THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS....
TWXN 68
02/10/97

Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR):
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TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR. 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.


[    ] 01-14-97
   BPI ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WIRE. Tuesday. 1556 words.
"TV People" by Rick Sherwood
   COMMENTARY: In a notice about the Burbank Convention
the reporter snidely mentioned, "the first (and perhaps
last) ever Official Hercules & Xena Convention" and
"sponsors claimed the event a success even though it
didn't quite get the attendance of similarly inspired
'Star Trek' or 'Highlander' events."
   First of all, the convention was sold out. When
something is sold out, no more tickets can be sold. It
does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
The number one reason that the HERCULES/XENA convention
did not match the numbers of STAR TREK and HIGHLANDER
conventions is because it was held at a convention
center which only allowed a capacity of 2000. The
important thing was that the convention was filled to
capacity. That guaranteed there will be more of them.
   Methinks the reporter did not really research his
topic and only looked at gross numbers. He did not take
into consideration capacity.   
   EXCERPT:
   ...It wasn't quite a Trekkie convention, but
hundreds of fans of the syndicated series "Xena" and
"Hercules" did show up in Burbank, Calif., earlier this
month for the first (and perhaps last) ever "Official
Hercules & Xena Convention" paying tribute to the two
flesh-filled fantasy programs. "Xena" star Lucy Lawless
showed up as did other stars, and several attendees
came dressed as their favorite TV super heroes as a way
to show their appreciation. Everyone seemed to have a
good time and sponsors claimed the event a success even
though it didn't quite get the attendance of similarly
inspired "Star Trek" or "Highlander" events....


[    ] 01-14-97
   THE BALTIMORE SUN. Tuesday. Page 1E. 1564 words. "a
Cult Cries out for Xena; TV: Warrior Princess Is an
Inspiration for Feminists, a Turn-on for Men and Women,
and a Hoot for All Who Dare." By David Zurawik.
   COMMENTARY: IAXS gets a plug! "International
Association of Xena Studies with its own online journal
full of articles with such titles as 'Xena and
Heathcliff: Byronic Heroes' and 'The Lesbian Spirit of
Xena Warrior Princess.'"
   For those rushing off to read these exciting essays,
you will have to wait until the next issue of WHOOSH!
The journal of IAXS. Mr. Zurawik read the in progress
list of research topics for IAXS...but hey! He read
them and retained them.
   EXCERPT:
   Outside the ballroom of the Burbank Airport Hilton,
a woman named Minerva Adams is describing the outfit
she is wearing -- copper-and-leather helmet, leather
tunic top with breastplate, flared skirt made of thick
leather straps and leather-stocking style boots that
lace up to her knees.
   She is just at the part where she is explaining the
significance of the two fierce-looking brass lion's
heads with rings through their noses on each side of
her breastplate, when a very tall man wearing only a
mask and various pieces of fur wrapped around his body
walks up, looks her over and, without introduction,
says, "Hun?"
   "No, Roman, actually," Adams responds in a tone that
suggests she doesn't welcome the interruption.
   "Roman?" the guy says incredulously as he peers more
closely at her outfit through the eyeholes of his mask.
"Roman? You're kidding, right?"  
   At which point, Adams turns to flash him a look
every bit as fierce as that of the lions on her
breastplate and reaches for the sword she is carrying
in a scabbard on her back.
   "Yeah, Roman, OK, I see it now," the man in the fur
says quickly, his tone changing appreciably, as he
starts to move away. "Early Roman, but definitely
Roman. Yeah, Roman. OK, fine. And may the gods be with
you, Xena." 
   Welcome to the official "Xena: Warrior Princess"
convention -- where women are fierce and they don't
take no guff off guys dressed as Visagoths. 
   It was the first annual official "Xena" gathering --
held here Sunday -- and virtually everything about it
screamed that "Xena" was on the fast track of moving
from cult-hero status to a full-blown pop culture
phenomenon after only a year and a half on syndicated
television.
   Maybe it was seeing all those little 8-, 9- and
10-year-old girls dressed in miniature Xena outfits
proudly practicing kung-fu kicks as they walked around
the convention floor. Maybe it was finding out there is
already an International Association of Xena Studies
with its own online journal full of articles with such
titles as "Xena and Heathcliff: Byronic Heroes" and
"The Lesbian Spirit of Xena Warrior Princess."
   Or, perhaps, it was just seeing how quickly the
convention organizers -- the same folks who stage the
"Star Trek" gatherings -- sold out their 2,000 tickets
priced at $ 15 and $ 30, leaving 200 fans standing in
the rain outside the center all afternoon on the maybe
off-chance they would be admitted when Lucy Lawless,
the statuesque New Zealander who plays Xena, finally
made her appearance.
   Almost everything Xena sold out Sunday -- Xena
posters, Xena CD-ROMS, Xena dolls, Xena calendars and
Xena videotapes -- by the time Lawless made her
appearance. It was an appearance worth the wait. More
than 2,000 Xenites packed into an auditorium designed
to hold 1,600 standing on their chairs, clapping,
cheering, yelling, whistling, popping hundreds of flash
bulbs and chanting, "Do it, Lucy, do it."
   And Lawless did it, giving a big kung-fu kick,
throwing her head way back and letting go with the
high-pitched, banshee-like, Xena war cry,
"Yii-yii-yii-yii-yii-yii-yii." It's the one she sounds
at the big dramatic moment on her television show when
the bad guys of ancient times have gone too far in
pushing around Xena or those whom she protects and, in
the words of Lawless, "Xena has to start kicking
mythological butt."
   The "Xena" phenomenon starts with the television
show, which has become the most successful new action
series in syndication since "Baywatch." It is among the
top 10 syndicated series worldwide and regularly beats
such hits as "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in Nielsen
ratings here and elsewhere. 
   Xena, the character, was created out of whole cloth
by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, a talented filmmaking team
responsible for such cult and horror movies as "Evil
Dead." Tapert says they patterned her on the "evil
warrior princesses" played by Lin Ching Hsia, a cult
film star in Hong Kong, in such films as "The Bride
With White Hair."
   In her first appearance in 1994 on "Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys," which Tapert and Raimi produce,
Xena was all evil -- murdering, pillaging and burning
villages with her army of thugs.     But when Raimi and
Tapert tried to sell executives at MCA Universal -- the
studio distributing "Hercules" -- on "Xena" as a
spinoff, they were told no thanks unless they could
figure out a way "to get her turned around so that
she's good."
   In September 1995, "Xena" debuted with these words,
which still open each episode: "In a time of ancient
gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out
for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in
the heat of battle." 
   Xena was turned around far enough to suit the
executives at Universal, but she is still a very human
hero, who has all sorts of what Lawless calls "wicked
impulses." Developing Xena as a flawed hero is one of
the smartest things about the show.
   Probably the smartest, though, is how many different
levels the series plays at and how open it is to
various interpretations by different viewers. 
   In its most progressive and feminist sense, "Xena"
is one of the first television series to take the
psychic power of
mythology and the Hero Quest and plug a woman into that
archetypal male journey. That's the "Xena" recently
celebrated in a Ms. magazine cover story.
   That is also the "Xena" many of the Xenites and
others in attendance spoke of when asked about the
appeal of "Xena."     "She's a strong, independent
woman, and I think it's a good thing that my kids are
so into her," said Carolyn Jenz, 41, of Long Beach.
"She's a good role model for my daughter."
   Her daughter Stephie, 10, was wearing one of the
mini "Xena" outfits, which Mom had made.
   "Yeah, she's a good model," Stephie says of "Xena,"
as she does a twirl to show off her outfit and falls
down.
   But there are other ways of seeing "Xena," one of
which is essentially the flip side of the feminist
view. In this one, "Xena" is seen as sex object for
male viewers, a kind of
oversized, mythological Crumb creation of leather,
flesh and various body parts.
   Jim Rockermann, an 18-year-old high school student
who drove down from Seattle to see Xena, articulates
this position when he says, "What can I say? Xena's
hot, totally hot I want her."     The Internet is full
of arguments about whether Xena is feminist hero or sex
object. She is, of course, both if that's the way
different viewers perceive her. Nor does it stop there. 
   Lesbian viewers have made their own sense out of
"Xena" as the article "The Lesbian Spirit of Xena
Warrior Princess" indicates.     In the premiere
episode of "Xena," the warrior princess rescued a young
woman named Gabrielle (Renee Gordon) at the altar of a
loveless marriage. The two have become faithful
traveling companions -- a kind of Batman and Robin of
ancient Greece. Their relationship is a deeply
committed one that is at the heart of the show for some
viewers.
   For her part, Lawless says people will see what they
want to see in the show. She points out that Xena has
also been involved in physical relationships with
Hercules and several other men.     Lawless, who sat
down for an interview backstage Sunday as the crowd out
front built and built, said she's comfortable with all
the sociological talk about "Xena" as long as it
doesn't obscure what she thinks is the main point: the
show's sense of fun.     "I hope it does become the
next great TV phenomenon, and I think it has caught a
wave, a need of some kind for a strong, female hero. I
think it definitely makes people feel something, even
though they might not be able to say exactly what it is
that it makes them feel. That's my goal anyway: to make
people feel something every episode.
   "But don't forget that it's mainly a hoot. It's
great fun from a bunch of twisted individuals making a
show that we really like," she says. "There's really a
lot of satire and irony in what we do, and we are
always winking at the audience."
   The show certainly reflects that sensibility with a
campy sense of humor, wisecracks often delivered in
modern-day language and mind-boggling Xena battle
acrobatics that offer their own kind of goofy viewing
pleasure. 
   Lawless -- the 30-year-old mother of an 8-year-old
daughter, Daisy -- sort of winks her way through the
interview. What does she think about the crowd building
out front and, in fact, a whole convention devoted to
her character? 
   "Well, mainly, I just want to giggle, you know. I
mean, I haven't been out there yet, so I don't know
what to make of it, do I?"
   She saves the biggest wink for just before she goes
onstage, as the crowd that has been at the Xena
convention for seven hours now starts to stomp. She
comes over to the reporter who has been asking her all
the questions about popular culture and she says, "You
know what my real goal is? To infiltrate every level of
popular culture. I'm coming into your home, America,
every home."     And, then, she bounds onstage, setting
off the din of all that pent-up energy and adulation as
she launches into the keening Xena battle cry, and
2,000 voices try desperately to respond by getting
their tongues around the same eerie sounds.
   It's a moment silly and profound, screwy and
wonderful and absolutely mesmerizing.
   "Yii-yii-yii-yii-yii-yii-yii."
   And may the gods be with you, Xena, warrior
princess.
   GRAPHIC: Swordplay: Lucy Lawless tears into the
part. 
