WEP ANNOUNCES A NEW LEVEL OF FAN INVOLVEMENT IN V3D

April 1st, 2000,  St. Louis, MO: World Events
Productions, creators of the computer generated series 
'Voltron: The Third Dimension", announces that their
upcoming third season will include a character created
by one of the show's fan base.  The character, Mira,
was created by graphic artist Marie E. Antoon, better
known by her online name of "Mea", for her fan-fiction
on her site,"V4, Past, Present & Future" 
(www.stkp.com/V4/). The character, an old friend of the
Voltron Force and a member of Galaxy Garrison, will
appear in two soon to be written episodes in the
upcoming season.  The shows producers hope that the
introduction of the new character will strengthen the
shows ratings among girls age 6-13 by giving them a new
character to identify with.

Negotiations with Ms. Antoon began several months ago.

'When I got the first letter... my jaw hit the floor,"
says Marie. "I didn't think it was real.  I still
don't, if you can believe that, but so far, it's been
great working with them.  I had to sign over a lot of
the rights, but I still get a lot of say on what
happens to the character, which is more than I
expected, and I actually like where it's going.  It's
pretty cool."

"It's not entirely unprecedented," says executive
producer Bill Schultz."Both Warner Brothers and Hanna
Barabara have produced fan-written episodes before. 
This time we're letting one of the fans become involved
in the development process.  After all, they ARE the
ones watching it, we hope.  They certainly complain
about it enough." 

Kevin Harlan, managing director at WEP mentions that
WEP has endeavored to stay in contact with their core
fan base through their website at www.voltronforce.com,
through chats with members of show's production as well
as the incorporation of one fan's detailed star map of
the Voltron Universe.

"Shannon Muir's Star Map was the first step," adds
Kevin. "We've been keeping watch over a lot of the fan
sites since we had a web page contest.  Mostly we did
the contest to see if there was anyone we'd need to
sue, but then we decided that maybe we could get them
to do some of the creative work for us for a lot less
money.  Say... that was off the record, wasn't it?"

Says series story editor and head writer Marc
Handler:"The character Mira is going to be fun to
develop.  I"ve wanted to have some romantic tension in
the series for a while now, but WEP wouldn't let me do
it with Allura and Keith.  Now that Mira"s being
brought in as Lance's old flame, I'd like to see them
stop me now!"

Marc continues:"As far as I know, this is a first.  And
I've enjoyed working with Marie , even when she wrote
me into that silly round robin of hers.  No wait, that
was Tamy... or was it both of them? Actually, I'm not
supposed to read the sites, unless I get accused of
plagiarism.  Imagine that!  Oh, by now, you've probably
realized that there's something a little wrong here,
and you'd be right.  Mea's using me a voice to tell you
all happy April fool's day and that this whole press
release, and the whole story about her making a deal
with WEP is one big fat joke.  She'd tell you herself,
but I think she's looking for cover when the tomatoes
start flying.  Don't worry, she'll publically come
clean on April 2nd; at least that's what she told me to
say.  Let me reiterate, there is no deal between WEP
and Mea, but she still wishes you a happy April fool's
day, even if she isn't here to say so herself."

Season 3 of "Voltron: The Third Dimension" is expected
to premier in May of 2000, but don't count on it.