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....


