Whoosh! Issue 57 - June 2001

PASADENA CON REPORT: MAY 3 - 6, 2001
By Jodi Walton
Content copyright © 2001 held by author
WHOOSH! edition copyright © 2001 held by Whoosh!
18500 words

Disclaimer:

I took a notebook with me to the events I attended and tried to take as many notes as I could. However, I missed things since a lot was happening. I also did not take the notebook to the Cabaret, so all of that is done purely from recollection and is more general. What follows are reconstructions of most of the major events, but please do not take it as being exhaustive. There is likely to be a Creation Entertainment video released of Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor's presentation, and perhaps, other guests and the Cabarets, since they were also filmed. This is intended to simply give as good a feel for what was going on as I can convey to those who were not there.




THURSDAY, MAY 3RD: PRE-REGISTRATION (01-03)
FRIDAY, MAY 4TH: 1ST OFFICIAL DAY OF THE CON (04-26)
      Video Mania (04)
      Sharon Delaney (05)
      Robert Trebor (06-10)
      Hudson Leick (11-22)
      Zoe Bell and Paul Grinder (23-25)
      Ultimate Fan Fiction Directory Panel Discussion (26)
FRIDAY NIGHT CABARET (27-39)
     Hudson the Host (27-28)
     Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell (29-32)
     Hudson Redux (33)
     Ebonie Smith (34)
     Hudson Redux II (35)
     Adrienne Wilkinson (36)
     Hudson Redux III (37)
     Darien Takle (38)
     Hudson Redux Finale (39)
SATURDAY, MAY 5TH (40-86)
     Videos (40)
     Adrienne Wilkinson and William Gregory Lee (41-55)
     WHOOSH Panel Discussion (56-58)
     Mass Viewing (59)
     Charity Auction (60)
     Claire Stansfield (61-76)
     Alexandra Tydings (77-85)
     Joanna Sandsmark and DJWP (86)
SATURDAY NIGHT CABARET (87-99)
     The Alex and Claire Show (87-94)
     Robert Trebor (95)
     Tim Omundson (96)
     Karl Urban (97)
     Ted Raimi (98)
     Debrief (99)
SUNDAY, MAY 6TH (100-182)
     Missy Good (100-110)
     Steven Sears (111)
     Ebonie Smith (112-118)
     Tsianina Joelson (119-128)
     Charity Auction (129)
     Darien Takle (130-137)
     Rob Field (138-141)
     Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor (142-177)
     Debrief (178-179)
     Costume Contest (180-181)
CONCLUSION (182)
ARTICLES
BIOGRAPHY



PASADENA CON REPORT: MAY 3 - 6, 2001



THURSDAY, MAY 3RD: PRE-REGISTRATION

K-Mart tables, Tiffany's prices

Do you need stuff? Xena stuff? Lots of Xena stuff?
(Photo by Heather Perkins)


[01] Creation opened the doors around 5pm for the line of people waiting to pre-register. It went all the way down the block. For those, like me, whose tickets had not arrived before we left, we got a chance to pick them up and all of us got banded. The bands were wristbands that showed the staff that we had access for all three days.

[02] Some of the dealers were there, including the photo table, although they did not have all of the photos for the weekend out as we found out on Friday. There were six posters that Creation was selling, one for the convention and five others, four that Sharon Delaney had talked about on the Creation website, and one that had Xena in leather on a black horse. Creation also had five beautiful plates on sale, which was a surprise since Sharon had not mentioned anything about those before the convention.

[03] They had two dealer areas, one right outside the door of the auditorium, and another on the other side where there was a mix of vendors. This was a time for people to get preliminary shopping done and to meet up with folks that were going to the convention.



FRIDAY, MAY 4TH: 1ST OFFICIAL DAY OF THE CON

Video Mania

[04] They started with a half-hour of different videos:

"Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" - Action shots from the series
"Bad to the Bone" - Ares Video
"Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" - Xena Fighting
Oxygen Promo Spots:
      Body Work by Xena
      Sugar & Spice
      You thought your job was tough
Dick Clark Bloopers - the Xena impersonators schtick
The Simpson's Xena Appearance




Sharon Delaney

As she broke into song, the audience panicked... or did they picnic.

Sharon Delaney had the honor of kicking off the biggest and grandest Xena Con in recorded history
(photo by Marilyn Cristiano)


[05] Sharon Delaney got up and did a brief welcome and introduction to the convention. After that, they ran the Salmoneus Video, "Working for a Living". Then Robert Trebor came onstage.



Robert Trebor

That MAC chick isn't going to throw a hammer at me, is she?

Robert Trebor has been a friend to the fans since the very beginning
(photo by Marilyn Cristiano)


[06] Trebor started by asking what the deal with Tom Green was, and whether people thought he was funny. He suggested that they should do a Tom Green and Pauly Shore movie, which would give all of America a lobotomy.

[07] He talked about the first time he was in New Zealand (June 5, 1994) and how he met Renee O'Connor. He said she was in all her makeup from when she was supposed to be thrown off a waterfall. She was very sweet. He posed the trivia challenge of how many times in Hercules and the Lost World did someone want to cut Renee's tongue out. He said it seemed like it was mentioned a number of times.

[08] He talked about the first time he met Lucy Lawless (November, 1994) when he was again in New Zealand, but this time shooting Hercules' AS DARKNESS FALLS (H06/106). He mentioned that the American SAG actors all had their own trailers and most of the New Zealand actors just had to change in the back of the costume bus. He said Lucy was walking across the area in her skimpy little costume and a robe and she was shivering, so he invited her into his trailer. She looked at him and then refused and wandered off still shivering. He thinks she might have thought that he was hitting on her, and of course, she has never invited him into her trailer.

[09] He talked about his Salmoneus book and how Salmoneus was never killed off and so he will live forever. It is a cute little book.

[10] He discussed the striptease that he and Bruce Campbell did in MEN IN PINK (H71/412). At first they wanted to put him in high heels but he could not walk in them. However, he did speculate that he looked better in drag than Bruce did because he does not have the square jaw and broad shoulders. He had more to say, but since I had seen him at other conventions, I decided to take a break before Hudson Leick came on. When I got back, he was leading the crowd in singing "Auld Lang Syne".



Hudson Leick

Is it hot in here?  Why no, it's just ME!

Hudson Leick knows what the fans want and has no problem giving it to them
(photo by Heather Perkins)


[11] Next was the video for Callisto, which was set to "Maniac". Then Hudson Leick came on stage. At first, she seemed a bit overwhelmed by the number of people there, but she let her playful side out a bit and we were off. She began by inviting Laura on stage, who was having her 72nd birthday that day, and gave her a hug. After sauntering around the stage a bit more, she opened the floor for questions. The first person up was a member of her fanclub who mentioned that Hudson's birthday was coming up, so we all sang her happy birthday.

[12] Hudson was wearing a long red latex strapless dress and either she has let her hair grow or she was wearing extensions because she had a bun on the top of her head with a long ponytail coming out of it. She started talking about how in the past she has made a habit of auctioning her dress for charity and asked if she should do that again. Of course, the crowd was very agreeable to that idea, so she did so with style. It ended up going for $5000 and the guy who bought asked if she came with it. She said that she did not think he could handle her if she did. Then she said coquettishly, "I'm going to be naked soon."

[13] She was asked how it was to play Xena. She said bad Xena is stoic and that in her real life she is not that way at all. She was asked what her favorite fight was, and she said she liked them all, that they were all lovely. Next, she was asked if she would do the Callisto scream. She asked if she should do it with the microphone, or without, and the crowd suggested without. Then she had to psyche herself up to do it. She said she needed to get mad, and someone shouted that she should think of Xena, and she looked up and pointed out that she was sorry to break it to them, but Xena was a character on TV show. Then she commented that there were too many voices in her head and not all of them were friendly. Then she took her shoes off, which she said felt lovely. After a few more moments, she let out a tremendous scream, which you could hear all the way to the back of the auditorium, although she was not using a microphone.

[14] She was asked what was the most physically difficult thing that she ever had to do on the show. She said riding a horse and chasing Lucy Lawless. She talked about what it was like at her audition. She said she was asked if she could ride a horse, and she said yes, while shaking her head no. Then she was asked if she was proficient, and she said yes, while shaking her head no. She said she figured she would just get on the horse and it would go. It did not work out that way, which she claims is why you do not see Callisto on a horse that much. Then she was asked to do something hideous, to which she opened her mouth wide, and stuck her tongue way out.

[15] She was asked what her worst role was, which she said was playing the Angel Callisto. She said her tail kept wanting to come out. She was thinking while caressing Gabrielle's face, "You shouldn't trust me Gabrielle, cause I'm going to eat your face!" The one that was the best was when she was the demon on the rock in FALLEN ANGEL (91/501) and was taunting Gabrielle. She said that was too delicious.

[16] Next, a group called the Pink Ladies presented Hudson with a Pink Ladies jacket. After putting it on, she said she had wanted one when the Fonz was on so she would be cool, but instead she became a psycho. When asked what her favorite saying was, she replied, "Here comes trouble!" with a maniacal grin to match.

[17] Then something broke on one of her shoes, so she took it off, and was fussing with it. She looked up and said, "Stop looking at me." Then she turned to the crowd and said, "Look at me, look at me," very playfully. Then she put her hands on her hips and said, "What are you looking at?!?"

[18] After that, Hudson was asked what it was like impregnating Xena and becoming her child. Her response was, "First, it was far too quick for me," and the crowd started cheering wildly and I missed the rest of what she said. The next fan up to ask a question was so overwhelmed at being in her presence that she started crying and could not ask her question. Hudson sat down on the edge of the stage and tried to calm her down. Finally she cajoled the camera from the woman and took a picture of the crying fan. Then she gave her a hug.

[19] One of the things that Hudson had been doing at several points was making comments about how shocked her dad must be about all this. Then she explained that her parents were in the audience and asked us if we wanted them to come on stage. Of course we did, so she called them up and introduced them. Her mom grabbed the microphone and started singing, "We are the parents, the mighty, mighty parents" at which point Hudson took the microphone back and commented that this was why she did not sing in BITTER SUITE (58/312). She got her singing talent from her mother.

[20] Next Hudson asked if we wanted candy and the crowd responded yes. Then she brought out a big bowl and got one of the fans to help her. She told the crowd that she would come down and give us candy if we promised to stay in our seats. For the most part everyone did, as she walked up one aisle all the way to the back and then back down the outside of the crowd, flinging candy around as she went. As she came back on stage, she was holding a teddy bear that someone had given her, and she called it her "big breasted teddy bear, her S&M bear."

[21] Next up was a fan that explained that her mother had recently died and she had been a big fan of Hudson. They had had the tickets to the convention, all the arrangements made for her mother to come and see Hudson, and then she had passed. Hudson gave her a big hug and commented that that had been a serious moment. After that she flirted with one of the fans beside the stage and then was asked how she came up with the Callisto scream. She said she had been asked if she could do anything special, like Lucy's warcry. She could not think of anything so she just screamed and they decided to use it. Then as time was coming to a close, she lay down and rolled along the stage to the middle, then got up and thanked us and left the stage to thunderous applause.

[22] One thing about talking about a Hudson appearance is that you cannot capture the essence of what it is like unless you have seen her on stage. She is constantly playing the audience, telling them to be silent, or flirting with them and just generally having a fun time of it all. She has a wicked sense of humor and loves to tease and tantalize when she is in front of a crowd. She has control of everyone while she is up there. There is no denying her absolute magnetism and charisma. It was awesome to finally get to see her in person after hearing so much about what she was like.



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