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Covert, Rabid and Paranoid at the Museum of Radio and Television:
A Report from the Lone Gunmen Premiere,
February 23, 2001
By: Erynn Laurie, Poet-terrorist for a better society
FLO, MBC, XFW #93, LGMW, etc etc
I have to start by thanking Sally and Martha for making my attendance
possible. They got the tickets for the event and paid for my plane ticket to
Los Angeles. You two are GODLIKE! Thanks so much, and I love you guys for
making this possible.
Sally put us up at a dive hotel about three blocks from the Museum in
Beverly Hills (yes, they do exist!), so we walked over to the Museum early
in the day (we had no idea what the scene there was going to be like, so we
wanted to be sure we'd get a seat in the front row of open seats). We spent
most of the day in the radio listening room -- I listened to an APR series
on poets and poetry, and part of a program about Miles Davis and Jazz, both
very good by the way. Sally took a nap on the couch. We then went up to the
TV viewing archive and tried to watch episodes of XF with the Lone Gunmen in
them, but they were all set up to play for the lineup at event that day and
not available for our viewing pleasure. We had intended to view "Unusual
Suspects" and "Kill Switch" to whet our appetite for Our Favorite Guys. Ah
well.
The lineup for seats began by 4pm that afternoon, for the 6pm opening. Dean
arrived first, then most of the rest of the cast and crew, who were ushered
off to the green room for molestation by the press. Zuleikha's plane was
very late (delayed for repairs!), and she didn't arrive until the Q&A
session after the screening of the Pilot and Bond, Jimmy Bond. In line, I
met AxelJeff from ATXC (who later wandered off to hang with the press, as
he's a radio writer), and Dakota, a woman who had come down from Poulsbo,
Washington, to attend the event as well. She says she'll be at my "FLO
Bunker & Breakfast Merry March GunFen Gathering" (the Pilot party here in
Seattle) this coming weekend. She was most generously handing out photos and
magazines featuring the Gunmen that she'd gotten free earlier in the day. An
LA local named, I believe, Diane, was giving out XF cards with Gunmen on
them as well. Thank you to both of you! Everyone in line that I talked to
was really nice, and quite interesting. All were really eager for the series
to begin, as well.
To the cast and crew: if I'm making any egregious errors here, please accept
my apologies. I'm relying on a rather spotty memory and a very few notes. I
really loved what the evening, completely enjoyed meeting you all, and had a
wonderful time talking to you! You were all so kind and generous with your
time. I was the green haired chick with the hat, leaning on a cane.
The two episodes shown were very good, and extremely funny. They are so very
Gunmen, with comedy on top and a nice undertone of danger, including Byers
on a plane that's about to have an unscheduled dance with the World Trade
Center, and Langly risking his life for The Big Hack. This is no sucky sitcom, folks! (Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sitcoms?)
There are already tons of spoilers for the Pilot up all over the net,
including some stuff on the TV Tome site episode page, and I posted spoilers
for Bond, Jimmy Bond later that night as well. My aim is to give an idea of
the episode without ruining everyone's fun, so if it's not spoilery enough,
too bad for you! We'll do detailed notes for each episode as it airs, for
the completists in the audience, okay?
I have hoped for a long time that we would get the boys treated seriously,
and even though the focus of the series is comedic, I was quite satisfied
with the tense but still funny moments in each episode. In the Pilot, we get
tons of Byers angst, and poor Langly has a hell of a time in Bond, Jimmy
Bond. Frohike, as usual, ends up being the Philosopher Guy and Den Mother --
his scene with Byers at the junkyard in the Pilot reminds me of the scene
where they talk about Susanne in Three of a Kind, and we can really tell
that underneath the sniping, these three guys do genuinely care about each
other. I suspect we shall slowly find out wonderful new information about
these characters as the series progresses. Fanficcers, pay attention! You're
going to have so much fun with these guys and the new characters. I hope
some of the better XF fic writers take up the challenge of the new series
and that we'll get some quality GunFic stuff. (Not that there isn't already
some out there, but let's face it, the XF Fan writers usually give the Gunmen a quick little scene as Deus ex Mechina or comedy relief, and don't
spend much time on the Gunmen as characters.)
Some of the highlights for me:
We finally get a good look inside the Gunmen's VW van (which I've been referring to as the Mystery Machine since its first appearance in Triangle)
-- it's tricked out with tons of equipment, including a periscope!
Byers' sudden shift from delighted relief to ice cold anger. Damn fine job,
Bruce!
Langly's demonstration of his
Uber-Hacking Studliness for the wrong audience.
A completely incompetent assassin. "Government contractor" is Langly's
unflattering description.
The blind football team, and Jimmy's incurable optimism. He's a man devoted
to lost causes, and the moment is obvious when the Gunmen suddenly become
his personal lost cause.
Frohike Sensei! When you see this scene, it will take you a minute to decide
whether this is some bizarre dream sequence, or whether it's really happening. I guarantee death by laughter.
Anyway, back to our story:
The Q&A after the lights came up was delayed a few minutes while Zuleikha
arrived. It seemed to me that most of the questions were directed toward
Chris Carter, including a question about Mulder's return and The Pod. *sigh*
Leave it to the Mulderists. Personally, I'm cheering for a baby alien, or at
least for Frohike to be the father. (Don't forget to check out the
"It's Frohike's Baby" site, where the mayhem began.) This was supposed to be about the
Lone Gunmen, folks!
It was obvious to me that everyone in the cast really enjoys working with
each other, and that they like each other a lot. It makes me feel really
good that the cast can be that tight, and I really think it makes a huge
difference in a finished show. If you've ever seen shows where the actors
hate each other, most of the time you can just see the tension under the
surface, and it makes it very difficult to convince the audience that the
characters who are supposed to like each other really do. It's wonderful
that everyone on The Lone Gunmen is having such a good time doing their stuff.
Stephen and Zuleikha did get a couple of questions about their characters,
but there wasn't much for them in the Q&A. I suspect it had a lot to do with
the fact that the fans really didn't know anything about them and therefore
didn't know what to ask.
I wanted to hear about everyone's experiences while, in my sneaky covert
manner, getting a few spoilers for the TV Tome/Warehouse website, so I asked
everyone what their favorite scene was to film -- as long as CC wasn't going
to take them backstage afterwards and beat them with a rubber hose for talking. They all looked to the Surfer God for permission, and it was given.
Zuleikha's was a scene where everyone does the tango; she described the ep
as being more like a movie or a music video than a tv show episode. Bruce
doesn't dance and was apparently a little weirded out by having to take tango lessons.
Stephen talked about his Elvis impersonation, which drove the rest of the
cast insane while he practiced.
Dean didn't really say he had one (they're all starting to blur together for
him), but Bruce mentioned "the cow scene," and Dean talked about Langly being mistaken for a veterinarian and having to give a bull a rectal exam
(shades of All Things Great and Small).
I believe that Tom talked about trying to fire Jimmy repeatedly, but Bond
being too stupid to get it. I wrote down notes about the answers, but forgot
to note who said what.
Bruce said that his favorite scene involved Byers goading a death row
prisoner into beating him up.
Someone asked if there were any plans for Signy Coleman to reprise her role
as Susanne Modeski, Byers' fascist chickie. Bruce sported a hopeful and besotted grin as Chris reported that nobody was sure yet. From what I'd seen
on the net, Coleman said that she'd been approached for the Pilot, but had
been pregnant at the time and was unable to appear. It was universally agreed by everyone I talked to that she should make at least one appearance
so that poor Byers could get a little closure after eleven years.
CC announced that an upcoming episode would feature "secret guest stars" (or
some phrase to that effect), which caused the entire cast to look over at
him, with a resulting flurry of "What? Who!" from pretty much everyone. It
could be that the IMDB site is correct in listing DD, GA, RP and AG as cast
on the show.
The writers, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan and John Shiban talked about how
they enjoyed being able to write comedy, how different it was from writing
XF and the horror genre, and how much they were enjoying writing for the
characters and getting them into these really strange situations. I believe
it was Frank who said he didn't know where people were getting the idea that
Stephen Snedden was added to the cast for buff guy appeal (actually, Frank,
that was you in several interviews!) but that Bond was added as an expository character, so that the Gunmen would have to explain everything
(in excruciating detail, apparently) to the audience. Actually, I think most
of us are going to know a hell of a lot more than Jimmy about the things the
Gunmen get into -- GunFen tend to be a fairly tech-savvy bunch, even if we're not hackers ourselves. Poor Jimmy Bond is a sweetheart, but if he has
a single brain cell banging around in there, I'd be shocked.
After the Q&A, the reception! We got a chance to meet and talk with the cast
and crew for quite some time, actually. I was surprised, because I hadn't
expected to have any time with them. First I visited with Bruce Harwood and
his wife. I just adore both of them; I've known them for a while, and it was
an absolute delight to get to see them again face to face. They were kind
enough to spend quite a bit of time with me, between Bruce signing autographs, talking to other fans, and having photos taken. They're two of
the coolest people I know, and I'm so happy that this has happened for them.
Strangely, Tom Braidwood's wife asked to take a picture of me with Bruce and
Heather.
Next I spoke briefly to
Zuliekha. She (and everyone else I talked to that night, actually) was very kind and sweet to me. She and Stephen seemed to me
to be very anxious about whether people would like and accept their characters joining the cast with a group of established characters who had
been working together for some time. I assured them both that I had really
enjoyed what I saw, had very much liked the characters, and that I'd been on
the net encouraging people to give them both a chance.
I didn't talk to Stephen until after I'd talked to Dean, CC and the writers.
For some reason that I can't quite put my finger on, Stephen reminds me of a
younger Bruce Boxleitner -- maybe it's that brilliant smile. But to me, that's a good thing; I loved BB in Babylon 5. He was delighted to hear that
I'd really enjoyed what I'd seen of Jimmy Bond.
I spoke talked to Dean, who, amazingly enough, remembered me from a couple
of fan emails I'd sent that he had answered a week or so ago. I said "Hi, my
name is Erynn..." and he said "Oh, *you're* Erynn." He had apparently really
liked my sig tag, "Poet-terrorist for a better society." I was floored --
thanks Dean, that was an awesome moment for me. He said that he has visited
the TV Tome/Warehouse site and was impressed. "Where do you get your information?" he asked, "You've got stuff up that I haven't even heard." I
told him that I had spies everywhere, but that some of the really weird stuff we'd made up as red herrings, because of course the Rumors and
Spoilers Page was run by Morris Fletcher. He laughed and seemed to appreciate the idea. I was just thrilled to death.
In speaking with Frank, John and Vince, they also mentioned having been to
the site and that they as well had liked it too. They were pleased that we
were paying such detailed attention to the show, I think. I gushed quite a
bit about how I've enjoyed their episodes on XF, and that I'd really liked
what I'd seen in the Gunmen episodes. They again said that they'd been having a lot of fun writing for the series.
When I talked to Chris Carter, he seemed very concerned about what people
thought about the new XF season. He asked particularly about last week's
episode, Per Manum. I told him that I'd been enjoying the season so far, had
liked last week's show, had particularly enjoyed The Gift, and that I thought Robert Patrick was doing a great job with
Doggett. (Actually, I had an attack of the stupids and couldn't remember RP's name, but the sentiment
was there.) Chris was very quiet and subdued. I don't know if this is how he
usually is in public appearances, but he seemed pleased when I told him that
I'd been watching faithfully since the Pilot episode of XF, and had been a
Gunmen fan since EBE. "So have you watched all the episodes?" he asked. "Every single one," I told him, "and I've faithfully taped a bunch of them
as well." My personal belief is that a lot of the discussion sites have been
taken over by a small but vocal minority of people who are dissatisfied with
the show but can't stop watching and complaining. I told him that I wasn't a
Mulderist, and that while I missed Mulder, I thought the show was working
just fine without his constant presence. Y'all can flame me later if you
want. Flames will receive direct electronic deposit into my trash file.
Chris talked for a little while with me about how hard he and everyone had
worked on the shows, and how much effort was put into them. I told him that
I'd been a faithful viewer of Babylon 5, and that I'd read for years the
posts from JMS about the amount of time and effort that went into things
like this, and so I had some slight idea of what it must be like for him. I
did tell him that I, for one, was very grateful that he was willing to go to
all this effort for us, and that I was really happy with the wonderful results he produced. When I told him about the party and the
"Gunchicks" he was amused by my use of the title to refer to female Gunmen fans. I guess he
hadn't heard the phrase before.
I caught up with Tom just as the cast and crew were about to be herded out
the door for dinner by their handlers. God, that's got to be a really weird
thing, having people drag you around, tell you where you can and can't go,
and when you're leaving. Worse than tour guides, I imagine. I think they
were all getting pretty tired by then. I did tell Tom what I'd told everyone
else, that I was very pleased to meet him, that I loved what I'd seen, and
that I have been looking forward to their series for a very long time. I
forgot, however, to mention that I was with the Frohike Liberation Organization -- I hope my fellow FLOvians won't murder me in my sleep!
I told everyone that we were having a Pilot party at my place in Seattle
this coming weekend, and they were all impressed to hear that folks were
coming from North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, California and Oregon, along
with the locals who are attending from around Washington State. I made sure
to tell them all that they had a really loyal bunch of fans who were pulling
for them and wishing them great success. I made sure to thank everyone in
the cast and crew for all their hard work and dedication, and for giving
time to all of us. I was truly happy and very grateful to have a chance to
thank everyone. It's so rare, I think, for people like me who love to watch
the shows to get to express my appreciation to the people who make it all
possible.
Thanks again, all of you! You folks rock my world!
Erynn
Poet-terrorist for a better society
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