THIS WEEK IN THE XENA NEWS....
TWXN #27
09/10/96

Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR):
http://www.teleport.com/~gater/IAXS.html

XMR is a periodic annotated world press review of
reports regarding the internationally syndicated
television show XENA: Warrior Princess (1995 - ) and
the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor.  For
a free e-mail subscription send "subscribe XMR" to
ktaborn@lightspeed.net. Excerpts from the following
cites will appear in future issues of XMR.


[    ]  08-01-96
   COLLECTING FIGURES. No. 20. August. Page --. ---
words. "The Year's Hottest Female Figures"
   Contributed and reviewed by Reader Stephanie TNT
<slr@p.tribnet.com>
   COMMENTARY: The top female toy figures were Xena,
Wonder Woman, Lt. Uhura, Shi, Angela from Spawn, Statue
of Liberty Barbie, She Hulk, Florence Griffith-Joyner,
Princess Leia, and Kara from Dragonheart.
   The picture was of the 10-inch (I know this from the
curved sword), but  it seemed as though the writer
meant the 5-incher, since the 10-incher only just came
out (and likely wasn't out before his deadline). 
   Xena was No. 4 on the Action Figure Hot List, with
the note: "These have all but disappeared.")
   The price list in the back of the mag, which had
prices on everything from Barbies to James Bond to
Laverne and Shirley action  figures, put the 5-inch
Xena at $20+. The 10-incher was not listed. The L&S 
set, meanwhile, goes for $110, while Lenny and Squiggy
are $135. Whew. 
   The magazine had three different covers each month.
Xena and the other 10 top female figures were on the
comic version. The general circulation version had
Barbies on the cover, highlighting an article on men
collecting Barbie.  There was also a sports version
with a close-up of a Mike Tyson figurine. 
   In the article, their was a graphic of the 10-inch
Xena action figure, as well as Wonder Woman. 


[   ] 08-10-96
   AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN. Saturday. Sports. Page --
. 213 words. "Want to Meet Gabrielle, Star of Xena
Warrior Princess?"
   Contributed by HJ Hewitt (HJJH@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu)
   COMMENTARY: A contest was sponsored by the Austin
American- Statesman educational services department and
the producers of XWP whereby 24 boys and girls would
win an invitation to an ice cream party hosted by Renee
O'Connor who would talk to the kids about the show. A
follow-up article after the ice cream party appeared in
the Austin-American on 09/05/96 (XMR---).  The article
gave details as to the contest, enticing the winning
entrants with "you will not only get an ice cream
treat, but Gabrielle (Renee) will personally autograph
a photo for you.  You'll also get to spend an hour
hearing about how the show is made.  She may even tell
you some Xena stories you haven't seen on TV."


[   ] 09-07-96
   TV GUIDE. Saturday. Page 10. --- words. "Cheers &
Jeers"
   COMMENTARY: Pondering whether there was a
correlation between action stars and singing, the TV
Guide Cheers & Jeers section cheered both Lucy Lawless'
and Jackie Chan's singing on two different talk shows
the same week. Ms. Lawless' sang ""I'm an Old Cowhand
(from the Rio Grande)" on the 08-16-96 Rosie O'Donnell
Show, a syndicated TV daily talk show.


[x052] 09-07-96
   THE TAMPA TRIBUNE. Saturday. Page 7. 1765 words.
"Columbia Brandon Regional Medical Center"
   COMMENTARY: Not a Xena XWP reference, but on August
5th in Tampa, Florida, a new Xena entered into the
world, Alexis Xena Marie Lanier.


[   ] 09-08-96
   SACRAMENTO BEE. Page EN12. 2200 words. "Mad about
Syndication" By Dan Vierria
   COMMENTARY: In a review of the new season's freshman
syndicated offerings, Mr. Vierra blamed the "huge
success" of XWP and HTLJ for the appearance of "Tarzan:
The Epic Adventures" and "The Adventures of Sinbad."


[   ]  10-01-96
   THE WEB MAGAZINE. October/November. Page 110. ---
words. "WebReviews" by Derk Richardson
   COMMENTARY: XMR (the newsletter you are reading
now!) is archived on the IAXS (International
Association of Xena Studies) webpage, which was
designed and maintained by Tricia Murphy (webpage
princess) and subtly manipulated by me, Kym Taborn
(webpage pest). This very same web page was reviewed in
the premiere issue of The Web Magazine, yet another
consumer oriented web guide entering an already glutted
market. Released September 17th, the review got carried
away in it's description of a research project. Of the
36 different projects listed, Mr. Richardson fixated on
one alone and embellished upon it. The actual research
project was titled, "018. Ambiguities in the
Relationships Among the Women of XWP" [it was
registered to Heparin]. Mr. Richardson called it
"sexual preference ambiguities".  Is that Freudian? You
betcha!
   Although he called the page thin, Mr. Richardson
deemed the site "promising". He also added that the
page "emulates both the cult series'
medieval-meets-modernist atmosphere (graphically) and
its ironic attitude (in wry approach to content)..."
   On a scale of 1 (avoid it at all costs) to 5 (marry
it), Mr. Richardson rated the page "2" for content, "4"
for design, "3" for links, and "3" overall.  The
overall score was weighted towards the links score,
since the reviewer placed a very high value to the
number of links on a given site. 
   This is surreal. I am reviewing a review of my
webpage without using any mirrors!


