THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS.... TWXN 77 06/18/97 Wednesday Brought to you by XENA: MEDIA REVIEW (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at the above site. We herein give praise and thanks to Tom Simpson for the space he has graciously donated from his spectacular, TOM'S XENA PAGE (http://xenafan.com). TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR, an annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995 - 2000+?) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia!), the MCA NetForum, the Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. For a free e-mail subscription to XMR subscribe by e-mail to ktaborn@lightspeed.net by stating somewhere in the subject or text "sub xmr". Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. From the editor: 1. Wednesday is XMR promotion day! I spent last weekend at the beach in Ventura for a wedding (and NO it was NOT Nana Visitor's and Alexander Siddig's) and in the evening as the waves slammed against the breakers I worked on XMR #22 and #23. I am still aiming for an early July release date for XMR #22 or sooner! Stay tuned. 2. This terribly exciting issue covers 02/06/97 through 02/09/97. Today's articles are a weird mix. We got "the boyish" Robert Tapert interviewed; a social page notice of what Steven L. Sears does in his spare time; a pathetic mention of the Conan TV series looming in our collective future; a local NZ report on Ms. Lawless' recovery; and a British snub. 3. Friday's boffo "close out the week issue" will include a promo for XWP's resumption in NZ and will tell you what Ms. Lawless likes to listen to on CD. It will also tell you what the following have in common with XWP: the women in the military debate, La Femme Nikita, the Village Voice laying waste to Men Behaving Badly, and Star Wars. Don't know already? Then check it out in Friday's TWXN! [ ] 02-06-97 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Thursday. 748 words. "'Hercules' and 'Xena' racing at the front of the fantasy pack" By Dennis Anderson (Associated Press Writer) REPRINT: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - and in television, imitation can sometimes be darn near the whole show - the heroic fantasy series "Hercules" must be getting a swelled head. In recent months, such fantasy adventure shows have popped up faster in television syndication than "Friends" clones hit the networks. Following the path of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" are new offerings drawn from such staples of the old cliffhanger genre as "Robin Hood," "Tarzan," and "Sinbad," each circulating in the off-peak hours of the 50- or 60-channel TV spectrum that syndication serves. How much mythical traffic will the system bear? Well, any show survives only on its ability to pull an audience and hold it. On the successful side, "Highlander," a heroic predecessor of "Hercules," recently wrapped its 100th episode, and its global audience can order from a catalog of licensed goods that range from 10-buck T-shirts to lethal "Highlander" swords that cost hundreds of dollars. In audience pull and popularity, "Hercules," in its third season, and its companion spin-off, "Xena: Warrior Princess," already have shown their rippling muscles. The shows, both rated TV-PG, are vying with "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" for pride of place in syndication popularity. Rob Tapert, the executive producer of both series, describes his creations as "a guilty pleasure for professors, relevant for kids" and populated with scantily clad females "for the guys who can't find the keys to the pickup." "We knew we could make a better show than 'Baywatch,' " Tapert said. The popularity of Herc & Xena isn't related to nostalgia for corny 1950s gladiator movies or the "Conan The Barbarian" mold. They just don't look, or sound, like a bunch of stuff that happened on television in an earlier life. The Hercules character played by Kevin Sorbo talks like a surfer guy and makes his heroic warrior move with the ease of quarterback Joe Montana. Lucy Lawless, who plays Xena, is a kind of she-hunky leather queen who sails through the air like Bruce Lee and could be a dream date - as long as you surrender the car keys. "We wanted action, we wanted monsters and, for those who catch on, they'll find it funny," Tapert said. Shot in the lush, forested locale of New Zealand, Hercules and Xena offer a fantasy universe populated with dragons, harpies, cyclops and sandworms. The special effects created by Flat Earth productions rival those of the big screen. Tapert and his colleague, executive producer Sam Raimi, vaulted into the mythic countryside of Hercules from the universe of action movies. They launched their careers with a cult horror flick called "The Evil Dead." Together, they created macabre, action movies that included "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness." When they were approached to create an action television movie derived from the Hercules legend, they hooted. "'Nobody cares about Hercules,' we said. 'Give us Conan.' They told us Conan's not available," Tapert recalled in an interview. Antecedents of "Hercules" and "Xena" were uncool even as camp. Gladiator movies? Ugh. Barbarian flicks with leaden dialogue. But in a recent Xena episode, the warrior princess gushes, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!" Then she tosses a bad guy with a full-arm twist and sends up the old hair-coloring commercial in the same instant. Hercules regularly dispenses lines like "Come on, guys!" or observes sagely, "That's a big dragon." The tone delivers a show adults can laugh with and kids can revel in. "I just wanted to make the kind of show that I would have watched," the boyish Tapert said. "The kind of show I would have fought my parents to watch." But adults are watching, too. A fan convention in Burbank drew 4,000 people on a recent weekend. Plenty of adults, many in costume, turned out to see their heroes, test their steel and swarm for autographs from Sorbo and Lawless. Patricia Winston, a systems analyst who says she plans to get her black belt before she's 50, turned out wearing harem pants, a gold vest and a nasty-looking whip. Working in a technology-intense environment, she noted, makes the Xena fantasy therapeutic... [ ] 02-08-97 THE ORLANDO SENTINEL. Saturday. Page C1. 322 words. "Chiles to Promote State's Star Quality. The Governor Will Be an Ambassador for Florida's Film Industry When He Goes to Hollywood on Sunday." By Joe Kilsheimer (The Sentinel Staff) COMMENTARY: Look who is getting invited by the Governor of Florida to ritzy Florida parites! EXCERPT: Gov. Lawton Chiles heads to Hollywood on Sunday to woo film-industry honchos in the hopes of enlarging Florida's film-production industry.... ...On Sunday night, Chiles will hold a "Florida Reunion" party at the Beverly Hills Nikko hotel for 300 celebrities and studio executives who are either native Floridians or have past ties to the state. Among those expected to attend: Corbin Bernsen, star of the syndicated TV series The Cape, which is filmed in Brevard County; Martin Sheen; and Stephen Sears, producer of the syndicated program Xena, Warrior Princess... [ ] 02-08-97 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Saturday. Page B07. 330 words. "Shull's Mailbag" By R.K. Shull EXCERPT: ...A new Conan Dear R.K. Shull: My friend told me there's going to be a new Conan show on TV. Do you know anything about it? - R.F.J. Dear Reader: Yep. In the grand tradition of Hercules and Xena, next fall Conan: The Adventurer will be launched in syndication, with 22 episodes planned. Rolf Moeller will play the muscleman... [ ] 02-09-97 THE SUNDAY NEWS (Auckland). Page 31. 233 words. "Xena back after her biggest break yet" By Kurt Kelly REPRINT: ON-THE-MEND Kiwi actress Lucy Lawless returns to television this week as mythological fighter of evil Xena: Warrior Princess. Lawless (28), who previous top role was Stanley's mum in the ASB Bank ads, has become a cult figure in the United States, where Xena is one of the highest rating shows. Her career break came after just a couple of appearances on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The audience reaction to Xena impressed producer Rob Tapert, who Lawless is now dating, and he offered the actress her own show. Her career was boosted last year with probably her biggest "break" yet. While taping a segment for the Tonight Show, Lawless was tossed off a horse and broke her pelvis in four places. The fall gained international media attention. The injury wasn't enough to keep her out of action for long and she's back battling evil with sidekick Gabrielle. Xena: Warrior Princess, TV3, Friday at 8.30pm. Sunday News and TV3 have nine life-like Xena dolls for you to win. Six measure 25cm in height, and three are 12cm high. To be in to win, just tell us what television show Lucy Lawless was taping when she fell off a horse and broke her pelvis last year. Send your entry to: Xena Dolls, PO Box 1074, Auckland. Make sure it reaches us by noon Thursday. GRAPHIC: KIWI SUCCESS STORY: Lucy Lawless has cult status in the United States. [ ] 02-09-97 THE SUNDAY GAZETTE MAIL. Sunday. Page P3E. 574 words. "Fantasy Works Rekindle Some Old Magic" By Mary Mazzocco EXCERPT: January was a month to revisit old friends, among them Fritz Lieber, one of the most brilliant writers of sword and sorcery.... ...Lieber started writing about the tall barbarian swordsman and his small friend, a sybaritic thief, before World War II. You can see echoes of them everywhere today, from Dungeons and Dragons scenarios to Raymond Feist's best-selling "Shadow of a Dark Queen" to "Xena, Warrior Princess," but even the silliest copies can't dim the pleasure of reading the originals....