The John and Delenn Forum, The Warcouncil and The BB Grapevine were all very well represented at this year's Agamemcon in Burbank this past weekend. It is always a joy to reconnect with email friends previously met and with those new to the convention scene. (Does that sound pretentious enough?)

It is always a good sign when your first email buddy shows up while you are at the hotel registration desk. MaryLou tapped me on the shoulder just as I was signing in and when we wandered over to the convention center we immediately connected with Char, Larrisa, Debra and the Weinstock bunch.

The BB Grapevine table was a wonderful tribute to The Bruce Man with wonderful pictures from all of his most popular TV show looks, i.e. the cowboy, the spy, the captain! We caught the tail end of Alec's introduction, specifically his request that the fans think about what questions they are asking in an effort to make the Q & A's a pleasant experience for both the stars and the fans. This of course went over the heads of those it was directed at and provided us with some groans and laughter over the weekend.

Stephen Furst was up first (pun intended) Friday with a talk about directing. Goran Gajic was scheduled to join him but was home with the flu. Stephen did an excellent job considering that he knew he had to be back in a couple of hours to talk about acting. He was highly complementary about the crew and how they went out of their way to make him feel comfortable. Peter Jurasik did have a little fun at his expense when on the first day Stephen was directing he was told that Peter refused to come out of his trailer. When Stephen went to get him he realized that Peter was just playing with him and the prank did lighten the mood for his first day of directing on B5. He was very charming and had a lot of fun with the audience.

Mira Furlan and Tim Choate were up next and Mira looked wonderful and guess what! Tim doesn't look or sound anything like Zathras. Mira talked about feeling that the only thing in her brain is baby stuff and that this was the first time she has left 6 month old Marko home with a baby-sitter so that Goran can try to get over the flu without giving it to Marko. Tim told us about how he almost didn't audition for Zathras. He was going to blow it off but while in the parking lot got an idea of how he could combine an accent with a growling voice and head gestures that was immediately recognized by JMS as what he wanted for Zathras. Tim mentioned that as soon as the make-up is on it all came together and that the teeth almost falling out was the inspiration for the clicking sounds that completed the character. He had no idea that he would come back for additional episodes over the course of the series or that he had a fan following until last year when he went to his first convention. He was very gracious and grateful for all of the fan support.

J. Gregory Keyes, the author of the Psicorp trilogy was up next and he was very interesting in a quiet sort of way. He found it very easy to write the B5 trilogy because of the outline JMS provided and the access he had to Fiona Avery, B5's reference editor, who answered every question he had as he was writing the story. Saturday he read the first chapter of the third book which is due to be published later this year. Stephen Furst returned to talk about acting and shared with us an episode of Freakazoid that featured him voicing a character called "FanBoy"! It was hysterical especially since we had a fan at the convention who was essentially that character and we would refer to that person many times over the weekend when he would get particularly obnoxious. (This may seem unkind but if you have gone to a lot of conventions and have come across these individuals who can ruin it for everyone, I'm sure you can understand where I am coming from. These few people can drive both stars and fans away from conventions and some are in need of serious help. It is a hard call but some mention of FanBoy is necessary to give an accurate picture of our weekend.) I have seen Stephen a couple of times these last few years and this was the most fun he has been. In fact during Q & A he was asked if he ever did any standup and he said no that this was just him. He also mentioned how he gave the wardrobe department a heart attack when he returned from hiatus with his dramatic weight loss. He had called and told them that he had lost some weight but they were expected a few pounds not a skinny Vir. He was only there on Friday because he flew to San Francisco for the rest of the weekend. I hope they had as much fun with him as we did!

Wayne Alexander was up next and boy does he charm my soul. He is such a gentleman in all the good definitions that word implies. His one requirement when he came back to play Lorien was that he be taller than Bruce. He was successful with the Herman Monster boots, long robe, extended head make-up and long fingers that he found at Optic Nerve. One day as a joke he had the make-up people create Lorianne and he said it turned out quite well. Recently he was back on the B5 set to film the character part for the new B5 CDROM Game and finally had a chance to have some input into what his character was saying. He mentioned that with JMS's scripts you could always go to the writer and mention what you thought should be changes and have him say thanks but NO. With the script he got for the game he made several changes that the game producers said okay to. He had about 2 pages of dialogue to deliver without cutting away and he had it all memorized when he showed up for his 5am make-up call and was handed 2 more pages of changes. He was in shock, here he had less than 2 hours to memorize new pages and they were terrible. Janet Greek was directing the segments and he went to her in desperation that the script was terrible and that he couldn't do it. After a few minutes of stringing him along they told him it was ALL A JOKE! He had complained that during the run of B5 no one had ever played a joke on him and now it was his turn.

We had hooked up with Adrina, Karen and Laura during the afternoon and after a lovely dinner catching up we headed for the Bill Mumy concert. Jack Stauffer and Maggie Egan entertained the crowd while Claudia Christian's unexpected appearance gave Debra her first autograph line experience. The room was packed and the sound terrible but Bill's band was excellent and we had an unexpected treat of sitting in the perfect spot to see Shaun Cassidy who was this year's surprise mystery audience member. Claudia joined Bill on stage for 3 numbers from the Bfiver CD. Jane Weinstock fell asleep on the floor and slept thru all the noise of the concert and our party when it moved to the Weinstock suite. The suite was packed and food was plentiful and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The only time it got quiet was when Pam showed a couple of videos that were wonderful. We were beginning to head off to bed when Wayne Alexander and Kim Holly showed up to share in the fun. It was a delightful way to end the first day of the convention.

Saturday started with several of the group attending the Babylon Memories panel, Kim's costuming panel and Working in Make-up but I was visiting and checking out the dealer's room until we got back from lunch to see David Eagle and Goran Gajic on the second directors panel that was scheduled for the weekend. They were joined by one of B5's assistant directors and it was a very informative panel. First of all, Goran is a doll. He wrinkles his nose and laughs just like Mira. He was charming and warm and had a wonderful take on his experience directing his one B5 episode. He was also slated to direct a Crusade episode which was canceled when production shut down after 13 were in the can. The assistant AD mentioned that the one thing that made B5 so easy to work on was that there was only one layer of producers. If there was a question that had to be answered they only had to go to either John Copeland or JMS and that made everything much easier for everyone. David explained that the director was responsible for the creative side of the shoot while the first and second AD's were the set managers that were responsible for the schedules, cast and sets. None of them were willing to give their take on the TNT/Crusade debacle.

Mira Furlan and Andreas Katsulas were up next and they were charming and delightful as always. Mira's real voice is a delight and when I listen to her without looking at her all I hear is Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle. I wish her agent would get on the ball and get her cast for that movie. Her only current project is Marko and Goran. Andreas was happy to take Peter's place and mentioned that he was already home recovering from heart valve replacement without complication. One particular insight Mira offered was that after working for 6 years on B5 she emerged into a Hollywood that did not want to hire anyone over 25. The whole Dawson's Creek/Felicity syndrome has overtaken the industry.

Debra and I missed most of Peter Woodward and David Brooks while waiting in line for Andreas autograph but we had a nice chat with a young man from New York who was also at his first convention and just blown away at how accessible the stars were and how much fun he was having getting autographs that he never thought he could get. Debra was being ambitious in starting the 14 person cast photo but she did pretty good because Claudia and Jeff Conaway showed up unexpectedly and Bill Mumy ended up signing all weekend with Angela Cartwright. John Vickery had his first convention experience and was overwhelmed and amazed at his fan reception. The only unfortunate thing was that he didn't bring any pictures to sign. Maybe next time! Robin Atkin Downes, Jason Carter and Maggie Egan were there all weekend and very on as well! Several of the gang had encounters with the stars and I hope they share them in their reports. It was while Debra and I were waiting in line for Andreas' autograph that we heard that Bruce was not going to be able to make it. It did cast a pall on the rest of the afternoon.

Peter Woodward and David Allen Brooks were charming and David was much more comfortable then he had been at Loscon last Thanksgiving. Adrina admitted liking Peter a lot even though she is one who does not warm to Galen at all. Both Peter and David are under contract until the end of July so that a save Crusade campaign will need to be successful before everyone is released from their contracts. We headed off to the bar after the Free Enterprise panel and were briefly visited by both Wayne Alexander and Andreas Katsulas. I tried to get Larrisa and Char to ask David Allen Brooks to join us for drinks but the timing was off and he headed out the door with a wave.

Behind the scenes break. Most of you probably know that Pam Buck is the director of guest relations for Agamemcon and she worked long and hard to get Bruce to appear for free representing the National Space Society. She knows that guests can cancel at a moments notice but because they are well treated by the con most of the B5 people show up when asked. This year was unusual in that Claudia and Jeff showed up without much prior warning and that Peter's cancellation was because of heart surgery. Saturday when she got the call that Bruce couldn't make it because Melissa was on strict bedrest because of a recurring neck injury, it almost broke her heart. She knew that there were people in our group who had traveled across the country just to see Bruce and the disappointment she felt for them was terrible. Also in a few hours she was going to have to host the masquerade which is an amateur fashion show that can be a disaster if there is not enough humor in the delivery. While we were in the bar we watched a behind the scenes moment in action. Wayne Alexander was so concerned about Bruce not showing up that he called him to try and see if anything could be worked out. He also tried to get Jerry Doyle's number to see if he might be available to take Bruce's place. Kim Holly, B5's costumer, had brought several costumes to show in her Saturday morning panel and she had something up her sleeve for Pam and Alec at the masquerade so while all this Bruce stuff was happening Pam was trying to get ready for the masquerade. We had not planned on attending the Masquerade because we were having a ball visiting but we all felt that we wanted to support Pam and when she and Alec came out in full Entilza garb we were all glad we went. MaryLou got a little feisty while we waited for the awards to be given but one of the highlights of the con were the four music videos someone from England sent to the con. It was a good way to spend the time waiting for the judges to finish. The Sleeping in Light J & D tribute left our entire row in tears. Even Alec mentioned hearing sniffles throughout the room. The quality of the silence that pervades a room where fans of the show watch B5 together is something that has to be experienced to believe. For almost 20 minutes there was B5 magic in the room as these videos played. Pam did a terrific job as master of ceremonies and even made it through the tough announcement that Bruce was not going to make it Sunday. We headed off to another terrific dinner and shared what movie had been our first shocker that exposed us to something we had never knew existed or otherwise had been an AHA experience. As always we talked until we were in danger of nodding off!

Allison had made arrangements for the gang to have a meeting Sunday morning and it was going to be a somber affair but just as a smoke alarm went off in the con suite, Alec got a call from Bruce that he had been able to get someone to help Melissa out and that he would be there in time for his 1pm panel. The gang had staked out their 2 rows during the make-up demo and we were all in place for the International Space Station meeting sponsored by Oasis and featuring our man Bruce Boxleitner. He was a little late but no one minded. The ISS experts did their thing and it was very informative and then Bruce contributed his part in the discussion and everyone in the audience was attentive and appreciative of his effort to be there if only for a few hours. His second panel about writing was canceled so that he could sign which he did for a couple of hours before heading off into the sunset. Laura got to give him a present she made for him and Melissa and after many pictures and a few minutes of watching the autographing session a bunch of us headed off for lunch. Most of us had decided that we were not going to get additional Bruce autographs because of his limited time and most of us had gotten them at VOR. We did hear that BoxBoots did get her moment with the man and I hope she shares it on the forum. Allison also shared her moment and Bruce did get to see the terrific fan table the Weinstock family had put together. Bruce signed for everyone and drove off happy with the glow that comes from good fan interaction.

It was while heading off to lunch Sunday that we had one of the best laughs of the weekend. Earlier I had mentioned FanBoy and he had been somewhat obnoxious at each panel that featured the actors. Fortunately after the first panel they put a moderator in to pick the questions so that he did not monopolize the panels. So we head out the door and spot poor Debra in line patiently waiting for her Bruce autograph and who should be standing right next to her put FanBoy. I busted up and pointed out the situation to Char and the gang and we carried the miserable look of Debra into lunch. We joke about being bum magnets but she won the prize this weekend. And this was her first convention. I hope that was her only unpleasant experience but try to imagine standing for over an hour next to the most obnoxious person in the world who is probably trying to talk with you and the kicker was he didn't even want an autograph. He just wanted to shake Bruce's hand which since he was a VOR he had probably already done. Too weird.

We headed back for the feedback session and other than issues with the hotel reservations no one had anything to bitch about. They all had a ball and loved the variety of programming. One entire track was the Oasis space programming and if the only complaint was there was too much to choose from Alec was happy. The behind the scenes production stuff was also appreciated and Alec's partner mentioned that that was why they had started putting on the convention in the first place, to show things about television production that was not available at other venues. It was so successful that they have already announced Agamemcon 4 for the last weekend in June next year. They had at least 500 people by Saturday but it never felt crowded or empty.

All weekend we had a giggle fest and it was great to talk with old friends and new. I hope that our get togethers continue and that the whole convention thing is not on the way out. We were given a flyer for a September convention in Las Vegas and I will probably be attending the Fantasticon weekend in LA the first weekend in August. Let me know if anyone else in the area would like to get together for dinner Saturday night, July 31st at the LA Airport Hilton. I hope that the conversations others had with the actors will be posted on the Forum and Warcouncil and I will be happy to edit together another report for Brent's web site with a couple of pictures I took. I know that Karen will also be posting her pictures and that Allison will be updating her site as well. I hope that you can get a sense of the flavor of these weekends and that you might want to join the party in the future.

***To Strive To Seek To Find And Not To Yield***
********To Stand Against the Dark or Perish********