freed] and so it was mentioned that the campaign worked to the extent that it is on Amazon Prime and soon to be on Comet TV.

I mentioned Sandy's original Zocalo newsletter, but did not specifically mention ISN News. Someone (possible Marc) mentioned that Sandy helped Michael O'Hare.

We asked how many people had been part of the moderated newsgroup, the fan club, the B5 Books and possibly other groups.

Marc Scott Zicree told of his relationship with JMS before the show as well as well as being the only writer who also worked on DS9. He also mentioned the budgetary success.

[nottenst]

The 79th Worldcon is in the DC area in 2021. If anyone is interested in attending you should know that rates go up on June 1, 2020..

https://discon3.org/membership/

I will definitely be pushing for at least one B5 panel there.

[Jan]

Way too far in advance for me to commit given 'uncertain times', but I'm glad you'll be there and will push for a panel. Let me know when you find out and I'll see what kind of swag I might still have. I doubt there'd be much call for the ribbons but I've still got some wristbands I ordered for a panel that never happened at SDCC.

[nottenst]

Way too far in advance for me to commit given 'uncertain times', but I'm glad you'll be there and will push for a panel. Let me know when you find out and I'll see what kind of swag I might still have. I doubt there'd be much call for the ribbons but I've still got some wristbands I ordered for a panel that never happened at SDCC.

I just filled out the form to be part of the Brainstorming Staff for programming for the convention. No idea how much work it will be or if they will take me, but if so I will mention that it will be 25 years since Z'ha'dum whenever I get a chance. If Jason can make it, I'd also push for a panel featuring him and his book.

[nottenst]

I just got accepted onto the DisCon 3 team. So, I'll be pushing for B5 Panel when I can.

[Jan]

I just got accepted onto the DisCon 3 team. So, I'll be pushing for B5 Panel when I can.

Let me know if it happens - I've got some swag I can contribute.

[nottenst]

By the way, a friend of mind was soliciting for panels at his local convention which is digital this year. I volunteered to moderate a B5 panel (and ended up moderating another panel and appearing on two more). It is September 26 and 27.
The convention is to benefit the Roberson Museum and Science Center, so there is a small charge for it.

https://www.robercon.org/what-to-do/panels/