California Dreamin'

Some people leave their heart in San Francisco. I left my voice in Santa Monica. After cheering for two days and talking with what seems to have been every other one of the 3,000 attendees at the Hercules and Xena convention, my voice made Bette Davis's sound like a honey. But it was worth every bit of exhaustion and raspiness. Read on for the highlights and tidbits of what was seen and said in the convention halls!

Note: I'm mostly a Xena fan writing for Xena fans. My apologies to the Herc and Young Herc stars who may get short shrift. I gotta edit for space somewhere.

Alzo note: Almost everybody dropped hints and spoilers about upcoming episodes. I'll try to mark any big ones before they hit, but be warned if you're extremely spoiler shy!

Sharon Delaney (Fan club president)


Gina Torres (Nebula) and Paul Robert Coyle (producer/writer)


Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite)


Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)


Claire Stansfield (Alti)


Steven Sears (producer and writer) and Robert Field (editor)


Karl Urban (Caesar, Cupid, Mael)


Lucy Lawless (Xena)


Saturday was mostly-Herc day at the convention. I missed Joel Tobeck (Strife) completely, but saw the three Young Hercules stars come out and have a grand ol' time enjoying the crowd at their first convention. Ryan Gosling, the Young Hercules star, brought a video camera out with him and handed it to one of the fans in the front row to video tape their performance "for Mom - hi Mom!"

It was good (and occasionally incredibly cute) to see a lot of kids get in the question line. But despite requests to the contrary every star got requests for personal autographs, hugs, gifts, and whatever else - there was no screening of the questions at all. The pinnacle event was, I kid you not, when one woman stood in the question line to ask Kevin Sorbo to sign something for her dog. Good grief.

The Young Herc stars, Joel Tobeck, Gina Torres, and Alexandra Tydings all signed autographs at the end of the day, and they were at the signing tables until 10:30 that night. The new Xena and Hercules episodes played while the autograph line ran, which must have been extremely weird for Gina, who was in the Hercules episode and had her voice coming from the speakers behind her while she was signing. The stars were all very friendly in the autograph lines and eager to sign anything people came up with (including a few body parts I saw).

The second day of the convention was Xena day all the way, and the convention was sold out. People were packed to the ceiling - literally, in the stadium-style seats. There weren't quite so many requests for personal attention this time (mostly because of the special steps taken for Lucy Lawless's appearance), but the squeelers I had commented on from the Cherry Hill convention decided to get their revenge on me by sitting right behind me this time - and kicking my seat a lot.

Before the stars came out, we saw a demonstration/commercial for the new Xena multi-path movie CD-ROMs that are hitting the stores. It was a ball to vote on what to make Xena and Gabrielle do in a theater full of people. "Use the whip!" "Wrestle!" "Kick Orpheus's head!" It's tough to imagine getting much of a thrill out of seeing a computerized half-version of an episode on my computer all by myself, though, especially when they had Gabrielle gasping and acting off-melodramatic every three lines. Pretty strange.

The auction made national news when Xena's sword sold for a whopping $31,000 and a standing ovation. The winner was surrounded by media for the next half-hour.

The autograph table was much smaller the second day - only Claire and Karl signed. Karl had a plane to catch and was furiously signing as many autographs as he could. When he couldn't stay any longer and had to leave, he left by walking along the autograph line so that he could keep signing for as many people as possible until the last minute. When he left, Claire, who had been trying to keep up, asked "Whew! Can I slow down now?" and stayed to sign for the rest. I'm always amazed at how much all the guest stars put themselves out to get autographs to as many people who want it as possible.

And now for something completely different...

Return to the Rate-A-Xena scrapbook.

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