Caution: spoilers ahead!
Warning – this turned out to be a LOT longer then I expected it to be. When will I ever be able to write short blog posts again? Also, I never realized just how many mother characters Annamarie MacLeod played. She plays most of the characters on this list.
Zandra Anderson (played by Liz Schafer) first appears in The Curse where she is the main character who goes through the show trying to get her curse removed. She is never successful and eventually learns how to live with it. In the beginning the character is very self-centered, gullible, and is willing to cut corners to get what she wants. She’s not that likeable at first but goes through a lot in the show and ends up more likeable but with a long way to go. She does not seem like she would be a good mother.
Eidolon starts with a memorial service at Zandra’s grave where the main character, Zandra’s friend Maria (played by Morgan Thomas), takes custody of Zandra’s 17-year-old daughter, Zelda (played by Brittany Ann Whalen), who is very similar to her mother in all the wrong ways. It is clear that no one thinks Zandra was a good mother. She was always off working in the field as an anthropologist.
We eventually learn that Zandra’s marriage failed after it was discovered that Zelda was not her husband’s child – a fact that shocked Zandra herself and she realized she had been tricked by her old enemy, a sorcerer named Mordecai. In reality she had been tricked by Namtaru, the God of Nightmares, and actually got pregnant through a dream (creepy) but Zandra never knew that.
Basically, Zandra ended up being a single mother with a failed marriage after being branded as an adulterer. It seems that she took her anger at the situation out on her own daughter. Conversations between Maria and Zelda and flashbacks in Zelda’s memory imply that Zandra (played by Anita Stein) was an unfit mother who hated Zelda and in turn Zelda hated her. Zelda even killed Zandra, killing her own mother out of anger, hate, and while being controlled by her real father, Namtaru.
However, when Zelda kills Namtaru and takes over his power and position she ends up having a vision – or rather a dream – where she is able to meet the ghost of Zandra. She has to settle her past before she can become the God of Nightmares. In this scene Zelda, and the audience, suddenly discover that everything we knew about Zandra wasn’t accurate. The memories Zelda had about Zandra were distorted and her anger and hatred fueled by Namtaru. Zandra admits she wasn’t the best mother, that she was often busy, but tells Zelda that she tried her best and really, truly loved her daughter. She forgives Zelda for killing her and asks Zelda for forgiveness in return. It’s a very touching scene that brings a solid conclusion and a depth of character to Zandra. Also, the scene was actually written by Brittany Ann Whalen.
Mary (played by Annamarie MacLeod) is a very complicated character with an even more complicated timeline. She joined the Echelon with her sister for reasons unknown. She wanted to be a scientist but ended up becoming a time-traveling agent sent on missions to the past. We don’t know how many missions she went on before she met the Silverstone sisters, but she was clearly a rookie.
However, at this point in her life Mary hasn’t had children yet and in fact was told by a doctor that she could never have children. The sisters spend time convincing her that she could and did have kids – these kids – and that she was a wonderful mother and an amazing woman. The way the girls talk about their mother makes her seem like a combination of Superman and Betty Crocker.
Unknown to the sisters Mary realizes this is an opportunity. She gets the sisters to tell her everything they can remember about their life and stores up that knowledge to plan for the future. She works hard to become the smart, strong, amazing woman her children know her to be. Then she initiates an experiment in the Echelon called Project Genesis that seeks to create perfect children by picking powerful historical men to become their fathers and amazing modern women like Mary to be their mothers. They used the time machine to make it happen.
Why did she do this? Why basically pimp herself out to have historical lovers’ father her kids? No one knows exactly why but presumably she knew her daughters were special, and she wanted to make sure they weren’t just special, they were extraordinary. I suspect she didn’t actually plan to do more than collect their “DNA” and do artificial insemination – which she may have done, we don’t know. I also don’t think she agreed to have her children be raised in a closed off military style secret base deep underground where they would basically be brainwashed and raised to be the perfect time travelers able to do whatever was required to complete their missions. Mary did not think that would happen because she knew that her daughters had been raised in a big mansion and although they had been raised isolated they had not been brainwashed or abused.
It was really stupid of her to think she knew the future because she did not know the whole future, only part of it. She tried to play god and failed. Mary assumed she would have three daughters and only three daughters, but her first child turned out to be a boy. She kept a diary about the early lives of each of her children and in the original Season 2 the children are given these diaries. It’s clear in her writing just how much she loved them and wanted to be a good mother. She just went about it the wrong way.
One of the problems with Mary’s situation is that she knows that she dies in a car accident when Atlanta is 12, Minerva is 11, and Peri is 9. That leads to this question: what would you do if you knew the time, place, and method of your death? Would you avoid it? Mary wanted to preserve the future, as I said, so one would assume that she accepted her death and prepared for it, but there was always the possibility that she simply faked her death and hid herself away. It’s ambiguous in the original Season 2 but she is presumed to have died. However, in the Season 2 that was actually filmed she in the final two episodes. The siblings faint from shock when they see her.
While they are unconscious Mary tells Camilla that she is going to leave again and meet up with them later – it isn’t the right time to be reunited, so she leaves before the kids wake up. Personally, I think that’s cold and I questioned her decision and motivation at the time but given her #1 goal in life is to preserve the future she must know what the “right time” is to meet up with them again. That was actually going to be the original plot of the Gift Bearer movie Time After Time, but it didn’t end up being possible to film my idea due to casting and other reasons.
Another complicated mother-child relationship is that of Leffridge (played by Annamarie MacLeod) and her son Vance (played by Michael Meadows). Melanie’s love life is twisted. She is madly in love with Lord Scarsdale (played by Chris Lamb) and he with her but since he’s an aristocrat and she’s basically a peasant who became a soldier she is seen as not being worthy of him. In the Empire aristocrats marry other aristocrats through arranged marriages. Despite the fact that Leffridge is one of the most beautiful, brilliant, and ambitious women in the Empire and rose through the ranks to become the most powerful general she is still not good enough to marry Lord Scarsdale – unless she gives up the Army.
It’s made clear in the flashbacks between Leffridge and Cat in Episode 5 that Leffridge admires Cat for “leaving something you love for someone you love”. An aristocrat’s wife can’t be a soldier, so if she wanted to marry Lord Scarsdale she would have to leave the Army. That was the only compromise his family was willing to make. She was too ambitious and loved her job too much to leave it for him and he loved being an aristocrat too much to renounce his title to be with her. They loved each dearly but not enough to sacrifice themselves for each other. That was the limit of their love.
When he got married to the woman his family arranged for him Leffridge was miserable and realized too late that she would rather have given up the army then watch him marry someone else. She considered leaving the army anyway and starting a new life far away from the capital, so she would never have to see him again. It’s not easy to leave the army, however, and as the top general it would be problematic if she did. Since she was the Empress’s close friend (as close as anyone could be a friend to the cold-hearted Zarynthia) she was granted a one year leave of absence to consider her alternatives, though in reality Zarynthia (played by Monica Samii) knew she would come back.
Melanie went out west, changed her appearance, took on an assumed name and wandered around. She drowned her sorrows in booze and ended up having a one-night stand with Cordero, the King of Cutthroats. A few weeks later she realized she was pregnant. Although she had no feelings for Cordero she was overjoyed to be pregnant and settled down in a town. She gave birth to a beautiful baby boy she named Gregory Vance and decided to just be a mom and find a job somewhere. However, when Vance was one month old it was time for her to return to the army. She left her son in the care of her best friends - an elderly couple in the town who were childless and had basically adopted her, helping her throughout her pregnancy and birth.
The Empress had no intention of letting her retire and was shocked to learn that Leffridge just wanted to live a normal life and be a mother. You’d think that since Zarynthia was already a mother she would understand but she only had a child to be an heir and was a TERRIBLE mother from a long line of terrible mothers. She immediately used Vance’s existence to blackmail Leffridge and force her to return. If Leffridge didn’t obey her son would be killed and she knew it. The Empress was ruthless.
So Leffridge decided then and there to take it over throne – having the ultimate power was the only way to protect her child. Once she was in charge Vance could return and she could openly declare him her son. She tried to get the Empress to disown Zarina (played by Nina Samii) and adopt her to make Leffridge the Empress but when it was clear that wouldn’t happen Leffridge began to use Zarina’s reputation for being wicked and cruel – even worse than her mother - against her and plot to overthrow the Empire as soon as Zarina became Empress.
Leffridge needed the support of the aristocrats and turned to her old lover, Lord Scarsdale. They took up their relationship again despite the fact that he was married and now had a child. He still loved her and despite everything she still loved him. When Zarina came to power Leffridge started her rebellion and the civil war began. The only person who knew that Leffridge had a child was Zarynthia, or so Leffridge thought, but unknown to her Zarynthia had left a secret letter to be delivered to her daughter Zarina if Leffridge ever rebelled.
The true reason Leffridge began the civil war, took over the Empire and created the Army Faction was all so that she could protect her son and eventually bring him back to her side. When the Civil War began she secretly sent her son to his father, Cordero (played by Edward Stasheff), with a letter. Vance bore a striking resemblance to Cordero and it didn’t take long for Cordero to accept him and make him the Prince of Cutthroats. Cordero had actually always wanted a son but hadn’t found the right woman yet. The only two women he was ever interested in enough to have a kid with were Cat and Melanie – or Miranda as he knew her – from his one-night stand who he was never able to find again, although he did search for her.
He had never met General Leffridge and Leffridge made sure he never would. Once the Army Faction is firmly established and her place in power is secured she sneaks off to the Underworld to take back her son. However, she sees how happy he is with his father and how much Cordero loves him. She doesn’t want to break them apart, especially since she’s not sure she can truly protect him as much as his father can. She vows to return to his side when he’s old enough to protect himself.
I actually began writing a short story where Cat and the crew meet Vance during the Civil War when Zarina is secretly hunting him down. He’s on his way to meet his father when he is attacked, the couple taking care of him is killed. While running away he come across Cat and the crew. They save his life and take him to his father. Since Cordero is like a father to Zarc she immediately sees Vance as a little brother. None of this is mentioned in the TV show of course because it hadn’t been fully formed yet and I never finished the story anyway.
In the TV show Zarina kidnaps Vance and threatens Leffridge with the life of her son, saying she will let him go only if Leffridge retires and gives the Army Faction to her. Zarina also tries to hire Cordero to assassinate Leffridge. When he refuses she threatens him with the life of his son. Yes, she knows who both of Vance’s parents are and is both smart and evil enough to use one child against both of them and to use Vance to make his father to kill his mother. Leffridge finally quits the army, burns her uniform, and goes to Cat and the rebels to get their help. In the end she gives up her life to save her son. The rebels rescue him and take him away.
The fact that Vance immediately recognizes Leffridge when he sees her makes it clear that Leffridge did her best to visit him and be a part of his life as much as she could up until the time he was sent to live with Cordero. She may not have been able to be the best mother she wanted to be and spent the time raising him, but she tried her best and protected him. She loved her son more than anyone else in the world and that is made crystal clear by her actions. Despite how much she loved Scarsdale she was never willing to leave the Army for him, but when Vance is in danger she doesn’t hesitate to give up everything to be with him.
Melantha (played by Annamarie MacLeod) as a mother (and as a character in general) is much less complex then all the previous ones. Starting as a shy ingénue and the female love interest she doesn’t have a lot of character but after she’s banished from court, attacked by bandits where her sister dies protecting her, then sold into slavery and thankfully is bought by a kind sheik whose kids who wants to buy slaves and set them free for reasons. Later she is kidnapped and tortured. Obviously, all these difficulties reveal Melantha’s resilience and make her a much stronger character. I’m not sure even all this prepared her for motherhood but it certainly…helped? At the end of the first movie she is reunited with Prince Ketlan (played by Chris Hutchens), they get married and live happily ever after.
Well, sort of. We don’t see Melantha in the second movie, although we do see Ketlan and Melantha’s infant son, Rowan. In the first scene Ketlan is holding Rowan when Esteban interrupts. The baby gets fussy and is taken away by a maid (Jen Weber) while Ketlan goes to talk to Esteban (Tanino Minneci). In the script the maid was actually supposed to be Melantha, but Annamarie wasn’t available to film that day.
The third movie takes place twelve years after the first one. Ketlan and Melantha now have two children – 11-year-old Rowan and 7-year-old Telana (played by Brian and Megan Atchley). She appears to be a wonderful and devoted mother who is perfectly able to keep her royal children in line after she catches them fighting in the garden. When Telana has a nightmare and interrupts Melantha’s girl time with her bestie Princess Elaina (played by Jill Hutchison) Melantha comforts her and brings her to join in the quality girl time which includes mud masks.
When she discovers the children are kidnapped by Balthazar (played by Jacob MacLeod) she chases after but fails to catch him in the end. While the other characters plan to go after Balthazar, Melantha appears to be in shock which is only natural. Once a plan has been decided on she insists on going with Ketlan and the others to get her children back. Ketlan, afraid of losing his wife AND children, refuses to let her go. They have a big argument that results with Ketlan having Melantha locked in her room and Melantha slapping the shit out of him.
Naturally she does not stay locked up. She is determined to save her children herself, not only escaping from the palace, traveling hundreds of miles, sneaking on a ship in drag, but she also infiltrates Balthazar’s palace and faces capture and torture all to get her children back. When she discovers that Balthazar has brain washed her son Rowan and that Rowan is calling Balthazar “father” she loses it and attacks him with her bare hands then grabs a knife and nearly kills him.
There is no question that she loves her children. Her own mother died protecting her and her sister (and princess Elaina) and clearly Melantha is willing to live and die for her own children as well. At the end of the movie/series we discover in an epilogue style voice over that Melantha was actually pregnant during all of that and miraculously (given the stress and the fact that she was tortured) did not have a miscarriage. The baby is born healthy and happy and we finally see Ketlan and Melantha together with a baby.
I have turned these movies into books and done more with these characters. In the books she actually has twin girls at this point in her life and names them Lavinia and Arial (after Erion) and three years later has another son they name Esteban, making her the mother of 5 children in total. I will say that the twins are a handful.
It’s no surprise that Lavinia (played by Annamarie MacLeod – yes, she plays not only Melantha but also Melantha’s Mother-in-Law) tops this list in terms of characters. She is basically the model mother in many ways. She gave birth to Ketlan after a difficult pregnancy and labor that left her unable to have more children. Due to him being an only child he grew up rather spoiled because his parents doted on him. However, his father, King Ferdinand, spoiled him more than his mother did. Time, climate, and culture wise Traldon is equivalent to 18th century Russia and like most of the royals at the time in our world, kings and queens did not raise their own children. Lavinia, however, definitely raised Ketlan herself as much as she could (queens are pretty busy, it’s a full-time job).
For a year, beginning when Ketlan is 7, Lavinia starts to go insane. She is the granddaughter of a goddess and has magic powers but living in a superstitious kingdom she has repressed those powers. She knows something is wrong but doesn’t know what and starts having nightmare and eventually hallucinations. By the time Ketlan turns 8 Lavinia is a total wreck. Erion (played by Jen Weber) convinces her to secretly visit her grandmother for one night to find out what’s wrong.
Although we don’t see what happens we can tell from Lavinia’s decision the next morning that her grandmother suggesting using the magical amulet that she had given to Lavinia as a wedding present.
The amulet has seven stone and each one contains a different power. The center stone is the most powerful because it can show the user the future. However, it does not show the future that the person wants to see, only the future that is will happen.
Lavinia uses that power to find out what will happen to her family and discovers that both she and her husband will be brutally murdered by Jeffery (aka Balthazar), that Esteban will save Ketlan and hide him safely away in Liliya until he is old enough to reclaim his throne. Ketlan will marry a wonderful woman named Melantha and together they will have five beautiful children. Lavinia knows that although her son will be very sad and that she won’t be able to be with him she makes the choice to not try to intervene in Ketlan’s destiny.
If she tries to change the future Ketlan’s life might end up differently – he could die a horrible death, become a tyrant from being spoiled, or anything else.
Rather than risk an uncertain and possibly unhappy future for her son she willingly allows herself to be killed along with her husband in order to secure Ketlan’s happy future. She tells Esteban what to do and makes all the plans needed to insure the future she has seen. Right or wrong it’s a brave decision and shows that she loves her son so much she is willing to die not just to protect him but also to protect a future where he is truly happy.
The number one mother in Sine Fine Films is actually not a character but a real-life person - Michelle “Molly” MacLeod. She’s a second mom to me and is the actual mother of Annamarie and Jacob MacLeod. Molly was basically the mother on set whenever she was with us on location – most often her house but not always – and was happy to provide us with food, shelter, and bandages as necessary. She’s also a nurse so that was really helpful.
She cooked frozen pizza, hot dogs, made sandwiches, and was even willing to make us food at locations where she wasn’t living – like the graveyard where we filmed Quatrain. She patched up Morgan Thomas after her epic fall during Eidolon and gave medicine when I had headaches or advice when needed for other problems like stomachaches. She’s put on a pot of tea when it was cold outside or offer iced beverages when it was hot. She helped as needed, comforted as needed, and welcomed all of us into her home.
She also played a mother character – Queen Catherine in the Destiny Trilogy/Mini-series. Queen Catherine, the mother of Princess Elaina, was originally a King Fredric but Mark MacLeod wasn’t able to film on the first day, so Molly stepped into his role. The gender flop of characters made the lines written for a father talking to his daughter to a mother talking to her daughter take on different meanings and imply a different relationship. I’m really glad the King because a Queen and that Molly was able to play Queen Catherine magnificently.
She also played the very motherly and nurturing ghostly character of Joanne in Episode 2 of Eidolon and the real, historical mother Hannah Armstrong in Excerpts from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Although I created the company, Michelle MacLeod is very much the Mother of Sine Fine Films and is loved by the many people who have filmed with us over the years. She is a kind person, a nurturer, and a wonderful woman. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us over the years!
#5 – Zandra Anderson (The Curse/Eidolon)
#4 – Mary Silverstone (The Gift Bearer)
On a fateful day at the Parthenon in Roman Greece young Mary, disguised as a woman named Venita meets Peri Silverstone (played by Brittany Ann Whalen) and then eventually Atlanta (played by Christine Komiskey) and Minerva (played by Morgan Thomas). The sisters immediately recognize Venita as their long dead mother and are shocked to find out she is/was a time traveler.
#4 – General Melanie Leffridge (Pandora’s Box)
(it was a tie)
#3 – Melantha (The Destiny Trilogy/Mini-series)
#2 – Queen Lavinia (The Destiny Trilogy/Mini-series)
#1 – Michelle MacLeod
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