Xena: Warrior Princess is an American television series filmed in New Zealand. The series was aired in syndication from September 4, 1995, until June 18, 2001.

 

The series was created in 1995 by writer-director-producer Robert Tapert under his production tag, Renaissance with later executive producers being R. J. Stewart (who developed the series along with Tapert) and Sam Raimi. The series narrative follows Xena (played by Lucy Lawless), as an infamous warrior on a quest to seek redemption for her past sins against the innocent by using her formidable fighting skills to now help those who are unable to defend themselves. Xena is accompanied by Gabrielle (played byRenee O'Connor), who during the series changes from a simple farm girl into an Amazon warrior and Xena's comrade-in-arms; 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; 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 and the title character was ranked #100 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters. 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.

The series, which soared past its predecessor in ratings and popularity, has received a strong cult following, attention in fandom, parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of Xena: Warrior Princess episodes (obtained from www.whoosh.com)

 

Xena: Warrior Princess episodes:First Season (1995-96):

Sins of the Past

After vowing to change her evil ways, Xena decides to head back to her village, but first she must face off against an immoral warlord who's determined to keep her on the wrong side of the law.

 

Chariots of War

After being befriended by a peace-loving homesteader named Darius, Xena takes on a bloodthirsty warlord and his son, who have mercilessly pillaged Darius's community.

 

Dreamworker

Xena enters a mystical realm known as the Dreamscape to save Gabrielle, who has been taken there and forced to complete a series of daunting tasks that will make her worthy of becoming the bride of the dream god, Morpheus.

 

Cradle of Hope

Xena and Gabrielle set out to find the parents of an abandoned baby, and discover that the infants's been marked for death due to a prophecy declaring him a future threat to a local king.

 

The Path Not Taken

Xena faces ghosts from the past when she visits one of her old haunts and ingratiates herself with murderous former "colleagues" in order to locate a kidnapped princess who is being hidden there.

 

The Reckoning

When villagers declare war on an innocent Xena for killing four of their neighbors, she's forced to consider an offer made her by Ares, the God of War.

 

The Titans

The stage is set for a clash of the Titans when Gabrielle inadvertently releases three of the giant deities from a centuries-long entombment and one of them proceeds to terrorize a village—against the wishes of the other two.

 

Prometheus

Upon realizing that Prometheus has been captured and chained by the gods—thus causing great harm to mankind—Xena sets out to find the one sword that will free him, and is joined in her quest by Hercules.

 

Death in Chains

Hades, god of the underworld, asks Xena to undertake the daunting task of freeing his sister—the embodiment of death—from the clutches of a greedy king who's captured her.

 

Hooves and Harlots

Xena has a tall order to fill trying to prevent a war between the Amazons and the Centaurs and Gabrielle finds herself with some pretty big shoes to fill when she's chosen to replace an Amazon princess who died in her arms.

 

The Black Wolf

Xena fights her way into a dungeon in order to rescue the freedom-fighting daughter of an old friend.

 

Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

At the behest of Helen of Troy, Xena goes to the embattled city to help end a 10-year war with the Greeks. But while trying to rein in the hostilities, she discovers a Trojan horse who's working with the enemy.Athens City Academy of the Performing BardsGabrielle forsakes a new Homeric odyssey with Xena in order to audition for the Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards at their annual storytelling competition. (A clip show)

 

A Fistful of Dinars

Xena is drawn into a treacherous treasure hunt that forces her to team up with a desperate assassin and a ruthless warlord—who happens to be her former fiancé.

 

Warrior...Princess

The Warrior Princess learns that life as a blue blood can be a royal pain in the neck when she stands in for a lookalike princess whose life has been threatened by assassins.

 

Mortal Beloved

A visit from the ghost of her beloved Marcus prompts Xena to travel to the Underworld—where a madman has stolen Hades' Helmet of Invisibility.

 

The Royal Couple of Thieves

Xena is asked to steal back a pilfered chest containing the world's most powerful weapon, so she enlists the help of Autolycus, the self-proclaimed King of Thieves.

 

The Prodigal

Gabrielle returns to her home town, only to find it under attack by a greedy warlord, and under the protection of a faded warrior who's lost his self-confidence.

 

Altared States

Xena and Gabrielle agree to hide a 12-year-old boy who has run away from home after learning from his mother that he was to be sacrificed.

 

Ties That Bind

Xena saves a mysterious warrior who later professes to be her estranged father. But the reunion is anything but happy, as a suspicious Xena tries to find out if the man's claims are true.

 

The Greater Good

When Xena is incapacitated and left near death after being struck by a poisoned dart, Gabrielle is forced to impersonate the Warrior Princess in order to protect a group of innocent villagers.

 

Callisto

Xena is once again reminded of the sins of her past when a malicious female warrior, whose family was killed by Xena's former army, exacts her revenge on the Warrior Princess by impersonating her.

 

Death Mask

After being reunited with her estranged older brother, Xena decides to join him in his plans to kill the raider who destroyed their village years before.

 

Is There A Doctor in the House?

Caught in the middle of a fierce war, Xena and Gabrielle aid the wounded inhabitants of a healing temple, then try to mediate talks between the warring factions.

 

Second Season (1996-97):

Orphan of War

Xena comes to the aid of a community of centaurs menaced by a member of her former band, and upon her arrival is reunited with the young son whom she left in their care nine years earlier.

 

Remember Nothing

The Three Fates offer Xena the opportunity to erase her past—including her younger brother's untimely death—but only if she vows to never shed blood in anger again.

 

Giant Killer

Xena is caught behind a rock and a hard place when she's pitted against her old friend Goliath in a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines.

 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Xena is forced to take on the Bacchae—bloodthirsty minions of the wine god, Bacchus—in order to get their power-hungry leader and foil his plan to take over the world.

 

Return of Callisto

Gabrielle's consumed by hatred and a desire for vengeance after an escaped Callisto murders her beloved, Perdicas, in an attempt to punish Xena.

 

Warrior...Princess...Tramp

Lucy Lawless takes on triple duty as the Warrior Princess tries to protect a look-alike friend, Princess Diana, from the machinations of yet another Xena look-alike, a trollop named Meg.

 

Intimate Stranger

Xena's life takes a nightmarish turn when Callisto escapes from the Underworld by infiltrating her dreams.

 

Ten Little Warlords

While still trapped in the body of her mortal enemy, Callisto, Xena is forced to enter a competition where warlords vie to become the new god of war.

 

A Solstice Carol

Xena and Gabrielle try to bring the warmth and spirit of the holiday season to a cold-hearted king who has outlawed the annual winter solstice celebration.

 

The Xena Scrolls

In 1940 Macedonia, a determined archaeologist and a visitor to her excavation site stumble upon the "Xena Scrolls," ancient manuscripts that chronicle the Warrior Princess's adventures. (A clip show)

 

Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis

Disguising herself as a contestant, Xena enters the "Miss Known World" beauty pageant in order to flush out whoever is trying to sabotage the event.

 

Destiny

After being critically injured in a fight, Xena lets her mind flash back to the time that Julius Caesar taught her a valuable lesson about destiny.

 

The Quest

Xena's spirit puts into action a plan that may allow her to return to the land of the living and reclaim her body. And Gabrielle is faced with a big decision after meeting up with her old friends, the Amazons.

 

A Necessary Evil

In order to stop the evil, and now immortal, Velasca from hunting down Gabrielle, Xena must unleash an even more depraved immortal to vanquish her—Callisto.

 

A Day in the Life

Xena has 24 hours to prevent a warlord from plundering one village and the world's biggest giant from destroying another. Ah, all in a day's work.For Him the Bell TollsWhile engaged in a battle of wills with her son, Cupid, Aphrodite turns Joxer into a dashing war hero tasked with stealing a princess's heart away from her betrothed.

 

The Execution

Gabrielle is torn between her beleaguered hero, who's accused of a murder she's certain he didn't commit, and Xena, who's not so sure.

 

Blind Faith

A warrior wants to make his name by killing Xena. He fails, of course, but he succeeds in putting the warrior princess in a blind rage when he kidnaps Gabrielle and sells her to agents of a king—who, it seems, needs a queen.

 

Ulysses

Xena and Gabrielle have a Poseidon adventure when they help the good king Ulysses regain his island kingdom from the nasty God of the Sea's pirate henchmen.

 

The Price

Xena reverts to her old ways to whip a dispirited Athenian army into shape to take on a horrific foe known as the Horde. But her ruthlessness appalls Gabrielle.

 

Lost Mariner

After a shipwreck, Gabrielle finds herself aboard the cursed vessel of the lost mariner Cecrops. Soon, she and Xena are confronted by pirates and the nasty god Poseidon.

 

A Comedy of Eros

Draco is threatening to sell some temple maidens into slavery and Xena is trying to stop him. Trouble is, she's also falling in love with him. Meanwhile (and just as strange), Gabrielle is falling for Joxer.

 

Third Season (1997-98):

The Furies

Ares enlists the aid of the Furies, who declare that the Warrior Princess has committed a terrible crime. Gabrielle investigates, and discovers that Xena had failed to avenge the murder of her father. That's news to Xena: she didn't know that her father had been murdered, much less the identity of the killer.

 

Been There, Done That

Xena realizes her day is repeating itself so she can break a cycle of death that hinges on two lovers' warring families.

 

The Dirty Half-Dozen

Xena rounds up a gang of cutthroats to battle the warlord Agathon, a protege of Ares who possesses weapons made of a super-hard metal.

 

The Deliverer

Xena, Gabrielle and the first priest of a monotheistic cult head for Britain to battle their common enemy Caesar—who promptly captures Gabrielle.

 

Gabrielle's Hope

Gabrielle gives birth to the "Daughter of Darkness"...and names her Hope, hoping for the best. But when Xena looks at the child, all she sees is despair—which doesn't bode well for the friendship of the two warriors.

 

The Debt, Part I:

BetrayalAs Xena and Gabrielle travel toward the Eastern kingdom of Chin, Xena recalls a kidnapping episode from her dark past involving two rival Chin clans.

 

The Debt, Part II

Flashbacks recall Xena's transformaton from evil to good. But in the present, the Green Dragon has captured Xena.King of AssassinsGabrielle, Joxer and Autolycus sneak into a palace to thwart an assassination attempt by Joxer's evil lookalike brother, Jett. The intended victim: Cleopatra.

 

Warrior...Priestess...Tramp

A pious Xena lookalike named Leah is in danger, and Xena and Gabrielle want to protect her, but complicating matters is Meg, another Xena lookalike, who is anything but pious.

 

The Quill is Mightier...

Aphrodite casts an odd spell on Gabrielle: everything she writes comes to pass. Of course, what Gabrielle writes isn't always precisely what she means.Maternal InstinctsXena and Gabrielle meet with their respective offspring, Solan and Hope. But the reunions are hardly happy, thanks to Callisto.

 

The Bitter Suite

Xena and Gabrielle are bound by hatred in a dreamworld, where they must sing to be understood.

 

One Against an Army

Xena must hold off an entire Persian army single-handed—and also tend to Gabrielle, who's been struck by a poison arrow.ForgivenA brash teen tries to convince Xena that she would make a better partner than Gabrielle by leading the duo to the stolen Urn of Apollo.

 

King Con

Poor Joxer is conned out of gambling winnings, then is almost killed by the gambling-den owner's henchmen, so Xena decides it's payback time.

 

When in Rome

Xena and Gab battle the ruthless Caesar to rescue the mighty Gaul warrior Vercinix.Forget Me NotGabrielle decides to lose her painful memories in the river of dreams but Joxer doesn't want her to do so because he thinks she will forget about him. (A clip show.)

 

Femmes, Fins, and Gems

(originally titled "Fish Schticks")Aphrodite casts a spell on Xena, Gabrielle, and Joxer so that they become obsessed with whatever they are looking at the time.

 

Vanishing Act

Autolycus enlists Xena and Gabrielle to re-claim his crown as the King of Thieves.

 

Tsunami

Xena, Gabrielle and Autolycus find themselves aboard a ship capsized by a tidal wave. They do find an air pocket, but so does a cutthroat, who thwarts them at every turn.

 

Sacrifice (part I)

Xena saves Gabrielle's friend Seraphin from being sacrificed, then learns that she's willing to die—so that Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope can be reborn.

 

Sacrifice (part II)

Gabrielle's evil daughter Hope takes the form of her mother and joins forces with Ares to create a race of superbeings; Xena is forced to team up with Callisto.

 

Fourth Season (1998-99):

Adventures in the Sin Trade (Part I)

Distraught with grief over the loss of Gabrielle, Xena travels to Siberia and the Amazon Land of the Dead to find her friend.

 

Adventures in the Sin Trade (Part II)

Xena travels to the Amazon Resting Place to battle the evil witch, Alti, and learns that Gabrielle is still alive.

 

A Family Affair

Xena reunites with Gabrielle and the two friends face off with the evil Hope and Dahak's grandson, the monstrous Destroyer.In Sickness and in HellIn an itchy and scratchy show, Xena (who has lice) and Gabrielle (who has a fungus and a variety of other ailments) take on marauding Scythians who have captured Argo.

 

A Good Day

Xena orchestrates a plan for a quick battle between and Caesar's and Pompey's forces in order to save Greece.

 

A Tale of Two Muses

Gabrielle and Xena stumble upon a town where dancing is not allowed.

 

Locked Up and Tied Down

Xena is sentenced to life in prison for the crimes she committed in her dark past.

 

Crusader

Xena and Gabrielle are attacked and then befriended by a radiant young woman who preaches about the light, but their budding friendship ends when she later competes with Xena for Gabrielle's heart and soul.

 

Past Imperfect

Xena has a series of flashbacks in which she recalls military exploits from her evil past—which echo the strategies attackers are using on a town she's defending.

 

Key to the Kingdom

Joxer, Autolycus, and Xena-lookalike Meg team up to search for a lost crown. At least that's what Meg and Joxer tell Autolycus.

 

Daughter of Pomira

Xena and Gabrielle become allies with members of the Horde to bring peace between two feuding cultures.

 

If the Shoe Fits

Gabrielle, Xena, Joxer and Aphrodite use storytelling to help a runaway princess realize the importance of home.

 

Paradise Found

Gabrielle finds inner calm, but Xena is plagued by violent images in a land ruled by a man who claims to know the true path to peace.

 

Devi

In India, Gabrielle suddenly gains the power to heal, but Xena is suspicious of its source.

 

Between the Lines

While traveling through India, Xena's and Gabrielle's souls are sent into the future through the power of Mendhi to protect their good Karma from the reincarnated Alti.

 

The Way

Xena seeks the help of the god Krishna to rescue Gabrielle and Eli from the clutches of the King of the Demons.

 

The Play's the Thing

Gabrielle makes her debut as a playwright. Too bad her producer is actually a con artist who has her reasons for wanting the play to bomb.

 

Convert

Najara returns, claiming a newfound mantra for nonviolence, while Joxer wrestles with the guilt of his first kill.

 

Takes One to Know One

Friends and family gather for Gabrielle's surprise birthday party, only to become suspects in a murder investigation.

 

Endgame

Gabrielle becomes Queen of the Amazons after Ephiny dies at the hand of Brutus.

 

Ides of March

Callisto returns from Tartarus with a double mission: corrupt Xena and make Julius Caesar Emperor.

 

Déjà Vu All Over Again

A woman is convinced she is the reincarnation of Xena, the Warrior Princess.

 

Fifth Season (1999-2000):

Fallen Angel

Xena's and Gabrielle's crucified bodies are retrieved by their friends, while the departed duo are caught in the middle of an afterlife battle between demons and angels.

 

Chakram

Xena has no recollection of being a warrior after she and Gabrielle are resurrected from the dead, seemingly, by Eli.

 

Succession

Xena and Gabrielle must face Mavican, Ares' new right-hand woman, with some added complications.

 

Animal Attraction

Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, and Amarice travel to the town of Spamona, where Xena is shocked to learn that she is pregnant.

 

Them Bones, Them Bones

The spirit of the evil shaman Alti attempts to capture the soul of Xena's unborn child.

 

Purity

When Xena returns to Chin to recover Lao Ma's book of power, she must defeat one of Lao Ma's twin daughters, who wants to acquire the power for her own evil purposes.

 

Back in the Bottle

Xena must master Lao Ma's powers to save Gabrielle, Joxer, and the people of Chin from a militia led by the evil spirits of Pao Ssu and her brother, Ming Tien.

 

Little Problems

Gabrielle and Aphrodite have until sundown to save Xena's soul from being trapped inside a young girl forever.

 

Seeds of Faith

Eli takes on Ares in an effort to overthrow the gods and Xena finally learns the true identity of her baby's father.

 

Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire

To avoid a war over who gets possession of Terpsichore's lyre, Xena organizes a battle of the bands in this musical episode that reunites Xena with her mother, Joxer with his twin brother Jace, and Gabrielle with a lovesick Draco.

 

Punch Line

Gabrielle and Argo are shrunken into miniature versions of themselves when they cross paths with Lachrymose, the god of despair.

 

God Fearing Child

Xena's baby is born after Hercules steps in to battle his father, Zeus, who learns that the birth of the child will signal the end of the Olympian order.Eternal BondsWhen Joxer is wounded by a poisonous sword intended to kill Xena and Eve, it's up to Gabrielle to get him to the antidote while Xena combats armies sent by priests of the gods.Amphipolis Under SiegeAthena wages war on Xena's hometown of Amphipolis in an effort to kill Eve and stop the Twilight of the Gods.

 

Married With Fishsticks

When Gabrielle is knocked unconscious into the sea, a merman convinces her that she is his wife and the mother of three.

 

Life Blood

Xena and Gabrielle travel to the Amazon village to make Eve an Amazon princess and discover that it's up to them to prevent unnecessary bloodshed in a vengeful war.

 

Kindred Spirits

Joxer breaks Amazon laws that force Queen Gabrielle to choose between settling down in the Amazon village and life on the road with Xena.

 

Antony and Cleopatra

When Cleopatra is murdered, Xena assumes her identity to uncover the assassin and protect Egypt.Looking Death in the EyeJoxer, now in his 60s, finds the last scroll written by Gabrielle, recounting their battle to protect Xena's child.

 

Livia

Xena and Gabrielle are freed from their icy prison after 25 years and set out to find Eve, who has become a fearless commander in Rome.

 

Eve

Xena must decide whether she can kill her own daughter, who continues her murderous campaign to eliminate Eli's followers.

 

Motherhood

With the lives of Gabrielle and Eve hanging in the balance, Xena faces the gods in a final showdown.

 

Sixth Season (2000-01):

Coming Home

Ares needs Xena's help to restore his godly powers, but he gets more than he bargained for when the Furies play a trick on him.

 

The Haunting of Amphipolis

Xena is forced to battle Mephistopheles when she returns to Amphipolis with Gabrielle and Eve to find her home haunted by evil.

 

Heart of Darkness

Xena fights to avoid inheriting the throne of Mephistopheles by devising a plan to turn the cocky archangel Lucifer into the King of Hell.

 

Who's Gurkhan?

When Gabrielle learns that her niece has been captured by the vicious raider Gurkhan, she sets sail for North Africa on a rescue mission with Xena, Eve, and Virgil.

 

Legacy

Xena and Gabrielle intervene to help two tribes unite against their Roman enemies in the North African desert.

 

The Abyss

Xena and Gabrielle are forced into a deadly confrontation with cannibals when they go in search of Virgil.

 

The Rheingold

Xena embarks on a deadly mission involving her dark past when the Norse warrior Beowulf approaches her for help.

 

The Ring

Xena must battle a monster of her own making to recover the destructive Rheingold ring she forged in her days as an evil warrior.

 

Return of the Valkyrie

Xena battles to regain her memory and reverse the curse of the Rheingold ring.

 

Old Ares Had a Farm

To protext Ares from a gang of revenge-seeking warlords, Xena brings him to her childhood home and disguises him as a farmer.

 

Dangerous Prey

Xena becomes the ultimate prey for the deranged Prince Morloch (Sandy Winton), who has been hunting and killing Amazons in his twisted quest for an adversay who can match his skills. Meanwhile, Xena teaches Varia the value of listening to the voice of experience.

 

The God You Know

The Archangel Michael summons Xena to kill the now immortal Roman emperor Caligula, who has been murdering innocents in his quest for absolute power.

 

You Are There

In an ancient world meets modern-day satire, a tabloid TV reporter stalks Xena and Gabrielle, determined to get a juicy scoop on the Warrior Princess.

 

Path of Vengeance

Xena and Gabrielle fight to save Eve from execution when she returns to Amazon lands to make amends for her past.

 

To Helicon and Back

When the Amazon Queen Varia is kidnapped by a masked warrior, Gabrielle leads the Amazons to Helicon on a bloody rescue mission.

 

Send in the Clones

Modern-day Xena fans clone Xena and Gabrielle, and Alti awaits their rebirth.

 

Last of the Centaurs

A young centaur is being hunted down by Lord Belach, and Xena and Gabrielle must save him while preventing a war.

 

When Fates Collide

Xena finds herself empress of Rome when Caesar chains the three Fates and cuts the strands of time.

 

Many Happy Returns

Gabrielle and Xena prevent a group of religious fanatics from sacrificing a virgin and teach her the ways of the world.

 

Soul Possession

When an ancient scroll chronicling the life of Xena surfaces in the present, conflicts arise among the modern-day reincarnations of Xena, Gabrielle, Ares and Joxer. A clip show.

 

A Friend in Need I

Summoned by a long-lost spiritual soulmate, Xena heads for Japan with Gabrielle on a daunting mission to save the city of Higuchi from destruction and make amends for her past.

 

A Friend in Need II

Xena battles to defeat the evil Yodoshi while trapped in the spirit world, and Gabrielle ascends Mount Fuji to perform a ritual that will free Xena from her bondage.

 

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 theWaitakere Ranges Regional Park, part of the Auckland Regional parks often credited at the end of the episodes.

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^[10]), Potidaea (birthplace of Gabrielle^[11]), Athens (birthplace of Joxer^[12]), Corinth, Delphi, and Cirra (birthplace of Callisto^[13]) 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.

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, the Greek 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 Asian,^[15] Egyptian^[16] andMedieval elements. The flexible fantasy framework of the show accommodates a considerable range of theatrical styles, from high melodrama toslapstick comedy, from whimsical and musical 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; the fall of Troy; 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 Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle. The first choice for Xena was the British actress Vanessa Angel, 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. Actor Kevin Tod Smith played popular character Ares, God of War, and Alexandra Tydings played his counterpartAphrodite, 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^[22]), 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

Main article: List of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess characters

The series follows Xena and her traveling companion Gabrielle. Xena is on a quest to redeem herself for her dark past by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. In Hercules, during her two first episodes, Xena was a villain 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". Xena's trademark weapon is a Chakram, and she also uses a sword. 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, 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, learns to fight with astaff, and is trained by Xena. In the first season, Xena and Gabrielle meet Joxer, a comic man who styles himself "Joxer the Magnificent", and later "Joxer the Mighty." 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

Main article: List of minor characters in Xena: Warrior Princess

Also in the first season, Xena and Gabrielle meet two of their biggest enemies: Callisto (Hudson Leick), a vengeful warrior woman, and Ares (Kevin Tod Smith), the Greek God of War. 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. 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 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. He offers her huge armies and historic victories, great wealth and great power, and in later seasons his love, 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 is in fact her father, 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.  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." Caesar's first introduced as a young Roman patrician, 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" 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,  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,^[33] her back snapped by her Chakram, 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.

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, however knowing Xena for a long time. 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. Using her, the dark god Dahak impregnates Gabrielle just as Xena rescues her.  Over the next few days the child grows inside Gabrielle, and she eventually (and quite dramatically) gives birth to a girl, naming her Hope.  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 amazingly 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 being poisoned by Gabrielle herself.

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 byBrutus. They are later revived by a mystic named Eli with the spiritual aid of Callisto, who by that time had become an angel;  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.  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;  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. 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 on Olympus 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.

 

 

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. Actress Lucy Lawless has been quoted in several interviews saying she would be interested in participating in a Xena film as well.

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]."

In 2011, a movement campaigning for the production of a new Xena movie was started. The Xena Movie Campaign gained support from thousands of Xena fans around the world. In 2013, they were instrumental in helping Xena gain the support needed to win the 2013 Half Price Books Tournament of Scifi vs. fantasy heroes with millions of backing votes.

Following this success, a global campaign to directly bombard Universal Pictures with requests for a Xena movie was launched. Over the space of a few days hundreds of thousands of messages were sent showing support for the production of a Xena film starring the original cast. After receiving nods of acknowledgement from Universal Studios offices in Australia, Finland and Spain, the efforts of the campaign were rewarded in May 2013 when Lucy Lawlessstated on her Twitter account that she had been contacted by a "chap who wants to re-invigorate the #Xena brand" while warning fans that "there's a lot of red tape around #XWP so don't get your knickers in a twist. It may come back in a different form".

 

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. was published.

In 1998, XENA: All I Need to Know I Learned From the Warrior Princess,  was published, allegedly written by Gabrielle, Bard of Potidaea and "translated" by Josepha Sherman. 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 Topps Comics, Dark Horse Comics(written by Ian Edginton and John Wagner). More recently the license has moved to Dynamite Entertainment.

 

Video games

·       Simutronics Corporation created an MMORPG under license called Hercules & Xena: Alliance of Heroes, based on both Xena: Warrior Princess andHercules: 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.

 

 

information obtained from wikopedia