[Nordskogen] "Deadliest Warrior"

[Dale and Kate Collins]

I reposted this on the An Tir message board....had a few people write back extremely happy with the posting!  There's a whole new kingdom planning on watching the show with great interest now!

On a more mundane note, the job hunt still continues.  There is one potential offer in the works that would be local enough to us that we would not have to relocate, but we won't know much more on that for at least another week.

Will keep everyone updated as things develop!

Kate the Candlemaker
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: AgamedesEKA at aol.com<mailto:AgamedesEKA at aol.com> 
  To: northshield at northshield.org<mailto:northshield at northshield.org> 
  Cc: nordskogen at nordskogen.northshield.org<mailto:nordskogen at nordskogen.northshield.org> 
  Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:59 AM
  Subject: [Nordskogen] "Deadliest Warrior"


  Just thought this was interesting. One of the SCA Spartans, also known back  
  in the day as Sir Balin of Tor for those of you who might know him, has been  
  part of "Deadliest Warrior". It will be on TV but we dont know the air date  
  exactly yet.
   still...score one more for the SCA
  ------------------------------------------------------------------fwd from  
  sparta hoplites list---------------------
   
  Rejoice,  Spartans!
  Well, the series pilot for "Deadliest Warrior" wrapped for me  yesterday...W
  It was 5 days of 13 hour work days. I am sore all over,  and VERY sleep 
  deprived. But I have seldom enjoyed a project so  thoroughly!!I
  To refresh your memory, this is the pilot for a  projected series for Spike 
  TV. Each episode will show two of history's great  warriors, pitted against 
  each other. The pilot will have a Spartan against a  Ninja.
  My role was both that of series historical advisor, in matters  pertinent to 
  the Spartans; weapons expert for Spartan weapons; and, filming  the 
  Thermopylae sequences yesterday, an assistant to the fight coordinator, a  stunt man, 
  and an extra!!!
  The series has too components: a "reality"  portion, in which we "experts" 
  demonstrate weapons, techniques, and  pontificate on history and effectiveness 
  of our warriors; and a "reenactment"  portion, showing scenes from the his tory 
  of each warrior. The "reality"  portion had 8 cast members: two Spartans, one 
  an older "expert", me; the other  a young "trainee" who will demonstrate. Two 
  Ninjas, one the older "master"  (Lou Klein, who became, in the course of the 
  shoot, a good friend! The two old  warriors really bonded during the shoot!!!) 
  and a young martial artists  student; two scientists from the Wayne State 
  University Weapons Lab, which  does testing for the US military; a computer 
  gaming expert, who was there to  program the data into a game simulation of the 
  warriors fighting it out; and  an ER doctor to evaluate the damage done by each 
  weapon.
  Throughout the  series pilot, when the Spartan weapons (8 foot ash-wood 
  spear, 19" xiphos, or  javelin) was tested, either Jeremy or I was the testor. That 
  is, I did the  sword thrusts with xiphos against the ballistic gel human 
  torso-and-head model  (human skelaton contained within!). I slashed and thrust the 
  dead pig carcass  with xiphos! I got to test the javelin an d spear throw 
  against ballistic  model. All of these tests were conducted with and monitored by 
  the Wayne State  University Weapons Lab team. These guys came out from 
  Michigan with thousands  of dollars of testing equipment! We also had a ER doctor, 
  Dr. Dolan, standing  by to describe the damage each blow would have done to a 
  real human! (Dr.  Dolan is the advisor on set for the tv show, ER; and Grey's 
  Anatomy!)
  The  dori spear test was done by my partner, young Jeremy Dunn; a very buff 
  young  actor/martial artist! And Jeremy tested the aspis against a crash dummy, 
  using  the edge in a strike I taught him, to the side of the head; as the 
  Spartans  actually would have done!
  The crash dummy and ballistic model tests were  not only to see the 
  penetration power of these weapons; but also tested  velocity and impact power.
  As an example, when they tested the Ninja sword,  it delivered 4 "gees" of 
  force on impact. By contrast, the dori delivered 9.4  g of force! This was 
  described as the equ ivalent force on impact as falling  off a 5 story building! 
  The dori ( a real ash-wood shaft with razor-sharp  head, weighing in at 5.4 
  pounds!) also delivered a devastating wound, piercing  the model's chest cavity 
  7" deep. Had that model been a human opponet, the  thrust would have 
  collapsed the left lung, and pierced the left ventrical of  the heart! The Spartan 
  spear proved a DEADLY weapon!
  The most powerful  blow, however, came from the aspis!!! YEAH! The shield 
  strike to the side of  head, using one of our Spartan battle shields, delivered a 
  strike force of 45  "Gs"!!! Five times the force of the spear thrust! Dr. 
  Dolan said it would have  crushed the skull, or broken the neck of any opponet!
  My proudest moment  during this portion of the testing was with the Spear and 
  javelin  throw.
  The director wanted to see the effectiveness of a Greek thonged  javelin 
  against the ballistic model; and the effect of the dori when  thown!!
  As Jeremy was not accurate enough to hit the tar get at distance, I  was 
  tasked with this....
  First, we tried the dori.
  I have never thrown a  dori at a target... Never! Much less doing it on 
  camera, at a very expensive  ballistic model! I was real worried I'd miss entirely 
  and disgrace the  Spartans!!!
  However, your Basileus cast the spear when the director said  "Action". The 
  spear threw true; and Ares guided my throw!
  The spear struck  directly between the 4th and 5th rib on the left side; to a 
  depth of 6",  piercing the dummy's lung and heart! 
  There was a cheer around the set! I  breathed a sigh of relief!
  Then the Director asked if I could do it again,  this time hitting the dummy 
  in the face? I said I didn't know if I could or  not; but if I did, he owed me 
  a beer!
  Standing at my "mark", I took aim,  left hand pointed at the face fo the 
  dummy; the spear arm drawn back and  poised to throw. Then, I cast!
  Again, Ares/Athena guided my throw, and the  dori entered the dummy's cheek, 
  just below its left eye!! Score a nother for  the Spartans!
  My third cast hit the dummy IN THE NOSE!!!!
  Finally, I had  to throw the javelins. These are nothing like the javelins 
  thrown in  track-and-field events.... Intead, these are the kind used by Greek 
  psiloi  (light troops) and peltasts: a light wood shaft, 4' long and about an 
  inch in  diameter. A small iron head, and two leather thong throwing loops at 
  the  balance point. Greek light troops would carry a bundle in their left hand; 
   thowing these darts at a mass target. 
  These are NOT precision weapons!  They are meant to hit a target the size of 
  a phalanx! 
  So having to hit a  man sized target, and in a vital area at that, was a 
  challenge.
  Already,  Lou, my Ninja master counter-part in this contest between Spartan 
  and Ninja,  had planted his shireken (throwing stars) right in the dummy's 
  forehead! So I  had to aquit myself with equal skill; or the Spartans would suffer 
  in this  challenge.
  To further worry men, I missed my two practice throws; wide to t  he right 
  each time!
  OK... I set myself, taking the same stance I'd used  with the dori. 
  I threw... And the javelin entered the ballistic dummy  RIGHT THROUGH THE 
  HEART!!! 
  The day ended with the Spartans, again,  triumphant!
  Anyway, we concluded these weapons testing in the Santa Clarita  studio on 
  Saturday. 
  I then went to the reenactor portion of the  filming.
  This set was in the Hollywood hills... In fact, it was in a canyon  that 
  looked amazingly like the actual cliffs of Thermopylae (the sea side of  the pass 
  would be added in with "blue screen" effects in  post-production)This set was 
  in the Hollywood hills... In fact, it was in a canyon  that looked amazingly 
  like the actual cliffs of Thermopylae (the sea side of  the pass would be added 
  in with "blue s
  Here, the focus was  Thermopylae; and Spartans training for war... My role 
  was to teach the Spartan  phalanx how to fight as Spartans; and to use the 
  weapons as they would have  been used.
  By the end of the d ay, the Spartan extras (actors and stunt  men) were 
  marching in step; calling out "EE-LAHS!" with every step and thrust  into the 
  Persians; and shouting "Molan LABE" in unison! 
  All of them were  wearing our red wool cloaks!
  The "hero" of the piece, played by an young  actor who looked a bit like a 
  young Leonidas from "300". Throughout, he was  wearing my embroidered red 
  chiton; my battle armor; our brass medallions, made  by Ono, that we gave out to new 
  Spartiates at Estrella (Spartan "bling"!!);  one of our red cloaks; and my 
  cloak broach, made for me by our own  Caieth/Cimon, bearing my coat-of-arms!Th
  At various times, I portrayed  a Spartan training master; a javelin 
  test-thrower; and, in one sequence, an  Olympic runner!!
  This last needs a bit of explanation, considering my  age!
  While most of the Spartan extras were doing some fight/stunt  coordination, 
  the producer asked if I could attempt a stunt the young stunt  guys didn't want 
  to do: run down a ridge along a very narrow semi-path. The  scene was to show 
  Spartans running marathons, across country, wearing full  armor.
  The stuntmen had marched (with me) down this trail earlier in the  day, and 
  the footing was loose dirt/pebbles; very treacherous! No one wanted  to try 
  running down this trail, on film, in armor!
  No one but your  Ever-Lovin-BasileusNo 
  I figured, 52 years old, coming off of knee  surgery: what the hell!
  When the director said, "Action", I just took off  at a lope! I didn't try to 
  maintain my footing.... I instead remembered from  my military mountain 
  training with the Gurkas, that if you run down hill, do  it like a mountain goat 
  does: leaping from good spot to the next, and not  slowing for anything... 
  See, what I knew that the stuntmen didn't was that  if you try to slow 
  yourself, you will end up slipping and falling on your ass!  But using momentum and 
  fast foot work, you can make it to the bottom  intact!
  And I did! Running past the camera at the bottom, I was greeted  with 
  applause by the crew! One of the PAs yelled out, "It looks like this  shoot has taken 
  25 years off your age!" And, you know, he was right!
  I'll  tell you, I felt like a kid-in-the-candy store! 
  At the end of the shoot  (the "wrap"), the producer/Director shook my hand; 
  and said "You lived up to  and surpassed our expectations!A
  All this, and we may have a few new  brothers joining our ranks! Several of 
  the stuntmen Spartans (all young, VERY  buff dudes!!!) asked how they could 
  come see us in action; what our website  was; and, in one case, a youngman said 
  "I can't wait to join the Warband!!"  Even Lou, the Ninja Master, wants to come 
  and see us at Potrero this May, with  a mind to perhaps joining!!!
  As your Ever-Lovin-BasileusAs your Ever-Lovin-Basileus<WBR>, I can say  with 
  pride, I think I did you all proud!! When you see the pilot, I don't  think 
  you w
  I've posted a picture of me  with one of the production assistants, and Lou, 
  the Ninja Master (who in this  picture was playing a Persian warrior for the 
  reenactment portion of the  shoot!).... Take a look! I am in wig, and beard, 
  and look like one MEAN  son-of-a-@@#! 
  Uncle Archelaus



  Never Mistake My Compassion For  Weakness!
  Honor above all else,The code of bushido.




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