Emails to/from Zak

[RK9]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured that since it concerns Zak, this would be the place.

Back before this place was renovated, I was about 16 years old then, I started visiting Zak's website, and started a series of emails with him. Not for long, I guess after a while Zak became either too busy to answer my emails - or tired of corresponding with me and my endless questions, lol, I guess I did get a little nosy. But anyway, I remember in one thread we were discussing Ramon's age, and that was how I first worked up the courage to email him and ask. Anyway, since there might be others here who have not seen these, I found the emails in my saved message folder yesterday, and I thought I'd put them up again to share. They were all done in 2005, around October, so they're quite a few years old.

Enjoy.
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My first message:

This email is from zaksantiago.com

First Name: Rachel
Last Name: Chan
Contact This Person Via email
Phone:
Email: [e-mail]

Additional Comments:
Dear Zak, Young Blades has recently started airing in Malaysia, and I have become an avid fan. I love your character Ramon (though I confess I can't quite remember his full name - only watched 4 episodes so far) and I wish I had been able to catch this series before it was cancelled. I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Some friends of mine and I were trying to figure out how old Ramon is in the show, and how old you are. I'm sorry if it offends you to be asked your age, but we are just curious and mean no harm. Anyway, if you don't want to tell us your real age, we understand...but could you let us know how old Ramon is/was? Thanks in advance from a Malaysian fan, Rachel.

Zak's reply:

Hi Rachel! How are you? Thanks for watching the show, I had a lot of fun working on it. Ramon Francisco Montalvo de la Cruz is listed as 28 years old in the original character overview we received from Dan and Billy (the show's creators), so he' s pretty close to my real age, although people tell me I look younger than that. Ramon comes from an aristocratic Spanish family, he is the eldest son of perfectionist parents. He has more formal education than the other musketeers. He has a poetic heart and a soft spot for food and women, "a fierce fighter - for sheer strength the most powerful of the Musketeers."
Thanks again for your support, keep watching!
Zak

(Note: Zak got a little mixed up with Ramon's full name; it is actually "Ramon Montalvo Francisco de la Cruz", if I am not mistaken.)

Then I replied with:

Wow! I've never got an e-mail from an actor before. I must confess I didn't expect you to reply. Thanks so much for replying! So, Ramon is 28? That's cool - though hard to believe. He(You) looks younger, and weren't musketeer recruits in those days around 20-25?

Anyway....before I start babbling...

Do you mind if I share your reply with my friends on this Young Blades message boards I hang out at? I ask because by "share", I mean posting the e-mail on the boards, but I don't want to do that without your permission...even though I know my friends would really love it if I did.

Hope to hear from you again, Rachel.

Ps - I just watched Da Vinci's Notebook. I think you did a really great job in it. Say, how do you memorise all those beautiful poems?

Zak responded with:

If I have the time, I enjoy letting people know that I appreciate their support. I don't mind if you post my reply about Ramon.

I wrote all the "rhapsodies" at the end of the Blades episodes. It was a great opportunity for me, I have to thank Kirk Shaw (exec producer) for the green light to do so, he really had faith in my writing skills. It's not often that an actor can be so involved in the "life" of his-her character.

Thanks again Rachel!
ciao

That was the first part. After a while, someone else got me all excited, mentioning the possibility of a DVD movie for YB, and I emailed him all over again.

This email is from zaksantiago.com

First Name: Rachel
Last Name: Chan
Contact This Person Via email
Phone:
Email: [e-mail]

Additional Comments:
Dear Zak, Hi. Don't suppose you remember me? My name is Rachel, I wrote to you some months ago to ask you a few questions about Ramon? Right, anyway, I'm writing again now because I have another question for you... You see, Tobias Mehler recently attended a Stargate SG-1 convention at London Heathrow, where he was a surprise guest, and according to a friend of mine, whom I will quote, "He (Tobias) is obviously very proud of his work on Young Blades, and very regretful that it was cancelled so quickly. I think that he said there was talk of a dvd movie to tidy up the loose ends of the story." I was wondering if you knew anything about this? Is it true? Is there a possibility of a DVD movie to take up where the series left off? If so, will that mean you, Mark Hildreth and Karen Cliche will get back together again with the rest of the original cast to work on it? Just curious, and I hope you can answer my questions. Thanks, Rachel. Ps - I recently watched The Invincible Sword and To Heir is Human...and I noticed right away that you didn't end either of those episodes with a rhapsody as you usually did. Why? I was rather disappointed as I always love your rhapsodies at the end best of all. Anyway, hoping to hear from you soon. Rachel.

Zak's reply:

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your message. Yeah, Toby was in London for a second, he's still a little jet-lagged. There is talk of a DVD, but I believe it will be cut from footage that's already shot. I spoke with Karen as well last week, and she hasn't heard of anything of us shooting additional stuff, either. We would all love to do more Blades work, but for the time being we have to concentrate on other projects until we hear otherwise. I'm not sure why the rhapsodies weren't on there, I think I did one for those episodes, I can't remember. I'll tell you Rachel, there's so many versions that have been cut, it's hard to keep track. There's a PAX version, US domestic ver., international ver. etc. Fans over the world see episodes of varying lengths and scene content depending on the market they're in, the amount of time per hour their broadcaster dedicates to commercials etc. I'm trying to convince the bigwigs to release a dvd of extended versions, behind the scenes, pranks and bloopers, and a section just of rhapsodies...I think that would be cool.

anyways, take care
Z.

Hi Zak,

Thanks so much for your reply! As usual, I shared it with my friends, and we are all hoping that there will be a DVD....most of my friends are from countries where YB stopped airing a long time ago, and even with reruns and VCDs, we miss the show...which is why we cling to discussing it together on our forum.

I can't believe you still keep in touch with Karen Cliche and Tobias Mehler! Is "Toby" your nickname for him or something? That is so cute! So, you must have heard that Karen got married recently? And what about Mark? Do you keep in contact with him, too?

And yeah, I suppose the Malaysian editing panel must have cut out your rhapsodies...hmpf. They cut out other important scenes too, like d'Artagnan and Jacqueline's make-out session in "Invincible Sword" and Jacqueline and Charles II in "The Exile"...which is why I really hope that a DVD will come out, I'm hoping to be able to catch all the scenes I missed out on...

I hope TPTB will agree to your idea for the DVD, too... to quote a friend of mine, "Hey, cool deal! I think his (your) ideas for the DVD are great!" Having an entire section just for rhapsodies sounds awesome to me... as long as you write them all, of course. As to pranks...do you mean pranks that the cast and crew play on each other? Heh, awesome!

Anyway, it was great to hear from you again. Thanks so much for replying, even the little info you gave about the DVD means the world to me and my friends. Oh, and if you hear from Karen again, could you please let her know that her friends from the Unofficial Young Blades forums say hi?

Thanks,

Rachel.

Ps - Uh, I hope you don't mind, but I have one more question: Tobias mentioned that " at one point he was accidentally slashed on one side of his face, and so could only be filmed from the other side for a while". I was wondering if this is true? Did he really have to be filmed from only one side? If so, it's incredible that none of us noticed it...especially as we claim to watch the episodes over and over again...

Anyway, thanks again, and hope to hear from you again. Take care!

Rachel.

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your message. I'm in touch with all the blades, we got along so well and bonded alot on the show. Toby and Mark both live in Vancity right now, so I see them as much as possible. They are excellent people. Karen is like my sister, we talk on the phone when we can. She is very happily married now. I'll pass on your salutations.
Toby did get cut on the show, I fractured my wrist in a fight with the big evil undead knight, and badly bruised my hip in a fall once. I was thrown from a horse (landed on my feet!). We Blades basically did all our own fights and riding segments, so these bumps and bruises are par for the course. We all experienced various minor injuries, but no one was ever seriously hurt. It was a very safe set with excellent stunt and riding handlers, who obviously would do any of the dangerous actions. It was a pleasure to be so physically and artistically collaborative on a show, maybe that's why so many friendships were forged with cast and crew.
Thanks again for the support, Rachel, my best to all @ the UYB forums
Z.

I remember I did send one more email, but I do not have it saved as Zak did not respond. Heh. I guess I can't blame him, or I would have gone on asking questions forever... But for a while, being able to email him and receiving replies - those were some of the best moments of my life. And I thought I'd share it with all of you.

[sue]

RK9 posted this:


" Ramon Francisco Montalvo de la Cruz is listed as 28 years old in the original character overview we received from Dan and Billy (the show's creators), so he' s pretty close to my real age, although people tell me I look younger than that. Ramon comes from an aristocratic Spanish family, he is the eldest son of perfectionist parents. He has more formal education than the other musketeers. He has a poetic heart and a soft spot for food and women, "a fierce fighter - for sheer strength the most powerful of the Musketeers."
Thanks again for your support, keep watching!
Zak




(Note: Zak got a little mixed up with Ramon's full name; it is actually "Ramon Montalvo Francisco de la Cruz", if I am not mistaken.)"

I couldn't get this to print up properly by using the quote button....

I have always wondered WHY the producers got away with naming the character with a Christian name, followed by a surname, followed by a name that could go either way, then another surname that they used as his last name.

In Spain, and I know that Zak would have known this, having spent time there, and having the heritage and all...that he might have slipped and just called his character by a name that made sense...hence the "typo". '

Ramón (obviously a Christian name) Montalvo (a surname - should come next) Francisco (can go either way, but this position is for the Father's surname, and is generally the one that people go by) and then de la Cruz, which can either be a title, or the mother's surname. In either case, not likely to be the name that he would use the most.

And, yeah...Toby is a typical nickname for Tobias. And I have read around that's what his friends call him.

But Hey! You got almost an accurate age! Incredible!

And, they never did make any blooper dvd that I have heard of...they DID make a dvd movie...it's episodes one and seven merged together with scenes of J/D and Dumas from the last episode (kind of a waste of plastic, if you ask me).

And I sort of thought that the characters were supposed to be younger than 20! (of course, they had to work with the actors, too, I suppose) because they were supposed to be cadets in a military academy, and, if you check into the history, in the 17th century, people typically joined the army at the age of 15, and would have graduated from University at about the same age, so...I HAVE always imagined Ramón as having been older, though, since he has the education. Still...Very interesting read! Thanks for sharing that!

[kristanci]

Nice! I do remember reading these back in the day. Lol. It's comforting to know that even after all these years, there are still fans supporting the series.

[jeantre16]

@_@ Very awesome, RK9!! Thanks for putting that up.

[auberymirkwood]

Wow! Question answered for me before I even had time to look into it. "Would the cast be interested in once again portraying their characters if someone was to try to make more episodes?"

One more thing to check off on my "Try to get YB going again list"

Now... To who has the copyrights...Sets-do they still exist....where are the crew:costume, music, set design, etc. ?

And to find some more material for new episodes

[sue]

Ohhhhh. I think the material exists. Just check out the fanfics...they are in many places!

[RK9]

Take note, several years have passed since Zak answered these emails, they might have changed their minds... lol.

Jeantre, weren't you here the last time when I put these up?

[tpal2150]

Ramon Francisco Montalvo de la Cruz is listed as 28 years old in the original character overview we received from Dan and Billy (the show's creators), so he' s pretty close to my real age, although people tell me I look younger than that. Ramon comes from an aristocratic Spanish family, he is the eldest son of perfectionist parents. He has more formal education than the other musketeers. He has a poetic heart and a soft spot for food and women, "a fierce fighter - for sheer strength the most powerful of the Musketeers."

Interesting...

If anyone's still corresponding with any of the other main actors (i.e. Tobias, Karen, and Mark), might be interesting to ask them about their characters' ages, etc....Just for the sake of curiosity.

Just a thought.

[jeantre16]

Oct 22, 2008 2:57:00 GMT -5 RK9 said:

Jeantre, weren't you here the last time when I put these up?

Um ... UYB had so many posts. (memory failure)

I do remember you had exclusive rights on our poet though, email and other. ;D

[kristanci]

Oct 22, 2008 15:28:50 GMT -5 tpal2150 said:

Ramon Francisco Montalvo de la Cruz is listed as 28 years old in the original character overview we received from Dan and Billy (the show's creators), so he' s pretty close to my real age, although people tell me I look younger than that. Ramon comes from an aristocratic Spanish family, he is the eldest son of perfectionist parents. He has more formal education than the other musketeers. He has a poetic heart and a soft spot for food and women, "a fierce fighter - for sheer strength the most powerful of the Musketeers."

I asked the administrators of Tobias' website if we can post his interview here on our site. Many of the questions deal with Young Blades, and the questions asked also came from a few of our older members. I have yet to hear from them. I can also ask Mark if he's interested in doing a Q&A. Though I cannot promise anything.

Interesting...

If anyone's still corresponding with any of the other main actors (i.e. Tobias, Karen, and Mark), might be interesting to ask them about their characters' ages, etc....Just for the sake of curiosity.

Just a thought.

[RK9]

Oh yes, I still do. No wait, I might exchange him for Siroc.

LOL, I did email Mark back then. But his manager replied, I think - Um... what was her name? J-something...

[kristanci]

I believe it was Jory. But Jory is actually part of the band.

I wonder why my post didn't complete @_@ In any case, what I meant to say was that I had asked the administrators if we could post his interview on our site since many of the questions deal with his role as d'Artagnan and some of the questions came from UYB members from back in the day. I am still waiting for a response.

I sent a message to Mark asking if he was willing to do a small Q&A for us at his convenience, but since it's been a couple years since Young Blades, I'm wondering if we should keep it music-related. But I also asked him if we could post his interview on our site if he is unable to do a small interview. I'm pretty sure he would go for the latter as he's a busy bee lately. But regardles, I'll let everyone know what I find out.