Monthly Archives: June 2023

Aquarius and Various

Gabrielle’s “A Message of Peace” gets a little jiggle from 3 wood nymphs

Something I had to keep in mind about canon for my project is that I had 3 different kinds to juggle. Although my story is a #Xena episode, it actually draws upon 3 of the “RenPic Cinematic Universe” shows: Xena, #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys , & #YoungHercules.

In my view, the 3 comprise one complete story, but they approach it in 3 different ways. In a Xena ep, Xena is the source: she caused the problem, she solves it, & along the way, she’s the source of all important info about it. Even when she has no way of knowing the info,  she delivers it to us. The result is a highly unified story, which makes it the most sophisticated of the 3 shows. It’s like the “Oedipus Rex” of Greek tragedies: the perfect illustration of a hero that encapsulates all the story’s choices & destinies in one.

Even when Xena isn’t present, she’s the subject of the ep. Hercules is very different: the hero is more of a mediator, a peacemaker, & we see more of the world beyond him, because he’s just one aspect of it. When he’s not in an ep, life goes on.

In a way, he’s actually a good model for Eve the Messenger, & in fact, next week I’ll talk about how Eve’s roots may actually be on Hercules. Young Hercules is more limited in scope. It’s set in ancient Greece’s equivalent of a high school, a military academy, complete with “malt shop,” actually, an unusually cheery, sunlit tavern nearby, frequented by the younger crowd. Most of the stories focus on learning how to take on responsibility, & retaining one’s values as they face a morally complex world.

One of the leads has to take over his father’s kingdom at an early age, & it’s clearly not an envious task to wear the crown. There’s virtually no romance at all. There’s a female student, an Amazon, but she’s just one of the guys. Is a serious look at becoming an adult.

Despite that, Young Hercules has a lot of fun with concepts that appear in Xena & Hercules, & I found it a good source of how RenPic did world building in their version of Ancient Greece. I also found it inspiring when trying to imagine how Livia spent her younger years, since this would’ve been similar to her environment, I believe. Not to mention, the Elijian youth movement, who would be similar in spirit to YH’s cast.

Later in Hercules, they revisit the academy of his youth, to find it’s become a very different place, expanded in scope & much more ruthless & corrupt. This is more how I imagine Livia’s upbringing, & given the timing of its appearance on Hercules, it would’ve coincided with the Xena staff’s preplanning for her arc. So all 3 shows were helpful to me in expanding Eve/Livia’s character & world in a way that feels authentic to me.

Why not just stick with Xena’s world? Because of the highly centralized nature of its stories, there isn’t much breathing room for a third main character, & it’s hard to conceive how that would work. As it is, I think the writers pushed it as far as they could go with her; any further, & the show could’ve felt unbalanced. I’ll talk more next week about the challenges of her character, & I’m impressed they got as far as they did.

I’ll talk more about canon as I go through the project, but one more word for now. The Rosetta Stone of Xena canon, imo, is a show that ran concurrently during its 1st season: American Gothic. It’s completely unrelated, but because it ran 1 season, the gothic concepts it introduced were picked up by Xena. The most important one, for my purposes, is the Rosemary’s Baby-inspired arc. The Child of Destiny motif is big in Xena, throughout its run, & finds it biggest expression in Eve herself. This was something I kept in mind for this story:

She’s not merely a personality, but has real thematic momentum behind her, & that impacted how I expanded on her backstory. I’ll close with another video that inspired the look of this project. There’s a lot of dance-related videos I looked at, & this one helps connect several storylines.

The opening dance sequence in the musical Hair shows tai-chi-inspired dance in NY’s Central Park, as witnessed by a recruit bound for Vietnam. Here it illustrates their freedom and uninhibitedness, & it inspired how I portrayed the Elijian youth,  but strangely enough, it also inspired how I imagined teen Livia danced. Her military discipline would’ve drawn on the same movements, in a very different context. To me this illustrates the idea of synchronicity: how lives & events seemingly headed for tragic collision can suddenly find themselves aligned, as if by the planets & stars themselves.

Comedy Is Hard

Sophocles’ Women of Trachis: The Musical

One of the things that gets tricky about canon in #Xena are the comedy episodes. They seem to challenge the idea that there’s any consistency. Should we consider them part of #Xena’s actual story? I’ve heard some argue that anything that couldn’t literally be  in Gabrielle’s scrolls shouldn’t be canon. Sorry, Soul Possession! Then there’s one of my favorite eps, You Are There, that couldn’t possibly exist anywhere, seemingly. But I consider these all canon. There was a translation of Sophocles’s only surviving comedy,

“The Trackers”, a story about Apollo fighting with the satyrs over Hermes’ new invention, the lyre. Since only half the play survived, Harrison filled in the rest about the team that discovers the fragment, & sets free the characters in the story. Chaos ensues!

There’s a number of reasons why I believe this was a source for #Xena (Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire, etc.), but I’m also interested in the “uber” quality of this translation. It shows how the past is present, & the classic themes are eternal. More to the point, it tells me that the show’s canon isn’t just about plot or character, but it’s about how it’s all presented: the aesthetic, or style, is as important as the story itself. It also tells me that we can’t really understand the past without a good sense of humor to put it in perspective. It’s good to have a healthy appreciation for the ridiculous (a life lesson that took me a while to learn).

So, with that in mind, what about You Are There? Perhaps that was also a translation, using a fragment of Gabrielle’s scroll, & the only way to knit those scenes together was comedically? Nothing really happens that isn’t true to character, after all. Not even Eve’s scenes, which I don’t think would actually have played like that, but I can definitely picture her doing things like that: there was some real  overturning-the-tables-in-the-temple energy there! The scene implying the Elijians are repressed sexually, indulging in disguised role-play, is something that may be embellished, based on perceptions about the cult, but I lay the groundwork for that in my story, with one particular sect that practices celibacy while waiting for Eli’s return.

The idea of a musical ep finds fertile ground in the Greek plays, because they were the original musicals in Western theatre tradition. Opera was invented in the Renaissance as a way of recreating how they might have looked. It’s fascinating that #Xena almost had a 3rd musical, featuring Sappho: that unproduced script also uses celibacy as a plot point. It went through many incarnations (at one point, spawning Lyre, Lyre), but never happened. 

Apparently that musical never left Rob Tapert’s mind. In 2017, he produced Pleasuredome in New Zealand, starring Lucy, directed by Michael Hurst, which used that idea, set to 80s music this time (the original script used 70s disco, I believe).

It just goes to show if you hang in there, things can eventually fall into place! I’ll finish up my thoughts on canon tomorrow, then move on to at look at how I view Eve’s character, possible origins & development.

Appropriate or Appropriation?

Joxer, the Hanged Man of the Tarot, can’t shake his image, in The Play’s the Thing

An important part of canon in Xena, Hercules, & Young Hercules is the use of Greek myth, cinema, & world religions as part of its aesthetic structure. In a show that uses a lot of references, you can imagine how elaborate it gets as they intertwine over seasons.

These days, there’s an additional concern, that of cultural appropriation. Using references to religions & cultures in the name of entertainment are considered insensitive by some, depending on how they’re used. The audience is global, these days.

The nice thing about Xena et al is that they were designed for global audiences already, so imo past the test a great deal of the time. Not everyone agrees, but I think there’s some misinterpretation at work in those cases. Some things I’ve heard criticized recently:

Depicting Indians as primitive for the practice of suttee in Between the Lines (i.e., burning the surviving widow with the deceased husband, as his “property”). The alleged stereotypes in “The Way” commonly found in Hollywood films about the Arabian Nights.

& I’ve heard it said that the Horde in The Price is a racist depiction of aboriginal people of color. I see these in a different context. “The Way” looks to me like an homage to Bollywood, & that’s how many Indian viewers interpreted it.

I’m a big Bollywood fan, & that’s how it looks to me as well. Those films often play with the depictions of the Indian gods, just as the West gets creative with its own depiction of Christianity, & the dividing line between homage & pure entertainment is often blurry.

The practice of suttee, sacrificing the widow, was indeed an ancient practice in India, but it was also an ancient practice among the Vikings and the Greeks. Euripides even included it in one of his plays about the Trojan War. So why does Xena single out India? It doesn’t!

In season 2’s Blind Faith, we see Gabrielle wedded to a dead man (Greek), & nearly burnt with her deceased husband, 2 full seasons before “Between the Lines.” Re: the Horde in The Price. Its racial makeup is actually no different than the Athenian soldiers who fight them.

But what most interests me is that we eventually learn that the Horde lives underground, & in caves. This, along with suttee, I believe is a cinematic reference to the film The 13th Warrior. Based on a true story, but fictionalized by Michael Crichton, this film is a known source for some of the writers of Xena & Hercules. It’s the story of a Persian diplomat who travels to the land of the Vikings (the true part) & encounters a prehistoric race of matriarchal warriors that survived into the modern era (the fiction part).

It’s a fun movie, & there’s numerous episodes that play on its plot points in Xena & Hercules. The prehistoric tribe lives underground, in caves, like the Horde, & are unintelligible. Actually, the Vikings are unintelligible to the diplomat, who learns their language simply by watching them. This connection between primordial humans & ability to speak occurs throughout both series. Its last appearance, I believe, is in season 6’s The Abyss. Why do they use The 13th Warrior in this way? That’s a matter of interpretation, & you don’t need to ponder the connection in any way, unless you’re wondering why all these things are popping up. If you assume they’re problematic associations, you may miss the larger pattern. Myself, I think it has to do with Rob Tapert’s wish to illustrate how religion develops & spreads. This is the reason given on one of the dvds, & it makes sense to me. Religion was extremely fluid in the ancient world, & not governed by national boundaries (which didn’t really exist as we know them). This is what fascinates me about Eve’s story, as it takes this idea of the growth of religion & extends it into an era that’s more familiar to us in the West: the time After Christ (A.D.). You can probably guess this would also be extremely problematic to explore, & that’s a major concern of mine as well, for this project.

Hinduism also exists in our era, but it’s unavoidable for #Xena: she is openly & conceptually tied to Hinduism, & the show stays true to that to the end, rather than just borrow the images. I’ll explore the issues of depicting Eve’s religion in the next 2 wks.

Not Greek To Me

A Greek Theatre in The Play’s the Thing

Writing according to canon for a show like Xena is a toughie, because it seems so chaotic. I’ve spent a lot of time compiling what I think makes up the show’s aesthetic canon, based on my watching the show, reading interviews, and researching the source materials.

A fair amount is guesswork on my part, but it was important to me that I have a grasp of things that couldn’t be figured out just from observing the show. Why did they repeat certain types of motifs throughout the series? 

Why did they avoid using quite obvious stories from Classical Greek lit that would seem to fit the show like a glove? Such as the Trojan War? The depiction of Troy in #Xena & Herc are very non-intuitive, & seem totally unrelated. Why does the show look the way it does?

There’s no Greek architecture, for example. Every other kind, but instead of Greece, they depict a kind of gothic realm. Some say it’s a cost-cutting measure, but that doesn’t make sense. Greek buildings are highly modular. You can save a lot of money reusing those columns.

Ridley Scott did, in Gladiator, when he created the sets for the imperial palace & the Roman Senate with just a few pillars & curtains, moved around. In fact, RenPic did save a lot of money, by shooting a lot of scenes in forests & parks.

But they seem to have spent a lot of time creating an alternate Greece. So it was definitely an aesthetic choice to build things in such a distinctive & unique way. Others say they just didn’t know any better, but clearly, they did.

RenPic went on to make Spartacus, full of period detail. As I present this project, I’ll explain why I made the choices I did, based on what I believe to be the aesthetic logic of the show.

The Canon’s the Thing

Gabrielle & Joxer in The Play’s the Thing

As I mentioned, I am attempting to make this #Xena webcomic as close to canon as possible. But what exactly does that mean? Is this a show that has that kind of organized approach, and even if it does, is it still applicable, 20 years later?

When I first started watching #Xena, I heard that the show had no story bible, that there was no real canon to speak of, & there were an abundance of quotes indicating that the writers made it up as they went. The show’s abrupt tonal shifts seemed to support this.

This was not an issue for most, for a number of reasons. This was an appealing action/adventure show, introducing a new iconic female hero, great characters, & a ground-breaking show in its depiction of a same-sex relationship.

Who cares about canon, when you’ve got all that? I agree! I myself thought the show was a mess, until the 6th season. “Path of Vengeance” (Eve’s last ep) was the 1st indication to me that the show was much more organized than I guessed. The series finale sealed it for me.

They obviously knew what they were doing. I needed to rewatch it to figure it out! I haven’t stopped, since 2001. Since then, I’ve heard about the need for a #Xena sequel to “fix” the series ending. Rob has recently said he doesn’t think anything needs fixing, & I agree.

But I agree with Lucy that it needs reviving. How do you do that without “fixing” the finale? As I see it: accept that everything on the show is canon. It all happened, & it all counts. Same for #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys, and #YoungHercules , too.

Will I succeed at this? I’m not sure. For an outsider, it’s sort of like resurrecting a dead language. You give it your best shot, by using everything you have, & incorporating everything you know. It’ll be fun to try, & it’s an extension of the fan experience, as I see it.

It’s all part of the #Xena Cinematic Universe, so embrace it all with a full heart! So lets talk this week about what canon means for this show, and how to build on it, and retain its magic. There’s no magic formulas other than accepting the show for what it is.

Salmoneus

Salmoneus & Autolycus

This is Salmoneus’s last scene on Hercules the Legendary Journeys: “ Genies & Grecians & Geeks, Oh My!” ( Note the Wizard of Oz reference!). Sal was peddling art to a sultan. He wears a beret, now that he’s in the art world. He get strapped by a genie in a magic lamp with Autolycus the thief. Sal makes a wish that harkens back to one of his earlier eps, when he goes into the self-actualization business, in The Outcast (co-starring Lucy Lawless). There, he just wants to be “the best Sal I can be”, & make money hand over fist helping people.

 Here, he wishes for self-improvement, which conjures up 3 versions of himself. In the final scene, he & Autolycus manage to escape, & as they leave, Sal says to. Autolycus: “This could be the start of a beautiful friendship!” They each consider the implications of that, grimace, then slip away in opposite directions. This aired Oct 1998, & the final Herc ep ever aired a year later. During that time, it was joked on the show that Sal was arrested for tax fraud, & that gave me the idea of having Sal return as the object of Livia’s contempt, 21 years later. Sal’s final quote is a quote from “ Casablanca”, so it’s fitting that he’s exiled to Cyprus, which on Hercules, is a stand in for both Paris (given the Aphrodite connection & the use of similar letters), & the West African city of Casablanca. 

It appeared on only one ep, “We’ll Always Have Cyprus,” (another Casablanca  homage!) in which the city looks very much like a Moroccan milieu. To me, it’s a nice closure for the character. 

In my alt history of this show, Sal’s next appearance is over a year after his last one, the first of a trilogy where he reconnects with a character he previously met, & later becomes his wife.

Next week, I’ll discuss how I view canon on #Xena & #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys

Protean Challenge

Proteus & Hercules

A footnote to yesterday’s post about Proteus: this god appeared on Hercules The Legendary Journeys. It’s an unusual episode because Herc admits he used to be kind of a jerk to him. There are elements of the myth  in this ep: Herc plays the role of Menelaus, wrestling with Proteus while he changes shapes. The story of Protean Challenge also concerns a father & daughter, with Iolaus standing in for Menelaus for that portion of the story. More specific to the play, the ep ends with Proteus changing into a dove. 

Is that an intentional reference to the only surviving line from Aeschylus’s lost play? The writer of this ep, Brian Herskowitz, went on to write another Herc ep, A Star Shall Guide Them, which ends with a nativity scene hinting at the birth of Christ. 

Interestingly, the feeling they all get from this baby of destiny is peace, the message Eli will deliver. This is one of numerous coy suggestions that the show is set in New Testament times, but none of them actually line up chronologically. 

For example, 8 months later, #Xena’s Christmas ep, A Solstice Carol possibly shows us Mary & Joseph looking for an inn. This teasing of the  arrival of the one God continues until the appearance of Eli & Eve.

#HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys

Proteus

Eve & the Elijians

I’ll talk more about my definition of #Xena’s canon, & how I intend to comply with it, next week, but a big part of it is its referential style. That is, the way it borrows from various sources. Without those, it’s a very different show, in my opinion.

In keeping with that, I want to make sure I’m also borrowing from the same, or similar types, of sources. Since Greek theatre was a big part of the show, I plan to also incorporate it. It’s not hard, but for this story, it’s a bit tricky.

I draw upon a number of Greek plays, but the main inspiration is “Proteus,” a Greek comedy that Aeschylus wrote as the brief ending for his famous Oresteid trilogy (the only surviving Greek trilogy from its golden age). It’s difficult to borrow from it because it’s lost!

Only 1 Greek comedy survives, & half of another, so we know what the genre was like. We can use our imaginations to figure out how “Proteus” must’ve looked. We know the general plot, & we have a single surviving quote, about a slain dove.

We don’t know anything about the context of this quote. What did this poetic image mean? Since “Rock of Ages” is a story about Eve, a disciple for Peace, I use it as a symbol of endangered peace. In Homer’s “Odyssey,” Proteus is a wizard, & sea god, who lives on an island.

Helen of Troy’s husband, Menelaus, lands on this island, en route from the conquest of Troy, & needs directions home (or he’ll be lost, like Ulysses, for 10 years). He meets Proteus’s daughter, who tells him the secret of persuading her father to help him:

Because he’s the God of Change, a magical shape-shifter, Menelaus’ll need to catch him & not let go until he stops changing shapes. It works! Menelaus gets directions home, while finding out his brother Agamemnon got home 1st but was killed (i.e., the plot of the Oresteid.

Because this is a “satyr” play, as Greeks called their comedies (they used goatmen as comedy relief), a typical Greek myth gets turned into a screwball comedy as a result. I love the themes of change, romance, family strife, & bawdy hijinks all in the service of peace.

So it’s the perfect inspiration for this webcomic. I want to glean its details for use in “Rock of Ages,” just like the show runner clearly did elsewhere for #Xena. How to do that if the play is lost? By writing it and drawing it myself!

Whenever I got stuck in the story, I would consult my version of “Proteus”, its plot, motifs, & images. It worked! It provided a general unifying logic to “Rock of Ages” that kept the story on track. This mini-comic will be the first part of this project that I’ll post.

Because it’s unabashed & a bit bawdy (though nothing you wouldn’t see in a Danny Kaye movie), I modeled it after “Jack of All Trades,” & took inspiration from Bruce Campbell in shaping the performance of the lead role of Menelaus. 

It’ll be drawn in the style of Disney’s “Hercules” cartoon, which came out shortly before “Hercules and Xena: The Battle For Mt Olympus”. Disney is an influence for me, drawing-wise, so it’ll be good practice, before I start to draw the main story.

To end this week’s theme, I want to post a video that influenced me a lot while writing “Rock of Ages.” Its story has Eve entangled with numerous sects of the Elijian peace movement, some violent, some peaceful, some strict & severe. 

This video inspired my portrayal of a fourth group: the freewheeling Elijian youth movement swept up in the Dionysiac enthusiasm of its teachings, wanting to spread its message in the form of music & dance. There was a similar movement during the 1960s which inspired the protean musical “Godspell”, among others. A modern-day reenactment of the gospel, this scene shows John the Baptist as a voice in the wilderness (modern-day New York), gathering the disciples, preparing for the long-awaited messenger of peace.

My story sticks to the show’s portrayal of the Elijian movement as incorporating tropes from Hollywood’s classic Bible epics (such as Ben Hur, in “The God You Know”), but I’ve also borrowed from later musicals & film treatments as well.

I’ll talk more about Eve & the Elijians in a few weeks, & how we should think about them, as well as the practice of alluding to a modern-day religion, & the sensibilities of its followers (as well as the feelings of those not always keen on present-day religious values).

I drew a lot from the images in this video for the story, which inspired its central set, Aphrodite’s Fountain of Love. I really like the way this scene captures the burst of Dionysiac freedom of the times, joyful & bittersweet.

Expanding the Xenaverse

Eve & the Baptist

The premise of this webcomic is that it’s based on an unreleased theatrical film version of #Xena, opening in the summer of 2000, a direct sequel to season 5’s ender, “Motherhood.” Because of that, the story’s music had to have been released prior to that. 

Most songs are from the 80s & 90s, the earliest from 1930, and the latest from January 2000. In comparison, “Lyre, Lyre , Hearts on Fire,” the show’s 2nd musical, featured songs from the 60s, while season 5’s “Antony and Cleopatra” featured a 90s song by Natalie Merchant.

Let’s talk about that song, “Carnival”! I think it’s the perfect song for the show’s sensibility, and harkens back to the show’s chief influence, the film “Black Orpheus”, set in Brazil’s Carnivale. It describes the experience of being swept up by the world’s illusions,

& glimpsing the possibility of a much larger one, perhaps viewed with a new wisdom & compassion. The lyrics describe   “a wild-eyed misfit prophet on a traffic island stopped & he raved of saving me. Have I been blind, have I been lost inside myself, & my own mind, hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?” I think these lyrics are salient to the show’s journey of experience, and for me, the opening lyrics are especially pertinent:

“Well, I’ve walked these streets, A virtual stage, it seemed to me, makeup on their faces, actors took their places next to me.” To me, this is where Eve finds herself in this story, & the island of Cyprus is like a stage in which she takes on a new role.

I don’t use this song in this story, but we hear it in the episode right before  “Looking Death in the Eye,” the beginning of the Twilight of the Gods arc, in which Eve’s destiny changes forever when she’s separated from her mothers & raised by Caesar’s manipulative court.

I’ve tried to look for as many details like this as I can in building this new addition to Xena’s story. I want to expand Xena’s world, but without any kind of retconning, or changing/deleting existing facts.

That said, I’ve tried to add as many new elements as possible, without altering the existing reality. Part of my agenda in writing this story is to expand our idea of what’s possible when thinking ahead to any future revivals. If we can dream it, they can be it!

This story introduces a number of things that have their roots in the earlier show. For example, Salmoneus has a history here that traces back to after “Hercules The Legendary Journeys” ends. I want to show flashbacks that fit the show’s format, so I made an addition to the past: HTLJ, in my alt history in which we have a year 2000 Xena movie, did not end 8 eps into season 6. It ran a full year, as a Herc-lite season (like 4th season), allowing time for Sal to have full arcs to himself to develop a backstory.

Since “Rock of Ages” has a nautical theme, I imagined a 7th season of HTLJ, with a new star, and crossover ties to a #Xena spinoff of its underwater fantasy ep, “Married With Fishsticks”. I imagined what it might look like, & will include a screencap or 2 of that as well.

It’s not necessary to the story that I imagine these things, but it’s a good way to loosen up creatively, and further develop the world of Xena while faithfully coloring outside its lines. One thing that I do strongly believe in, however, is a #Xena revival.

I very much agree with Lucy Lawless’s recent statements about a next generation-oriented revival, one that will allow the legacy cast to participate. By imagining all these additions to the past, I’m practicing imagining how a revival would also expand #Xena’s world.

Myself, I’m most excited about an Eve spinoff set 20 years later. I think it’s the perfect time for it, & having spent the last several years building the world of this story, I’m convinced it’s a worthy extension of #Xena’s magical world. I see no end to the possibilities.

Some folks will have to see it to believe it, so I’ve also tried to imagine exactly what such a series would look like. I’ve speculated on its twists & turns, & experimented with its look, & its crazy cast of characters, & how they tie in to the show’s aesthetic legacy.

Throughout this project, I’ll be occasionally posting

“Spoiler-free” images of how I envision an “Eve” spinoff. As I mentioned yesterday, Rob & R.J. had already planned a spinoff, so RenPic doesn’t need me to tell them how to do their job, but maybe the networks need someone to tell them (or their AI trendbots) what the audience wants to see. Here’s my vote! If it doesn’t work, then we’ll always have Cyprus!

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the 1st part of this project, & post the 1st video.

Preview of project updates

Eve interviewed by Michael Hurst

Continuing yesterday’s post: I’ll be posting links to YouTube videos as often as possible because in some cases, their visual content will be relevant, especially in cases where the video’s images are iconic. I’ll be creating my own videos as well, for a number of reasons.

I’ll be creating drawing videos paired with music taken from my alternate soundtrack. I drew inspiration from a number of songs for each chapter. For example, the chapters dealing with flashbacks to Livia’s schooldays were written with multiple soundtracks.

Her backstory required layers of moods to capture properly. In some cases, I actually preferred my alternate track, but the lyrics didn’t totally fit, or couldn’t be rewritten without changes to the song’s character, but it set the right tone for the scene in my mind.

I’ll be providing text commentary to discuss each chapter, but I realize that may not work for all folks, so for key chapters, I plan to create shorter video commentary. These will have less detail, but given my “tldr” tendencies, less may be more for some!

My first planned video will be for the first #Xena musical, “The Bitter Suite.” The web has a lot of great resources for it, but I have updated insights that will fill in key gaps on our understanding of it, such as identifying missing Tarot cards, etc.

I’ll also be working on a music video for the project as a whole, hopefully ready by the fall. It will provide a glimpse of the entire project, & time permitting, I plan to include some animation for key moments.

Once this site gets well underway, my hope is to include interviews with various folks related to this project. That depends on availability, & whether I have the courage to pull that off, but mostly, I’m guessing, on my project’s credibility. We’ll see how that goes!

I did think about setting up a podcast commentary for this project, but visuals are key to it. I’d rather spend 5 minutes showing you, with voice-over, than much longer describing it to you. Given the length of this project, that’s a lot of podcasting!