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[This is part ONE of FIVE of Volume 1, Issue 6 of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD:
News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Universe.  If your site
did not receive all five parts, or if you would like the entire thing
sent to you in one large chunk, write to [e-mail].

CV is registered with the United States Copyright Office.  Permission is
granted to repost the issue IN IT'S ENTIRETY.  For other reposting, contact
the above address.]

Copyright 1993, Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine

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    |                       C Y B E R S P A C E                      |
    |                         V A N G U A R D                        |
    |   News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Universe   |
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    | [e-mail]     Cyberspace Vanguard@1:157/564  |
    |           PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH   44125 USA          |
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    |  TJ Goldstein, Editor           Sarah Alexander, Administrator |
    |    [e-mail]                    [e-mail]       |
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     Volume 1                October 26, 1993                 Issue 6


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

--!1!--  Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (& a few deranged readers ...)
--!2!--  Within the Realm of Extreme Possibility:  Creator CHRIS CARTER
                                                             on the X-FILES
--!3!--  The Highlander's Heart:  An Interview with ADRIAN PAUL

                End of PART ONE

--!4!--  The Art and Science of Leaping Tall Buildings
--!5!--  A Writer's Guide to STAR TREK:  THE NEXT GENERATION
--!6!--  Reviews by EVELYN  C. LEEPER
--!7!--  THE OLD COMIC CURMUDGEON: R-E-S-P-E-C-T ...

                End of PART TWO

--!8!--  The Infamous Reply Cards and What You Said
--!9!--  SF Calendar: What's Coming Up in the Near Future
--!10!--  All The News That's Fit To Transmit

                End of PART THREE is in the middle of --!10!--

                PART FOUR is the rest of the news

--!11!--  Spoilers Ahoy!  Including TWILIGHT ZONE Episode Guide
--!12!--  Contests and Awards
--!13!--  Conventions and Readings
--!14!--  Publications, Lists and the like
--!15!--  Administrivia
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--!1!--  Ramblings of a Deranged Editor (& a few deranged readers ...)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Well, we're certainly growing!  This issue we welcome not one, but four
new regular writers, taking on French-language news, Japanese news,
HIGHLANDER news, and those ever accumulating reply cards.  Also, with all of
this renewed interest in Superman generated by successful debut of LOIS AND
CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, we bring you John McGervey's "The Art
and Science of Leaping Tall Buidlings," a fun piece guaranteed to answer all
those "hey, if Superman did that, wouldn't ..." questions that will
inevitably come up.  (Dr. McGervey is also the author of PROBABILITIES IN
EVERYDAY LIFE, the source of one of my personal favorite quotes:  "If you had
purchased  one square acre of Manhattan in 1850, you would now be ... dead.")
     Also on tap is an interview with Chris Carter, creator and producer of
what seems to be turning out as this season's sleeper hit, X-FILES, and
another with screen "immortal" Adrian Paul, star of HIGHLANDER.  We're also
continuing the episode guide thing by bringing you season one of the classic
Twilight Zone.  (We'll run season two next issue.)  Finally, for those of you
with big dreams and itchy word processors, we send Kris Voelker to one of the
workshops given by the people at STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION to give the
rest of us a report on everything you need to know about writing for STAR
TREK.
     One brief comment more and I'll get on with it.  If you've been reading
the magazine for a while you may notice that the relative amounts of
different things seems to change.  If you would like to see more or less of
something, please let us know.  This is YOUR magazine, but we can't read all
of your minds.  And on a related topic, we are trying to expand the base of
our foreign coverage.  If you are outside the United States and would like to
help us out by covering the scene in your part of the world, please drop us a
note.  CV is read in more than 30 countries on 6 continents.  (And if you're
reading this in Antarctica, please let me know!)
     That's it.  That's all I'm going to say.  I'm going to let our readers
take it from here.  (Yes, we listened to all those people who asked for a
"letters to the editor" column, and here it is!)

THE READERS SPEAK UP (catchy names for the letters column eagerly welcomed!)

[Letters to the editor may be sent to [e-mail].  Please
start your subject line with LTE - whatever it is you want to say.  We will
keep your name and e-dress confidential if you ask.  Letters may be edited for
space.]

     Thanks for your moving account of John Williams's final performance as
conductor of the Boston Pops. [News, Issue 5]  Your statement "this man wrote
the soundtrack to my adolescence" eloquently expresses my own feelings about
Williams.  In fact, his music has a special resonance in my life right
now, because my children are listening to it.
     I decided a few months ago that it was time they were exposed to Star
Wars, so I bought videotapes of all three films.  (E.T., too.)  Both
kids (Ruth, 7, and Ben, 4) are now enthusiastic Star Wars fans.  They
don't know or care that these movies are old -- to them, it's all fresh
and wonderful.  They've now watched the films several times through, and
they know the music well enough that when I play my soundtrack albums,
the kids tell me what scenes go with which tracks.
     This week, I explained to Ruth that there are special musical themes for
most of the characters, and now she's listening even more intently,
determined to figure out which theme is whose.  Even as he retires,
Williams is casting his spell over a new generation . . .
                                  --  [e-mail] (Pat Berry)

     I'd like to say that I've enjoyed reading CV whenever it comes out and
I'd love to see you keep on producing it!  But, I have a small gripe/question
about the movie section and movies in general.
     According to your chart [Movie news, Issue 5] E.T. was the top grossing
film of all time which is probably true, but it doesn't tell me anything about
which movie was the most popular of all time.  When Star Wars came out, it
cost about $1.50 - $2.00 to get a ticket.  Nowadays you can't find  first run
movie for under $6.50 - $7.50, depending on where you are.  So obviously
movies that come out now are going to automatically equal the gross take of
Star Wars with 3.5 to 4 times LESS people, and this disparity will only grow
with time.  And this disparity is even bigger as you go back farther in time
to the 50s, 40s and 30s.
     Just spouting out the gross take numbers is a cheap way of trumpeting
your movie(s), without saying anything meaningful.  I'd much rather see which
films have had the greatest ATTENDANCE so we would have better idea of which
films are the most popular.  Or if they would keep track of the box office
gross in constant dollars it would be a much more useful metric for comparing
movies.  How many people have seen GONE WITH THE WIND or PINOCCHIO or other
classics from tha era?  Now THAT's a number I would like to see.
                                          ---- John Stoffel <[e-mail]>

[Editor's Note:  John is certainly correct.  Since that report, JURASSIC PARK
has broken the record for world-wide grosses and has taken the #2 spot on the
US list, but adjusted for inflation, the highest grossing film of all time is
GONE WITH THE WIND.]

     In the recent issue of Cyberspace Vanguard, it was mentioned that
possibly [a prominent actress] is pregnant.  Though it was marked
UNCONFIRMED, I believe it is really in poor taste to speculate on the
fecundity of any woman actor, unless you are willing to pass speculation
on the father of the unborn child.  The rumor has it he is a certain actor on
[another show] (I will not name him), yet I see no mention of his name either
here or in the posting on the INFORMATION board on the USENET area devoted to
[the show.]
     I firmly believe that if it is okay to bring up the speculation she is
pregnant (which is slanderous) then the prospective father is not exempt from
the potential heat just because he is famous.
                  ---- Teresa Joan Waterkuetter, [e-mail]

[Editor's Note:  Good point, Teresa.  The name of the father was not included
for a couple of reasons.  1)  We didn't know, and 2) the news was included
not because we wanted to speculate as to the actress's social life, but
because it had a possible impact on a popular television show.  We have a lot
of respect for this actress, and did not mean to offend her.  In the future,
however, you won't find that kind of speculation here.]

     One more thing:  we'd like to publicly congratulate Evelyn C. Leeper on
her win as "Best Fan Writer" in the Electronic Science Fiction Awards, and
Carol Wang, our esteemed correspondent, who has successfully defended and is
now Master Wang.  Congratulations, ladies!

------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:  At the moment most of the issue is written personally by the
editor, but the other writers take sole responsibility for their writing -- in
other words, we take no responsibility for copyright infringement by other
writers.  (My own stuff I know isn't stolen.)

REPOSTING:  CYBERSPACE VANGUARD may be reposted in its entirety without
requesting additional permission as long as all notices are retained.  News
items, EXCLUDING the french-language, Japanese, and Highlander columns, may
be reposted as long as credit is given.  For all other items, you MUST
contact us prior to reposting so we can get the permission of the authors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--!2!--  Within the Realm of Extreme Possibility:  Creator CHRIS CARTER
                                                             on the X-FILES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  by TJ Goldstein

     For a show that snuck up on everybody, X-FILES seems to be the sleeper
hit of the year.  Quietly, and with little promotion, it has staked out
its territory on Friday night and seems to be holding on, at least well enough
to convince Fox to pick the show up for a full season..  We spoke to the
creator and producer of the show by phone from Los Angeles shortly before
X-FILES debuted.
     Chris Carter isn't a stranger to producing.  He's done some shows for
Disney, including THE NANNY, a 1/2 hour show he created for the Disney
Channel.  Despite all that, the nervous excitement came through in his voice.
He sounds almost like a kid who has managed to pull the wool over the
exectives' eyes, sneak into the studio, and produce what HE thinks television
should be.
     It's easy to pin him down on what the show IS, but not what it's LIKE.
What it IS is an hour-long series that focuses on two Federal Bureau of
Investigation agents who investigate, as the name suggests, the "X-Files."
These are the files that the FBI has put aside because there simply is no
rational explanation, such as UFO abductions or other "unexplainable
phenomena."
     Fox "Spooky" Mulder is a Believer.  His sister was (he believes) the
victim of a UFO abduction when he was 12, and he has dedicated himself to
studying and hopefully solving the mysterious cases the Bureau doesn't want
to touch.  More than just a crank obsessed with UFO's, Mulder is trained in
psychology and science and merely insists on not discounting possibilities
simply because they don't fit in with preconceived notions of what is
possible and what is not.
     The Bureau, in order to keep an eye on him, sends in Agent Dana
Scully, a physician and devout skeptic.  She is more rational, but though
she rarely believes Mulder on the first try, she does at least have an open
mind -- most of the time.  She's more trusting of due process than Mulder,
and that can get them -- and the people they're trying to help -- into
trouble.  It's not to say that she's bumbling; not at all.  She is
intelligent and extremely competent.  She just doesn't always have as much
skepticism about the known reality as she does about the unknown.
     Naturally, since they are a man and a woman paired together, the first
thing people think is: romance.  Will they end up together on their own
time?  "No, it's a relationship that is much stronger and more passionate.
First of all I would call it a cerebral romance in that these characters
sort of delight in each other's approaches and it isn't the pat or standard
or expected television romance between them.  There is no physicality
between them.  I don't see it in the near future here.  They don't end up
in the sack together.  At least I don't see it happening yet.  I think it's
refreshing.  I mean I was raised on shows like THE AVENGERS which are smart
and the characters were very attractive for those aspects.  They didn't have
to end up in bed together."
     The very creation of the show, in fact, was heavily influenced by Mr.
Carter's childhood television habits.  "I felt there wasn't anything scary
on television.  I loved the show NIGHT STALKER as a kid so when I was signed
to an exclusive contract by 20th Century Fox TV they asked me what I would
like to do -- which is a nice position to be in -- I told them I'd like to do
something like NIGHT STALKER but I didn't want to do something that was
limited to vampires.
     So how did he decide on aliens as a substitute?  "I had the
coincidental experience of spending time with a friend who works as an Ivy
league researcher, and he had shown me the Dr. Mack -- the Harvard psychology
professor -- survey on what he called the alien abduction syndrome.  It
showed that 3% of the American public actually believes they have been
abducted by UFO's.  I thought that was fascinating.  A larger percentage
actually had experienced contact with extraterrestrials or something
otherworldly.
      "I found that amazing and I thought, well, aliens have become the new
vampires of sorts.  I thought there was a lot to explore.  I didn't want to
limit myself to just the bad world.  I wanted to explore all paranormal
phenomena and unsolved crimes that involved these or any phenomena."
     So how does the show treat these "phenomena," as the hallucinations of
unstable people, or as something much deeper?  "It makes a strong case for
the alien abduction syndrome.  Someone is suffering from something for
reasons that are logical and believable.  I'm a natural-born skeptic, but
the more research I've done and the more people I've come into contact with
by doing the show, the more they've chipped away at my skepticism.  I'm much
more open-minded and there are certain things I take for granted, if not as my
truth, then as their truth.
     "I should also say that if you throw a rock, you hit 3 people who
actually know more about this stuff than I do.  I'm a relative babe in the
woods compared to a lot of people who have quite an extensive knowledge
about these and other phenomena, but actually I think that serves me.  I
come at it with a very fresh perspective ... do you try and access these
people to try and get more information, or are you going at it from a partly
imaginative point of view?  Sometimes we use an amalgam of information to
create an idea but ... we are doing all this from imagination, so it's
fiction but it's fiction that takes place within the realm of extreme
possibility."
     When he got his first producing credit six and a half years ago on THE
NANNY, he "didn't know what producing entailed."  Certainly, that had
changed by the time X-FILES came along.  What DOES a producer do?
"Everything.  Producers function as quality control people.  You hire
people to do certain jobs, then you oversee those jobs.  You make creative
decisions, you make decisions of taste, tone and style.  You shape a movie
or TV show by the people you hire both as talent and as technical staff.
     "A person has to earn my trust, generally.  When you hire qualified
people, that is something that happens very soon, but I tend to have very
strong ideas about what it is I want and I try to keep an eye on all areas,
from an actress's makeup to the way a cameraman shoots a certain scene."
     First and foremost, however, Mr. Carter is a writer.  "Yes, I wrote
the pilot episode and now I've written 2 episodes past that, so a writer is
what I am first and foremost.  That's who I am.  I've become a producer by
circumstance but I love it.  Producing is very social, writing is very
lonely."
     And if he had to pick one?  "I'd have to say in TV I can't pick one
because to be a writer in television the only way to do it is also be a
producer.  It's a producer-driven medium.  It's a writer-driven medium
also, but you have to want to have your stuff done well.  You have to carry
it through to physical production.  Writing screenplays is not like writing
prose.  You're creating a blueprint with dialogue for a visual thing.  So
if you're in TV it serves you best to work in both writing and producing
mediums.
     "Being a producer in TV makes you a better writer in TV in that you
understand what can and can't be done.  Sometimes I'll read a writer's spec
script and I can tell when he has not produced TV because he will assume
that certan things can be done which can't be done.  That's one of the
things that helps you as a writer by being a producer."
     Being a producer can help the writing as well as the writer.  "As a
writer you've imagined something that's perfect in your mind, and so when
you see it actually take physical shape or electronic shape it can be very
depressing.  It looks to you like a series of compromises ... Your original
concept is degraded from the moment it goes into somebody else's hand.  There
is this whole process.  It's like a bucket brigade; it is handed to a
series of people who do their job.  If they do it well, they can make your
script better, and if they don't do it well it makes it worse.  It's amazing
to me when the process actually creates a magical moment."
     His descriptions evidence the ongoing nature of production, but "each
episode will function as a complete story.  We put information out there
and they learn things that are going to shape our characters.  They're not
going to go backwards once they see something.  They're not going to then
not believe in it later on, so there will be an accumulation of knowledge
and experience but each episode will function as its own open-and-shut
case."
     This is unlike mainstream television where, at the end of an episode,
the world essentially returns to precisely the state it was in before the
opening credits rolled.  I asked him if he's afraid of not being able to
top himself.  "That's a nice thing to do, I'm not afraid of that.  This is
such a wide open field that the fear of having to top yourself is self-
limiting.  If you fear that then you're not going to attempt to do so.  I
have to go sorta boldly into the future here and hope that I can top myself
each week that I can."
     Like Donald Bellisario, the creator of QUANTUM LEAP, Mr. Carter
doesn't feel that his show is "science fiction" per se.  "My buzz phrase
is that the show takes place within the realm of extreme possibility.  I
think it's the same area that Michael Crichton might work in.  The
ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE TERMINAL MAN, or JURASSIC PARK were all taking those
possibilites into account.  We explore them as if our stories could
actually be happening."  For those of you who look for scientific accuracy,
while there is no science advisor credited, "it's really easy to pick up
the phone and call your brother and get him to give you very technical
advice."  His brother is a physicist.
     So, when you come right down to it, what exactly IS it?  It deals with
alien abduction, but it's not science fiction.  It's scary, but it's not
gory.  It's been compared to everything from NIGHT STALKER to early TWIN
PEAKS.  So how does Chris Carter describe it?  "You know, there's nothing
on TV like it.  I've been asked this question and I'm always at a loss to
compare it to anything because when you start to compare it to anything you
start to do yourself a disservice.  People say it's like that or oh it's
like that.  I just don't think there's anything like it on TV.  I call it a
cross between SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and UNSOLVED MYSTERIES."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--!3!--  The Highlander's Heart:  An Interview with ADRIAN PAUL
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
          (c) Linda Knights - KnightWriter Press

     It didn't take long to arrive at a first impression of Adrian Paul,
one that would last through the length of the afternoon.  Ask him about
himself -- the man, not the character -- and he pleasantly, dutifully,
answers your queries.  Yet, despite his answers, this is clearly a very
reserved man, one who values his personal privacy as the one thing he has
chosen not to freely share with his fans.
     And yet, he took time out for this interview while working through
rehearsal after rehearsal of a scene for the upcoming HIGHLANDER episode "The
Zone."  They were filming a flashback sequence to a time when Duncan MacLeod,
an immortal, was aiding a handful of miners who were struggling for better
working conditions.  They were working on the site of a historically
reconstructed mining camp, and Mr. Paul seemed very at home in his
"vintage-era" clothing, amidst antique cars and old, weather-worn
buildings.
     His English heritage is obvious to the observer in more than the
delightful traces of British accent which linger in his speech, but he is
married to an American.  She is Meilani, one of the Pepsi commercial Uh-Huh
girls, and he speaks with obvious fondness for her.  Meilani is currently,
along with the group she is in, in the process of launching a new musical
career.  Between her busy work schedule and his (which takes him to two
continents) they rarely get to see each other for more than a few days at a
time.  Yet they've managed to buy and remodel a home in Los Angeles -- the
place they still theoretically still call home.  (Mr. Paul confided that his
"hobby" before coming to HIGHLANDER was doing all the remodeling himself, from
rerouting the wiring to building arches and doing the drywalling.)
     His immediate family, he said, remains in England.  His more extended
family of uncles, aunts and cousins spreads out more broadly into Italy and
the U.S.  One of the major advantages for him in shooting half a season in
France is that London is thus commuter-close for him, so he has frequent
chances to fly home and spend time with his family.  This year he'll get to
spend some time with relatives in Italy as well.
     Yes, these were all very polite answers, and there was even a slight
glimmer of animation as the subject switched from him personally to his
family.
     But ask this man about HIGHLANDER or Duncan MacLeod and his eyes light
up, his expression becomes more intense, alternatingly either more
thoughtful or with a sly smile and a laugh so obviously heartfelt that it
was impossible not to join with him in the laughter.
     From the very first question about the series it was clear that this
was an actor who loved his role, not just someone who comes to work in the
morning and forgets it at night.  He's also an actor involved in many
aspects of the series.
     Duncan MacLeod, a 400-year-old immortal alive during the time of the
Gathering, is a very active character, a man who is likely, at any moment,
to need to go from the midst of a loving, tender moment into the heart of a
battle to the death with another immortal.  He is a man who must learn to
balance the pluses and minuses of his own immortality against the short
lifespans of those he has chosen to call friend ... or lover.
     MacLeod's had, of course, four hundred years to learn to find those
delicate balances.
     Mr. Paul hasn't had ... quite that long.
     Yet, surprisingly, when he spoke of the life and lifestyle that led
him to this point in his acting career you almost got a feeling that he
might have had a couple hundred years to "get it right".
     Originally a dancer working with small groups across the face of
Europe, he learned to do what he called "... street stuff, jazz ballet,
funk.  I took ballet and jazz when I was younger, but then I trained. A lot
of the stuff that I did in Paris and with people I knew from London was
sort of on-the-job training."
     He brought his skills as a dancer to the U.S. where he landed a brief
role in the network production of THE COLBYS -- working as a Russian ballet
dancer.  "I did more ballet there ... although there was no way I could
become a fabulous ballet dancer in six months."
     So how did a man go from that background to the sword-wielding
warrior strength of a Duncan MacLeod?  Well, six years of martial arts
experience (Taekwondo, Aikido and other forms) and personal trainers helped
pave the way, as did a couple of years of previous training with the Japanese
sword (katana) that Duncan uses on the series.
     "... I knew what I was doing a little bit (with the sword) but then
Bob Anderson, who is the fencing coordinator, helped me out.  I worked with
him on it and now I understand a lot more about different styles."
     There will actually be a new style -- a Chinese style -- incorporated
into his work this upcoming season.  "I feel that he (Duncan) is one of
these people who has picked up a little bit, pieces, from everything he's
seen.  He does the best he can.  Whatever works for him."
     And what do you get from the mixture of all of this training in dance
and martial arts, sword skills with a perfection of movement that is a
pleasure to watch?  You get a man who often finds himself all but in charge of
choreographing the majority of the fight scenes, and whose input is
frequently sought out by those who are charged with the duty of
choreography.  "I help choreograph most of the fight scenes, because we
shoot so fast that I come up with a lot of ideas that work for me and
incorporate them into the fights.  John Woodlands, fight director, says
that I'm the assistant fight coordinator."
     Assistant fight coordinator, star of the series, his own stunt man ...
what other hats could he wear?  Well, in this case he is also a type of
walking bible for the series.
     "I'm basically the person who knows Duncan and this show better than
most anyone else around here, because I've done it so long. Not that I'm
right all the time."
     Mr. Paul clearly enjoyed talking about MacLeod, about what has brought
the character to this point in his life and about what is waiting for him
in the upcoming season.  What does he, personally, want to see happen with
the series and the character?
     The question actually arose while talking about a previous role he had
done, as John Kincaid, during the second season of WAR OF THE WORLDS.  The
discussion had turned to how dark (and depressing) that series had become
by its second year.  "I don't think that people want to sit down, whatever
night of the week it is and watch this deathly destruction happening all
around them.  They want to be entertained.
     "That is the same with Duncan, in a way.  Duncan was relatively dark
in the first season.  He lightened up a lot more toward the Paris episodes
but he was coming out of an era where he had a lot of problems.  He was
constantly getting involved in a battle.  He had to force himself into
becoming an immortal again, whereas he had wanted to be out of the game,
but now he's forced back in because it is the time of the Gathering.  So it
is a different Duncan you are going to see this year.
     "Now I (as Duncan) accept what I am ... what has been given to me.
So, I'm going to go ahead and try to do my best to actually do something
right for people, for the world around us.  He is a good immortal, but he's
also a person.  He's not perfect.
     "He's human like everyone else, the only difference is he can't die
except by having his head severed from his body.  But he has all the human
frailities and strengths.  He has anger.  He has patience.  He has love.
Hate.  Pain."
     There are a number of major changes coming up in the next season, some
of which we've been told, some of which haven't, according to Mr. Paul,
even been fully delineated yet -- changes which will occur as the series,
once again, returns to France to film the end of the second season.
     Were there differences in filming in Canada as versus filming in
France?  "In America (Canada) you have a ... it's faster, they're quicker,
they do things on the line.  Whereas in Europe there is a more creative
process, it can take longer to do things, which can be annoying at times.
But they have a longer process and they are more artistic in some areas.
This year we are amalgamating what we found worked in Europe with what
worked here."
     They'll be amalgamating some other things they learned in France as
well -- including the importance of characterizations, of relationships, to
the series.
     "What the thing is about is relationships ...  the idea this year is
to work on the relationships between Duncan and other immortals.  The story
lines have been opened up a lot more."
     Relationships?  In a series that was once characterized by TV Guide
Magazine as a "male-oriented action/adventure?"
     His answer was relatively clear on the subject.  "I think it is much
more important to watch the characters involved and have something that
they're going after, rather than watch people running around in a story,
because therefore you don't care about them."
     And this is a man who has had a surprisingly varied amount of acting
experience for his years in the business.  He lays his acting experience
mostly at the feet of his last acting coach (a man who has also worked with
Sharon Stone, John Belushi and Robert Downey, Jr) with whom he worked in
Los Angeles, although he admits that he learned a little in England, a
little in New York and is "still learning today.  Nothing is static."
     Yet how would he explain his own style?
     "I think my way of working is all making things very real to me, to me
personally.  We all do that, we mask things very easily in our lives but we
still have the emotions that are underneath and that's mostly where I pull
my work from."
     So does the actor who plays a role he so clearly loves have favorite
episodes?  Yes, he does, and he was quick to produce the names (something
that's impressive in light of how few actors ever seem to know the name of
the individual episodes).  He especially enjoyed "Eye of the Beholder" and
"Lady and the Tiger".  One episode that brought a particularly vivid story
to mind was "Band of Brothers", where Duncan must face off against an
extremely ancient immortal, one whose two thousand years of accumulated
evil he might well inherit, along with his Quickening, if the inevitable
duel ends with the ancient's death.
     He was, Mr. Paul said, struggling to keep the fear of absorbing the evil
foremost in his character's mind, but it wasn't necessarily an easily
accomplished job:
     "It was probably the hardest show we shot here because we were
shooting very heavy duty hours.  The fight scenes we shot twelve hours in
the rain.  The following day we shot twelve hours in the snow.  Physically
it was exhausting because there is so much physical activity in that one
and the weather really drains it from you.  You're cold, you're miserable,
you're trying to work, and you have an assortment of emotions going through
you."
     And then there was "The Hunters", last season's finale where viewers were
first are made aware of the "Watchers" (or in this case the Hunters -- a
renegade branch of the Watchers).
     "That was a very difficult show because we found out two days before
we were about to shoot the episode that Werner Stockard, who played Darius,
couldn't be there do the shoot.
     "I saw a flashback they did there when he dies.  They did a flashback
of a certain moment when I say 'Is there anything I can do for you?  Is
there anything you want to talk about?'
     "And he says 'I wish I could, I wish that I could.'
     "And to me that moment is probably one of the most touching moments in
the show because the actor died a month and a half later.  I believe he
knew there was something wrong with him, at that stage.  For me it was
heartrending because I liked Darius very much -- Werner Stockard."
     The interview wound down with a discussion of hobbies and interests --
jazz music and volleyball games.  The day was coming to an end, the early
sunset of late summer bringing lighting changes and a breath of cool air to
the location.
     Some actors want to speak only about themselves.  Some will speak with
intelligence, but little emotion, about their show and their characters.  A
few, very few, speak with animation and love about a character they are
helping to personally fashion.  Adrian Paul is one of those few.

*******************************************
This article has been edited and reprinted with the permission of the
author.  For information on Knightwriter Press publications -- including
the complete 15 page transcript of this interview -- contact Linda Knights
at [e-mail] or fax at 206-738-8197.
--
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