Issue No. 17, Part 3 Release date: 09/02/96 Covering 04/04/96 to 04/19/96 Annotations XMR221 to XMR247 PART 3 of 4 Number of lines in part 3: 1097 THE SECTION IS A CONTINUATION OF PART 2 Contents: Part 1: INTRODUCTION XMR Returneth The best laid plans of mice and men XenaFest II: The Myth and the Magic The Vacation The Curse of Baywatch Let's Hear it For Stacy Van Stipdonk AMENDED ANNOTATIONS [002.5] 04-25-94 HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN. [002.6] 05-02-94 HERCULES AND THE LOST KINGDOM. [005.3] 10-17-94 HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN. [005.4] 10-24-94 HERCULES AND THE LOST KINGDOM. [005.5] 12-12-94 HERCULES AND THE AMAZON WOMEN. [006.5] 12-19-94 HERCULES AND THE LOST KINGDOM. [006.6] 02-20-95 AS DARKNESS FALLS. [010.3] 03-13-95 THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. [010.6] 05-01-95 THE GAUNTLET. [016.5] 05-08-95 UNCHAINED HEART. [019.5] 05-22-95 AS DARKNESS FALLS. [023.5] 06-26-95 THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. [023.7] 07-03-95 THE GAUNTLET. [024.5] 07-10-95 UNCHAINED HEART. [026.5] 08-07-95 AS DARKNESS FALLS. [035.5] 09-04-95 SINS OF THE PAST. [041.5] 09-11-95 CHARIOTS OF WAR. [045.5] 09-18-95 DREAMWORKER. [048.5] 09-25-95 CRADLE OF HOPE. [054.5] 10-02-95 THE PATH NOT TAKEN. [054.6] 10-02-95 THE OUTCAST. [058.5] 10-09-95 THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. [062.5] 10-16-95 THE RECKONING. [066.4] 10-23-95 THE GAUNTLET. [066.5] 10-23-95 UNCHAINED HEART. [068.5] 10-30-95 THE TITANS. [071.5] 11-06-95 PROMETHEUS. [079.5] 11-13-95 DEATH IN CHAINS. Part 2: [083.5] 11-20-95 HOOVES AND HARLOTS. [088.5] 11-27-95 SINS OF THE PAST. [093] 12-04-95 CHARIOTS OF WAR. [098.5] 12-11-95 DREAMWORKER. [106.5] 12-18-95 CRADLE OF HOPE. [114.5] 12-25-95 THE PATH NOT TAKEN. [127] 01-01-96 FEMME FATALE. [128] 01-01-96 STARLOG. No. 222. [128.5] 01-01-96 THE RECKONING. [132.5] 01-08-96 THE BLACK WOLF. [138.5] 01-15-96 BEWARE OF GREEKS BEARING GIFTS. [145.5] 01-22-96 ATHENS CITY ACADEMY OF THE PERFORMING BARDS. [152.5] 01-29-96 A FISTFUL OF DINARS. [158.3] 02-05-96 WARRIOR...PRINCESS. Part 3: [161.5] 02-12-96 MORTAL BELOVED. [172.5] 02-19-96 THE ROYAL COUPLE OF THIEVES. [181.5] 02-26-96 THE TITANS. [187.5] 03-04-96 THE PRODIGAL. [196.5] 03-11-96 PROMETHEUS. [203.5] 03-18-96 DEATH IN CHAINS. [210.5] 03-25-96 HOOVES AND HARLOTS. [184] has been removed and replaced as XMR217.5. [215.5] 03-29-96 MCA XENA NETFORUM. [219.5] 04-01-96 STARLOG. No. 225. [219.6] 04-01-96 STARLOG. No. 225. [219.7] 04-01-96 THE BLACK WOLF. ANNOTATIONS [221] 04-04-96 PHILADELPHIA FORUM. [222] 04-04-96 DAILY VARIETY. [223] 04-08-96 VARIETY. [224] 04-08-96 PEOPLE. [225] 04-08-96 BEWARE OF GREEKS BEARING GIFTS. [226] 04-08-96 THE OUTCAST. [227] 04-09-96 The David Letterman Show. [228a] 04-09-96 ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE. [228b] 04-09-96 THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE. Part 4: [229] 04-11-96 USA TODAY. [230] 04-11-96 MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. [231] 04-11-96 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. [232a] 04-11-96 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. [232b] 04-11-96 DAILY VARIETY. [232c] 04-15-96 VARIETY. [232d] 04-15-96 VARIETY. [233] 04-12-96 THE VANCOUVER SUN. [234] 04-14-96 DAILY NEWS (New York). [235] 04-15-96 INFOWORLD. [236] 04-15-96 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. [237] 04-15-96 PEOPLE Daily (on Pathfinder.com). [238] 04-15-96 FORTUNE. [239a] 04-15-96 DAILY VARIETY. [239b] 04-22-96 VARIETY. [240] 04-15-96 ATHENS CITY ACADEMY OF THE PERFORMING BARDS. [241] 04-17-96 STAR TRIBUNE. [242a] 04-18-96 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. [242b] 04-18-96 DAILY VARIETY. [242c] 04-18-96 DAILY VARIETY. [242d] 04-22-96 VARIETY. [243a] 04-18-96 DAILY VARIETY. [243b] 04-25-96 Daily Variety. [244] 04-18-96 DAILY VARIETY. [245] 04-19-96 THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT (Norfolk). [246] 04-19-96 ELECTRONIC MEDIA INTERNATIONAL. [247] 04-19-96 ELECTRONIC MEDIA INTERNATIONAL. :PART 3 [161.5] 02-12-96 MORTAL BELOVED. Episode no. 16. First release. Guest stars: Bobby Hosea (Marcus) and Paul Willis (Atyminius). Written by R.J. Stewart. Directed by Garthy Maxwell. SYNOPSIS: You make your best friend sit next to a lake for 46 minutes while you and your reanimated deceased boyfriend roam around the earth in order to return to Tartarus a no-goodnik who stole Hades' Helmet of Invisibility and had a penchant for slicing and dicing young brides-to-be on their wedding night. Who are you? Xena, Warrior Princess, of course! Marcus, Xena's redeemed but deceased past lover (see The Path Not Taken), makes an appearance to Xena telling her that all hell has broken loose in Hades (the place, not the god) because Atyminius has stolen Hades' (the god, not the place) Helmet of Invisibility and has used this power to force the good people to suffer in Tartarus and the bad ones to party down in the Elysium Fields. Marcus tells Xena he needs her help. Xena heeds the call, and enters Hades (TPNTG) through a lake. Gabrielle, ever so loyal, sits by the lake, waiting for Xena. It's old home week for Xena when she meets Toxeus and a couple of others whom she expedited to Hades (THNTG). But Atyminius appears and ruins the party. He can smell the scent of life on Xena! A fight breaks out (hey, this IS XWP), and Xena and Marcus hightail it out of there. Xena and Marcus head for Hades' (TGNTP) high-rent district castle and are attacked by the Harpie security system. Xena cooks one and slices up another. Xena complains to Hades (TGNTP) that not only has Atyminius ruined Hades (TPNTG), but that he's gone above ground to wreck havoc on the mortals. Hades, the wimp (making it the god, not the place), just whines. However Hades does inform Xena that Atyminius, by taking the Helmet of Invisibility to the world of mortals, has become mortal again. This means he can be killed, be relieved of the Helmet, and returned securely to Tartarus. Xena cuts a deal with Hades (TGNTP) which includes making Marcus mortal again for 48 hours and requires Xena to bring in that evil guy, Atyminius. Meanwhile, Atyminius pops out of the lake and asks Gabrielle whether, by any chance, she is about to be wed. Gabrielle says no, but Atyminius decides to terrorize her nevertheless. Gabrielle fights back but Atyminius finally wings her, but before he can do any permanent damage, Xena and Marcus run out of the lake and start to chase him. Mid-pursuit, the gang decide to camp out for the rest of the night. In a scene reminiscent from most people's college days, Xena and Marcus "catch up" on old times while ignoring Gabrielle who is trying to sleep just a couple of feet away. The next day Xena, Marcus, and Gabrielle wind up at a wedding party in a nearby village. Xena talks to the bride's father, brings him up to snuff, and agrees to masquerade as the bride during the ritual bathing, which just happens to be one of Atyminius' favorite times to slice and dice. But Atyminius, being the wily, wascally wabbit that he is, overhears the plan and decides to attack the bride as she sleeps in her room. But Atyminius has made his false move! Xena out-tricked him! She is actually masquerading as the bride sleeping while the real princess is doing the ritual bathing. Xena throws a blanket over Atyminius, skewers him, and takes his helmet. On the way back to the lake, Marcus thinks about keeping the helmet for himself, but he realizes he was biten by the good bug (or was that Xena last night?), and must return it even though it means his eternal condemnation in Tartarus. What a guy. Gabrielle sits by the lake edge as Xena and Marcus return to Hades (TPNTG). Xena, though, once again manipulates Hades, the wimp, by demanding that he move Marcus from Tartarus to the Elysium Fields. Complaining and whining, Hades (TGNTP) agrees. He also winces, as does the entire audience, when Xena kills Marcus so that Marcus can return to Hades (TPNTG). Xena then pops out of the lake looking like something the cat just dragged in. She walks over to the loyal and patient Gabrielle and plops down. The ladies stare out into the horizon in a scene and mood reminiscent of the conclusion of the infamous campfire scene from Callisto. COMMENTARY: The pervasiveness of "The Friendship" between Xena and Gabrielle was illustrated in this episode. The "A" story concerned Xena and Atyminius and the "B" story concerned Xena and Marcus; so, logically, one would think that this left Gabrielle in the dust. Actually, it left her sitting out by a lake. The metaphor of the lake and the images of Gabrielle patiently waiting by the lake were made even more poignant by the slow development of their friendship from the previous episodes. In a symbology which was as clear and apparent as it was left unspoken, Gabrielle's patient wait at the lake represented her unwaivering loyalty and love for her friend, Xena. Her reward for such devotion was the final scene. It is no accident that many fans of XWP are attracted to the show because of "The Friendship". Although steeped in fantasy, the show tweaks a deep wish of many people who are too busy or too confined or otherwise unable to seek out a soulmate or close friend whom they could share their lives, their hopes, and their fears with. Xena and Gabrielle are not only set in mythic times, but they exhibit a mythical relationship which many people are attracted too. On a superficial level, Mortal Beloved could be a goldmine for Freudian interpretation. You have sex, death, bloodletting, a lake which everyone and their brother are entering and emerging from after every commercial break, a return from the dead, a return from life, a walk among the dead, a walk among the living, a bride before her wedding, innocents endangered, etc. It's an episode which could easily support a research paper or two. HIGHLIGHTS: (1) When Xena comes out of the lake for the last time, you can tell she had an especially rough day at the office. (2) Gabrielle sitting by the lake. How many friends do you have that would wait a whole episode sitting by a lake hoping you would come back? (3) The scene where Xena kills Marcus is rather unsettling as it is so unexpected. DISCLAIMER: No Winged Harpies were harmed or sent to a fiery grave during the production of this motion picture. [172.5] 02-19-96 THE ROYAL COUPLE OF THIEVES. Episode no. 17. First release. Guest stars: Bruce Campbell (Autolycus). Written by Steven E. Sears. Directed by John Cameron. SYNOPSIS: Xena recruits Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, for a job. Autolycus is not cooperative at first, but Xena thoroughly convinces him of his need to help her. It seems that when Xena was active in her warlord days, she was wounded and found refuge with a group of nomads who nursed her back to health (she has a tendency to do this even in her reformed days, cf. Chariots of War). The nomads have now come to her requesting that she return to them a chest which was stolen from them by Malthus. Malthus, no fool, has called an auction to sell the contents of the chest which contains (are you sitting down?) the most powerful weapon the world has ever known! Autolycus and Xena crash the auction by masquerading as respectively, Sinteres, a famed assassin, and his assistant. When they arrive at the auction, Xena discovers the chest is surrounded by booby traps and Malthus informs everyone that the weapon is to be demonstrated the next day (no fair peeking, Xena). That night, Xena and Autolycus attempt to steal the chest, but they discover it gone and a dead Malthus in it's place. This spooks Autolycus, so he goes back to their room (yes, THEIR room), where he finds the chest. Xena, the woman of many linguistic skills, reads the markings on the chest as "Don't fear the truth; face it. For to turn away from truth is death." Xena and Autolycus then return the chest to the proper place. The next morning the real Sinteres arrives with, surprise!, Gabrielle as his prisoner. Holding Gabrielle by the traditional knife at throat position, he taunts Xena. Xena, the sharpie that she is, uses her knowledge to trick Sinteres into killing someone else. Xena, Gabrielle, and Autolycus then cut out real quick. Xena discovers that Sintese intends to continue with the auction and that the demonstration is about to happen. The gang crash the demonstration and Xena out pressure-points Sintese (he studied martial accupressure as well). Seeing an opportunity that had popped up, a bidder opens the chest. A bright light worthy of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark shoots out and fries the bidder. Xena, the quick thinker, tells her party to keep looking at the chest. She takes the writing on the chest to heart and advises them not to look away or run away. They do so and they survive. Xena checks out the contents and finds, amazingly enough, the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Seems like Xena's friends were one of the lost tribes of Israel. Imagine that! Xena returns the tablets to her friends. COMMENTARY: Bruce Campbell is just too darn cute. He originated the character of Autolycus, the Prince of Thieves, on HTLJ's 2nd season opener. It was a pleasure to find him pop up five and half months later in XWP. I first became aware of Bruce Campbell in "Army of Darkness." I found it goofy and thought nothing much else about it, until the "Adventures of Brisco County Junior" came out. I was hooked at that point. I could go on about the striking similarities in mood, humor, writing, and horses that BC Jr and XWP shared, but I will spare you that at this time. But why am I going on about Bruce? Two reasons and they both qualify as trivia! The first is personal trivia. Bruce Campbell was born June 22, 1958 in Royal Oak, MI. I was born June 1, 1958 in Kalamazoo, MI. We are both June '58'ers from Michigan. Bruce attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo in the Fall of '76. I attended Kalamazoo College that same time. True, not the same college, but K College is only just over the hill from WMU! The second trivia is about Campbell's ties with the producers of XWP. Bruce met Sam Raimi in a high school drama class (of all places!). It was love at first sight. But where did Rob Tapert appear? Rob Tapert was the roommate of one of Sam Raimi's brothers at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. It was only after these three wild and crazy guys decided to drop out that they collaborated on the "Evil Dead". The rest is history. My conclusions? First, Bruce Campbell has earned his place in the Xenaverse, not just for aiding and abetting the rise of the Renaissance Pictures creative team, and not just for creating a highly entertaining and memorable foil for Xena and Hercules; but for being a darn fine Michigander! Second, there can be no doubt now that the greatness of the Raimi brothers, Robert Tapert, and the rest of the creative team behind XWP lies solely upon their Michigan roots. HIGHLIGHTS: Every scene with Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless. They would have been better had they taken place in Michigan, though. DISCLAIMER: No Ancient and Inflexible Rules governing moral behavior were harmed during the production of this motion picture. [181.5] 02-26-96 THE TITANS. Episode no. 7. Second release. Guest stars: Mark Raffety, Amanda Tollemacha, Edward Campbell, Andy Anderson, and Paolo Rotondo. Written by R.J. Stewart. Directed by Eric Brevig. COMMENTARY: See XMR068.5 for synopsis. [187.5] 03-04-96 THE PRODIGAL. Episode no. 18. First release. Guest stars: Tim Thomerson (Meleager) and Willa O'Neill (Lila). Written by Chris Mannheim. Directed by John T. Kretchmer. SYNOPSIS: Xena and Gabrielle ambushed! Gabrielle freezes. She gets really weird and wants to go home, so she dumps Xena. After hitchhiking home by using an "It Happened One Night" technique (which was more 'mature' than the method she used in 'Sins of the Past' to get a ride), she finds her village next on a hit list from a local warlord. Her village has hired Meleager the Mighty, an alcoholic and depressed ex-warlord to protect them. Turns out that Meleager had once froze in battle and took to drink to hide his shame. Gabrielle can relate. The warlord tries to get Meleager to join him, and Meleager leads the warlord on when he discovers that they have captured Gabrielle. Meleager and Gabrielle then escape back together to the village. The next day, Meleager is missing and the warlord begins his march to the village. Gabrielle organizes the villagers and they are successful for the first attack. However, they know they cannot keep it up. Just in the nick of time, however, Meleager returns with many spears and helps the villagers shish-kabob the warlord et alia. Gabrielle then returns to the scene of the dump to presumably find Xena, but she is ambushed again. She fights and Xena joins her and they are pals again. COMMENTARY: This episode has been highly criticized among Xena fandom for the callousness of Gabrielle's behavior. For over half a year the show had been stressing that Gabrielle was Xena's new family. Xena had stated in a past episode that she considered Gabrielle so. Even Gabrielle had stated as much. However, suddenly, because she froze momentarily, Gabrielle was ready to pack it all in and go home. Ostensively, she did so in order to "work out her" confused feelings; in reality it was a quick fix to get Gabrielle where the writers wanted her to be: internally, they wanted to experiment with allowing Gabrielle some growth and independence from the overpowering Xena character; and, externally, they wanted to make a show without Lucy Lawless carrying the episode. One of the more attractive aspects of XWP is that the writers so rarely use this technique (Gabrielle momentarily acting out of character). Because of it's infrequency, the use of it becomes especially glaring in this episode, and the episodes "Athens City Academy of the Performing Bards" (again used to explain Gabrielle's sudden separation with Xena so that she can come back to Xena more mature), and "Is There a Doctor in the House" (where Gabrielle abruptly leaves the safety of the temple in order to be nearly killed so that Xena can bring her back to life). There are many fans who would also argue that "The Titans" used an extended version of this technique. In Craig Miller's SPECTRUM. Vol. 1 No. 6 (June 1996) episode guide to XWP, Mr. Miller complained mightily about the title of this episode. He wrote, "The title of this episode, by the way, doesn't make much sense. Many people think that a 'prodigal' means a person who returns home after a period of time (perhaps after some dramatic failure). This is incorrect. It refers to reckless, wasteful extravagance. Remember that in 'The Prodigal Son' parable, the son took his inheritance and quickly spent it on indulgent luxuries. Gabrielle -- the presumed title reference -- reveled in no such vices. (The title makes slightly more sense applied to Meleager, but even there it's a stretch.)" HIGHLIGHTS: Another Renee O'Connor showcase: Gabrielle's varied attempts at getting a ride; Gabrielle's attempts to make Meleager appear conscious; and Gabrielle's attempts to apologize to Xena for being such a pain. DISCLAIMER: Meleager the Mighty, the generally Tipsy and Carousing warrior-For-Hire, was not harmed during the production of this motion picture." [196.5] 03-11-96 PROMETHEUS. Episode no. 8. Second release. Guest stars: Michael Hurst (Iolaus) and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules). Written by R.J. Stewart. Directed by Stephen L. Posey. COMMENTARY: See XMR071.5 for synopsis. [203.5] 03-18-96 DEATH IN CHAINS. Episode no. 9. Second release. Guest stars: Kate Hodge (Celesta), Ray Henwood, Leslie Wing, Kieren Hutchison, and Erik Thomson. Teleplay by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster. Story by Babs Greyhosky, Adam Armus, and Nora Kay Foster. Directed by Charles Siebert. COMMENTARY: See synopsis in XMR079.5. [210.5] 03-25-96 HOOVES AND HARLOTS. Episode no. 10. Second release. Guest stars: Danielle Cormack, David Aston, Alison Bruce, and Mark Ferguson. Written by Steven L. Sears. Directed by Jace Alexander. COMMENTARY: See XMR083.5 for synopsis. [184] has been removed and replaced as XMR217.5. [215.5] 03-29-96 MCA XENA NETFORUM. Post from Lucy Lawless; posted by Xenastaff for Lucy Lawless. 212 words. COMMENTARY: Responding to the MCA Xena Netforum on-line birthday card and other fan adulation, Ms. Lawless expressed her appreciation by posting her thanks on the Netforum. From this post the phrase "hard core nutballs" was adopted en masse by Lawless XWP internet fans. Renee O'Connor's name was misspelled. Ms. Lawless dedicated her performance in the episode "Is There a Doctor in the House" to her internet fans and referred to it as her "single most intensive and fulfilling week's filming of my career." REPRINT: ATTENTION: A MESSAGE FROM LUCY!!! Thanks very much you guys for your letters and best wishes, especially all you hard core nutballs who've been around since the dawn of time. I'm afraid I can't write back personally to anyone, but I do get your notes eventually and I am personally going to demand my own furking Pez dispenser when I'm a star and my own Winebago (which is kind of a joke where I come from - like "I'm ready for my close-up Mr. Demille"). I am especially fond of our internet troll who, despite being an egomaniacal misogynist, serves to keep my feet firmly on the ground. So don't get your knickers in a twist over negative comments, okay? I've just finished the single most intensive and fulfilling week's filming of my career. The episode is "Is there a Doctor?" and I dedicate my efforts in it to all you regular Xenites - with special thanks to Renee O'Conner, my brilliant acting mate and a truly amazing woman, as well as TJ Scott our marvelous director whose star is going to go supernova in feature films before too long. Lucy P.S. - I am having a terrific birthday, thank you all, and I can honestly say I have never been happier in my life. [219.5] 04-01-96 STARLOG. No. 225. Page 6. Cartoon. "Xena was always a tough date." By Mike Fisher. COMMENTARY: First known mainstream media cartoon of Xena: Warrior Princess. It pictured a brave man holding flowers going "Yi!" as Xena brandishing a swishing sword said, "Those flowers are useless decoration, and I DON'T care to go to a restaurant. For tonight,...WE HUNT WILD PIG!" The caption read: "Xena was always a tough date." [219.6] 04-01-96 STARLOG. No. 225. Page 36. "Legendary Visions. Creating the special FX for the heroics of Hercules is truly a labor of myth & magic." By Joe Nazzaro. COMMENTARY: Primarily a showcase for HTLJ use of special effects, the article mentioned in passing that XWP used the Flat Earth special effects studio as well as HTLJ. Transcribed by Stacy Van Stipdonk. REPRINT: [Picture of Hercules with monster over his shoulder. Caption: When you take legendary journeys, you can expect to meet some legendary creatures, and Kevin Sorbo does, courtesy of the Hercules FX team.] [Picture of Mother of All Monsters. Caption: The Mother of All Monsters called for the mother of all FX, combining a live-action actress with a computerized version of the creature.] In 1963, Ray Harryhausen used the process of stop-motion animation to bring some of the greatest creatures of Greek mythology to life in Jason and the Argonauts. Almost two decades later, Harryhausen returned to ancient Greece, recounting the legend of Perseus and the Gorgon in Clash of the Titans. Now, a team of special FX technicians have picked up Harryhausen's gauntlet with their work on the syndicated fantasy- adventure series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Using today's cutting-edge computer technology, the FX team on Hercules has created a bestiary of mythological monsters -- from centaurs and cyclopes to Stymphalian swamp birds and giant serpents -- all on a budget that would make most FX artists run for cover. Leading the Hercules team is visual effects supervisor Kevin O'Neill, an alumnus of several major FX houses, including John Dykstra's Apogee, Consolidated Film Industries and Peter Kuran's Visual Concept Engineering (VCE). It was while working on Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story that O'Neill ran into producer Rob (Darkman) Tapert on the lot and learned about Hercules. "Rob said he had put together a series of two-hour movies that would start shooting in a few months and wanted to talk about the FX," O'Neill recalls. "I came aboard and started working on Hercules through VCE, and when the five movies became pretty big hits, they thought about starting a series. Rob offered me a job working directly through Renaissance [the production company run by Tapert and Sam Raimi], and that's when I came up with the idea of putting together a garage band of visual FX staffers -- a group of artists working out of their studios or houses, whose key responsibilities had to do with the specifics of getting the shots done." Training Centaurs One of O'Neill's first tasks was assembling this topflight team of FX artists, each of whom would handle a different area of responsibility. "I brought in Kevin Kutchaver as our key composite artist; he's one of the most important people involved because of his abilities to composite images, and the fact that he has an entire studio and its resources at his beck and call. I also brought in Don Waller, an ILM animator, who's no longer with the show, but worked on the five movies and first season of Hercules. "Joe Conti was the 3-D supervisor for the first season, and was replaced by Doug Beswick, who goes all the way back to working with Dennis Muren during the Gumby, days. For the second season, Doug, Kevin and I have formed a company called Flat Earth, and we've brought in Everett Burrell, an ex-Optic Nerve artist, to handle the 3-D chores. Kevin hired another digital artist, a matte painter named Phil Carbonaro, so it's basically five people doing the work [O'Neill has since recruited former Babylon 5 FX supervisor Mitch Suskin to the team], eliminating as much overhead as possible so we can do these shows." Having assembled his team, O'Neill had to prove they could come up with the goods. The turning point was the ground-breaking centaur sequences in Hercules in the Underworld, where images of man and horse were seamlessly merged by computer. "When we sat down to figure out how, to do it," says O'Neill, "I knew we were trying to create an organic image out of two organic, living things. The first problem was that the person we used wasn't an actor, which meant we had to have somebody who could really think and act like a horse, because so much subtle movement needed to go into the presentation. Number two, we needed to be critical about the area where the human's waistline and the horse's neckline blended together. I had KNB EFX create an appliance basically like the neck line of a horse, which the actor would wear as a skirt. That area would blend into the actual horse, and in fact, the actor wound up looking like Howard the Duck against the blue screen. "Finally," O'Neill continues, "we needed to get the actual tracking of the object as it walks into frame to be accurate, clean and non-obtrusive. The only person who really had a keen response when we sat down to work it all out was Kevin Kutchaver, who took the material I had shot and put it together, and it looked great." "Universal was certain that they were going to have to cut the character out," agrees Kutchaver, whose previous credits include the Addams Family and RoboCop films, and more recently Babylon 5. "They didn't think we could pull it off, but Rob really wanted it to work out, and I was the one who basically did that for him. "The reason Rob likes the centaurs is because they are creatures in the Hercules world that can actually deliver dialogue and be characters. Now he keeps trying to stump us by saying, 'Can the centaur have somebody in its arms and rear up?' Once we've worked that out, he'll say, 'OK, can we have somebody ride on its back?' I think he lies awake at night with a pad next to his bed jotting this stuff down. Give up, Rob, you're not going to stump us!" Clothing Bones Creating one of Hercules' mythological beasts is a complex and time-consuming process, involving the talents of virtually the entire FX team. "When we get the script, the first thing that happens is a storyboard artist draws out every shot for the FX sequence," O'Neill explains. "Once it's laid out in storyboard form, Rob, the director and I approve the sequence, first from a continuity and story point-of-view, which is Rob and the director's responsibility, and then I look at it in terms of time and money, to see if we can actually deliver all the shots in the time allotted. Then, we go ahead and hire a creature designer, and when the design is approved, we have it sculpted into full, three-dimensional form. [Picture of Hercules with the mandrake coming from behind. Caption: The trick with the Mandrake was "seeing it from all different angles, which breaks with the traditional idea," notes 3-D supervisor Doug Beswick.] [Picture of Bruce Campbell fighting a monster from Herc episode. Caption: The FX crew went all out for the "King of Thieves" episode, in order to do justice to guest star Bruce Campbell.] "We then take the maquette and give it to Brian Blevins, our 3- D digitizer," continues 3-D supervisor Burrell, who started working with computer animation when he assisted Foundation Imaging's Ron Thornton during the "Grail" episode of Babylon 5. "When that model is sent back to me, I break it up into sections and add the image maps. Then, I put the armature inside -- there's actually a digital armature that goes inside it, just like in stop-motion, that we can actually manipulate. Then, I give it to Doug Beswick, who does the animation. "While Everett is adding the 'bones' to it, and sending the model over to Doug, I fly down to New Zealand on the more elaborate shows to block out the FX sequences," says O'Neill. "I have to work with the directors to make sure we have all the photography necessary to put the shots together. The backgrounds are scanned into the computer and sent off to Doug, who animates the bones against the background." Enter Beswick, who has worked on everything from Star Wars to ALIENS, and now brings his extensive stop-motion background to Hercules. "My involvement would be looking at the pose the creature is in when it's beginning to be sculpted, to make sure the model is positioned properly when it's scanned into the computer. If it isn't, Everett, or whoever adds the bones to the creature, is going to have problems. It's like casting a stop- motion puppet; it must be scanned in a neutral position, so when it moves, it doesn't collapse or look weird when it stretches. "Then, Everett makes up the bones with the joints in the proper place and places them in the wire frame so they sit properly. Bone one is the main bone, and when you move it, the entire model moves across the screen. Every bone is linked to it. "Once I have the background in the computer, I can load the bones in front of it, and position the model so it interacts with the action on screen. If I've got a guy poking sticks at a monster, I can work almost the same way as Ray Harryhausen did, setting the model at a certain height, with the proper lens, camera angle and perspective, so it looks like the model is standing on the same plane as the actor. I just plot out my moves the same way I would with stopmotion." "Finally, once Doug has done the animation, we start rendering and compositing," finishes O'Neill. "The entire process takes about six to eight weeks to deliver a sequence." Of course, there's a great deal more work for the Hercules FX team than just creating cool-looking monsters. As digital compositing supervisor, Kutchaver is kept busy adding everything from lighting effects to landscapes, and increasingly, what are called "virtual sets" -- where only a small area of set actually exists, and the rest is created inside a Power Mac. [Picture of the fire guy. Caption: Visual effects supervisor Kevin O'Neill is particularly proud of the "fire guy" created by his team. "I think that one tops the list this season."] A good example of Kutchaver's digital wizardry is the episode "Gladiator," which called for a massive arena filled with cheering spectators. "They shot three elements: the first was a strip along the bottom, which was the pit where the gladiators fought. That was an actual set, with a dirt floor, a few posts in the ground and whatever walls and doors were set up. "Then, there was a shot of people cheering in one of the boxes, and another shot of the emperor and his wife in a smaller box. Initially, they just wanted to do a scene where we see one group of people sitting there, and then the emperor in his box, but I said, 'Why don't we make this bigger?' "I took the people and duplicated that element four times, playing it in four different positions in the matte painting, with the emperor in the center. It was just a matter of taking all the live-action pieces and putting them together like a jigsaw puzzle into a composition that looks correct. Then, I figured out what I had to 'paint' in order to blend all those elements together." Another impressive, budget-stretching effect was in "The Vanishing Dead," where a handful of soldiers was multiplied into a small army. "They only had one group of extras," laughs Kutchaver, "so it was basically replicating them to look like a bigger shot. If they only have the money for 20 guys to come running out, let's make it look like 60 or 100. "The other thing happening in that scene is the soldiers are running into the river as Hercules and Iolaus try to stop them. There's a mountain on the left side that ran really closely behind them, and I was able to add two or three miles to that scene by repainting the background. That really opened everything up." Breeding Monsters Looking back over their work on the first 13-episode season of Hercules, O'Neill and his team have a number of personal highlights that immediately come to mind. "The centaurs, for sure," says O'Neill, referring to "As Darkness Falls." "That probably tops the list. "Certainly, Don Walter did a great job of animating the Stymphalian swamp bird ["The Road to Calydon"], and Joe Conti, in putting it all together. When we did the gladiator sequence, I'm really glad they relied solely on us to put that entire gladiator arena together. With the snake woman ["The Wrong Path"], I think we bit off a little more than we could chew right off the bat. We were trying to combine the 3-D and centaur technologies, so there are some shots that are very good and others that I wish we had done differently." "For me, I would say it was the bird episode that Don and I did," agrees Beswick. "That was a lot of fun, because it was very much like something that Ray Harryhausen might have done. That was only the second show that I had worked on, but there were some set-ups I was very pleased with." "I'm really happy with the centaur episode," says Kutchaver. "That was probably our toughest show, and I was up around the clock on that one. There's a scene where one of the centaurs comes through a crowd of people, and I said, 'I would love to do a scene where he's actually in and behind those crowds; let's just put him in there and keep everything moving around.' That's the scene I'm really happy with. There's also the shot of the three centaurs riding over the hill, with people running in front of them. It looks more like an actual camera shot than an effect." Although understandably proud of his department's work on the first season of Hercules, O'Neill says their FX have taken an even greater leap forward in season two. "Our creatures look a little more realistic than they did last season in terms of quality. We've learned a few lessons about making the creatures bigger in our sculptures and lighting them better. "We had a huge, eel-like creature in 'The King of Thieves,' and because Bruce Campbell was in it, we really went all out to integrate both Herc and Bruce into the fight sequence, and there are some interesting cuts of the guys with the creature." "The toughest one we've done so far this season was a lizard creature called the Mandrake [in "What's in a Name"]," says Beswick. "It had short legs and these lizard-like movements, which were difficult to do, especially trying to keep those legs from looking floaty. There were shots of it running around, scampering up walls and across ceilings. That was fun, seeing it from different angles, which breaks with the traditional idea of seeing it from the ground." [Picture of bird about to capture Xena from the Prometheus episode. Caption: Xena: Warrior Princess also has its FX created by the Flat Earth team.] "We have another centaur episode this season," says O'Neill, listing other second-season highlights. "There are some beautiful matte shots with centaurs in them, because we can afford to drop the skies and build digital sets for these guys, widening the show's scale. "Then there's 'The Mother of All Monsters,' which is a huge, multi-tentacled thing, supposedly the mother of all creatures that exist in this world. That was a performance-based creature, supported in part by our composite photography, as well as the generation of an actual creature in the computer, which augments the performance of the actress playing the creature. For all the wide shots where the really bizarre action occurs with her tentacles, we used a complete 3-D creature, and we had to be very careful that everything matched as we cross-cut between them. [Picture of Sea God and Xena from opening credits of XWP. Caption: Stop-motion special FX legend Ray Harryhausen is the acknowledged inspiration for the Hercules FX team, as well as for the show itself.] "There's also a fire guy, which is pretty neat; I don't think anybody has ever seen anything like that before. We came up with a couple of tricks for that, using an actor performing on the set in a green suit, which Doug used as a reference to animate the actual humanoid creature. We then rendered a human form and composited fire wrapped around the 3-D object to get a humanoid form made of fire. I think that one tops the list this season." In addition to their work on Hercules, the Flat Earth team is also working on the less creature-heavy Xena: Warrior Princess as well as American Gothic for CBS, which requires more surreal, atmospheric effects, including a main character who appears in ghostly form. While it is hard to create mythological monsters on a weekly basis, Kevin O'Neill says that working on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is still exciting and a lot of fun for cast and crew. "I came up through the ranks of this business, working with many very talented people," he explains, "and because they look at Hercules as a very cool show to work on, we're able to tap into some really good talent from the design and FX end. "Because the show is what it is, people like to be associated with it. Many of them have a kind of tongue-in-cheek attitude. They're able to bring a lot to the mix, because they're not looking at Hercules as a big cash cow, which it certainly isn't. As wacky as it may sound, this show does represent what the FX business has always wanted to do on a long-term basis. The idea of doing Harryhausen every week is very enticing!" [219.7] 04-01-96 THE BLACK WOLF. Episode no. 11. Second release. Guest stars: Robert Trebor (Salmoneous), Kevin J. Wilson, Nigel Harbrow, Emma Turner, and Ian Huges. Written by Alan jay Glueckman. Directed by Mario Di Leo. COMMENTARY: See XMR132.5 for synopsis. ----------- ANNOTATIONS ----------- [221] 04-04-96 PHILADELPHIA FORUM. Vol. 1. No. 9. Page 7. "Greeks vs. Hollywood" By Robert Shayon. Contributor: M. Gessner COMMENTARY: Struck by the irony of two popular shows about ancient Greece and the Olympics being scheduled for Atlanta in the same summer, Mr. Shayon decided to watch HTLJ and XWP with his nine-year-old grandson. He described Lucy Lawless (actually he confused her with Xena) as "a sexy acrobatic Amazon who wields a powerful sword from a scabbard on her back, sometimes backward through her legs into the sensitive groin of an astonished enemy." Mr. Shayon seemed to have hit that nail on the head (as to Xena, not Lucy Lawless). He was not going into this as a dyed in the wool mythological hardliner. Mr. Shayon also did his homework. He mentioned that whereas Hercules was a real mythological character, Xena was a pure fabrication; however, he reported on the Xena Scrolls, "which can be found on MCA Universal's home page on the Internet, where her secret (sic) history is voluminously supplied in mail pouches exchanged by crusty archaeologists digging into the riddle of her mysterious origin." Apparently, the existence of the scrolls to Xena's fictional mythology made up for her fundamental 'fictionalness' in Mr. Shayon's opinion. Mr. Shayon viewed the XWP episode The Royal Couple of Thieves (with Bruce Campbell, released 03-07-96, episode number 17). He described the plot as Xena and a "prestidigitating King of Thieves [having] recaptured a purloined treasure chest, which upon being opened, popped up with a copy of the Ten Commandments, complete with horrifying, holy flames and lightning bolts flashing through the air, destroying pagan villains a la Raiders of the Lost Ark, inadvertently perhaps implying that Moses of the Burning Bush was a contemporary of the Guys and Dolls atop Mount Olympus. Brawls and bouts of swordplay and mayhem abounded through both episodes, with Hercules lifting men in the air and knocking their heads together and Xena kicking butt with female ferocity and feminine glee." These two sentences strongly imply that Mr. Shayon was impressed by the entertainment value of the show if not the educational potential. He also appeared amused by the show's humor and over-the-top presentation. Then Mr. Shayon asked the question, "But what has all this to do with the glory that was Greece?" After eloquently reminding the reader that the "storytellers of all cultures have long watered down and even bowdlerized great narratives to make them accessible to wider audiences," Mr. Shayon then stated: "To bridge the gap between Pericles and Hollywood is impossible, but let's see how the two television series, Hercules and Xena, stimulate our present generation to thought and action. The answer is readily available on the Internet. Click on to MCA Universal's home page and you'll find a News Forum for Herc and Xena's fans. To what memorable thought and action have they been stimulated? Most of the messages I found were about Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless, the stars of their respective shows--exchanges of comments on their bodies and their sex appeal. Fan club gossip. Not a whit about the great hero and invented heroine." In defense of Xena fandom, the author of the article obviously was not aware of the various mailing lists where, in fact, the heroic nature of Xena was and still is discussed extensively and did and still does stimulate at least some viewers to thought and action. In concluding, though, Mr. Shayon wrote: "Oh yes, let's not forget...the invention of Xena--a representation of the mighty woman to balance the warrior male. In our times and circumstances, this is an achievement not to be sneezed at. Two cheers for MCA Universal." So, after pointing out that the creators of XWP play fast and loose with genre, chronology, and culture, Mr. Shayon concluded that the value of XWP lied in it's "representation of the mighty woman to balance the warrior male." EXCERPT: [Sent out for transcription] [222] 04-04-96 DAILY VARIETY. Page 5. 164 words. "For Week Ended March 24, 1996" COMMENTARY: Episode no. 9, Death in Chains, was re-released on 03/18/96. It rated 13th with a 5.4 share, and ranked 3rd in the action hours. Its first release was 11/13/95, where it received a 5.4 share as well. REPRINT: Rank Program (Stations/% coverage) AA% GAA% 1 Wheel of Fortune (210/96) 12.4 -- 2 Jeopardy! (207/96) 10.3 -- 3 Home Improvement (214/97) 9.6 10.3 4 Oprah Winfrey Show (232/99) 7.7 7.7 4 Seinfeld (215/97) 7.7 -- 4 WCW Wrestling (176/93) 6.8 10.5 7 Simpsons (187/96) 6.3 6.3 8 Entertainment Tonight (168/93) 6.2 6.2 9 Inside Edition (159/91) 6.0 6.0 9 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (232/98) 6.0 6.6 11 Home Improvement--Wknd. (201/92) 5.8 -- 12 Journeys of Hercules (215/97) 5.5 5.8 13 Xena (201/96) 5.4 5.8 14 Warner Bros. Vol. 31(155/86) 5.3 5.4 15 Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (162/90) 5.2 5.5 16 Baywatch (217/96) 5.1 5.2 17 Roseanne (174/93) 5.0 5.2 18 Hard Copy (180/91) 4.9 4.9 18 Warner Bros. Vol. 31(156/87) 4.9 5.1 20 World Wrestling Fed. PR (159/90) 4.8 6.2 AA average refers to nonduplicated viewing for multiple airings of the same show. GAA average encompasses duplicated viewing. GAA average does not apply when there is only one run of a show. [223] 04-08-96 VARIETY. Page 34. 183 words. "Nielsen Syndication Ratings" COMMENTARY: Episode no. 8, Prometheus, was re-released on 03/11/96. It rated 14th with a 5.2 share, and ranked 3rd in the action hours. Its first release was 11/06/95, where it rated 16th with a 5.4, and ranked in a tied 3rd place for action hours. REPRINT: For week ended March 17, 1996 Stations/ Rank Program % coverage AA% GAA% 1 Wheel of Fortune 206/95 12.3 -- 2 Jeopardy 211/96 10.3 -- 3 Home Improvement 213/97 9.4 10.0 4 Seinfeld 211/97 7.5 -- 5 Oprah Winfrey Show 226/98 7.2 7.3 6 WCW Wrestling 178/93 6.7 10.8 7 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 234/99 6.5 6.9 8 Entertainment Tonight 168/93 6.4 6.4 9 Simpsons 184/95 6.1 6.1 10 Home Improvement-Wknd. 195/92 6.0 -- 11 Inside Edition 156/90 5.8 5.8 12 Journeys of Hercules 224/97 5.7 6.0 13 Wheel of Fortune-Wknd. 142/70 5.3 -- 14 Xena 200/96 5.2 55.6 15 Imagination II 159/95 5.1 5.2 15 Roseanne 172/91 5.1 5.3 17 Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 160/89 5.0 5.4 17 Hard Copy 176/91 5.0 5.1 19 World Wrestling Fed. 154/90 4.9 6.5 20 Montel Williams Show 159/90 4.5 4.6 AA average refers to nonduplicated viewing for multiple airings of the same show. GAA average encompasses duplicated viewing. GAA average does not apply when there is only one run of a show. [224] 04-08-96 PEOPLE. Page 93. 699 words. "Xena-phile New Zealander Lucy Lawless Conquers; Dastardly Foes--and American Audiences--as Xena: Warrior Princess." By Karen S. Schneider and Kirsten Warner COMMENTARY: Ms. Lawless hits the big time! A spread in People the same week she was interviewed on the David Letterman show (04/09/96) [XMR227]. Somebody's publicist was thinking that week. REPRINT: Lucy Lawless had a vision of just how Hercules's gal pal should be: dark, dangerous, riding wild unicorns, running with gods. Doing battle with gladiators fit the bill; stepping on rat poop in a sewer pipe did not. And yet, there she was last year, in a make-shift subterranean tunnel, sludging through the stinking mess in her assault on some evil king's castle. "There were so many droppings on the ground, I was slipping," says the 28-year-old New Zealand native, "and then they dumped all these rats on me that were biting and scratching, getting caught in my hair. It was so vile. I had to get a tetanus shot." Happily, her superhero health insurance was paid in full. As the star of the popular, syndicated TV show Xena: Warrior Princess--a spinoff of the cult hit Hercules: The Legendary Journeys--Lawless has attracted a devoted following of sword-and-sorcery fans. Still, Xena is a strange job for a single mom like Lawless. When it's not raining rats on her, there is always a motley mix of villains waiting to pounce. "This is the most physically demanding show for any woman on television," says Eric Gruendemann, producer of Xena and Hercules, both of which are shot in New Zealand to keep costs down. "With that much stunt fighting, you're going to get hit." The 5'10" actress from Down Under can hold her own--and says she enjoys mixing it up. "A little while ago, while fighting a rebel leader, I collected a beauty, a true black eye," she proudly reports. "The makeup department took a Polaroid in case they ever need to replicate a shiner." There was a time Lawless had a more genteel vision of show-business success. The fifth of seven children in a close-knit Catholic family, she was raised on equal parts of rugby and religion by her parents--Frank Ryan, 64, a former mayor of Mount Albert, the suburb of Auckland where Lucy grew up, and Julie, 59, a homemaker. But what she loved best was theatrics. "She used to get up on the coffee table with a seashell for a microphone and sing away," says Julie. Growing up, the family ham performed in class plays and trained in opera. In 1986 she enrolled in Auckland University to study languages and opera, but a year later she gave up on school--and singing. "I didn't have the passion," she says. What she did have a passion for was adventure. At 18, Lawless took off for Europe, traveling through Germany and Switzerland, sleeping where she could. "I lived on coffee and cigarettes until I was skeletal," she says. After her high school sweetheart Garth Lawless joined her, they went to Greece, then to the outback of Australia, taking odd jobs along the way. While in Kalgoorlie in 1987, Lawless discovered she was pregnant. The couple obtained a quickie marriage, then moved back home to a tiny apartment surrounded, she says, "by mad old ladies with cats that drove me insane." Garth managed a bar, and after Daisy, now 7, was born, Lucy took acting classes. Within a few years, her flair for drama had turned into a career. In 1994 she was cast in a one-episode role as a renegade Amazon lieutenant in Hercules. Her second appearance, as a villainess who seduces Hercules, might have been her last, but an American actress cast for a three-part role as Xena fell sick at the last minute. Says Gruendemann: "We needed someone fast." Within a week, Lawless's ash-blonde hair had been dyed black and cameras were rolling. Three episodes later she'd charmed her colleagues and high-kicked her way into her own series. Says Hercules star Kevin Sorbo: "Lucy is Xena." Since the breakup of her marriage last June, she is also single. "Garth and I just got married too young," says Lawless. For the past six months she has been dating "a wonderful man," she says, but her top priority is her daughter. During the week, while Lawless works and trains, Daisy lives with her father; on weekends she stays with Lawless in her simple, four-bedroom home in Mount Albert. "It's relentless challenges," says Lawless of life as a superhero-mom. "I would not mind if Daisy wanted nothing to do with acting," she adds, laughing. "But I'm afraid there's a lot of me in her." GRAPHIC: "My daughter has my sense of fun and irony," says Lawless (at home in suburban Auckland with Daisy and, left, as Xena). "I teach her to go for it." [Lucy Lawless and Daisy Lawless]; [See caption above--Lucy Lawless in TV show Xena: Warrior Princess]; "At first she didn't think of herself as an athlete," says personal trainer John Docherty of Lawless (at home). "We've changed her view of that." [Lucy Lawless]; "I put aside everything so I can have a great relationship with my child," says Lawless (with her brother Dan and Daisy). [Lucy Lawless, Daisy Lawless and Dan Ryan] [225] 04-08-96 BEWARE OF GREEKS BEARING GIFTS. Episode no. 12. First release. Guest stars: Galyn Goerg (Helen), Scott Garrison, Cameron Rhodes, and Warren Carl. Teleplay by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster. Story by Roy Thomas and Janis Hendler. Directed by T.J. Scott. COMMENTARY: See XMR138.5 for synopsis. [226] 04-08-96 THE OUTCAST. HTLJ episode no. 18. Second release. COMMENTARY: See XMR054.6 for first release information. [227] 04-09-96 CBS. The David Letterman Show. 11:35pm. TV Show. COMMENTARY: Lucy Lawless interviewed by David Letterman. Ms. Lawless was nervous and Mr. Letterman talked over most of her responses while being obsessed with a section of Ms. Lawless' anatomy. Mr. Letterman missed most of Ms. Lawless' jokes. It appeared Mr. Letterman had not even seen the show or did any homework. The interview basically consisted of small talk. Ms. Lawless mentioned that she told people she was an exotic dancer when she once had to go to the bank in costume; and she informed Mr. Letterman that you could not walk to Australia from New Zealand when the tide was out (best joke). TRANSCRIPTION: [sent out for transcription] [228] NOTE: Promos for the Lucy Lawless David Letterman appearance on 04-09-96 [see XMR227]. [228a] 04-09-96 ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE. Page 3E. 773 words. "Late Night to Be Lawless Zone" By Michael Storey. COMMENTARY: In a rare detailed promo for Ms. Lawless' David Letterman appearance, Mr. Storey anticipated that "the leggy and lovely Lawless should handle the puckish Letterman with effortless aplomb. If not, she could just beat the spit out of him. " [It's amazing that people get paid for this!]. Fixated on Xena's clothing, the writer wrote: "It'll be worth staying up late just to check out what sort of fashion statement Lawless will make. Viewers are accustomed to seeing her in eye-popping decollete peek-a-boo leather and breastplates, but maybe she'll show up tonight in something frilly and demure, perhaps pretty and pink." [Even more amazing that people get paid for this!] Now that XWP had been out for 7 months, it was becoming more noticeable that some reporters had started to view Xena and/or Lucy Lawless as objects of personal fantasy. This article was an excellent example of this approach to reporting about XWP. EXCERPT: Attention fans of the hip and happenin' syndicated action series "Xena: Warrior Princess." Lucy Lawless, the comely New Zealander of Amazonian proportions who plays the title role, is scheduled to trade repartee with David Letterman at 10:35 p.m. today on CBS and KTHV-TV, Channel 11. The leggy and lovely Lawless should handle the puckish Letterman with effortless aplomb. If not, she could just beat the spit out of him. The stunning 6-foot former coal miner who swings a mean sword has all the equipment to do the job. It'll be worth staying up late just to check out what sort of fashion statement Lawless will make. Viewers are accustomed to seeing her in eye-popping decollete peek-a-boo leather and breastplates (see photo), but maybe she'll show up tonight in something frilly and demure, perhaps pretty and pink. Nah. I usually catch "Xena" at 4 p.m. Saturdays on KASN-TV, Channel 38, but the show also bounces around Chicago Superstation WGN (Comcast Channel 9) at various times on Fridays and Saturdays... [228b] 04-09-96 THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE. Page P6B. 697 words. "TV - Tonight 'Face of Evil' Old Fashioned Tale of Seduction and Deceit" By John Martin COMMENTARY: A more typical, but still rare, partial sentence promo on Ms. Lawless' Letterman appearance. EXCERPT: ...Talk time... ..."Late Show With David Letterman," CBS at 11:35: Tony Danza ("Hudson Street"), actress Lucy Lawless and singer R. Kelly. CONTINUED IN PART 4 (CONCLUSION)