From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V4 #54 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 Tuesday, February 24 2004 Volume 04 : Number 054 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Invincible ? (was Ratings) [Silenus ] Ambiguities in XWP (was Re: [chakram-refugees] Season Four (2)) [Lilli Sp] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:33:16 +0000 From: Silenus Subject: [chakram-refugees] Invincible ? (was Ratings) >In a message dated 2/22/2004 8:50:31 AM Pacific Standard Time, >fsktl@aurora.uaf.edu writes: > >> And the earlier season Xena might have been slowed down by these guys but >> they would never have been a significant threat. Callisto, Caesar and Alti >> were really the only people in Xena's life who ever ALMOST beat her and >> caused her grief. Never the warlord of the week. >> >> It was her mental state that was her greatest enemy in season four. And >> that was what let these somewhat insignificant others get to trash the WP >> in and only in Season four. >> >> > >I agree with you about the impact of Xena's mental state. However, we >mustn't forget that it was very important early on to show this new female >character >as super formidable -- able to survive arrow wounds. But, then again, that arrow wound, which put her out of action for a while, wasn't even inflicted by the warlord of the week, but the warlord of the week's wimpy younger son! Not so invincible there, then. And that was in the second ever episode. > RT talks about that in >terms of Xena's credibility as an action hero. Once the audience accepted >Xena as a nearly invincible warrior, I think there was more freedom to show her >getting beat up a little more, without diminishing what had already been >demonstrated. Although, even then, it was hard for folks to get past this >particular "deconstruction," which I suppose made her look too "weak." > >-- Ife I don't think I ever had much emotional capital invested in Xena being invincible. However, I did love the fact that the Top Warrior was a woman. If Xena had been beaten by a man, I would have been seriously stressed. As it was, I found Xena's defeat by Najara an awesome moment. By showing that Xena could be beaten, they upped the stakes in all her subsequent battles. All her achievements were more impressive because we knew they weren't inevitable. Also, I loved Xena's pragmatic response to this epoch-making moment. The scene when Xena comes round is one of my favourites, from her lost chewing tooth, to Xena and Najara's "weakness", Gabrielle. As for looking weak, her reaction to this situation showed how strong she is. I'm going "Omigosh! Xena got beat! Is this the end of life as we know it?" whereas she just gets up, straightens her dentures and gets on with analysing the reasons for her defeat and planning her comeback. Gods, I love this show! - -- "Can't please everybody." - Najara: "Crusader" Silenus, an over-exuberant fan ========================================================= 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: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:39:40 +0000 From: Silenus Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Ratings Jackie M. Young writes >On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 22:04:13 -0900 (AKST), KTL >wrote: > >> But I do know I'm VERY >>happy that we got what we got post season two instead of endless >>repetitions of the happy, charming, cheerful typical eps of seasons one >>and two. Season three made me no longer somewhat embarrassed to be a >>Xena fan. Gods bless PacRen for all their creativity and risk taking. > >--*Ahem*?!? "Happy, charming, cheerful"?!? Reckoning was the first ep >that hooked me, and I wouldn't say it was "happy, charming", nor >"cheerful". ;=P > >X beating up G?? Exploring issues of domestic abuse and anger management >and manipulative exploitation? No, I wouldn't characterize that as >"happy" or "charming". ;P > >What *REALLY* drew me to XWP was the Dark. Reckoning was Dark. X got >beat up. Ares framed her. X beat up G. X was going to be >wrongfully executed unless someone did something. _That's_ Dark. > >I'm a diehard S1 and S2 fan. I love the early seasons. I never saw them as something that needed to be grown out of. So many things were laid out in those days: Xena and Gabrielle, Xena and Ares, Gabrielle's blood-innocence, Gabrielle Amazon Queen, Xena and her mother. Yes, this was a show that hit the ground running. > From S3 on it got too mishy-mashy-slathering >in "feelings" for me, but that's just MO. I have to part company with you there. I thought the early seasons were a great foundation on which the later seasons built. > In S1 and S2, X was still the >stoic, impassive warrior trying to make amends. I liked that. It made >for a lot of focused comedy and drama, and not of the silly type that we >got in the later seasons. ;P The plots were a lot tighter. Not only >that, a lot of X's techniques and sayings (like, "I have many skills" >and the pinch) were developed during this time. I missed that after S3. > >I was never ashamed to be a XWP fan, just defensive when others thought it >was a "comic-book comedy" or something of that ilk. This was during the >time of S1/S2, when not many had discovered the show. Now people actually >look *respectfully* at me when I declare I'm a Xenite. ;P What a difference a >few years can make, eh?! > I wish! Here in the UK, the show never got beyond its trashy image in the eyes of most people. I think that's mainly because it never made it to the mainstream terrestrial tv channels here. Buffy, for example, did and really took off. Now Buffy is the show that gets the learned reviews while XWP is still the campy t&a extravaganza. - -- "Well, congratulations! Looks like we're a two-horse family." - Xena: "Animal Attraction" Silenus, an over-exuberant fan ========================================================= 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: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 22:35:28 -0600 From: Lilli Sprintz Subject: Ambiguities in XWP (was Re: [chakram-refugees] Season Four (2)) cr said, "But against that, I really couldn't see that Gabs falling down the hole should really make Callisto so happy - it's not like she was one of the charter members of the Can't-Stand-Gabby Society - so her amusement would have to be faked as a provocation into making Xena kill her." Actually, if you remember, Callisto liked to get at Xena through Gabrielle. In Return of Callisto, she was originally going to kill Gabrielle to do that, but couldn't get to her, and so killed Perdicus instead. ("that'll do"). My sense is that Gab's death made her happy because of exactly that...it was a way, again, that Callisto could feel "good" about seeing Xena in pain because her friend had died. Lilli ========================================================= 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 V4 #54 *************************************