Xena: Warrior Princess

Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001.^[1]

The series was created in 1995 by writer-director-producer Robert Tapert under his production tag, Renaissance Pictures with later co-executive producers being John Schulian, R. J. Stewart and Sam Raimi. The series narrative follows Xena (played by Lucy Lawless), a warrior in a quest to seek redemption for her past sins as a ruthless warlord by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. Xena is accompanied by Gabrielle (played by Renée O'Connor), who during the series changes from a simple farm girl into an Amazon warrior and Xena's greatest ally; her initial naïveté helps to balance Xena and assists her in recognizing and pursuing the "greater good".

The show is a spin-off of the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys;^[2] the saga began with three episodes in Hercules where Xena was a recurring character originally scheduled to die in her third appearance. Aware that the character of Xena had been very successful among the public, the producers of the series decided to create a spin-off series based on her adventures. Xena was a successful show which has aired in more than 108 countries around the world since 1998. In 2004 and 2007, it was ranked #9 and #10 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever^[3] and the title character was ranked #100 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.^[4] Xena's success has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including, comics, books, video games and conventions, realized annually since 1998 in Pasadena, California and London.^[5]

The series has received a strong cult following, attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series.^[6]

Plot summary

Xena: Warrior Princess is set primarily in a mythological fantasy version of ancient Greece and was filmed in New Zealand. Some filming locations are confidential, but many scenes were recorded in places such as the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, part of the Auckland Regional parks often credited at the end of the episodes.^[7]

The Ancient Greece depicted in the show is largely derived from historical locations and customs, modifying known places and events – battles, trading routes, towns, and so on – to generate an attractive fictional world. The settlements are presented as a mixture of walled villages and rural hamlets set in a lush green, mountainous landscape. They are often seen under attack from warlords, and travelling between them involves frequent encounters with small bands of outlaws. All of the main towns are named after historic towns of Ancient Greece, and exhibit some of their essential characteristics – Amphipolis (birthplace of Xena^[8]), Potidaea (birthplace of Gabrielle^[9]), Athens (birthplace of Joxer^[10]), Corinth, Delphi, and Cirra (birthplace of Callisto^[11]) which was burnt to the ground by Xena's army.

As the show progressed, however, events took place throughout more modern times and places, from Cleopatra's Alexandria to Julius Caesar's Rome. The mythology of the show transitioned from that of the Olympian Gods to include Judeo-Christian elements. Eastern religions were touched on as well, with little regard to accurate time-and-place concerns. One episode, "The Way", which loosely interpreted elements of Hinduism as major plot points, generated controversy, requiring the producers to add a disclaimer at the head of the episode and a tag explaining the episode's intentions at its end.^[12]

Mythological and supernatural locations are presented as equally real, physical places, often accessed through physical portals hidden in the landscape such as lakes and caves. They include the Elysian Fields, Tartarus, the River Styx, Valhalla, Heaven and Hell. The inhabitants of such places – gods, mythological beings and forces – are for the most part manifested as human characters who can move at will between their domains and the real world. Ares God of War, for instance is an egotistical man who wears studded black leather, and Aphrodite Goddess of Love is a California Valley Girl who uses typical Valley Girl slang and dresses in flowing, translucent pink gowns.

Production

Series format

Xena is a historical fantasy set primarily in ancient Greece, although it has a flexible time setting and occasionally features Oriental,^[13] Egyptian^[14] and Medieval^[15] elements. The flexible fantasy framework of the show accommodates a considerable range of theatrical styles, from high melodrama to slapstick comedy, from whimsical and musical^[16] to all-out action and adventure. While the show is typically set in ancient times, its themes are essentially modern and it investigates the ideas of taking responsibility for past misdeeds, the value of human life, personal liberty and sacrifice, and friendship. The show often addresses ethical dilemmas, such as the morality of pacifism; however, the storylines rarely seek to provide unequivocal solutions.

Xena freely borrows names and themes from various mythologies around the world, primarily the Greek, anachronistically adapting them to suit the demands of the storyline. Historical figures and events from a number of different historical eras and myths make numerous appearances, and the main characters are often credited with resolving important historical situations. These include an encounter with Homer before he was famous, in which Gabrielle encourages his storytelling aspirations;^[17] the fall of Troy;^[18] and the capture of Caesar by pirates, with Xena cast as the pirate leader.

Competing religions are treated as compatible and co-existent in a henotheistic world, allowing the Greek Pantheon to live side by side with the Norse Gods, Indian Deities, the "God of Love" and others. Each god, or set of gods, controls a different part of the world, and (in the show) survives only while people believe in it. In seasons four and five, the Greek people gradually transfer their faith from the Greek Gods to the "God of Love" over a period of about 25 years, and as their power fades, the Greek Gods are almost all killed off in a climactic battle.

This quirky mix of timelines and the amalgamation of historical and mythological elements fueled the rise of the show to cult status during the 1990s and early 2000s (decade). It was one of the first shows to tap into its Internet following, allowing fans from all over the world to discuss and suggest things related to the show. The Xena fandom is still an active community today.

Casting

Xena: Warrior Princess starred Lucy Lawless as Xena and Renée O'Connor as Gabrielle. The first choice for Xena was the British actress Vanessa Angel,^[19] but an illness prevented her from travelling, and the role was offered to another four actresses before the relatively unknown Lawless. Sunny Doench was cast as Gabrielle, but she did not want to leave her boyfriend in the United States, so O'Connor, who had appeared in Hercules in another role, was chosen.

The show features a wide assortment of recurring characters, many of them portrayed by New Zealand actors. Ted Raimi became a core member of the cast from the second season as Joxer. The late actor Kevin Tod Smith played popular character Ares, God of War, and Alexandra Tydings played his counterpart Aphrodite, Goddess of Love. Other notables included Karl Urban in a variety of roles such as Cupid and Caesar, Hudson Leick as Xena's nemesis Callisto (Leick also played a body-switched Xena in the episode Intimate Stranger^[20]), Claire Stansfield as the evil shamaness Alti; and a number of trusted friends – Jennifer Sky as feisty sidekick Amarice, Bruce Campbell as Autolycus King of Thieves, Robert Trebor as dodgy entrepreneur Salmoneus, William Gregory Lee as the warrior-poet Virgil and Tim Omundson as the spiritual healer Eli.

Theme music

Composer Joseph LoDuca wrote the theme music and incidental music, and co-wrote the lyrics for the songs in "The Bitter Suite". The theme music was developed from the traditional Bulgarian folk song "Kaval sviri", sung by the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir. The original "Kaval sviri" can be heard where Xena races into battle in the Hercules episode "Unchained Heart".

The musical score of Xena: Warrior Princess was critically well received and garnered seven Emmy nominations for LoDuca, who won the Emmy award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for the Season 5 episode Fallen Angel in 2000. Most of the series' music was made available on six soundtrack albums. Two of these albums contain the soundtracks from the musical episodes "The Bitter Suite" (Season 3) and "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" (Season 5).

Characters

Main

The series follows Xena and her traveling companion Gabrielle. Xena is on a quest to seek redemption for her past sins as a ruthless warlord by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. In Hercules, during her two first episodes, Xena was an outlaw and a powerful warlord, but in her third appearance she joins Hercules to defeat the warlord Darphus, who had taken her army. During her own series, Xena spends almost every episode on a different mission, always trying to do the right thing, fighting for the what she refers to as the "greater good".^[21] Xena's trademark weapon is a Chakram, and she also uses a sword.^[22] Xena also has to fight her own past; she has never forgiven herself for her crimes, and often has to resist the temptation to return to her evil ways, but she always resists with the help of Gabrielle. Gabrielle is Xena's best friend and also her greatest ally. She is introduced in the first episode, first as a big fan of Xena and her history,^[23] but soon becomes a notable character in her own right. As the show progresses she undergoes significant changes in costume and style, evolving from a simple farm girl to a talented bard, and eventually to a formidable warrior. She is initiated into a tribe of Amazons,^[24] learns to fight with a staff, and is trained by Xena. In the first season, Xena and Gabrielle meet Joxer,^[11] a comic man who styles himself "Joxer the Magnificent", and later "Joxer the Mighty."^[25] Joxer's goal is to fight for justice, but unfortunately with no physical know-how of his own, he remains the show's main comic relief. Eventually, he becomes a close friend to Xena and Gabrielle.

Others

Also in the first season, Xena and Gabrielle meet two of their biggest enemies: Callisto (Hudson Leick),^[11] a vengeful warrior woman, and Ares (Kevin Tod Smith), the Greek God of War.^[26] Callisto is Xena's arch enemy and also a major antagonist over the course of the series; when she was a child, Xena's army burned Callisto's home village of Cirra, causing the death of Callisto's entire family.^[11] Callisto, a child at the time, was left traumatized by the attack and eventually went insane and became obsessed with extracting revenge on Xena. She displays (major) signs of both bipolar disorder and psychopathy, manifested in a bizarre brand of sadistic, gleeful, shrieking cruelty towards Xena and her associates.

Suave, charming, witty, yet ruthless and amoral, Ares often represents, especially in the early seasons, the seductive power of war and the dark side. He repeatedly attempts to lure Xena away from her quest for redemption alongside Gabrielle, and to win her over as his Warrior Queen.^[26] He offers her huge armies and historic victories, great wealth and great power, and in later seasons his love,^[27] offers which she consistently rejects despite being sometimes tempted. Much of Ares' relationship with Xena remains ambiguous, including whether he is at least partly redeemed by his love for Xena, or to what extent Xena reciprocates his feelings. He says several times that he "has a thing" for Xena, and this seems to prevent him from killing her, even when pitted against her in deadly combat.^[28][28][29] yet he pursues her sexually and romantically. Likewise, Xena is suggested to have strong feelings for Ares, but over the course of the series, never pursued them.

Other major antagonists of the show include Caesar and Alti, a Roman official, and Shamaness respectively; Caesar's first appearance was in the second season episode 'Destiny', he's first introduced as a young Roman patrician.^[30] and is portrayed as being very arrogant, so much so that when he is captured by Xena and her pirates he is not afraid. When threatened by Xena he tells her, "I know what I'm fated to do with my life".^[31] He allows Xena to seduce him, when in reality she is the one being seduced. This ultimately leads to both her capture and crucifixion at the hands of Caesar.,^[31] along with both her legs being broken; an often revisited and referenced moment in Xena's past. This betrayal by Caesar is the direct catalyst for Xena's transition from pirate, to ruthless warlord.

Alti is a Northern Amazon shaman driven out of her Siberian tribe by Queen Cyane, because of her hunger for power. She is one of the most influential people whom Xena encountered in her dark days, and possesses various spiritual powers. Alti is probably best known for her trademark stare, which brings up pain and suffering from the target's life and unleashes the torment (in the form of both pain and physical symptoms), once again. Whenever Alti stares at Xena, Xena often feels the pain of when her legs were broken,^[31] her back snapped by her Chakram,^[32] and multiple barrages of attacks from some of her mortal enemies. However, as Alti grows in power during the series, she is able to conjure up pain and suffering from both a person's future, and from future lives they have yet to experience. This power is what causes Xena to realize that Gabrielle is alive early in Season 4, after Alti shows Xena a vision of her and Gabrielle being crucified together on Mount Amarro.^[33]

Over the course of the series, viewers were also introduced to various members of both Xena, and Gabrielle's, families. This includes parents and siblings of both women, but most notably featured were their children. Xena gave her first son, Solan to a group of centaurs after the death of his father, Borias, who was killed in combat against a warrior in Xena's employ. Solan never knew that Xena was his mother, but he meets her during the second season. While aiding Xena and Boudica to defend Britannia against Caesar, Gabrielle comes into contact with an evil cult that tricks her into killing one of its priestesses, Meridian.^[34] Using her, the dark god Dahak impregnates Gabrielle just as Xena rescues her.^[34] Over the next few days the child grows inside Gabrielle, and she eventually (and quite dramatically) gives birth to a girl, naming her Hope.^[35] Even though she is the seed of an evil deity, Gabrielle tells Xena that she is also a part of her and that there must be some good in her as well. Being the daughter of Dahak, she quickly developed supernatural powers, and kills within hours of being born, proving to Xena that there was no chance of saving her. Hope aged amzingly fast, and, mere months after being drifted down a river by her mother, she appeared to be about 9 years old. Despite Gabrielle's hopes that she would "be good", Hope killed Xena's son Solan before poisoned by Gabrielle herself.^[36]

During the episode "The Ides of March", at the end of season 4, Xena and Gabrielle were crucified by the Romans, as Caesar is betrayed and killed by Brutus. They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel;^[37] Callisto also makes Xena to conceive a daughter after the resurrection, and this child is prophesied to bring about the Twilight of the Olympian gods; this girl was named Eve.^[38] To escape the gods' persecution, Xena and Gabrielle fake their deaths, but their plan goes awry when Ares buries them in an ice cave where they sleep for 25 years;^[39] during that time, Eve is adopted by the Roman nobleman Octavius and grows up to become Livia, the Champion of Rome, and a ruthless persecutor of Eli's followers.^[40] After her return, Xena is able to turn Livia to repentance, and Livia takes back the name Eve and becomes the Messenger of Eli. After Eve's cleansing by baptism, Xena is granted the power to kill gods as long as her daughter lives. In a final confrontation, the Twilight comes to pass when Xena kills most of the gods to save her daughter, and is herself saved by Ares when he gives up his immortality to heal the badly injured and dying Eve and Gabrielle.^[41]

Spin-offs

There have been numerous Xena spin-offs into various media including films, books, comics and video games.

Movies

In August 1997 Hercules and Xena: The Battle For Mount Olympus a DTV animated movie was released, featuring the voices of a number of actors from both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. The movie plot involves Hercules' mother being kidnapped by Zeus and the release of the Titans. Xena and Gabrielle have supporting roles in the movie, and at one point Xena even bursts into song.

Since the end of the series rumors have circulated that a feature length movie was in the works. In 2003 screenwriter Katherine Fugate was approached for the project, and was quoted saying that she expects the start of production to be three to five years away, which suggested a release sometime between 2006 and 2009.^[42] Actress Lucy Lawless has been quoted in several interviews saying she would be interested in participating in a Xena film as well.^[43]

In April 2009, however, Rob Tapert stated firmly there is no hope of a live-action Xena feature film, at least not any time soon or starring Lucy Lawless or Renée O'Connor. “It’s something that just won’t happen....In twenty years or ten years, in some amount of years, like McGyver, like Charlie’s Angels, it [could] happen like that [with other actresses].”^[44]

In early 2011 a fan-based Facebook campaign began to urge both NBCUniversal LLC and Xena: Warrior Princess creator Rob Tapert to revisit the Xena movie issue which would include series stars Lucy Lawless and Renée O'Connor. The Facebook fan site 'Xena 2011 Movie Campaign' states a Xena movie with the series stars is what the fans want and nothing less will do. As of December 2011, the campaign has over 10,000 supporters.^[45]

Literature

Many books have been released as tie-ins, including The Official Guide to the Xenaverse by Robert Weisbrot. This includes a detailed episode guide for the first two seasons, a look behind the scenes, the story of the origin of the show, biographies of cast and crew, and trivia about the show. After the sixth and final season, Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion.^[46] was published.

In 1998, XENA: All I Need to Know I Learned From the Warrior Princess,^[47] was published, allegedly written by Gabrielle, Bard of Potidaea and "translated" by Josepha Sherman.^[48] In it, Gabrielle writes enthusiastically about many of the lessons that she learned. For example, in a chapter entitled "Anything can be a weapon- Anything!", she instructs the reader on fighting with unconventional weapons; and in another, "Nobody Likes a Winer", she bemoans the perils of alcohol.

There have been a number of novelizations by authors like Martin H. Greenberg, and fiction such as The Empty Throne, The Huntress and The Sphinx, The Thief Of Hermes, and Prophecy of Darkness.

Comics

There have been a number of comic adaptations. The earliest ones were released by Dark Horse Comics and written by Ian Edginton and John Wagner. More recently the license has moved to Dynamite Entertainment.^[49]

Video games

• Simutronics Corporation created an MMORPG under license called Hercules & Xena: Alliance of Heroes, based on both Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. In subsequent years Simutronics relinquished the license, removed trademarked material and rebranded the game, which still exists, as Alliance of Heroes.
• Electronic Arts published Xena: Warrior Princess (video game) for the PS1 in 1999. Played from a third-person perspective, the game play involves slashing, jumping, and kicking through a variety of primitive 3D environments. Xena can also find and use power-ups and her trademark chakram. Once thrown, the chakram becomes a first-person weapon to guide toward enemies.
• Saffire published Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate for the Nintendo 64 console in 1999.
• Xena: Warrior Princess for the Game Boy Color was developed and released by Titus Software in 2000.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Death in Chains, a multi-path video game for the PC adapted from and expanding upon the television episode of the same name, although none of the original actors provide their voices.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, another multi-path video game for the PC, again adapted from and expanding upon the television episode of the same name, again without the original voice actors.
• Xena: Warrior Princess for the PS2 only released in Europe.

DVD releases

Anchor Bay Entertainment released all 6 Seasons of Xena: Warrior Princess on DVD in Region 1 for the first time between 2003–2005. As of 2010, these releases have now been discontinued and are out of print as Anchor Bay no longer has the distribution rights.

On January 12, 2010, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced that they plan on re-releasing Xena: Warrior Princess on DVD. They have subsequently re-released the first two seasons. Season 3 will be re-released on March 13, 2012.^[50]

In Region 2 & 4, Universal Pictures released the entire series on DVD. In addition, they released a complete series collection on DVD in Region 2 on October 8, 2007.

Reception

Awards

U.S. ratings

Influence on the lesbian community

Xena has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. Some of the lesbian fan base see Xena and Gabrielle as a couple and have embraced them as role models and lesbian icons.^[52] A group called The Marching Xenas has participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades.^[53]

A subject of much interest and debate among viewers is the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle are lovers.^[6][54] The issue is left deliberately ambiguous by the writers during most of the show. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply "subtext" by fans.^[54] The issue of the true nature of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship caused intense shipping debates in the fandom, which turned especially impassioned due to spillover from real-life debates about same-sex sexuality and gay rights.^[6]

Many fans felt that the sexual nature of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was cemented by an interview given by Lucy Lawless to Lesbian News magazine in 2003. Lawless stated that after the series finale, where Gabrielle revives Xena with a mouth-to-mouth water transfer filmed to look like a full kiss, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay... there was always a 'well, she might be or she might not be' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in the very final scene, that cemented it for me. Now it wasn't just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was 'Nope, they're married, man'."^[55]

The Xena fandom also popularized the term Altfic (from "alternative fiction") to refer to same-sex romantic fan fiction.^[56] Many fans felt the term slash fiction carried the connotation of inventing a queer narrative for characters generally seen as straight, and such was not a good description for fiction dealing with the romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle.

Costume donation

In 2006, Lucy Lawless donated her personal Xena costume to the Museum of American History.^[57] In an interview the same year with Smithsonian magazine, she was asked the question "Was the Warrior Princess outfit comfortable?" and she responded:

Not at first, because they would put boning in the corset. It would cover up those little floating ribs that are so important for breathing, so I'd feel like I was having panic attacks. But it just became a second skin after a while. It was very functional, once I got over the modesty factor. I admit to being a little bit embarrassed the first couple weeks because I'd never worn anything so short.

—Lucy Lawless,  Smithsonian, November 2006, page 44

Uber and Uberfic

Uberfic is a variety of fan fiction in which the characters live in an alternative universe. The characters and events are true to the original canon but usually in a different time period, often as the ancestors, descendants or reincarnations of canon characters. The term originated in Xena fandom. Uber was employed several times in the series, beginning with the second season episode "The Xena Scrolls", in which the descendants of Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer meet up at an archeological dig in 1940 and unwittingly release Ares from his tomb.^[58]

References

External links

• Xena: Warrior Princess at the Internet Movie Database
• Xena: Warrior Princess at TV.com