From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V6 #210 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, January 2 2007 Volume 06 : Number 210 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Sena in TV on DVD book [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 22:46:56 EST From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] Sena in TV on DVD book In a new book, 5000 Episodes on No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD, by David Hofstede, Back Stage Books, 2007 --- Xena: Warrior Princess. Season 1 *** Season 2 **** Season 3 ***** Season 4 **** Season 5 *** Season 6 **** Series Finale, Director;s Cut *** A spinoff of the moderately successful Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess surpassed its parent series in the quality of its acting, writing and direction, as well as in longevity and viewership, becoming one of the most popular syndicated series of all time. Whereas Hercules remained a light-goofy show throughout its run, Xena balanced camp with darker, more mature themes. Even the sillier aspects of Xena's pseudo-mythological world were always grounded by the depth of the central relationship between Xena, a warrior woman constantly atoning for past misdeeds, and her plucky sidekick, Gabrielle, a peaceful bard who developed into a seasoned warrior by the end of the series. The picture quality improves in each DVD release, from dark, grainy and smudgy in the first season to almost completely pristine in the later sets, with strong, solid colors and little or no digital artifacting, especially in the last three seasons. Great Moments: Season 1. The introduction of the series' greatest villain in Callisto; Season 2: The extended flashbacks of Xena's dark past in Destiny; Season 3: The Debt: Parts 1 and 2; the Rift Saga, that temporarily split up Xena and Gabrielle and culminated in The Bitter Suite, the first original, full-length musical written for a one-hour drama, beating Buffy, the Vampire Slayer's Once More, With Feeling by three years; Season 5: The final episodes, in which Xena and Gabrielle are frozen in ice and awaken after twenty-five years to find the world changed around them and Xena's baby, Eve, grown into a fierce warrior woman in her own right; Season 6: The Ring Trilogy, that turned Gabrielle into Sleeping Beauty and Xena into her prince; the alternate universe of When Fates Collide. Fast-Forward (things to skip): Forgiven (Season 3) introduces the most irritating character in the entire run of the series, Tara; the fifth season's Married with Fishsticks has the unique distinction of not only being the worst episode in Xena but one of the worst episodes ever in the run of a good series; Lifeblood (Season 5) is a pilot episode from the same production company, Amazon High, that never went to series, so they reworked the footage into a Xena episode. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season 1 **** Season 2 ***1/2 Season 3 **** Season 4 **** Season 5 **** Season 6 *** Xena Trilogy *** Hercules Action Pack *** Hercules and the Amazon Women/The Lost Kingdom **1/2 Though the mix of classic mythology and characters with modern sensibilities proved slightly more successful in its Xena spin-off, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys found a niche with fans of escapist adventure stories with an ever-present wink at the viewers at home. Season 1 includes the five movie-length adventures that preceded the series, which featured Anthony Quinn as Zeus. The stories were more serious than what followed; with season 2, the series found the mix of action and comedy that would sustain it through four more campaigns. Skip the Universal sets, which are lacking in sound quality and extras compared to Anchor Bay's season releases. Great Moments: Season 1: the debut of Xena in The Warrior Princess; Season 2: Hercules joins Jason and the Argonauts to find the Golden Fleece in Once a Hero; Season 3: The season finale Atlantis; Season 4: Xena's Renee O'Connor in Stranger in a Strange World; the delightfully tongue-in-cheek Yes Virginia, There Is a Hercules. Fast-Forward: Season 2: The clip show Cave of Echoes. /// My reaction-- Although I was a fervent fan of Xena and only a casual fan of Hercules, I do not agree that Xena was clearly superior to Hercules. Xena may have had higher highs than Hercules but it also had lower lows. Hercules was a good, solid, dependable series. As for Tara, Hofstede should remember that she was intended to be annoying. 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 V6 #210 **************************************