Xena: Warrior Princess
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Xena: Warrior Princess is an American television series which aired from 1995 to 2001. It was a spin-off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
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Description
A historical fantasy set in ancient Greece, the series told the adventures of former Hercules villain Xena (Lucy Lawless), a reformed warlord on a quest to redeem her past sins. Xena was accompanied on her travels by Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a young woman who became her best friend and most trusted ally. A large number of fans believe that Gabrielle was also her lesbian lover. The series was filmed in New Zealand.
Image:Chakram 05.jpg The show freely borrowed names and themes from various mythologies around the world, primarily Greek mythology, adapting them to suit the demands of the storyline. Real historical figures and events made numerous appearances, and the main characters are often credited with resolving important historical situations. These included an encounter with Homer (before he was famous), in which Gabrielle encouraged his storytelling aspirations; the fall of Troy; and the capture of Julius Caesar by pirates, with Xena cast as the pirate leader. 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.
Image:Btdt 05.jpg The show was a mixture of styles, ranging from high melodrama in one episode to slapstick comedy in another. Although ostensibly set in ancient times, the themes of the show were essentially modern: taking responsibility for past misdeeds, the value of human life, personal liberty and sacrifice, and friendship. The flexible fantasy framework of the show accommodated a considerable range of styles, including an original musical episode, The Bitter Suite. Although the show often addressed ethical dilemmas such as the morality of pacifism, the storylines rarely sought to provide unequivocal solutions.
In addition to Xena and Gabrielle, the show also featured a wide assortment of recurring characters, including adversaries Ares (Kevin Smith) and Callisto (Hudson Leick), and trusted friends Autolycus (Bruce Campbell) and Joxer (Ted Raimi).
Characters
Main
- Xena, played by Lucy Lawless
- Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor
Recurring
Image:Aressmith.jpg Image:Maternalinstincts 12.jpg
- Alti, outcast Amazon shaman, played by Claire Stansfield
- Amarice, young Amazon, played by Jennifer Sky
- Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, played by Alexandra Tydings
- Ares, the God of War, played by Kevin Smith
- Autolycus, the self-styled King of Thieves, played by Bruce Campbell
- Borias, father of Xena's son, Solan, played by Marton Csokas
- Brutus, right hand man of Caesar, played in seasons 2 and 3 by Grant Triplow and in seasons 4, 5 and 6 by David Franklin
- Callisto, a warrior with a serious grudge against Xena, played by Hudson Leick
- Caesar, love/hate interest for Xena, played by Karl Urban
- Cyrene, Xena's mother, played by Darien Takle
- Discord, Goddess of Retribution, played by Meighan Desmond
- Draco, warlord and former friend to Xena, played by Jay Laga'aia
- Eli, healer and teacher, played by Tim Omundson
- Ephiny, queen regent of the Amazons, played by Danielle Cormack
- Eve, Xena's daughter, played by Adrienne Wilkinson; also called Livia
- Hecuba, Gabrielle's mother, played by Linda Jones and Lisa Crittenden
- Hercules, the man credited with turning Xena from evil to good, played by Kevin Sorbo
- Herodotus, Gabrielle's father, played by Geoff Snell
- Iolaus, Hercules' best friend, played by Michael Hurst
- Joxer, the warrior wannabe, played by Ted Raimi
- Lila, Gabrielle's sister, played by Willa O'Neill
- Michael, Archangel of Heaven, played by Charles Mesure
- Marcus, one of Xena's former love interests, played by Bobby Hosea
- Minya, good friend of Xena and Gabrielle, played by Alison Wall
- Varia, young queen of the Amazons, played by Tsianina Joelson
- Velasca, rogue Amazon who became Goddess of Chaos after eating Ambrosia, played by Melinda Clarke
Influence on popular culture
Xena: Warrior Princess has been credited by many, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, with blazing the trail for a new generation of female action heroes such as Buffy, Max of Dark Angel, Sydney Bristow of Alias, and the Bride in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Tarantino is an enthusiastic Xena fan, a fact he discusses in an interview on the DVD of Double Dare, a 2005 documentary about Hollywood stuntwomen featuring Xena and Kill Bill double Zoë Bell. [1]
"Xena" has become a synonym for "tough, warrior-like woman" and is commonly used in magazine articles and film reviews. For instance, Guinevere, played by Keira Knightley in the 2005 film King Arthur as a warrior, was compared to Xena in a number of reviews. Also in 2005, a Chicago Daily Herald review of a production of Shakespeare's Henry IV in which most of the male roles were played by women was titled "Shakespeare Meets Xena". The reviewer noted that today's audiences can easily accept the feminization of the play's power struggles and battle scenes because of "familiarity with battling babes like Xena."[2]
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been nicknamed "Warrior Princess" by her staff. [3]
Xena has enjoyed a particular cult status in the lesbian community. The lesbian fan base sees Xena and Gabrielle as a couple and has embraced them as role models and lesbian icons. [4] A group called The Marching Xenas has participated in many gay and lesbian pride parades. [5] Template:Clear
References in TV shows
- The finale of Seinfeld (1998) featured a conversation between Jerry Seinfeld and his father in which the father says that the only program he watched was Xena: Warrior Princess and remarked that Xena must be 6'6" tall. Mr. Seinfeld asks Jerry if he watches the show as well, and Jerry says "Yeah, it's pretty good."
- In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Halloween", 2x06), Willow says about Buffy's costume: "She couldn't have dressed up like Xena?"
- On Roseanne ("Pampered to a Pulp," October 22, 1996), past-life regression therapy caused Roseanne to have a dream in which she was a Xena-like figure.
- The Simpsons references Xena in three episodes: "Mayored to the Mob" (10 x 09) in which a woman in a Xena costume is seen at a sci-fi convention; "Tree House of Horror" (11 x 04), in which one of the storylines features Lucy Lawless; and "Children of a Lesser God" (12 x 20), in which a Xena poster is seen on a wall.
- The Canadian sketch comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes featured a recurring segment in which character Marg Delahunty (Mary Walsh) accosted real-life Canadian politicians while dressed in a Xena-like outfit as "Marg, Warrior Princess".
- On March 13, 2006, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno featured a Xena-related skit using a clip of President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. In the news clip, Mrs. Bush talks about how proud she is that President supports strong women and has strong women in his cabinet. In the skit, a bubble showing Bush's appears on the screen with clips of Xena fighting bad guys along with a voiceover of Bush saying that he wished he could get "that Xena woman" in his cabinet because she's the strongest woman he knows, and watching her kick the butt of "evil-doers" makes him tingly.
- In an episode of Entourage ("I Love You Too"), Vanessa Angel makes an appearance as a Xena parody, whose show overshadowed the program it spun-off of, Johnny Chase's "Viking Prince". This is a reference to Xena becoming a bigger cultural icon than Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. The use of Angel in this role is also a reference to the fact that Angel was originally slated to play Xena. She fell ill and was unable to make the trip to New Zealand for filming, and the role went to Lucy Lawless.
Fandom
A subject of much interest and debate among viewers was the question of whether Xena and Gabrielle were lovers. This issue was left deliberately ambiguous by the show's writers. Jokes, innuendo, and other subtle evidence of a romantic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was referred to as "lesbian subtext" or simply "subtext" by fans.
Xena fandom also popularized the term Altfic (from "alternative fiction") to refer to homosexual romantic fan fiction. Many fans felt the term slash fiction carried the connotation of being about male/male couples only and was not a good description for romantic fan fiction about Xena and Gabrielle.
Another special fandom term is "Uber", in 1997 by Kym Taborn of fan website Whoosh.org, sometimes used with a character's name ("UberXena") and sometimes used as a name for a fan fiction subgenre ("Uberfic"). In Xena Uberfic, Xena, Gabrielle, and other characters are appear in different cultures at different times, from the prehistoric to the far future, through reincarnation or supernatural means. Stories of this kind were first inspired by the episode The Xena Scrolls, which featured look-alike descendants of Xena and Gabrielle living in the 1940s. Later episodes of the show also showed different future incarnations of Xena and Gabrielle in both India and the United States.
DVD releases
Note: Only Region 1 DVD's contain special features, Regions 2/3/4 do not have any bonus material on them.
| Season | Release Date | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Canada/US | The Netherlands | Norway/Sweden | UK | New Zealand | |
| 1 | October 12, 2005 | April 23, 2003 | April 4, 2005 | April 27, 2005 | June 6, 2005 | June 23, 2005 |
| 2 | October 12, 2005 | September 2, 2003 | June 16, 2005 | August 31, 2005 | August 1, 2005 | August 24, 2005 |
| 3 | December 10, 2005 | February 10, 2004 | September 22, 2005 | October 26, 2005 | October 3, 2005 | September 22, 2005 |
| 4 | December 10, 2005 | June 15, 2004 | November 24, 2005 | January 11, 2006 | November 21, 2005 | November 17, 2005 |
| 5 | December 10, 2005 | October 19, 2004 | February 23, 2006 | March 22, 2006 | TBA, TBA | TBA, TBA |
| 6 | December 10, 2005 | March 8, 2005 | April 6, 2006 | May 25, 2006 | April 3, 2006 | April/May/June?, 2006 |
| 10th Anniversary Collection | TBA | July 26, 2005 | TBA | TBA | June 5, 2006 | TBA |
Astronomy
In 2005, it was announced that the recently-discovered body Template:Mpl, a possible tenth planet, had been given the temporary name Xena, in honor of the TV character. On October 1, 2005, the discovery team announced that "Xena" had a moon, which had been nicknamed Gabrielle. Neither name is expected to be permanently applied to either body by the International Astronomical Union.
See also
- List of Xena: Warrior Princess episodes includes an overview of the story arcs of each season.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
- Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar for the legend of a Viking warrior princess.
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Xena: Warrior Princess}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Whoosh
- Xena Online - contains the largest active Xena Media Gallery for the series.
- Michelle's Xena Library
- Chronology Central's Hercules and Xena page - contains a chronological listing of the Hercules and Xena episodes, as well as the comic books.
- Xena Online Communityde:Xena (Fernsehserie)
eo:Xena fr:Xena, la guerrière nl:Xena: Warrior Princess sk:Xena fi:Xena: soturiprinsessa sv:Xena - Krigarprinsessan (äventyrsserie)
| Xena Warrior Princess |
|---|
| Episodes:
Season 0 | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 | |
| Characters |
| Xena | Gabrielle | Ares | Callisto </br> Eve | Joxer | Autolycus | Amarice | Alti </br> Virgil | Ephiny | Aphrodite | Caesar | Athena | Minya | Eli |Hades |