From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V3 #75 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, March 17 2003 Volume 03 : Number 075 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] Metro Mag 3/03 [IfeRae@aol.com] Re: [chakram-refugees] Re: chakram-refugees-digest V3 #72 ["Daniel T. Mil] [chakram-refugees] Re: "Warrior Princess" Theme ["Jim Thompson" > ["Cheryl Ande" ] Re: [chakram-refugees] Metro Mag 3/03 [IfeRae@aol.com] Re: [chakram-refugees] <> [IfeRae@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 00:53:03 EST From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Metro Mag 3/03 In a message dated 3/15/2003 3:34:21 AM Central Standard Time, jyoung@lava.net writes: > What I never understood, though, was her > avoidance of coming to RT's defense directly when the fans would criticize > him (especially re: FIN). I think a lot of the criticism would've stopped > if she had issued some public statement saying, basically, "cease and > desist". ;/ > > > If LL were having such trouble maintaining spirits on-set that she had to > go for therapy and was having bouts of depression, etc., it would've been > better for her personally to just admit she was human and limited, and > that she didn't intend to work beyond S6 (which was in her contract, > anyway). The fans would've respected her wishes much more than if it came > from the studio or the producers. And it probably would've squashed some > of the criticisms leveled at RT, IMO. > I reread the Metro comments dealing with Lucy's stress. They seem to refer specifically to season six. The writer sums it up thusly: "The final year of Xena was, she says, poison. Obsessive fans were writing ugly things on the internet, a seventh season was being talked about and she felt trapped." He then quotes Lucy directly: "I talked to a therapist. It was a feeling of being in a box." I remember a couple of times before when Lucy referred to feeling depressed, once earlier on (there are candid photos of her in her old house), then at the beginning of season 4. I recall her confusion and guilt, given how blessed she felt. She talked about reading Tony Robbins (?) and other self-help gurus. She rarely dwelled on negatives, whether it was her accident on Leno or her miscarriage at the end of the series. The entertainment media tend to play such things up, which must be disconcerting to someone who's basically private, seldom complains, speaks "in the moment," strives to "make lemonade out of lemons," and probably doesn't see her bouts of "down" times as any more notable than the rest of us sometimes have. Except it's not expected that the rest of us should have to talk about our woes in public as part of our jobs. The major difference I see between her earlier stress and the stress of season 6 is that the latter involved more than her own personal issues. The bitterness she expresses in the Metro piece is primarily about RT's treatment. I believe the main reason she was so forthcoming is because she wanted to set the record straight (at least from her perspective) about his integrity and the "credit" he should've received for his contributions to the industry, from Kiwis specifically and others in general. Quite probably, some of her stress was from not feeling free to say so before. Why does she feel "free" to do so now? Maybe because she's simply his wife, rather than the "regular crew member" she wanted to be during production. She reportedly rarely "pulled rank" as the star, so I imagine she didn't want to be accused of doing it because RT was her husband. She often said the two tried not to bring their work home with them. She probably felt far worse about the negativity toward him than he, yet may not have wanted spread the "poison" at home. Moreover, RT is a seasoned professional who most likely didn't want or need her "taking up" for him publicly. Personally, I don't think it would've been appropriate for her to tell fans to "cease and desist." I admire her for saving her requests to us for positive things like her wedding and charitable activities. I also strongly disagree that it would've silenced the critics anyway, especially when many of them accused her of being a co-conspirator in (even the architect of) RT's "betrayal." I believe it would've fueled the ugliness, as well as compromised the separation she and RT managed to maintain, publicly and privately, between their professional and personal lives. "Stop attacking RT" would've been translated into "Stop attacking my honey" or "Stop attacking my meal ticket" by those who believe she "slept her way to the top." Even supporters might have misread her defense as biased, stemming from love, rather than from the respect she would've accorded anyone who'd accomplished what RT did. As for the rest of us, we didn't say or think the worst. Lucy would've been preaching to the choir. Would I have liked to know how much she was hurting? Yes. Am I sorry her pain might have been worse because she kept it to herself? Of course. Do I think it's perfectly natural for her to want to defend someone she respects and/or loves? Absolutely. That said, I think she made the best decision under the circumstances, especially since it was the one *she* would have to live with. I'm also glad there's enough distance between her and the show that she could finally say how badly she felt RT got treated. She's made her peace and -- in typical Lucy fashion -- is moving on. As the Metro writer wrote about that, "She sounds angry, but then her mood quickly lightens. 'The moment we finish talking about this,' she says, 'I'll never think of it again.'" I don't know how much accuracy (if any) there is in my "take" on all that, but it's good enough for me. - -- 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: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 22:20:41 -0600 From: "Daniel T. Miller" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Re: chakram-refugees-digest V3 #72 On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 21:40:18 -0500 "Cheryl Ande" writes: > Unfortunately every time she ruminates about this in public someone is > keeping track of what she said when and whether it conflicts with what she > said two years ago. I get the impression she is the type of person who goes > with her gut on any given day and you get what she is feeling that day. It > it doesn't jive with what she said last week it's because she felt > differently last week. > > "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." - --Ralph Waldo Emerson Maybe. Or some New England philosopher of that same period. :~) ________________________________________________________________ Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com ========================================================= 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, 16 Mar 2003 14:11:50 -0500 From: "Jim Thompson" Subject: [chakram-refugees] Re: "Warrior Princess" Theme > Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 15:09:31 -0500 > From: Cousin Liz > Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Xena Theme question > > Cheryl Ande wrote: > > > What are the English lyrics to the opening Xena theme? > > I know it is sung in Bulgarian but what is the English translation? > > Check here: > > http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Movie/8791/lyric.htm > > XENA : WARRIOR PRINCESS MAIN TITLE > > ...lines deleted.... Related question...what are the lyrics for the "Warrior Princess". This is song was usually played in the earlier seasons during the critical fight sequence when Xena would triumph over the evil warlord. This song is on track 2 of the first soundtrack CD. - -- Jim Thompson email: masato@iamdigex.net Go For Broke! ========================================================= 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, 16 Mar 2003 18:33:07 -0500 From: "Cheryl Ande" Subject: [chakram-refugees] <> # # # # This is a better episode than I remembered (I say that a lot, don't I). I just thought of it as a run of a mill actioner but there was some interesting stuff here. Renee direct her second episode and she seemed more confident. You can tell she was experimenting with the camera, the lighting, characterization of the secondary villain and that add interest to an episode that wasn't terribly original in concept or writing. The episode is based on a famous short story The Most Dangerous Prey (?) which has been filmed a number of times. A famous hunter decides he has had enough of hunting animals and decides to hunt a human. In this case we have a prince who wants to hunt Amazons, unfortunately for him he runs into a certain Warrior Princess. The story opens with Queen Marga being chased through the forest. She is finally brought down by a gloating man who says she give him much of a challenge. He taunts the queen and then we fade to black and the audience is left to wonder what he did to her. Here is my first problem with this episode. Queen Marga really doesn't seem to be much of an Amazon. We have seen that the Amazons can move through the trees with great skill and daring but Marga is caught flat-footed in the open. Perhaps in the 36 years since Ephiny's death the Amazons have lost their skills because that is the only explanation I can come up with the poor fight Maraga put up. Then again if Marga fought well the episode would be exactly three minutes long. Summoned by Queen Marga, Xena and Gabrielle have returned to the Amazon village. They are greeted by most of the Amazons with relief except for Varia. For some unknown reason Varia has decided to have an attitude and is down right hostile to Xena. Eventually she explains that Amazons have gone missing and Marga has gone out to look for them. Now Marga is among the missing. Varia wants to go looking for her despite orders to stay in the village. Xena decides instead to go in search of the queen. In the woods Xena finds the fatally injured Marga. The queen is relieved that Xena has found her and begs the warrior to teach Varia how to be a true warrior saying that she is the tribe's only hope for the future. Varia, disobeying orders, arrives to hear only part of the conversation and assumes that Marga has given Xena her right of caste. Although Varia is upset about this, he is truly devastated that her beloved queen is dying. Marga dies and Xena notices that there is a message carved on the woman's leg. It asks if this is the best the Amazons have to offer - Xena knows a challenge when she sees one. She knows that someone is hunting Amazons. Back at the camp Xena tells Gabrielle that Marga was killed by some one hunting the Amazons. Varia goes off on her own seeking vengeance. Xena tells Gabrielle to keep the Amazons in the village while she sorts things out and finds Varia. She soon finds the young woman hanging upside down caught in a snare by the hunter's men and his second in command, Raczar. Raczar says his master, Prince Morlock, will be pleased with his new prey. He is interrupted when Xena's chakrum flies and starts destroying weapons and Xena follows beating the pulp out of Raczar's men. Raczar is watching the fight intently and indeed Xena notices him watching. Xena is nonchalantly beating the crap out of a guy as she sizes up Raczar. Meanwhile one of the men has step in a snare and is hanging upside down. Xena yells at the rescued Varia to watch the guy as she chases the rest of soldiers away. Varia. of course, doesn't pay attention and the man commits suicide. Xena is furious, she wanted to question the man and she is even more angry when Varia doesn't realize the significance of the fact that the man killed himself. Who is this man that frightens his men more than death? Varia however is still angry with Xena. She is going off to find the man who killed her sisters. Xena is equally upset; she saves Varia from another trap and yet the young woman won't stop her hot headed pursuit so Xena snaps a collar around her neck and leashes her little a disobedient puppy. Back at Prince Morlock's camp the prince is exercising. Blindfolded he is fighting off his men as they attack. The scene is shot using a technique that simulates strobe lightening. It was used quit a bit in the film Gladiator and works very well here. The tent is dark with light filtering in from the top so that the strobe affect seems reasonably natural. ROC must be taking notes while at the movies. Anyway Raczar arrives with news for the prince - boy, has he found the girl for him. Meanwhile Xena is leading a furious Varia around by the neck. She tries to explain to Varia that she has to be careful that someone is out to exterminate the Amazons. Varia says Xena should know about that since she killed a whole tribe of Amazons and the she pops Xena in the mouth. Xena says Varia got her free shot and that's it. Back at camp Raczar is selling Xena as the perfect prey. Morlock has been generally disappointed in the Amazons and the outing has become just a "camping trip". Raczar says the warrior he had a magnificent weapon, the strength of three men and she thinks three steps ahead. Morlock snidely says "only three steps" but he agrees to go look at the warrior. Xena has had it with Varia. Taking her to an abandoned temple, she releases Varia. She explains to Varia that Marga has asked her to protect and teach her and that Varia will take over the Amazons. Nothing will appease the hot-head and she fights Xena. Xena whips her butt and tells her she needs to control her anger. Varia again doesn't listen and she attacks again pushing Xena up a slope (I liked that bit of choreography). She then charges Xena and as Xena steps aside Varia falls through the rotten floor of the temple. Hanging on the edge, Xena uses the discarded leash to haul Varia up. Varia now chasten and saved again by Xena finally apologizes and asks for help. Xena agrees and makes Varia promise to follow her orders. A troop of Morlock's men are moving through the woods. Xena knocks one out and gags him. He was caring a barrel of some kind of flammable liquid. Varia asks what she is going to do with him. Xena says she going find out who this leader is. Varia is puzzled; how can she do this if he is gagged? She soon finds out. In the next scene the captured man is stuck way up a tree and his comrades are trying to figure out how to rescue him. Xena and Varia are watching. Xena is hoping that whoever is in charge will take charge in order to get the man down. No one seems to be doing this, instead Morlock and Raczar are watching Xena and Varia. Morlock is impressed with Xena's strategy and with Xena's chakrum. Xena's spidey senses kicks in and she knows she is being watched. She takes Varia aside and announces that Varia is to take off her clothes - nope not a subtext moment. Varia reappears in Xena's clothing sans (oops French how unpatriotic of me) chakrum which Morlock notices (he shouldn't notice however because he only sees Varia's left side and Xena wears the chakrum on her right). Meanwhile Xena looking quit fetching in Varia's miniscule outfit sneaks up behind a person she assumes is Morlock but it is just a stooge in his cape. Morlock appears at a cave entrance and calls out to Xena to come in and play. Xena now has changed back into her own clothes (why she should bother I don't know maybe Varia's clothing pinches her). She tells Varia who is carrying the barrel with the explosive to stay out side and Xena goes into the cave. Inside the cave Xena and Morlock play cat and mouse. Morlock introduces himself "Prince Chezney Bloodicar Molocock of Sharazadaskan". Xena is unimpressed: she is Xena of Amphipolis, Warrior Princess, Warrior Mom, conqueror of Prince Whoever form Upperaberkan." Morlock says he finally found an Amazon he can fight. Xena says she is not an Amazon but Morlock says " but you're so tall". Then the fight begins Xena flings her chakrum but Morlock has a similar weapon and the counteract each other. As they clash and hit cave walls sparks fly. Xena and Morlock move about using the shadows and patches of light to track each other. The lightening here is very good ROC and her lightening man did a good job of using light so that the combatants are always visible yet the impression is that they are in the dark. Outside Varia grows tired of waiting and goes in the cave. She is of course spotted by Xena and when Xena is distracted by her Morlock is able to wound Xena. Varia is soon captured by Morlock and is about to be dispatched when Xena uses her chakrum to destroy Morlock's sword. Xena rescues Varia for the third time. Varia redeems herself a bit by having brought the explosives in the cave. Varia entices Morlock's men to shoot at her. When she falls behind a cave wall the men, seeing her boots, think they have killed her. When they find the empty boots they pik them uo and ignite the explosive barrel. Many of Morlock's men are killed but not Morlock or Raczar. As Morlock steps over the charred remains of his men he expresses his pleasure in his new found quarry. Varia now asks why they had to use her boots and Xena explains that Amazons have tough feet. Varia is amused but then asks if Morlock was killed. Xena says no he is tough to kill. It is however now time to become the hunters. Going to Morlock's camp Xena decides to circle around it and approach it from the back. As Xena gets up to leave Varia notices a crossbow in the trees. She calls out to Xena and rushes to save her but is struck in the leg by an arrow. Xena goes to her aid and Varia jokes that if this had happened earlier today Xena would have left her. Xena says he just might leave her after all but she is joking and the two woman have bonded - finally. In Morlock's tent the prince is just beside himself with joy over his dangerous prey. Raczar is more pragmatic; they have only four men left, and indeed in the background you see his limping and damaged comrades. It is time to call it quits. Morlock refuses. He has waited his whole life for a hunt like this. Xena's skills equal his......well almost. Xena and the wounded Varia are hobbling through the woods. Xena notices that the animals are fleeing and she smells smoke. In another part of the forest Morlock's men are throwing flammable liquids around. On a hill Morlock and Raczar are watching; Raczar yells for the men to get out because he is going shoot a flaming arrow into the woods. When they can't hear him Morlock orders Raczar to shoot anyway. Raczar is shocked and protests but finally obeys and watches as his comrades burn to death. Things are looking bad for Xena and the wounded Varia. The forest is filling with smoke and Varia begs Xena to leave her. Xena devises a plan to save Varia - she bends a tree into a slingshot and plans to shoot Varia to safety. Varia seems a bit worried about the landing but Xena advises her to tuck and roll. Varia climbs aboard and she is shot into the air only to be captured in a big net by Morlock. Morlock orders Raczar to take the half-dead Varia to the arena. Xena is off to rescue Varia again (Varia is more trouble that first season Gabrielle). Xena races through the forest fire. She gets to an enclosure surrounded by canvass. On the other side is Moloch. She sees Varia tied to a post on top of a log tower. She throw her chakrum but Morlock deflects it. She and Morlock flip over the canvass walls and Morlock slices through the wall to her They begin to fight - Morloch says he likes swords because he can look into the eyes of the person he kills. Xena Is still not impressed even when Morlock points out he has nicked her with her own sword. Xena points out she nicked him first - Moloch is surprised no one has ever drawn his blood. They now move the fight to the Lincoln log tower - logs are pushed and pulled as they fight. At one point the tower is being held up only by Xena's brute strength. Morlock on top of the tower taunts Varia about dying but she says he will be the one to die. Xena finally flips some logs and secures the structure and she flips up to the top of the tower. Motlock is gone and she frees Varia and forces her jump from the tower. Suddenly Morlock is behind Xena. She blocks his blow but Morlock says he doesn't care - he will fight all night because this the fight he has been waiting for his entire life. Xena says in that case why should she give it to him. She then turns her back and flips off the tower. An enraged Morlock kicks the post Varia was tied to down at her. Her is enraged at Xena's refusal to fight. He shouts, he sputters (it's like Bush talking to Chiroc), and finally he leaps from the tower. This is what Xena has been waiting for - Morlock to act in anger. As he falls toward her, she tips the post upright and Morlock is impaled. It is Xena that looks into the eyes of Morlock as he dies. The night at Marga's pyre Xena gives Varia the queen's necklace. Gabrielle says Marga has give Varia her right of cast and that Varia is now the leader. Varia says she owes a great debt to Xena but Xena says she doesn't owe her a thing. The two embrace. Varia turns to the pyre and pledges not to disappoint Marga. Overall a good episode. Sandy Wilson does a pretty good job as Morlock - he's a pretty standard villain but he did bring to the role a nice sense of aristocratic arrogance. Better was Craig Hall as Raczar who gave that character a bit of depth especially as he begins to understand that Morlock doesn't give a dam about his men. You can see Raczar begin to understand that Morlock is going to get everyone killed and his absence from the final showdown between Xena and Morlock can be attributed to Raczar finally abandoning his prince. Tsianina Joelson is good as the temperamental Varia. She has the difficult task of principally acting as Xena's handicap in this game that Morlock is playing. It is a foregone conclusion that Xena would have made short work of Morlock if Varia wasn't around but she was a necessary distraction for dramatic purposes. Still as I watched Joleson I am still struck by the fact she would have made a better Eve especially if TPTB would have had the good sense to have had Eve raised as an Amazon (but I digress). ROC did a good job directing. She and her lighting director did a really good job in the cave scene and with Morlock exercise in the tent. Her fights were well choreographed. The fight on the tower was just a bit confusing to me and I think it needed some more long shots but they may have been lost in editing. She did a nice job with characterization especially with Raczar (I believe she was friends with Craig Hall). I also liked her take on Xena who is the soul of patience while dealing with Varia and certainly every bit the ultimate warrior fighting Morlock. There were a few logic glitches - how did Morlock know Xena was about to shoot Varia into the air, why wasn't Marga harder to kill and why did Xena take the time to change her clothes at the cave? Of course in every episode there are unanswered questions. On the whole ROC shows promise as action director. Next week - we off to Rome to save the Goddess of Love. 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, 16 Mar 2003 23:51:57 EST From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Metro Mag 3/03 In a message dated 3/15/2003 11:53:33 PM Central Standard Time, IfeRae@aol.com writes: > Personally, I don't think it would've been appropriate for her to tell fans > to "cease and desist." I admire her for saving her requests to us for > positive things like her wedding and charitable activities. I also > strongly > disagree that it would've silenced the critics anyway, especially when many > > of them accused her of being a co-conspirator in (even the architect of) > RT's > "betrayal." I believe it would've fueled the ugliness.... Crap. Forgot the main reason I don't think Lucy should've told fans to stop picking on RT. She might've generated disproportionate public attention for the very "nasty" folks we say don't represent most of us. Even her mention of them a couple of years later has gotten more notice than her positive comments or thoughts on a range of other topics. As it was, some media picked up on the controversy at the time. Imagine if they could've stirred the pot even more with, "'Xena' star lashes out at 'ungrateful' fans. Orders them to 'cease and desist' flaming her hubby." - -- 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, 16 Mar 2003 23:51:56 EST From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] <> In a message dated 3/16/2003 7:46:04 PM Central Standard Time, cande@sunlink.net writes: > Xena now has changed back into her own clothes (why she should bother I > don't > know maybe Varia's clothing pinches her). ROC explains this in one of the newsletters (and "Coffee Talk 2"?). She says she wanted Xena in her signature outfit, when Xena was highlighted against the backdrop of the cave. ROC liked the image of that. Lucy apparently gave ROC some playful guff at only getting to wear the cool Amazon get-up for two seconds. She thought maybe ROC was being political about all the skin showing, when in fact ROC was in full director mode. - -- 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. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V3 #75 *************************************