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.

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.

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".

This was an amazing show that switched from comedy to high drama to tragedy to sword-fighting action and mayhem. All of this usually happened in the same episode. A great show for students of mythology, although the writers did incorporate their own ideas (into the mythological settings and characters) to give the show more texture and layers. The best part of the show was Xena and Gabrielle's intense affection, friendship and respect for one another. They are truly partners in everything they do and always willing to sacrifice for one another. However, there's plenty of comedy as well to keep the show from getting too serious. The more episodes you watch, the more you'll like and understand the concept of the show, and how it works on different levels simultaneously. Very highly recommended.

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!