Xena, all the good episodes?

[Mudang Harada]

I don't just want to go by IMDB, could anyone recommend all of those? Most of Xena seems to be pretty standard boring stuff like Conan the Adventurer, but i heard there are some gems.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Have you seen any Xena:WP yet?

Personally, it would be easiet to list the ones to avoid. ("Married with Fish Sticks" and "Vanishing Act" come immediately to mind.)

The problem with simply listing the "best" eps is that without knowing the back story they wouldn't be as powerful.

Without seeing the Xena/Gabrielle relationship slowly build, you could never appreciate the excellent season 3 two parter "The Debts"
much less understand the season 4 two parter "Adventure in the Sin Trades".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15uBdlDmS1s[/yt]

Without that relationship, without the season 2 premiere that introduced us to Solon and his story you could never understand the gravitas of the season 3 trilogy of "Maternal Instinct", "Bitter Suite" & "One Against an Army."

If you simply want great fight scenes, go to season 2's "The Price", or season 3's "One Against an Army"

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygY_7v_1YDA[/yt]

or season 6's "To Helicon and Back".


[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aWe6808u9w[/yt]


If you want WTF? watch season 4's penultimate ep, "Ides of March",
then season 5's "Fallen Angel"

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWlrvil_OYA[/yt]

and Season 6's "When Fates Collide". (In that order)

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YsaUusVXkQ[/yt]

If you want to laugh out loud, try season 1's "Warrior... Princess" or season 2's "Warrior... Princess... Tramp" or

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf54YUK_wWY[/yt]

season 3's "Been There, Done That."

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If6UaPtG9vI[/yt]

not to mention season 6's "Old Ares had a Farm".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zJlWIcBSNQ[/yt]

If you want great villains, consider season 1's "Callisto" and season 2's "Return of Callisto",

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgkORwm3Ttc[/yt]

season 4's "Adventures in the Sin trades 1 & 2",

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2iB3hlwhVk[/yt]

"Crusader" & "The Convert",

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFelvBVd2eE[/yt]

season 5's "Anthony & Cleopatra"

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIiPbqcZv2E[/yt]

and season 6's Ring Trilogy".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-MBGnhrF7g[/yt]

(But after the angst of the trilogy, don't forget to laugh at the 4th ep that belongs to that storyline "You Are There." )

Then there are the other wonderful Caesar eps

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGgyq4cBy68[/yt]

and the Ares eps

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3tNZjp72KE[/yt]

and the eps with Cyrene, Xena's Mom,

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fG87M7335Y[/yt]

and Livia/Eve her... well, that would be a spoiler.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just off the top of my head, some highlights:

"A Day in the Life," "The Debt (Parts One and Two), "Callisto," "Been There, Done That," "Hooves and Harlots," "The Price," "Crusader." The first musical episode, "The Bitter Suite," is sublime, but only works if you watch the eps leading up to it. The second musical episode, "Lyre, Lyre, Pants on Fire," is, sadly, nowhere near as good.

Be aware that it's a very bi-polar series. There are comedy episodes that are out-and-out farces, and serious episodes that are just heart-wrenching. So don't make the mistake of thinking that any one episode is typical of the rest.

To use a TOS comparison, some eps are more like "The Doomsday Machine," while others are more like "The Trouble with Tribbles." And, yeah, there are few "Spock's Brain" type turkeys in there. (Avoid "Fish Sticks" at all costs.)

Honestly, I'd start with "Callisto" from the first season. It introduces Xena's arch-enemy, deals directly with Xena's guilty past and quest for redemption, and ends with one of the show's very best action sequences: the ladder fight. It's a good intro to XENA.

 

[Mr Light]

I would also like to know what episodes to skip. I've never seen Xena but I'm curious to, but don't want to invest the time to watch the entire series. I watched Hercules a little bit back in the day and saw most of it. It was alright.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

I would also like to know what episodes to skip. I've never seen Xena but I'm curious to, but don't want to invest the time to watch the entire series. I watched Hercules a little bit back in the day and saw most of it. It was alright.

That's difficult since we all have such different tastes. Just look at the other current Xena thread to see that in action. If you don't want to know her backstory you lose so many great XWP eps. If you decide you "hate" Gabrielle, you'll miss one of the best character arcs ever to grace serial TV.

Greg and I agree wholeheartedly about missing "Married with Fishsticks", but I can't stand "The Play's the Thing" while IIRC a fellow poster in a previous Xena thread loved it.

Some people can't stand "Xena-lite" shows that mostly utilize clips from other shows, but 2 of those actually show us clips we've "never seen before" that illuminate other shows. (Season 2's Xena Scrolls and season 3's "Forget Me Not".) As someone once said, XWP does clip shows better tan anyone else.

A lot of the first 2 seasons are busy introducing the multiple elements that become a staple through all 6 years.

I really like the entire first season and its heart rending finale, but if you wanted to skip "Deathmask" that would be fine with me. It fell flat due to lack of chemistry between Xena and the main guest star and the events within are never referred to again.

In season 2 I can live without "Girls just Wanna have Fun" and "A Solstice Carol", but I certainly don't despise them like "Married with FS" or "Vanishing Act". Others disclaim "Ulysses", but I liked it.

Season 3 includes the hated "Vanishing Act" and you can skip "A Dirty Half Dozen" and "King Con" without a problem if you are trying to cut eps for the sake of time.

Season 4 is problematic. There are people who don't like the "India Arc" and the "Peaceful Gabrielle" arc, but without them the final fight in the AMAZING penultimate ep does not carry the same emotional punch.

I'm not a great fan of season 4's comedies "In Sickness and Hell" or "Key to the Kingdom" but I don't cringe with them like I do with "The Play's the Thing".

As great as season 3's 2 China eps are, you should run away from season 5's China eps "Purity" and "Back in the Bottle". Season 3 rocked the musical idea with original songs, but season 5's musical was tired with recycled pop songs in "Lyre, Lyre Hearts on Fire". I liked "Kindred Spirits" but others do not because of the WWF ending.

I really like season 6, but many do not. If I had to pick someone to skip, it would be "Soul Possession". (It does have its good moments and the last appearance of Ares. )

So, that cuts at least 12 eps from the 134 eps available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH3-r0ajVl4

Before Lucretia and Crixus, there was Antony & Cleopatra.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH3-r0ajVl4[/yt]

Enjoy!

 

[Forbin]

Jeez, just watch the whole thing. Take the time. The glory and wonder is worth sitting through a few stinkers.

 

[Mudang Harada]

My approach worked for Voyager, i just could not find a site that higlights the good episodes for Xena like i found for Voyager.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Most of Xena seems to be pretty standard boring stuff like Conan the Adventurer, but i heard there are some gems.

My approach worked for Voyager, i just could not find a site that higlights the good episodes for Xena like i found for Voyager.

I think I see the problem.

Xena isn't just a female "Conan the Adventurer" or even "Conan the Barbarian." I avoided it back in the 90's (yes, I'm that old ) because I figured it was just a leather clad version of "Baywatch" set in ancient times.

I was wrong.

Many of the eps explore what it means to be a heinous warlord one moment and a reformed one the next. Is it kinder for her soul to imprison her or kill her for her crimes than to let her roam free trying the impossible, to atone for her evil deeds?

Oh, and make no mistake, she was evil. She did "do evil" time and again and in case we forget that simple fact (like Gabrielle) every season or so the writers hit us again with Xena's past.

Watching the show, however, reminds us of the basis of any hero.

They never give up.

No matter the odds, no matter the quest, Xena never gives up. She out thinks, out fights almost every opponent she faces, whether she's sick, insane or drugged, and she usually wins. And the ones she can't conquer, she usually uses her friends / companions to help carry the day.

I LOVE Voyager and her Captain as my name suggests, but it like all Trek series suffers from the Star Trek curse of "this" is the way a Starfleet Captain acts/reacts. The prime directive isn't the only rule she has to follow.

Not so with Xena as we see in season 2 when the reformed Xena refuses to save a dying enemy or in season 3 as she tries to kill an infant and later a preteen or when she angrily refuses to interfere with the attempted suicide of a friend.

Oh, Xena has several "formulaic" eps as anyone would expect in a 23 ep season but overall the strength of the series is the way the stories build upon one another. We see the amazing transformation of Gabrielle over the series, and surreptitiously we see the glacial change that Gabrielle has had over Xena.

Do they go crazy sometimes?

Oh yeah.

Is it worth your couch time?

OH YEAH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF0KDa0ivkY

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF0KDa0ivkY[/yt]

 

[Greg Cox]

Or, you know, you can always track down a copy of Battle On! An Unauthorized, Irreverent Look at Xena: Warrior Princess by an author whose name modesty forbids me to mention . . .

Yes, I wrote a Xena episode guide back in the day, ranking the episodes. Granted, it only covers the first four seasons or so, but that should get you started.

 

[Mudang Harada]

I will try to track it down. Thanks.

 

[Greg Cox]

I will try to track it down. Thanks.

My work here is done.

Battle on!

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Its actually pretty easy to find.

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-On-Una...2-spell&keywords=xena+unauthourized+biography