Xena: Warrior Princess is an American television cult series, a supernatural fantasy adventure that aired from September 4, 1995 until May 21, 2001. 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 Renee O'Connor), that 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 off the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ; in fact, 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 around her adventures. Xena was a successful show aired in more than 108 countries around the world since 1998, ranked #10 on TV Guide's Top 30 Cult TV Shows of All Time and #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 at Pasadena and London.
The series has received attention in fandom (including fan films), parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series.
Theme music
The theme music, composed by Joseph LoDuca, who also co-wrote the lyrics for the songs in "The Bitter Suite", was developed from the traditional Bulgarian folk song " Kaval Sviri ", and was sung by Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. In the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode, "Unchained Heart", the original "Kaval Sviri" is the music used to announce Xena racing into battle. The musical score of Xena: Warrior Princess was critically well received, and Joseph LoDuca won an Emmy for the song With the Angels in 1999. Most of the series' music was made available over the course of the series on soundtrack albums - 6 volumes in all. There were also 2 musical episodes over the course of the series: "The Bitter Suite" in the third season, and "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" in the fifth season. Each had its own soundtrack album released.
Cast
Xena: Warrior Princess starred Lucy Lawless and Reneé O'Connor, in the roles of Xena and Gabrielle. The original choice to play Xena was the British actress Vanessa Angel, but an illness prevented her from travelling, so the role was offered to another four actresses before being given to the relatively unknown Lawless. Sunny Doench was orignally cast as Gabrielle, but she did not want to leave her boyfriend in the United States and O'Connor, who had appeared in Hercules in another role, was chosen. During the series, several names were added to the recurring cast, many of them 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. Other actors that played notable characters are Hudson Leick as Callisto (and occasionally Xena), Karl Urban, who played a variety of roles including Cupid and Caesar, Jennifer Sky as Amarice, Bruce Campbell as Autolycus, Claire Stansfield as Alti, and Alexandra Tydings as Aphrodite.
Setting
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.
Xena – the main character of the show – was born at the city of Amphipolis. Xena and her comrade in arms, Gabrielle, made frequent trips to Amphipolis. The city became a breeding ground for demons when the duo came back after twenty five years of being trapped in ice. Mephistopheles, the king of hell, had captured the soul of Cyrene of Amphipolis, Xena's mother, and tortured her. Xena was able to defeat Mephistopheles and rescue the trapped souls, releasing them to rest in the Elysian Fields.
Gabrielle was born in Potidaea.
Joxer lived in Athens in his childhood. He tries to help Xena and Gabrielle but his clumsy efforts usually hinder the two.
Callisto is from Cirra. Xena's army torched the village when Callisto was a child, causing the death of most of her family. Callisto vowed revenge on Xena and fights her throughout most of the series.
Plot summary
Main article: List of Xena: Warrior Princess episodesXena is a historical fantasy set primarily in ancient Greece, although it has a flexible time setting and occasionally features Oriental, Egyptian and Medieval 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 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. 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. 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.
In addition to Xena and Gabrielle, the show also features a wide assortment of recurring characters, including adversaries Ares (Kevin Tod Smith), Alti (Claire Stansfield) and Callisto (Hudson Leick), and trusted friends Salmoneus (Robert Trebor), Virgil (William Gregory Lee), Autolycus (Bruce Campbell), Eli (Tim Omundson) and Joxer (Ted Raimi).
Characters
Main article: List of Hercules and Xena charactersMain article: List of minor characters in Xena: Warrior Princess
- Xena, played by Lucy Lawless
- Gabrielle, played by Reneé O'Connor
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 suggests 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 Renee 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 happen like that .”
Books
Books have been released as tie-ins, including Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion . There have also been a number of novelizations by authors like Martin H. Greenberg.
A book was also released in 1998, XENA: All I Need to Know I Learned From the Warrior Princess , allegedly written by Gabrielle, Bard of Poteidaia, and was "translated" by Josepha Sherman. It contains Gabrielle's viewpoint on many of the adventures she and Xena embarked on, and also includes eight pages of black-and-white photographs from the show. The book is basically Gabrielle talking about her view of the world on many different subjects. For example, in one of the chapters, "Anything can be a weapon- Anything!", she instructs the reader on fighting without traditional weapons, such as a sword or a staff, and in another, "Nobody Likes a Winer
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