**Possible Season 5 Spoilers below**

1999 Atlanta DragonCon Report by Ogami

As a writer of Xena fan fiction, I had been invited to be a panelist at the Hercules/Xena track of DragonCon, which I was happy to do. Unless you're a real writer like Missy Good, this is probably the only public recognition a fan writer will receive. Well, I got a lot more out of this trip than that.

It took 9 hours to drive from Orlando Florida to Atlanta Georgia, and I noticed that kudzu had taken over the forests along Interstate 75. Kudzu is a type of vine that was introduced into the United States from the Pacific, and it grows so fast that it covers entire forests, growing over a foot a day. Perhaps Georgia should consider making kudzu the State Plant. Georgia itself is a beautiful state of rolling hills and red earth, and I really enjoyed driving through it.

The trip from my hotel to downtown Atlanta was interesting. There was a billboard on the highway that read "WHO'S THE FATHER?", with a number to call a DNA testing service. Perhaps the Jerry Springer show should broadcast from here. Another noticeable thing is that there is graffiti all over Atlanta, from the downtown area to the suburbs. If just one neighborhood instituted a graffiti clean-up program, these artists would soon learn to practice their art elsewhere.

Being on the Xena track I spent most of my time there, but I managed to squeeze in some of the other events on my last day there Saturday. I'll save the non-Xena things for last. Please note that all of my quotes from the people I met at the convention are from memory. I was having too much fun to take notes!

At this point I should thank track director Michael Martinez and his assistant Erin. He had canceled due to personal reasons and was suddenly able to attend at the last minute. If there were any hitches to his program, I couldn't see it. He even found a presentation board for Steven Sears to whip through the pages in creating a script.

Erin had made at her own expense large posterboards of famous Xena and Hercules scenes. These were all hung up to make the room look really special, and a large portrait of Salmoneus was hung up behind the table to make Robert Trebor feel welcome when he came in. A classy production all around.

The Xena fan videos were wonderful. These are not the ones that are shown at the official Creation Cons, and now I know why. They are much better! Although Joanna Sandsmark could not make it, someone brought her "Bitter Treat" musical, and it was perfect. I think she should do as Weird Al Yankovic does and secure permission from Studios USA to sell this parody, I know I would buy it if it were for sale.

We also watched fan-made music videos. It was a toss-up for my favorite. A montage of scenes set to Melissa Etheridge's "I'm the Only One" was phenomenal, with cuts from the show cued to the song lyrics. But my personal favorite would have to be a video set to Garbage's "#1 Crush". Maybe this song sounds sick and perverted by itself, but it felt so right married to scenes of Xena and Gabrielle "bonding" in various ways. It really moved me, which doesn't happen too often with music videos.

I finally got to meet some of my fellow bards, such as Missy Good, BladeMaster, Gin, and Barry Marshall. (There was one more who joined us on the last day for the bard panel but I didn't get a chance to speak to her.) Missy Good got her own allotted hour to speak to her fans, and the rest of us were grouped together for general panels. That was okay, I think we all connected pretty well. I felt like a jerk for talking so much more than the others, but hey, this was my chance to talk to my readers, so off I went.

The Merpups were out in force to see their hero. And Missy Good did not disappoint. She really made herself available to the fans, but then, that's because she's a fan herself. Xena's declining ratings resulted in a likewise smaller audience for the Hercules/Xena track at the DragonCon, but that worked out perfectly for us. It was so small that it was like a family gathering, really personable. (Just to give you an idea, our room was small enough that we didn't really need microphones.)

I got a chance to question Missy Good about her stories, and asked about the movie rights to "Tropical Storm." I mentioned Harlan Ellison's troubles with how "The City on the Edge of Forever" was rewritten for Star Trek, and asked if something similar could happen with the movie for "Tropical Storm." Actually I naughtily asked if some executive could decide to replace Dar or Kerry with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and she said yes, it's possible. I was only gently teasing her, so if some executive is reading this, no you may not cast him!

I got to meet the author of the Official Guide to the Xenaverse, Robert Weisbrot. He was very nice, and gave us a lot of anecdotes from his visit to the set when they were filming "The Xena Scrolls". You might be surprised to know that he was never the official choice of the Universal bosses to make this guide, just a dedicated fan who wanted to make it a reality. Remind yourself of that when you see this at a bookstore, anything is possible if you believe in it. (Okay, end of sermon.)

Meeting Robert Trebor was a delight, and he made all the fans feel welcome. We got to chat about his work on films past and present, and of course his roles with RenPics. He also related humorous questions that he had gotten from young Xenites, such as a 9-year old girl who had asked "When is the next time you're going to be on Lucy Lawless?"

Because he is still getting steady work, he refused to charge for autographs, joking that he might be doing that in 10 or 15 years, but not yet. I should also mentioned that in the autograph room, his was the longest line, stretching to the end of the room. Just goes to show that he was never a side-character in the eyes of his fans. I told him that I hoped he would be on X:WP's 5th season every three episodes, and he said to contact StudiosUSA to make this a reality. So all you Salmoneus fans, get those letters out!

USA Studios may be contacted at: Mr. Barry Diller USA Networks Studios 100 Universal City Plaza Building 500 3rd floor Universal City, CA 91608

Mr. Jim Benson USA Networks Studios 100 Universal City Plaza Building 500 3rd floor Universal City, CA 91608

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Steven Sears

Steven Sears is the Co-Executive Producer of Xena: Warrior Princess (or at least for another two weeks), and it was a privilege for me to actually meet him in person. I don't know about his future convention schedules, but I considered this a rare opportunity to speak to him as he is leaving this show and moving on to produce the new series Sheena. I got much more than I bargained for!

Let me set up for you the momentousness (for me) of this contact. I am known as subtext-fan Ogami, writer of romantic Xena and Gabrielle fan stories. As a fan, I know that X:WP would never have been the show it was without his scripts. Episodes like Dreamworker, Hooves & Harlots, The Greater Good, Intimate Stranger, The Quest, and especially The Price are (pardon the phrase) priceless to me. They are essential to the mythos of Xena and Gabrielle.

I am also known as the Ogami who has written scathing reviews of post-Rift episodes on Xena, some of them authored by Mr. Sears. I have been no fan of the Rift story arc of the 3rd season, and of the 4th season in general. As most of the other Rift-haters have stopped watching the show, this sort of makes me the High Apostate of the Rift-haters. So when I sat down to talk to him, I introduced myself along with my penname, and then heard what no Rift-hater wants to hear:

"Ah Ogami, I've heard of you."

I smiled, and then quickly pointed out that unlike certain people, I have never personally attacked him, the actresses, or the rest of the production staff. I explained that I felt such attacks made worthless any arguments that person had. I then made the distinction that while I disagree with the direction the show has taken recently, I would never stoop to personal attacks.

He thanked me for that distinction, and over the course of three days, I spent around 3 hours total just talking one-on-one with the Executive Producer of Xena: Warrior Princess. My head's still swimming a little, but I can safely say this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You could say I got my money's worth out of my $60 DragonCon pass!

During his panel, Steve showed us some dailies from "Endgame", showing us all the camera angles that had to be filmed for a particular scene. These were Reneé's big scenes with Brutus, and she really came across as an intent professional, always ready for the next take, over and over again. We also saw a scene from "Between the Lines", where Alti was choking the life out of a hapless prisoner. That poor extra got choked at least a dozen times before the director was satisfied.

About Steve's manner to the fans... One would expect a writer to be somewhat introverted, and let his printed words speak for him. Well Steve worked the crowd like a pro, always ready with a quip or a thread to pursue. Maybe it was just his experience from the Cons, but I think we were getting a glimpse at how he is at script-writing sessions. What can I say, he was with it.

He went into great detail about his new series, Sheena. He talked about how Gena Lee Nolin was cast, and how they worked on creating this role. He also described how he wanted the show to never cast Sheena as a victim that needed to be rescued by some male lead. They are trying to overcome decades of action-hero stereotypes with her character, just like a certain Warrior Princess. That's what they hired him for, and that's what we should expect from the series.

I don't know how many people there had planned to watch Sheena before he talked about it. But after listening to Steve explain what was going into the show, I think everyone who heard him will tune in to see it.

On the third night, Steve was scheduled to explain for an hour how a Xena episode is made. For this, he conscripted myself, Missy Good, and Blade to serve at the writer's table, and he would act as producer. He took us through the opening Teaser, and then the four Acts of the episode. We started with an unlikely premise (Xena dying), and then had to work at it from there.

We ended up with a sequel to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" where Bacchus teamed up with Callisto to steal Xena's soul. This was a Xena-lite script, with lots of gripping scenes between Gabrielle and Callisto. In the end, Callisto would die, but would have redeemed herself for her crimes. (Or at least some of them.) In the end, Missy Good got the storyboard, although I threw in so many suggestions that I think it would make a middling episode.

He showed us some things he found while cleaning out his desk at RenPics, one of them being the original 5-page character bible for the then-brand-new Xena series. He got a lot of laughs as he marked off "do's and don'ts" from the list, such as "X:WP will never have a battle between the gods" and "Xena only kills in self-defense", and so forth.

Here are some of the questions I asked him over the course of three days, in no particular order:

* He understood the fan reaction to "Adventures in the Sin Trade I", saying how he noticed that a new fan who had never watched X:WP would have no idea what was going on. Who were these people? The chief flaw of the Rift and the 4th season, he stated, was that they serialized the show. Viewers had to watch all the preceding episodes to understand the current one, flashbacks notwithstanding.

* Someone in the audience inquired if he had the dailies to the body-painting scene from "Between the Lines", and he simply smiled. No such luck!

* I got this one from a Netforum top ten list. "Is it true that the 5th season clip show will only use scenes from the previous four seasons' clip shows?" This got a laugh from him. (Thanks C.Banana!)

* I told him that my favorite Xena episode (any writer) was "The Price", and how I wished that the 3rd season Rift had been handled according to its example. Steve appreciated that, but repeated his previously-stated point that "the Rift" started with Sins of the Past. This has been something that has been building in his mind from the very beginning.

* I asked "Will the job of Gabrielle's mendhi tattoo-applicator be available?" This got another laugh, and a quip about how I could get the job, since no one else wants to put in the hours. Ahhh, the perfect job. I'm sure her boyfriend Steve wouldn't mind.

* This question I made sure to ask in private, since it touches on the Rape/Not-Rape controversy of "The Deliverer". I told him that I had read his and Liz Friedman's comments on this from previous conventions, as well as his letter to Whoosh, and considered the matter closed. And then the episode "Paradise Found" came along, where Gabrielle softly noted "I haven't felt this clean since Hope was born."

I explained to him, as politely as possible, that this sounded like a rape victim to me, and he agreed that I had made a good point that he hadn't thought of. He could see how the viewer might interpret it that way. But no, he said, Rob Tapert did not intend that line to be construed in that way, but rather to be strictly about Hope.

* I asked him about the connection between "The Debt" and "Forget-Me-Not", regarding the mystery of how Gabrielle got to Ch'in ahead of Xena. I asked if the Ares in F-M-N was a last-minute rewrite as Gabrielle's conscience rather than the god himself. He said no, Ares' favor to Gabrielle was already planned at the time of The Debt.

I accepted this, and then explained my reason for doubting this. As "The Bitter Suite" was between the two episodes, Ares could never collect on his favor to Gabrielle if he was telling Xena to kill her in BS first. He looked stunned for a moment, and then agreed that this was a very good point. I guess no one has ever pointed this out to him, so this was a nice feather in my cap. (Or it may just prove that I analyze the episodes too much.)

Later, his memory must have jogged on the subject of Ares' favor, because he remembered that this was in fact added in later as a basis for a future episode, but that it was very close after they had written "The Debt." He clarified that they noticed the loophole of Gabrielle getting to Ch'in ahead of Xena before "The Debt" ever aired, though.

* While on the subject of "The Bitter Suite", I asked how Solan arranged for Xena and Gabrielle to get into Illusia. I explained my pet theory that he petitioned Hades for this, in a form of afterlife bureaucracy where Hades is shuffling through piles of requests. He laughed at this, mimicking Hades dealing with paperwork, and then explained his basis for the trip to Illusia.

In his backstory, there are layers of gods and demigods beneath an all-powerful (unnamed) supreme deity, and all souls get one request. Solan's request was for this boon to be granted to Xena and Gabrielle, a truly selfless act.

* Xena's son, Solan, was originally intended to be the philosopher-king of Athens from ancient history. That person was to be named properly "Solon", but the director of photography came back and told him that everyone was pronouncing his name as "Salon", so he changed it. As time passed, they decided that Xena's son would not be the historical Solon.

* He reiterated his previous statements that while he did not disagree with the GabDrag from "The Bitter Suite", he did think it went on too long. I asked if Xena's foreknowledge of Gabrielle's betrayal as revealed in "Forget-Me-Not" was part of her motivation for this, and he said no.

* Queen Cyane from "Adventures in the Sin Trade I&II" is not the same Cyane from Young Hercules. It's a common name, like Bob or Ellen today.

* He repeated his Internet chatlist comments he made about Gabrielle for the 5th season. She will have a better hair style, and she looks "really hot". (Oops, you did not see those quotes.)

* Lucy's pregnancy will be woven into the script, and she will have a new maternity costume. He did add that he winced watching the dailies of her going through fight scenes in her early pregnancy. Every time she'd do a spin with her sword, he'd picture the baby in there doing flips and running laps.

* He said that the manner of Xena's pregnancy will "leave a big smile" on the faces of all, subtexters and non-subtexters alike.

* He heard the fan rumor that Xena will be impregnated by a godlike deity played by Rob Tapert. He then told Rob about this, and they both laughed about it. Then Rob rubbed his chin saying "Hmmm..." Let this be a warning to you rumor-mongers out there, don't create self-fulfilling prophecies.

* He was pleased at the largely favorable response to the new Amazon Amarice. He said that although he won't get to write her in the 5th season, he wrote her specifically to not be like Tara. (Three cheers!) He did add that he liked Tara's first appearance, but Amarice will not be her. Amarice will be someone who stands up to Xena or insults Gabrielle in front of Xena, knowing full well what the warrior is capable of doing to her. She will have an opinion, and while it may not be right, she's going to stick to her guns, er chobos.

* When he hinted at how Amarice's unknown home tribe of Amazons will come up in the 5th season, I slyly asked if her home tribe wears furs and antlers. (Referring to the Siberian Amazons that Xena decimated.) He said no, this will be a different tribe.

* Eli was never intended to be Christ. He mentioned how someone drew an analogy to a book called "Christ the Magician", which described a hidden past for Jesus much like how Eli's life has been portrayed. He said that this was not their intention, and referred to his comments in the latest issue of Chakram.

* In being asked about the protest and counter-protest of "The Way", he noted the recent news that the majority of Hindu favor this positive portrayal of their religion on worldwide television. He noted the changing claims of the ones who wanted to ban "The Way", such as how they switched their "lesbian lover" angle over to "disrespect towards Hanuman" when that didn't hold. As to their claim that Krishna was demeaned for being portrayed in a fictional story, he noted that there is a large movie company in India that specializes in making fictionalized movies about Krishna, and they have not gotten in such trouble as RenPics. He also thanked all the fans who wrote in their support.

* He joked about the new "peaceful Gab" from the India arc, pretending to be Gabrielle acting helpless, and simultaneously asking Xena for help while insulting her warrior nature. He said that Xena learned in "The Way" that her way is the way of the warrior, and she should never change that. As for Gabrielle, he said that she will know who she is in the 5th season, and she will be much more of a help to Xena, and not follow any more fads.

* I asked him why there was no continuity between "The Bitter Suite" and "Endgame" with regards to the Amazons. As I expected, it came down to schedule crunching and other scripts.

* He wanted to have a long scene with a live Ephiny settling accounts with Gabrielle, and then dying, but then he would not have been able to do the scenes with peaceful Gabrielle trying to run the nation. There was just no time in the episode, so Ephiny had to die without ever speaking to her.

* For the fans who noticed that Gabrielle was being a hypocrite in being Amazon Queen and a pacifist, he said that was intentional. She was deliberately being portrayed as a hypocrite in "Endgame".

* As for why "Endgame" comes and goes without mentioning Ephiny's son, Xenan, he explained that he did in fact have a line where Gabrielle asks about him, and that he is with the centaurs to stay. But they took it out. (The fact that this matches my latest fan fiction story gives me a big grin.)

* As for the fans' reaction to Gabrielle tossing away the staff that Ephiny had gave her, he pointed out that it was the original bird's head ornament to the staff that was the Amazon heirloom, not the staff itself. He wanted to have a scene in "Endgame" where Gabrielle discovers the bird's head in a sacked Amazon village. Another cut due to lack of time.

* I didn't know if anyone else had mentioned this to him, but I told him how, before all the controversy over the Rift, I had really enjoyed his episode "The Deliverer", simply on the premise of the surprise at the end. From the "one true god" stuff that Krafstar was dishing out, I expected this to be another "Giant Killer". Boy was I surprised! I pointed out how even the trailer for the episode kept it a secret. Who would have thought that Caesar would be just a subplot? So he was gratified that his surprise factor in this episode had succeeded.

* I asked him a question about his new series, Sheena. The new Tarzan movie from Disney avoided the problem of complaints about the portrayal of Africans by not having any. And they still got protests about it, for not having them in the movie. I asked him if he was expecting a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" result with Sheena. He said yes, he's sure there'll be protests. But they would do their best to walk a fine line, and produce a show that everyone would be proud of.

* He pointed out that "Ides of March" originally was supposed to end with the crucifixion, and then fade to black. But he thought this would leave some lingering hope in fans that Xena and Gabrielle would still be alive. So they added the scene where their spirits float out of their bodies to the afterlife, just to be sure. (I didn't say I'd have happy news here, folks, just news!)

On the whole, he was very enthusiastic about the potential for the 5th season. He admitted that Xena's ratings had dropped sharper in the 3rd season than any other syndicated series, but was positive that things will turn around. And I would say that the audience, myself included, agreed with his optimism. Here's to a better 5th season!

The Rest of DragonCon

Saturday was my day to explore the rest of DragonCon. I had wanted to see Peter Jurasik (Londo Molari), but his room was packed to the doors by the time I got there. But there was a lot more going on.

Peter David: Peter David has many credits, but I asked him about his Star Trek novel, "Q-in-Law". He explained the delays he had to go through to get this novel approved, until Majel Barrett Roddenberry was shown the manuscript. When she saw the tentative cover with her on it, that was all it took, and the book finally got released. I was glad it did, and I told him I consider it like getting an extra Next Generation episode, that's how good it was.

John De Lancie: Known to fans as Q from Star Trek, John has had many roles since his Star Trek days. He was also struggling with a bad cold, but managed to field all the fan questions. You could actually see him fighting off his illness so that he could answer fan questions fully. He didn't give very long answers to Star Trek questions, but I think this was because he is a busy man.

He has had so many projects in film, theater, and Alien Voices that you couldn't blame him for giving short shrift to Star Trek. It wasn't his character, and he has done a lot since then. By the way, he was 12 minutes over his allotted time and still answering questions when I had to leave. He was there to make the fans happy, cold be damned. That's dedication, folks.

Wayne Alexander: Wayne Alexander has played several characters on Babylon 5, such as Lorien. My favorite was as the Vorlon Inquisitor, Jack. When I got his autograph, I mentioned how I wished they had made the Inquisitor a Ranger after the Vorlons left. Then they could have had a scene where Sheridan looks at him in disgust saying "They made *you* a Ranger?" and then he would say something humorous and wave his cane at him.

Wayne thanked me for that, and said he had hoped they would have Jack return to the past to perhaps investigate some of the Jack the Ripper copycat crimes that occurred after the Vorlons had picked him up. At which I suggested that Jack shouldn't also solve his own crimes, and he laughed at that. A very charming actor, and a real pleasure to meet him.

Babylon 5 Women's Perspective: This was a panel headed by Na'toth, the ISN news anchor, Mira Furlan (De'lenn), and Claudia Christian (Ivanova). Mira Furlan in person took me totally by surprise. When I saw her come in, I thought she was some pretty assistant to the others. I didn't recognize her without her Minbari headpiece! She had a blazing smile while answering questions, and she spent her off moments chatting inaudibly with Claudia. (Now that would have been interesting to hear.)

I asked Claudia Christian a question, actually a comment, and you bet it's a softball, but it was the fastest one I could think up:

Q: In the B5 movie "In the Beginning", you have a flashback to when you were a young woman who was saying good-bye to her cosmonaut brother. I just wanted to say that you really looked 18 in that scene!

A: Will you marry me? (audience laughter.)

She thanked me for the compliment (this is my true opinion of that scene, by the way), and described how they were trying to cast young women as her for that scene. But none of them worked out, so they had to cast her as herself, she said laughing.

Speaking of Claudia, on Friday I located her autograph booth and bought a picture for her to sign. I know that some fans have trouble separating an actress from her character, but I am not one of them. Of course, making this difficult was that she had her hair in the ponytail from the TV series, but somehow I managed.

Then it occurred to me to ask to take my picture with her. She leaned over the table and I found myself being hugged by the Lieutenant Commander herself, as her assistant took our picture. The next day I wore my "IVANOVA IS GOD" T-shirt, and decided, you know, I should have another picture like that. So I went through her autograph line that day, bought another picture for her to sign, and got another hug for a second picture together.

As you might expect, I was pretty happy from this. I returned to the Xena track, feeling my weekend was over. I had been hugged by Claudia Christian twice, and I felt pretty complete, thank you very much. A few more hours, and the convention would be over for me.

I came late to Robert Trebor's fan session, and the room was packed to the door, so I sat down in the opposite hallway to listen to him. Steven Sears came by and sat down next to me, and we just chatted. It was a surreal scene, me and the Executive Producer sitting in the hallway. I told him about the autographs I had gotten from Claudia Christian, and he mentioned that he was a friend of hers.

He and the stars of Babylon 5 were going to be going out to dinner that evening with their mates, and he said he didn't think Claudia had a dinner date, so he would check on that for me. As he left, the implications of this washed over me. Imagine me having dinner with Steven Sears and the stars of Babylon 5! The next two hours were a long wait for me, but alas, he said Claudia was bringing someone, so it was not to be. (If I had been quicker-thinking, I would have grabbed Erin and said that I had a date, also. Drat!)

One last thing. On my way out of the convention, I spotted Steven Sears and his girlfriend. They were about to go out to dinner with Wayne Alexander (Lorien, the Inquisitor), Claudia Christian (Ivanova) and their spouses. He stopped me and introduced me to Claudia, who was very charming. He then had her hug me to take my picture. Steve almost took a shot, and then Claudia noticed the lenscap was still on. As he worked to take off the cap, Claudia rubbed her knuckles into the small of my back while we waited. My breath caught, but I had the presence of mind to smile for the picture and not act like a petrified fan. I somehow mumbled a thank you to her and shook Steve's hand, and then was on my way.

What can I say, wow. Now that's the way to end a convention!

Ogami jeb66038@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu