THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS.... TWXN 73 06/09/97 Brought to you by XENA: MEDIA REVIEW (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr (All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at the above site. We herein give praise and thanks to Tom Simpson for the space he has graciously donated from his spectacular, TOM'S XENA PAGE, http://xenafan.com) TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR, an annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995 - 2000+?) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia!), the MCA NetForum, the Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. For a free e-mail subscription to XMR subscribe by e-mail to ktaborn@lightspeed.net by stating somewhere in the subject or text "sub xmr". Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. I promise... From the editor: 1. I will endeavor to send TWXN out at least three times a week until I am caught up. Monday, Wednesday, Friday sounds good. We will give it a try. 2. This Monday we cover four days in January: 01/26/97 to 01/29/97. 3. In late January, THE STRAITS TIMES in Singapore did a major write up of XWP which consisted of three articles. The first two were in TWXN #72, and we finish with the last one here in this issue. The final article discusses XWP and HTLJ and has some words from Robert Tapert (XWP executive producer) about his intent in creating the show. It is interesting to note that the term "Xenaphile" is used to refer to the fans of XWP. "Xenaphile" seems to be the name of choice among non- internet fans, while "Xenite" is the on-line verbiage. This may be signs of a rising independent off-line fan base. To date, the on-line fans, although lesser in number, have been highly organized and highly articulate, which has made them appear to be more numerous and has given them more visibility than one would expect for their size. As the Xenaverse fan base grows, the fan scene will become more complex. Not only will we have to deal with on-line and off-line fan organizations and unions, but national and international ones as well. 4. Also, minor references include a comparison of Xena to two different people: ADWEEK compares Cindy Crawford in her Superbowl commercial; and Geraldo Rivera compares a fellow O.J. Simpson reporter. Interesting note, Rivera calls Xena a "warrior goddess", thus confusing our warrior princess with "Thena, Warrior Goddess" a show oft cited in SOMETHING SO RIGHT. 5. Finally, there is a cite to a netzine which is distinguished for running XWP articles, an exercise which should be highly praised! [ ] 01-26-97 THE STRAITS TIMES (Singapore). Sunday Plus. Page 1. 1534 words. "Strong following for Hercules" By Ong Sor Fern REPRINT: ME HERCULES, SHE XENA He is Hercules, as a SNAG (sensitive New Age guy). She is the Wonder Woman of the '90s. They cheerfully mangle Greek myths and fight computer-generated monsters every Sunday, and in Singapore, they have won followings of about 333,000 and 200,000 viewers respectively. ONG SOR FERN finds out what their appeal is, on Page 2. A HERO who is, literally, a Greek god -okay, half a god if you want to be picky -goes around battling mythic monsters and vengeful gods. A leather-clad heroine who can beat the living daylights out of half-a-dozen thugs before breakfast, dreaded "A-yi-yiyi-yi-yi-yi!" war-cry and all. If you have no idea what this is all about, then you have not been watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Sundays, 7.30 pm) and Xena: Warrior Princess (Sundays, 1 pm). Purists may scoff at the shows which mangle Greek myths cheerfully on a weekly basis, but the ratings for Hercules and Xena are not to be sniffed at. In the United States, Hercules made the headlines when the muscleman beat a heavyweight in the ratings war, the top-rated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Even the ultimate babes-and-hunks fest, Baywatch, sank in the wake of the mythic hero's popularity. At home, Hercules brings in the highest ratings for an acquired show on Channel 5, according to a spokesman for the Television Corporation of Singapore. It gets about 333,000 viewers every week and Xena follows hot on Hercules' leather-booted heels with about 200,000 viewers per week. No mean feat for shows with tongue-twisting names like Salmoneus and Deianeira, and a mind-boggling array of Greek gods, hitherto familiar only to dusty academics toiling away in libraries on obscure theses. Mythic appeal ALTHOUGH both shows boast good-looking leads with plenty of bronzed flesh, displayed impressively in a tattered vest or a designer armour with bustier and mini-skirt to match, the hunk quotient is relatively low. Maybe shooting the series on location in New Zealand limits the talent pool. After all, Lucy Lawless, who plays Xena, actually appeared in Hercules twice as different characters before dyeing her blonde hair black to play the warrior princess who kicked her way into a spin-off series. Hercules actually started out as a series of made-for-television movies. MCA/Universal approached film-makers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert in 1993, and their movies were so successful the studio ordered a weekly drama spin-off. Given the credentials of director-producer Raimi and producer Tapert, a cult hit, in retrospect, was inevitable. The duo's Renaissance Pictures company is responsible for cult movies like The Evil Dead and Army Of Darkness. More recently, Raimi's name has been seen headlining another show, American Gothic, also being shown on Channel 5 (Sundays, midnight). When Raimi and Tapert came on board, they studied the competition -all those old strongman movies, starring everyone from Steve Reeves to Lou Ferrigno to Arnold Schwarzenegger -and realised they had a Herculean task ahead. In an interview with the magazine Satellite TV Week, Tapert said: "The problems with those movies are the bad, stilted dialogue, togas and people running around in Greek ruins. "So, we came up with our own universe of no togas, no ruins, and we wanted to get a Hercules who was more a quarterback than a muscleman." Enter Kevin Sorbo, better known then as the guy in the Jim Beam whisky commercials. Unlike the Greek hero of yore, who went about slaying monsters left, right and centre, Sorbo's Hercules prefers to talk his way out, if possible, before he clobbers the enemy. And the clobbering is done Hongkong gongfu-style, with plenty of kick-boxing and leaping, resulting in assorted thugs getting flung halfway across the village square or crashing through the stick-thin walls of the nearest hut. Then there are the slick, computer-generated monsters, including a snake woman, a three-headed dog and the multi-headed serpent Hydra. The dialogue got an update too. The result: a Hercules who not only looks like, but also talks like, a California surfer. When confronted with glowering goons in one episode, Hercules comments drolly: "Look ugly, dress funny, smell bad ... You must work for Hera." Which brings us to the heart of the show's appeal -its sense of humour and high camp quotient. Its producers make no pretence at profundity and admit happily that they play fast and loose with Greek myths, which provide the basis for many stories. Last week's episode is a case in point. The story revolved around Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Demeter, the Earth Mother. Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, the king of Hell, and Demeter goes into a rage. In the original myth, it is the gods who intervene. Here, the scriptwriters give the task to Hercules. And the way they write up Persephone will probably have Homer spinning in his grave. Persephone is a blonde bimbo who picks flowers and wants to save a piglet from being eaten by Cheiron, Hell's ferryman. She thinks Hades is "sexy" and digs the "wild chariot ride" which happened when she was snatched from the world of the living. '90s heroine THE comedy which plays such a crucial role in Hercules is less evident in its sister series, Xena: Warrior Princess. Lucy Lawless stars as a lean, mean fighting machine. This is one woman you do not want to mess with, as she racks up a higher body count than Hercules. In fact, she first appeared on Hercules as a warrior bent on killing the big guy himself. In the course of the three-episode story, she soon sees the error of her ways and becomes an ally, and his love interest. As the first action heroine on primetime television since Wonder Woman back in the late '70s, she has won a bona-fide following of her own. The number of websites devoted to her is far more than those dedicated to her hunky counterpart. There is even an International Association Of Xena Studies, a group of Xena-philes on the Internet, who publish an e-zine Whoosh, devoted to all things Xena. As the ultimate proof of the hit status of the two shows, other studios are hunting up other legends feverishly to turn into shows. In the pipeline are two weekly dramas based on Tarzan and Sinbad. So get out your Bullfinch's Mythologies or Edgar Rice Burroughs and study your legends, because more hits-and-myths are headed your way. GRAPHIC: Here's to higher ratings and more spin-offs ... Kevin Sorbo (left) as Hercules and Lucy Lawless as Xena. (Page Sunplus2) "Made-for-TV mythology made easy" [ ] 01-27-97 ADWEEK. 765 words. "Caddy's Little Princess - DMB&B drops the ball in this misdirected fairy tale" By Barbara Lippert COMMENTARY: In a rather intense critique of Cindy Crawford's Superbowl '97 commercial, Lippert wrote, "And what about Princess Cindy's Wilma-Flintstone-as- dominatrix getup? There is indeed another trend in current pop culture, having to do with mythical women warriors exerting their power. This Amazonian female badass thing usually involves wearing a leather bustier and boots (think Xena). But despite the sexist clothing, these muscle girls are wrestling with evil -- and usually prevailing. Princess Cindy is a more material girl." [ ] 01-28-97 RIVERA LIVE (9:00 PM ET). CNBC. Tuesday. 7790 words. "Panelists Discuss Daniel Petrocelli's Rebuttal Today in The O.J. Simpson Civil Trial as the Case Ends and the Jury Heads Into Deliberations" Anchor: Geraldo Rivera; Reporter: Katie Couric COMMENTARY: When talking with reporter Janes Wells about the down time while the jury was out deliberating on the O.J. Simpson civil trial, Rivera made the observation that Wells was "more Xena the warrior goddess" than a needlepointer-type. The irony being, of course, the line in THE BLACK WOLF (#11) where Xena delivers the infamous line, "I have many skills" after someone questioned her needlepoint abilities. [ ] 01-29-97 THE VANCOUVER SUN. Wednesday. Page D14. 365 words. "Hot Sites" EXCERPT: ... NO BRAINERS http://www.wmcdata.com/zine/ Describing itself as providing "high-calorie, low-nutrient eye candy for grownups" this Net magazine, is designed for those who want to relax into the bottom end of pop culture while still maintaining that necessary edge of irony. Pamela Anderson Lee, the made-in-New-Zealand Xena/Hercules phenomenon and professional ice skating on TV are some of the topics. The author of the Xena piece has a superb grip on what makes the warrior princess so popular....