Lattinia Baaldorf in Skies of Death (5_111)

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Hanold, Mary Jo. "Wizards and Warriors." Television Chronicles July 1996: 76-80.

Wizards and Warriors
8 episodes, CBS

Regular cast:

Prince Erik Greystone - Jeff Conaway
Marko - Walter Olkewitz [sic]
Prince Dirk Blackpool - Duncan Regehr
Wizard Vector - Clive Revill
King Baaldorf - Thomas Hill
Queen Lattinia - Julie Payne
Princess Ariel - Julia Duffy
Geoffrey - Tim Dunigan
Justin Greystone - Jay Kerr
Bethel - Randi Brooks
Wizard Tranquill [sic] - Ian Wolfe
Cassandra - Phyllis Katz

Once upon a time in TV land lived a television show full of wizards, magic and mythical beasts. Wizards and Warriors, an unfortunately short-lived fantasy series, had a little something for everyone. Elaborate special effects enhanced the battles of a courageous knight against evil wizards and malevolent monsters. Good versus evil was the theme for each episode.

The hero of this tale is Prince Erik Greystone, who is betrothed to the ditzy Princess Ariel and assisted by his trusty vassal, Marko. These three are forced to deal with the ambitions of the evil Prince Dirk Blackpool, who is aided by the black side of magic provided by Wizard Vector. Blackpool has the cooperation of Vector only because he (Blackpool) has possession of Vector’s magic monocle, which was obtained by seducing the sultry witch Bethel with promises of becoming Queen. Bethel stole the monocle from Vector, rendering him subservient to whomever holds the talisman. As the narrator explains, ". . . so evil teams with magic." (These events are portrayed in THE KIDNAP, although in UNICORN OF DEATH, which was the debut episode, they had already taken place)

Don Reo is currently known for his John Larroquette Show, but he has a special fondness for this early series. One inspiration for the show was a book he enjoyed, The Princess Bride (which was, of course, itself later adapted for the big screen by Rob Reiner). He liked the way the author put " . . . modern sensibility into the fairy tale characters’ heads and into their mouths." He wanted to do that for Wizards and Warriors, too, but in his case there would be a particular reason for this sensibility.

Jeff Conaway as Prince Erik Greystone

The show’s original title, Greystone’s Odyssey, had to be changed when Warner Bros., the studio where the series was shot, "put fifteen or twenty million dollars into a movie called Greystoke" and didn’t want there to be any confusion.

Jeff Conaway, who plays Erik Greystone, is no stranger to film and television. His numerous films include Eye of the Storm, The Rape of Eden, A Moment of Passion, Sunset Strip, Grease and Pete’s Dragon. In addition to his role as Bobby on Taxi, his television credits include Berringers, Bold and the Beautiful, and currently he is a series regular on Babylon 5. He also has Broadway credits to his name including All the Way Home, Grease and The News.

Wizards creator Reo named the Erik Greystone character after his own son, whom he indicates also provided the genesis of many of the characters. Son Erik’s interest in fantasy role-playing games planted the seed for Wizards and Warriors, and the movie Star Wars became an influence not only for Greystone’s battle between good and evil, but for the character of Prince Dirk Blackpool as well.

Blackpool was supposed to be a Darth Vader character, but Reo wanted an "extremely attractive" villain. Instead of looking for the "traditional villain" he looked for a "leading man." The choice of Canadian-born actor Duncan Regehr was the perfect solution. Regehr’s dark good looks and suave manner makes Blackpool all the more sinister because he looks more like a Prince Charming than an evil villain. Regehr still chuckles over his standard greeting to all, a simple "Hi." A rather innocuous opening for a villain so ominous.

Duncan Regehr has an extensive background in film, television, stage and narration. Some of his films and television movies include The Haunting of Lisa, Timemaster, The Last Samurai, Monster Squad, The Lady, Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid and My Wicked, Wicked Ways, in which he played screen legend Errol Flynn. Television series credits include Zorro, V, Earthstar Voyager and a current recurring role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He has made guest appearances on shows such as Star Trek the Next Generation and Cybill, and is presently directing a period piece set in 1949, called Innocent Secrets. Regehr is also a respected artist and has published a book, The Dragon’s Eye, An Artist’s View. The "automonograph," as he calls it, details his work and "specific episodes" of his life.

Regehr had just arrived in Hollywood when this series came up. He had done "a lot of things in Canada and Britain, a lot of theater . . ." He thought that Wizards "was great" and admitted enjoying his audition in one particular respect:

"A point in the script said I had to kiss this woman that was playing the witch (Randi Brooks) . . . an absolutely stunning woman and I’m going to kiss her."

His character of Blackpool was played by ear.

"I had to kind of discover exactly what it was that made Blackpool tick . . . The key for me really was that this man absolutely relishes anything that’s evil. He’s bored silly by anything that’s good . . . an extremely dangerous man. That was that dark side of him . . . This man was an artist. Dirk Blackpool loved evil and it was an art form for him . . . it provided for him, every passion he ever had. It was a wonderful character."

Regehr had a lot of freedom in developing the character, as Don Reo encouraged "all the input he could get."

Clive Revill who plays the dark Wizard Vector, in addition to having created the role of Fagin in the London production of Oliver!, also has an impressive list of film credits, including The Assassination Bureau, Avanti, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Empire Strikes Back, Fathom, Galileo, The Legend of Hell House and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, to name but a few. He also appeared in the television series The Preston Episodes.

Vector and Dirk
The Wizard Vector (Clive Revill) and Dirk Blackpool (Duncan Regehr) hatch another sinister plot.

The role of Vector was originally to be played by Richard Libertini, but three days before the pilot started shooting, Revill was called in as a replacement. According to Don Reo the costumes that had been originally fitted for Libertini had to be scrapped and new costumes made for the new Vector in time for the pilot episode.

Princess Ariel is portrayed by Julia Duffy in what amounts to a dry run of her similarly airheaded character of Stephanie Vanderkellen on Newhart. Duffy later was a series regular on Designing Women and The Mommies.

Trusty Marko, aka Walter Olkewicz, was a series regular on The Last Resort and in the detective drama Partners in Crime. He can currently be seen in the series Grace Under Fire.

Series regulars aren’t the only familiar faces to be found in the show. One guest star, John Ratzenberger, became an institution on Cheers, and the late Bill Bixby served as director for three episodes.

In THE KIDNAP and THE RESCUE (although recounting subsequent events, it is the latter which is the actual series pilot), the legend of Erik Greystone is related by the aged and somewhat senile Wizard Tranquil [sic] (Ian Wolfe) to a small boy. The audience is introduced to the Kingdom of Camarand and Greystone’s first adventure. Camarand is ruled by the good King Baaldorf (Tom Hill) and Queen Lattinia (Julie Payne) who are the parents of the beautiful, but rather vacuous Princess Ariel. As the story unfolds, Ariel is kidnapped by Blackpool and Vector in an effort to gain control of Camarand.

Prince Greystone, who has been battling Blackpool and his army in their efforts to conquer the entire Western Empire is drafted by King Baaldorf to rescue Ariel. The Prince is aided by his vassal Marko, the strongest man in the kingdom (and nephew to Wizard Tranquil [sic]). Together they are faced with such magical monsters as a lightning hawk, which shoots lightening [sic] bolts; the Jenks (snake-like beings); and the slime monsters, which of course live in a slime pool. Marko’s special ability to communicate with animals helps them out of the slime monster situation.

Of course, eventually good wins out over evil and the Princess is rescued, but not before she tells Vector, "You stink!" in reference to his magical abilities, and, as the victorious trio ride back to Castle Baaldorf, the fair Princess can be heard complaining about a broken fingernail.

The humor of the show is sometimes a little twisted, making it even more fun. In THE KIDNAP, for instance, there is an exchange between Greystone and Marko, discussing Greystone’s betrothed, whom neither has seen. Marko asks, "Do you think the Princess is beautiful?" Greystone replies "I haven’t seen one that isn’t." Marko queries, "Do you think they kill the ugly ones?"

Each episode is full of action and, as Don Reo puts it, leaves our heroes in "a position of certain death. A position that is impossible to get out of," just before every commercial break. At the worst moment, the scene freezes and changes into a comic book painting, a transition that was also used by the television series The Wild Wild West, of which Reo was a fan. Reo liked the cliff-hanger format of the spy western and successfully used it in his own show.

Much of the dialogue in Wizards and Warriors is a bit incongruous for the setting; for example, the enthusiasm Greystone’s brother Justin has for "Happy Hour." There are also references to "attitude problems," "punks," and warnings such as "learn to relax." The pattern of speech for all characters is decidedly twentieth century. In other words the characters may appear medieval to the viewer, but their mannerisms are thoroughly modern and, though the show appears to be set in the distant past, things aren’t always as they seem.

Bethel
Randi Brooks as Bethel, the witch, who was in many ways responsible for the trials of Prince Erik

The contemporary attitude of the characters, such as the princess being more concerned with her hair and nails than whatever disaster is going on around her, is a thread that can be found in every episode. One amusing example of this is Ariel’s fantasy of being in a "room filled with shoes."

Weapons of destruction produced by the villains and natural occurrences that plague the kingdom, have an eerie familiarity. THE UNICORN OF DEATH features a golden unicorn weather vane, given as a gift to Ariel, that is really a "firecon," a bomb with the power to destroy the entire kingdom.

VULKAR’S REVENGE holds everyone, hero and villain alike, captive within Baaldorf Castle as the "Rain of Death" falls outside. This rain has the ability to melt human skin. In SKIES OF DEATH, there is a magic cannon that "hurls shells great distances," and Vector and Blackpool are making a super-shell that will destroy the whole kingdom with a single shot. There is even a spider web of laser beams in THE CAVERNS OF CHAOS.

These modern devices are not included by accident. Reo states that if the show had continued, the audience would have discovered that the story is actually set in a post-apocalyptic future "where evolution had brought human beings back to a medieval-type time." He goes on to say, " . . . There was an incredible technology left over and the technology was controlled by the wizards." This technology was a hold-over from the twenty first [sic] century.

Wizards and Warriors cast members look back upon the show fondly. Revill enjoyed the "undercurrent of sardonic humor," an element that he and Regehr used as much as they could.

"We had this crazy sort of relationship," Revill describes, "Blackpool knew that Vector was ready to push him down a hole or something."

According to Revill, there were certain "rules" that the evil side could never totally win. Vector could never have assumed his full powers because that would have "turned the series upside-down." If the dark side won everything ". . . we as an audience" wouldn’t accept it because it would "cease to be entertainment" and it would break the rules.

The cast favored the futuristic aspect of the show. Revill said of it, "There were all sorts of allusions to cosmic moments in life today . . . Sort of faint. They were shadows. They came and went."

Jeff Conaway came into the series because he liked the writing. He thought it was "quite wonderful" (a description also used by Duncan Regehr), and appreciated the fact that it was "very off-beat and gave you a different slant on things." He also liked the "wacky sense of humor," pointing out that a lot of his previous work was a little "off-center" or "off-beat" even when he was doing stage.

The cast was allowed to ad-lib. As Conaway puts it, "Once an actor gets a hold of it (the writing), it’s up to them to take it off the page and make it work." He said that good writers, like those they had for this show understand that. For some characters, ". . . sometimes there is just an attitude as well. You take a scene and play it the opposite way instead of the way that it was written."

He told of how the network got involved after the pilot episode. They wanted to make him more of a "hero hero, instead of an anti-hero." He "never really went along with that," and got around it by, "kind of spoofing it, going a little further . . ." Also, the network felt that the futuristic aspect of the show would "scare people away" so it was only hinted at.

Another thing that appealed to Conaway was the adventurous aspect of the show:

"You get to wear these great costumes and live out all your boyhood fantasies of playing the hero, fighting all these dragons and monsters . . ."

As for the adventures themselves, Conaway revealed that the actors did basically all their own stunts, such as sword fights, climbing, horseback riding, etc. which could be "pretty demanding." One thing he learned during the show was, " . . . a hero’s life was hell."

"Duncan and Clive had all the fun," he muses, "spinning the adventure that we would have to go through that week, and they’d sit back and laugh about it."

Conaway recalls a scene in THE RESCUE where he and Olkewicz are dumped into a slime pit with slime monsters:

"It was late . . . three o’clock in the morning. We finished the take and I said, ‘Walter, does the water taste funny to you?’ Somebody heard me say that and they said, ‘What does it taste like?’"

He and Olkewicz were told, "Don’t touch each other. Don’t move. Just stay where you are!"

It turned out that there had been a short under the water with some of the lights. Luckily, the soles of their shoes were rubber so they were okay as long as they didn’t touch each other.

"We were in a pool of electricity. It was the first and the last time I want to do that!"

In the same episode, the two heroes had to face an invisible fire-breathing dragon. Conaway finds humor in the situation where the two of them had "these two little shields."

"All these guys on the rigging are shooting flame throwers at us." He chuckles, "We’re standing there looking at each other, ‘Can you believe what we’re doing?’

"The whole adventure of making the show was kind of thrilling in that when Duncan and I squared off . . . in the sword fights, we went through a lot of rehearsal and we’d choreograph these things out . . . to within an inch of our lives. But in the shooting of it, sometimes we changed things . . . somebody swings a sword one way when it [sic] supposed to go the other way . . ."

The fantastic costumes were created by the Oscar-winning designer, Theodora [sic] Van Runkle. Regehr had a black leather costume which he had a lot of fun with. It would "creak" no matter how small a movement he made. He said that he could use a creak to emphasize a point; but then on the downside, it prevented him from sneaking up on anyboby. [sic]

Clive Revill had a beautiful velvet costume but there was [sic] problem with it:

"The hat that arrived was totally wrong . . . nobody could ever get the darn thing right, so practically every week I had a different hat."

Revill tells of an incident in one episode (a favorite of Revill’s and Regehr’s), where Vector and Blackpool are getting progressively drunker as they play a three-dimensional game. The stakes for Vector: the return of his monocle. Vector asks Blackpool, "What about you?" Blackpool replies, "I’ll play you for your hat." Vector eventually wins the game and demands the return of the monocle. Blackpool demurs, however, and, sweeping the game off the board, claims that there was no game. He then asks Vector about the hat. Vector solemnly replies, "I don’t wear a hat."

The elaborate sets were designed by Peter Wooley. Reportedly, one of the more massive sets cost over a million dollars at the time. Revill described it as "multi-faceted, multi-dimensional" and that it "could be taken apart and turned into almost anything you wanted." It was felt that the set could have paid for itself with its versatility in just one season.

One of the castle sets, which is seen at a distance in the opening shot of THE RESCUE was actually about "four feet wide and maybe a foot high." It was a "perfect miniature of a castle" which was extended on an arm from a crane into position so that to the camera’s eye it appeared to be a castle sitting on a distant hill. "It was actually about 100 yards in front of the actors." Depth perception made it look like the real thing.

Reo confirms that the show was "enormously expensive to produce," (the pilot alone cost two and a half million dollars), but the audience would have to admit that it was money well spent in that it created a total illusion that one could believe in.

Reo relates a problem created by one of the special effects. When Greystone and Blackpool were to have a sword fight, a special set-up was needed to create the required sparks as the swords clash. The actors were hooked up to welding arcs and wired from inside their costumes to a power source. It was soon discovered that if the swords were crossed for too long, they would be welded together. Luckily, spare swords for each actor were kept on hand. (All of the swords for the show were hand-made).

Ariel, Baaldorf, and Traquill
Princess Ariel (Julia Duffy), King Baaldorf (Thomas Hill), and Wizard Tranquill [sic] (Ian Wolfe) cheer on the sidelines as Prince Erik does battle with evil

Regehr has his own memories of those electrifying moments. He recalled that one problem was perspiration. Not only would it cause the swords to short out, but it had a nasty habit of zapping the actors with an electric shock as well.

Reo also tells of a scene in NIGHT OF TERROR in which Princess Ariel is supposed to run up some stairs and trip. When she looks up, she is face to face with a black cobra. Reo was asked if [sic] wanted to use a rubber snake, but decided to go all out and use the real thing. A snake wrangler was called in and an elaborate box was built out of plexiglass to surround the set and also around the camera equipment. There were two cameras for this scene, one behind the snake and one behind Duffy to see the different perspectives.

The snake was brought in and placed in the enclosure. It was then tapped with a powder puff to make it sit up. "Snakes don’t take to that very well," Reo remembers, "It stood straight up and flared its hood. The cameras were rolling. We shot the scene and it was perfect."

The next day when the dailies were being reviewed, it was discovered that the snake was ". . . so perfectly still, you could not tell that it was a real snake. We could have done the same thing with a rubber snake without all the time and money."

The cancellation of the show was a disappointment to all. They believed in what they were doing and had fun doing it at the same time. The cast got along great and loved the writers, but apparently it was not meant to be. Conaway said that the week they were cancelled, " . . . we were picked by People magazine or something like that as one of the hits of the season . . . there were two hits of the season picked, ours and The A-Team. The A-Team went on for five years and Wizards and Warriors had eight episodes."

Reo feels that if the show had been ". . . exposed in a different time-slot it would have had the opportunity to catch on." He said that the show "had an awful lot of adult appeal." Reo goes on to say that "because it was so enormously expensive to do, if it wasn’t a hit right away, it didn’t justify continuing production." If the ratings had justified the expense, it might have had a chance. Conaway felt that the network never really gave it a chance to get an audience and hold it." [sic] As he puts it, the show, ". . . got caught somehow in network hell."

Book cover
This illustration, which adorns the cover of Duncan Regehr’s published artworks, seems very much in tune with the medieval, sword-wielding hero motif of Wizards and Warriors.

THE UNICORN OF DEATH (2/26/83)

An explosive birthday present sent to Princess Ariel causes havoc in the kingdom of Baaldorf

Joseph Robert Sicari, Christine DeLisle, Ken Hixon, Brent Huff, Lonnie Wun, Kathleen McIntyre, Mark Douglas Sebastian, Steven Strong, Nancy Thiesen

Written by Bill Richmond; Directed by Bill Bixby

THE KIDNAP (3/5/83)

Prince Greystone can survive poison darts, quicksand, an attack by the Bonecrack Demon, and hand-to-hand combat with Prince Blackpool; but he can’t stop the kidnapping of the dumb-but-darling Princess Ariel

Christine De Lisle, George McDaniel, Robert Alan Browne, David Ankrum, Michael Crabtree, Elyse Donaldson, M.C. Gainey, Emerson Hall, Chuck Hicks, Fred Lerner, George Marshall Ruge, Steven Strong, Steven Williams

Written by Don Reo; Directed by Richard Colla

THE RESCUE (Pilot; 3/12/83) [sic]

Prince Greystone and Marko embark on a mission to rescue Princess Ariel from the tyrant Blackpool and his co conspirator [sic], Wizard Vector

Art La Fleur, Piper Perry, Tara Perry, Bobby Porter, Professor Toru Tanaka, Lonnie Wun

Written by Don Reo; Directed by James Frawley

NIGHT OF TERROR (3/19/83)

Prince Greystone and Princess Ariel find out that swatting an insect inside the curse-plagued castle of the madman Karnaj is a no-no that can definitely be dangerous to one’s health

Written by Bill Richmond; Directed by Bill Bixby

SKIES OF DEATH (4/9/83)

A magical, long-range cannon, created by Prince Blackpool and Wizard Vector, threatens to win the war of conquest against Prince Greystone, but Greystone has a shell game of his own

Robert Grey, Robert Carnegie, Chris Hendrie, Warren Munson, Alex Daniels, George Marshall Ruge, Lonnie Wun

Written by Don Reo; Directed by Bill Bixby

THE CAVERNS OF CHAOS (4/30/83)

To save his father’s life, Prince Greystone seeks the fruit of the Astrid tree in the dreaded Caverns of Chaos, only to find another serpent in the Garden of Evil, Prince Blackpool, who is also plotting to pluck the magic pear

Michael Currie, Richard Fullerton, Steven Strong

Written by Don Reo; Directed by Paul Krasny

THE DUNGEON OF DEATH (5/7/83)

Prince Greystone leads a hired band of cutthroats and thieves through a terror-filled tunnel to rescue Marko from the Dungeon of Death

Jerry Maren, John Bennett Perry, Monique Van de Ven, John Ratzenberger, Stephen Nichols, Alan Shearman, Patrick Wright, Chuck Hoyes, Ron House, Ryland [sic] G. Allison, Troy Evans, Rodger Bumpass

Written by Judith D. Allison; Directed by Kevin Conner

VULKAR’S REVENGE (5/14/83)

Arch foes Prince Greystone and Prince Blackpool, huddled together under a flag of truce, find themselves in the eye of a hurricane mounted by the fury of the monstrous zombie-demon, Vulkar

Bruce M. Fischer, Richard Blum, Lonnie Wun

Written by Robert Earll; Directed by Kevin Conner

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This site contains copyright material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. This is a fan site only and is not affiliated with any motion picture studios, Warner Brothers, CBS, Don Reo Productions, Randi Brooks, Jeff Conaway, Julia Duffy, Tim Dunigan, Thomas Hill, Jay Kerr, Julie Payne, Duncan Regehr, Don Reo, Clive Revill, Ian Wolfe or any of the additional cast or crew of Wizards and Warriors.

Wizards and Warriors 8 episodes, CBS

Wizards and Warriors
8 episodes, CBS