Xena: Warrior Princess TV Series "Orphan Of War" Review

We are now sadly living in a time where we are lacking some actually good and well written female characters. With the female characters that we are getting that are meant to be strong female characters just not being that well written and yet all we have to do is look back to often forgotten show from the nineties to prove that people will watch something with a strong female character if the character in question is written well and the episode that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today really does help to prove that point and so then join me as I review that episode that reveals a big secret of Xena's with the episode is question being called simply just "Orphan Of War" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is Xena and Gabrielle offer to help the centaurs defeat one of Xena's old soldiers who wants to steal a powerful stone that will turn him into an evil centaur. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho the plot of this episode wasn't all that good as it was a really weak plot at best with the main focus of the episodes plot shifting focus so many times that t was hard to tell what the actual plot of the episode as while the idea of Xena and Gabrielle helping out the centaurs defeat a really old friend of Xena's is more then a strong enough plot to carry an entire episode of the show for some reason the episode doesn't give that plot alot of focus and instead gives a side plot with Xena and Solan just as much if not more focus then the actual main plot of the episode with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Ash vs. Evil Dead and Justice League: The New Frontier star Lucy Lawless as Xena and Tales From The Crypt star Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle. Also starring in this episode is Hercules And The Amazon Women star David Taylor as Solan , Paul Gittins as Kaleipus , Mark Ferguson as Dagnine , Alexander Campbell as Meklan , Stephen Papps as See'er , Peter Tait as Daylon and Richard Adams as A Warrior.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that;s actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As this show was never really known for having that good acting in any of it's episodes and as a result of that is the fact that it would be foolish to expect good acting in anything from this show but at the same time tho the acting that we did get in this episode was alot better then what it really had any right to be as it's clear as day that both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor really are trying to turn in a good performance with the same thing also being true for alot of the shows cast as well the issue is tho is the director doesn't know hoe to direct this cast and how to get a good performance and while this doesn't effect both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor as they both had the entire first season of the show to really get to know there characters it really does effect the actors that this episode introduces quite badly with that being something that really does let down the overall quality of the acting with this episode acting really being helped by the fact that the script for this really was so good that all this shows cast have to is just say the lies as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does hep to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode and quite possibly the rest of the show as well is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Flat Earth. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad for the time that this show was being made and for the budget that this show had but at the same time it's quite clear as day that this shows effects haven't aged all that well with the shows centaurs looking really bad with it being obvious that they were done very cheaply and very quickly as when there in a full body shot you don't get to see them that clearly and when there in a mid shot or a close up you only see them for the waist up and heck even the shows CGI background when Xena and Solan fall down into a cave looks fake as it was obvious that they filmed the actors on a green screen and very poorly added them into the shot and while the bad CGI isn't something that the episode or show could have helped since these types of shows always had some really small budgets to them which meant that nine times out of ten that the effects budgets were really small as well there should have been at least some sort of effort to hide just how bad the effects are in this episode and not show them alot of the time. 

It's in this episode that we find out that not only was Xena Solan's mother but that she actually gave him up because of the fact that he would be a target and would learn things that no kid should ever learn. While this is a noble thing for the character to do it's hard to say if it's in character for her given that it happened when she was meant to be this evil person and yet it's because of the fact that it happened that we get to see Xena act like a mother to him all the while trying to hide the fact that she is his mother which does lead to some really beautiful scenes between the pair of them which does go to show you just how far that she come as a character as the version of the character that we first met back on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys would never act like this and yet it's because of the fact that she's actively trying to do good that we get these really nice scenes with the best one oddly enough not being the one where she helps to mend his broken arm but right at the end of the episode where she starts to break down after leaving the kid again after not telling him that she's his mother because he will still be a target for those that hate her and we see just how painful it is for her do that as she's close to tears after leaving him at the grave sight for his father and who he believes to be his mother all the while his actual mother is right there with him being a good mother doing something that is hard enough for any parent who truly cares about there kid to do in the first place.

With those scenes being a good example of what it is that makes Xena to be a really strong female character. As we get to see that deep down she does have these maternal feelings that she has to bury down inside her in order to keep her kid safe from people and we see how that does bother her and does get to her as she does snap at Gabrielle at one point in the episode because of the fact that she's still hurting from giving up her kid nine years ago and meeting up with him again nine years later only brought those feeling to surface and that's something that alot of modern female characters lack as they Hollywood seems to think that in order for a female character to be a strong character she has to lack basic emotion and character and yet it's those two things plus the fact that she really can handle herself in a fight that make her a strong female character that's a fully formed three dimensional character and while yes characters like the rest of the centaurs and Gabrielle do get the short end of the stick in this episode they don't get alot of screen time what little screen time they do get also go along way to helping to show us why both Xena and Gabrielle work well together as both friends and as characters as the second she realises that Xena is still hurting Gabrielle goes to apologise and they move on from it and heck Gabrielle herself could be considered a really strong female character in her own right as well as Xena.

There's a reason why this episodes main villain Dagnine hasn't been mentioned thus far in this review and that's the fact that he's not that interesting of a character. With hm being a former solider in Xena's army which could have made him an interesting character and while the episode does do as much as they can do with that aspect of the character and it even does play role in the episodes epic final act what lets the character down is the fact that there's nothing to this characters as we don't get to find out why this character is the way that he is and heck we don't even get to find out why he wants this stone that will turn him into an evil centaur in the first place all of which just make it seem like that he's evil for the sake of being evil as his role in the show could be played by any of the episodes new characters and the plot of the episode wouldn't change heck they could even have had one of the centaurs be the main villain and nothing would change as there's really nothing to Dagnine as a character that makes him standout and given what little we do see of his character he doesn't seem like the character who would go down into this cave to get this stone as he seems like the kind of person who would get a bunch of his guards to go in before he does as he does seem like the kind of character who does have a big ego and not like someone who would be willing to get his hands dirty.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty two minuets and thirty seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does take as full advantage as they really could have done with the plot of the episode being as developed as it really could have done but at the same time tho this episode really would have been alot more better if some of the characters were alot more developed then what they were as while it does make sense for Xena , Gabrielle and even Solan not to get that much character development as we have more episodes with him to get more character development and while yes Xena does get some character development in this episode with her learning to be a mother both literally and fugitively it's the episodes new characters that really do suffer because of the fact that none of them barring Solan get any kind of character development with Solan learning to trust Xena after previously hating her which is a good start for the character and while it is built up really well it also makes you wonder why all of the other characters don't at the very least get a line of dialog that shows that they two got some form of characters development as well but i really admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this an action show that really does mean that I have ton actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode and well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is really nothing new for this show as this show really does have some really fun and creative action that while yes can be seen as being over the top and campy it's that kind of over the top and campy action that makes the action not only in this episode but in the show as a whole seem to be really fun and heck even in the action in this episode we get to see just how much of a bada*s both Xena and Gabrielle are as we see Xena take on Dagnine and hold her own when he's in his evil centaur form basically on her own and we get to see how much Gabrielle has grown as a character as she takes on a few of Dagnine's soldiers and again hold her own all by her self all just by using her staff with the best action in the whole entire episode being the short but still awsome opening action scene as we get to see just how well both Xena and Gabrielle work together when there in a fight and it's just a really fun and cool action scene as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this episode was a really fun episode and it's one that goes to show that this show while yes it is very cheaply made is still a really good show that alot of people should watch but bare in mind that this show and this episode in particualr is both really cheesy and really campy as well and isn't afraid to be exactly either one of those two things in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this episode in this very review and such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Xena: Warrior Princess fandom wiki page , the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page , Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Xena: Warrior Princess TV Series "The Bitter Suite" Review

 

Musical episodes of TV shows are a very rare thing to see what's even rarer tho is seeing a good musical episode of a TV show. Heck you could even make the case the case for the episode that i'm about to review for you all today for being the one that made the musical episode as popular as it is today and so then join me as I review the episode that shows us what happens when you push a warrior princess to far with the episode in question being called simply just "The Bitter Suite" enjoy.

The plot of this episode after both suffering massive heartache Xena and Gabrielle blame each other for recent events and find themselves trapped in a land that's rules entirely by emotion. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that' actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good so good infact that out of the two or so episodes of this show that i've seen this episode is the one that has the best plot because that's just how good this episodes plot really is for me in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Lucy Lawless as Xena , Renée O'Connor as Gabrielle and Danielle Cormack as Ephiny. Also starring in this episode is Willa O'Neill as Lila , action film megastar Karl Urban as Julius Caesar , The Evil Dead , Evil Dead 2 , Army Of Darkness and Ash Vs. Evil Dead star Ted Raimi as Joxer , the late Kevin Tod Smith as Ares , Hudson Leick as Callisto , Marton Csokas as Khrafstar , Daniel Sing as Ming Tien , David Taylor as Solan.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episode cast turning in some really good performances with all of this episodes cast are quite clearly having fun playing their characters and that is something that really does show through in the performances that we got in this episode.

Try as I might I really cannot find out who did the CGI for this episode which is a shame since I really did like the CGI in this episode. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad taking into account that this show didn't have a big budget and thus couldn't afford the great looking CGI that we get in TV shows today but even so the CGI in this episode was really good.

What I really liked about this episode is the fact that it pushes this seasons storylines which is something that I think all good musical episodes should do. Since at the end of the day this is still a TV show and as such the seasons storylines still need to be advanced and the way that this episodes handles them and advances them is done in a way that felt totally organic and worked really well for the show and for the shows main cast of characters.

Also helping things is the fact that this episodes really does push the friendship between Xena and Gabrielle to it's limits. To the point where Xena actually tries to kill Gabrielle not once but twice because that's how far their friendship has been pushed and because of that we got alot of great drama out of it and it helps that both actors really do pull those scenes of since without these actors really nailing those scenes the whole episode or even perhaps the whole season really does just fall apart at the seems.

It's sadly not all good tho since the songs that are written by the shows composer Joseph LoDuca , Pamela Phillips Oland and Dennis Spiegel. Where all fairly weak with there not being any standout songs and with the songs that we got in this episode being at the very best OK and terrible at it's worst which is shame because thew singing for all of the songs was really good the bad songs wouldn't be that much of an issue if it wasn't for the fact that lot of this episode is done is song which does nothing more then make the issue of the bad songs seem really all of the more worse.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty four minuets and seventeen seconds. Which is pretty much the bog standard running time for this show and to this episodes credit this episode really does make the absolutely most of it's running time with every single scene and song in this episode being all about advancing the plot of the episode which meant that the episode had some really good pacing since the episode didn't feel like it was going by to fast nor to slow.

So now then since this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Since the action that we got in this episode was nothing more then campy fun that was filled to the brim with cool moments in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall I can see why this episode is as popular as it was but at the same time just because it's a popular episode doesn't mean that it's an episode that's faultless since there some issues in this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that means that this very episode really does earns itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies ad gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review from the official Hercules and Xena fandom wiki page , the official Buffy The Vampire Slayer fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very review being the wonderful Google Images since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on Google Images are all fairly high in quality and as well as being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Xena: Warrior Princess "Sins Of The Past" Review

Ladies and gents you've seen my review so many pilots to TV shows in the last but now i'm going back in time to ancient Greece. You might have guessed this by the poster and by the title i'm reviewing the first every episode of Xena: Warrior Princess and i'm doing it because honestly nobody is talking about this show and I want to remind people that it happened and so here is my review of the first every episode of Xena: Warrior Princess called Sins Of The Past.

The plot of the episode is Xena is travelling home to make up for things that she's done in her past and she's followed by a young person who wants to be trained by her called Gabrielle. I will admit there is more going on in this episode then my summery will lead you to believe but I had to find away to summarise the plot and that's what I came up with. The story it self is your basic pilot episode with the two leads meeting each other very early on in the episode and that's really all I have to say about the story.

Starring in the episode is Lucy Lawless as Xena , Renée O'Connor as Gabrielle , Jay Laga'aia as Draco , Darien Takle as Cyrene , Stephen Hall as Hector , Linda Jones as Hecuba , Willa O'Neill as Lila , Geoff Snell as Herodotus , Anton Bentley as Perdicas , David Perrett as Gar , Patrick Wilson as Cyclops , Wally Green as Old Man , Roydon Muir as Kastor , Huntly Eliott as First Citizen and Winston Harris as Boy.

The acting in this episode in all honesty isn't that bad which for a show this campy and at times this goofy is really something to truly to behold. I don't think I need to say who's the best performer in this because anyone who's a fan of the show knows that Lucy Lawless kills it as the character and the same thing is true for this episode altho coming in at a close second is Jay Laga'aia who is just so wonderfully over the top and so fun to watch.

Wow I forgot how bad the effects in this episode truly are I do have to give them some leeway as this show was made in the mid nineties. Even so they still look pretty bad I give them credit for not using any CGI in this episode instead there just sticking one actor against either a green or blue screen and then adding them into the scene later but they could have done a slightly better job of im proving the effects but tho they wouldn't have had much technology available at the time tho which is the key thing here.

Not that many people know this but Xena is actually a spin off of the then popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys with the character of Xena appearing in some of the shows episodes. As you can no doubt gather she became so popular that she had to receive her own show and like with any good spin off there are plenty of crossover episodes and there's even a crossover movie Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus.

As with the previous show this episode and the show is pretty campy and that's something your either going to love or hate. I personally really love it since it adds to the entertainment value in my opinion but on the flip side of that if your looking for a serious action drama then your not going to find it here because due to how campy it is you will be laughing at it alot and that is something that I can see putting people off watching the show.

Now something which I guess makes sense but you have to have seen Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Since they don't go into detail about Xena's backstory in this episode which yeah I guess that makes sense given she's a character from another show but at the same time it is something that's needed to get newer viewers up to speed but the episode does provide a cliff notes version of her backstory in the show's opening but that doesn't tell us why we should care about her or want to see her succeed in her journey.

I'd say the thing that this show is most famous for is it's action which given that this is an action show does indeed make sense. The action in this episode is honestly really freaking fun and is perhaps the best part of the whole episode. In my opinion the action seen in this episode while not large in scale was rich with story as it serves as the end of the story for the episode and so it's basically any third act battle you'd see in a modern day superhero movie.

Overall this is a great first episode for the show but it doesn't set up Xena nor does it set up any plot lines for future episodes. That being said this is still a fun episode to see the chemistry between the cast really does shine through even in this first episode if only the effects could have been tho. Like I said there are some fun action scenes which for me make this episode worth watching and so this episode gets a 6 out of 10 from me and yes I do give rankings to classic episodes it's only newer ones that don't get it and Doctor Who episodes get rankings as well.

  

Hercules and Xena The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus Review

Oh boy here is a movie I didn't think i'd be reviewing anytime soon but here we are for you see in the nineties there were two live action shows called Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and it's spin off Xena: Warrior Princess both shows were popular that they decided to make a movie spin off and boy oh boy do I have some thoughts so let's get going shall we.

I would like to tell you what the plot of the movie is but the movie barely has one but the basic premise of the film is Hercules and Xena have to team up with the gods of Mount Olympus to stop the place from being taken over. Yeah this movie doesn't have that much plot in it it just has the basic setup and while the set up does work for an episode of either show it doesn't work for a movie for a movie you need a beginning , a middle and an end here we have a beginning but that's it there's no middle or no end.

Now since this is based of not one but two shows we have alot of returning actors and they are Kevin Sorbo as Hercules , Lucy Lawless as Xena , Michael Hurst as Iolaus , Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle , Alexandra Tydings as Aphrodite and Kevin Smith (not that one) as Ares. The returning cast are decent or as decent as they can be since alot of them aren't that good but out of the returning actors honestly i'd say ether Lucy or Renee are the best ones because they are actually trying.

In terms of new characters we have Josephine Davison as Alcmene and Artemis , Joy Watson as Hera , Peter Rowley as Zeus , David Mackie as Porphyrion , Alison Wall as Tethys and Mnemosyne and Ted Raimi as Crius. The new cast do not fair much better because I cannot recall a single memorable performer i'm not even kidding there all just bland performances.

Now when I usually research a films production history i'll usually find who animated it and in most cases I can usually find out who did it but in this case i'm glad that I couldn't find out who did the animation because the animation is so bad it looks like something that got made cheaply in the 60's instead of something that was cheaply made in the 90's.

If that's not bad enough the characters don't even look like their live action counterparts how do you mess that up you have literally hours worth of footage to sit through so you should be able to make Xena look like Lucy Lawless this is film making 101 and for some reason they made Hercules way to muscular when Kevin Sorbo was never that huge in real life.

Just to give you guys some background information on both shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys started in 1995 and ran until 1999 spanning six seasons I cannot find what network it ran on but it was huge and one of the shows popular characters was Xena who would be given her own spin off series starting in 1995 and ran until 2001 again spanning six seasons and Xena was huge step forward for female led action shows and has thus earned her spot in pop culture history.

I'm not gonna lie and say that both shows were perfect in every way because they weren't but they were at least enjoyably bad you can watch both shows and laugh at how bad they were because they embraced it here tho you can't do that because the film isn't so bad it's good it's just flat out bad and for something that's based on something that's all ready bad that's not a good thing at all.

This movie isn't even ninety minuets it's more like seventy five minuets long and the first three minuets of the film is a dreadful song sequence which adds nothing to the story and it's only purpose is to tell us Hercules's backstory something that fans of the show would already know about so it makes that whole opening pointless.

Like both live action shows the best parts of this movie are the fight scenes since the fight scenes are now animated the team could really go overboard with what the characters could do and to me that adds to the cheese factor of this film and it makes it slightly bearable to watch but given how bad this film is that's not really saying that much.

Overall this film is pretty god damn cheesy but it's not a good movie heck i'd struggle to say it's ok movie there's no wonder this film was released straight to VHS it really is a bad film and it scores a 3.5 out of 10 from me.