Xena: Warrior Princess and Pop Culture Icon

When Xena: The Warrior Princess came to TV in the 90s, I was hooked from the very first episode. I have always been a fan of action-adventure shows and the fact that the main character was a strong, intelligent woman drew me in immediately. Not only that, but the actress who played Xena was perfect for the role: Lucy Lawless played the part of the Warrior Princess so well, that many people actually believed that's what she was like in real life! The show has a little bit of everything: its has elements of fantasy, adventure, action, comedy and drama all rolled into one! In my opinion, everything about this show was great: from the actors, to the sets and costumes, the music and the wonderful script.

Xena: Warrior Princess is a TV show that was set in ancient times that followed the adventures of a strong female warrior named Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle. The show is about a woman named Xena (played by Lucy Lawless) who is looking for redemption for past misdeeds, she roams the countryside helping people in an attempt to make amends for her mistakes. Her traveling companion Is Gabrielle (played by Renee O'Connor), a young woman who dreams of becoming a bard, she joins Xena to share in the adventure and chronicle their journey. In the show, Xena and Gabrielle saved people whenever they could, dealing with both human villains and Godlike creatures. There was a huge focus on mythology and supernatural elements from various beliefs systems in every episode, but the real story was about the characters. Xena and Gabrielle went through a lot of ups and downs and their relationship is one of the most heartwarming of any show on TV.

A Very Unique Weapon!

In my opinion Xena had the coolest weapon: the Chakram! What made this weapon so amazing is that no one else had anything like it. She would use it against her enemies, it would bounce off of objects and return to her!

This marked one of the first instances where a TV show had a strong independent woman as the main character. Instead of relying on men to come to the rescue, Xena spent her time as the hero, saving people from monsters and rescuing towns from danger. Finally, young girls had a positive role model! A strong, intelligent woman who could take care of herself.As the show continued, people began to speculate that the two main characters were not simply platonic friends, but that they were in a lesbian relationship. The show never acknowledged that they were a couple: the producers purposely kept it ambiguous. Although the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle was never fully acknowledged in the show, it was one of the first television shows to have even a hint of a same-sex couple, and what made it even more special was that these two were the main characters. This show helped pave the way for more prevalent same-sex couples to be featured in TV and movies. Whether or not you thought that Xena and Gabrielle were more than just friends, the show did a great job of developing the characters and the writers were some of the best I have ever seen in any show.

When Xena: The Warrior Princess was first airing on tv, I desperately wanted to own every single episode. At the time, it was only available on VHS and it was really expensive! The only options that a Xena fan had in the 90s, was to buy the whole season for hundreds of dollars, tape the shows when they aired, or watch it on TV. Since I didn’t have the money or the space to store a huge collection of Xena tapes, I watched it on TV every chance I had.Luckily in later years, DVDs became more popular and were more affordable (not too mention you can store more than one episode on a single disk, so it saves space too!). You can buy every single season of Xena on DVD, which includes tons of bonus features on every season: director and actor commentary, interviews and my favorite: the bloopers!

I always wanted to dress up like Xena for Halloween. If you love Xena like I do, there are tons of cool accessories available for Xena fans!

Xena fans are lucky because there is so much merchandise available out there! Toybiz made a series of dolls based on the Tv show. The dolls are a very popular collectible item, they feature various characters and some of the outfits that they wore.Of course, dolls of Xena are the most popular, but Toybiz made dolls with the other characters too. There's a Gabrielle doll, one of Ares and even Callisto.

I love to laugh

My favorite parts of the show had to be the comedic moments. When done well, Xena: Warrior Princess had some very funny moments! The actors had great comedic timing and you get the impression that that they loved their job. Some of my favorite clips were when Gabrielle's scrolls were cursed by Aphrodite and then the Gods lost their powers, when Joxer would sing his theme song "Joxer the Mighty" and of course anytime Autolycus The King of Thieves (played By Bruce Campbell) guest starred in an episode.My all-time favorite episode is Season 2's "A Day in the Life". It chronicles a regular day in Xena and Gabrielle's lives. It shows them going through the motions of their lifestyle, from using a frying pan to fight off their attackers, to dealing with Xena's adoring fans. It's a great idea for an episode and I can watch it over and over again and never get tired of it. The characters were developed so well and Xena and Gabrielle worked so well together, that watching this episode makes me wish this show was still on the air!

As a fan of the show, I always enjoyed watching the bloopers for each season. You really get the sense that they were having lots of fun filming Xena, and that the cast and crew were all close friends in real life.