Xena, la guerrière

Here's the thing, see, about XENA - the fantasy action show telling the tale of the formerly evil Xena, now a force for good, and Gabrielle the Amazon Queen, her warrior/bard partner.

You have two really beautiful women dressed in impractical leather goods flitting about the Ancient World wielding shiny weapons with great skill and nary a thought to chronology or historical accuracy. You have the relentless modern American speech. You have the over-discussed, over-analysed and highly subjective element of "lesbian subtext". You have campy humour, sly winks at the audience, over-the-top fight sequences, and more dialogue limited to the screaming of each other's names than the second half of Titanic.

You have re-used extras, recycled sets, a bikini-clad Aphrodite spouting Valley-girl speech, a penchant for killing off popular guest stars, TWO man-free pregnancies, high angst levels, a range of episodes that swing madly from dark violence to Andrew Lloyd-Webber style musicals and from intense drama to slapstick comedy.

You have strong female leads who accept responsibility for their choices and their actions, good and bad. You have really beautiful scenery in the form of New Zealand. You have great chemistry between the two stars, and you have enough smarts to know how to combine all of these things into a show that succeeds more than it fails.

Give it a chance. I promise, ten episodes and you'll be hooked. In short, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS is smart TV pretending that it's dumb. Which is just fine by me, thanks.

The six years that Xena appeared on American television and then in international distribution was the most marvelous ride on the entertainment merry-go-round since "Wonder Woman" premiered in 1975, twenty years earlier. This show had camp, pathos, mystery, intrigue, intricate character development and the invention of a magnificent new world through which the viewer was able to judge and measure his or her own living situation. If you ever get a chance, at least take the time to watch either the entire first or the entire fourth seasons of Xena (which had the most developed plots). It is a show that actually changed the world into a better place and that can be said of only a few shows in history.

If you like "Xena" you might also like "Queen of Swords", "Wonder Woman", "Supergirl" (maybe....), "Chameleon 1,2, &3", "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" or "Andromeda". You may also want to watch the direct to video cartoon release "Hercules and Xena: the Animated Movie: the Battle for Mount Olympus".

Xena was a campy classic masterpiece full of action, suspense and great storytelling about friendship. During the 90s when women power ran amock, Xena bulldozed in wearing her glamorous outfit and kicking butt. Along her side was her loyal friend Gabrielle who kept her on the barrow path and provided companionship on the road.

Sure the formula was repetitive with good winning over evil, but the relationships, creatures or warlords played by various guest stars always kept you on your toes and kept you tuning in every weak. The costumes, music and humor were always true to the heart of the episode. Speaking of humor sometimes it worked well intelligently worked up to and other times it could be low brow for the common folk.

Still Xena paved the way for other copy cat shows trying to cash on the fame yet it will always be remembered as the first to break new ground. It even enjoys quite a huge cult following in the fandom and celebrated for it brilliant ambiguity. Xena will still be remembered as one of the best shows ever produced and never go out of style. Get caught up in the fantasy world.

I love this show. Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor are fabulous as Xena and Gabrielle. Xena is a former warlord trying to atone for her past by traveling the world doing good. Gabrielle is her sidekick, a bard writing the stories of Xena's adventures. The show is packed (usually) with action, realistically, and breath-takingly, performed by Lawless and O'Connor. And when the show ventures into comedy, it is capable of being the funniest show on television. Did I mention that I LOVE THIS SHOW!

This one should have more fan base because of the new style of the time.

Lucy Lawless have a new style of strong women.

Not only being strong and beat up people but also being beautiful and seductive.

She was ahead of her time.