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Wonder Woman Meets Robbyby David HoustonExcerpted from the April 1979 issue of StarlogIs it possible for two dedicated science-fiction fans and inveterate convention goers to possess more expertise than the professionals? Would the pros in Hollywood pay attention to the fans or seek their advice? Read on! When J. Blake Mitchell and her partner James Fergusun won the Galacticon "Fan's Choice" award for their cat and lizard costumes last fall in Los Angeles, they won a bonus no sane convention goer could hope for.
"As Jim and I were joyfully thanking everyone for the award," Blake says, "I looked up into the face of a kindly, gray-haired gentleman with a stopwatch hanging around his neck and a camera crew peering over his shoulder. At first I thought it was just the 11 o'clock news folks." But one of that group introduced himself as Ivan Dixon, director of CBS' Wonder Woman. "Somewhere in the conversation I vaguely recall him saying how much they like our costumes and would we mind if they borrowed them."
Blake was speechless, but Fergusun chimed in, "Sure, they're yours."It seems that Bill Taylor, a grad student at UCLA, avid SF fan and frequent convention goer, had submitted and sold a script to Wonder Woman,\i was a story in which powerful gems are stolen and smuggled out during the inanities of an SF con. The gems are stashed in a cane which is the grand prize at the costume competition. Ergo, the need for way-out getups. Director Dixon and his crew had been at Galacticon shooting background footage for use in the episode—in the halls, the dealers' room and so forth—but they had to stage their own costume competition under studio conditions. Blake and Fergusun were invited to the day of shooting, to watch their costumes in action. "When we stepped onto the sound stage (Stage 24A at the Burbank Studios), we were in Wonderland," says Blake. Fergusun concurs, nodding and smiling. "The crew had decorated the set with enough flashing lights, complicated-looking panels and tricky wiz-bangs to delight any con goer." Since Wonder Woman is a fully unionized operation, no real fans were in the assembled horde of extras; they were all members of the extras' union—about 40 of them. Along with the "cat" and "lizard" borrowed from Blake and Fergusun, there were familiar aliens dredged up from various property departments around the city. It's doubtful that any of the "professional" costumes represented Jhe time and effort behind the cat and lizard—which took months of design and spare-time building. "About 80 hours, I'd guess,"says Fergusun. The master of ceremonies for the fictitious contest at the equally fictitious Space Questicon in Wonder Woman, was our old pal Robby the Robot—Bill Malone's replica of the classic Forbidden Planet character, with Bob Short inside. "Poor Bob Short, stuffed in Robby's plastic innards, couldn't hear Ivan when he yelled, 'Cut!' Kelly, the first-assistant director, finally got through to him from about six inches away at seven decibels," Blake relates. She says Bob Short "did a perfect imitation of the inane dialog of those awful MC's who insist on auditioning their stand-up comedy material instead of describing your costume." The day's shooting involved only five camera setups, and the only real action came with the bolting of the bad guy— stuntman Dave Cass in a barbarian outfit—who has to plow his way through the milling aliens. Lynda Carter appeared briefly once, to deliver a few lines of dialog. Blake relates: "James went into hyper-drive when she smiled and said hello to him!" Blake and Fergusun were impressed by Ivan Dixon's evident desire to get things right. "Bill Blake, known in the Los Angeles area for his knowledge of Logan's Run," she explains, "was there lending his marvelous replica of a Sandman's gun. At one point an extra wearing a Rem costume marched on stage and began firing at two pretty runners! Bill stepped up to Ivan and informed him of the gross error. Ivan thanked him and ordered the Rem changed into a Sandman." At the end of the day> Blake and Fergusun were as exhausted as the cast and crew. "All I could get out of Fergusun was, 'God, she's beautiful,' " Blake moans. Fergusun is fairly new to the con costume scene, but for Blake, the Galacticon prize was her 108th. "If I had a nickel," she says, "for every time a con producer said,' Listen kids, do a good job because there might be a TV producer or director out there tonight___' " But this time, there really was! Note: This is referring to the third season episode Spaced Out which featured Rene Auberjonois(Odo on 'Deep Space Nine') as the villain. |