The Gift Bearer

Three orphaned sisters get a strange package in the mail one day. Inside is an ancient statue known as the Gift Bearer. Working in mysterious ways, the magical statue sends them back in time where they come face to face with their Aunt Camilla, a modern time traveler working for a covert agency known as the Echelon. Determined to bring their Aunt back to the present, the sisters travel through time having grand adventures and learning more about themselves and their family than they ever wanted to know.

Number of Episodes: 21

Date Completed: May 2002

Airdates:

December 2001 – December 2002 on SPC-TV in Carbondale, IL

May 2007 on UPTV in Urbana, IL

Main Cast:

Minerva Silverstone — Morgan Thomas

Atlanta Silverstone — Christine Komiskey

Persephone Silverstone — Brittany Whalen

Xavier — Russell Martin

Camilla — Elaine T.

Visit The Gift Bearer gallery for more photos!

Image created by Morgan Thomas

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – The Visitor

The Silverstone sisters are having a bad day when they get a mysterious box delivered to their house by a shadowy figure. Inside they find an ancient statue that turns out to be a magical artifact and they accidentally discover a way to travel through time.

Episode 2 – Trial by Fire

When the sisters travel back to colonial America they find out a shocking secret about their long lost Aunt.  But when Peri is kidnapped they all end up trapped in the past and charged with witchcraft.  The girls are forced to turn to a mysterious man for help – a man who seems to know more about their situation then he should. But will he be willing to help them get back to their own time before it’s too late?

Episode 3 – Stop the World

Determined to find their aunt, the Silverstone sisters decide to unlock the secrets of the Gift Bearer.  Atlanta start planning their next time travel trip, and Minerva tries to figure out how to make the statue work.  Meanwhile Peri goes to the town library to research ancient Egypt and meets the man of her dreams – a man who will change her life forever.

Episode 4 – Double or Nothing

Peri goes on a date with her library lover, while Atlanta and Minerva travel back to the 16^th century.  But they end up in the wrong time and run into new enemies and an old ally.  Trapped in the past once again they make a deal with the mysterious man again – he’ll help them, if they help him.  Caught in a plot to kidnap a French aristocrat who looks exactly like Atlanta, the sisters aren’t able to save Peri from making the worst mistake of her life.

Episode 5 – Roman Around

In order to cheer up a heart broken Peri, the Silverstone sisters decide to take a vacation in Roman Greece.  While exploring the Parthenon they meet a crazy ruler, his evil sister, their own long lost aunt and their mother – a mother who, in their own time, has been dead for years.  In the end they are forced to confront them both or risk losing their only way to get home.

Episode 6 – Mother Nature

Trapped in Ancient Greece, the sisters must convince their mother to have children or risk the chance that they will never be born.  And things get worse when the powerful sister – whose name is also Minerva - of an insane governor takes their aunt Camilla hostage.  Their mother needs their help to rescue her before she is sacrificed to Neptune, god of the Sea.  But who is the other Minerva?  What does she know about the Gift Bearer and why is she so determined to get it?

Episode 7 – Negotiations

After returning from Ancient Greece, the sisters discover a mysterious message from their trusted lawyer, Arthur Crumby, on their answering machine and the dead body of a stranger in their living room.  With Crumby gone, Atlanta is left alone to confront the business man named Victor Drake who is trying to take away everything they own.  Meanwhile Peri and Minerva head for Medieval England to continue the search for Camilla, but when they accidentally end up in Victorian Boston, they find themselves, once again, at the mercy of an old acquaintance.

Episode 8 – The Spider and the Fly

Atlanta is forced to make a deal with Drake in order to keep her family together, but when he pushes her too far she lashes out.  With the help of new lawyer and an old friend, she finally learns how to fight a bully with words instead of fists.  Back in Victorian Boston, Peri and Minerva try to convince Camilla to return to the present with them and help them fight against Drake.  They also learn the name of the mysterious traveler – Xavier - who’s helped them out in the past, and find out another shocking secret about their family.

Episode 9 – Change is in the Air

Drake gets his revenge against the Silverstones by seizing their assets and kicking them out of their home.  Forced to find a new place to live, the sisters use the only money Drake couldn’t steal – their college fund – and sign up for school.  More desperate then ever to find Camilla and make her fix all the trouble she caused, they continue to time travel on the weekends.  But on there first trip since moving into the dorm something goes terribly wrong and the sisters get spilt up and arrive in different time periods.  This time they not only have to get home, they have to find each other as well.

Episode 10 – Alone at Last

Separated throughout time, the Silverstone sisters must find each other and return home.  But when they meet up with other time travelers they must confront their past before they can even think about getting back to the present.  And when secrets are spilled and lies are revealed, will the sisters ever be the same again even if they can get home?

Episode 11 – All About Xavier

After weeks of travelling through time looking for Camilla and finding no leads, the Silverstones decide to concentrate on their studies before they flunk out of school.  But when Peri attacks a stalker who turns out to be Xavier, their lives become more complicated.  Things go from bad to worse when Xavier suddenly disappears.  The sisters discover he’s been kidnapped by Drake, and if that’s not enough trouble the Gift Bearer starts acting strangely – almost as if it’s coming to life!

Episode 12 – Secrets and Lies

Racing against time to rescue Xavier from Drake’s clutches, the Silverstone sisters split up.  But kidnapping Xavier was only part of Drake’s plans and he puts the rest of them into operation once the sisters are separated.  When Minerva rescues a wounded Xavier, she is overjoyed, but the Gift Bearer continues to act strangely, then becomes violent, and disappears.  Left without the statue, Xavier and Minerva have trouble meeting up with Atlanta, who’s confronting an old enemy and gaining a new ally, and Peri who’s being chased by Drake’s thugs.  And when Xavier is forced to deal with a ghost from his past, he makes a decision that will change his life forever.

Episode 13- Betrayal

With the Gift Bearer gone, but Xavier safe, the Silverstones demand to know what’s really going on and find out more then they ever wanted to know about their mother and the people that she, Xavier, and Camilla work for – a secret organization known as the Echelon.  With finals come and gone and the start of a new semester, things are started to look up for the Silverstones and Xavier, who now lives with them.  But when Minerva discovers that Xavier is secretly working for Drake and intends to betray them, she confronts him about it – that’s when an old friend reappears with a dire warning and all hell breaks loose.

Episode 14 – Project Genesis

The Silverstones suddenly find themselves on the run from an unlikely enemy that has decided to erase them from history forever and is hunting them down.  Just when the sisters think they have learned everything there is to know about their family, they discover more secrets – each one more horrifying than the one before.  They reunite with Crumby who helps them track down more time-travelers to band together with them against a common foe.  But a mission of mercy soon turns into their worst nightmare, and one of them must make the ultimate sacrifice if anyone is to escape alive.

Episode 15 – Judgment Day

When the Silverstones and Xavier escape from a deadly trap with a mortally wounded Peri, they are forced to turn to the people they hate most for help.  But protection comes at a high price and with the Echelon still looking for them they have to decide quickly if making a deal with the devil is better or worse then being dead.

Episode 16 – Dancing with the Devil

The Silverstones find themselves welcome into the lion’s den as Drake and his friends – who consider each other family  - take them in and protect them from the Echelon in exchange for the one part of the Silverstones’ inheritance he couldn’t get his hands on before – a set of secret files about a company called Janus Technologies.  Drake and Hela help heal Peri’s wounds, while the rest of the Silverstones and Xavier try to adjust to a very uncomfortable situation and resolve issues with their enemies-turned-allies, including Minerva’s ex-boyfriend Tez and Hela, Xavier’s old flame.

Episode 17 – Near Death

When Peri wakes to find herself healed and in her old house, she has a lot of questions.  Things get even more confusing when she discovers that her family is being protected from the Echelon by Drake and his family.  Peri confronts Drake about their past and Hela and Atlanta have a bitch-off, while Minerva, Xavier, and Tez go to Taget’s office and search for the file.  But when the Echelon springs a trap, they get caught and Tez is left for dead while the others are kidnapped.

Episode 18 – Anima Pro Anima

The Gift Bearer statue returns just in time to help Drake’s crew and the Silverstones as they set about trying to rescue Minerva and Xavier who have been kidnapped by the Echelon.  Camilla’s plan is put into action with some deadly results, while Xavier is forced to confront the people he betrayed and is helpless to save Minerva.

Episode 19 – Sanguine Pro Sanguine

Xavier is helpless to save Minerva from being the victim of an Echelon experiment.  But when the experiment backfires, it results in a very different and vengeful Minerva who decides to take down the organization that tried to kill her.  With Xavier by her side a surprising new ally, she quickly gains control of the Echelon.  Camilla barely escapes alive.  In order to warn the rest of the Silverstones and the Drakes, Camilla has to convince the people she has hurt the most to trust her one last time.  Meanwhile, Atlanta finds a clever and creative way to get inside the Echelon’s base to rescue her sister and Xavier.

Episode 20 Vita Pro Vita

Minerva and Xavier plot to eradicate the Echelon, but Minerva has bigger plans than just getting revenge.  She wants to rule over Time itself, but in order to do that she needs the Gift Bearer statue.  When her sisters and the Drakes figure out what she’s trying to do, they have to race to find the original statue before she does, or the statue they have won’t exist.  In order to stop a Paradox from happening they need Drake to help them, but when it matters most whose side will he really be on?  After all, who wouldn’t want to be the ruler of Time itself?

Episode 21 – The Visitor

Stopping Minerva is easier said than done, but even if they can stop her how can they return her to her old self?  The answer comes from a surprising source and they follow his lead to reveal a secret so shocking the Silverstones can’t deal with it.  Drake and Xavier use that moment to travel inside Minerva’s head and see if they can fix what the Echelon broke.  But when the evil side of Minerva won’t give up without a fight, Xavier is forced to fight her in an epic battle through her memories and Drake makes the ultimate sacrifice to give Xavier one last chance to save her.  All the questions are finally answered in this dramatic conclusion.

Character Bios

Atlanta Silverstone

Atlanta is the oldest of the Silverstone sisters, and can be motherly and affectionate, but it’s rare.  Her mother died when she was twelve and she had to step up as leader of the family. The strain of her responsibilities left her with emotional issues and insecurities that she covers up with brash and bravado.  Most of the time she’s serious, strict, and overprotective - trying desperately to hold her family together and protect her sisters from the world.  Her efforts often backfire and more often than not, she ends up in an argument with one or both.  She’s aggressive and athletic and picks a fight with anyone who annoys with almost everyone.  But her bark is often bigger then her bite, and she has a hard time regulating her emotions when she’s not in control.

Minerva Silverstone

Minerva is the middle child, and is the most intelligent of the sisters.  She is a polymath, excelling at art, science, history, and pretty much any intellectual subject.  However, she has very poor social skills and doesn’t like to be around people.  She spends most of her time either studying, inventing, or mediating between her sisters.  Her bite is surprisingly bigger then her bark, and she doesn’t pick a fight unless she knows she can win.  Although she acts zany, goofy, and bizarre most of the time there is a serious and dark side to her.

Persephone (Peri) Silverstone

Peri finds her full name – Persephone – too long to bother with and that pretty much sums her up.  She is the youngest of the three sisters, and although she is sweet, caring, and kind, she is also pretty spoiled and often acts like a brat when things don’t go the way she wants them too.  She is the most social of the sisters and is the only one who went to school – the others had private tutors. Peri is both a people person and a people pleaser and is easily fooled by those around her – especially good looking men.  She’s a flirt and a fashionista and is often as embarrassed by her sisters’ lack of social skills as they are by her dumb questions or comments.  Peri is a bubble-headed blonde who happens to be a brunette, and although most people think that’s she just a pretty little bimbo, there is a lot more to her then anyone realizes.

  

Xavier

Xavier is a time traveler who was raised by and works for the Echelon.  He grew up inside a military base and knows nothing about the would outside of it in his own time (he’s not even sure what his own time is).  However, he’s travelled around the world through out all of time on various missions assigned to him by his commanding officer.  His main supervisor is an agent named Cameo – but he finds out that her real name is Camilla and that she is the aunt of the Silverstone sisters.  He meets the Silverstones on his very first mission and has continued to run into them ever since.  He is strong, smart, brave, and loyal to the point of moral indifference.  When he has doubts about the morality of a mission is when things go badly for him, and that almost always has something to do with the Silverstones.

  

Camilla

Camilla is the Silverstone sisters’ aunt and was appointed as their legal guardian by their mother before she passed away.  However, Camilla completely disregarded her sister’s wishes and abandoned the girls to fend for themselves.  However, she was ordered to do it by the Echelon – the organization she worked for long before the girls were born.  She sometimes regrets leaving them all alone, but more often than not she is simply annoyed by them.  She may often help them grudgingly, but she helps them nonetheless.  Atlanta clearly got her temper and violent streak from her aunt.

Victor Drake

At first, Drake is a mysterious business man who is determined to get his hands on the Silverstones’ inheritance for reasons they don’t understand and he won’t reveal.  Finally he resorts to a despicable trick to find out their weakness and then drags them into court once he finds out they have been lying about their aunt Camilla and faking her existence with the help of their lawyer, Arthur Crumby.  All of that turns out to be the tip of the ice-burg, however, when the sisters start running into him in the past and find out he’s a time-traveler and a sorcerer.  He’s been alive for centuries, using magic to gather allies to help him fight against his true enemy – the Echelon, and the thing he wants most of all, besides his revenge, is the Gift Bearer.

An ad that ran in the Spring 2007 issue of Microfilm Magazine
announcing the premiere of The Gift Bearer on the Champaign-Urbana Public TV Station.