Xena Season 1 Geography and Chronology

Xena title cardHey Xena fans, this special post is my stab at unraveling some of the geographical and chronological clues in the first season of Xena. Why am I doing this? Well, I’m a continuity guy, so I like it when the episodes fit together in a logical order and I like to figure out where Xena and Gabi’s adventures are taking place in each episode. Naturally, the writers at the time were usually more concerned with telling good (or great) stories instead of with making everything fit together logically, so a lot of the place names and travel times in the episodes don’t really make sense. Continue reading “Xena Season 1 Geography and Chronology”

Xena Season 1 Overview

Xena title cardWelcome to my overview of Season 1 of Xena: Warrior Princess. Like most first seasons, this one was mostly about establishing the characters and letting us get to know them. But it’s not just us in the audience who have to get acquainted with the characters, they also have to get acquainted with each other. Continue reading “Xena Season 1 Overview”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 24

Xena title cardIs There a Doctor in the House? – Director: T.J. Scott/Writer: Patricia Manney

On the way to Athens, Xena and Gabi are traveling through a forest and find themselves caught in a war between Thessaly and Mitoa. They find Ephiny (who’s about to give birth) hiding in the trees and she tells them her husband Phantes (who we saw in Hooves and Harlots) was killed by Mitoans. Gabi is disgusted by the toll the war is taking on innocents and Xena decides to do something about it. She finds a Mitoan general (Marmax) and follows him. When Marmax goes after a lone Thessalian soldier, Xena knocks Marmax out and stabs him. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 24”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 23

Xena title cardDeath Mask – Director: Stewart Main/Writer: Peter Allan Fields

This one starts with Xena and Gabi discussing how Xena catches arrows (by listening with her whole body) and when a couple of guys in iron masks ambush them, Gabi actually stops an arrow with her staff. She and Xena pound the ambushers and Xena interrogates them, learning they work for Cortese … the raider who attacked Xena’s village ten years ago and set her on a path of revenge and darkness. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 23”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 22

Xena title cardCallisto – Director: T.J. Scott/Writer: R.J. Stewart

This one starts with a blonde warrior leading an attack on a village. She’s pretty intense, wasting men, women, and children indiscriminately, but spares one old woman. She tells the old woman to spread the word about what happened and claims to be Xena. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 22”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 21

Xena title cardThe Greater Good – Director: Gary Jones/Writer: Steven L. Sears

This one starts with Gabi practicing her fighting moves (using Argo as an opponent) until Xena whistles and Argo kicks the staff out of Gabi’s hand. Xena wishes Gabi and Argo could get along, but Gabi thinks Argo hates her. Xena goes to a well for a drink and meets a girl who asks her to help Lord Seltzer, who’s being attacked by the warlord Talmadeus in a nearby village. Xena calls Argo (who tosses Gabi out of the saddle onto her ass) and rides to help Lord Seltzer, who turns out to be Salmoneus. Xena runs off Talmadeus’s men, but ends up getting shot with a dart by a woman in a tree outside the village. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 21”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 20

Xena title cardTies That Bind – Director: Charles Siebert/Writers: Adam Armus, Nora Kay Foster

This one starts with a warlord named Kirilus rounding up a bunch of girls to sell into slavery. Kirilus is working for Ares, but Ares shows up and tells him he won’t be needed anymore, since Ares wants Xena to lead his army instead. Xena and Gabi are watching Kirilus’s men cage up the girls and planning how to rescue them when an older man (Atrius) shows up to challenge a couple of the guards. Atrius gets in trouble and Xena saves him and when Atrius finds out who she is, he claims to be her long-lost father. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 20”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 19

Xena title cardAltared States – Director: Michael Levine/Writer: Chris Manheim

This one starts with a woman (Zora) telling her son Icus to run away because someone’s after him. At a pastoral lake we see Xena and Gabi’s clothes hanging from a bush and some suggestive dialogue makes it sound like they’re having some sexy fun, but it’s a big fake-out … they’re just fishing. Icus shows up at the lake, pursued by a bunch of zealots and Xena (still naked) kicks their asses using fish as a weapon. The zealot leader (Mael) shows up and warns Xena this is none of her business, but she refuses to turn Icus over so the beaten zealots leave. Icus tells Xena the zealots want to sacrifice him to their God and that Icus’s father is the one who ordered it. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 19”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 18

Xena title cardThe Prodigal – Director: John T. Kretschmer/Writer: Chris Manheim

This one starts with Xena and Gabi making their way through a mountain pass. They end up in a dead end, where some bandits have a cart full of sharpened spears to roll into the defile and impale them. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 18”

Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 17

Xena title cardThe Royal Couple of Thieves – Director: John Cameron/Writer: Steven L. Sears

This one starts with a hooded figure stealing a huge diamond from some monks (in spectacular fashion). Xena shows up to confront the guy and he takes off, but it doesn’t take Xena (and Gabi) long to catch him. He turns out to be Autolycus, the self-proclaimed King of Thieves. Xena reveals that the “diamond” he just stole is actually rock sugar, but has another proposition for Autolycus … she wants him to help steal the most valuable object in the world. Continue reading “Xena Reviews: Season 1, Episode 17”