Aricles Annex - Xena: Warrior Princess Magazine Articles
TV Weekly (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
September 29-October 5, 1996
pg. 3
Lawless combines brains and brawn to save civilizations
As a warrior princess, actress Lucy Lawless is well-armed.
by EILEEN GLANTON (Associated Press)
It's hard to imagine the job qualifications of a television warrior princess.
Like superwomen before her, she should be strong and brave. If she's pretty, so much the better.
She must vow to protect the powerless and battle barbarians.
Superhuman powers are advisable, and she must be able to save civilizations in a single episode.
A real-life name like Lucy Lawless may seal the deal.
Lawless, 28, a New Zealand actress, stormed into the world of syndicated action-adventure television in March 1995 as a guest character on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." Giant, beautiful and fierce, Xena and her band of warriors tried to kill Hercules in a quest for his empire.
But within the space of an episode, the warriors defected and the power-hungry princess realized she was losing her humanity. Later, Xena and Hercules became allies, then lovers. In fall 1995, Xena pulled off a true feminist coup: She got her own series.
One year later, the campy, comic action show, which blends ancient mythology with Hong Kong-style fight scenes and special effects, has legions of fans and solid ratings. Along the way, Xena, who now fights only for justice, has become sort of a role model.
"It just seems to have hit the world at the right time," Lawless said. "The world is ready for a woman hero who is smarter and stronger than she is good-looking."
While no one doubts Xena's brains and brawn, executive producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi don't mind having a little fun with Lawless's beauty. Muscular, and nearly 6 feet tall, Lawless is laced each week into a bustier-like costume of leather and metal. If the outfit seems a little exploitative for a feminist icon, a bit constricting for a superheroine, that's one of "Xena's" little jokes.
Some others:
• Time. The show is set somewhere in the "golden age of myth." Dialogue, however bubbles with the hip double-entendres of, say "Melrose Place."• Closing credits. Read the fine print; you're likely to find a guarantee that no Amazon warriors were killed while filming the show.
• Sexuality. Men love Xena. But so do women, and viewers and producers alike snicker about Xena's friendship with Gabrielle, the young, blond sidekick played by Renee O'Connor.
• Continuity. "We have no respect for that!" Lawless crows. "Sometimes it's completely slapstick, then it'll be more intense and dramatic, with some fantastic moral dilemma."
Lawless believes those moral dilemmas give her character more depth than the average superhero.
"Xena can make mistakes, although she's never made to look stupid," she said. "That gave me a whole new perspective and I let go of all those super-protective guards that actors like to have on their characters."
Xena may be vulnerable, but she's mighty well-armed. She wields a chakram, a razorsharp discus. She uses the "Xena touch," a two-fingered pinch on the pressure points of the neck, to elicit information from uncooperative sources. Her battle cry, which sounds something like "Yi-yi-yi," strikes fear into gods and mortals alike. And she boasts excellent martial-arts skills, honed in sessions with Douglas Wong, a renowned kung-fu master in Los Angeles.
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