Any Xena:WP fans on the boards?

[JanewayRulz!]

I must admit, I rarely watched Hercules' LJ's in the 90's and never watched Xena:WP. It may have been a snob thing, more likely a lack of reception thing (TV before the satellite dish came was pretty hit or miss where I grew up), but Xena never made it on my viewing list.

This summer, I started a topic about strong female characters from the 1990's in the Voy forum, and got quite an education from a fellow poster. So much so that I picked up all 6 seasons and plowed through them this fall.

Except for a few stinkers ("Married with Fishsticks" comes unwelcome to my mind even as I type) I have to say that I'm impressed.

Anyone else watch it in first run/or on reruns and have any thoughts they'd like to share?

 

[Kelthaz]

Neither Xena or Hercules gets talked about much on here, but the odd time when a topic does pop up the show gets a lot of love. Hercules a bit less so.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of both shows. I'll always think of them as the prototype Buffy and Angel; a little rough around the edges, but with fantastic characters and the perfect balance between comedy and drama. Xena lost my interest in the 6th season after the time skip, but for the most part it was an excellent show. Hercules never hit the heights that Xena hit, but it never got as bad as Xena either.

Except for a few stinkers ("Married with Fishsticks" comes unwelcome to my mind even as I type) I have to say that I'm impressed.

If you hated Married With Fishsticks, you might enjoy this video by Obscurus Lupa of That Guy With the Glasses fame.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/ol/manic/27428-married-with-fishsticks

 

[Gojira]

I watched both shows and enjoyed them a lot. I like Xena more (naturally) but they were both well done shows. Although with Xena it did bother me from time to time on the tone of the show. Sometimes they would have a serious and dark episode and then they would have light hearted campy episodes.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I'm a bit of Xena fan. I only watched it sporadically when it was still on the air, but in recent years I've gone back and watched selected episodes from all the seasons chronologically more than once, and I'm making a yearly tradition out of that. What makes the show tough to watch is how all over the place the tone is, which leads to some frustrating inconsistency. As a character said on the show in one of its many meta episodes, "you never know what to expect, because one week it's melodrama, the next week it's slapstick/three stooges". Sometimes that's a virtue, and sometimes that's annoying. The show walks a fine line. There are some episodes where I find the drama genuinely moving or the comedy hilarious and clever, and then there are others where the intense emotion on display is so corny it infuriates me, and the comedy is so cheap and forced, iI find it pathetic.

Still, I truly cherish my favourite episodes, and think on the rare occasions where they get the comedy and drama just right, it's brilliant. I just wish I liked more episodes...not just a select few from every season. I can't even pick a favourite season, because I think they're all pretty much 50/50 between great and lame episodes. One thing that consistently ruled on the show was its cast...especially supporting roles. I loved Ted Raimi's work (although his one-note buffonary was tiresome at times) and I could almost always be sure to have a blast when Bruce Campbell, Karl Urban, or Alexandra Tydings got to play their recurring roles.

 

[Pauln6]

I loved Xena more so than Herc, although the crossover episodes were a blast. I made a list of my favourite 60 or so episodes and plan to watch them all next year.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I never watched it with much regularity but I liked a lot of the episodes I saw. I liked it when it did comedy. But whenever it got super serious and went back to Xena's checkered past, I checked out quick! It was around the time she got her legs broken that I realized I would never love the series.

I also discovered that I wasn't a huge fan of Xena herself. I preferred Gabrielle, Joxer, & Autolycus.

I miss those heydays of first run syndication, when I could curl up on the couch with a solid double feature of Xena & Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

 

[Forbin]

Big fan here. A show like Xena has got to be a great gig for an actor - look at the range Lucy and Rene got to play over the years!

 

[Pauln6]

Big fan here. A show like Xena has got to be a great gig for an actor - look at the range Lucy and Rene got to play over the years!

What was hilarious was that as soon as the writers cottoned on to the lesbian vibe, in their own words, they "milked it for all it was worth"

 

[captcalhoun]

i liked them, but they got the shaft from channel 5 and i never saw all of them...

 

[OmahaStar]

Loved them, and have both series on dvd. Hopefully someday the rights to Young Hercules get settled and that will come out too. Also have Jack of All Trades, which may as well be a spin-off. Not so much into that Cleopatra 2525, though.

 

[DevilEyes]

Big fan here. A show like Xena has got to be a great gig for an actor - look at the range Lucy and Rene got to play over the years!

What was hilarious was that as soon as the writers cottoned on to the lesbian vibe, in their own words, they "milked it for all it was worth"

Yeah, but they never stopped having it both ways *cough*, did they? What with all the hot and lusty hetero sex with hunks like Caesar, Borias and so on, juxtaposed with subtle eroticism of her relationship with Lao Ma; and of course, while the romantic subtext in the Xena/Gabrielle relationship was more and more pronounced as seasons went by, the whole Xena/Ares thing was also becoming more sexual and more in the focus of the show (in season 1, he only seemed interested in her as a warrior, the sexual attraction would only later cross from subtext to the main text). Kind of like a gender-flipped version of the situation from Shakespeare's sonnets. (If you'll excuse the comparison - I don't actually take Xena:WP that seriously.) One of the most famous "lesbian" TV shows of all time wasn't really lesbian, but a very bisexual show.

 

[saturn5]

I must admit, I rarely watched Hercules' LJ's in the 90's and never watched Xena:WP. It may have been a snob thing, more likely a lack of reception thing (TV before the satellite dish came was pretty hit or miss where I grew up), but Xena never made it on my viewing list.

This summer, I started a topic about strong female characters from the 1990's in the Voy forum, and got quite an education from a fellow poster. So much so that I picked up all 6 seasons and plowed through them this fall.

Except for a few stinkers ("Married with Fishsticks" comes unwelcome to my mind even as I type) I have to say that I'm impressed.

Anyone else watch it in first run/or on reruns and have any thoughts they'd like to share?

God yes, loved my Xena (only ever watched Hercules when they did clip shows or had Xena characters on it). My favourite show until Buffy came along.
I like Married with Fishsticks but then I always had a thing for Discord. I envy you being to able to watch them virgin

 

[JanewayRulz!]

I must admit, I rarely watched Hercules' LJ's in the 90's and never watched Xena:WP. It may have been a snob thing, more likely a lack of reception thing (TV before the satellite dish came was pretty hit or miss where I grew up), but Xena never made it on my viewing list.

This summer, I started a topic about strong female characters from the 1990's in the Voy forum, and got quite an education from a fellow poster. So much so that I picked up all 6 seasons and plowed through them this fall.

Except for a few stinkers ("Married with Fishsticks" comes unwelcome to my mind even as I type) I have to say that I'm impressed.

Anyone else watch it in first run/or on reruns and have any thoughts they'd like to share?

God yes, loved my Xena (only ever watched Hercules when they did clip shows or had Xena characters on it). My favourite show until Buffy came along.
I like Married with Fishsticks but then I always had a thing for Discord. I envy you being to able to watch them virgin

What an interesting term for such a show. Actually, i was spoiled somewhat by the youtube vids I was watching, trying to decide if I wanted to sink money into the set. It was fun whenever I would see a scene I recognized from the vids, and finally get to put it into context.

 

[John Clark]

More a fan of Xena than Hercules. I recently got the complete series of XWP on dvd and it's fun

 

[Greg Cox]

I was a huge XENA fan during its original run, and even wrote an entire book on the series (now sadly out of print). As much as I like BUFFY, XENA was there first and I sometimes wish it got more credit for that.

As for "Married With Fishsticks," I actually saw that episode for the first time at lesbian bar in the East Village during its monthly "Xena Night."

It wasn't a big hit.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

I was a huge XENA fan during its original run, and even wrote an entire book on the series (now sadly out of print). As much as I like BUFFY, XENA was there first and I sometimes wish it got more credit for that.

As for "Married With Fishsticks," I actually saw that episode for the first time at lesbian bar in the East Village during its monthly "Xena Night."

It wasn't a big hit.

I think the titillation factor of Xena in her huge breastplated armor probably had a lot to do with not getting the credit. Strange to admit that even though I am a big fan of Voyager's "Seven of Nine" and Enterprise's T'Pol despite their catsuits, for some reason I wasn't ready to give Xena the time of day.

Then we had that thread this summer and I started to look at her in a different light. After listening to a few cons with Lucy and Renee, I realized they loved their characters as much as Mulgrew loved Janeway, and I decided to take the plunge based on their confidence.

Glad I did.

Fishsticks, not withstanding.

 

[Greg Cox]

I sometimes wonder if selling the rerun rights to Oxygen was a mistake. How many fans really watch Oxygen? As a result, the show kind of disappeared from sight and people forgot about it. A shame, since the show was a huge phenomenon in its prime.

And, yeah, the XENA conventions used to be a lot of fun. I attended several of them when I was promoting my book. I even managed to catch Lucy Lawless during her run in GREASE!

 

[FPAlpha]

I haven't watched much of both shows but on occasion it was quite entertaining in its camp factor.

Average actors (at best), bland writing for the most part and unconvincing special effects all mount up to a camp show but it embraced its style and that made it fun apparently for many people.

What i find interesting is how many actors you instantly recognize having been on the show like Karl Urban and Bruce Campbell and that apparently Xena has a huge following amongst lesbians (wonder why ).

It was a nice thing but strictly speaking not the best show.

 

[DevilEyes]

I was a huge XENA fan during its original run, and even wrote an entire book on the series (now sadly out of print). As much as I like BUFFY, XENA was there first and I sometimes wish it got more credit for that.

Well, to be fair, Buffy - the show - was based on the (very bad) movie from 1992, 3 years before Xena started...

Besides, Buffy - the show - was essentially more about the horrors and dangers of things like high school, college, growing up, relationships, and real life in general... while Xena, well, wasn't - it was very escapist, even though it did deal with some of the similar themes like violence and redemption.

 

[Greg Cox]

Perhaps. But it sometimes seems like whenever TV GUIDE or USA TODAY or whomever does an article on female action heroes, they always cite BUFFY as the forerunner who started it all. And whenever a new tv show does a special musical episode, BUFFY gets referenced--even though, again, "The Bitter Suite" predates "Once More With Feeling."

What's a Warrior Princess gotta do to get a little respect?