{"id":660,"date":"2025-04-01T05:10:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T05:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/?p=660"},"modified":"2025-04-01T05:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T05:10:40","slug":"xena-in-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/01\/xena-in-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"Xena in Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Poster<\/a>
Commemorative poster issued by Rerun Theater<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The last time I watched Xena Warrior Princess<\/span> with commercial breaks was June 18th, 2001. Since then, fans have waited to see a new chapter of her story on the big screen, or at least, to see her existing stories replayed on the big screen, but in the 24 years since that last aired episode, I\u2019ve never seen that actually happen\u2026until just this last week! Two episodes of Xena<\/span> were shown at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon, with commercial breaks, using ads from the 1990s, when they first aired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might ask why bother doing that when you can watch them ad-free in the comfort of your own home, but having now gone through the process, it\u2019s a whole different experience seeing them with an enthusiastic audience, plus, having to wait for 2 minutes of commercials before you can see a cliffhanger resolved restores the original pacing of the show, giving you some extra time to absorb what you\u2019ve seen, and to prepare for the next plot twist. Hearing the audience pick up on every little detail means you get a much fuller appreciation for the story: a lot more of the show\u2019s humor emerges, and the dramatic moments hit a little harder. This is true of any theatrical release, but we\u2019re not used to that in a (non-sports) tv show, unless we\u2019re watching with friends or family. TV in its earlier days was much more communal, with only one tv set in the house, and fewer channels to choose from. Much of my experience watching Xena<\/span> was solitary, though I spent many hours discussing it after the fact in online forums, which were just emerging when the show first started airing, in 1995.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it was a very different experience this last weekend to sit in a crowded theater sharing these episodes for the first time with others. They were presented by Rerun Theater, a group that collects vintage tv episodes, matches them with era-appropriate commercials, introduces them to the audience beforehand, and offers a commemorative poster for each showing. It\u2019s a poignant experience to compare the image of women in the commercials with the non-traditional ground-breaking characters in Xena<\/span>, providing a cultural snapshot of the show\u2019s context, and how the show would eventually make its own impact on the culture. You could hear the audience snicker or gasp as each commercial came on, and there was a lot of conversation to be overheard as we all left the theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For myself, having waited 24 years to see Xena<\/span> on the big screen, I asked myself beforehand why these two particular episodes were chosen. I wondered why they didn\u2019t choose the pilot instead, or one of the more cinematic two-part episodes later on that more closely resembled the kind of martial arts films that Hollywood Theatre often showcased. Having now seen them back to back, I think they were a good choice, especially for first-time viewers, because they provide a lot of exposition, and help give a taste of what we\u2019ll see in the coming seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callisto<\/span><\/strong>, (Season 1, episode 22):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callisto<\/span> opens with a scene familiar to Xena\u2019s past life, a village being ransacked by warlords, led by a woman calling herself Xena. We later discover this person is actually Callisto, a former survivor of one of her raids, and is now carrying on Xena\u2019s crimes in her name, daring her to stop her. It sounds psychotic, but it\u2019s the closest thing to justice that Callisto can imagine, given that the alternative is letting Xena find redemption in good deeds and making amends, while her own life has been forever scarred. Callisto had her parents taken away from her by Xena,\u00a0 and no doubt sought the safety of other warlords who could teach her their ways. If there is no justice, then the next best thing is to learn to use Xena\u2019s own force against her, and that means using her tactics. There\u2019s no future in her strategy, but she doesn\u2019t believe in the future anyway, outside of Xena, the all-powerful force in her life, to whom she\u2019s drawn like a soulmate. It\u2019s as if she feels Xena is the only one who can understand her, and so she has remade herself in Xena\u2019s image.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Callisto<\/a>
Even after she’s been arrested, Callisto can’t quit Xena<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is demonstrated at their first encounter, when Callisto becomes one of the few who can successfully catch Xena\u2019s signature weapon, the chakram, and carry it as her own. The chakram seems to be a weapon powered by the will, and certainly, Callisto\u2019s will for destruction matches Xena\u2019s when she first received the weapon as Ares\u2019 student, many years before.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Village<\/a>
Callisto’s victims on the cross, men, women & children<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s interesting to see that Callisto\u2019s preferred method of torment is to crucify villagers, something that her reincarnated self, Livia, will do 25 years later, in season five. Callisto seeks satisfaction in an act of mutual destruction with Xena, after which, she craves only oblivion in death. As we\u2019ll see, seasons later, she never finds it. It takes two lifetimes to finally achieve some kind of lasting peace, after which she truly does become soulmates with Xena, when she is reborn as her child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callisto<\/span> aired near the end of season one, as the writing staff was preparing season 2, in which the show would begin to develop its character arcs, and introduce elements that would dominate the rest of the series. The show\u2019s seemingly casual episodic approach pretty much ends with Callisto<\/span>, and her story would be woven through the others in one form or another until very near the series\u2019 end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prometheus<\/span><\/strong> (Season 1, episode 8):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next episode, Prometheus<\/span>, was aired much earlier in season one, #8, just a few episodes before the pivotal Hooves and Harlots <\/span>episode, in which Gabrielle\u2019s first great story arc begins, as heir to the Amazon throne, an arc which will last about as long as Callisto\u2019s, through nearly the end of season six. Soon, Gabrielle will learn to wield a weapon, but in Prometheus<\/span>, she\u2019s starting to feel like a fifth wheel from her lack of fighting skills. During one battle scene, she just cringes by the wall as the rest of them fight. By the time Callisto comes around, she\u2019s able to handily beat up Joxer, who prides himself as a great warrior. So this episode sets up her dissatisfaction as Xena\u2019s comedy relief, and is no longer content to just be Xena\u2019s chronicler, but her genuine sidekick and pupil. Xena still sees her as a bard and chronicler, however, and the first hint of a story arc is given when Xena makes it clear she needs to plan for the future by attending the Athens Academy of Performing Bards, something Gabrielle will do later this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode is one of only two with guest-star Hercules, from Xena\u2019s parent show, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys<\/span>. Xena began on that show, and now in its eighth episode, it once again is pulling viewers from HTLJ to take a second look at Xena, to see how it\u2019s coming along, and it\u2019s just in time for Gabrielle to indicate she\u2019s ready to step up, learning a few lessons from Hercules\u2019 sidekick, Iolaus himself. To capture these new viewers, both couples seem to pair up romantically, and Gabrielle brings up the subject of soulmates, with Iolaus. Clearly, she hasn\u2019t been around him long enough to have such feelings, but given her youth, the intensity of their adventure, with lives at stake, and Xena\u2019s emotional reunion with Hercules, the man who restored her faith in heroism and forgiveness, and it\u2019s understandable that strong feelings would take over\u2014and just as quickly dissipate. For the Hercules viewers, though, it\u2019s a signal that they\u2019d better keep an eye on things over on Xena\u2019s show, because these gals are obviously going to be relevant in their lives, especially if they\u2019re hinting about becoming soulmates!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savvy viewers would know better than take this at face value, since anyone who dates any of these folks are doomed to become redshirts, but there\u2019s no doubt the audience understands how these tropes work: once Hercules<\/span> viewers get hooked on Xena<\/span>, they\u2019ll watch for their own reasons, and there\u2019s no better way to establish one\u2019s hero bonafides than to have them on an equal relationship footing with another hero. Instantly, Gabrielle is elevated to Iolaus\u2019s status as action hero after she connects with him about it, even though she has yet to actually fight, and it won\u2019t be long before she assumes the role in her own right. We\u2019ll see this later on in season five, when daughter Livia manages to reach Xena\u2019s level of accomplishment as a warlord, and then later, as a powerful force for peace, something we learn later Xena will accomplish in her next life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a bit of a reprisal of Xena\u2019s first guest-shot on The Warrior Princess<\/span>, when we see Hercules and Xena at odds over who gets to wield the sword that can free Prometheus. We eventually learn that releasing Prometheus is a death sentence for the wielder of the sword, and they are fighting for the chance to conduct a suicide mission, something they didn\u2019t want to tell their sidekicks for fear they would want to talk them out of it. Here we also see a bit of foreshadowing of the questions in Xena\u2019s final episode, in which Xena again has a secret agenda about her own possible sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Prometheus<\/a>
Hera keeping 2 close eyes on Prometheus<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The title character, Prometheus, is a giant chained to a mountainside, and doesn\u2019t really interact with the main characters. He speaks only with Hera, at the beginning, but there\u2019s possibly some interesting subtext in how he\u2019s presented. He\u2019s not dressed like the usual Xena demigod, nor does he resemble any of the brutish giants we\u2019ve seen. He\u2019s bald, and wears only a brief white garment about his waist. If you\u2019re familiar with classic science fiction movies, you\u2019ll recognize this look: the title character in The Amazing Colossal Man<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Poster<\/a>
The Amazing Colossal Man<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s a story about a Lt Colonel who survives a plutonium explosion during the nuclear tests of the 1950s, causing him to grow indefinitely, driving him mad in the process. It can be a metaphor for the atom bomb\u2019s power in the arms race. Here, Prometheus is being punished for giving mankind too much power in the form of fire, and healing, and certainly, atomic energy is a similarly godlike form of power. References to nuclear energy, and its ties to Oppenheimer\u2019s quote from the Bhagavad Gita occur in various forms throughout Xena<\/span>, and we\u2019ll see more explicit forms of this metaphor repeated in season 6, in Send in the Clones<\/span> (featuring the ominously named Alexis Los Alamos), and in the series finale, in which Xena seems to ignite an ancient form of the atom bomb in the ultimate battle against the armies of the demonic Eater of Souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These initial episodes are a good introduction to some of the character arcs and motifs that will be developed to great effect in future seasons. Some of them are quite heavy and profound, but they are quietly introduced and seem to grow organically before our eyes without ever weighing down the show with important messages, but never abandoning the universal concerns that the original myths illustrated with a similar effortless economy and light touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time I watched Xena Warrior Princess with commercial breaks was June 18th, 2001. Since then, fans have waited to see a new chapter of her story on the big screen, or at least, to see her existing stories replayed on the big screen, but in the 24 years since that last aired episode, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":663,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions\/663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}