Her Blue Eyes ~ A Bridget Regan Fansite » STARBLOG Write Up of the Times Square Appearance

STARBLOG Write Up of the Times Square Appearance
November 5, 2009 8:28 pm

STARBLOG: Liner Notes: Seeking the Sword of Truth
by David McDonnell November 5, 2009

It was chilly in Times Square Thursday morning, but there I was, standing, waiting for the sword & sorcery heroes. And after about a half-hour, they DID show up, arriving direct from the TV fantasy world into the heart of New York City via black stretch limousine. What a way to travel between mythical kingdom and civilization!

Well, if you haven’t guessed, this was a NYC press event held on “Military Island” (that isle of concrete between 44th Street and 43rd, bracketed lengthwise by Broadway and Seventh Avenue; its title derives from the U.S. Army Recruiting Station located on its south end for decades). You may have seen publicity events held there before—it’s directly in front of ABC’s GOOD MORNING AMERICA studios, and the show regularly makes use of that Times Square turf to stage concerts, contests and other antics.

Now, normally, I might NOT venture out of my warm office cave for much of anything, recluse that I have become. But this press event was only SIX blocks from STARLOG—a 10-12-minute walk at most—so how could I not go? This thing was just too conveniently located! Its purpose, by the way, was to promote the second season of TV’s only current sword & sorcery saga LEGEND OF THE SEEKER (premiering in syndication the weekend of November 7-8). Based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth books, it’s from ABC Studios and executive producers Rob Tapert & Sam Raimi (the folks who gave us HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS & XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS), STAR TREK veteran Ken Biller and Ned Nalle & Josh Donen. STARLOG covered the series’ first season; a review of this year’s premiere will be posted shortly. So, it’s our kind of far-out stuff, yet it was comparatively nearby. I had to go.
As befits a November day, it was brisk there at the edge of (as the tourist brochures bill it) “the crossroads of the world” (42nd Street & Broadway). It was chilly enough that I felt the weather through a sweater and windbreaker, my SKY CAPTAIN & THE WORLD OF TOMORROW baseball cap perched jauntily on my head (“I say! It’s science fiction, eh?”). I also wore gloves (no fingerprints). I ambled over around 10 a.m. (press call time), standing amidst a phalanx (OK, about a dozen) of photographers, a covey of SEEKER TV publicists and miscellaneous press (like me). There on Military Island, a distressed vehicle had been abandoned, its tires flattened, windshield broken, steam rising creatively from its interior (a hidden smoke machine), its hood vivisected by the glistening, nine-foot-long Sword of Truth! In this battle between barbarian hero and cash-for-clunker, the man with the biggest blade had won!

After a quick alert by publicist cellphone, eight comely actress-models marched out of the mists (and a nearby holding room) to delight us. They were dressed—in form-fitting red latex—as Mord’Siths, members of the sisterhood of sorcerers who can, as the press release notes, “inflict pain with a thought” (well, that would be ANY woman, wouldn’t it?). Mord’Siths can also take away the magic of those who would use magic against them. Uh-oh! Those are ladies you just don’t want to anger—and all eight (as befitting a November press event out in the cold) were kind of cute. Call me. I’m in the book.

Anyhow, the Mord’Siths modeled, alongside the Sword of Truth-trashed car, in various combinations and poses, complete with their wand-canes in hands provocatively pointed at the papparazzi. (Yeah, I’m perversely proud of that phrase!) Snap! Snap! Snap! And then the limo arrived, disgorging the likable stars of LEGEND OF THE SEEKER: Craig Horner and Bridget Regan (who play Richard and Kahlan respectively). They posed with the Mord’Siths, then together as a pair and finally individually. Snap! Snap! Snap! In one picturesque moment, Horner jumped on top of the car and dramatically tried to pull the Excalibur-like Sword of Truth from its stone-like innards. The photographers loved it! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Meanwhile, the assembled crowd had swelled to perhaps 100 people. Horner and Regan patiently worked the lines, autographed lenticular (i.e. kinda 3-D) LEGEND OF THE SEEKER mini-cards and posed for pictures with tourists, smiling at all. The actors were genuinely heroic in their efforts to please everyone. An old guy passerby—there’s always ONE in every crowd—stopped to ask, “WHO are they?” (It wasn’t me! I swear! I already knew!). Regan handled him charmingly with some affectionate repartee that I couldn’t quite hear (my ears having long since frozen). My leg got kind of numb, too. Could it be the revenge of the Mord’Siths?

I was impressed by both Horner and Regan—just how nice you are to your fans as well as to people who have no idea who you are says a great deal about a celebrity. It’s what becomes a LEGEND most. But since it was growing both later and colder, I then waded off Military Island, through the Times Square traffic and back to my cave in the fantasy world of STARLOG.

The Sword of Truth may still be there, waiting for another hero to draw it from its automotive resting place and embark on further adventures. And if that hero wannabe is you, I recommend you bring a heavy coat, scarf and gloves. And for more on the TV saga, try the website (LegendOfTheSeeker.com).

The article at STARBLOG can be found here: http://www.starlog.com/starblog/39-liner-notes/647-starblog-liner-notes-seeking-the-sword-of-truth

Tags: LotS | Appearances | Chris