Questions from the fandom July 2011 Edition

I originally was going to post the questions from the fandom, but I opted for the Convention Questions instead. My reasons for removing the fandom questions part boils down to I want to carefully word my responses because I don't want to anger people because most of what I say is based on my personal experience after 12 years in the fandom. I've seen a lot of vileness and it really doesn't need me adding to it at this point.

So without further delay... these questions are about the conventions...

Questions July Edition

With Creation’s announcement that 2012 will be the final Xena convention, does that mean no more Xena conventions?

The short answer is yes; however, over the long term, possibly not. Since the real reason for Creation not continuing the conventions (and presumably the merchandise) after 2012 is unknown, anything that I say is pure speculation based on what I know about product licensing. If we use the reasoning that Creation’s licensing ends at the end of 2012 another company may license Xena conventions and host them. Is that likely? I’m hesitant to say yes because attendance wise, it’d be foolish for another company to put on Xena convention as the sole offering. I suspect that any future Xena convention (if it happens) would involve it being packaged with something else to draw in a bigger audience. It would be a collective convention, similar to some of the other convention promoters do around the country where stars from various TV shows and movies gather together for a weekend. Just recently Bruce Campbell was at a Wizards convention on the East Coast.

Another possibility is that Creation may end the Xena weekend convention package and instead package it with some other convention. For example, Xena-Stargate-Farscape—One day would be Xena, one day would be Farscape, one day would be Stargate. Anyone who’s been to a Xena convention over the past few years knows that unless it’s Lucy, Renee, or Hudson—the convention theatre is about half or three-quarters full. But this option remains to be seen as Creation is also ending it's Farscape and Stargate conventions as well. Most recently they canceled the Whedon convention that was to be held later this in Los Angeles. They've also added some new shows to their convention line-up including The Vampire Diaries, Eureka and Warehouse 13.

What about merchandising?

From the email that was sent out and the note (one in the same) posted to the X-Con website, it almost sounds like the licensing agreement is ending in 2012 and that Creation no longer can manufacture Xena merchandise and in which case another company can license to make T-Shirts and products based on the series and its characters. NBC Universal has already licensed out a calendar to a publisher based out of New York. It’s the first non-Creation calendar since Portal ceased producing them about four or five years ago.

And the fandom?

The only way the fandom will die is if we the fans let it die. That said, the Xena fandom will live on. The conventions may have ended, it doesn’t stop fans from gathering independently or hosting their own things on their websites, forums, etc. This blog and its companion websites, including The XOC will continue forward. I’m pretty sure MaryD isn’t giving up AUSXIP or TX either.

Is there anything fans can do to keep the conventions going?

If the reason for ending of the conventions is not based on licensing, but financial, there’s always a possibility that fans could persuade Creation to keep the conventions going. A few years back they proclaimed Farscape’s convention demise, yet it has continued on. In that same respect, Stargate is also ending its run on the convention circuit. Fans can write and tell Creation how much they enjoyed the conventions. It’s evident that Creation is having to make some hard decisions about its business. And with the United States economy heading toward another recession, Creation wants solidify itself so it’ll be open for business on the backend once the economy improves.

July Questions

I'm working on the July questions right now. I'll hopefully get them up later today. This is not going be a nice one toward the end because it deals with the fandom and some of you already know that the Xena fandom, something very near and dear to me, is something of a controversial topic for me because of my experiences with certain groups within the fandom.

In short, I'm tired of being mocked and looked at funny when I don't "conform" to you silly little labels you like putting on everything.

Xena DVD question

I got two questions in the last week about the DVDs, both of the same nature.

How come season 5 and 6 of the DVD sets from Legendary Heroes has a different cover art from those released by Anchor bay?

In 2004, LegendaryHeroes.com (aka, Xena catalog company, aka Davis Merchandising--known as LH from here on out) released the final three seasons of Xena on DVD to those who purchased the sets online directly. This was months before AnchorBay released it to the marketplace as they had done previously with season 1 - 3.

Since LH was the producer, owner of the distribution license, they had first dibs on releasing it to the impatient types in the fandom. They did all the cover work, etc.

When it came time to ship the sets out for wide release (Best Buy, etc), the cover art was altered. This was done to sort of separate the two releases--or so I was told at the time. It also could have been a simple request by Anchor Bay who wanted to have different cover art.

See related post:

• More information on the Xena DVDs

Questions from the Fandom June 2011 Edition

Is Xena shown anyone on TV in the United States?

To the best of my knowledge, no. It recently started airing again in Australia on premium cable, but as for the United States--no. The best way to catch Xena nowadays is either buy the DVDs, stream them through Netflix (though, Lyre, Lyre Hearts on Fire and Antony and Cleopatra are not available because of music rights), purchase seasons from Amazon or iTunes streaming service. Xena was recently added to Hulu +. Hulu does have the aforementioned episodes available for streaming, and in some cases--they have the episode promos that lead episodes off.

Do you know where I can buy Xena merchandise?

Your best bet is try eBay. A word of caution, some sellers tend to "inflate" their prices because they're not serious about selling their collections. Shop around on eBay.

How to do I write to the actors?

I'm a bad Xenite in that I don't keep up on that. Try searching for individual actors on Google. Many of them have their own websites with ways to contact them (or at least someone working with them).

Are there plans to bring Spartacus onto regular TV?

I've not heard anything about syndication rights. They'd have to seriously clean up episodes and remove the sex and blood scenes. Netflix does stream the episodes and the first season is available on DVD.

What is your opinion on Spartacus?

Couldn't get into it. I tried, diligently to find something worthwhile and interesting in the series and it never happened. Some of it is that I'm not a person who gets a kick out of watching blood and sex. While it may accurately portray, in some respects, life in a Roman gladiator school--historically, there are problems with the content.

Why hasn't Renee worked more?

Some of it is personal choice, I believe. The rest of it is all on Hollywood's political structure (not political like Democrats and Republicans) of the casting world. It's who you know and your ability to sell yourself. Renee seems perfectly content working in the Indie scene.

Will there ever be a Xena movie?

Sure. Just not the one you may want. I suspect that within the next decade or decade and a half, Xena will come to the big screen. It'll be re-imagined with all new actors in the main roles. Which is sadly, as it should be. I realize that stings to hear. But I do believe that principle actors have moved on from their days on Xena.

How come Xena [I assume the person meant Lucy] doesn't do more action roles?

The person meant Lucy, I believe. At any rate, I think the question answers itself. If you still see Lucy as Xena, that's the reason WHY she hasn't taken on another Xena-esque role in the decade since Xena ended. Lucy, while she fondly looks back upon XWP, really doesn't want to go through her post XWP career playing like-minded roles. It's bad enough when Hollywood typecasts actors into the roles that put them on the map, it's worse with the fans do it as well. This is something casting people pick up on in Hollywood. Let Lucy be the judge of what roles she wants to play. And believe me, she's turned a lot of Xena-esque roles because she doesn't want to rehash Xena in some new setting.

What would you like to see in a movie?

New actors. Story---new story too. I'd rather keep the two properties separate.

Do you still write fan fiction? Tales of the Warrior was great!

This question finally prompted me to find my PDFs of the virtual series I did a few years ago. To answer the question, no. I no longer write fan fiction. I've been writing non-fiction stuff most recently. I'm currently researching for a historical fiction novel set in World War II that's loosely based on my family's involvement. Though, I wouldn't discount me not writing fan fiction altogether. I might end Tales of the Warrior with a movie. We'll see.

Do you read fan fiction?

No. I can't. I'd rather read something I created because it's based on my vision and not what another fan's vision is because the two points often don't see eye to eye. It's a polite way of saying, I can't stomach the majority of fan fiction without my intelligence or morals being insulted one way or the other. I'm sure people feel the same way about my writing as well. So it's all good. And most of the fan fiction is "smut" anyways. I like stories that don't contain sex.

Are you ever going to update your website?

The funny thing about being a history major is all the writing you have to do. I've had to write about 300 pages worth of papers over the last year-and-a-half. I finally have time and I'm making great work on getting the 'information' sections up and running. The site will be located here http://www.xenaonline.net.

Have you met any of the people from Xena?

Only at conventions. I've had some wonderful conversations with them in the past during the charity breakfast, the disco parties, and just in passing. They're just like fans. Only difference is, they have been on TV. They're all human. They require the same basic necessities to live, just like the rest of us.

Is there anyone Xena who you hate?

Um. Thinking... I can't think of a person I absolutely hate quite honestly. Since I don't know them personally, it's really hard for me to say: "I hate you" without sounding like an idiot. Unless of course you mean characters... and in that case... ALTI!

This ends this part of the questions. I'll sift through the emails, etc. to find more questions.

I'm working on answering some questions

Hey gang, another brief update... I've received quite a few questions about conventions, episodes, and other stuff related General over the past year. I'm gonna try to get around to answering them. There's some funny ones and some thought provoking ones.

I'll split them up:

Episodes, DVDs, copyright, fan fiction, virtual seasons, movies, actors, Spartacus and a few other things.

I'll work on that tonight after I get home from another painful day of college math.

Questions from the query...

Here are some questions I recently received from people asking about Xena, the movie, and some other questions...

How come there hasn't been a movie yet?
The studio simply isn't interested. Without going into a lot of technical detail, there has to be a "profit" for a studio (or at least the potential to earn a profit) and after doing reseach, the studio doesn't find it finanically feasible to do a movie at this time with the original cast.

Can Rob write something for Lucy and Renee to (sic) do a convention?
No. Rob doesn't own the rights to Xena, so therefore writing anything and the producing it for a stage would be copyright violation. One of the reasons why Steven Sears can't publish his Xena play from the 2005 Burbank Convention is because of "copyright." Sure they could do it, but it would be unprofessional, if not career "altering."

Who owns the rights to Xena?
Universal Media Services LLC (or Universal Television Distribution LLC).

If Renee took money to complete Diamonds and Guns from the "fans", then why can't Rob?
There's a difference in "taking one's money" and "raising funds through legimate means." Renee auctioned off photos, personalized autographed photos and artwork to complete work on an already filmed movie.

As for why Rob can't take fans money--aside from being a logistical nightmare of who donated what and how much, he said he just couldn't do it. He'd use his own money first. (Producing 101, never use your own money to finance films, always use someone else's money.) Since there is no movie, taking money is pointless.

Why can't Rob buy the rights?
And then do what with them? You still need a studio to make the movie and they're going to look at the same information that Universal did and they'll come to the same conclusion. The movie industry is in the business of turning a profit. They're no longer in it for the art.

Will there be another midwest convention?
I don't know. That's up to Creation Entertainment. From what I saw at the Chicago convention in October, it was well attended. Though, I wonder how much of that was from the other convention held upstairs. I'm sure there were quite a few BSG fans in the back.

I would like to see them come back, as it's about $1500 cheaper for me. It was $75 for the bus ticket to Chicago and another $600 in rooming and food fees for the Chicago convention. My suggestion? Write to them and say: I'd really like you to come back to Chicago. After all, the man himself Buddy Guy did say for Lucy to come back, he loved having her!


Are they?
(If I wasn't totally intune with the fandom, I'd probably go huh?)

That my friend, is in the eye of the beholder.

The new comic books suck, why did Universal give the license to these hacks?
Ouch! That's gotta hurt. I agree, they do suck. But it's Xena, so I'm willing to overlook the crappy storytelling for a piece of Xena action.

As to why Uni gave the license to Dynamite Entertainment, I don't know. I know that Rob doesn't like them (nor the Evil Dead ones).

I think the comics are coming back sometime in 2008. No word on when the next issue is coming out.

When does (sic) Lucy's films come out?

Dragonlance comes out January 15. And Justice Leauge is released Feburary 26.

Does Renee have anything coming out?
You can catch Renee in Boogeyman 2 coming out January 8. Genesis Code is slated to air on the Sci-Fi channel sometime this year. She is also going to appear in two episodes of Army Wives, which at the moment, is in limbo because of the Writer's Strike.






Do you have a question about the show that you'd like to see my response to? (Remember, I'm not an official authority on anything officially related to the show. I just provide you with common sense answers to questions from a fan's perspective.)