 THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... 
TWXN 92
07/28/97
Monday

The advance sheet of XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR):
http://xenafan.com/xmr

Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future
issues of XMR.


From the editor:

1. I got back from the SoCal XenaFest a day early and
so I was able to shoot this out. It was great seeing
all the familiar faces and all the new faces. Of all
the Fests, SoCal has a unqueness which rewards those
who attend. Robert Trebor (Salmoneus), Steve Sears
(supervising producer), and Robert Field (editor) were
in attendence plus Jason Durey, the NZ Mechanical
Effects Supervisor who personally delivered the prop
knife which was sold for $500 (plus?) at the auction. 

2. XMR #23 is being  released  later today. Check out the
XMR archive: http://xenafan.com/xmr if you are not a
subscriber or subscribed within the last few months. We
are slowly getting caught up in subscriptions. We
currently are trying to convert 1300 addresses. Eek. 

3. Today we are back into miscellany mode, after a few
issues of one-trick ponies. In this issue we encounter
the Lawless-Sorbo dating myth, we see more evidence of
how Xena has become entrenched in poplar culture (she
poops up unexplained in relatively inappropriate
places), and we will visit a bit with some nifty one-
liners from BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.

4. And what do we have to look forward to on Wednesday?
We got: a Liz Friedman quote in Chicago; a Xena quote
in Boston; a Xena passing reference in a discussion
about WebTV; Robin Hood and his most Merry Adventures;
an observation on Xena's socio-economic leve; how ELLEN
could have been beaten to her coming out party by some
ladies we know; and another Logomancy reference! Be
still my heart.


And here's today's excerpts:


[    ] 03-11-97
   ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Tuesday. Page 5D. 184 words.
"Floridian; Television Q&a"
   COMMENTARY: Hahhahaa. This article caused a tremdous
buzz on the internet that Lucy Lawless had gotten
married to Robert Tapert. In truth, the information the
reporter had was dated. It referred to Ms. Lawless'
previous marriage with Garth Lawless. 
   Also, Lawless and Sorbo are asked this question too
many times. Ms. Lawless even mentioned its frequency in
a recent ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT interview. And also,
Xena, herself, has addressed this issue in ROYAL COUPLE
OF THIEVES in regards to Xena's relationship with
Hercules (they had a meaningful encounter in the past,
but now they are JUST FRIENDS). 
   EXCERPT:
   Question: Are Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless (TV's
Hercules and Xena) married in real life?
   Answer: The answer is no, and they're not lovers,
either. They're friends,  but that's as far it goes.
Lucy is married and Kevin is involved with a blond lady
who looks nothing like Ms. Lawless....


[    ] 03-11-97
   ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE. Tuesday. Page 1E. 372
words. "Crimes and mythdemeanors" By Ron Wolfe
   COMMENTARY: In an otherwise standard listing of
Greek mythological characters (albeit the definitions
are a bit jocular), Xena pops up -- no explanation,
she's just there as comedy relief. 
   REPRINT:
   Here are some of the key players in Greek mythology,
all ready for revival:
   Aphrodite, goddess of love. No man could resist her
once she squeezed into  her magic girdle. Married to
sooty Hephaestus, god of fire, she played
slap-and-tickle with Ares, god of war.  
   Apollo, god of music, medicine, poetry, archery and
young unmarried men. Busy guy.
   Hades, gloomy-Gus god of death. Lovesick and lonely,
he dragged the beautiful Persephone to his underground
lair, but she vowed she would sooner starve than eat
his Food of the Dead. Sorry, Chuck, no love connection.
   Hera, queen of the gods. Oh, what she could have
told Oprah, what with husband King Zeus running around,
skirt-chasing mortal women and claiming it was nothing,
honey, nothing.
   Hercules, do-gooder son of Zeus and one of his
mortal pick-ups.  Hercules' 12 mighty labors included
wrestling a bull, strangling a lion and switching lanes
in Little Rock's rush-hour traffic.
   Homer, possibly a myth himself. Scholars disagree
whether the blind poet really existed -- especially
since he was supposed to have written his epic poems
"The Illiad" and "The Odyssey" around 800 B.C., some
say before the Greeks knew how to write.
   Homer's poems. "The Illiad" tells about the Trojan
War, and "The Odyssey" about King Odysseus' troubled
voyage home after the Trojans fell for his gift horse
-- the original one-trick pony.
   Jason. He and his crew sailed in search of the
Golden Fleece, and came back with the makings of a
nifty Ray Harryhausen special effects movie, "Jason and
the Argonauts" (1963).
   Pandora. Zeus hoodwinked her and her husband,
Epimetheus, with a wedding gift even worse than another
toaster: a mysterious wooden box.  Pandora popped the
lid, and Pain, Disease and War fled into the world.
   Pegasus, the winged white horse. Pretty much
oblivious to metaphor, Zeus used him as a pack-horse
for carrying thunderbolts.
   Xena, warrior princess. Nielsen ratings favorite
among households surveyed on Mount Olympus.
   Zeus. The king of the gods liked nothing better than
messing with people's minds. Oh, and don't forget --
the boss wants to see you.


[   h] 03-12-97
   THE LEDGER (Lakeland, FL). Wednesday. Page E1. 1083
words. "More Money. Price Increases at Area Attractions
Don't Slow Visitors. Worth Every Penny; Theme Park
Ticket Prices" By Carl Cronan (The Ledger)
   COMMENTARY: Okay, this is really a meaningless
reference, but hey, look! They are going to add an
attraction next year about TWISTER (the movie, not the
game).
   EXCERPT:
   ..."Our business requires a constant reinvestment in
our product," Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said.
"We want to provide our guests with the best possible
entertainment experience, and that costs money."
   Schroder said new attractions being added this
spring include live action shows based on the popular
syndicated television series "Hercules" and "Xena," and
next year an attraction emulating the hit movie
"Twister" will be added....


[    ] 03-12-97
   THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Wednesday. Page 1M. 454
words.  "Inside Garland/Mesquite" 
   COMMENTARY: Look! An adult who PUBLICLY has come out
as a Xena fan! (But strangely enough does not release
their name)
   EXCERPT:
   Occupation:  Director, Administrative Services,
Counseling Institute of Texas in Garland
   Community activities: Lieutenant governor, Division
37, Kiwanis Texas-Oklahoma District; alumni chairwoman,
1997 Texas Citizen Police Academy Symposium, Garland
Citizen Police Academy
   Birth date and place:  Sept. 23, 1958, in Fort
Wayne, Ind.
   Family:  Daughter, Allycia, 10; cocker spaniel, Bam
Bam, 9
   If I had a different job, I'd be a:  Professional
volunteer or Xena: Warrior Princess!...


[    ]  03-12-97
   THE ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION. Wednesday.
Page 08D. 576 words. "Channel Surfer. Fox's live a.m.
show paying Atlanta visit" By Bob Longino
   COMMENTARY: Another pointless reference but heck, it
is a reference!
   EXCERPT:
   ...Cape fear
   Wave bye-bye to "The Cape." The syndicated series,
starring Corbin Bernsen as an astronaut, will call it
quits after this TV season. The reasons? Too big a
budget and low ratings. "Cape" has averaged roughly a
2.4 in household ratings so far this season. That's low
enough for top syndicated competitor "Xena: Warrior
Princess" to really sneer at. Old Xena's been
commanding a 7.8 rating recently....


[   d] 03-14-97
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. Page 68. "The Week" By Bruce
Fretts and  Kristen Baldwin
   COMMENTARY: Review of Buffy Vampire Slayer. Xena now
has become part of an adjective!
   EXCERPT:
   ...Aided by a rambling suitor (Nicholas Brendon) and
a shy computer hacker (Alyson Hannigan), Buffy takes on
the monsters with a combination of Valley Girl
put-downs ("You look like DeBarge," she tells a vampire
in '80s duds) and Xena-style butt kicking. High school
provides its own horrors, like Cordelia (Malibu Shores'
Charisma Carpenter), the dread Popular
Girl who speaks primarily in insults ("Nice dress. Good
to know you've seen the softer side of Sears"). Not
since 1989's bleak comedy Heathers has the
juxtaposition of adolescent angst with maimings and
murders been such a good time....


[   e] 03-14-97
   THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Friday. 810 words. "'Buffy's'
Sarah Michelle Gellar has a little 'Slayer' in her" By
Frazier Moore (AP Television Writer)
frazier_moore@ap.org
   COMMENTARY: More Buffy and the inevitable Xena
comparisons.
   EXCERPT:
   ...Buffy is a teen angel in mini-skirts that have
the camera scrambling to maintain decorum. She's an
outspoken judge of the human condition ("You just don't
get it," she tells her mother, "and believe me, you
don't WANT it!")
   And she's a 5-foot-3-inch banty Xena, kicking
vampire butt while she razzes each hellhound with a
crack like, "See what happens when you roughhouse?"...


[    ] 03-14-97
   ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS. Friday. Page 15H. 601 words.
"Jumpin' Jupiter! 'Orpheus' in Alaska. The Arts" By
Mike Dunham (Daily News)
   COMMENTARY: A production of Offenbach's ORPHEUS IN
THE UNDERWORLD is compared in part with XENA: WARRIOR
PRINCESS.
   EXCERPT:
   Perhaps the most touching tale in classical
mythology is that of Orpheus, the first musician, whose
sweet songs enchanted wild animals and so delighted the
gods that, when his beloved wife, Eurydice, died, they
let him enter Hades -- the ancient world's abode of the
deceased -- to bring her back to life.
   Or that was the story before Jacques Offenbach's
1858 spoof, ''Orpheus in the Underworld,'' which gets
its Alaska debut this week...
   ...Not the least of her felicities is the fact that
death annuls one's marriage vows, a technicality that
intrigues lusty Jupiter, king of the gods. With an
entourage of ditzy deities right out of ''Xena: Warrior
Princess,'' he jumps across the Styx for some Olympian
high jinks after public opinion coerces Orpheus into
doing the right thing and making an unwilling attempt
to rescue his unwilling spouse...


Notices:

All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at
(http://xenafan.com/xmr). 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). If you have never been there, you
are **not** a xenafan!

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! I am greatly indebt to you), the MCA
NetForum, the Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. I
also would like to thank sirvin@law.wfu.edu for
assitance in collecting the newstories. 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". 


