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(Just figure I’ve written up the usual whining disclaimer about how hard
it is to get these things right.)


Question: “What was your funnest or most mortifying moment on Xena?”

Lucy thought for a moment then started to laugh as she said something
like, “Oh, the one where we were in the water in the ship”. Helpful folks
yelled out the name of the ep, “Tusnami”. She nodded and (most likely only
pretending she remembered), she repeated, “Tsunami."

"We were underwater for days. I felt bad for those kids who did
‘Titanic’”. She said she, Renee and Bruce were in the water only a few
days while those kids were in the water far longer, for much of the film.
Actually, Lucy claimed that Ted was there with them also, but he wasn’t in
that ep. (Unless he was snorkeling the whole time.)

She told the story she’s told before about how the water was kind of tepid
and there were rotting cabbages floating around in it and how she and
Renee and Bruce had made a deal that the first one of them to get cranky,
or rather, to SHOW that they were cranky, would have to pay the other two
$5,000. (I think each.) And talked about how she and Bruce would wait
until the camera was on Renee and then push those stinking cabbages her
way so they’d float by her.

“I said something sarcastic and sharp to an A.D.” Then she demurred a bit
and said it wasn’t all that bad, just a little bit snarky. But indicated
that this made her lose the bet. “And I never paid it.” She gave her
cackly laugh and shook her head and I think repeated that she’d never paid
up. She may possibly have said she felt bad about that.

It’s possible that there was a question something like did she realize
while doing the show that it would mean so much to so many people, that
we’d all still be so strongly engaged by it so many years after the
show had ended.

And she gave the answer she always gives, “I was just feeling lucky to
have a gig.”

She added that she feels the fans who go to cons are not celebrating the
show. Rather, “Fans celebrate the feeling of the show. I’m here because
I’ve come to respect the great majority, 99% of the fans.” She talked
about our generosity in giving to charities. She said earnestly, “Share
the love.” And she talked about how we had become a community that gave
each other support. “Cyber support”.

We all basked in the glow of Lucy bragging on us. I don’t remember, but I
wouldn’t be surprised if we applauded ourselves like mad-we usually do
applaud ourselves at the slightest whiff of praise from one of the stars.

She was asked if she had met Renee before they worked together. I think
Lucy said in answer that they met the first day of shooting. But I could
be wrong--in the past, she and Renee have talked about first meeting at
lunch I guess in L.A. because someone, the studio? Rob? wanted to have
them meet before they started working together. I think they’d said the
purpose was to see how they got along, if it looked like they would work
well together.

Lucy said, “Renee is younger than me. And we were working in my home
town”, explaining that she had some advantages over Renee’s situation.
When they met, “I looked down at her-WAY down…” We all giggled at Lucy
pantomiming looking WAY down at an invisible Renee. Lucy said something
along the lines of Renee being shy or diffident and how she came over to
them the first day on set in a mindful, careful, respectful kind of way.
Lucy said, “ She was practically kowtowing.”

After that line, all I have written down in my notes are the words, “Shut
up”. I’m not sure if Lucy said she was saying that to stop Renee from
being so obsequious or if, as she’s said before, it only took Renee a few
eps before she was over her awe of Lucy. So perhaps she was talking about
Renee telling HER to shut up.

Next question, Lucy was asked if she minded that the music industry didn’t
take her seriously.

“I don’t expect them to. And I don’t care.” She said singing was
challenging for her and “The more challenging singing is makes it that
much scarier. And therefore more awesome.”

Next she was asked about being the first girl and the first granddaughter
in her family. Was she treated like a warrior or a princess?

“First came the princess. Then came the warrior. ”At first my brothers
thought I was real cute-then I became a pain in the ass. Then it was just
about being funny. And lots of fighting.”

She told us that her family was really witty and that’s how you had to
hold your ground with them. Then she told us that the kids did a thing
they called “Razz making”.

“You go, ‘Nyah-nyah, nyah-nyah’ right in their face.” And she was poking
and pointing with her hand at the mythical brother who had to take it. “If
you touched one hair on his head then, rightfully, it was-BAAM!” and she
threw a punch into the face of the nyah-nyaher. (It was a good looking,
fast, big punch-grrl’s still got her stunt fighting moves down.) “If there
was no touch, you just had to take it. But if you touched them-you were
meat.”

She was asked how long it took to shoot the three in a bed scene from
Ares’ Farm.

“It took a long time. And it was a bit uncomfortable.” She began to talk
about Kevin, about what a tragedy his death was and how much he’s missed.
She told us he’d been a great sports player in New Zealand. She seemed to
be indicating that he was a professional player?

She said that he was on the cusp of making it big (in Hollywood) with the
film he’d been making when he died.

She said, “We’d do a kissing scene. And then say, ‘No schwing.’ (Note: In
the word schwing, the "w" is pronounced as a "v" in English.) "Totally and
regretfully, it was non-sexual. Now that he’s gone-I go ‘DAMN!’”

Question: “How did you feel when you heard the last “Cut” on Xena.”

“The last thing we shot was a fight sequence.” Next my notes say either,
“Dubbed on for ages” or “Doubled on for ages”

“The very beginning and the very last few episodes of any show are very
taxing. You work 80 hours. You’re running on empty. I went to the wrap
party and I fainted.”

“It wasn’t the party you expected.” (I’m not certain at this point if the
“you” in that sentence refers to a generic “you” or if the “you” refers to
the questioner and or to us specifically.)

I think she was then asked how she felt the next morning. “I don’t think I
woke up the next morning.” She said that after you’ve worked on a show for
so long, “You have to be rehabilitated back to life. On set, you give up
all control. You’re told what to eat.” She talked in general about like
being told what to wear and where to be when and other things like that.
And that with the long hours and doing nothing but working and sleeping,
“Your friends stop asking you out.”

This con, we were back to having people come up to the mike to ask
questions. A woman dressed as Xena was next on line. She said, “Hello,
Lucy.” Lucy looked at her and said, “Hello, Xena.” Then she looked out at
us and said, “Which is the real one? Good cozzie, mate!”

Xena’s question was, “On Battlestar Galactica, did you know you’d be
back?” (Perhaps Xena is getting a little antsy, waiting for the movie that
gives her her resurrection, eh?)

Lucy said, “There was always a good chance she would.”

A guy came up to the mike. Lucy asked him, "Were you the really vociferous
guy from last night?” I think the guy said no. Lucy turned to us and
laughingly told us “At the concert last night, this guy had been yelling
out, ‘FUN! FUN!’ And this morning I thought, “Damn. He’s right!”

Question: “When working on Xena, did you keep a journal? Will you write a
book?”

“No, I did not keep a journal.”

“Do you wish you had?”

“Nooooo.”

“It would have been really boring. All the action was on screen-you saw
it. If I wrote it, it wouldn’t be saleable. It wouldn’t have been of
interest to anyone but a die hard fan.”

Then she began to talk about an autobiography by Julie Andrews in which
she said that Rex Harrison had farted. Lucy said that because of the way
Julie Andrews looks and how she acts, “How odd it is to hear her saying
something like that.” Then she suggested, “But like me saying Kevin farted
all the time”, (wouldn’t be near so surprising for people.)

And on that little spurt of methane remembrances, let us end part two of
this report.

KT