Whoosh! Episode Guide: Xena: BEWTEEN THE LINES (83/415)

BETWEEN THE LINES

EPISODE NO. 831
Season 4, episode 15
Last update: 06/02/02

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Series 415
Production number: V0616
Shooting dates: Late November 1998
1st release: 02/15/99
2nd release: 07/26/99
1st USA strip release: 04/30/00
1st SF Channel release: 12/19/00
1st Oxygen release: 04/26/01
Script number: Season 4, episode 15
Shooting: 11/04/98
Pink: 11/11/98
Blue: 11/16/98
Yellow: 11/19/98

CAST & CREDITS
PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
TV GUIDE PROMO
RATINGS
SYNOPSIS 1 by Bluesong
SYNOPSIS 2 by Missy Good
COMMENTARY AREA
COMMENTARY 1 by Beth Gaynor
COMMENTARY 2 by Jill Hayhurst
COMMENTARY 3 by Xorys
COMMENTARY 4 by Beboman
COMMENTARY 5 by Videntur
COMMENTARY 6 by Benoclesczar
COMMENTARY 7 by Philip Teo
EDITS/CUTS DONE
MENDHI STUFF
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO FAR
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER

CAST
Tharini Mudiliar (Naiyima)
Colin Mathura-Jeffree (Shakti)
Ajay Vasisht (Acklin)
Gabriella Larkin (Khindin)
Saras Govender (Arminestra)
(Suhleema)
(Kelta)
(Shimlai) non-speaking
(Tihlim) non-speaking
(Martyr)
(Captain)
(General)
(Prisoner) non-speaking
Referred to in dialog: Arminestra, Khindin, and Darsham. CREDITS
Written by Steven L. Sears
Edited by Jim Prior
Directed by Rick Jacobson

PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
Woman: Xena.
IT'S A REINCARNATED REMATCH--
Gabrielle (to Xena): Who was her enemy?
(Screen shots of Young Hope, Callisto, and Alti.)
AGAINST AN EVIL SHE THOUGHT SHE DESTROYED FOR GOOD.
(A hand places itself around Xena's throat.)
Gabrielle: It all ends here.
AN ALL NEW XENA!

ON AN ALL NEW--
Naima: Xena.
A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME--
Naima (to Gabrielle): There is a great evil that's hunting Xena's soul. It has found her.
TO FACE AN ENEMY IN ANOTHER LIFE.
(Xena faces off against Alti.)
Gabrielle (as Shakti): This is my Kharma?
(Xena looks into a mirror and sees the face of Arminestra.)
IT'S A REINCARNATED REMATCH--
Gabrielle (to Xena): Who was her enemy?
(Screen shots of Young Hope, Callisto, and Alti.)
(Xena pulls a dagger on Alti.)
AGAINST AN EVIL SHE THOUGHT SHE DESTROYED FOR GOOD.
(Alti's hand places itself around Xena's neck.)
Gabrielle (to Xena): It all ends here. Us, our souls.

TV GUIDE PROMO
An Indian ritual sends Xena's soul into the future for an encounter with the reincarnation of the evil shamaness, Alti.

The power of Mehndi sends the souls of Xena and Gabrielle into the future to protect their good kharmas from a reincarnated Alti.

In India, Xena and Gabrielle pass through a Karmic tunnel and into the future. There, they find an old foe, Alti, and get a glimpse of what their own future might hold.

While traveling through India, Xena and Gabrielle's souls are sent into the future through the power of Mehndi to protect their good Karma from the reincarnated Alti.

RATINGS
1st RELEASE: 02-15-99
An AA average of 4.6
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-Files 13th with 5.3
(2) ER 15th with 5.0
(3) XENA/WALKER: TR 16th with 4.6
(4) Hercules 19th with 4.4
(5) Star Trek: DS9 21st with 4.3
(6) Stargate SG-1 3.2
(7) Earth: Final Conflict 2.9
(8) Mortal Kombat 2.7
(9) The Crow 2.4
(10) Outer Limits 2.2
(11) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 2.1
2nd RELEASE: 07-26-99
An AA average of 3.6
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
X-Files 4.3
Xena 3.6
Hercules 3.2

SYNOPSIS 1:

This synopsis is by Bluesong.
The beginning credits say "A journey through time to face an enemy in another life. It's a reincarnated rematch against an evil she thought she's destroyed for good". Then there is a saying:
"What we sow in life,
We reap in our future lives.
This is our Karma"
(From the Xena "Blue" Scroll…author unknown)

Xena and Gabrielle go native in India garb. Xena puts on a blue outfit and jewelry. Gabrielle approves of it. Xena likes it because it's loose and lets her move. They move on to a procession, where a body is burned. Then a woman is to be thrown on the flames, but Xena stops the people from burning the wife of the dead man. Her name is Naema (?). Xena fights the people off while Gabrielle escapes with the woman. She follows them into a house or temple and blocks the door. She enters a room and Naema follows. She does magic, creating a little blue ball, and then she sends Xena off to her future on a journey which actually involves Xena disappearing.
Xena finds herself in a future life, in another body. She is Amenestra, the Mother of Peace in India, in an old and non-athletic body. She is trying to talk peace to an evil woman. The woman touches Xena, and Xena learns that the woman is Alti in another body. A young man with an army rescues Xena, but he is hurt in the process.
Back in Xena's real time, Gabrielle misses her and Naema performs magic again, showing Gabrielle the beauty of the universe.
In the future, Alti (known then as Kendan (?)) beats someone up as she tries to learn where Xena is.
Back in Xena's real time, Gabrielle learns that Xena had to go to the future to fight a great evil in order to defend her soul, something to do with karma. Gabrielle convinces Naema that her soul and Xena's soul have a common bond. Naema says Gabrielle and Xena share many lives, past and future, and agrees to teach Gabrielle what she needs to know to help Xena.
In the future, Xena cares for Shalti (?), the army leader who rescued her, because he got a crossbow arrow in his shoulder.
Back in Xena's real time, Gabrielle learns that Mehndi is the key to helping Xena. She is sent to the future. Gabrielle finds herself in the body of Shalti. She doesn't recognize Xena until they touch. Gabrielle explains that Xena has to capture Alti and take her back to their real time in order to defeat her.
Alti wants to learn who helped Xena get to the future, so she decides to kill a young girl because she needs her fear. Xena intervenes and she and Alti talk. Gabrielle and her army attack. Xena goes and frees the people. Fighting breaks out everywhere. Alti takes aim at Gabrielle, and Xena goes to kill her, but one of the followers of the Mother of Peace won't let her kill. Gabrielle is knocked unconscious and the follower is killed, but not before he claimed a box from the past with the things Gabrielle needs to help Xena get Alti back to their real time. Alti captures Xena and Gabrielle.
Xena nurses Gabrielle. When she wakes up, she takes paint out of the box and begins painting an elaborate design on both of their bodies.
Alti comes into the room, and Xena and Gabrielle do magic.
Back in their real time, Naema has been captured again and is thrown into the fire. Xena, Gabrielle and Naema emerge from the fire. Xena tells everyone to find safety, and Alti emerges from the fire, too. Alti also has her mind powers now, and she attacks Xena with images from her past (like the Berzerker guy did in Adventures in the Sin Trade I), and Xena feels every blow. Xena fights back, though, but not well enough. Gabrielle comes to help, and Alti breaks her staff. She beats up Gabrielle and then shows Gabrielle the crucifixion scene. Gabrielle's hands and feet start to bleed from the nails in the cross.
Xena stands up and screams "you bitch" at Alti. Alti holds Gabrielle up by the hair, and Xena throws her chakram and chops off Gabrielle's tresses so that she falls to the ground. Naema comes in and uses magic on Alti. The drawings on Xena and Gabrielle glow, and the three get together to use magic. Xena invents magic chakrams, which she throws at Alti. When they finally hit her, Alti explodes. Xena and Gabrielle crawl to each other and hold one another. Naema says Alti was at her strongest, then, and now Xena will defeat her in every life reincarnation.
Naema disappears in a ball of light (like Glenda the good witch in the Wizard of Oz). As she leaves, she heals Xena and Gabrielle.
Gabrielle now has a short hair cut. She tells Xena that her hair was cut short in the vision. They talk about their karma being intertwined.

SYNOPSIS 2:

This synopsis is by Missy Good.
Starting inscriptions 'what we sow here, we reap in future lives.
We start shopping. (G) Xena's getting new duds…. Gabrielle likes them. She says she likes the color… they're casual.. they're sexy… (her words, not mine for a change) Xena leaps up and does a spinning kick, then decides they'll be okay after all.. "They are nice… a blue top with harem pants, and a nice maroon wrappy thing Xena could easily turn into a weapon. (and shortly does)
They see a procession.. a man is being cremated, and they start to throw his wife in after him (she's not quite dead yet) Xena stops them, (note to Renpic…work a little more on getting the Kiwi's to lose the Kiwi accent when doing an Indian accent.. they sound like they're chewing taffy trying to get around the vowels (G)
They escape to a building, where the woman they saved turns out to be not quite what she seems… she beams Xena through a wormhole, and… well, wait… but darn it, that's what she does. (G) She's sent a ton of time into the future, and ends up in an old woman's body, facing a very irritated looking Alti. They're in the same place, though, because Xena sees a spear she sunk into solid rock still there.
Whoa. Nice teaser. Now I can get a sip of coffee.
Interesting… Disney is a national advertiser of Xena.
Anyway… we're back. Xena is apparently a great peacemaker in this future - called the Mother of Peace. Alti's men are about to slaughter Xena's villagers, when firebombs hit the village, and soldiers come in to save them. A young warrior finds Xena, and rescues her, but not until she finds Alti, and they realize who each other are. Lucy does a nice job of acting an old lady while looking like herself.
Back to Gabrielle… who is getting upset at the continued absence of her best friend.. she confronts the woman, who surrounds her with Lucky Charms. .
Alti tortures a man to have him tell her where Armenestra (Xena) is, but he refuses…Alti says Xena is timeless.
Gabrielle tells the woman she likes Lucky Charms, and, flattered, she tells Gabrielle she's sent Xena off to be killed in the future. Gabrielle of course immediately demands to be sent there…the woman says no. Gabrielle says… "Can you see my karma? Can you see how much Xena is part of that?"
The woman looks at her, then smiles, and says oh yes…then puts her hand on Gabrielle's face and says "Very much so, in many lives, in the past and in the future."
Goodness, Steven…did you just say they were eternal soulmates? And a Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!
But she needs a weapon.. so the woman teaches her the mendi (body painting) and gives her instructions on how to use it to capture Alti, and bring her back to the past where Xena can kick her ass. So, of course, Gab gets transported through the wormhole, and ends up in the young warrior's body. (you knew those staff lessons would pay off somewhere down the line… didn't you? Okay.. so it was a couple hundred years further on, but… )
She finds Xena, and they start formulating a plan. They need to get the mendi box from the old temple, where Alti is holding court… Xena goes into the area to try and talk Alti out of her sacrifice (a kid) as a distraction while Gab leads her army through the back. (they're in their right bodies, btw…)
Gab's army attacks and Xena gets the captives Alti had taken loose, and the distraction allows a solider to grab the mendi from the temple. The soldier gets the mendi to Xena, but dies…and Xena is captured, along with an injured Gabrielle. (Gab's the great warrior in this life.. but she's apparently not the equal of big X, if you know what I mean.)
Alti realizes who Gab is… and is going to sacrifice them to suck their souls. Xena pulls out the mendi and tells Gab to start painting, which Gab does, while Alti has stakes built… it's a very surreal, and extremely erotic scene, if I may add.
But it works… Alti comes strutting back into gloat, and get her victims, and they capture her with the mendi paintings, and end up back in the past…where Alti starts beating the poo out of Xena, because in bringing her back, they also restored her evil powers. She uses her mental trick to make Xena remember the log incident. (you remember the log incident.. it lead to "The Quest")
Phew…a break to breathe…
Okay.. we're back….and much crunching and punching ensues… Alti uses her powers to beat Xena senseless… but then she makes a mistake.
She attacks Gabrielle, and shows her the vision, then holds her up… Xena tosses the chakram an cuts Gab's hair…. And gets smacked with her own chakram for the trouble… then the woman shows up, and is able to defend herself..and Xena realizes it's the mendi that will destroy Alti. She and Gabrielle combine their strength with the woman's, and they manage to make Alti explode.
The woman tells Xena that Alti is gone, for now, but will return - but that Xena will always be there to meet her. And so will Gabrielle.. she says "You both walk a path together.. think of yourselves as lines in the mendi..separate..but forever connected. Mendi contains truth. " Then she turns into a bubble of energy, and floats off, after healing both of them.
Gab gets the rest of her hair cut off. (note.. she looks really cute) Xena ruffles her hair, and Gab says it feels pretty good… then says her hair was like that in the vision. Xena says she knows. They start to talk off (They're both barefoot, btw..) Gab says the woman said 'your karma and mine are intertwined." Xena says maybe it's not the first time they've walked down that road… and Gabrielle says and maybe not the last. She asks Xena how she'll recognize her… Xena takes ahold of the mendi marker, and puts a cross next to the chakram mendi on her foot, and says that way they'll always remember. She asks Gabrielle if she likes it, Gabrielle responds "I love it." And they walk off.

COMMENTARIES:
COMMENTARY AREA
COMMENTARY 1 by Beth Gaynor
COMMENTARY 2 by Jill Hayhurst
COMMENTARY 3 by Xorys
COMMENTARY 4 by Beboman
COMMENTARY 5 by Videntur
COMMENTARY 6 by Benoclesczar
COMMENTARY 7 by Philip Teo

EDITS/CUTS

04-18-00. ON CHANNEL 10 IN AUSTRALIA. From Graz. The scene where Alti shows Gabrielle the vision from the crucifixion was cut out. All of it. In my opinion that was the highlight of the episode. It was a fantastic scene. One second we have Gabrielle on her knees, Alti pulling her by the hair, and then all of a sudden we cut to Gabrielle who, for some reason, has short hair, is crawling along the ground and has blood on her hands. I was fortunate enough to have the uncut version on tape but for any aussie fan who didn't, I am sure they were left very very confused.

MENDHI STUFF:

From Catherine Sincich. A few details on Mehndi painting/tatooing: The source of the "ink" is Henna leaves, dried and crushed. You soak them for 24 hours in water, which results in a toothpaste-like consistency for the paint, or ink. The hands and feet are typically decorated, although the entire arm can also be covered with designs as well. The longer you leave the paint on, the darker and longer-lasting the design will be. A 24-hour wait will produce a design/tattoo that will last about a week. I've been told that Mehndi is typically used for decorative, or ornamental, purposes such as for a wedding or other special occassion.

WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO FAR

01-09-01. From an interview on her website, Claire "Alti" Stansfield on 01-07-99 stated:
Interviewer: I loved "Between the lines." Can you recall what your favorite part of that episode was?
Stansfield: The flirting with Xena..taunting her and of course the slow motion fighting sequences.

12-16-99. From Badbard. I'm in Australia, where they played this ep for the first time August 21, 1999. I happen to have seen a tape of it already, thanks to Leisa - a tape from America. Now I've realised and been told in the past that the Aussie censors do cut alot of the violence etc from the eps but methinks they went too far this time. Sure what they cut was very violent and all but it was also integral to the plot. And as an obsessive fan, I kinda LIKE to know what's going on...
The point being that if I hadn't watched that American tape I'd be really confused about what had just happened in that ep.
Let me explain what I'm rambling about.
When Alti shows Gabrielle the crucifixion scene they cut everything that happens until the chakram comes back to slice Xena's neck.
No Xena leaping to her feet screaming, 'you b*tch!' (what with it being naughty language and all)
No Alti showing Xena her legs being broken
No Xena getting her legs broken
No Alti showing Gabrielle the nails going thru her hands and feet and no stigmata
No Xena throwing her chakram so it slices thru Gabrielle's hair...
WHAT?! Her HAIR?! Like in the vision?! Oh preserve us in our hour of need...
Just confused Aussies watching a rather choppy fight scene thinking things like, 'why the h*ll are Xena and Gabrielle grovelling in the dust? What's wrong with em? Why's Gabrielle's hair short? WHY? What the heck happened? Where are we? Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?' And so on and so forth.
I mean, I'd seen what had happened before and it still confused the heck out of me. I had to go and watch the fight scene on the American tape to make head or tail out of it all.
I wish they wouldn't cut stuff like that. So it was violent. (so what?) Er...I mean, I appreciate why they might have to cut extreme violence and not-so-extreme naughty words (actually I don't but for argument's sake...) but I think they should keep in whatever they have to for the story to still make sense. PLEASE.
02-12-99. The scuttlebutt is that BETWEEN THE LINES is the most busiest episode this season in terms of fight scenes, post production sound, and design. Looks like this episode kept the sound guys mega busy with all the action on screen and special effects added later.
02-05-99. From the Claire "Alti" Stansfield interview in WHOOSH, issue #28:
RUDNICK:
...I understand you just returned from filming another episode, BETWEEN THE LINES, directed by Rick Jacobson. STANSFIELD:
[02] Yes, Alti gets sort of reincarnated. It's not quite a makeover, but she does look different. RUDNICK:
[03] How did you come to play the part of Alti? STANSFIELD:
[04] I originally read for Hercules, for the part of Morrigan, which I didn't get. In the audition scene, I had to get very angry. Rob Tapert apparently saw some anger there he liked. My agent called me and said "Rob Tapert wants to offer you a part in Xena."
The reason why I read for the Hercules part was the character was meant to be a regular or recurring character, so I wondered about the Xena part. The agent said "Oh no, it's only for a couple of episodes, but there's a possibility it could go on for more." I said, "Well, all right, send it over."
I got the script but was never told the name of the character they wanted me to play. As I was flipping through it I kept seeing the name 'Cyane' and since she was Queen of the Amazons I thought 'That's me!' Gee, I wonder who's going to play this 'old bag of bones' Alti." [both laugh]
When I got to New Zealand, T.J. [Scott] said "Obviously you're not a bag of bones or an old hag. We'll just take some of that out." It's funny because you can see some of the places where they didn't take it out. The actors just said what was in the script and part of that got left in there. I mean, I'm a hundred and forty pounds, no bag of bones. RUDNICK:
[08] Even under all that makeup, certainly not an old hag. STANSFIELD:
[09] Thank you. [both laugh] So that's how that all came about. I had just seen Merlin (TV miniseries, Steve Barron, 1998), at the time, and I thought Miranda Richardson did such a wonderful job as Mab. I asked Rob Tapert if I could play Alti like Mab, with the eye makeup and the whispery growl, and he said "Yeah!" I wanted to make it more scary and thought that was a way to do it. Whenever I get into that "wicked witch" mode I just "become" that evil character. In BETWEEN THE LINES I am so unbelievably evil, it's just beyond evil...
...Rick would come back from the monitor and say "If I'm laughing, Claire, it's good." He thought I was just so evil and the more he'd laugh the more evil he thought I was, so we had a good time with that. If you're gonna do it, do it all the way... RUDNICK:
... Without saying too much about BETWEEN THE LINES or giving anything significant away, you say you're more evil than ever before? STANSFIELD:
[34] Yeah. Oh yeah. [whispers] I think it may be a future thing as opposed to a flashback thing. And we are all very different.

02-03-99. Claire "Alti" Stansfield was at the Santa Monica Convention (01/24/99), and alluded to BETWEEN THE LINES being a very unusual but satisfying episode, covering a wide timeline as well as karmic issues.
01-05-99. This may be an India episode.
12-16-98. Claire Stansfield has just recently filmed the XWP episode BETWEEN THE LINES in NZ. She plays Alti (and Alti's really mad at Xena this time!) with Rick Jacobson directing. WHOOSH will have an interview with Ms. Stansfield in their special GRRLFRIENDS OF XENA issue, scheduled to be released January 1, 1999.
11-13-98. BETWEEN THE LINES is a Sears script that, according to Sears, has included in it an addition by Robert Tapert that the fans will purportedly love and they haven't been allowed to do before. Wild conjecture runs the gamut from Gabrielle getting her own horse to some slightly more explicit hanky-panky between the two leads. There is also conjecture that this is one of the four "India" episodes, and that it might also be the season-ender, tying up the India trip, or further extending it into season 5.

WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?

By Xorys.
So who was who in Between The Lines?
Alti was, of course, played by Claire Stansfield, who originated the role in Adventures In The Sin Trade. Claire hasn't played any other roles in the Xenaverse, but she has many other credits to her name. She has appeared on the movies Steel (1997), Sweepers (1997), Darkdrive (1996), Gladiator Cop II: The Swordsman (1995), Wes Craven's The Outpost (1995), Drop Zone (1994), The Favor (1994), Gladiator Cop (1994), Sensation (1994), Best of the Best II (1993), Nervous Ticks (1992), and The Doors (1991). I particularly remember her as the "Warhol Eurosnob" in The Doors, and, IIRC, as a fairly athletic baddy in Drop Zone (although I don't really remember the plot much...) She has also done quite a bit of TV, appearing in episodes of Ned And Stacey, Frasier (in the ep "Can't Buy Me Love"), The X Files (playing the eponymous role in "The Jersey Devil"), The Raven (playing Marta Kelsy in the ep "Checkmate"), Cybill, and Red Shoe Diaries (in the ep "Bounty Hunter").
OK, this next one gave me a bit of a problem. Ajay Vasisht is credited as a guest star in this ep, but as is often the case with guest stars, they don't say who he plays. By process of elimination, I think it's got to be Atlhan, Shakti's lieutenant (although why Atlhan merits a guest star credit and Shakti himself doesn't, I don't quite see). Ajay Vasisht has appeared twice before on XWP. He played a "vendor" in Blind Faith - this has got to be the guy at the beginning who haggles with Gab about the scarf she buys, and sells Sumac oil mixture as a dye. And Ajay also appears in The Xena Scrolls, as Nikos, whose sole function, pretty much, is to get stabbed in the back. Now I've gone back and looked at all three eps, and I can *just* *about* believe that all three roles, the vendor, Nikos and Atlhan, are played by the same person... but it's a bit of a strain - the vendor appears rather boyish and mischievous, especially when he's haggling with Gab, whereas Atlhan looks older, and fuller in the face, and Nikos is on screen so briefly it's hard to say...
Apart from these two, there's nothing really to say about the cast of Between The Lines - TPTB seem to have scoured New Zealand for actors of Indian descent, and perhaps not surprisingly, none of the others have appeared on the show before, so far as I can tell. Tharini Mudaliar, who played Naima, is, I'm fairly sure, a trained Indian classical dancer... but I couldn't find out anything about her.
Shakti was played by Colin Mathura-Jeffree, and I was slightly surprised that I couldn’t find anything about him at all, since I thought he was rather good.
The ep was written by Steven Sears, who still comes second, after R. J. Stewart, in number of XWP writing credits - he is credited as "Writer" for Dreamworker, H&H, ACAOTPB, AFOD, TRCOT, TGG, OOW, IS, The Price, Lost Mariner, TDHD, The Deliverer, The Bitter Suite, WIR, Sac 1, A Good Day, and Past Imperfect, and also credited as "Story Writer" on Remember Nothing and The Quest, and "Teleplay Writer" on Destiny and The Quest.
The ep was directed by Rick Jacobson, who did TDHD, Sac. 2, A Good Day, and LUATD.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

These things are by Beth Gaynor.
When Gab staff-whacks a guy in the first fight, the guy's hat changes from bright blue to dusky blue depending on whether we're seeing him from the front or the back.
Gabrielle has picked up some hellacious staff-repairing skills. Alti split the staff in two and beat the stuffing out of Gab with it, but at the end of the episode the staff is looking good as new.
I still love Alti's funky hand gestures and growls. Guess she's going to be giving new meaning to the term "recurring villain."

MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

02-26-00. From badbard. I'm in Australia, where they played this episode for the first time August 20, 1999. I happen to have seen a tape of it already, thanks to Leisa - a tape from America. Now I've realised and been told in the past that the Aussie censors do cut alot of the violence etc from the eps but methinks they went too far this time. Sure what they cut was very violent and all but it was also integral to the plot. And as an obsessive fan, I kinda LIKE to know what's going on... The point being that if I hadn't watched that American tape I'd be really confused about what had just happened in that ep.
Let me explain what I'm rambling about. When Alti shows Gabrielle the crucifixion scene they cut everything that happens until the chakram comes back to slice Xena's neck. No Xena leaping to her feet screaming, 'you b*tch!' (what with it being naughty language and all). No Alti showing Xena her legs being broken. No Xena getting her legs broken. No Alti showing Gabrielle the nails going thru her hands and feet and no stigmata. No Xena throwing her chakram so it slices thru Gabrielle's hair... WHAT?! Her HAIR?! Like in the vision?! Oh preserve us in our hour of need...
Just confused Aussies watching a rather choppy fight scene thinking things like, 'why the h*ll are Xena and Gabrielle grovelling in the dust? What's wrong with em? Why's Gabrielle's hair short? WHY? What the heck happened? Where are we? Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?' And so on and so forth.
I mean, I'd seen what had happened b4 and it still confused the heck out of me. I had to go and watch the fight scene on the 'merican tape to make head or tail out of it all.
I wish they wouldn't cut stuff like that. So it was violent. (so what?) Er...I mean, I appreciate why they might have to cut extreme violence and not-so-extreme naughty words (actually I don't but for argument's sake...) but I think they should keep in whatever they have to for the story to still make sense. PLEASE.
Well I feel better now. *G*
03-06-99. From Sally Dye. Regarding the recent episode "Between the Lines"-did anyone else think that the design Xena drew on her foot at the end was not a cross, but the symbol for "woman"?
03-06-99. From Angie. So far in the Xenaverse we've seen Xena invent the kite, use her round killing thingie as a Solstice tree topper, check out King Arthur's sword, and various and sundry other events occur. So why shouldn't she be the person responsible for the woman's symbol (in the last scene) as a way for her to recognize her soulmate in future lives?

TRANSCRIPT

Click here to read a transcript of BETWEEN THE LINES.

DISCLAIMER:

Xena's Chakram got Gabrielle by the short hairs during the production of this motion picture.

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