From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V3 #172 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, June 23 2003 Volume 03 : Number 172 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] watching Xener [KTL ] Re: [chakram-refugees] watching Xener [cr ] Re: [chakram-refugees] Soul Possession ["Kym Taborn" Subject: [chakram-refugees] watching Xener Recently work got very busy and I was also doing a lot of traveling. This resulted in me not watching any XWP for approximately 3 weeks. Now I don't always find time to re watch whole episodes but generally at least a few times a week I would watch some of my favorite scenes. To break my heart just before going into work, I would often watch Xena at the pyre of her son in Maternal Instincts. (Hell, I hate mornings anyway, why not pile on some REAL pain.) Some of my other "absolutely riveting in terms of emotional engagement" favorites are the cell scene from Ides; the campfire scene from Past Imperfect; Xena's various bouts of absolute madness in the Furies, especially those where she clashes with Cyrene; the tightening of the jaw and the flash of realization that floods across Xena's face along with the very short, choppy nod of the head action in FIN when she suddenly understands from what the ghost killer said that she would have to die to kill Yodoshi. To me, these are scenes that Lucy's acting made absolutely mesmerizing to watch, to see the play of deeply felt and traumatizing emotions on Xena's unguarded face. (I DO also have a number of funny scenes I like to watch too-one of my favorites funny is Xena's expression when she comes up from the dip of Ms. Artifice's kiss in Miss Amphipolis. Again, I just LOVE that look on Lucy's face.) Anyway, I was so busy I didn't even have time to watch scene snippets. And this was the longest stretch I have ever gone since 1996 without seeing any Xena. But when we began to discuss Chakram, one of my favorite eps, I MADE the time to watch it, to refresh my mind about the plot points. And as I watched it, I began to think, "My gods, this is such a CHEESY show!" After three weeks without the influence of watching the show constantly, it was like coming to, like breaking out of the grip of some cult group who had possessed my soul and brain-washed my mind. I noticed the bad acting on the parts of the supporting players. I noticed the cliched "Scary guy in a big suit of armor (or sometimes a hockey mask) who never says a word but is REALLY bad news when he comes running at you". I noticed (as I did the first time, I gotta admit) the way Gabrielle just picked up the sais and without any training was suddenly pretty proficient in them. I noticed how they let us know that with Lucy now pregnant, Renee would take over the obligatory cleavage shots-they have Gabrielle stand in front of the little team and lean WAY over to stare fixedly at some tracks on the ground. As the camera sits low in front of her and stares fixedly at her bulging dangling boobs in her new, improved, even teensier than before leather brassiere. And then the episode rolled on and I was watching the so incredibly innocent Xena who is forced into making a recurring choice in this series--to take an opportunity to walk away from her dark side (as she could have in Remember Nothing also) and to let the chips fall where they may, or to take that burden back up again in order to save other people grief and horror. I watched the emotions play across Xena's face, the indecisiveness, the worry, the warring with the concept of becoming bad again to do good, the desire to protect her soul from being endangered by the evil acts that her bad side is capable of. I watched Lucy's face reflect Xena's anguish, her inner battle over believing that these friends of hers are right-that the world needs her lethal combat skills, her willingness to kill the bad guys, in order to service the greater good. I watched Xena wonder, "How can this be so? And how can it possibly be good for me? But how can I selfishly walk away from this situation and save myself at the expense of others?" Then the next thing I knew, a half an hour had flown by and the episode was over already! And I had once again been totally caught up by Lucy as Xena and somehow once again forgot all the cheese, all the sleaze, all the plot holes and dropped explanations and how much I don't care for the T&A Action Adventure genre. Yup, once again, due to Lucy as Xena, I just LOVED XWP again, just as much as I always had. (Well, as I had after the first six or so episodes from season two that were sometimes playing in the background as I did my homework and that just didn't hold my interest much until I got caught up by the humor and wild antics of Here She Comes Miss Amphipolis [Big indrawn breath.] From THAT night on, I was doomed.) And apparently, I shall stay doomed for the rest of my natural borned life. How kewl is that? KT ========================================================= 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, 22 Jun 2003 20:33:35 +1200 From: cr Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] watching Xener On Sunday 22 June 2003 17:55, KTL wrote: > > Then the next thing I knew, a half an hour had flown by and the episode was > over already! And I had once again been totally caught up by Lucy as Xena > and somehow once again forgot all the cheese, all the sleaze, all the plot > holes and dropped explanations and how much I don't care for the T&A Action > Adventure genre. Yup, once again, due to Lucy as Xena, I just LOVED XWP > again, just as much as I always had. (Well, as I had after the first six or > so episodes from season two that were sometimes playing in the background > as I did my homework and that just didn't hold my interest much until I got > caught up by the humor and wild antics of Here She Comes Miss Amphipolis > [Big indrawn breath.] From THAT night on, I was doomed.) > > And apparently, I shall stay doomed for the rest of my natural borned life. > How kewl is that? > > KT Very cool. Miss Amphipolis. An *excellent* ep to have got hooked by. I'd be jealous but I think I can claim 'Destiny'. Or Royal Couple of Thieves, one or the other. ;) How d'ya like Xena as a blonde? I thought she made a very handsome one, myself. cr ========================================================= 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, 22 Jun 2003 07:24:54 -0700 From: "Kym Taborn" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Soul Possession From: "Mark B." > Re Whoosh being referenced in Soul Possession, did TPTB let you know > ahead of time that they were going to do that, or was it a surprise to > you when it aired? Tapert called me to get written permission to use the whoosh.org logo. He did it personally. He did not have an underling do it. I took it as a good sign. The last time before that he called me was to ask for Laura Sue Dean to take out the date of his wedding in New Gossip Rumor. The funny thing about that, was if we all remember, the dates were shooitng left and right and so as a joke we just guessed a date, and just our luck we guessed the right one. I was horrified when I realized that we actually nailed it on the head, so I removed it at his request. Before I allowed permission for the logo use, I asked him what he was going to use it for and he explained. That must have been around late 2000. It was cool because the episode aired around my birthday of that year. It was a fun present. Kym ========================================================= 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, 22 Jun 2003 13:07:22 EDT From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] watching Xener In a message dated 6/22/2003 12:56:28 AM Central Daylight Time, fsktl@aurora.uaf.edu writes: > Yup, once again, due to Lucy as Xena, I just LOVED XWP again, > just as much as I always had. (Well, as I had after the first six or so > episodes from season two that were sometimes playing in the background as I > did my homework and that just didn't hold my interest much until I got > caught > up by the humor and wild antics of Here She Comes Miss Amphipolis [Big > indrawn > breath.] From THAT night on, I was doomed.) > > And apparently, I shall stay doomed for the rest of my natural borned life. > How kewl is that? > I'm still trying to make up my mind about that. Is it a "good" sign that XWP has spoiled me in terms of action shows I used to tolerate while eating dinnter? That I've found only a handful of shows worth remembering what time they come on (mostly comedies)? That, when I want to watch something I know I'll enjoy, it's almost always an old Xena ep? Shouldn't I be moving on? Learning how to once again watch stuff just because it happens to be on when I want some background noise? I mean, I'm missing shows that are "defining" this period of American TV -- e.g., "reality" shows with both actors and "real" people. I can't hold a discussion about such shows, which suggests my ignorance about contemporary culture. I hear about "real" world issues and wonder, "Didn't they watch XWP? Don't they know that's been done and didn't turn out so good?" It can't be good to see leaders as Caesar and think, "Carl Urban played him better." Surely, there's something a little wrong with still finding that "all I ever wanted to know" about key questions and answers is contained in a defunct action show that often didn't make sense? I don't know, KT. On one level it's "kewl" that I'm still "doomed" like you to experience something satisfying in the Xenaverse. On the other, I can't figure out if that says more about me (which it probably does) or the "real" world to which I'm supposed to be more connected. Yeah, yeah, I know. "That's the way it is, Ife. Deal with it." - -- 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 #172 **************************************