17:46:47 : Moderator says, "howdy!"
17:47:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "I think we're ready to start"
17:48:05 : Steve_charendoff says, "I am the entertainment director at Fleer Skybox"
17:48:11 : Steve_charendoff says, "Please start any questions now"
17:49:00 : Moderator says, "Welcome to tonights chat. We have with us Steve Charendoff of Fleer slybox."
17:49:10 : Moderator says, "that is skybox"
17:49:43 : Steve_charendoff says, "I'm the guy responsible for developing all of the enertainment trading cards -- including Babylon 5"
17:49:49 : Steve_charendoff says, "I don't think so"
17:50:13 : Steve_charendoff says, "I'm the guy who goes out to get the actors to sign and sign up autographs"
17:51:10 : Steve_charendoff says, "I approve all the photos for the cards, and the layout of the cards."
17:51:19 : Steve_charendoff says, "I make suggestions to Joe and John about what we'd like for each pro"
17:51:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "duct"
17:51:45 : Steve_charendoff says, "They have been great to work with, because JOe is a collector and he knows a bit about collecting and steering us in bet"
17:51:47 : Steve_charendoff says, "er directions"
17:52:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "A story ..."
17:52:46 : Steve_charendoff says, "At the end of the series last year, we'd like to have some autgraphs, if we had a joe straczynski autograph card in the set -- that'd be cool"
17:53:00 : Steve_charendoff says, "It'd be like getting an autograph from Gene Roddenberry for a ST s"
17:53:26 : Steve_charendoff says, "So we approached JOe -- and to make a long story short, we traded some "special trading cards" for his autograph."
17:53:38 : Steve_charendoff says, "A lot of times people want money -- but he just wanted the cards!"
17:53:57 : Steve_charendoff says, "He was the first person to sign on as autographed."
17:54:12 : Steve_charendoff says, "Back in Fall 96"
17:54:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "Only a year and a half later -- boy! what a difference does this year and a half make!"
17:54:40 : Steve_charendoff says, "TNT has been helping out with that succes"
17:54:43 : Moderator says, "Welcome to the Auditorium. Tonight's guest is Steve Charendoff of Fleer Skybox.."
17:55:01 : Moderator says, "He's the preson who knows most about the Babylon 5 trading cards"
17:55:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "Originally our babylon 5 cards were scheduled to come out in 97, but we changed our minds when we found out about TNT"
17:55:19 : Steve_charendoff says, "We wanted to synch our series with the new eps on TNT ... and the results were really stunning."
17:55:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "They were totally sold out -- first day of release!"
17:55:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "We have never had an entertainment card set SELL OUT on the first day of release!"
17:55:46 : Moderator says, "next question?"
17:55:55 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#85 from Bruckner:
Will you be doing any more first season retrospectives?
17:56:03 : Steve_charendoff says, "TNT had a lot to do with that ... talking to everyone."
17:56:41 : Steve_charendoff says, "(one second) answer coming"
17:57:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "YES!"
17:57:16 : Steve_charendoff says, "One of the great situations with B5 from a marketing standpoint, is that the show"
17:57:33 : Steve_charendoff says, "whilte it will continue on, after season 5, the fundamental initial story arc is going to come to an end"
17:57:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "What we're going to do, sometime in the future, is do a fundamental recap of the 5 y"
17:57:52 : Steve_charendoff says, "yearars"
17:58:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "All the major characters who have appeared..."
17:58:16 : Steve_charendoff says, "OF course when Michael O;'Hare was on the show, and the oroginal pilot.."
17:58:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "THAT is something to look forward to ..."
17:58:38 : Steve_charendoff says, "It's very likely to go back and provide an overall history if you will..."
17:58:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "an all emcompassing card set."
17:58:49 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next ?"
17:59:16 : Moderator says, "Sorry for the delay"
17:59:21 : Steve_charendoff says, "np"
17:59:32 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#87 from Bruckner:
How do you decide what kinds of cards will be included in a
set -- chase cards, autographs, etc.
17:59:50 : Steve_charendoff says, "(one moment)"
18:00:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "Well, we look around and see what we've already done..."
18:00:32 : Steve_charendoff says, "we try not to repeat too many things from one series to the next..."
18:00:42 : Steve_charendoff says, "with this past set, it was a challenge, because we had done a lot already..."
18:00:52 : Steve_charendoff says, "one popularity in all of the collectibles, are the autographs..."
18:01:00 : Steve_charendoff says, "we had success with the JMS autograph ..."
18:01:08 : Steve_charendoff says, "That card is now valued at about $300"
18:01:15 : Steve_charendoff says, "That's a great price!...."
18:01:25 : Steve_charendoff says, "Then we had Mira Furlan sign for us ... very popular"
18:01:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "It's also $"
18:01:34 : Steve_charendoff says, "300"
18:01:36 : Steve_charendoff says, "..."
18:01:46 : Steve_charendoff says, "It seemed that there was a strong demand for those autographs..."
18:01:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next ?"
18:02:01 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#89 from Bruckner:
Some of the pictures are screen captures. Is that because
better photos weren't available? I am thinking of Melissa Gilbert
or Marjorie Monaghan.
18:02:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "(one moment)"
18:03:35 : Steve_charendoff says, "Sometimes that's difficult..."
18:03:50 : Steve_charendoff says, "There are at times, limited photos available and there's an episodes, for example, Meliss..."
18:04:07 : Steve_charendoff says, "if the unit photographer isn't available when she's shooting, then we're only able to use video grabs..."
18:04:12 : Steve_charendoff says, "that's not our first preference..."
18:04:29 : Steve_charendoff says, "it is far LESS expensive to use photography, than it is toget video grab ..."
18:04:33 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:04:38 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#90 from Scotsman:
Is there already, or are there plans to be a set of cards detailing
the 'technology' of Babylon 5?
18:05:00 : Steve_charendoff says, "That may very well be a major part of the next series..."
18:05:12 : Steve_charendoff says, "I think what we have not exploredi in enough detail yet is the tech aspects of the show"
18:05:18 : Steve_charendoff says, "and how the show is actually made.."
18:05:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "how do they make Babylon 5 -- visually it's the most stunning TV shows ever..."
18:05:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "the technology used to create the special effects is cutting edge and we want to go into detail on that"
18:05:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?"
18:06:04 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#96 from Deano:
ask/ is there any plans of making a sequence picture in the
next series?
18:06:21 : Steve_charendoff says, "a sequence picture?"
18:06:36 : Steve_charendoff says, "do you mean sky motion?"
18:06:48 : Moderator says, "I think they mean 4 cards adding up to a poster?"
18:06:57 : Steve_charendoff says, "oh I see!"
18:07:12 : Steve_charendoff says, "very likely there will be in one upcoming set (the recapture of the 5 years)"
18:07:20 : Steve_charendoff says, "we will have some subsets like that..."
18:07:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "where there may be some timelines created ... in 4-9 card blocks"
18:07:34 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next question?"
18:07:40 : Steve_charendoff says, "so that they fit together like a puzzle."
18:07:53 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#93 from Bruckner:
I was glad to see some cards of the production of the show.
Will you do more like that? Say Peter Funk applying makeup to Peter
Jurasik or wardrobe designing the Kosh encounter suit?
18:07:56 : Steve_charendoff says, "What would you LIKE to see? (feel free to moderate thiose responses)"
18:08:16 : Steve_charendoff says, "Yes definitely"
18:08:30 : Steve_charendoff says, "those are the kinds of aspects of putting together a truly collectible card set that are very important..."
18:08:41 : Steve_charendoff says, "there are great opportunities there... next question?"
18:08:46 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#99 from Cynclair:
What has been the reaction to the alien text cards?
18:09:09 : Steve_charendoff says, "it's been actually great!.."
18:09:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "I think besdies the fact that it's tough to complete the entire set, I think that the fans are interested and knowing about the languages more specifically..."
18:09:34 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?"
18:09:52 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#91 from Dr_rock:
Do you have problems with forged trading cards, they seem to
be almost an economic system in themselves
18:10:29 : Steve_charendoff says, "The very simple answer is we don't have probs with that ..."
18:10:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "the costs to do that, to try and duplicate our cards, the cost to do so is prohibitive..."
18:10:56 : Steve_charendoff says, "beyond that, we have a very astute security officer who TRACKS down people like a pitbull..."
18:11:10 : Steve_charendoff says, "who do this sort of thing ... typically you find that problem with very expensive cards ..."
18:11:18 : Steve_charendoff says, "like the Michale Jordan rookie card..."
18:11:30 : Steve_charendoff says, "printing is not cheap, and you can't fool people easliy that way."
18:11:36 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next question?"
18:11:55 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#88 from Koshka:
This Q is actually for K57. She got some defective cards and
wants to know how she can exchange them.
18:12:19 : Steve_charendoff says, "Best thing to do is to call our collector support dept...."
18:12:24 : Moderator says, "Does it happen ofter that there are printing errors?"
18:12:39 : Steve_charendoff says, "phone number is (800) 338-1347"
18:12:50 : Steve_charendoff says, "I think that's the way to get to our collector support g"
18:12:58 : Steve_charendoff says, "failing that, people can always contact me."
18:13:08 : Steve_charendoff says, "I never mind hearing from collectors -- cause I like to take care of people..."
18:13:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "but we need verified requests and we don't make exchanges without proof positive that it's a problblem."
18:13:32 : Steve_charendoff says, "Errors are rare."
18:13:36 : Steve_charendoff says, "Ocasionally..."
18:13:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "when we practice the cards it can be mechanically damaging."
18:13:58 : Steve_charendoff says, "sorry when we package the cards..."
18:14:18 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:14:21 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#94 from Purple:
Hello How do you get the stars to autograph their cards?
18:14:34 : Steve_charendoff says, "The stars are very cooperative...."
18:14:52 : Steve_charendoff says, "We work in a combination of efforts, we work through the WB business affiars office"
18:14:57 : Steve_charendoff says, "to contact actors and agents."
18:15:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "many times I speak to them directly...."
18:15:07 : Steve_charendoff says, "They're gracious."
18:15:10 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:15:13 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#105 from Purple:
How many cards are in a full set usually?
18:15:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "Including all of the basic cards and bonus cards and augtorgraphs, tuypically around 120 cards and so..."
18:15:57 : Steve_charendoff says, "except with the last set we had a parallel version, so there were 81 more cards than usual..."
18:16:04 : Steve_charendoff says, "That can make a set expand to 200 or more cards."
18:16:07 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:16:11 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#92 from Psilady:
Steve, thanks for being here. I've only recently gotten into
the cards and have SE and S4 thru the fan club. Are there any chain
stores that carry them? I haven't been able to find them.
18:16:39 : Steve_charendoff says, "Very few stores carry them, unfortuantely..."
18:16:49 : Steve_charendoff says, "Toys R Us, has been one of our more dedicated account"
18:16:56 : Steve_charendoff says, "in terms of selling..."
18:17:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "the best advice is..."
18:17:18 : Steve_charendoff says, "if you want to find older sets, find a card dealer or hobby store, or even better, there are magazines"
18:17:26 : Steve_charendoff says, "that are specifically geared toward trading cards, one of them"
18:17:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "is non sport update...."
18:17:39 : Steve_charendoff says, "telephone 717-238-1936"
18:17:42 : Steve_charendoff says, "a"
18:17:46 : Steve_charendoff says, "and"
18:17:55 : Steve_charendoff says, "tuff stuff collect...."
18:18:01 : Steve_charendoff says, "is another magazine."
18:18:05 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?"
18:18:10 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#106 from B5fanatic:
It's always so hard to get a hold of the holograms and the autographed
ones, will there be "complete" sets offered?
18:18:45 : Steve_charendoff says, "No... that is the good news and bad news of collecting trading cards."
18:18:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "The good news ..."
18:18:53 : Steve_charendoff says, "we make autographs available..."
18:18:58 : Steve_charendoff says, "the bad news is that they are limited..."
18:19:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question."
18:19:09 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#100 from Psilady:
it would be interesting to see the character juxtaposed with
the actor
18:19:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "That's a good thought"
18:19:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "next comment/question?"
18:19:30 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#107 from Seth:
Can you shed any light on the differences between US vs. International
cards? For example, it seems that the international Series II boxes had
no laser-cuts, but had a 5x7 card in every box.
18:20:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "so far that's the only babylon 5 product that we have made that has an international version.."
18:20:15 : Steve_charendoff says, "we found that it was not as productive for us or collectors to have two different versions..."
18:20:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "because the US wanted the international and vice versa"
18:20:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "next quest"
18:20:32 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#102 from Bruckner:
On the CGI cards, are you dealing with slides or film clips
for the actual pictures that are printed for the cards?
18:21:18 : Steve_charendoff says, "CGI imagery is created by Netter Digital, who make the show, and we request the images from Netter, and they're great at making suggestions for things we want to have."
18:21:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "The star fury nose art was the particular favorite of John Copeland..."
18:21:30 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:21:43 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#104 from Dr_rock:
are there situations where a priniting error can make a card
more valuable. more unique?
18:22:20 : Steve_charendoff says, "Yes, but only if the card error is corrective and there would be two versions. most of the time we don't correct the errors."
18:22:23 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next question?"
18:22:35 : Moderator says, "Tonight's guest is Steve Charendoff of Fleer/skybox."
18:22:52 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#108 from Seth:
When planning a set, how much consideration is given to the
difficulty of completing a set. I'm not talking about autographs, but things
like the lenticulars, etc. In Series II, the trivia was a real pain, and
in Season 4, the lenticulars are impractical for casual collectors, too...
18:23:27 : Steve_charendoff says, "We basically try to make it as hard as possible! (JUST KIDDING)"
18:23:31 : Moderator says, "Next week. We have two very special guests. Pat Tallman and Robin Atkin Downes."
18:23:50 : Steve_charendoff says, "We want to make some things hard ..."
18:23:57 : Steve_charendoff says, "because it's an interesting dynamic..."
18:24:03 : Steve_charendoff says, "if we make things too hard, people complain"
18:24:07 : Steve_charendoff says, "and if you make it too easy ..."
18:24:16 : Steve_charendoff says, "people complain that it's too easy and not valuable..."
18:24:21 : Steve_charendoff says, "so it's a delicate balance"
18:24:32 : Steve_charendoff says, "Part of the analysis is simply the cost of producing certaint types of cards."
18:24:33 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#110 from Purple:
Is there food cards Like Spoo Flarn and Breen and a tentacled
food - viewed popularly in the bloopers
18:25:07 : Steve_charendoff says, "one moment..."
18:26:11 : Steve_charendoff says, "we haven't yet, but if you can ask the question on paper and send it to me, I'll consider it!"
18:26:14 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question"
18:26:17 : Steve_charendoff says, "(It's a great idea!)"
18:26:22 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#109 from B5fanatic:
Has the B5 fleer cards become more popular? are there
more cards being distributed?
18:27:21 : Steve_charendoff says, "there are not more cards being distributed right now, because we didn't make more cards, and that's a conscscious decision to make them special and long term value..."
18:27:35 : Steve_charendoff says, "in the future we will probably increase production since there are more fans now than even a few months ago"
18:27:41 : Steve_charendoff says, "but we always want to do a sell out"
18:27:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?"
18:27:48 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#114 from A_treebeard:
have you considered a numeric episode list for characters on
the back of the card?
18:28:41 : Steve_charendoff says, "The set that we produced that we talked of earlier (With recapping the 5 years) with greater depth, will probably do a lot of t"
18:28:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?."
18:28:57 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#116 from Purple:
Are you going to have picture cards of 5th season characters
like Byron?
18:29:06 : Steve_charendoff says, "Yes."
18:29:09 : Steve_charendoff says, "next question?"
18:29:20 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#103 from Scotsman:
I think I'd like to see cards with the actors in and out of
makup, or perhaps general pictures of conventions with quotes from folk
like JMS about the b5 phenominon on the whole
18:29:30 : Steve_charendoff says, "my goal is a set that has one pic of any person that's ever had a speaking aprt of nthe show... cool n'est pa?"
18:29:58 : Steve_charendoff says, "actors in and out of costume is a great idea..."
18:30:06 : Steve_charendoff says, "it takes the cooperation of the actor to do that ..."
18:30:16 : Steve_charendoff says, "we only have the rights to make cards of the actors in costume..."
18:30:26 : Steve_charendoff says, "but it's not difficult to do that ... in terms of JMS..."
18:30:45 : Steve_charendoff says, "if I could have JMS write every card and give us his personal thoughts on everything -- that would be a happy day. Unfortunately his time is limited."
18:30:52 : Steve_charendoff says, "We certainly strive to have more of his personal thoughts."
18:30:54 : Steve_charendoff says, "Next?"
18:31:14 : Moderator says, " I have a question: Will we see more cast members, like William Forward, doing autographed cards?"
18:31:29 : Steve_charendoff says, "Yes."
18:31:43 : Steve_charendoff says, "We haven't even scratched the surface on how many people will inevitably sign cards"
18:31:47 : Steve_charendoff says, "for us"
18:31:54 : Steve_charendoff says, "Hint as to what's coming <G>"
18:32:06 : Steve_charendoff says, "I'd like to know specifically who you would value as an autograph card"
18:32:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "we've covered most of the major cast ... just a few who we havn't gotten..."
18:32:26 : Steve_charendoff says, "next?"
18:32:47 : Moderator says, "Do you have an email address people can email their request to or should I have them email me? karen@thestation.com"
18:33:20 : Steve_charendoff says, "email is scharendoff@flrsbx.com"
18:33:37 : Steve_charendoff says, "please send me your requests for autographed cards or other comments."
18:33:53 : Steve_charendoff says, "anyone who sends me an idea for a cardset with a self addressed envelope, I'l lsend a promo card."
18:34:10 : Steve_charendoff says, "1120 Route 73"
18:34:19 : Steve_charendoff says, "Mt Laurel, NJ 08054"
18:34:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "Attn: Steve Charendoff"
18:34:32 : Steve_charendoff says, "Fleer Skybox"
18:34:57 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#117 from Adec:
Are there any plans for behind the scenes cards showing and
detailing different aspects of the production side of the show?
18:35:03 : Steve_charendoff says, "I will send you a complimentary present if you send a self addressed stamped envelope and your comments for suggestions for cards to me."
18:35:24 : Steve_charendoff says, "Like I said earlier, there will be something like that yes."
18:35:28 : Steve_charendoff says, "next?"
18:36:02 : Moderator says, " I will post this informationon the cultural center"
18:36:04 : Steve_charendoff says, "so that's"
18:36:15 : Steve_charendoff says, "yes, thanks."
18:36:24 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#120 from B5fanatic:
Season 3 cards were well done, and I liked the trivia, is there
trivia this season for the cards?
18:36:44 : Steve_charendoff says, "No, our trivia ran out of gas."
18:36:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "But the next set we may go back."
18:36:52 : Steve_charendoff says, "next?"
18:37:05 : Steve_charendoff says, "last question?"
18:37:23 : Moderator says, "Hold on let me look for a good one."
18:37:27 : Steve_charendoff says, "ok"
18:37:47 : Steve_charendoff says, "find us a really good one... no slackin :)"
18:38:28 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#113 from Seth:
Any plans for future cards to be less limited (more than 20000
boxes)?
18:38:51 : Steve_charendoff says, "20K right now would probably be the upper limits for the next product."
18:39:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "After that, we'll see how much more popular the show becomes."
18:39:26 : Steve_charendoff says, "It's a plesasure to have what I think is the marquee property in entertainment cards heading into the next century!"
18:39:38 : Steve_charendoff says, "I tell people all the time you can have any property you want, but give me babylon 5"
18:39:48 : Steve_charendoff says, "because this is the next major entertainment phenonemon that lasts for days."
18:39:51 : Moderator presents the speaker with question
#122 from Purple:
Thanks for coming to chat with us Will you come back and chat
other times?
18:40:13 : Steve_charendoff says, "lasts for years (typo)"
18:40:17 : Moderator says, "Thank you Steve for coming tonight."
18:40:19 : Steve_charendoff says, "I will certainly come back!"
18:40:27 : Steve_charendoff says, "Thank you for having"
18:40:31 : Steve_charendoff says, "me"
18:40:45 : Steve_charendoff says, "Babylon 5 has been our most solid performer and it's shown the most growht."
18:41:02 : Steve_charendoff says, "Thanks for having us ... thanks for representing us?!"
18:41:06 : Steve_charendoff says, "Goodnight :)"
18:41:26 : Moderator says, "Next week we will have Pat Tallman and Robin Atkin Downes in our auditorium. Same time. same place. that is 9:00 pm EST"
18:43:40 : Moderator says, "To exit the auditorium, press
the yellow square and select comlink."
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