XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR) #22 (07-14-97) Part 3 of 5 ================ CUT HERE ========================== 21. THE GREATER GOOD... ...COMMENTS: "The Greater Good" is a magnificent episode, in part because of exceptional performances by Robert Trebor and Renee O'Connor. Trebor's Salmoneus is a great comedic character, yet here, in perhaps Trebor's best episode, he gets a chance to show a dramatic flair following Xena's "death." Of course the audience knows she isn't really gone for good, yet the scene still holds power because of Trebor's effective and convincing work. He is equally good later when Gabrielle returns to the village and Salmoneus must report the terrible news. In one brief scene, he is in the background consoling villagers. With his facial expression, his eyes, and his body language, Trebor portrays a Salmoneus far from the jokester and scam artist, yet one just as believable. O'Connor is also fantastic, successfully merging humorous and dramatic scenes seamlessly. Her Xena role-playing is immediately entertaining, yet like Trebor she proves once again that she is a wonderful dramatic actresses. In the aforementioned scene with Gabrielle and Salmoneus following Xena's "death," O'Connor matches Trebor's performance with her own intensity. Afterward, Gabrielle takes out her anger as she pounds a tree with her staff. Later, enraged, she fights through half of Talmadeus 's men to get to Xena's body. (Certainly by now her sister Lila couldn't beat her up!) So how does Xena revive from "death"? Uh, well, she just does. (In other words, the writers don't worry much about that "minor" little detail, dismissing it with a single line in which Xena explains she had to "go under the influence of the poison to fight it." Whatever.) It's also unclear why Xena sides with Salmoneus in the first place, since he clearly cheated Talmadeus and rightfully should be held accountable. The episode never reveals who shot Xena with the dart -- but that story element is carried over into the following episode, "Callisto."... ...GRAPHIC: Three pictures from "The Greater Good". Captions: #1. Salmoneus (Robert Trebor) is distressed at the "death" of Xena; #2. Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle as Xena atop Argo, Xena's horse; #3. An enraged Gabrielle tells Talmadeus she's taking Xena's body. 22. CALLISTO... ...GRAPHIC: Picture of Callisto on her horse. Caption: Callisto (Hudson Leick) prepares for battle against Xena... ...GRAPHIC: Two pictures from "Callisto". Caption (for both): In a haunting scene from the introduction of "Callisto," two casualties -- one from the village, the other from the attacking army -- face each other in death. COMMENTS: The first season ends in fine form, although this episode is a slight disappointment. The basic idea of the story is great, but somehow things got lost in the translation from plot to script to film. Callisto's origin is a perfect set-up for potentially interesting stories: a survivor of one of Xena's past atrocities seeks revenge, putting Xena (and the viewer) in a difficult moral dilemma. But -- perhaps to take the safe way out -- the producers smoothed those edges by making Callisto completely crazy and irrational. Even taking that into consideration, the character seems only partially formed, as if the episode started shooting before the screenplay was completed. Callisto is bent on revenge toward Xena, yet all of her attacks are indirect. When she assembles her army and goes on a rampage, she doesn't attack Xena's hometown, but other villages that have no connection to Xena. She avoids Xena's home, of course, because Xena wouldn't attack it, and Callisto seeks to re-establish Xena's evil reputation. Yet this is a lengthy, round-about way to get back at Xena and, for that matter, doesn't hurt Xena as much as just one attack on Xena's own people. Moreover, Callisto captures Gabrielle and could easily kill her. Instead she constructs a ridiculous trap (echoes of the sixties Batman television series). All of this lessens Callisto as a serious rival and turns her into a shallow cartoon character. Fans of "serious television" are probably thinking, " C'mon ! What is Xena if not a live-action cartoon series?" But one of the strengths of the series is its ability to create well-rounded characters who at least work within the context of the show. Callisto fails this criterion. Part of the problem may also lie in Hudson Leick's performance. She seems unable to ground the character with a convincing history. She should come across as a kind of "Dark Xena," reversing Xena's experiences by starting out good and then becoming consumed with hatred. The gist of that path is there, it's just not presented with a sure hand. It's best seen in this great exchange: Callisto: "What happened to you? One day you just decided to fight for justice?" Xena: "Something like that." Callisto: "And all the shattered people you left behind were now supposed to cheer you -- is that it?" Xena: "No. What happened to you was terrible. It was my fault, and I'm sorry." Callisto: "Oh! Well! That makes all the difference! And now we can be the best of friends. [Spits at Xena.] That's what I think of your apology." Of course, Leick may not be primarily at fault for the overall performance, because, as noted above, the script does not give the character the depth it needs. That said, we're confident some of the problems can be worked out, and we'd love to see Callisto back next season. We should mention, however, one powerful, moving scene near the beginning of the episode. Callisto's army is attacking the village, and a young boy is killed. As he lies on the ground, his eyes remain open. Soon afterward, one of the soldiers is killed and falls to the ground a short distance in front of the boy. The soldier's eyes are also open, and the camera cuts back and forth between the two victims from opposing sides, "starring" at each other in death, which has united them both in a grim bond. Whether this eerie scene was the creation of writer R.J. Stewart or director T.J. Scott, the effect is one of the most memorable of the series.... ...GRAPHIC: Picture of Callisto at her "fort". Caption: Callisto's plan fails, but she survives death (Thanks to Xena) and promises to return... GRAPHIC: Full page posed picture of Xena. [313] 06-02-96 SATELLITE TV WEEK. Vol 15. No. 22. 1141 words. "Hercules and Xena Take on the Universe" By Jeff Adams. COMMENTARY: This article offers some interesting foreshadowing of XWP's second-season rating success when it reports HERCULES trouncing STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE in the ratings. The piece also contains an error when it reports that part of Xena's mission is "to find her missing father." Apparently, this was a part of an earlier conception of the character, but has been downplayed in the series. [DS] This article's basis was the fact that HTLJ had overtaken ST:DS9 in the ratings. Robert Tapert (executive producer, XWP) is quoted as stating that Renaissance Pictures' real goal was to take on BAYWATCH. Although primarily concerned with HERCULES, the article does probe the rationale behind Raimi and Tapert's vision in re-creating the Hercules myth. It is most interesting that Tapert says that they have kept away from much of the mythology because of the fundamental dark nature of myths and that it would not go over well with modern audiences. This observation takes on a deeper meaning when one considers the Great Gabrielle Rape Rumor (G2R2) that swept fandom in the early summer of '97. The G2R2 began when an LA paper printed that Gabrielle would be raped by a god in the third season. The wonderful section on intent by Robert Tapert captures his grateful surprise that HERCULES could beat STAR TREK. We can only now imagine his surprise in having XWP overtake HERCULES. [KT] Contributor: DukatsWman@aol.com REPRINT: Headlines were made earlier this yeas when a muscle man soundly trounced the mighty Starfleet. Two weeks in a row "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" beat "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in the ratings. The news surprised no one more than the "Hercules" producers. "Our goal was to beat 'Baywatch,'" says co-executive producer Robert Tapert. "'Star Trek' was too big a franchise. We didn't think we'd ever beat it." That goal was met and then some. Hercules is known to many as the central character of 10 theatrical movies made from 1959 to 1983 starring the likes of Steve Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. This Hercules started as a series of two-hour movies back in 1993 as part of the MCA/Universal Action Pack. Tapert and his partner Sam Raimi, producers of CBS' "American Gothic" and movies such as "Darkman" and "Army of Darkness," were careful to create a Hercules for the '90s. "We watched all the old Hercules movies and realized a few things early on," says Tapert. "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 muscle man, somebody you'd like to invite into your living room on a weekly basis." Tapert and Raimi's quarterback is Kevin Sorbo, a Minnesota native, whose first TV role was two lines on "Dallas" back in 1983. For Sorbo, the role of Hercules is like revisiting his childhood. "I watched all the Steve Reeves "Hercules" movies [when I was a kid]," he says. "I used to go out in the neighborhood with my friends and we'd fight the imaginary monsters. Later, in junior high and high school, I read a lot of mythology and was fascinated by it. To make a living by being a kid and reliving those dreams ... I'm a very lucky man." Mythology is something with which the series plays fast and loose. Basically, the Hercules myth is left intact. Hercules is the son of Zeus, the head god of the time, and Alcmene, a mortal. Hera, Zeus' wife and protectress of women, was unamused with Zeus' extramarital affairs and wreaked havoc as much as possible. As a result, Hera resented Hercules and was responsible for the death of his wife and children. Some of Hercules' brothers and sisters include Hermes, god of trickery; Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, love and fertility; and Dionysus, god of wine, song and drama. Hercules' main mission remains unchanged, to protect and defend mortals against, among other things, the whims of the gods. Tapert say beyond that there are only little bits of mythology in the show. "A lot of mythology is dark -- fathers sleeping with their daughters, begetting this and that -- those aren't tales you can tell in modern days. So, if we find a story, characters or situations and build our own story around it." Tapert acknowledges the fans don't always like the fact that the show plays with 1,500 to 2,000 years worth of history. "People have given up on timelines and how we corrupt mythology." Sorbo says "Hercules" works because it doesn't take itself too seriously, a style fans of the Tapert/Raimi production "Army of Darkness" will recognize with sound effects punctuating action sequences, wild camera work and wry humor. Sorbo is quick to point out that the show is also chock-full of drama and usually packs a moral message with minimal blood loss. Sorbo, who decided he wanted to be an actor after seeing a high school production of "Oklahoma" when he was 11, hopes people get a good hour of entertainment from his show. "'Hercules' transports people to a different time and place," he says. "I think it's a good hour of escape that hasn't been seen in a long, long time." Sorbo placed his own stamp on "Hercules" when he directed "The Apple," an episode in which three of his goddess sisters cause trouble at a mortal's wedding. He enjoyed the directing experience so much he's directed two more episodes this season. He's also planning to submit some scripts to the producers. "Hercules" also has given birth to a spin-off. In March 1995, during a three-episode arc, Hercules met Xena, a warrior determined to kill him in her quest for power. In the end, however, Xena became Hercules' ally. Fans reacted so positively to Xena that in the fall of 1995 "Xena: Warrior Princess" became a series. Xena is portrayed by Lucy Lawless, a native of Auckland, New Zealand (where both shows are filmed). Lawless may be familiar to "Hercules" fans because she played two other parts before becoming Xena -- Lyla, the bride of Deric the Centaur; and Lysia, an Amazon enforcer from the first Hercules movie. "Xena" is a darker show compared to "Hercules," with Xena often fighting first and talking later. Lawless says that's part of the fun in playing the Warrior Princess. She describes Xena as "a woman with the devil on her shoulder." Xena's mission in life is to find her missing father and to make up for her past as a power-hungry princess who is feared throughout the land. Lawless came to "Xena" after co-hosting "Air New Zealand Holiday," a travel magazine show. Prior to that, she'd been traveling and working at an array of jobs, such as gold miner and grape picker. Her one goal through it all was to become an actress. "If you come from a small place like New Zealand, you have to get out and eat up the world," she says. "It's been very enriching doing risky things. And now I do it at work." Risky is the name of the game on the set of both shows. Sorbo and Lawless have become adept at sword handling and other combat techniques. Both have been trained by martial arts master Douglas Wong (best known for his work on "Dragon The Bruce Lee Story"). Each admit they know just enough to get by on TV. "I'd get my butt whopped by anybody that knows what they're doing," Sorbo says. "Hercules" can be seen on Sundays at 7:30 a.m. (E) on T4/05 or at 10 p.m.(E) on Fox Net (S4/10); Mondays at 10 a.m. (E) on T4/05; Fridays at 8 p.m. (E) on WGN (G5/07); Saturdays at 9 p.m. (E) on KWGN (F1/23) or at 7 p.m. (E) and 11 p.m. (E) on KTLA (S3/15). "Xena" can be seen on Sundays at 8:44 a.m. (E) on T4/05 or 11 p.m. (E) on Fox Net (S4/10); Mondays at 12:30 a.m. (E) on WGN (G5/07) or 11:14 a.m. (E) on T4/05; Saturdays at 8 p.m. (E) on KWGN (F1/23) or at 6 p.m. (E) and 9 p.m. (E) on KTLA (S3/15). GRAPHIC: Cover: Large Picture of Herc; Smaller One of Xena (Crossed Swords Pose). [314] 06-03-96 DEATH MASK. Episode No. 23 (123). 1st release. Guest Stars: Joseph Kell (Toris), Michael Lawrence (Cortese). Cast: William Davis (Malik), Doug McCaulay (Aescalus), Elizabeth Skeen (Sera), Peter Needham (Village Elder). Credits: Written by Peter Allan Fields, Directed by Stewart Main. TV GUIDE DESCRIPTION: After being reunited with her estranged older brother, Toris (Joseph Kell), Xena decides to join him in his plans to kill the raider who destroyed their village years before. AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION: 1st RELEASE: 06/03/96. An AA average of 4.7. Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas: (1) HERCULES ranked 8th with 5.0; (2) XENA ranked 10th with 4.7; (3) STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE ranked 13th with 4.3. 2nd RELEASE: 08/26/96. SYNOPSIS: This synopsis is brought to you by guest synopser, Bluesong (Bluesong@aol.com). The show opens with Xena and Gabrielle on a trail, Xena astride Argo. They are talking about catching arrows -- Gabrielle wants to know how Xena does it! Xena tells Gabrielle it's something your body learns; she can't explain it. An assassin sends an arrow after them and Gabrielle stops it! -- to her amazement & Xena's. Then Xena goes after the assassin, who is wearing a mask. Then another masked man comes out and Gabrielle fights him (some good moves from Gabrielle). Xena sees the mask and stands looking at it for a moment before going to Gabrielle's aid, but Gabrielle has the situation in hand. "I guess you don't need my help," Xena comments. Gabrielle says, "No, but stay close." Xena does the "X-touch" on this man, who tells her Cortese is the leader and is burning a nearby village. Gabrielle wants to know what the mask means. "The men who attacked my village wore this mask," Xena says. Later Gabrielle says of Cortese, "He's the one who made you so ..... aggressive?" Xena replies "It was fighting him that twisted me into what I became." Xena rides off to save the village; she slices down a few guys. Gabrielle finally runs up over the ridge and saves a young girl from a marauder. The masked men retreat and seconds later the king's men come. Too late as always, the king's men say. One of Cortese's men knows who Xena is; he tells Cortese's lieutenant, who goes to Cortese. Cortese brags that he "created" Xena. The man who knows Xena puts on his mask and goes to Xena. She puts a sword to him; he removes his mask. It is Xena's brother .... Toris. Her older brother. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you," Gabrielle comments. Xena and Toris are not on good terms; Toris fled with some of the villagers when Cortese attacked Amphipolis. Toris blames Xena for leading the villagers in a stand against Cortese, where their younger brother was killed. He thinks Xena is leading Gabrielle down the same wrong path. Toris wants to kill Cortese; Xena says that isn't the way. Xena wants to see the camp of Cortese's men; she tells Gabrielle to go back to the village to stay. Gabrielle stands up to Xena, and tells her she's going with her. Sending me away, Gabrielle says, means you think you're not safe to be around. Did it ever occur to you that you're never safe to be around? I'm staying. (That's paraphrased, not a quote). Xena pretends to have been "captured" by Toris; he leads her into the camp. He gets thrown out of the gang for speaking up to the lieutenant (Toris wants to see Cortese). Xena gets away and meets Gabrielle and Toris. They decide that the king has a spy in Cortese's camp because they use messenger pigeons which bear the royal seal on them. Toris and Xena go to the king; Gabrielle reluctantly goes back to the village. The king is Cortese! He is the spy! He tries to drop Xena and Toris down a hole but it doesn't work; Xena and Toris get away but now the "king's" men and Cortese (as a bandit) are both after them. Xena and Toris go to the village to get Gabrielle and to tell the elders that the King and Cortese are one and the same. Xena and Toris go to talk. How do you stand that annoying girl? Toris asks after telling Gabrielle that she knows nothing of justice. Xena stands up for Gabrielle; then Toris admits that he left the village because he was afraid of dying. Xena goes to the elders and while they are talking Toris leaves. He goes to the bandit camp; he is caught and tied to a tree. Xena goes after him; it's a trap. They end up in the castle dungeon. They escape. The head of the king's guard lies to Xena about where Cortese is; she knows it's a lie but she sends Toris to that place anyway to get him out of danger. She gets Cortese; she ties him and the guard up and leads them outside. Earlier Xena sent pigeons out with a message to the bandits telling them to attack the castle; she finds Toris and Gabrielle fighting the bandits. She unties the guard and he goes to get his men; she hangs the king up on a hook and goes to help Toris and Gabrielle. Then she tells Cortese to tell the bandits to drop their weapons; he eventually complies, proving to the king's guards that he is really Cortese, the bandit. Xena tells Toris to kill Cortese (he thinks that will make him feel better), but he doesn't. They part, with Toris going home to Mother. COMMENTARY: This commentary is brought to you by guest commentator, Bluesong (Bluesong@aol.com). There are a few small flashbacks in this show where Xena remembers the attack on her village, but they are mostly to show the mask and its effect upon her. The conversation in this show is what is most important about it. The talk between Gabrielle and Xena is very revealing; Gabrielle's stand against Xena is pointed, and while comical, her action says a lot about their relationship, and about Gabrielle. She understands -- probably more than Xena -- how much "at risk" Xena is. Gabrielle stays by Xena not because Xena is afraid of attack, but because Xena is afraid of Xena. She is facing her past again; this Cortese is the man who "twisted" her, and there is a very real fear that Xena might not stand by her convictions, that is, she might just kill this guy herself, in spite of what she says. Gabrielle is determined not to let Xena return to her evil ways. Xena and Toris also have intimate conversations. Toris may be Xena's older brother but he is not her equal, not in intelligence or in fighting skill (or looks). When he admits he was a coward, he tells Xena that he first thought she was misleading Gabrielle, but now he sees that Gabrielle is with Xena because she's brave; and that means the villagers who stayed with Xena to fight were brave, and Lyceus was brave, but Toris wasn't. He says he spent so much time trying to figure Xena out that he forget to figure himself out. One of the most revealing conversations has to do with "feeling". Toris asks Xena what it felt like when the village turned Cortese back. Xena says she never felt anything; she never took the time. She knew Lyceus, her younger brother, was dead; she knew Cortese's men would return, so she and the villagers she led took surrounding villages to build up an army to take protect the village, but somewhere it all went wrong and she went bad. The implication here is that withdrawing, or withholding emotion, wrecks havoc on the psyche. Therefore, Xena keeps trying to talk Toris out of murdering Cortese; she tells him: "The pure evil of murder is that it is premeditated." She says maybe it's just her perception, but it's different if you're killing in the heat of battle, or in self-defense or to protect another. This is something she has learned. Obviously she is also still learning about feeling and feelings. This show answers a lot of questions and raises a few, but then it wouldn't be great Xena if it didn't. Personally, it's not as good a show as THE GREATER GOOD or even CALLISTO (bad acting notwithstanding) but it ranks in the top ten. THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR: When Xena and Toris are in the dungeon and the guards come in, Xena changes shoes for a moment. In the big fight scene between Xena and Cortese, Xena catches a dagger thrown at her head (in typical Xena style), tosses it over her shoulder, and dismounts Argo. But look at the ground behind Xena after she lands (it only shows for a few seconds) and you will see her chakram rolling away from her. It fell from her hip when she hit the ground! Then, the next time you see Xena full body, about 5 seconds later, the chakram is on her hip again. DISCLAIMER: No messenger doves were harmed during the production of this motion picture. However, several are reportedly missing in action and search-and-rescue efforts are under way. WHOOSH! ARTICLES: The following WHOOSH! articles discuss this episode: Carper, Virgina, "How Effective was Xena as a Commander?", WHOOSH #06 (03/97) Paragraphs 7, 14, 19. Dekker , Nusi , "Who Was Xena's Father? Theories on the Warrior Princess' Origins", WHOOSH #06 (03/97) Paragraph 19. Draganis , Mary, "Dark Warrior Pasts: Kira and Xena'", WHOOSH #07 (04/97) Paragraph 5. Rentoul , Ian, "Xena and the Challenge of Destiny", WHOOSH #08 (05/97) Paragraphs 5-7. Swenson . Gregory R., "Alexander the Great: Blueprint for Xena", WHOOSH #04 (01/97) Paragraphs 3, 12. Swenson . Gregory R., "Puritanism, Capitalism, and Transcendentalism in Xena: Warrior Princess'", WHOOSH #08 (05/97) Paragraph 25. Taborn, Kym Masera, "The Annotated Warrior Princess", WHOOSH #02 (10/96) Paragraphs 113, 116. Wiatt , C., "Xena and Callisto: Why Are They The Way They Are?", WHOOSH #01 (09/96) Paragraph 5. White, Debbie, "Xena's Family: Who Are They?", WHOOSH #04 (01/97) Paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 7, and 9. White, Debbie, "Was Xena ever really evil?", WHOOSH #02 (10/96) Paragraph 5. WHOOSH!, "Letter to the Editor", WHOOSH #05 (02/97) [315] 06-03-97 BROADCASTING & CABLE. Vol. 126. No. 24. Page 35. 352 words. " Nelvana plans first-run ' Barbarella ' action hour; also is producing new kids show based on Donkey Kong." By David Tobenkin COMMENTARY: Promotion of the "action/adventure/ fantasy" television project based upon the movie and comic strip BARBARELLA . EXCERPT: ...Immortalized by the campy 1968 Jane Fonda movie version, the syndicated Barbarella will be based on the French comic strip of the same name and is now being shopped to syndicators, says Nelvana Senior Vice President Toper Taylor. "Barbarella is a female protagonist known worldwide that we think will combine the best elements of successful shows like Hercules, Xena, Baywatch and Star Trek with intonations of Moonlighting," says Taylor of the show, in which an as-yet-uncast lead will star as an intergalactic explorer from a peaceful galaxy who is threatened by a violent alien race and who crash-lands on earth. A syndicator has yet to be chosen to distribute 26 hour-long episodes of the show for 1997-98. The budget for the show will be roughly $ 1 million per episode, Taylor says.... [316] 06-04-96 FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & UTOPIA: II. D. NON-PRINT MULTIMEDIA FORMATS. http://www.uic.edu/~lauramd/sf/. COMMENTARY: XWP was mentioned on the web again in a review of television shows of interest to feminists. The review took the stance that although XWP was not their ideal of a feminist hero, she was at least leading in the proper direction. [KT] EXCERPT: ...Television Programming... ..."Xena, Warrior Princess" Ohhh ... I can hear the groans of pain already. There is no doubt much that is wrong with Xena's feminist consciousness, and the consciousness of those who created her. But, this is Xena: a tall strong ass-kicking peer of Hercules (the Hercules of the TV show, that is), has a woman sidekick. Yes, she wears skimpy clothes; so does Hercules. Yes, her sidekick is a schmuck; so is Hercules'. Basically, what you have here, is formulaic "Beastmaster" type fantasy--with a woman as the lead. She's big and she's powerful, and those two characteristics alone make her stand out from a lot of SF TV.... [317] 06-05-96 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. Sports. Pg. D7. 781 words. ""Novice Says: 'this Jump's for You, Ma'" By Shalmali Pal COMMENTARY: A passing reference to XWP in an article about a reporter's first sky-dive. The reporter stated that as they were about to jump, they "dwelled on how strange I felt rigged up in the Xena Warrior Princess-type harness" instead of pondering the fact they were about to jump out of an airplane 10,500 feet up in the air. In reviewing the experience, the reporter mentioned that they felt something "worthy of an episode of "Touched by an Angel." The reporter related two other experiences with television references. It is interesting to note that XWP and TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL would have a later connection when Hudson Leick would appear in three episodes of TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL in the 1996-97 TV season. [KT] EXCERPT: When people asked why I was willing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, I suppose I gave them every answer possible except the honest one: I went sky diving because I knew it would freak out my mother.... ...But as the 182-Cessna chugged to 10,500 feet, I tried not to think about that. Instead, I dwelled on how strange I felt rigged up in the Xena Warrior Princess-type harness. I also ran a mental checklist. Co-workers informed. Beneficiaries designated. Taxes paid. Underclothes clean (after all, as mother pointed out, you never know when you'll be in an accident ... ...As to what I pondered during those 54 seconds, well, I'd like to say that I had nothing but profound thoughts. That I had a sudden understanding of my own mortality or something else worthy of an episode of "Touched by an Angel."... ================ CUT HERE ========================== XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR) #22 (07-14-97) Part 3 of 5