Heather did such a great job with her reports from Dragoncon, it will be difficult for me to add much new B5 information. Dragoncon in Atlanta is the biggest SF convention in the world. The number of attendees is usually in the neighborhood of some 18,000 people. The first one I went to two years ago was culture shock as I had only attended one small con in Orlando once before to see jms. This was my third Dragoncon and mercifully I am getting this down to more of a fine art. They moved all the programs and panels into the Hyatt Regency so we didn't have to constantly run back and forth several blocks between the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Apparel Mart where the smaller panels and the B5 track room had been for the last two years. The only thing they had in the Apparel Mart this year was some gaming and the dealer's room where the autograph signings took place. The other good news is that the B5 panels were among the featured or main track of events at the con. B5 has come up from it's own smaller track to be the featured events for the talks and panels with the actors. The talks by Mira and Peter, along with the panels with the actors and some showings of the wonderful B5 music videos, were in the biggest convention room in the Hyatt Regency with plenty of seating. In the past years we were crammed in a small room at times..exploding out the doors for the actor's talks and the music videos. This year the biggest room was filled for every B5 event that was on the main programming track. :-) This was due to the *excellent* contingent of B5 actors that came this year: Mira, Peter, Wortham (Bob), Wayne, Julie, Maggie, Claudia, Robin, and Jason. The B5 actors and panels really sparkled at Dragoncon this year.

I was originally only going for Friday and Saturday, but I took extra time off work because the first day, Thursday, featured an hour long talk with just Mira. :-) I had been lucky enough to see her once before when she just came to sign autographs for the E3 Gaming convention in the World Congress Center last year. I had figured that was probably the one and only time I would ever get to see Mira, so I was thrilled she was the featured guest at this years Dragoncon. My husband, oldest daughter, and I arrived at the Hyatt Regency bright and early at 9am on Thursday. We had allowed for a couple of hours to register and then have lunch before the first panels started in the biggest convention room where Mira would be at 5:30. We planned to get there early for good seats and sit through all the programs that started there after lunch. Well, we were able to register in *10 min*. That was a shock as even last year with prepaid memberships, it took an hour and a half. So by 9:30 were were all signed in and the con hadn't even started yet. We had brunch and killed the time walking around the Atlanta Apparel and Merchandise Mart waiting for the dealers room to open at 1 PM. We planned a quick foray in there and then off to the main con room where Mira's talk would be later. I was looking for where the autograph lines would be later when I found it and Mira, Robin, Peter, Julie, Bob, Wayne, and Maggie were already there and ready to sign autographs and there wasn't *any* line yet! *YES* I could get this the autographing done the first day. :-) My ever patient husband and daughter stood there juggling the stuff I wanted to get signed and the cameras. I hit Bob up first as he was the closest. He is a real charmer and after he had signed my stuff, he commented on what a sweet daughter I had and handed her a free Cartagia B5 game card which he signed for her. My daughter refuses to part with it. Next we approached Mira's table. She was a sweet and polite and warm as we remembered her being at E3. (I must admit, I spent most of my autographs fund with Mira. :-) She had a wonderful picture of Delenn standing beside John in his AOL uniform. *drool* Next it was on to Peter who looked great after his recent surgery. He wasn't supposed to shake any hands, but at one point he reached out and patted my arm. I saw him at Dragoncon last year and he is a very warm easy to talk to person. He signed a Londo picture for my daughter. He put a Londo quote on it for her which he said to her in his wonderful Londo voice as he signed her picture. Then he complimented her on her blue eyes, by which time my 13 year old was in awe. She has that picture with her Cartagia card and refuses to part with either of them. :-) One of my other favorites is Wayne Alexander who was at Dragoncon from last year. He is always so gracious and enthusiastic in the autograph lines. And Heather is right. Julie is *tall*. She is 6 ft ! :-) As we were about to leave, Mira looked up and smiled and waved at someone. I looked up and there was Goran with their baby in a snugli carrier. I commented to him what a cute son he had and I asked if he minded if a took a picture. He didn't and it was harder to tell who had the most charming smile, Goran or Marco. :-)

With the prized autographs obtained without bucking any lines (I still can't believe how we lucked out with that as they were very long for the rest of the con), we headed over to where Mira's talk would be later. With the larger B5 panels being in the main con room, we could go in ahead of time any time we wanted and sit down. That was a *huge* relief as last year the smaller B5 room was often locked until the last moment resulting in suffocating hall lines and mad tramples when the doors open. So I was ecstatic this year when the actor's panels were moved into the main con room.

Mira's talk started right on schedule at 5:30pm. She is an excellent speaker and combined telling about her B5 experience with taking questions from the audience. She told of how far down she felt when she came to this country at the pinnacle of her acting career in the former Yugoslavia and had to put on the severe makeup for the Delenn prototype. It hid all her facial features and on top of that they wanted her to wear contacts and they planned to alter her voice. She looked at the early Delenn and thought with dismay, "What of me is left in all of this?" She talked of the skin and eye allergies she had to the makeup that covered her eyebrows and to this day now, how as a result of that makeup, flash photography now hurts her eyes. She mentioned how she loved working with Bruce and that her work with Wayne Alexander in "Comes the Inquisitor" was among her favorite scenes. She admitted she wasn't as pleased with Season 5 as she was with the previous seasons and was very frustrated that after Delenn was married, she was relegated to "just the wife" status. What she had loved so much about Joe's writing was his complex female characterization (the strong leader combined with the personal warmth) and Delenn lost most of that in the Season 5 portrayal. As Heather pointed out, Mira's Mom radar was on and she spotted a another Mom with a young baby in the audience who then came up to the stage. Mira said Marco travels wells and loves a snugli carrier over a stroller. She said that she had the devoted the last 9 + 6 months to her baby and wouldn't trade that for anything. She said she was now ready to go back to work, but her agent had said the main hurdle to overcome is all that they currently want is teenagers for casting in the TV pilots.

One of the most interesting things she talked about was acting in a language that isn't her native language. Mira also speaks English, French, and German in addition to her native tongue. She said when she first started B5 she felt like a three year old at times and didn't get the practical jokes and some of the humor. Her proficiency in English improved greatly during her years of filming B5. Now it is degrading a bit as she stays home with the baby all day and he just says, " Oooooooo or Ahhhhh" all day. :-) She related how she is almost blocked talking English with some people and feels her conversation doesn't flow smoothly, yet with other people she finds it really easy and effortless to converse in English. When she confided this effect to her husband, he told her he has the same problem at times.

Mira also related the story of her first con. Having just come from a bitterly divided country, she was a bit apprehensive about meeting fans in this country. When someone came up to her at that first con and warmly said, "Welcome to the family" she got tears in her eyes. She commented on how wonderful all the B5 fans seem to be.

Toward the end of the talk, Mira acknowledged a Forumite that I knew from the J&D IRC chats. Mira was asked what of her works form her acting career were available over here and she mentioned "When Father Was Away on Business". Someone in the audience listed some others and Mira called out their name, Moyra. I strained around looking, but couldn't find out were in the crowd the voice was coming from. After Mira's talk was over my husband and daughter looked up to see me running back into the crowd calling, "Moyra!". I found her and also Heather. :-) It was great to finally meet both of them. I was also able to visit with some Atlanta B5 fans I recognize from year to year.

I'll send in some more about the Friday and Saturday events later.

Chrystie