Sunday at the Con

X: Ya know, Gabrielle...looking out at the cosmos...

G: Don't go there...

 

Sunday started with more music video entries, Renee rehearsing Macbeth (from the Fan Club kit #6), and on to David Franklin.

I found David to be quite a charming fellow. He has a boyish quality to him that I found really endearing. He is visiting from Australia and this was his first con.

His path to Xena started when he contacted his agent and said that he wanted to be on the show. His agent told him, "Forget it. It's a Kiwi show, they don't hire Aussies." Undaunted, he told his agent to tell the Xena people he was visiting New Zealand for one day to attend a wedding, and he'd like to read for them. He did the reading and went home. Much to his delight, he heard from them a few days later and he'd gotten the part.

His first day on the set, the script called for him to be dragged behind a horse. "Cool," he thought as he looked around for his stunt double. There was no stunt double. He was going to be dragged. "And I fought for this," he chuckled.

He said when he meets Xena fans, their first instinct is to smile, but then they remember he's Brutus and the smile turns into a leer…"Ephiny Killer!!" he shouted with evil delight. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I didn't know she was an icon!"

Someone asked if he thought Brutus was an honorable man. Without hesitation, David said, "Absolutely." The fan noted that Brutus seemed to change after Caesar was killed. "Yeah, of course," he replied seriously. "Imagine if everything you believed in, built your life around, was a lie. He worshiped Caesar and everything that he stood for, and he found that his man had feet of clay. He was devastated."

He talked a bit about Farscape, where he plays Captain Braca (he wanted it understood that he got a promotion and was no longer a Lieutenant <g>). When asked who he worked for, Scorpius or Commandant Cleavage (Grayza), he said "Oo. I don't think I can tell you that, can I? Don't blame you for asking, though." (smile) He did say that it is a double, triple, quadruple cross. "Does that help?" he smiled again. He said in the Farscape world, you have to "Give head to get ahead." (LOL)

He was an awful lot of fun. I hope he continues to do the Convention circuit. (Um, David? DragonCon Aug 29th- Sept 2nd Atlanta, GA <g>)

Next was the final charity auction which ran way over time, but was well worth it. The generosity of the Xenaverse cannot be overstated. Most of the items were donated by fans. The large Xena banner that went for $6200 the day before, was donated back and went the second time for $2000, it was promptly donated back again, and brought $1000. Wow.

An original Chakram signed by both Lucy and Renee brought $5200, and the Armor outfit that Lucy wore in The Bitter Suite (in Illusia) brought $3600, and came with an incredibly sweet note from Lucy. They also auctioned off her Annie costume from Soul Possession (shoes, glasses, wristwatch, necklace and dirty socks included <g>), her "rag" outfit from Destiny, one of the "pregnancy" leather outfits, and the sake bottle from her ill fated drunken night in Higuchi. Some talented fans made some beautiful quilts with scenes from the show sewn into them and donated them to, I believe, the Kevin Smith Fund. Beautiful.

Again, I apologize for not knowing the specific charity that these items went to. I know that most of the costumes that were donated went to the Kevin Smith Fund, and all of the costumes were signed and came with a personal note from Lucy. The rest went to Starship, I believe.

You guys are fantastic.

Katherine Fugate up next. What a delight. She fielded a few questions about When Fates Collide, and said that if there was one thing she hoped people took from the episode, it was the message that every step we take in our lives is the right one, we are the sum total of all our experiences, good and bad. We need to learn to forgive ourselves and in doing that, learn to love ourselves.

Someone asked about Gabrielle's destruction of the loom, and Katherine said that it was meant to show that there was a higher power above the fates that encompassed everything, so when the world that the fates created was destroyed, the true world was brought back to them.

Katherine then stunned the room with the news that she had been asked to write the script for a Xena movie (and there was much rejoicing!). She said she had met with Universal, and was quick to emphasize that it's all very rudimentary right now, but the process has started. It's one step in a very long path to an actual movie. In the end, it's up to Universal to approve of her as the writer, and she is not the only writer they will look at. She also added that there's nothing the fans can to do influence that, like writing to Universal, etc… it's Universal's money, their decision. The fact that she has a few movie projects in the works is in her favor, but we will just have to see what Universal decides. She did say if there is a Xena movie, it will be Renee and Lucy, no recasting the leads. She also made one stipulation if she was going to be the writer, and that was that the subtext would be honored. When asked if they would be portrayed as a couple, she said there are many ways to portray a loving relationship without sex, or clubbing people over the head with it, in fact if you want global acceptance you'll get farther being subtle.

Screams of "We want a kiss!" rang out, and she grinned and said, "Hey, I tried my best with my episode," alluding to the fact that her original script had a kiss in the jail scene. "If I write the movie I'll put one in," she laughed. "They will both be in their own bodies, no one will be dead, and water will not be involved." Someone in the audience then screamed out "Hot tub!!" Katherine laughed. "And the whole film will take place in a hot tub." (LOL)

She was asked to take a poll of the audience as to when the movie should take place: Pick up where FIN left off, go back before the 25 year sleep in the ice cave, or after the 25 year sleep, but before FIN (the last two were met with huge groans of disapproval). Picking up where FIN left off seemed to be what the crowd wanted.

Naturally, the next question was, "How would you do that?" She mentioned Egypt as a possibility, the mythology of Isis and Osiris, specifically.

She was asked whether Ares would be part of the storyline and how would she handle that, or would she just leave that character out of it. She said that would be hard, because there are so many emotions involved and she'd prefer not to deal with that, but in the end it's not her decision. If Universal wants a story with Ares, it's going to have to be dealt with.

She mentioned that her movie, Carolina, with Julia Stiles and Shirley Maclaine is due out at the end of March, she also mentioned that Renee was supposed to be in Carolina, but wasn't able to, due to her pregnancy.

She has another project that begins filming in March (Prince and the Freshman, also with Julia Stiles), and she is penning another project based on the last days of Pompeii. She also mentioned a project with Gillian Anderson.

She was very touched by the many fans that said her episode and writing had inspired them, and she humbly thanked them and asked that they please pass that inspiration along.

<gush alert> Katherine Fugate is one of my favorite guests, and favorite people, and the fact that she penned my favorite episode, on my favorite TV show, is only the reason I know her, not the reason I love her. She is one of the most giving people I have ever met. Super, super nice lady, and a dern good writer to boot. <gush over>

Next up we saw the next installment of Claire Stansfield's doll films, "Bad Ass Babes Part 2". Starring, Claire, as Alti, Danielle Cormack, as an Amazon, and Tim Omundson, as Jesus. Yes, it was as irreverent as it sounds, and in the credits, Claire even thanked God and asked his forgiveness. LOL.

On came Claire, gorgeous as ever in her leather trench coat unbuttoned down to 'dare <g>. She talked a little bit about what she's doing now, busy with her clothes line, and as she's said at previous cons, she's really not into acting anymore, doesn't really have a passion for it (but she did say she'd love to play Alti again).

She told a few Xena stories, one about her first day on the set. She said she was a little embarrassed when she heard herself doing the Alti voice, and it came out rather small and puny, but soon she was embracing the character and was in full gravelly "Xena's little bitch" mode. She said she had no idea about the subtext thing when Alti first shows up with the young girl for Xena. "I show up with this young chick, and I'm like offering her to Xena or something, and I don't know what the hell's going on. I'm like here (pushing the girl in the tent), and there's Xena doing it doggy style under the bearskins with Borias and I'm like, What the fuck?" LOL. Claire tried hard not to curse, and then asked who had a question she could answer without saying the word fuck. Claire, Claire, Claire. Gotta love her.

She said she was over at Lucy's house, going over the Friday Night Cabaret, thing and she could tell that Lucy was just dying to show up on Friday night to join in the fun. "One more drink would have done it," Claire laughed. (can you imagine!!) Dang.

After Claire came Victoria Pratt. Vicky had a great time on stage. She started her panel with a CD giveaway, Shalimar's Mix, she called it (after her character on Mutant X). It was kind of a trivia contest, but it was pretty hard, and when no one could answer the questions, she laughed and said we sucked, LOL.

She talked a lot about Mutant X and most of the questions were about Mutant X. She talked about the changes in the show from season one, the changes in the cast and storyline, and Eugene Glazer is going to be on soon (he was Operations (Paul) on La Femme Nikita), playing her father. She announced that Mutant X had been picked up for a third season.

Someone asked if she was really naked in the clothes swapping scene in Adventures in the Sin Trade, and she said she and Lucy were both naked and filming took like all day. She finally had to tell the crew, "Yeah, we're naked, get over it." (chuckle)

The final guest at the Con was Adrienne Wilkinson. I had never seen Adrienne at a con before and to be honest, I couldn't stand Eve on the show. But Adrienne is not Eve, so I had an open mind <g>. Let me just say right now that she was wonderful. Effervescent comes to mind. Smart, funny, thoroughly entertaining.

She has a fledgling production company, so she talked a little bit about that, and then fielded questions from the audience. When asked which character on Xena she liked better, it was a no brainer. Livia was infinitely more interesting than Eve. When asked how she would have made Eve more interesting, she said, "I would have made her smarter. I mean, how can you be so diabolically smart as Livia and then get into so much trouble as Eve?"

That was kind of a joke at the end of Path of Vengeance. The last time we see Eve, Lucy adlibbed the line, "Stay out of trouble." Adrienne said you can't tell, because the camera pulls out, but they are all cracking up. (and here I always thought it such a poignant moment, Xena bringing her hand to her face, as if she knew it'd be the last time she'd see her daughter…<g>)

Adrienne said her favorite scene as Eve was the curse filled tirade in You Are There (mine too!). She said the crew was shocked when she actually said the curses, and she was like "What?" Apparently, in the script, it said "Bleep" where the curses were, and she said, "How was that going to work?" LOL.

When she was offered the part on Xena, she wasn't told what the part would be, and she was just sure she wouldn't get it because she looked too much like Lucy. "Little did I know," she laughed. She said doing fight scenes with Lucy was fun and for some reason, they couldn't refrain from making sound effects when they fought. She said it was like a Batman episode. "Bam! Ka-pow! Ugh!"

Someone requested that she do her prayer, to which she responded, "Oh god. No. Not the prayer." (oh god, no. Not the prayer, is right!) This is the totally annoying chant from Haunting of Amphipolis, "In the Name of Eli, and all the powers of heaven, I command this evil demon to be cast out!" (I'm sorry for making you all relive it <g>). The audience groaned along, and Adrienne said, "As sick as you all were of hearing it in the episode, imagine the crew having to hear that six hours a day, for six days!!" (I am sooo sorry) She said it was a real joke around the script reading, because that's all she said. Mercifully, she didn't say it.

One of her favorite scenes came from Haunting of Amphipolis though, the scene with Eve when Livia steps out of the mirror. She loved the contrast in characters. Adrienne said, "Is it just me, or when Eve puts on those rags does she gain ten pounds? I watch that scene and I know it was filmed on the same day. What the hell did I have for lunch?" LOL

Adrienne said pilot season is coming up and she's got some good projects to choose from. She said she's very fortunate, because it's not like "Ugh. What do I choose," but "Hmmmm. What do I choose?" They're all good.

She finished her panel with a song, and man, this woman can sing. Wow. What a voice.

The costume contest came next. You guys rock!! The costumes are always so much fun. Everyone did a great job. It came down to Deborah Abbott dressed as Xena dressed as Anthrax from Many Happy Returns (uncanny), Carly as Callisto with arrows sticking out of her from Maternal Instincts, and Jo dressed as Xena in what's come to be known as the Death Armor from Friend in Need. Wow, wow, and wow. It was a tough decision, but Jo won out with Deborah and Carly tying for second. Incredible costume. All hand made, brass bra and all, and I think she said it took three months. I understand she made Carly's costume as well. Wow.

They showed Bloopers and more video winners and that brought the con to a close for me (I left after the videos, as I had to catch plane).


I came all the way from Florida, and I had a great time. All of the guests were wonderful, as always, and I thank them for coming out to entertain us. Whew. What a weekend!

If I've mangled some details or someone has something to add, don't be shy, email me. Hope you enjoyed the report!


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