1998 Burbank Xena Con
Saturday, 17 January

Saturday at the Xena Con

At last, the Con had come. Time to congregate with various celebrities, writers, directors, marketeers, and nutballs, and start the Xena festivities. The wallet was already shrinking since the vendors hall was open Friday night during pre-registration, but that didn't mean the wallet wouldn't get thinner. And boy, did it. At least there was a good selection of speakers on the day to keep me in my seat so I wouldn't spend even *more* money. (ha.. like that's going to foil me......)
 
The day/weekend was introduced by Adam Malin and Sharon Delaney of Creation Entertainment. Sharon we all know and love as the motor behind the Xena and Hercules Official Fan Clubs. Photos below are of Adam, Gary, and Sharon, and also of Sharon's "useless" sidekick, Julie Harter.

 
I didn't see the animated movie overview..I was probably out in the hall buying more stuff. First guest I caught was Brad Carpenter. He'd been the marketing/merchandising guy for Renaissance Pictures, but this was his last Con with us. He's moving on to NYC to help out with a start up Gay TV network. Can't wait to see what they come up with for that!
 
Next up was Gary Gerani of Topps. My photos of him didn't come out, so I have no show and tell here, but his presentation was good. He talked about some of the upcoming issues of the Xena magazine, the trading cards, and some of the planned comic books. I'm gonna need to win a lottery for all of this stuff!
 
Salmoneus takes the stage! Robert Trebor gave us some time out of his weekend to give us the lowdown on playing Salmoneus on both Hercules and Xena. I don't remember a lot of details, but he was quite funny. I have a Robert Trebor Photo Gallery set up from his time with us.
 
Doubleday Books has given us all a treat: two new books, one on Xena and one on Hercules. Both were written by Rob Weisbrot. They are considered the official companion guides to the two shows, and you can tell Rob really did his homework. I only have the Xena book right now, but I imagine Hercules benefits from the same well written, thoroughly researched and neatly presented treatment that Professor Weisbrot gave to Xena. He told us that he gave up on his writing a book on the Cuban Missile Crisis for this. Quite a subject swap. But he is also clearly a dedicated fan and used that enthusiasm to all of our advantage. Check these books out: get the lowdown on all of the inside happenings from writing to costume design and more.
 
I missed Ru Emerson, writer of three Xena novels, because it was past lunch time for me....
 
When it comes right down to it, who better to ask the nitty gritty questions about the future of Xena (and Hercules...) than Executive Producer Rob Tapert himself? He was asked about the upcoming demise of Callisto (he hedged, but indicated that one way or another he wanted to keep Hudson Leick working), the presence of Joxer....and a lot of things I don't remember. If someone refreshes my memory, I'll do a better summary. I do recall that one question was why couldn't Joxer move over to Hercules, and Xena get Salmoneus? Rob didn't seem to cotton to that idea too well. So Xena will keep getting Joxer.... Some photos of Rob are below. As for the multiple exposure one, I have *no* idea how I made that happen but it looks cool...

 
More celebrities graced the stage, and they have their own summaries elsewhere within these pages. So, onward to:
The Danielle Cormack Photo Gallery
and
The Hudson Leick Photo Gallery
 
The day came to a close at the convention hall with a long autograph session with Hudson, Danielle, and Bob Trebor. I don't know if *everyone* was able to go through the line, but it looks like they got pretty close. While this was happening, Creation showed us that week's Hercules (Episode name? I missed that part) and Xena (Warrior...Priestess...Tramp). Hudson stuck around to take pictures with some fans (I was one of the lucky ones.. check it out) and then ......the first day of official con events was over. *Whew*
 

 
Intro/index to Burbank '98 Con pages
Saturday, 17 Jan. | Sunday, 18 Jan. | Parties and people
Robert Trebor | Danielle Cormack | Hudson Leick | Kevin Smith | Lucy Lawless