From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V2 #277 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Monday, October 7 2002 Volume 02 : Number 277 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] counting "sheep" [IfeRae@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] Taverns ["Cheryl Ande" ] [chakram-refugees] Filmed in N.Z. ["H.J.J. Hewitt" ] [chakram-refugees] New Zealand in Nat'l. Geographic [Junejanu@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] ["Cheryl Ande" ] [chakram-refugees] Velasca as a Siren [cjlnh@webtv.net (Cheryl LaScola)] Re: [chakram-refugees] <> [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 00:44:26 EDT From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] counting "sheep" In a message dated 10/5/2002 12:25:09 PM Central Daylight Time, spri0037@tc.umn.edu writes: > And since our two heroines were constantly traveling, seems > they were in taverns alot. > > First season had the most. I'm going to list some memories of episodes, > and some of my favorite scenes. I didn't cheat by going over to whoosh, > but I have used them before to jog my memory. > > 1) first season > Xena trilogy on hercules - "warrior princess: xena and Iolus > and hercules in a tavern; hercules later on in a different tavern. > > Sins of the past - xena's mom's tavern > Chariots of war - another tavern where gabrielle hung out > waiting for xena. met this nice warlord's son > Cradle of Hope > Death in Chains > Prometheus > Path Not Taken > Mortal Beloved > Callisto > Athen's City Academy... > > Other seasons > The Rhingold > Gabrielle's hope > Punchlines > The Quill is Mightier... > "Animal Attraction" has quite a few tavern scenes. One of my favorites is where Xena drinks milk and asks Amarice (re: getting pregnant) "What? Is it in the water?" By the way, I also sometimes use XWP reminiscing to put me to sleep. Ironic, since it's one of the few shows that kept me so awake. - -- Ife ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 15:24:53 -0400 From: "Cheryl Ande" Subject: [chakram-refugees] Taverns More taverns: You Are There: Ares caught in tavern and brothel, Xena and Gabrielle's final interview where Xena almost reveals the nature of her relationship with Gabby. Many Happy Returns: Xena loses Hermes helmet when Gabby switches bags. CherylA Old Ares Had a Farm: open scene shere Xena finds out Ares has a price on his head. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 15:31:15 -0500 From: "H.J.J. Hewitt" Subject: [chakram-refugees] Filmed in N.Z. It seems as if, this week, every channel and its brother has a version of something related to Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD, but even if it doesn't interest you, you might want to catch A&E's, shot down in Xena-land! (And if you're a dino aficionado, the ones in this are done by the guys that did them for DISCOVERY channel's "Walking with Dinosaurs".) The A&E movie is in two 2-hr. parts, the first of which plays and replays back-to-back all evening tonight (Sunday), with the 2nd half doing the same tomorrow (Monday). Then there's a continuous 4-hr. run-thru on Saturday afternoon. Dunno how good the movie is, but you can sure count on grrrrreat scenery! TEXena ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 17:19:41 EDT From: Junejanu@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] New Zealand in Nat'l. Geographic The current issue of Nat'l. Geographic has an article on the rather unusual (i.e., found nowhere else in the world) flora and fauna - particularly the fauna - of NZ, and the efforts to save it before it becomes extinct. Some nice scenic shots, but emphasis is on the wildlife, both extinct and on the brink. June ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 17:28:20 -0400 From: "Cheryl Ande" Subject: [chakram-refugees] # # # # ## This episode is one of those hat has grown on me over time. I didn't much care for it the first time I saw it but now I have grown quite fond of it. The opening has some nice banter between Xena and Gabrielle, as Gabby looks for mushrooms to cure Xena's morning sickness. As Gabby points out Xena is happy because she can laugh at herself ( Xena commenting on her expanding waistline: Ugh I fell like a slug). Things get serious when Xena suffers terrible cramps and at the healer's hut has a terrifying vision of a tiny skeleton ripping through her stomach (a vivid warning about eating strange mushrooms). Xena know this is some kind of premonition and with Americe in tow, she and Gabrielle head out to the northern Amazons. There they meet up with Yakut the young shameness Xena left in charge in AITST (Otere, the queen, is oddly no where to be found). It is determined that Alti is after the baby. Xena resolves to fight Alti but Gabrielle strenuously objects and volunteers to fight Alti instead. Xena reluctantly agrees and Gabrielle performs the rituals to enter the spirit world. There is a very good hunting sequence with Gabrielle looking like Mycenaean Annie Oakley and I love her entry into the Amazon village wearing the bloody carcass of the really big stag she killed. Gabby just looks so disgusted that you know she is think "I really really love Xena so wearing a big bloody deer head on my head is perfectly ok but Xena owe me big time." Gabby now goes into a trance - she has mixed her blood with the stags and Xena's (in order to be tied to the real world) and drinks. The trances in this episode are one of my biggest gripes of the episode - there are three trances in the episode and they go on forever - Gabrielle's lasts 30 seconds and the others at least 20 second (I timed them). They are just a hodge podge of images that seem like time wasters and they give the impression that they are fillers. Finally Gabrielle awakens in the spirit world. The spirit world scenes are well done visually - the color is just a bit off and with the freezing of the action now and then giving them a feel of unreality . Things do not go well for Gabrielle in the spirit world. Alti makes her present known to Gabby in spectacular manner with one the best lines in the Xenaverse: " Why isn't it Xena's little bitch. Welcome to the dog pound". The lines are delivered with lip smacking relish by Claire Stanisfield and the subtextual implications are mind boggling but yet there is still deniability here, perhaps Alti is just saying Gabby is Xena's lap dog and nothing more. Anyway things gets worse for Gabby when Alti manipulates time and space and Gabrielle is killed by Alti. Back in the real world Xena revives Gabby with some mouth to mouth and there is a heart felt reunion with Xena exhorting Gabrielle not to do that again ( whether she means not dying or fighting Alti it's unclear). So Gabrielle failed but she did find out that Alti doesn't want to kill the baby but steal it's soul so she can use the baby's body to be reborn. So now a plan is hatched - our heroes will use an unproven ceremony to trap Alti's soul using her bones and liquid amber (there is no such thing but hey this is magic time). The amber tree is guarded by an Amazon mystic with unfortunate name of Chi'ia (for those of who may not be familiar with American Christmas traditions the Chia pet is a gift, or curse, that every American is afflicted with at least once in their life - it is a small clay animal that you water and grass grows out of it). Every time the they say Chi'ia I think of a little green lamb. Xena and Yakut go off to retrieve Alti's bones. At the grave Xena discovers a horrible secret - Yakut has been the unwitting author of all her troubles. Yakut, using Alti's skull, was trying to harness Alti's powers for good when she freed Alti's soul. Things get worse when in direct violation of Xena's orders she tries to fight Alti alone and Xena must rescue her (another trance), only to have the baby's soul stolen by Alti. Alti now has the second most famous line in the Xenaverse: when fighting Xena Alti thrust her hand into Xena's abandon with the words "I always wanted to be inside of you, Xena" (I can't even begin to think of a nonsubtextual interpretation of those words). Alti will only give back the soul of the baby if Xena will resurrect her. Meanwhile at Chi'ia's lair Gabrielle is going to learn another secret. Americe is being her own rather sweet smart ass self about scary mistics when Chi'ia pops up lets off a bombshell. Americe is not a true Amazon and she can't be allowed to get the amber. When Americe leaves Gabrielle, a true Amazon, is allowed access to the sacred tree. Outside of the cave Gabrielle comforts the distraught Americe. Americe admits that she took the identity of the Amazons because she had no identity. Gabrielle then gives her a bit of wisdom: When she joined Xena she was always in Xena's shadow trying to be like her but Xena taught her it is warmer in the sunshine - in other words don't try to be something you're not be yourself. Back at the Amazon camp Gabby finds out about the baby and desperate plan is conceived. They decide to trick Alti - using all the mind power of Amazons Xena enters the spirit world and tricks Alti into believing she has been partially resurrected. Alto's boned have joined together and is a ghastly skeleton but when she won't give the baby's soul back Xena reveals herself as a much prettier skeleton. There is then a pretty good CGI fight, Xena lops off Alti's appendages ala Monty Python, gets back the stolen soul and in the real world Gabrielle dissolves Alti's bones. Alti once again goes up in a puff of smoke. With issues resolved Gabrielle and Xena take leave of their respective students. Gabrielle shows Americe her Amazon necklace that has stone for all her sisters and that she has added one for her because Americe is a true Amazon. Americe says will stay with the Northern Amazons to learn their ways. I was sorry to see Amarice go - she was a wonderful cynical presence in this episode - she just couldn't get a gasp on all that all that chanting and dancing. Meanwhile Xena says adieu to Yakut and at the end she sees a white dove in the trees harking back to story Yakut told about the souls of unborn appearing to their mothers to say thank you. Now this is not perfect episode. As I said the trances were too long and there was also some kind of conflict I gather between Steven L. Sears and the new predictive consultants Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Steven Sears wrote this episode but had his name removed and the pseudonym Buddy Williers was used. The rumor has always been that Orci and Kutzman was unhappy with the subtext in this episode. Something must have been cut because of the long trance scenes - I can't believ they would waste that much film on nonsense. Orci and Kurtzman have been blamed for problems with the fifth season and although I liked much of the season I understand the criticisms. You can see what Orci and Kurtzman plans are for dealing with Lucy's pregnancy in this episode. They split Xena and Gabrielle up letting each have their own adventure - a bad idea when you have a show that is very much about a partnership. It played out pretty well here because Gabrielle's cause is to save Xena it will not work as well later on. My second criticism is the costuming. No body, except Claire, looks comfortable in their Amazon clothes. ROC looks great in her hunting togs but she looks absorb in her antlers. Not only that, I kept worrying that she was going to put Lucy's eye out especially in the resuscitation scene. Then at the very end when Gabrielle is holding Xena after she awakens from the fight with Alti, ROC actually hits Lucy in the head with an antler and it is obviously rubber because it bends a springs back. Kate Elliot also looks uncomfortable in her costume and in fact seemed stiff and awkward in the role. I think she was trying to play the role with too much dignity and somehow lost the soul of that scruffy kid she was in Sin Trade. Anyway one personal note: I own the leather vest and undershirt that Lucy wore while pregnant. The undershirt is torn and I always wondered how that happened. Now I think I know when Xena is having her nightmare about skeleton baby they tore her undershirt so that must be how mine got torn. CherylA ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Oct 2002 20:57:21 -0400 From: mirrordrum Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] counting "sheep" thelo wrote: > On Sunday 06 October 2002 08:26, mirrordrum wrote: > > i'm so behind on e-mail. so starting, as usual, at the bottom. > > > > fancy you should mention this. sleep is often a problem for me and i have a > > variety of tools from mantras to relaxation to variations on counting. a > > great fave is to try to go through the alphabet naming characters starting > > with each letter: ares, borias, callisto, draco, eli and so forth. on > > difficult nights i'll go through a couple of times and i'm not allowed to > > use the same character twice. i've also done it w/ eps. , , > > , , and so forth. > > What do you do when you come to a letter for which there isn't an episode? > Like, umm, Q or X? Do you cheat and leave out the odd 'the' in the title? yes, i meant to say that i usually ignore articles. since it's my game, i make up the rules. in almost everything i've used from animals to vegetables to song titles there's always at lesat one letter i can't think of an item for. i puzzle for awhile and if i'm still awake, i move on. or i may see if i can think of an item that has that letter in it somewhere. xena's nice for characters as one has more "x" alternatives than anything else i can think of. also a "q" word which is always satisfactory. like remembering "quince" when i do fruits & veggies. > > cr > ... obsessive as always thelo, it wouldn't be you without you obsessed. md "What's lunacy is a nation of SUVs telling a nation of bicyles that they have to change the way they live before we'll do something about greenhouse emissions." President Jed Bartlett--West Wing ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 21:22:24 -0400 (EDT) From: cjlnh@webtv.net (Cheryl LaScola) Subject: [chakram-refugees] Velasca as a Siren I just caught the last few minutes of CHARMED and I THINK Velasca (I cannot remember her real name) was a guest playing the role of an evil siren... Anyone else catch this? It is on again on TNT Tuesdays so you can watch it again then. Cheryl ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 21:26:40 EDT From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] <> /Actually, Xena had most of the really good lines in this ep, I think. /Barman [Snickers]: "Milk?!" /Xena: "I said milk! What, am I over-age?" That was a reference to a famous scene in an old Western. The white-hat, straight-arrow cowboy goes into a tough saloon and orders milk. All the rough, tough, mean cowboys laugh at him. But he beats up the toughest of the mean cowboys. That was in a Roy Rogers film. Boeotian ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V2 #277 **************************************