Sharon Delaney (fan club president)

(warning: this section is spoiler heavy)

Sharon got promoted: at this convention, she was billed as one of the special guests. She presented a slide show of sneak previews for Xena and Herc on both days, took questions from the audience, and showed slide shows about the evolution of Xena and of Gabrielle. The slide show of Xena didn't show much of an evolution, it was more just a collection of nice shots; the Gabrielle one was much easier to follow the line of thinking on.

Since I'm not much of a Herc viewer, I didn't take many notes about the last eight episodes, although I did note a couple of episodes that caught my interest:

"Love Amazon Style" will feature Aphrodite and tons of "Stepford Amazons" (no names were mentioned of anyone we know from XWP) who are forced to do the things they hate most. Make your own guesses about what that'll be.

"Darkness Visible" is Herc's Halloween episode, and contrary to a few rumors I've heard, Herc is the one who gets to meet Vlad the Impaler in this episode - not Xena. "Herc, Tramps, and Thieves" will be Autolycus's next episode, wherein we meet Autolycus's ex-wife... played by Tracy Lords, heaven help us all.

Xena fifth season! Here's the airing list of episodes Sharon gave us and any tidbits she passed along. (Last warning: this is spoiler heavy, although no major plot points were passed along.) Sharon had lots of slides, but since she avoids spoilers, too, not much explanation for them.

"Fallen Angel": We saw one slide for this, and it was a corker. Callisto, crouched on the floor, with huge bat wings and horns, looking like a despondent, bedeviled demon. Sharon said that judging by what she's seen, XWP must have blown the budget for about five episodes on this one, and that the show is going to be amazing.

"Chakram": This is the first appearance of the pictures that Sharon's already put on the web of Xena in the red maternity dress and Gabrielle in her woven leather outfit and with the sai weapons. Xena's in a hot tub again! But this time, it's Ares who's giving her a back rub in it. And in one slide, the chakram is back, whole again.

"Succession": There's a Xena wannabe who wants to take Xena's place as Ares' chosen warrior. Ares has a haircut: the long locks are gone. He has a near-flattop now.

"Animal Attraction": Costume change again: Xena's now in dark blue maternity leathers (majorly showing), and a blue overcoat with furry collar. Gabrielle's duster appears for the first time. Joxer has a new look, too: lots of patchwork leather and another goofy-looking hat, although the tin plates are gone.

"Dem Bones, Dem Bones": Alti's back, and in a tight black leather outfit. (See Claire's section for some discussion about that.) Xena, Amarice, and Gabrielle head back to Thunderdome Amazon territory, and apparently Gab goes slightly native, as Gab is wont to do: there's a gorgeous shot of her in leather and rawhide with a bow, looking for all the world like a pre-Mycenean Robin Hood. Another shot was a close-up of Gabrielle's face with dark red (blood?) lines across her cheeks like war paint, looking fierce and intense as can be.

"Purity" and "Back in the Bottle": nothing was known about these two episodes.

"Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire": A new musical episode featuring Draco. This will be a "battle of the bands" episode, with each group covering existing songs. No new compositions, and no dancing that Sharon knows of.

Other tidbits Sharon gave out:

RJ Stewart is moving on to work on Cleopatra 2525 and another show called South Camelot. Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the ones who did the primary writing for the past season of Hercules, are now the main writers for Xena.

There's no word on the sex of Lucy's baby, or on potential names. But a pool has begun on the Xena set.

If Xena really is putting her guilt behind her at last, what's left? Sharon said the writers are planning to focus more on Xena's future, and what her gifts can mean to the world, than her past.

Gabrielle, meanwhile, is learning that she and Xena's viewpoints are not so different after all, and is learning how to balance moving more into Xena's role as a fighter (especially while Xena has that big belly?) and still stay true to her ideals. (Can I get an amen? This was probably the best thing I heard all weekend.)

Slated to appear again next season: Joxer, Autolycus (although I didn't see him in any slides or comments), Ares (saw quite a bit of him), Zeus and Hera (there's something new!), Eli, Alti, and Amarice. Callisto will be in the season opener, but no other word on episodes for her.

Ephiny is not scheduled to reappear. Sharon said that the show wanted to keep Ephiny around, but because Danielle Cormack is so busy with movie deals, and they needed to use the amazons for their episodes, they killed off the character. Which I suppose is the nicest excuse for killing off a cool character.

In regards to the age-old question about whether the new season will split up Xena and Gabrielle, Sharon made one of the most emphatic statements of her whole weekend: that everyone connected with the show says that the relationship between Xena and Gab is not changing and never will.

Amarice, whose actress is now cast for Cleopatra 2525, will appear in Fallen Angel, Chakram, Animal Attraction, and Dem Bones Dem Bones, but then will probably be gone as Jennifer Sky moves to her new show.

Once again, more cultures and mythologies will be explored by Xena and Gab in the episodes to come.

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