Witchblade Guantlet 2002
Several fans that post regularly on the message board here were lucky enough to get to The Gauntlet, and graciously agreed to share their thoughts here. I thank them all. With no further yakking, read on for the Gauntlet experience as told by Dragonlady, Beck, DEHPenguin and wormie.
Sunday, May 26, 2002 – Charity Auction
This Tale from the Con has three themes – (1) Why I love Jessica best, (2) How the con bred unconscious familiarity and (3) I’m an idiot
The last event of the con was a charity auction – 75 items, all signed by cast or crew, proceeds going to charities of choice. Jeana Davis (the con organizer) was the auctioneer. Anthony Cistaro and Eric Etabari were her lovely assistants who ‘worked the crowd’ and showed off the merchandise. David Wohl of Top Cow (a real sweetheart!) also played lovely assistant for some Top Cow comics.
I had chosen the item I wanted – a signed sketch that Ugo Serrano used to redesign the Witchblade Gauntlet after Periculum. Ugo Serrano, Production Designer and Armorer, chose to support the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto. This particular Serrano sketch was one of the last five items to be auctioned. I was nervous and squirming the whole time! FINALLY it came up. The initial bid was $20 Canadian but I immediately countered with $100. I figured this was for charity plus I really really really wanted the drawing.
Anthony Cistaro had been showing off this particular item. When I placed the winning bid, he came over, congratulated me and handed over the picture. Before he returned to the stage, I asked Anthony if he and Eric would sign the sketch. (NOTE: To serious collectors, having the actors sign the sketch devalues it. All I can say is their autographs surely don’t devalue it to me!!) Being an incredibly accommodating guy, Anthony said sure. He took the sketch to a side table near the stage while I went to the back to pay.
When I returned to the table, Anthony had signed it but Eric had not. I looked over to where Eric was sitting. At just that moment, he looked in my direction. This is the part about how the con bred unconscious familiarity. Because these guys had been soooo nice and soooooo accommodating, my subconscious decided it would be OK to simply gesture towards the table with my head to call him over. And true to form, he stood up and came right over. Looking back, I cannot believe I acted so precipitously! My only defense is that the entire cast and crew had made each and every one of us feel entirely at ease.
Anyway, he joined me at the table where I asked if he would sign the drawing. After vigorously shaking his silver metallic pen, he put his name in the corner opposite of Anthony’s autograph. I said ‘thank you’ and turned to leave.
Before I could go, he stopped me by tapping my shoulder. Because of the auction, we spoke in whispers. Eric leaned down and asked what the deal was with my shirt. That morning I had donned the Nottingham Academy shirt that Jessica had ordered for us last fall. Sheepishly, I told him that we at Karen’s board had founded a school for assassins. I told him we had T-shirts made, designed a logo and had a website for our institution, complete with course descriptions. He grinned throughout the explanation.
Then he asked if I had made the shirt. I said that Jessica had ordered the lettering on the front from a company and I had designed the Black Dragons iron-on logo on the back. At that point, he turned me around by the shoulders to get a look at the logo. He said something to the effect of ‘that’s really cool.’ I said thanks.
Now this is point in the story where I am an idiot. For some reason, I just stopped talking. Maybe I was brain-dead from lack of sleep. Maybe I was trying not to monopolize his time. Anyway, I would have left but he kept eye contact. Then he started to get just a hint of the sad whipped-puppy look. Then it hits me like a bolt from the sky. He wanted a shirt!! (Sometimes I am too dumb for words!) When I offered to make one for him, Eric smiled ‘yes’ and then offered to pay for it! I couldn’t believe how unassuming he was. I laughed and said ‘absolutely not,’ that it would be a pleasure to give him one. He then offered to send us a picture with him wearing it. That offer I gladly accepted.
And now you see why I love Jessica the best:-)
Reported by Dragonlady, 5/27/2002
Tales from the Con – DL#2 “How to Succeed in Business By Stumbling Backwards into It”
Again, a long story (as wormie, Beck and DEHPenguin will attest, I rarely tell any other kind!). It has several “parts” to it, but is definitely my favorite Tale from the Con. Part 1 – Panel with Costume Design, Vicki Graef and Lisa Martin. Part 2 – Autograph Session (early afternoon), Act One and Part 3 – Autograph Session (later that afternoon).
My tale begins once again in the closet – on Saturday, May 25, 2002, I wore my yellow Vorschlag t-shirt. Inspired by Renee’s Witchblade Music Challenge, the decal reads “Vorschlag Industries, Molecular Genetics Division, In just seven days, we can make you a man.” (Note: I am trying to link to a Photo Album I set up on yahoo. Is currently being fussy but I will keep trying).
Part I ~ One of the morning panels was with Vicki Graef, the costume designer, and Lisa Martin, who was her buyer. (And may I just say, how cool a job must that be – shopping for Witchblade!) I know we are saying this over and over again, but only because it is true. Vicki and Lisa were absolutely fabulous! Funny, witty, smart, personable, down-to-earth, great shoes….they really were all that! Once again, you could readily see the harmony and affection among the entire Witchblade cast and crew.
For instance, someone asked Vicki what it was like to get to dress the cast – especially Eric. She said Anthony Cistaro was always neat, easy to dress elegantly. She designed his Irons’ suits for him and all his shirts were handmade as well. Yancy Butler and David Chokachi dressed on the show a lot like they did in real life. She worked hard to get a larger wardrobe for Will Yun Lee; she didn’t want him to be fall into the ghost costuming category where he could only wear stuff he died in a la Bruce Willis. At Ralph Hemeker’s suggestion, she had Lazar always wear his oldest jeans and sneakers to which she added a variety of Good Will type clothes.
Then, in a dry tone, Vicki reported that dressing Eric was … challenging. With obvious fondness, she described him as ‘very invested’ and ‘full of ideas’ about how Nottingham should dress. Then, a bit tongue-in-cheek, she asked the audience to help her with a costuming conundrum with Eric. She said she was at her wits end to get him to take off “those smelly black gloves, at least when he was inside!” She described at humorous length how he wore them constantly despite her pleas. She requested that we intercede for her with Eric at his panel later that day.
Some other highlights from that panel. When asked what the greatest costuming challenge on Witchblade was, Lisa said (and Vicki agreed) that it was trying to dress the guest stars. Often they will only get their marching orders mere days before shooting begins, so that aspect of wardrobe was always a bit last minute and a bit of a scramble.
Vicki was also asked about Lazar’s costume in the last scene. She said it was based on a real Viennese Merchant’s outfit (14th century? Britannica Beck, help me out!), the material was silk (?) trimmed in real black fox, and weighed over 20 pounds! She laughed ruefully when recalling how much time and effort went into that costume – only to have it filmed in the dark, on the balcony!
I’m sure others will have additional stories from this panel. but in the interest of ending this Tale, I’ll move on.
After Vicki and Lisa’s panel, Jeana called for a quick ten-minute break. Vicki and Lisa were still in the room mingling. I had been taking photo’s and was trying to get down everyone’s name (for these faithful reports). Somehow I had missed Lisa’s last name, so I went over to ask. Very graciously, Lisa supplied the information (‘Martin’).While I was thanking them for such an informative and entertaining panel, they were reading my shirt (Vorschlag Industries etc…). Both women started laughing, and then Vicki asked, “Has Anthony seen this?” I told them that I had left a card for Anthony at the registration desk (as we were instructed to) that contained the magnet version of the decal. I then gave them a magnet and an iron-on of the decal, but Vicki seemed interested in getting more magnets. She was very complimentary about the design; even asked if I did this for a living!! I told her I wasn’t a “pro” but would be glad to send some magnets. I promised to bring her my email address later that day. (Note to self – always bring business cards or make personal ones).
Part 2 – The Autograph Session (early afternoon) ~ That afternoon, Jeana set up an autograph session. In a small conference room (same one DEHPenguin used to show her videos on Friday), was a line of tables. All the cast and crew in attendance and David Wohl from Top Cow were seated. We fans formed a single line and then ran the gauntlet (sorry, it just had to come out!). We had to bring whatever we wanted signed. I had bought the new season’s group shot from a dealer for the cast to sign. Then I had the crew and David Wohl sign my program, which I am going to frame together.
Standard refrain – Everyone was sooooo nice.
I was working my way down the line. As it just so happened, Vicki Graef was right before Anthony Cistaro. As she signed my program, I thanked her again for such an interesting panel Q&A and for taking the time to come to the Con. When she looked up to hand me the signed program, she realized who I was and immediately grabbed Anthony’s arm and told him to read my shirt. He started laughing when he saw the DNA helix and Vorschlag. Oddly enough my brain had been working that day. (Sometimes the hamsters run fast). I had saved my last magnet and brought it to the autograph session. So, I handed him the magnet saying it was a duplicate of my shirt decal. When he got to the last line, he really laughed (apparently he likes Rocky Horror too! Thanks for the inspiration Renee!!) Again he was very gracious, and was still laughing as he signed my photo.
Part 3 – The Autograph Session (later that afternoon) ~ Since we had been towards the beginning of the autograph line, the Gauntlet Gang of Four retreated to their lair. We all pulled out our memoribilia and looked at the signatures. Wormie has already posted about his quick-witted comment on her Lego Irons photo. Like a dolt, I had not even read mine. (Sometimes the hamsters sleep.) I almost busted a gut when I did. He had signed the photo with his normal signature (his name, then Irons) but then he drew a little talking balloon out of his head like he did on Wormie’s. Imagine my absolute surprise when I read what “Irons” was saying – “DL – you’re my chief gene geneticist.” After a small moment of regret for Dr. Immo’s loss :-) we all cracked up.
After this, I decided to head back down to the autograph sessions in hopes of catching Vicki and Anthony at the end. I wanted to give Vicki my email address and I really wanted a picture of Anthony and me in my Vorschlag shirt. This time, the gods were smiling. The autograph line was winding down and one of the very nice con security people (I can’t remember who, but I bless you and your camel one thousand times!!) let me back to give Vicki the note and get my picture with AC. So I go behind the table and deliver my note. Then I asked Vicki if she would take a picture of me and Anthony. When he returns to the table, Anthony remembered who I was (of course I was wearing the Vorschlag shirt AND a name tag but still!) and he swiftly agreed to the photo. I turned to him as we were posing and said how much I enjoyed his comment on my photo but was wondering how he knew I was a geneticist? He did one of those cartoon character double-takes and then said, “You’re kidding, right?” Then I started laughing and said, “No! I’m a college professor with a Ph. D. in Genetics and a minor in Biotechnology!” That really cracked him up.
After the photo, we exchanged a few comments on the science of Witchblade. I told him the biology was pretty good – I was impressed with how much of it they got right. He seemed a little surprised. (Of course, maybe he doesn’t know how low my typical TV science expectations are!) He was telling me about this scene between Irons and a geneticist that got cut from season one but then some fans came up.
I guess it’s true what they say – everything is more connected than it seems.
Reported by Dragonlady, 5/27/2002