From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V4 #198 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, August 3 2004 Volume 04 : Number 198 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs [IfeRae@aol.com] Re: [chakram-refugees] The Vision: What Did Gabs Know? [cr ] [chakram-refugees] The Vision: What Did Gabs Know? [Lilli Sprintz ] Re: [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs ["A. Reddecliffe" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] The Vision: What Did Gabs Know? On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 17:49, IfeRae@aol.com wrote: > I read an interview with Stever Sears about Past Imperfect. He compares the > vision to telling someone not to go out of the house, because they might be > hit by a car -- in this case, *would* be hit by a car. Gabs understandably > didn't want to live like that, preferring to take her chances or let the > event happen. She also has faith that Xena will do her utmost to push her > away in time. Unfortunately, Sears didn't answer a question I've always > had. Did Gabs know Xena was on a cross in the vision? > > PI opens with Xena finally confessing about the vision. All we see is the > part with Gabs in it, followed by Gabs asking something like, "Are you sure > I was dying?" Later on, Gabs says she's been on a cross before and that > Xena has found a way to save her. She never says, "Are you sure *we* were > dying," "You've survived crosses before" or, "at least we were together." > One would think Gabs would be a little upset about Xena being crucified, > yet I don't ever recall her mentioning that. Umm, if I understand you aright, you're not sure that Gabs mentioning she's been on a cross before and Xena found a way to save her, necessarily implies that Gabs knew she was on a cross in the Vision. Have I got that correct? There is the line in Endgame where Gabs says to Xena "You put them on _crosses_!" as if there's some special significance to that. So I think she does know, else why the emphasis. 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: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 19:10:51 +1200 From: cr Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 16:32, IfeRae@aol.com wrote: > Not sure if this has been posted yet, but here's what MaryD has on her > ausxip site: > (snipping madly and randomly for bandwidth) > Disc# 1 > FALLEN ANGEL (Audio Commentary/Video Commentary - Eric Gruendemann, RJ > Stewart) (Interviews - Hudson Leick, Jane Holland, RJ Stewart) > CHAKRAM (Interviews - -Doug Lefler, Chris Manheim, Lucy Lawless & Renee > O'Connor) > SUCCESSION > > Disc# 2 > ANIMAL ATTRACTION (Interviews - Rick Jacobson, Chris Manheim, Donald > Duncan) THEM BONES, THEM BONES (Interviews - Eric Gruendemann, Donald > Duncan, Rob Field) > PURITY > > Disc# 3 > BACK IN THE BOTTLE (Interviews - Rick Jacobson, Jane Holland, John Cavill) > LITTLE PROBLEMS > SEEDS OF FAITH (Audio Commentary/Video Commentary - Lucy Lawless & Renee > O'Connor) (Interviews - Hudson Leick, Robert Tapert, Donald Duncan) > > Disc# 4 > LYRE, LYRE, HEARTS ON FIRE (Interviews - Lucy Lawless & Renee O'Connor, Ted > Raimi, Adam Armus & Kay Foster) > PUNCH LINES > GOD FEARING CHILD (Interviews - Lucy Lawless & Renee O'Connor, Phillip > Sgriccia, Donald Duncan) > > Disc# 5 > ETERNAL BONDS (Interviews - Chris Manheim) > AMPHIPOLIS UNDER SIEGE > MARRIED WITH FISHSTICKS (Interviews - Rob Tapert, Eric Gruendemann, Donald > Duncan, Jane Holland) > > Disc# 6 > LIFEBLOOD (Interviews - Rob Tapert, Michael Hurst, RJ Stewart, Jane > Holland) KINDRED SPIRITS > ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (Audio Commentary/Video Commentary - Renee O'Connor, > Rob Tapert, Lucy Lawless, Michael Hurst) (Interviews - Josephine Davison, > RJ Stewart, Donald Duncan) > > Disc#7 > LOOKING DEATH IN THE EYE > LIVIA (Interviews - Adrienne Wilkinson, William Gregory Lee, Rick Jacobson, > Chris Manheim) > EVE (Interviews - William Gregory Lee, Adrienne Wilkinson, RJ Stewart, > Chris Manheim) > > Disc# 8 > MOTHERHOOD (Audio Commentary/Video Commentary - Rob Tapert & Lucy Lawless & > Renee O'Connor) (Interviews - Josephine Davison, Rick Jacobson, Adrienne > Wilkinson, Rob Field, William Gregory Lee) (snip) > Disc #9 > 100th episode B-Roll - See behind the scenes raw footage of all the cast > and crew while shooting Seeds of Faith, the monumental 100th Xena episode. > (Approx. 30 min.) > Alternate Cuts - Director's and Editor's cuts of the episodes; Motherhood > and Animal Attraction (approx. 30 min.) Hmmm... (Warning: These comments are flavoured heavily with my taste in eps. So, shoot me down :) Commentaries for four eps, Fallen Angel, Seeds of Faith, A&C, Motherhood. I guess FA was kind of inevitable... So I guess a director's commentary was appropriate. At least there's an interview with Hudson. OK, I don't buy the whole angel business, but given that reservation, And interviews for Chakram, which is good, that was a fun ep. But I would have liked to see Jennifer Sky included in the interviews somewhere. Animal attraction, yup. Them Bones - I'm pleased they included an interview with Donald Duncan, there were a couple of neat effects in that ep. Back in the Bottle - I would have liked to see Marie Matiko interviewed, either for this ep or Purity. (I'm going to keep on saying things like this - I'm not the only one who's noticed that supporting cast - second leads, or whatever they're called - have been very thin on the ground. I guess it just depends who TPTB could get.) Seeds of Faith, though, getting the big treatment - the second worst ep in Season 5 IMO. I can do without The Last Temptation of Eli, any day :( 'Raw footage of the cast and crew' while shooting the 'monumental 100th ep' - (hey, it wasn't the 100th ep anyway - that was Lyre Lyre!) - IIRC, it was almost a bottle show. There were a couple of shots on location on the dunes at Bethells and that was about it. Little Problems had better locations! In fact I reckon there were sixteen eps in Season 5 that had better outside locations (which IMO should be way more interesting than studio footage) than Seeds of Faith did. If we were going to get 'raw footage of cast and crew' I wish we'd done so for Sin Trade, now that *would* have been worth seeing. Lyre Lyre - well that got interviews, which is good, though I would've liked to see Gillian Iliana Waters (Amoria) and I know some of this list would have liked to see Jay Lagaia (Draco). Oh well, can't have everything :) Punch Lines - a few words from Aphrodite wouldn't have gone amiss, but that's nit-picking and IIRC we've seen Alex commenting on other eps anyway. God Fearing Child got interviews, which is good. Interestingly, RT isn't included - I would have liked to hear him talk about why they chose to finally wrap up the Hercules storyline on Xena. And again, it would have been nice to have heard from Meg Foster (Hera). Eternal Bonds got one interview which is probably about what it justified - but what's this? Amphipolis Under Siege which is certainly the best of the mid-season eps, got *NOTHING* while Fishsticks got interviews? The absolute bottom by a mile in every poll that's ever been taken? Is it just me or is something screwy here? I just find that incomprehensible. I know a few people would like to see Rob answer the question "what _were_ you thinking?" but frankly, picking through the rubble doesn't appeal to me, I'd much rather hear what he thought about almost any other ep. Lifeblood got interviews with RT, Michael Hurst and RJ - that's *good*. Especially Michael Hurst's inclusion, as he directed Amazon High and I'm intrigued by that never-screened pilot. That's better than I was expecting, actually. To say I would have liked to hear from Claudia Black or Danielle Cormack is crying for the moon (not howling *at* the moon :-) and probably sounds like sour grapes, so I won't push it :) Looks like Kindred Spirits got missed - well, it was kinda missable anyway. A&C got a proper commentary - I thoroughly agree with that. And the commentary does include Michael Hurst, which is ideal. There would have been blood spilled if they'd missed that one ;) And an interview with someone else, for once. Though I would've picked Miriama Smith (Shiana), who had much more time in the ep than Cleo, who died in the first five minutes. Or David Franklin (Brutus), who we've seen play a major part several times before. Still, maybe it was who they could get, and Josephine Davison played much more than just Cleo - she was Artemis in Motherhood with an equally brief part (oh yes, I see she got interviewed there too), and Amen-Su in the Herc ep 'City of the Dead' and Arachne in 'Web of Desire' (both of which were far more meaty roles). I rather hope, if she had some comments to make on those eps, they got left in. Disc 7 is a bit like Disc 5 - Looking Death in the Eye was by far the best ep on the disk and the only one without interviews. Not that I hate Livia or Eve (the eps I mean). (And I know XT will be rapt at the Adrienne Wilkinson interviews :) But I would have loved to hear, say, RT or RJ expound on how they came up with the 25-year gap. And the delightful irony of Ares respectfully wrecking Xena's plan. Motherhood - I'm just so pleased that one got a commentary, and particularly that it includes Lucy, she had some lovely lines in that ep. That ep was just a joy to watch. So I'm more than happy that one got the full works. So, on the whole, I guess they got more things right with this set than they got wrong (though I still can't understand completely ignoring Amphipolis Under Siege. I thought there was something in that one for everyone - Ares/Xena romantics, Athena fans, Cyrene fans, fight fans - everyone except maybe Joxerfans and subtexters. Oh well.) I'm very conscious that, many times above where I wrote "I would have liked to see an interview with XX and YY", in the normal course of events I would have added "and Kev Smith". He is sorely missed. 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: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 14:06:57 -0500 From: Lilli Sprintz Subject: [chakram-refugees] The Vision: What Did Gabs Know? Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 01:49:28 EDT i'm going to jump into this. Ife Rae said, >There's also little to suggest that Xena talked about the other visions where >only she was in danger. She tells Gabs how "real" Gabs' crucifixion seemed, >that it could be "true." Why doesn't she suppot her fears by mentioning she'd >just seen one vision fulfilled in her fight with Najara. > well, off the top of my head, having been in situations dealing with issues of terror, and being terrified about others' safety as well...we don't always tell the truth. when we are terrified, sometimes we don't even REMEMBER to say everything, or remember what the truth is. because we are so scared about what is happening, what happened, might happen, that we just aren't thinking as clearly, remembering to say all the facts, and the "facts" may be affected by our emotional perceptions. Yes, Xena is feelings. 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. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 20:29:36 -0400 From: Lee Daley Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs At 07:10 PM 8/2/2004 +1200, cr wrote: > > >(snipping madly and randomly for bandwidth) Wonder what Best Buy will add, they always have some additional content. Maybe at least some of your wishes will be granted. LeeD ========================================================= 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, 2 Aug 2004 22:13:36 +0100 From: "A. Reddecliffe" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs > Commentaries for four eps, Fallen Angel, Seeds of Faith, A&C, Motherhood. > I guess FA was kind of inevitable... So I guess a director's commentary > was appropriate. In this episode, the issues are really about the story line and the special effects. If this got a directors commentary, then it shows up even more the omission of a director's commentary on Sin Trade where there was so much more to talk about. > And interviews for Chakram, which is good, that was a fun ep. But I would > have liked to see Jennifer Sky included in the interviews somewhere. > Animal attraction, yup. Them Bones - I'm pleased they included an interview > with Donald Duncan, there were a couple of neat effects in that ep. Jennifer Sky and Claire Stansfield would have been good for Them Bones. We have all discussed Amarice at length, but it would be interesting to hear Jennifer talk through Amarice's story arc. I didn't warm to her initially, but at the end was kinda sorry to see her go. > Seeds of Faith, though, getting the big treatment - the second worst ep in > Season 5 IMO. 'Raw footage of the cast and crew' while shooting the 'monumental 100th ep' - > (hey, it wasn't the 100th ep anyway - that was Lyre Lyre!) I believe it was the 100th episode filmed, but Lyre was the 100th episode shown. Seeds just didn't have the feel of a 100th episode celebration, it just didn't work. It wasn't a fun show nor was it epic drama, there was emotion (Gabrielle being distraught at the death of Eli etc) but it lacked the power of shows like The Debt, Destiny or Sin Trade. - - IIRC, it was > almost a bottle show. There were a couple of shots on location on the dunes > at Bethells and that was about it. Little Problems had better locations! And a good fight scene. :-) If we were going to get 'raw footage of cast and crew' > I wish we'd done so for Sin Trade, now that *would* have been worth seeing. > CR, you and I are absolutly on the same wavelength here. I recently watched a commentary that TJ Scott and Vicky Pratt did on a (very mundane) episode of Mutant X and they were exactly what we wanted for Sin Trade. As well as being interesting, informative and funny, they said so much about how scenes were filmed and why. TJ is clearly a visual director and hearing him explain how he created some of the scenes for that show, he really has so much to say about filming that Sin Trade is a real missed opportunity. > God Fearing Child got interviews, which is good. Interestingly, RT isn't > included - I would have liked to hear him talk about why they chose to > finally wrap up the Hercules storyline on Xena. This is another attempt at a big episode that just didn't hit the mark. All the "birth of Xena's baby, the return of Hercules" etc was big hype, but it didn't deliver. When it comes to season 5, this must be one of the least watched episodes. Amphipolis Under Siege which is certainly the best of the > mid-season eps, got *NOTHING* This deserves better. while Fishsticks got interviews? I know a few > people would like to see Rob answer the question "what _were_ you thinking?" Perhaps that is what the interviews will say :-) > Lifeblood > Amazon High > Claudia Black > Danielle Cormack How about a DVD of Amazon High and an audio/video commentary of Sin Trade? That should fill the gaps. > Motherhood - I'm just so pleased that one got a commentary, So I'm more than happy that one got the full works. And the director's cut may have the extra scenes that were filmed, but not included in the funal version. Ann ========================================================= 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, 2 Aug 2004 22:16:32 +0100 From: "A. Reddecliffe" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Season 5 DVDs > Disc# 8 > Bringing Monsters to Life at K.N.B. EFX Group - Special Effects make up house > K.N.B. EFX Group takes the viewer on a ride through monsters, blood and > makeup exposing the secrets behind creating some of the most memorable TV > monsters and make up effects moments. (approx. 10min) Wasn't this on the Hercules season 4 DVD? Ann ========================================================= 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 #198 **************************************