Send in the Clones – Director: Charlie Haskell/Writer: Paul Robert Coyle
This one starts in the present day—or what was the present day when this episode first aired—with a woman named Alexis (who looks just like Alti) buying a chakram and some ancient strands of hair from a shady dude. Elsewhere, three fans of the Xena TV show (Mac, a big Joxer fan, Polly, a
doctor who enjoys seeing Xena kick ass, and Leah, a texter who really likes the Xena/Gabi relationship) are compiling clips from various episodes (including Them Bones Them Bones) when Alexis calls to tell them she got what they need. They meet her at a lab and are excited to see that Alexis has used the hair to grow perfect clones of Xena and Gabi.
Xena and Gabi have no brainwave activity, so Alexis and the superfans plan 
to use clips from the show (which, being based on Gabi’s scrolls, are basically like memories for Xena and Gabi) to stimulate their minds and awaken them. Since Mac, Polly, and Leah all like different aspects of the show, they argue over the best clips to use, but Alexis decides to go with some of Xena’s best ass-kicking moments. We get clips from Chakram, Eve, Motherhood, Amphipolis Under Siege, One Against an Army, The Way, and Heart of Darkness, but none of them cause any change in Xena or Gabi’s brain responses. Leah wants to use some more
romantic clips to get Xena’s attention, but Alexis says they should leave that until tomorrow. That night someone (gee, I wonder who it is?) sneaks in and feeds a compilation of Xena’s more evil moments into her mind. We get clips from Destiny, Adventures in the Sin Trade II, The Debt, and the Hercules episode Armageddon Now II. That does get a response from Xena, but not a very positive one.
The next morning the superfans dress Xena and Gabi in their regular outfits (and cut Gabi’s hair). They soon notice Xena’s brainwave patterns are 
elevated and realize that somebody fed her a bunch of negative images, so Alexis suggests they counteract the evil images with some positive stuff about Gabi. They feed Xena images from One Against an Army and The Way, but Polly convinces them that Xena needs to see the other side of Gabi too, so they show Gabi going wild and wasting Romans in Ides of March. Alexis has them show Xena the clip from Necessary Evil where she did her mea culpa speech in front of the villagers. That wakes Xena up, but they’re too busy arguing that nobody notices … until Xena puts the Pinch on Mac.
Gabi wakes up (and makes Xena take the Pinch off Mac) and the superfans tell them they cloned them because the world is in a really sorry state and
need heroes to sort things out. (This is illustrated with real-life scenes of various crimes and disasters.) Xena and Gabi pig out on modern food (Xena loves pizza, while Gabi is really into milkshakes) and watch clips of the TV show about their lives. We see scenes from Sins of the Past, The Prodigal, A Good Day, Lost Mariner, Is There a Doctor in the House, A Day in the Life, Return of Callisto, and Return of the Valkyrie. The superfans are in awe that their heroes are sitting right there in front of them and we get a bit of their thoughts: Polly figures 
Xena could kick anyone’s ass, including a resurrected Bruce Lee; Mac thinks they’ll both be horny enough to fuck him; and Leah wants to get them in the right mood with some old Ellen episodes. Xena and Gabi seem to enjoy the show about their exploits (Xena thinks the actress playing her is sexy, so I assume she means Lucy Lawless?), but Gabi isn’t happy that the writers have taken liberties with her scrolls, and we see that their memories conflict with some of the episodes. Gabi’s ready to get back to being heroic, but Xena’s not really
feeling the altruism thing. Alexis tells Gabi she thinks Xena might be evil again, but she’s actually setting Gabi up to be arrested by the cops. We get more clips from The Abyss, Livia, Callisto, Back in the Bottle, and Sacrifice II. Alexis tells Xena the cops have Gabi and gives her the real chakram. Xena goes to free Gabi and the superfans (finally) realize Alexis is actually Alti. Weird they didn’t recognize her before, unless we assume that the actress who plays Alti doesn’t look like the real thing … but Claire Stansfield plays both so … I don’t know. This meta-stuff is confusing.
Alti wants to ruin Xena’s reputation (and is the one who hid Gabi’s scrolls), eventually hoping Xena will go full evil again and ally with her. Alti’s plan is 
working, as Xena busts Gabi out of jail and pounds a bunch of cops. At a scrapyard, Gabi tries to get through to the more aggressive Xena (who’s fashioning herself a sword). Alti shows up with the superfans and tempts Xena to dump Gabi and join her, stimulating memories from Adventures in the Sin Trade, Past Imperfect, Rheingold, The Debt, Maternal Instincts, and Bitter Suite. But Gabi counters with memories of how much they love each other, and we get scenes from Past Imperfect, Amphipolis Under Siege, Sacrifice II, One Against an Army, Family Affair, Ides of March, and The Abyss. Gabi’s plan works and Xena goes after Alti, who tries to run her down (in a Trans-Am), while Gabi gets the others out of the way (although Polly tries to help fight
Alti and gets decked immediately). Xena drops a car on Alti, but that doesn’t work so she electrocutes her. Unfortunately, that starts a fire that races toward the fuel barrels where Gabi and the others are hiding. Xena and Gabi get the fans to safety but are caught in the explosion. Later, the fans discuss what happened, but don’t notice the Xena and Gabi clones passing them in a taxi.
This is an all right episode, but it’s a little strange, which is why it’s #75 on my all-time list. I think a lot of fans don’t like this one because they think it’s making fun of fandom. They’re right, it totally is, but I think it’s being 
done mostly in a loving way. Maybe some fans see themselves in Mac, Polly, or Leah, who are played pretty broadly. Mac is the horndog (and Joxer fan) who represents the more prurient aspects of fandom. Leah’s the texter who loves the Xena/Gabi relationship and the more emotional or romantic parts of the show. And Polly is a fan of Xena (and Gabi) when they’re kicking ass, so she represents the fans who see Xena as empowering for women (or people in general). I’m definitely a Leah, but I probably have aspects of all three to some degree or other, and I think most fans are the same.
Really, this is just another clip show, which is why it isn’t higher on my list. I’m also kinda sick of Alti as a villain; I think was really overused by this point, although there isn’t really another choice since this is set so far from
Xena and Gabi’s own time. What I find most fascinating is that after this episode, there could be three sets of Xenas and Gabis walking around: the clones from this episode, Harry and Mattie, who are reincarnations of Xena and Gabi; and (possibly) Mel and Janice, who could still be alive in the year 2000 if we assume they were in their twenties when we saw them in The Xena Scrolls (which was set in 1940). It would’ve been cool to see an episode with all six of them together, although it probably would’ve driven Lucy and Renee crazy.
Noticeable Things:
- This episode has a slight Assassins Creed vibe to it, with the memory manipulation and avatars from the past and all that.
- Mac wears glasses through the whole episode, but there’s a scene where he rubs his eye right through the glasses, which apparently don’t have any lenses in them.
- Some of the superfans’ arguments are very meta, with them arguing over campfire scenes and specifically mentioning “Series 2, Episode 11” (which would be Here She Comes Miss Amphipolis) and “Series 4, Episode 7”, which was Locked Up and Tied Down. The funny thing is, neither of those episodes even have campfire scenes.
- At the end, Mac admits he’s a former Trekkie, but refers to Mr. Spock as “Dr. Spock”.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Get a life, pervert.” Xena’s response when Mac asks if ever banged Ares.
- “You really are a nerd.” Leah throwing some shade at Mac for being a Star Trek fan.