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Xena- Better then You Remember?

post #1 of 166
10/18/10 at 11:39pm
Thread Starter 
I can't go into the Buffy thread without thinking about this show and as I recently rewatched it on a psuedo dare I figure now's the time to start this thread.

Xena is a really easy show to overlook in the grand scheme of television. It made millions having two scantily clad women parade about punching stunt doubles in the face. Yet it is an incredibly important show. For starters it gave us Buffy and more then half of the Lord of the Rings' production crew.

And it made Ted Raimi popular.

I don't recommend watching the first season unless you really want to see how Lucy Lawless goes from terrible to amazing. She really grows as a performer on this show. There's a few episodes towards the end of that season that hint at what the show could be, but the only way to make it through the first half is with the power of nostalgia. Seriously. It's way bad.

It starts cooking in the second season with some very memorable episodes. (I recall seeing somewhere that it's second season was one of the most watched seasons of television ever due to the show being syndicated EVERWHERE).

But man, when it hits it's third season Xena becomes awesomeness incarnate. The show turns engaging in it's third season.

It's fourth also has some good stuff with an absolutely killer finale.

The fifth season is absolutely awful and everyone involved admits as much. The lead actress was pregnant, the showrunner had a pregnant wife and was launching a new (awful) tv show, and something like two thirds of the production staff left to start pre-production on Lord of the Rings. But as it's Xena there's alway a few episodes that work and they're all found at the end of the season.

It's sixth and final season is straight up a group of creative people saying "fuck it" and doing whatever they want. There's lesbians and Karl Urban sex, and some weird as hell mashup of Sleeping Beauty, Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied. There's also an entire episode devoted to Saving Private Ryan's beach sequence...only with scantily clad Amazons. Seriously shit gets crazy and awesome.

Xena's a very uneven show. Tonally it shifts from high melodrama to absolute farce. It does both well, but it can be very weird to experience both in a single episode. From episode to episode it's anyone's guess what you'll see. One episode can be straight out of a Moliere play while the next feels like a tragedy penned by Sophocles (this is especially true and disconcerting when the show goes on a half season dramatic arc with comedy filler episodes). And the quality is also uneven. The third season has some of Xena's very best episodes and also it's absolute worst episode.

If you come into the show as a Greco-Roman history nerd you will be frustrated. Autolycus and Odysseus are contemporaries and Julius Casear crosses the Rubicon only a few years after the fall of Troy. But the show is fully aware of the fact that it's pissing all over history and literature.

There's a self awareness and humbleness to the show that's really endearing.

And dude
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post #2 of 166
10/19/10 at 12:12am
Isn't using the Bruce to justify your love of a terrible show a crime against humanity and now open you to trials at the Hague?

I could watch Hercules, if I had nothing else, but I couldn't watch Xena. Even with my raging adolescent hormones. That unevenness made it difficult for me to even try, because I don't like to gamble my time on a show that would do that to me. See my hate for Star Trek: Voyager: cast filled with beautiful women in form fitting uniforms that like to take command and show me how bad a boy I really was. Couldn't watch more than 6 episodes a year.
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post #3 of 166
10/19/10 at 12:22am
Thread Starter 
Whatever it's not like I'm using him to justify any other the other shows he appeared on in the 90s.

I haven't even begun to watch Hercules because I've been placed under the impression that it's actually worse then Xena.

Seriously the "Rift" arc on Xena is some engaging as hell tv and surprisingly cinematic.

And as someone who tried to watch all of Voyager I can safely say Xena is far superior. Having a cast of two (remember when shows only have two regulars?) makes it easy to enjoy even the bad episodes. There's all sorts of character moments that just don't fit into a show with an ensemble cast.
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post #4 of 166
10/19/10 at 12:52am
Oh Mercury. I love you.

I've been meaning to rewatch Xena since I've gotten older and see how it holds up. I loved the costumes, and being a greekmyth nerd...I dug it. Never really caught the latter seasons, as I was getting older. This show was the one that introduced me to Raimi and Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell, so I can't fault it too much. Besides, Xena was cool to me and my fellow adolescent female friends. So cool.

We should do a rewatch post, if only to amuse ourselves.
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post #5 of 166
10/19/10 at 1:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayward_Woman View Post
Oh Mercury. I love you.

I've been meaning to rewatch Xena since I've gotten older and see how it holds up. I loved the costumes, and being a greekmyth nerd...I dug it. Never really caught the latter seasons, as I was getting older. This show was the one that introduced me to Raimi and Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell, so I can't fault it too much. Besides, Xena was cool to me and my fellow adolescent female friends. So cool.

We should do a rewatch post, if only to amuse ourselves.
Agreed on everything (including the latter seasons), except I'm a male, and was not even nearly adolescent when I starting watching Xena. I'd do a rewatch, but I got to go buy the set.
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post #6 of 166
10/19/10 at 1:09am
Gabrielle was enough for me.
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post #7 of 166
10/19/10 at 1:48am
Thread Starter 
Gabrielle was smoking though her outfits got skimpier each season. If they'd had a seventh season she probably would have been naked.

Looks like the entire series is on Netflix Instant at the moment so let the rewatching commence?
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post #8 of 166
10/19/10 at 2:26am
I'm the exact opposite of MrTyres. I've been dabbling in both series on Instant... and Hercules makes me wince and groan WAAAY more than Xena.

It could be because I want Lucy Lawless - there's that to consider.
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post #9 of 166
10/19/10 at 2:38am
It was well done camp. Lots of people wrote it off as stupid because they didn't even understand what the show was striving for. Bruce got to do an amazing amount of physical humor in his episodes, which is something we just don't get to see any more.

My wife and I still laugh about an episode we watched where Xena was tied up in a tent. It turned out she would hide a blade between her breasts, for just this occasion. She flexed her boobs, and the knife shot straight up in the air and then down to cut the ropes.

How can you not love a show that will do that and not apologize?
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post #10 of 166
10/19/10 at 5:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercury318 View Post
Gabrielle was smoking though her outfits got skimpier each season. If they'd had a seventh season she probably would have been naked.
Wasn't there an episode where [spoiler]multiple, naked Gabrielles were hopping all around the woods[/spoiler]?!

Xena was a show which I would always seem to catch bits of here and there. I have always been meaning to revisit it, cause it seemed to know its function and it seemed to function well.
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post #11 of 166
10/19/10 at 5:20am
Gabrielle's calves were the best thing on TV at the time. Fact.
My father's boss at the time was Lucy Lawless' cousin, uncle . . . something. I forget. But she was often around the place catching up family.
And I went to school with Meighan Desmond (Discord) . . . absolutely lovely girl.

But you know, for all that I never actually really watched the show.
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post #12 of 166
10/19/10 at 7:23am
Any chance we can we postpone the rewatch until December? That's when I get back to the States and will have access to my Netflix account again, and if you fine folks wouldn't mind waiting, I'd be down with this. I've been meaning to revisit this one (and Hercules) for a little while now, and this would be the impetus to make me actually do that.

If you guys can't wait, though, I understand. I can always try to get caught up on my own.
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post #13 of 166
10/19/10 at 7:00pm
I can wait for an official rewatch till then. Mercury, should we tag team it Tales of the Crypt Style? What categories should we have?
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post #14 of 166
10/19/10 at 7:20pm
As far as I'm concerned, the ladies will be in charge, and I will go along for the ride. Don't mind waiting though.
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post #15 of 166
10/19/10 at 7:30pm
You folks have any room for someone new to the show? I'm a Ted Raimi completist and this is a glaring hole in my fandom that needs to be corrected, and a watch-a-long sounds like fun. I don't really care about spoilers either.
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post #16 of 166
10/19/10 at 7:54pm
Of course we do! As long as you don't mind nineties action-fantasy shows with the occasionally badly composited CGI effect and lots of hot chicks in leather outfits.
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post #17 of 166
10/19/10 at 8:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayward_Woman View Post
I can wait for an official rewatch till then. Mercury, should we tag team it Tales of the Crypt Style? What categories should we have?
I want this. I've never seen the show, but have always been curious. My library doesn't carry the show, so I won't be able to watch along. A regular piece would be great. Jesse Custer's original Twin Peaks thread (which later became his amazing Lost & Found series, and was the inspiration for my Crypt thread) was what first got me into Twin Peaks, which is now one of my favorite shows.
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post #18 of 166
10/19/10 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayward_Woman View Post
As long as you don't mind nineties action-fantasy shows with the occasionally badly composited CGI effect.
My avatar is from BUFFY, of course I don't mind!
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post #19 of 166
10/19/10 at 9:51pm
Thread Starter 
Tag teaming this sounds good. Though Xena's hella longer then the other shows mentioned (134 episodes). We might want to skip some and/or group some together.

We'll start up in December (and I will be super mad if Netflix decides to pull the show off Instant by then).

Potential categories? "Why Lit and History majors should skip this episode." "Superhuman feat committed by Xena (this includes super high body counts)."

And how does one be a Ted Raimi completist and miss out on Xena?
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post #20 of 166
10/19/10 at 10:56pm
How about a:

Summary

How this episode makes History/Lit Majors cry

Superhuman feat of the episode

Where it stands in the series (plotwise, arcwise, ramificiations later in the series, oneoffs, etc)

Rating.

Sound good? Anything else to add?
......Can I write about the costumes?
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post #21 of 166
10/19/10 at 10:59pm
Thread Starter 
Absolutely. I think the costume designer now has an Oscar or two to her name so she's important and awesome.

Your set up looks good.

I now know for a fact I will have a hard time waiting until December.
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post #22 of 166
10/19/10 at 11:43pm
I'll be here lurking for sure, my wife and I recently bought the first season and have been watching a few eps. a night. I remember staying up late and watching this on tv at one in the morning. Lots of fondled mammaries.
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post #23 of 166
10/20/10 at 12:05am
Should we alternate episodes? Do two takes per episode? And happy to have you aboard, Dan!
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post #24 of 166
10/20/10 at 12:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercury318 View Post
And how does one be a Ted Raimi completist and miss out on Xena?
It's shameful, I agree. In my defense , it was shown in syndication at really weird times where I lived when I was younger, and six seasons of XENA seemed like a daunting task. But if you two are watching and writing, it sounds like fun.
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post #25 of 166
10/20/10 at 3:23am
I'm sorry to make you wait, guys, but I really appreciate that you are willing to do so. I will be back in the States on Dec. 15, and my Netflix account is set to reactivate that day, so I should be okay for starting the rewatch that weekend.

EXCITED.
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post #26 of 166
10/20/10 at 1:43pm
The supporting cast for this show was a lot of fun. And Hercules was entertaining, too, but lacked the lesbianism.
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post #27 of 166
10/20/10 at 2:24pm
Over the past few years, I've made a tradition of re-visiting this show in the summer. The first time I did it, I realized that the main thing that holds me back from loving it as much as my favourite shows is its inconsistency. In one of their meta episodes, a character said it best. You never know what to expect...one week it's melodrama, one week it's Three Stooges. This made it maddening to watch, because much of the time, it would go too far in one of those directions and become excruciating.

At the same time, there are episodes that just about perfectly hit the sweet spot by being dramatic without being too overwrought and slapstick without getting too silly. The episodes with that restraint are ones I love as much as my favourites of any other series. I think the most consistent thing about the show was the strength of the cast of characters - regular and supporting. I especially enjoyed Bruce Campbell as Autolycus, Alexandra Tydings as Aphordite, and the taller, more fit Kevin Smith as Ares. You could almost guarantee any episode they'd show up in would be great. As ridiculous and implausible as they were, some of my most loved episodes were the ones where Lucy Lawless would play a double of Xena. After seeing her play a tough, serious character most of the time, it was always fun to see her play a completely wacky opposite character.
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post #28 of 166
10/22/10 at 12:32am
I was a fan from the start, having caught the occasional episode of Hercules and been impressed that anyone was even trying to do Harryhausen-style spectacle on a TV budget. And then yes who the hell was that woman and oh my god that's her real name.

I have fan club materials, and photographs of the wardrobe department shortly before the costumes were auctioned off, plus various other pop-culture artifacts, and will post selected images if there is interest. But I haven't revisited the show much since the awful, dispiriting finale. I'm on for a group rewatch-- it's been long enough.
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post #29 of 166
12/10/10 at 2:26am
Thread Starter 
Is it December yet? Can we get to the watching of the Xena and Gabrielle Show?
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post #30 of 166
12/10/10 at 2:56am
Hell yeah. Lets get this cart moving.
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post #31 of 166
12/10/10 at 5:02am
Just a few more days, folks. I fly back on Dec. 15, so we can start the Watchalong on the 16th or any day you guys want after that. I'm very excited about this!
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post #32 of 166
12/10/10 at 8:44am
Are we gonna start with the series proper, or warm up with the three initial Herc episodes?
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post #33 of 166
12/10/10 at 10:11am
Loved the show as a teen...interesting tidbit, was once called a flaming Gay for fancing (and boy did I fancy) Lucy Lawless. Seriously.

Do any UK chewers remember, back in the day, Sky showing Herc, Xena and Buffy all in one glorious Saturday evening slot? Perfect Sunday morning hangover watchin'!
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post #34 of 166
12/10/10 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Love Machine View Post
...interesting tidbit, was once called a flaming Gay for fancing (and boy did I fancy) Lucy Lawless. Seriously.
Making the assumption that you're male, the above quote is an oxymoron of the highest order.

Making the assumption that you're female, I got no problem with that. I sorta thought that was the point of the show, actually.

Still lusted after Gabrielle more than Xena, but that's just me.
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post #35 of 166
12/10/10 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by teledork View Post
Making the assumption that you're male, the above quote is an oxymoron of the highest order.

Making the assumption that you're female, I got no problem with that. I sorta thought that was the point of the show, actually.

Still lusted after Gabrielle more than Xena, but that's just me.
Oh I'm male...apparently, LL looked like a man ...to be fair the guy saying it was a Uni flatmate , so may well have been a wee bee under the influence....that said, he did consider Pam Anderson the hottest woman ever
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post #36 of 166
12/14/10 at 2:32am
Three more days!
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post #37 of 166
12/14/10 at 2:34am
Thread Starter 
I just realized I'll be gone all weekend so I may write up the first few episodes early and post accordingly. I should be able to spare enough time to do that much. :P
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post #38 of 166
12/15/10 at 5:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Love Machine View Post
Loved the show as a teen...interesting tidbit, was once called a flaming Gay for fancing (and boy did I fancy) Lucy Lawless. Seriously.


Then call me gay too since I fancied her (and Gabrielle) quite a bit back in the day. Unless you're a girl then I dunno what to say.
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post #39 of 166
12/15/10 at 11:09pm
I wasn't a dedicated fan to the point I never missed the show, but whenever I did catch it I liked it for its mix of silliness and sexiness. Hercules was less fun because it was missing the latter element and Kevin Sorbo was less believable than Lucy Lawless as a badass. He did have nice hair though.

Most of Gabrielle's allure was in her goody-two-shoes nature combined with her delightfully exposed midriff. Xena's allure was in her baddy-leather-corset nature combined with her deadliness, forcefulness, smirk, glare, street smarts and the mischievious twinkle in her eye. And those great legs.
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post #40 of 166
12/15/10 at 11:27pm
Thread Starter 

Season 1, Episode 1: Sins of the Past

First episode WATCHED. I got carried away with the summary. Probably shouldn't write it while watching the episode. Netflix was being a twat. I blame my 2MB download speed. Yikes ISP.

Summary
Xena is depressed. She’s spent years killing loads of innocent people and loving every minute of it. She comes across the most pathetic orphan in the world and turns him down when he asks for bread. He continues to guilt her by accident and she finally hands over some food.
Now Xena is hungry and depressed. So she does what any ex-warlord in position does. She takes off all her armor in preparation for suicide. That’s right, Xena: The Warrior Princess starts with the title character about to kill herself.
Enter Gabrielle and her entire village. They’re about to be kidnapped and raped by slavers. Xena intervenes and realizes she still really enjoys fighting and killing people. Especially when they all have headdresses as bad as these slavers.
Gabrielle is instantly smitten. This comes as no surprise to anyone who’s seen her in the later seasons. She is hot to have Xena stay over. She’s also hot to talk with her hands—ALL THE TIME.
Gabrielle’s dad shows up and tells Xena to beat it. Xena is totally okay with that. Gabrielle isn’t. Why? Her fiance is the love child of Xena’s costume designer and Lurch and Gabrielle loves to study maps and places’ names. That’s cool I guess.
MEANWHILE, sexy shirtless time for Draco the head of the slaver/rapists. Xena stops by to seduce him and tell him to lay off Gabrielle’s village. Draco is cool with laying off the village but he’s royally pissed when he realizes she’s given up the evil game and he tells her she’s totally going to die if she tries to go home. She doesn’t give a hoot because she’s Xena.
Back to Gabrielle. She fails at sneaking out of her house. Her sister is amused at the idea that Gabrielle wants to runaway with Xena. They get a little weepy and Gabrielle peaces out.
Now both Xena and Gabrielle are on a journey to Xena’s home town. They run into the same cyclops and deal with him in their own ways. There is much abuse of the forced perspective trick.
Some of Draco’s bad haired peons try to follow Xena. She schools them and busts at the best trope of the entire show. The “thing with the fingers.” Gabrielle takes a break and gets picked up by a dirty, old man.
Xena gets home. Her town is pissed. Xena tries to warn them about Draco. Apparently this is not a good plan. Last time she fought a warlord her brother died and she went all Dark Phoenix. There’s a misunderstanding and the entire town decides to stone Xena. Her mom is totally okay with this. Yikes, Mom.
Gabrielle shows up after Xena gets a few rocks to the chest. She manages to stop the stoning with some fancy words. Then the two of them mount a horse together. Get used to this image. You’ll see it a TON throughout the series.
Xena goes to say hi to her dead brother. For a supposedly nice guy his tomb is covered in a lot of war memorabilia and skulls. Gabrielle shows up again. Is she…is she trying to seduce Xena on the grave of her brother?
Draco arrives and the town is all super sad that they kicked Xena out. Xena arrives out oh nowhere to save them. Enter super fun fight scene. Straight out of a wuxia film. Xena wins because she’s Xena. Draco is suitable ashamed and runs away. Everyone is happy with Xena again. Xena decides that being a hero is pretty great.
In the end Xena gets fed up with Gabrielle’s really terrible attempt at stalking and they team up to battle badly dressed villains and have too much sexual tension for “just friends.”

How This Episode Makes Historians Weep
So Potidaea? Actually a beautiful coastal town. Amphipolis? Also on the coast and also on a cliff. It would have been very difficult for someone to invade it and it was much bigger then it appears on the show.
And uh…all the costumes and such. Pretty sure ancient Greeks didn’t dress that way. It’s okay though. I’ll take off mohawk headdresses over togas any day.

Superhuman Feats
Where to begin. The bit where she was standing like 6 inches from the guy and still managed to kick him repeatedly in the face? The taking on of all the bad guys in nothing but her underwear? The final fight? Xena is fierce people. Hella fierce.

Where it stands in the big scheme of things
Well it’s the first episode. So there’s that. You’ll be surprised at how many of the actors and characters in this first episode show up again and again over the course of the show. I suspect that’s the beauty of filming in New Zealand.
But the big thing here is the acting. Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor are both…interesting. They’re fair enough in this first episode, but Lawless seems limited to Zoolander’s Blue Steel look, and O’Connor is in desperate need of something to do with her hands.
A lot of the small moments between the two main characters seem insignificant now, but whoo boy will you grow familiar with them by the end of the series. Every other episode seems to have a flashback to this episode. The first episode is trying to be a character piece and a show about scantily clad people kicking ass. It’s pretty dang uneven on both accounts, but if you’re familiar with the show it will seem perfectly normal.

Rating ***
Oh man we never discussed ratings. Let’s do stars because they’re fun. Let’s do 5 stars for brilliant tv and 1 star for the stuff we wished we could unwatch. This episode clocks in at a solid 3 stars. You have to give it credit for pioneering a character and setting the stage for how the show will look for the next few seasons.
The dialogue though. Yikes.
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post #41 of 166
12/18/10 at 1:27am
Fantastic write up Mercury.

First-Timer here, but this show had me as soon as Xena let out her Warrior Princess Yell and performed a twirling kick to about five different people. I liked the way the show sets up the Raimi/Tapert tone within about the first five minutes of the show. The final fight is great too, especially the use of the background villagers (who cracked me up throughout), and the villager who gets their head used as a pole vault. Looking forward to the rest of the show, and the write-ups.
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post #42 of 166
12/18/10 at 10:59am
Okay...so I think I'm fully recovered from the jet lag, and am ready to do this whenever you guys are.
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post #43 of 166
12/18/10 at 4:01pm
So are we doing one episode a week?
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post #44 of 166
12/18/10 at 4:10pm
There was a time in my life when I was very into XENA (must have lasted about a year), when I was 10 or so. I loved the show and saw it every chance I could. Eventually I felt that the show wasn't as good as it used to be and combined with a dawning awareness of all the Gabrielle/Xena innuendo, I no longer felt comfortable publicly identifying as a fan of the show. I moved on with my life, and have never really revisited it (I think as an adult the loose approach it takes to mythology would irk me, where as when I was little the fact that the show was about mythology at all was enough to get me to watch)

PS Never liked HTLJ. That show was just dull IMHO

EDIT: My favorite episode? When Xena used a goat bladder to escape from a ship that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean!
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post #45 of 166
12/18/10 at 6:28pm
Summary
I can't do episode justice like Mercury has, but I'll offer up my own observations at least.
We're first introduced to Xena via flashbacks from The Gauntlet mini-arc from H:TLJ, and she is currently faced with the products of her wicked ways -an orphan and the burned out husk of a village she's destroyed in her conquests.
I can't fault the dialogue like Mercury has, because of a few beats coming from Draco re: Going home again. Even in all the schmaltz, campiness, and Gabrielle's hand acting, I thought it was done well. It's a nice emotional beat that I think sets up the theme of the series. Now, Xena isn't the deepest of shows, but moments like that do elevate it from schlock.
But that former cyclops. Ugh. Right out of Hercules. It's cute how it establishes, however clumsily, Xena and Gabrielle's strengths. And it's done rather well. Perspective differences, and the odd camera trick sell it. Harryhausen up in here!
So our characters make it to Amphipolis: Xena is thrown out by her mother, and Gabrielle tries and eventually succeeds in getting to Amphipolis and staving off certain death by stoning for Xena.
Ah, Xena's brother, Lyceus. For a country boy in a random village, that sure is a nice set up. I'm going to assume this is something Warlord! Xena! (My favorite character of the entire series) set up. He is a character that we only see once or twice in a flashback, but his ghost looms large over the early seasons of the show as the characters remain in Greece. More on this, later.
We get a few sad notes and bonding moments between our heroines,and then we're off to the fight!
There's a big duel, set up by Draco's dispatching of his failed lieutenant earlier: Xena wins, Draco loses, villagers cheer, mom and daughter make up, and Gabrielle commits the age old tradition of trying to follow Xena, but mucks it up and is accepted into our hero's camp. Ah, the memories, ah, the cliché.

How this episode makes historians weep
Ditto to what Mercury's said about Amphipolis and Potedia. And the costumes. Oh lawd. And the architecture, though I will note that the few thatched huts we see when Xena rides up to Amphipolis initially aren't too far fetched for common life in ancient Greece, at lest, among the extremely poor. Thatched roofs and wooden construction? ….Not quite.

Superhuman Feats
  • The Pole twirling kick:
    Ah, this is a trick we'll see later, and I think establishes the tone of the early seasons choreography. It's silly but it's neat as fuck.
  • Fight on the heads/posts:
    Classic moment! In watching this, I'm amazed at the energy and the not-entirely-obvious stuntwork. There are layers to the fight and it's never terribly one sided. There's a fair amount of suspense, enough wackiness (check out the expressions on the villagers' faces!) and a really stylish ending.
  • The Chakram
    Iconic. I could post a picture of the chakram and you guys would know instantly what I'm talking about. We'll see swords, staves, sais, every sort of weapon under the sun here, but that chakram is the defining Xena accessory. I've never seen a fighter with such a unique weapon, and it is a justifiably Big Frikken Deal when someone else gets their hands on it.
  • The taking out of the scouts:
    A nice moment in the starting episode. We've all seen this countless times in a variety of different ways and mediums, but it does serve to establish how fierce and skilled Xena is in the art of combat. In terms of technical achievement and pacing, I find it a well made scene. There is some really good camerawork that separates X:WP (And to an extent H:TLJ) from other shows. Even today, I don't think we've seen camerawork like this in genre series.
  • NECK PINCH:
    Another exotic skill of Xena's! It's another standard of the series, and her little spiel about the seconds it takes to kill is something I remember. It even has its own music!

Where it stands in the big scheme of things
The Power! The Passion! The Danger! The title sequence will change in later seasons, but those are scenes and music that makes me grin like an idiot even to this day.
As befits a first episode, a lot of the background is laid out: Where Xena is from, her brother and her origins in Amphipolis, the mention of Ares (who will become an important figure in the series), the sensibilities of our protagonists...It lays the groundwork, establishes our heroes' skills (Neck Pinch, Chakram, Talking). Mercury is right when she says we will be seeing echoes of the episode constantly in the series to come.

Also, several characters we see here return: Xena's mom, Cyrene, we will see again; Draco is a recurring villain. Pericles, Gabrielle's former beau, will also be seen outside of Potedia. We'll return to Amphipolis and Potedia several times in the next six seasons. Viewers should take note of this episode for another reason: We'll see several alternate realities, some that involve the events happening (or not) in different ways.

Costumes
Ngila Dickson was the costume designer for the series. We also know her by her work in Lord of the Rings and The Last Samurai, among other films. Jane Holland, the other designer credited for the show, would continue working with Tapert and Raimi in their other series, and go on to do a lot of B-Movie work.
  • Draco's Gang:
    Mad Max 2, except with more leather and less BDSM references. Mohaaaawwwwks!
  • Gabrielle's Outfit:
    We will never see Gabrielle wear so much ever again. It's cute, though! She's still the country girl.
  • Xena's Outfit:
    Aah. The impracticality! This outfit doesn't change much at all till much much later. Why should it? The episode establishes the layers, and is a more streamlined version of what we see in H:TLJ. No pauldrons, no cape. A few more things will be stripped off, but it largely remains unchanged. Fug headband though. It will quickly disappear.


Rating.
Screw stars! I'm going to use Chakrams instead! (but use stars as the shorthand). I'm going to with three chakrams out of five. It's a solid episode, but I will defer to Mercury here re: Lucy Lawless' Blue Steel look and Renee O'Connor's hand acting. They've yet to settle into their characters, and sometimes there is a whiff of that lowbudget thing Hercules often had with the small interiors and sets, but I think it's a compelling start.
*** out of Five

Random Bits to Discuss
  • Really great music by Joseph LoDuca. He doesn't disapppoint. It's varied, kinetic, all the hwile establishing certain themes and motifs.
  • Zaghareets! The “Aiy aiy aiy aiy yi-Ai!” Xena does. Woooooo!
  • Egads, Gabrielle looks practically child like, with her round cheeks and earnest eyes. It really emphasizes the changes her character goes through when you compare her at the start, and at the end. I like it.
  • Ugh. That makeup on Xena. Sometimes she turns orange, and that blush and lipstick are both much too heavy. I'll chalk it up to it being the first episode and a new character, but man, it is so noticeable in the first season. I know Lucy Lawless is quite pale, but they'll strike a better balance of her natural features later one.
  • Just wanted to mention the establishing shots of New Zealand. The series looks it best when it's able to balance the beauty of their surroundings with the smallness of a TV set. They really do work the hell out of what they have locale wise, and we'll see them travel the world yet never leave NZ. Well done, folks.
  • We'll see Jake Laga'aia (Draco) as Captain Typho in the Star Wars Prequels, and in Legend of the Seeker (There are so many crossovers from X:WP and H:TLJ with LotS that I might lay off mentioning them except for major parts), and Darien Takle as Miss Stewart in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. Many of the extras or bit players would go on to have small parts in Legend of the Seeker and some folks we'll see again in LotR, in substantial roles. But that's for later!
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post #46 of 166
12/20/10 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 
If I'm looking at this correctly, Jane Holland didn't come on as costume designer until after Dickson left. You'll notice the sudden shift in costumes in the fifth season 2.

And now that I'm back home I'll be trying for 1-2 episodes a day, at least until we get to the better stuff.
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post #47 of 166
12/20/10 at 4:11pm
Wait...are we not doing this in a watchalong format? I'm confused.
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post #48 of 166
12/20/10 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 
I'm also terribly confused.

I looked at the other watchalongs, and though many go with an episode a week I think that might be a bit much. Xena's over a hundred episodes long, and there are enough uneven episodes in the mix that I don't particularly like the idea of an episode a week.

So an episode a day? Every other day?
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post #49 of 166
12/20/10 at 5:22pm
Just so long as it's consistent. Since you're leading this thing (and I agree one a week is too attenuated) it might be enough to announce ahead of time which ep (or eps) you're about to write up.
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post #50 of 166
12/20/10 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 
Yes. I completely forgot that I'd be out of town all weekend and was too excited to start. My bad. Here on out it will be an episode a day.

Monday 12/20 - Chariots of War
Tuesday 12/21 - Dreamworker
Wednesday 12/22 - Cradle of Hope
Thursday 12/23 - The Path Not Taken
Friday 12/24 - The Reckoning
Saturday 12/25 - The Titans
Sunday 12/26 - Prometheus
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