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In this the third season of the series, things take a dark
turn for the Warrior Princess and her bard friend. Continuing
the battle with Aries and new evil forces intent on ending
their lives, Xena and Gabrielle must also battle with madness,
and an ever growing rift between the travelling companions,
that threatens never to heal...
Xena:
Warrior Princess was a historical fantasy show which was
based on a spin-off character from the equally successful
show Hercules: The Legendary Journey. Staring Lucy
Lawless, in the title role, the show ran from 1995 to 2001
for a total of eight seasons.
The
show often played fast and loose with matters of history often
mixing fact with fiction and even pitting characters from
differing time periods against those that were wholly fictional.
With such a loose format the show could at times successfully
lurch from slapstick to drama.
This
box set contains all the stories from season three spread
across six discs. This season we find in The Deliverer
Xena travelling to Britannia to help rebuff Julius Caesar's
invasion. She faces him again in When in Rome. Twisting
historical truth further, in One Against an Army she
travels to Greece to single handily turn back the Persian
hordes.
Although
Lucy Lawless's character, of Xena, was the backbone of the
series, a number of characters became just as important to
the show's success. Ted Raimi had a recurring role as Joxer,
but it was Xena's relationship with Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor)
that would drive much of the show and eventually lead it to
be accused of having elements of homoeroticism - an accusation
that the show not only didn't deny, but seemed to go out of
its way to imply.
It
was this season that many fans felt that both the show and
the characters grew away from the cleavage and thigh silliness
that had driven the first two seasons. The Deliverer
was also the genesis of the split between Xena and her long
time companion Gabrielle, when Gabrielle is seduced by a cult
into giving birth to a child which Xena disposes of. Though
she tells Gabrielle that she has killed the child, she in
fact sends the child down the river. The rift and the subsequent
story would last past the end of Season Three, with
its conclusion in Season Four. One of the strengths
of the show was its overall story arcs which were used to
drive the improbable narrative.
As
well as some good writing, the show also had a number of impressive
guest stars - my favourite being Bruce Campbell. If you don't
know who he is you ought to hang your head in shame. Bruce
played Autolycus and even directed the story The King of
Assassins, in which he makes the first of three appearances
that year.
The
show is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio and the
picture is okay. The discs contain no extras and, more unforgivable,
no options for subtitles for the hard of hearing. I'm not
sure how it will finally be packaged, so I'll assume that
the fact that the discs are numbered one to three twice, rather
than one to six will have a logical explanation.
Although
it gathered a large fan base, I can't say that it was a show
I either watched much or particularly looked forward to reviewing.
True it has many strengths, the cast give it their all with
much gusto. But in the end the show has a somewhat cheap look
to it, which detracts from an otherwise enjoyable series.
Charles
Packer
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