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Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V2 #234
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chakram-refugees-digest    Monday, August 26 2002    Volume 02 : Number 234



                               Today's Subjects:
                               -----------------
  [chakram-refugees] <<The Play's The Thing>>  ["Cheryl Ande" <cande@sunlink]
  [chakram-refugees] Season 6 on DVD?  [Sarah Anne Packard <abbagirl@cybersp]
  RE: [chakram-refugees] Season 6 on DVD?  ["bookdaft" <bookdaft@voyager.net]

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Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 17:04:52 -0400
From: "Cheryl Ande" <cande@sunlink.net>
Subject: [chakram-refugees] <<The Play's The Thing>>

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Once again we have an episode that I remember as being on I disliked and once
again I find that I like it much better this time around.  There are still
problems with it but I did find some funny moments.

Lets start with my gripes.  The episode is a take off of the very funny movie
The Producers - a great film which follows the adventures of two producers who
decide there is more money in a flop than a hit and decide to produce a
musical comedy extolling Hitler.  The film follows our two con men as they try
to make fools of a raft of theater people who are no talent ego-maniacs such
as the Nazi who wrote the play.  Here is the rub in this story  - Gabrielle is
the one played for a fool.  It is actually uncomfortable to watch the con
people try to take Gabrielle over.  Gabrielle does nothing to ask for this
abuse - she may have written a bad play but her heart is in the right place.
She never sought out these people and innocently lost her scroll that the cons
use.  Also Gabrielle is so  happy and thrilled at their praise that the
audience feels bad for her - anybody who has ever created anything can
identify with Gabby's joy at being praised.

What saves the episode is that Gabrielle takes the con away from the villains.
No she never catches on but she turns the table.  In a very funny piece of
satire Gabby learns that what sells in entertainment is not high ideals but
sex and violence.

 Gabby is nothing but enthusiastic and when she catches on to this idea - she
is a director obsessed.  I love when she confronts her cast and announces her
change of heart after trying to get her rather dense cast to understand her
simile about a flower having a smell if no one is around to smell it she
announces with maniacal glee that she is "going to jam this little flower down
the audiences throat'" and as for the critics "we'll kill em'all".  From then
on Gabby lets the blood flow, hot tubs abound and when Minya and Paullina (the
play's Xena ) gets into brawl Gabby eggs the combatants on.  It's a wonderful
comic performance by Renee.

There are also nice touches here and there.  There are lot inside jokes - the
audition looks suspiciously like the costume contest at the conventions.
Producer's get their share of lambasting - Joxer is now a producer and
certainly this seems to indicate that producer's may not be the brightest
people in the world but they do have a handle on the lowest common denominator
when selling entertainment.  The audience is also gently raked over the coals
- - they love their sex and violence and are thrilled when Xena shows up to beat
the bad guys to a pulp live on stage.  They are easily lead when the cons try
to make their escape Gabrielle calls out to the crowd to stop them.  They just
sit there until she yells "interactive theater" and they all take off after
them.  In the end Gabby has her hit but she learns that people don't like to
be preached to so she better hid her lessons in some really action packed
adventures.

Also there are some nice performances by supporting players.  Alison Wall once
again appears as Minya who is a cynical commentator on the action.  Polly
Baigent, as Paullina the very bad but very acrobatic actress who is cast as
Xena, is funny in her ongoing feud with Minya.  In a very funny finale Minya
and Paulina apparently make-up when Minya discovers that she is a thespian -
which leave a puzzled X & G wondering if that is what Minya actually meant.
Peter Muller is also good as the arrogant centaur actor who won't play
quadrupeds and wants to direct.  This is a Xena lite episode but LL is funny
as a disgruntled Xena who is left behind in the field as Gabby goes off to
look for her missing scroll and she is none too pleased to be described as  a
bad actress by a warlord.

I think the weakest point in this episode is the writing.  I mentioned by
problems with the con played on Gabrielle.  It also irks me when writers of
the episode seem unfamiliar with the show.  When the centaur arrives on stage
Gabrielle is awestruck - someone apparently forgot that Gabrielle knows a lot
of centaurs.

On the upside ROC looked great and of all the episodes she looked her
loveliest in this one.  The costumes were great and it was shot with bright
vivid colors and was a joy to watch.

CherylA
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Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 17:07:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sarah Anne Packard <abbagirl@cyberspace.org>
Subject: [chakram-refugees] Season 6 on DVD?

 Since I just found out today that my mom got me my first DVD player
(wahoo!!! :) ), I'm already planning all the stuff I want/need to get on
DVD...I remember a while back people talking about how Season 6 was going
to be released on DVD. Is that still happening, does anyone know, and
when? Hmmm....I want them to release every season on DVD, especially since
I've put off on buying them on vhs for that reason (well, that and
because the boxed sets were so damn expensive! And I'd heard all those
horror stories about Davis-Panzer or whatever...)...I know FIN Director's
Cut is on dvd, and the Herc Xena trilogy and even the Herc telemovies, but
that's it for now, on Region 1 dvd, right?


 -Sarah, aka the abbagirl-


P.S. I haven't been watching as many Xena reruns lately, partly because
Oxygen switched the times around and I'm not sure when they're on now and
also because I've been very busy...but today I came across "One Against An
Army" and just had to watch. :) That episode still moves and thrills
me...and now I'm definitely back in a Xenite mood. :) I still need to get
my tix for Creation's con here in Michigan (Dearborn) in Oct, with Claire
(Stansfield) and Alex (Tydings) and of course their infamous cabaret!
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Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 22:00:18 -0400
From: "bookdaft" <bookdaft@voyager.net>
Subject: RE: [chakram-refugees] Season 6 on DVD?

<<< Since I just found out today that my mom got me my first DVD player
(wahoo!!! :) ), I'm already planning all the stuff I want/need to get on
DVD...I remember a while back people talking about how Season 6 was going to
be released on DVD. Is that still happening, does anyone know, and when?
Hmmm....I want them to release every season on DVD, especially since I've
put off on buying them on vhs for that reason (well, that and because the
boxed sets were so damn expensive! And I'd heard all those horror stories
about Davis-Panzer or whatever...)...I know FIN Director's
Cut is on dvd, and the Herc Xena trilogy and even the Herc telemovies, but
that's it for now, on Region 1 dvd, right?


 -Sarah, aka the abbagirl->>>>

So far as I know there is nothing decided yet as to whether there will be
any Xena DVDs.  But if you want to let Universal know you want them, you can
send your thoughts off this way:

**DVD ALERT**

Are you interested in getting Xena on DVD? If you are, let Universal know.
To contact them, go to:

http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/contact_us/

and then click on Accept.  Go to Home Video and DVD, and send them a short
email letting them know you want to see Xena on DVD.


******************

When I posted, I told them exactly what I wanted.  Whether any of that will
be taken into account, isn't clear.  But it seems Universal wants to know
what the market may be for them.  Word seems to be that they got the
message.  It doesn't hurt to reinforce it.

bd
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End of chakram-refugees-digest V2 #234
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