Thank you for joining us for the 1998 ARGO AWARDS LIVE SIMULCAST!
We now turn you over to our host, grandmaster of ceremonious festivities, Salmoneus...
Welcome to the Live Simulcast of the 1998 ARGO AWARDS coming to you from the world-famous Rhumba Ballroom. I'm Salmoneus, and I'll be with you throughout this evening's gala event. It's nearly time for the festivities to begin, so please sit back and relax.
The Widow Twanky planned to join me as guest hostess for the evening, but she's had to make a detour to perform emergency dance therapy for Clio's housemate Robin, who's recovering from knee surgery. Everybody send good wishes Robin's way. We're having a special on good karma today. Two for one. Step right up. Get yours before our stock runs out and you end up getting reincarnated as a bug. This could happen.
We're pleased to welcome, substituting as emergency guest host, the illustrious Ares, god of Love --
God of War.
-- which would explain why all our sponsors have run away. I understand you recently bought out the Charon travel agency?
I only needed it for a few days.
So it's back in Charon's ownership again?
No, I had it taken out back and executed.
That's very nice. Moving right along...
Run my advert now.
And now it's time for the Big Event. If Mr. Ares would hand me the first envelope, please...
BEST GUEST PERFORMANCE IN AN EPISODE
The top three nominees are...
Jacqueline Kim
as Lao-Ma in "The Debt I"
|
Jacqueline Kim
as Lao-Ma in "The Debt II"
|
Hudson Leick
as Callisto in "Sacrifice II"
|
And the Winner Is...
Jacqueline Kim as Lao-Ma in "The Debt II"
The breakdown: Jacqueline Kim as Lao-Ma in The Debt 2 (29.8%) - Jacqueline Kim as Lao-Ma in The Debt 1 (26.2%) - Hudson Leick as Callisto in Sacrifice 2 (8.7%)
As with Hudson last year, Jacqueline Kim was competing only against herself
in this category.
BEST FIGHT SEQUENCE
The top three nominees are...
The Furies
|
One Against an Army
|
Sacrifice II
|
And the Winner Is...
"One Against an Army"
The breakdown: One Against an Army (59.5%) - The Furies (10.7%) - Sacrifice 2 (5.3%)
Xena pounding those pesky Persians walloped her bout with Ares in The
Furies and her final donnybrook with Callisto.
BEST WRITING
The top four nominees are...
Steven L. Sears with Dennis Spiegel & Pamela
Phillips-Oland
for "The Bitter Suite"
|
Gene O'Neill & Noreen Tobin
for
"One Against an Army"
|
R. J. Stewart & Rob Tapert
for "The Debt I"
|
R. J. Stewart & Rob Tapert
for "The Debt II"
|
And the Winners are...
R. J. Stewart & Rob Tapert for "The Debt II"
The breakdown: RJ Stewart & Rob Tapert for The Debt 2 (15.9%) - 2nd place TIE: Steven L. Sears with Dennis Spiegel & Pamela Phillips-Oland for The Bitter Suite AND Gene O'Neill & Noreen Tobin for One Against an Army (14.3%) - RJ Stewart & Rob Tapert for The Debt 1 (12.7%)
This one was a true dogfight. It could have gone either way. If the voting had lasted another week, the upsurging One Against an Army might have prevailed.
MOST VILLAINOUS TURN
The top three nominees are...
Hudson Leick
as Callisto in "Maternal Instincts"
|
Amy Morrison
as Hope in "Maternal Instincts"
|
Lucy Lawless
as Xena in "The Bitter Suite"
|
And the Winner Is...
Lucy Lawless as Xena in "The Bitter Suite"
(more specifically, for the Gab drag)
The breakdown: Lucy Lawless as Xena in The Bitter Suite (22.5%) - Hudson Leick as Callisto in Maternal Instincts (13.5%) - Amy Morrison as Hope in Maternal Instincts (11.6%)
There were a
lot of votes for Ares or Callisto or Xena or Hope with no specific
episode. But man, did people hate that Gab drag!
BEST MUSIC SCORING IN AN EPISODE
The top three nominees are...
The Bitter Suite
|
The Debt I
|
The Debt II
|
And the Winner Is...
"The Bitter Suite"
The breakdown: The Bitter Suite (80.7%) - The Debt 1 (5.9%) - The Debt 2 (3.7%)
The only "mortal lock" of the entire poll, The Bitter Suite sets the new record for most lopsided ARGO victory.
BEST DIRECTION
The top three nominees are...
Oley Sassone/Jeff Calhoun
for "The Bitter Suite"
|
Oley Sassone
for "The Debt I"
|
Oley Sassone
for "The Debt II"
|
And the Winner Is...
Oley Sassone for "The Debt"
The breakdown: Oley Sassone for The Debt 1 (29.8%) - Oley Sassone/Jeff Calhoun for The Bitter Suite (21%) - Oley Sassone for The Debt 2 (19.3%)
A clean sweep for Oley!
|
The top three nominees are...
Ngila Dickson, costume queen
Robert "Avicus" Field, editor and all around nice guy
Joseph LoDuca, musical composer extraordinaire
And the Winner Is...
Joseph LoDuca
|
This was by far the closest race. Joe won by only one vote. Thank you, voters, for recognising so many of the creative staff.
Others nominated for ARGO Achievement excellence in no particular order:
Oley Sassone, director of the year
Kevin O'Neill and the crew at Flat Earth, masters of Illusia
Chris Manheim, story editor, writer and Rift juggler
Rob Tapert, the guru
Liz Friedman, supervising producer and Renaissance boxing champ?
Bernie Joyce and the sound fx crew
Jim Prior, editor of many of the odd-numbered ones
Steven L. Sears, writer, producer, centaur warrior
Iain Horace Newton, horse wrangler -- yeehah!
RJ Stewart, head writer, producer and two-time ARGO winner!
Peter Bell and the stuntees: they fly through the air with the greatest of ease
Nora Kay Foster, writer who with Adam Armus give us the line, "Fisting a fish? I can hardly say it much less do it."
Donnie Duncan, director of photography, most of the time
John Cavill, director of photography all the other time
Beth Hymson-Ayers, US casting babe
Hudson Leick, special guest star
Francia Smeets, hair and make-up supervisor and keeper of the orange body paint
Rick Jacobson, director of Callisto's death scene and Gabby's tumble into hell
The New Zealand extras, for all they do
Sally Sherratt, location manager who keeps those extras in line
... and the brass at Universal Television, for the dinars, baby!
BEST COSTUME EPISODE
The top three nominees are...
The Bitter Suite
|
The Debt I
|
The Debt II
|
And the Winner Is...
"The Bitter Suite"
The breakdown: The Bitter Suite (65.1%) - The Debt 1 (16.1%) - The Debt 2 (13.5%)
I guess you could say that The Bitter Suite had this one "sewn-up" from
the start! Yay, frock tarts!
BEST PERFORMANCE/RENEE O'CONNOR
The top three nominees are...
One Against an Army
|
Forget Me Not
|
Sacrifice II
|
And the Winner Is...
"Sacrifice II"
Sacrifice 2 (28.1%) - One Against an Army (16.6%) - Forget Me Not (13.3%)
So many great ROC performances! But everyone seemed to like that Hope/Gabby thing.
BEST LINE OF DIALOGUE
The top three are...
3rd place: "No more living for you!"
Xena in "Sacrifice 2" (Written by
Paul Robert Coyle)
2nd place: "Even in death, Gabrielle, I will never leave you."
Xena in "One Against an Army" (Written by Gene O'Neill & Noreen Tobin)
And the winner is:
Gabrielle in "Warrior...Priestess...Tramp" (Written by Adam Armus & Nora Kay Foster)
BEST PERFORMANCE/LUCY LAWLESS
The top three nominees are...
Maternal Instincts
|
The Debt I
|
The Debt II
|
And the Winner Is...
"The Debt II"
The breakdown: The Debt 2 (26.3%) - Maternal Instincts (18.4%) - The Debt 1 (15.8%)
It was Debt 2 all the way.
BEST EPISODE/COMEDY or MUSICAL
The top three nominees are...
The Bitter Suite
|
Fins Femmes & Gems
|
Been There Done That
|
And the Winner Is...
"The Bitter Suite"
The breakdown: The Bitter Suite (43.8%) - Been There Done That (26.1%) - Fins Femmes & Gems (17.7%)
For a while there, Been There Done That was in the lead but The Bitter Suite got a ton of votes in the last week.
BEST EPISODE/DRAMA
The top three nominees are...
The Debt
|
Sacrifice II
|
One Against an Army
|
And the Winner Is...
"Sacrifice II"
The breakdown: Sacrifice 2 (24.8%) - The Debt 1 (19.4%) - One Against an Army (17.3%)
It was a VERY close race the whole way. Maternal Instincts and The Debt 2 were contenders too!
That wraps up this evening's presentation and another year of XENA excellence. We hope to see you around Logomancy for the ongoing 1000 Days celebration, in two seasons for the 100th Episode Gala, and, of course, for the 1999 ARGO Awards!
For all of us here at the Olympic Broadcasting Network, Goodnight! Everybody wave at Robin!
Credit is due: One Against An Army images found at the last minute in ADITL's terrific episode gallery.
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