Convention report by: Tina

Greetings Xenites!  I have just returned from the convention.  Warning:  This
will be a LONG post, since I will be summarizing highlights from the
convention!!  Second Warning:  This will be skewed more towards Sunday and
Xena, if you want more details about Saturday than I gave you'll have to ask
a real Herc fan....But first, I'll just say two things--1) IT WAS A BLAST!!
2)  Watch Entertainment Tonight this week, because they had a camera at the
con taping everything!!

I started off Friday morning by going to LAX airport to meet Deb (Neuf), who
was flying in from Boston.  I held a sign saying GOOF over my head, which
drew a lot of laughs.  Deb's first words when she got off:  "HOW do you
breathe in this smog?!?"  After that, we rode in the shuttle from hell to the
Burbank Hilton--a real grand tour, as it made three other stops first all
over the place.  Took 2 hours!!  Most of Friday consisted of meeting other
Xenites who were pouring in by the hour, getting to know each other, and
checking in.  

Marilyn (MSnaring), Ru (XenaBard), and I were in the same room, and Diva and
Trillian came to see us.  Their visit turned into a Let's Roast Tina session,
recalling all my greatest moments on the AOL chat (Avicus would have been
proud of them!).  I think I might have a reputation...<g>

Saturday highlights...

-A bunch of us staggered down to breakfast, bleary-eyed from the late night
Saturday chatting and partying.  I went over to the convention early with
Marilyn and Ru to look at the merchandise--you would not believe all the
stuff they had!!  Xena/Herc posters, the CD ROMs, real swords and daggers,
lovely silver figurines and jewelry, promo pics of
Herc/Xena/Joxer/Callisto/Sal etc., copies of practically every mag that has
had a Xena or Herc article, scripts of Dreamworker, Warrior Princess, and
Wrong Path for sale, and much more!

-Robert Trebor was first on stage, and he is just the cutest, funniest man!
 Lots of jokes and laughing.  Someone asked if he was married, and he said
his wife was in the audience.  We all turned, but I couldn't see what she
looked like.

-Bruce Campbell was very slick, smooth, and hysterical.  He came out on stage
by doing a somersault, which he deliberately flubbed for laughs, landing on
his back.  One lucky woman got to kiss him on the cheek...

-Rob Tapert was a nice guy.  One fan had the nerve to ask, "When are you
going to get married to Lucy Lawless?" and everyone cheered.  Rob responded
that he wasn't sure, but that the fan would be the first to know.

-HERC BLOOPERS...the funniest blooper was of Kevin turning and seeing this
huge, clunky metal machine/monster slowly clumping along (not very
fearsome!).  He turned back to the camera and made a hysterical "I'm SOOOOO
afraid!" gesture, bringing his hands to his mouth.  But the clip that got the
room cheering was one of Kevin's buns...(and yes, he has good ones!)

-The charity auction for this day wasn't too exciting--the Warrior Princess
script where Xena was first introduced sold for the second biggest amount,
around $200 or so.  Even at this point we could see there was a much bigger
demand for Xena merchandise than Herc.  By Sunday, all Xena pics and caps had
sold out, while Herc finished the con with a lot left.  The big final seller
was Herc's shirt, which wound up selling for $1000 to a man.

-Kevin Sorbo came out last of all, and he got a HUGE reaction.  Lots of fans
rushed the stage with their cameras to get pictures of him up close.  He was
very down-to-earth and nice, and patiently answered questions.

Saturday night, Ru, Marilyn, RYALIN1, Deb, Bratduo, Trillian, me, and about
23 other Xenites had dinner at a restaurant, Ribs USA.  We all had fun, but
the best part was when the waitress was taking our order, and we saw over her
shoulder that the TV was showing A Fistful of Dinars!!  We went crazy
cheering, and the poor waitress nearly jumped out of her skin.  She looked
all over the restaurant and saw everyone cheering (the Xenite group filled up
half the restaurant), and she had a real funny look on her face.  We
explained to her about the con and continued ordering, but we kept
interrupting ourselves to cheer at the screen!  LOL

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS!!!!!!!! Sunday was MUCH crazier than Saturday, by FAR!  It
was just a fabulous, perfect day...the producers Liz Friedman and Steve Sears
(TYLDUS!!) were out on stage first, after the Xena trivia contest.  Liz said
she's only been on the Internet once or twice, which explains why she was
clearly unprepared for us crazy fans.  A couple of times she looked
completely confused when inside Internet jokes came up...She was shy, but
very nice.  Ty said that if you like high drama, you will be blown away by
what is coming up.  

After they went off the stage, we got to see part of the Xena Scrolls ep!  (I
will not give away any spoilers.  General discussion only)  Let me say,
watching a Xena ep with 2000 other fans is an unreal experience.  Renee got
tons of applause during certain of her scenes, but the cheering got even
louder when Ares turned up.  When XENA came on, I thought the place would blow
 apart, the cheering was so loud (and yes, I was one of them...LOL).  I sank
back into my seat, exhausted from the cheering (I think we saw about 10-15
minutes of the episode, but I'm not sure)!

A special effects presentation was next, and they showed how Lucy taped the
part of Mortal Beloved in which she is battling one of the Harpies on top of
the wall, and sets it on fire.  She did the whole thing in front of this blue
screen, with no visual frame of reference at all.  It was simply
unbelievable, and gave me a new respect for the actors re: the special
effects.

Next was our own AVICUS, who got to have the longest presentation of the
show, at one hour.  He titled it "The Art and Craft of Editing, or Why Didn't
I Go to Law School Like My Father Wanted Me To!"  Typical Av humor... :)  To
help explain his job, he showed how an action sequence from Return of
Callisto had been filmed (it is the one with the little girl, starting with
when we first see her and ending with Callisto leaving after her "First I'm
going to kill your soul..." speech).  To see how Av intercut all the footage,
deciding when to use a closeup of Lucy or Hudson, when to show a man being
killed, etc....it was a work of art.  Congrats, Av!!!  The last part of his
presentation was...

XENA BLOOPERS!!  It was most of the bloopers that we have heard about,
including the rats one from Death In Chains, Lucy and Renee in fangs mugging
for the camera, the Helen of Troy one where Lucy and Renee say "Slut!" in
unison about Helen, and a LOT more.  Watching the bloopers, you really got an
appreciation for Lucy's sense of humor (what a riot she is!!) and also how
much she and Renee enjoy their jobs.

Next was HUDSON!!!!  Wow!  When she came onstage, she got a reaction equal to
Kevin Sorbo's the night before (this is the first time the place got packed
completely, instead of some people doing shopping).  The cheering was
incredible, and Hudson was clearly unprepared for it.  She was VERY nervous
at first (and it didn't help that unlike the other actors the day before, her
mike was way over on the other side of the stage, away from the line of fans
asking questions.  After about three or four questions, she moved the mike
over so she could hear better).  She is very slender, and she was wearing a
great dress that came to her knees, but showed cleavage.  She managed to look
both sexy and demure at the same time.  There is NOTHING of a bimbo about her
at all.  She is truly, truly beautiful--in fact she is Lucy's equal.  All of
us were just amazed.  After Hudson got more comfortable, she started playing
up to the audience a little bit.  A guy in a Joxer costume asked her, "Can I
be in your army?" and as he walked away she gave him a CALLISTO smile!  A
little later on she also did her Callisto scream, by special request :)  It
was terrifying, but fabulous!  Hudson said that she and Lucy, before filming
the mind-switch ep, talked about the mannerisms of their characters, and the
psychology and emotional elements.  She said that the idea of playing Xena
had been "absolutely terrifying" because "Lucy IS Xena!"  (That just makes
her volunteering to do it again for Ten Little Warlords even more incredible.
 We owe her a huge thank-you!)  The only downside to Hudson's appearance is
that Creation only allotted 20 minutes for her, which went by really fast!
 All the Herc actors and the Xena people (except Ted Raimi) got 40 minutes.
 Ted got 30 minutes, which was idiotic because there were many more people in
line for Hudson than Ted--Creation told about 20 of the fans to go sit down.

After Hudson was the charity auction, which was WILD!  The signed script for
Callisto sold for $800!  The Xena standee sold for $500!  The chakram sold
for...$8500!!!!!  As the bidding went on for the chakram, most people's jaws
(including mine) just dropped lower and lower.  A woman, who I *think* isn't
on the Internet, walked away with it.

Ted came next, and he got a lot of applause, though nowhere near Hudson's
reception.  He was wearing wire rim glasses and dressed in a nice suit.  He
was a really nice guy, but I left halfway through it mainly because the
questions were kind of dumb.  With both Hudson and Ted, it was really hard to
see where Callisto and Joxer came from.  It's a tribute to both of their
acting abilities (before everyone faints from shock, it's JOXER I have
trouble with, not Ted...it's make-believe, nitwits! ;)  After Ted was a
costume competition which was really cool, and a pair of ladies who manage to
look almost exactly like Xena and Gab won.

After the same swordfighting demonstration that had been shown the day before
(couldn't they have cut it short so Hudson could have had more time
onstage?), LUCY LAWLESS came out!!  I'm sure I don't have to tell you how the
audience reacted.  She had the longest lines for questions of anyone--they
lined both of the walls, and she alternated between the lines.  For those who
must know, Lucy stayed true to her own personal style (nice to see that she's
still avoiding a Hollywood thing), but at the same time, she needs help! :)
 It was a tight pale blue pantsuit, sleeveless at the top.  That was fine,
but the kicker for everyone was that she wore red and black high heels on her
feet.  She also had a huge green ring on her right hand, which some nitwit
thought might be an engagement ring.  Lucy was asked about marrying Rob, and
she responded, "I don't want to talk about that."  Clearly, she has gotten
adjusted to her stardom (she didn't even freak when she came out and saw 2000
fans on their feet!), and has learned to set boundaries.  No nervousness
about her at all.  She continually praised the fans--"You're the best!"  She
showed concern for the fans in the very back of the room, asking if they
could hear her.  After 40 minutes of questions, when the Creation folks told
her that it was time to stop, she said no, that she wanted to answer some
more questions.  She went on for at least another ten to fifteen minutes
before she finally called a halt.  What a kickass gal!  One of the
interesting things she said was that she had been nervous about playing
Callisto, echoing Hudson's nervousness about playing Xena.  It was nice to
see that they both clearly respect each other.  It was even nicer to see that
every single person who was on stage at this convention was nice,
down-to-earth, modest, not at all conceited.  Ty and Av actually circulated
around a little, talking to fans.  These shows are class acts!

Amazing as Lucy had already been, what was even more incredible was the
autograph signing.  Now, Kevin Sorbo, although he was very nice the whole
time, got tired after about 3 rows of fans and started signing autographs at
a breakneck pace.  He started at 6 and was done in an hour, tops.  Very
different with Lucy, Hudson, and Ted.  Lucy took her time and talked to fans,
even though as the evening wore on she tired.  The way it worked was, first
you waited in line for Lucy's table, and then after you got her autograph you
waited in line for Hudson and Ted, who were sitting together at the other
side of the room.  When I got to Lucy's table, I was too nervous to say
anything at all to her, other than looking adoringly, so she didn't really
look at me as she signed the picture.  When I got to Hudson and Ted I screwed
up the nerve to tell Hudson "Thank you," and she looked right at me and said
"You're welcome," in a very pleasant tone of voice, and I noticed she has
incredible light brown eyes.  I turned into such a simpering idiot, I hardly
remember Ted.  Took me 20 minutes of boring my friends before I calmed down!
("She looked at me!  She said, 'You're welcome!'"  etc. etc.)  ;)

I was one of the earlier people, so I left with a bunch of other people, but
Deb, Marilyn, Ru, me and others came back around 9 and were absolutely
STUNNED to see that they were still signing!  Kevin had been done at 7!  Lucy
did not finish signing autographs until around 9:20.  There was a slight lull
at Hudson and Ted's table at that point, as the last fans stayed with Lucy to
take some photos, and Ted immediately jumped up and began talking to nearby
fans!  Hudson cheerfully posed for picture after picture, everything from
kneeling down with a little girl to having a Creation employee pick her up
for another one.  I don't know WHERE she got her stamina.  Lucy left, and the
fans from her table then got in line for Hudson, and she sat right back down
to sign autographs (Ted kept talking to fans instead).  Then she did MORE
pictures, and Deb, RYALIN1, and I got a pic taken with her.  Hudson did not
finish until 9:35, and then she and Ted left.  I hope the three of them all
got a good dinner somewhere and SLEEP!

Well, folks, that's the con!  We all had dinner at the hotel, in various
groups, and Xenites started leaving.  Wahhhhh...I can't believe it's over!!!!

Signing off now...
-Tina