Dreamwatch #119

June 2004

Everything You Need To Know About...
Xena: Warrior Princess

The Concept:

 Desperate to make amends for her past the notorious female warlord Xena Lucy Lawless)
travels across Ancient Greece helping people in need and fighting the forces of evil. Xena is joined on her quest by Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a struggling bard who gradually becomes a warrior herself.

Original Broadcast 4 September 1995 to 23 June 2001 (US)

Duration: 134 one-hour episodes over six seasons.

Background:

Filmed in Auckland, New Zealand Xena: Warrior Princess was a spin-off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Xena explored its title character's quest for redemption following her introduction in Hercules first season episodes The Warrior Princess. The Gauntlet and Unchained Heart. Xena's epic fantasy-action sequences dark storylines and riotous sense of fun. coupled with the warm interaction between its two lead characters, allowed the show to win even bigger ratings than its parent series, and helped inspire a wave of further female-led actions shows-including Buffy and Alias.

Must-See Episodes: The Bitter Suite (Xena and Gabrielle resolve their feud in a musical episode!) Fallen Angel (Xena becomes involved in an epic battle between Heaven and Hell).
The Ides of March (Xena and Gabrielle are executed by Julius Caesar).
Sacrifice (Gabrielle's evil daughter, Hope, runs riot),
The Debt (Xena recalls her dark past),
Motherhood (the Warrior Princess tackles the gods of Olympus) and
Friend in Need (Xena makes the ultimate sacrifice in the series' finale).

To Be Avoided:
Married With Fishsticks (Gabrielle imagines she's a merman's wife in a very fishy tale).
Lifeblood (a dire flashback episode), and
Punch Lines (Gabrielle is suffering from writer's block - shame it wasn't the writer of this lacklustre tale!).

Famous Guest Stars:
The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Riddick star Karl Urban plays Cupid. Julius Caesar, Mael and Kor in various episodes of the show,
Hellboy's Selma Blair appears in Lifeblood and
Roswell's Shiri Appleby plays Tara in Forgiven and A Tale of Two Muses.
A pre-Mutant X Victoria Pratt signs up for Adventures in the Sin Trade, while her Cleopatra 2525 co-star Jennifer Sky plays the recurnng role of Amarice. Cleopatra 2525's remaining star. Gina Torres, also appears in the series playing Cleopatra in King of Assassins.
Farscape's Claudia Black can be seen in the flashback episode Lifeblood, while her Farscape co-star David Franklin (a.k.a. Captain Braca) plays Brutus in various episodes.

Last but not least, Hercules stars Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, Robert Trebor and Bruce Campbell all appear in its spin-off show. And Finally: Weird Science and Stargate SG-1 actress Vanessa Angel was initially cast as Xena, but when she became too ill to fly to New Zealand, Lucy Lawless donned the Warrior Princess' legendary leather outfit instead!
 

 

 

 

Return to the AUSXIP XenaMedia Archive
AUSXIP - Australian Xena Information Page
AUSXIP Renee O'Connor Files |  AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Files