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So, my full convention report.

I should preface this by saying that this is really not a "full report" in any sense of the word. First of all, I didn't attend the convention on Friday (only the welcoming party in the evening), so I missed Adrienne as well as Steve's first appearance. Second, I also missed part of Saturday (specifically most of Brittney Powell's appearance) because I was late coming back from lunch. Third, for the most part I did not take notes (especially on Sunday), so a lot of this stuff is from memory.

So, to begin at the beginning…

Day 1

I arrived at the Hilton at about 12:15 on Friday I think - the meetup was at noon but my bus from Oxford was a bit late. I think you've already seen pictures of me being assaulted by Twinkle, GWAC, Inky and the others in the lobby of the Hilton. Then someone said "Hey, Steve Sears is looking for you" which was pretty flattering I must say! (Apparently someone told Steve that I was coming.) Steve was there with his lovely girlfriend Amanda, whom I remember as "Callisto" from the Burbank convention. (Not in costume this time!)

We also had a fun time hanging out in the lobby. I had my Saturday and Sunday tickets to get, but I was told the line at registration was a mile or so long, so I decided to check into my hotel (about a 10-minute walk away from the Hilton) and then come back to the Hilton around 6 pm and get tickets at the end of the day. That's what I ended up doing. At this point I also ran into Pandora, unwise ocean, and elsie, and we decided to have dinner at the Asian fusion restaurant at the hotel. Unwise also very kindly offered me her gold ticket so I could attend the welcoming party. That was a fun event; Steve Sears and Adrienne Wilkinson were mingling with the guests. I chatted with Adrienne a bit and told her that Jessica a.k.a. Xena Amber, who was involved with Adrienne's fan club in the past, was a friend of mine and that she couldn't make it to this con because she was in the US. Adrienne remembered Jessica and asked me to say hello to her.

Day 2

Ah, now it gets interesting!

Paris Jefferson

I've already posted some of the highlights from her talk. (I did take notes when she was on, but couldn't quite keep up so some of this account is from memory.) The first question to Paris (I think from our newest member, Denise, whom I met at the con) was about what it was like working with Kevin Smith. Paris said that Kevin was one of the most talented, attractive, extraordinary human beings she ever had a chance to work with. He was also amazingly humble about it. She recalled what a great singer he was - she saw him perform in New Zealand (I think she said Dunedin), a few months before he died, and sent him a note saying "your heavenly sister is in the audience." Kevin didn't understand what it meant and thought it was his actual sister.

Someone else asked, "did you think he was incredibly good-looking?" Paris said yes, when she first saw him at a read-through it "knocked my socks off. I was literally speechless, had to pick my jaw up from the floor. " She said it was quite disappointing to find out that she was supposed to be his sister.

"If you had the power of a god, what power would you most like to have?" Paris: "Being able to zap people with my eyes. It's great to just walk around and be able to look at people and kill them on the spot - except Xena, of course."

At that point she told an anecdote -- the original script for Amphipolis Under Siege included a long monologue by Athena about "how impressed she is with Xena." Paris thought it was very pompous and argued for cutting it, asking, "Do I have to say this?" Finally the director agreed to cut it and told her to just say, "Sad to be mortal, isn't it?"

"Was it hard to intimidate Ares?" - "No, not at all. Which leads me to believe that I want a lot more power than I have."

"Is there any other god that you'd like to play?" Paris joked, "One that stayed alive," and then added, "that's a hard question. I don't know - I think I'd like to make one up."

"Is there anything you'd like to have done on the show that you didn't get to do?" Paris replied, "Snog Ares," and then did a physical demonstration of snogging. "Yeah, that's one thing I'd have liked to do."

She was asked about the costume she had wear and said it wasn't that uncomfortable. She actually liked the helmet since it made her look taller. She recalled that one day when she was in costume but had not yet had her makeup put on, some crew member on the set saw her and said, "You look so much better…" and she thought he was going to say "without the makeup," but instead he said "with your helmet on."

What roles would she most like to play on stage and what were her best roles? She mentioned Maggie in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as one role she's really like to do (interesting, I can't imagine Paris in that part at all - Maggie is a very sensual, emotional, impulsive woman - but then I guess I'm typecasting her as Athena! ). The best role she's ever done, in her mind, was Anna Karenina in a stage version of the novel. It was also really difficult because the story is very dramatic, and she had to break down on stage every night. "In the end I just wanted to have fun."

She was asked about doing the action scenes. She said that when she first saw the footage of herself fighting with Ares (the close-ups) she thought she looked constipated.

Had she seen Xena prior to being cast? No, she hadn't even heard of it. Paris said that when she was told the star was named Lucy Lawless, her reaction was, "Is that a joke? Is that a name they made up?" She did get to watch some episodes before appearing on the show, just to be in the loop, but it's still pretty obvious that she doesn't know the show all that well (see below).

"How did you like Ilainus?" Paris: "Who was Ilainus? Oh, yeah - Athena's 'right-hand woman.' If I was going to have a girlfriend, it would be Musetta Vander." She talked about how they became good friends and she saw Musetta on her trip to LA - I think she said they went shopping together.

OK, next (according to my notes) was an odd little incident involving our very own solansmum. Solansmum got up to ask Paris a question and Paris asked, "What's your name?" solansmum replied, "My nickname is solansmum." Paris asked, "What does that mean?" and solansmum explained that her son is named Solan, like Xena's son. Paris, in genuine shock, "She had a son?" I'm not sure what happened after that but I think Paris said something like, "let's turn the tables and have me ask you a question," and her question was "what color underwear are you wearing." I think she (Paris) said that her own was green. Poor solansmum was totally flustered (don't blame her!) and I don't think that she ever got to ask her question.

This is where my notes break off but some more stuff from memory:

Paris was asked what she thought of the Twilight storyline and how it was handled. At first she didn't understand and asked what it was, then it was explained that it was the "death of the gods" story. She said she was a little disappointed that Xena defeated the gods so easily - I think she mentioned the fact that during the battle with the gods Xena gets hit with an arrow and she just goes on unfazed. She also said, in response to another question, that she didn't see Athena as a "bad guy" - sure, she was trying to kill Xena's child, but to her it wasn't a real baby, just a blob of tissue that was causing major problems to her family. Paris added that a good actor who's playing a "baddie" never thinks of their character as "evil," you always try to understand the character's motivation.

She also talked a bit about New Zealand and how nice and laid back New Zealanders are. The gist of her remarks was that partly it's because it's such a small place everyone knows each other. She described an incident of talking to some guy off the set and it turned out he went to school with Lucy.

Question: was she nervous on her first day on the set. Paris said not really, partly it helped (ironically) that she was sick on the first day of shooting (she had bronchitis) and she was too focused on not letting that get in the way that she didn't have time to be nervous. She also said everyone on the cast and crew was really nice and friendly and helped her feel at ease. She commented, about her general experience of being on the show, "It's great - people are nice to you, and you get to run around with a sword and kill people."

Two other specific things I remember. I think Paris was asked if she liked the Xena theme music - something along these lines, in any case she said she didn't know the tune and asked the fan who asked the question if she (or he) could sing it. When the person couldn't she asked if anyone else could sing it. No one volunteered and Paris said something like, "Some kind of fans you are!" Finally someone who had the Xena theme music as their cell phone ring tone played it for her.

Finally, not sure in response to what question but Paris was talking about how when you play a goddess you have to project authority and power without actually doing anything to display or prove it, just with your demeanor - you have to be able to just walk into a room and make people believe you're a goddess. Then someone in the audience called out, "You are a goddess!" I can't recall what Paris replied to that but I do think she was flattered.

Kevin Smith tribute

After Paris's appearance came the Kevin Smith tribute. (One minor complaint I have: it wasn't listed in the con schedule - instead the listing for that time was "Xena Movie Short," a glitch I guess.) The tribute was introduced by Adam from Creation Entertainment. It consisted of footage of Kevin's appearances at earlier conventions (I have three clips of that which I'll put up tonight, hopefully). The first was from 1999 (when he still had long hair), the second from 2001. Unfortunately the second clip had rather poor sound so it was hard to make out what he was saying.

At this point they also announced, "Last call for the Paris Jefferson photo op." I grumbled but went out. When I got to the photo op area I saw a line about half a mile long so I wandered back into the main auditorium. I really don't see why they had to announce "last call" at that point, it's not like she was about to leave. I was kind of disappointed that the Kevin tribute coincided with the photo op which meant that anyone getting their photo op with Paris had to miss at least part of it. I know quite a few people were upset about that.

The tribute also included, in addition to the footage from past convention appearances, clips of Kevin's cabaret singing at past cons and two Ares videos: "Bad to the Bone" and Xedra's wonderful "Anything Ares can do, Xena can do better."

By the way, the next day I chatted with a person who was new to the fandom and who had no idea that Kevin Smith was dead until she saw the tribute. What a way to find out.

Steven Sears

Up next was Steve Sears, in his second appearance at the convention. I was a little lax in taking notes but here's what I got.

"What did Xena and Gabrielle do for money?"

Steve: "The vast majority of TV viewers never think of that. It's a 'refrigerator question': What happens to the light when you close the door? However, we have found that Xena fans don't accept refrigerator questions. They want to know, not necessarily what happens to the light, but what does the food do, what is it thinking, what is its relationship to each other. We actually discussed this question in staff meetings and we never came up with a satisfactory answer. We didn't want to say, 'A king says, You did me a great favor and I want to repay you, so here's a credit card to finance your cause!' we felt it would sully their noble cause to show how it's financed."

Don't recall in response to what question but Steve talked about the Xena fandom. He said that some people have made comments to him about how Xena conventions are attended by weird people who dress up in costumes - and he has sometimes heard this during football season from people who have their face painted in the colors of their favorite team. He said that one thing that makes this fandom so great is that earlier that day he had spent half an hour having a really deep and intelligent discussion with a fan about Gabrielle's blood innocence. Funny but I think I actually wondered if the fan in question was our very own elsie austin. And sure enough…

A couple of questions were about fanfiction. I believe Steve was asked what he thinks about it in general. He said he hasn't read much; he couldn't read it while the show was on because he didn't want it to influence him. Since then he has read bits and pieces, which mostly has to do with the way he reads nowadays than with fanfic as such. The only writer he specifically mentioned was Missy Good.

Another question was, how does he feel about people drawing on his work and his ideas to write their own stories. He said he's fine with it as long as they don't make any money off it - in fact he considers it an honor that his work can inspire stories. "If you're making money, then I want a cut." He also added that in television, writers actually have very little creative control over their scripts - it's the studio that owns everything and can do pretty much whatever it wants with your work - so it's really not a question of someone appropriating characters you create and control.

Finally, there was a rather memorable discussion of Steve's hat! I don't remember what the question was but I do remember that in response Steve removed his hat. He said something about shaving his head but I think he was joking. He talked about how soon after he started losing his hair he went into a store and tried on some hats and the salesman told him the hat looked good on him. He said that the hat has sort of become his trademark, it was even written up in some industry publication. He told a story of how at a convention a few years ago he was mobbed by fans (that was after he brought the house down while onstage by quipping, "I have 300 women hanging on my every word and I don't have a shot with any of you!"), and then after going up to his hotel room he realized he had forgotten something downstairs. So he went down without his hat and not a single person recognized him as he walked through the lobby.

The dessert/disco party

That was the end of the events on Saturday. Tango arrived in London that evening and we had lots of fun at the dessert/disco party. Steve, Paris and Adrienne were there mingling with the fans. (At one point Steve took a photo of Tango and me and Tango said, "Steve Sears is taking pictures of us - shouldn't it be the other way round?" ) There was lots of dancing (a woman named Mandy was a particularly impressive dancer, does anyone know her? I think she did get an XOC card so hopefully she'll join us here…) and they showed music videos. I remember saying they should show some Xena ones and then what do you know, they actually did show (toward the end) two musical numbers from Lyre Lyre - "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" and "Dancing in the Moonlight."

One more funny tidbit from the party: at one point a guy from Creation said that he wanted to thank several fans who had helped with the organizing and had been vital in making the con possible. One of them was "Xeno," the guy who has these great videos of himself throwing the chakram and stuff (I think he's a member here). There was another guy who the Creation staffer said had come to the con in spite of the fact that he and his wife had had a baby about a week earlier. I admit I caught myself thinking, "And that's a good thing?" and Tango wondered what the guy's wife thought about this. Of course I'm hoping that she's okay with it and all is well.

The party was wrapping up around 2 a.m. though it was still going when Tango and I headed back to our hotel. Btw, the next day I heard that elsie didn't get back to her room until 4 a.m. I was wondering what she was up to and then I found out the truth… she was participating in a Bitter Suite singalong with twinkletoes, GWAC, Lsavad1 and the rest of the gang!

Day 3

I can't say very much about Joe LoDuca - sadly I don't recall much of what he said, partly because he spoke rather indistinctly and a lot of his comments were hard to make out, even with the microphone. But then, of course, came the big event…

Lucy Lawless!

OK, here's where I have a minor complaint - not about Lucy! A bunch of people from the back rows migrated to the front of the aisle so they could take pictures of Lucy. Most of them got down on their knees and that was fine, but several insisted on standing which basically blocked the view of Lucy's entrance from people in the preferred seating rows. A couple of people including Tango went up and asked them to either get down on the floor or sit down so as not to block the view. Most complied but one woman remained standing and completely ignored the requests. Finally Steve's girlfriend Amanda, who was sitting right behind Tango and me, went up and said something to this woman and she sat down.

Lucy was absolutely wonderful. She seemed very much at ease, very relaxed and just having lots of fun. I didn't take notes during Lucy's talk so I will have to do this from memory. (However, KT has a great report that she has already posted to the Lucy Lawless fan list and she promised me at the con that she'll post it here too… so you'll definitely get the fuller version from her.)

One of the first questions, I think from DeniseLovesAres, was about what it was like to film the "bedroom scene" in Old Ares Had a Farm. I think Lucy misunderstood and thought she was referring to the temple scene in Amphipolis Under Siege because in her answer she made no mention of Renee. She said it was a little uncomfortable and they took forever to film it, and that while Kevin was a great actor (and singer) and a great friend, these scenes were never really sexual for them. She said they used to joke, "No schwing!" after doing the make-out scenes. She said that they felt "totally and regrettably non-sexual" (or something like that) and that after the scene was over, she would find herself thinking, "Damn! I should have been enjoying that."

ETA: Someone, I think warriorbarduk, asked Lucy a question that was actually originally suggested by Janna23 on this board and on the Lucy Lawless fan list, about interviews she had been taping on college campuses with her friend Marissa asking students if they would have a romantic relationship with either an older or a younger person -- basically, what this project was and whether it would ever be shown. Lucy said that she doesn't think it will ever see the light of day because she and Marissa had a huge fight while filming it and didn't speak to each other for three weeks. She said something like "She's my best friend but I realized that we should never, ever work together!" Basically the conflict was over the fact that when the students would start to really open up during the interviews and get into deep things, Lucy would want them to keep talking and Marissa would try to get them to move on -- "keep it light, keep it fluffy."

Lucy was asked whether she had any guilty pleasures. She said it was reading the celebrity gossip magazines. However, she draws the line at the coverage of celebrities' children which she feels really crosses the line.

One person asked where Xena got her courage to stand up to the bad guys. I believe she was asking this for the benefit of another fan who was deaf, and Sharon translated into sign language. Lucy's answer was that she had an inner compass, a strong sense of right and wrong; she lost it at one point when she went evil, but once she got it back it was always there to guide her. Then Lucy did an absolutely hilarious digression on the differences between American and English sign language. She said that American sign language is very precise, while the British version is "very emotive." She then demonstrated what the phrase, "A foul odor erupted as the sewer pipes burst" would supposedly look like in British sign language, using her hands to demonstrate an explosion and then shutting her nose with a look of absolute disgust and horror on her face. It was totally hilarious and a good reminder of what a great comedy actress Lucy is.

Speaking of comedy, she was also asked which Xena double was her favorite to play and she said it was Meg.

Lucy was asked about her most mortifying moment on the show. She told an anecdote about how when filming Tsunami (I don't think she remembered the ep title, she just said "the one where we were in the water all the time"), the filming was really difficult because they had to spend a lot of time in the water and there were pieces of garbage and rotting cabbage floating around, and she, Renee, and Bruce (she actually said "and Ted," but she must have misremembered it since he wasn't in the ep) made a bet that the first person to lose their temper on a particular day would have to pay $5,000. I think she said that Bruce would push the rotting cabbages in her direction when the camera wasn't on her. Finally she said something sharp and sarcastic to an assistant director - not terribly rude but enough to lose the bet. "And I never paid up." (I wonder if this incident went into the script of Punchlines!)

There was a question about Lucy's single favorite Xena episode. She said "the China ones" and then actually remembered the title - "The Debt, right?" She said they were very beautiful episodes. She also said Ides of March, for the drama, and her favorite comedy is Been There Done That.

Lucy was asked who her role models were. She named three singers: Nina Simone, Patti Smith, and one more I can't remember.

One person who got to ask a question was from the Czech Republic and conveyed greetings to Lucy from all the Czech fans (there was a fairly sizable contingent of Czech fans in the audience, most of them from XOC!). Lucy gave a shout-out to the Czech fans, saying that Prague is an incredibly beautiful city and Czechs are some of the most beautiful people in the world.

Lucy was asked which one she would pick if she had to choose between acting and singing. She asked if she could choose appearing in musicals, which would combine both. A few people shouted out to suggest a Broadway musical version of Xena and Lucy seemed quite open to the idea. (Sounds good to me, too!)

As I already mentioned in my highlights, there were five or six women wearing Xena costumes in the question line. (One of them, Jo Marriott, has a really incredible costume and looks the part too - there are pictures of her in my con photo thread.) Lucy greeted the first of them with "Hello, Xena!" and then referred to the rest as "Xena #2," "Xena #3," etc. One of the Xenas, a lady from Austria, said that she does a Xena-based live action show with horses and swordfights, and asked Lucy if she could see herself participating in such a show. Lucy cautiously said "I'd consider it." (I don't think she sounded very enthused.)

Our very own solansmum asked Lucy if she could see parallels between herself and Celine Dion - I think she said something like "you're both wonderful singers and you both have a partner named Rene(e)." (Celine's husband is named Rene.) I can't remember Lucy's exact reply but she said something about how she really admires Celine Dion and she's overcome a lot of hardships in her life. I think solansmum also introduced Lucy to little Solan. (She'll correct me if I'm wrong, no doubt!)

There was a question along the lines of, is she concerned that the music industry isn't taking her more seriously as a singer. She said that for her at the end of the day, it's not about being taken seriously or getting respect, it's about having fun and doing what she likes, including things like hanging with the fans. At some point (not sure it was here) she also said some very nice things about Xena fans and how they apply the spirit of the show in their own communities by working for the Greater Good. She said that 99% of the fans are wonderful people, though of course you always have a few bad apples in every bunch.

She was asked if there are challenging things that she'd like to do outside her career that she hasn't done yet, like skydiving. She said that just doesn't appeal to her - "again, 'no schwing.'" She also said her ex-husband loves it.

Lucy was also asked how she felt when she heard "Cut!" on Xena for the last time. She said that the last scene they shot was actually a fight scene in which it was mostly her doubles. It felt very anticlimactic and she was also completely exhausted. She was asked, "How did you feel when you woke up the next morning?" and she replied, "I don't think I woke up the next morning." She said it was a weird feeling - something that had consumed her life for 6 years wasn't there anymore.

Had she kept a journal while filming Xena, and would she consider writing a book? Lucy said no, she hadn't kept one. I think the person then asked if she wished she had, and she said, "Nooooo." She added that any book she could write about her experience on the show would be very boring because it really wasn't that exciting on the set, all the exciting stuff was onscreen. She then started talking about celebrity memoirs and how she was reading Julie Andrews' autobiography and it was really weird to see her mention that Rex Harrison, um ... had a flatulence problem, just because Julie Andrews has the image of someone from whom you wouldn't expect that. "It wouldn't be like me saying that Kevin farted all the time."

There were other questions too, about Battlestar Galactica and Bedtime Stories. But basically that's about the extent of what I have. Except to say it was really, really great to see Lucy again.

Steve Sears, again

And that leaves Steve's final appearance onstage, on Day 3, before an audience that had dwindled considerably. (Tango and I were able to move up to the front rows, which was nice.) Well, actually first there was an auction where they sold off the convention banners autographed by the guests and other such stuff. Then, Steve Sears.

Steve was great as usual. Some of what he said was familiar to me from previous conventions. There was one story, which I think he had previously told in Chicago, about how when he started working on the show he told Rob that he needed to be able to argue his point of view but if Rob wants him to stop arguing, all he needs to do is tell him to shut up. So at some point they had a big disagreement over something and Steve argued his point for a long time, and finally Rob said, "Steve, remember how you said that I can always tell you to shut up? Well - shut up! [Pause] Unless you can convince me." In the end Rob prevailed and Steve said that he later realized Rob was right (he doesn't remember what the issue was anymore).

Another story that also rings a bell - once Rob told him Lucy wanted to do a 60-foot drop, which is a pretty dangerous stunt because if you miss the bag you're supposed to drop into, you can be seriously injured or even killed. Steve started to argue that it was too dangerous. Rob said, "Don't sorry, I wouldn't let Lucy do anything that I wouldn't do myself." To which Steve replied, "Rob, if you miss the bag, I still have a job." Rob said, "Ha!" (And Lucy ended up not doing the stunt herself.) Steve does a pretty funny Rob Tapert impersonation. Oh, he also did a totally hilarious demonstration of how Rob looks when Lucy is onstage (beaming with pride and adoration and all but openly pointing at himself and going, "I'm her husband!" ).

Also not for the first time, Steve told the story of how he would have ended the show (he actually wrote it out at one point). Xena still would have died but she would have sacrificed herself for Gabrielle, realizing that Gabrielle was the world's greatest hope in a great battle between good and evil. At the end we would see Gabrielle on a throne surrounded by the nations of the world, and a ghostly presence behind her putting a hand on her shoulder (Xena).

There was some really interesting new material as well. The funniest part - Steve said that at some point they considered doing an episode in which Gabrielle and Argo switched bodies. (Tango whispered to me, "There's your horsetext." ) At some point we were supposed to see Argo-as-Gabrielle drinking out of a trough. Xena was supposed to leave "Gabrielle" in a village and explain to the villagers that she's a little slow. I'm not sure this would have worked as an episode, but listening to it was funny.

He also talked about the idea they had for an episode about Socrates that didn't get made because they couldn't figure out how to adapt the historical material. Socrates was sentenced to death because his philosophy was considered blasphemous against the state religion of Athens (the worship of the Olympians) and died by drinking hemlock. Xena would have wanted to save him, of course. Steve said that they considered having Socrates tell Xena that he had to die to make a statement, but they still couldn't quite figure out how to do it so it would work. (He said that "Xena doesn't always have to be right, but she always has to be noble.)

Someone asked if a show like Xena could work today. Steve said that it would definitely find fans if it was done, but the market is very different now - new shows are only given a few episodes to prove themselves. He said that a number of studio executives have told him they wanted to do a Xena-type show, but to them it just means a show about babes in leather fighting with swords - they don't understand the importance of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship or the deeper themes of the show.

Steve also mentioned (I don't recall in response to what question) that studio people have told him he's amazingly detailed in his presentation of story idea, and he said it's because they don't know Xena fans and how thorough they are in wanting responses to all sorts of questions - like, "Are there female centaurs?" and "How could Xena do that leap onto the ship in The Lost Mariner?" He recalled that at some point - probably at a convention - he actually spun a biological/genetic explanation of why all the centaurs were male, and later a woman in the audience came up to him and said that she was a geneticist and his explanation actually sort of made sense.

Steve talked about how great the actors on the show were and how the writers and the actors fed off each other. In the beginning no one knew much about Lucy or Renee and how well they could act, but then they did wonderful things with what they were given in the scripts, so the writers started giving them more and the actors were once again raising that material to a new level, so it was a cycle in which the actors and the writers motivated each other to be better. With less excellent actors it could have been a cycle going in the other direction - spiraling downwards.

There was also a question about the subtext - whether it was something that the writers deliberately did or something that just happened. Steve said that they never did it deliberately - just allowed the relationship to develop on its own - but they also never said, "Let's stop doing the subtext." He also said that he had actually told the producers when he first started working on the show that it would gain a substantial gay following. The gay community is a minority that is discriminated against not only in terms of being denied the same rights as the majority but also in terms of representation, so many gay people understandably look for stories that represent them and see their own lives reflected in stories with two leads of the same sex who care strongly about each other. As the show progressed the relationship became deeper and the subtext developed as well.

Steve added, "The wonderful thing about Xena and Gabrielle's relationship is that it's completely open to interpretation. To some people, it's the closest they've ever seen to perfect sisterly love - and the show fits that interpretation perfectly. To some, they're a couple in every sense of the word - and the show fits that interpretation perfectly. To some, it's a great friendship. There are subtexters and there are maintexters. It's all equally valid. There are Xena/Gabrielle fans and there are fans of the Xena/Ares relationship - there are some really interesting discussions there. You can support any relationship you want. It could be Joxer/Argo -- the unwritten episode." (Btw, I think Steve thought a "maintexter" is someone who sees Xena and Gabrielle as friends, i.e. someone who doesn't believe there is anything beyond what was shown onscreen.) He also said that "the great thing is that your interpretation does not in any way deny you [pointing at different fans in the audience] the freedom to have your interpretation. That's why when we have these conventions we don't put people in segregated sections and say, subtexters sit over here, non-subtexters sit over there. We all love the show and it works for all of us."

That wasn't the last question of the day (and the con) - actually I think it was a question that came fairly early in the Q & A session - but it's an inspiring message, so I think I'll wrap up with that particularly since I don't remember what the last question was, anyway.

And with that, the convention was over … until next time!