*
"Ye gods, the horror!" Nice scream from Annie.
*
An *awful* lot of whooshing in this ep... for all sorts of things - people
shaking their fingers, people putting their heads round doors... Does this
mean that Rene=E9 *really* likes whooshing (well, in a comedy ep, anyway)...
or is that sort of post-production thing not under the director's control?
*
"He's the comic relief!" *Loved* the way Lucy said this. But how do you
reconcile such a comment with believing that Joxer was real? I mean, if
Annie thinks she is the reincarnation of Joxer, then presumably she must
think Joxer is real, non-fictional... but surely saying he's "the comic
relief" clearly implies that he's *not* real, fictional?
*
"They should never have introduced his character in the first place!" OK, I
nearly hurt myself laughing at this (sorry... I actually like it when the
show makes fun of us - especially when they do it well). *But*, again... if
Annie thinks she *is* Joxer, *how* can she talk of him as a "character" who
was "introduced"?
*
"He's a deluded idiot!" (I had trouble catching this comment...)
*
When Rob Trebor's character told the western guy to get lost, I thought he
said "Get lost, Frampton!" Which confused me, because I thought the guy was
supposed to be Custer. But I took the tape to my son's (I don't have CC),
and the CC just says "Get lost, freak!" Plus the disclaimer mentions
Custer, so I guess that's confirmed.
*
Did they *have* to put in a clip from In Sickness And In Hell? I still
think that was the *worst* comic ep they've ever done... it just totally
trashed the characters, especially Xena's, with no real excuses (no spells,
no alter-egos, no reincarnation), and offered nothing in compensation but a
bunch of feeble gross-out comedy. Frankly, I could have done without seeing
it again! (Well... I could have done without seeing it the first time -
which is why it's the only comedy ep that I rate "better not made".)
*
"Was I Joxer or not?" "I'm going to get you a sedative..." Loved the way
Rene=E9 did that. BTW, does this mean she's a *real* doctor, legally license=
d
to prescribe drugs and all...?
*
"No, I don't watch that show - bunch of chop-socky crap! Besides, this was
so repulsive. It couldn't have been an episode." "A-ah, you never know with
that show... they're sneaky. They'll try anything. One week they're
melodrama, the next week they're Three Stooges. And they're *way* too
serialised!" Hmm... well, this brings us rather back into the territory I
was maundering on about in my introduction, doesn't it? Of course the
"chop-socky crap" thing is just a joke, and a good one at that... I've
heard lots of people dismiss the show in very similar terms - although the
emphasis is usually more on pulchritude than percussion - "Baywatch BC"
I've heard, amongst others. This sort of thing is clearly just people
responding to superficial appearances without ever having really watched
the show receptively, and is a perfectly legitimate target for flippancy.
Marco's comments, however, are a little closer to the bone. See, I don't
actually have anything against the particular things he points to... the
shifting in tone from week to week, even the mixing of tone within
episodes, I see as a strength, rather than a weakness of the show.
(Although I must admit, I honestly don't find the Three Stooges funny,
really, not at all, and when the show's humour wanders too far in that
direction, it tends to lose me...) And I don't think there's anything
inherently wrong with an episodic show becoming 'serialised'. But... I do
think the show currently has some real problems around these issues. Mixing
tones is fine, but mixing elements which just can't be reconciled as part
of the same imaginative world, OTOH, *is* something of a problem for me, as
is jerking the characters around so that they seem to be totally different
people in some eps to they are in others. You can make the 'postmodern,
ironic' argument, as I discussed in my introduction to this ep... but I'm
still not comfortable with where they've gone, in quite a few cases. Too
often I've felt alienated from what they've done with their vision in a way
which I can't see as in *any* sense constructive, a way which just has me
rebelling against what feels like their perverting the original imaginative
gift they gave me. And similar things might be said on the serialisation
issue. By all means introduce elements which have an ongoing reality in the
world of the show... nothing wrong with that. And their earlier efforts,
largely focussed on developing Xena's back story, and charting Gabrielle's
development as a bard, an Amazon, a traveller dealing with the challenges
of her life... these things worked very well, for me. However, their latter
efforts have been less successful... not because they were too serialised,
but because of *what* they chose to introduce. The dominant "serialisation"
of season three was the Hope / Dahak plot, which, to me, was a Big
Mistake... not because it was serialised, but because it was based upon
entities and moral principles which I personally found morally repugnant,
and I simply could not relate to either the imaginative existence of the
axioms of this plot within the Xenaverse, nor to the roles the characters
were called upon to play in it. So essentially, I had no choice but to
simply reject a large part of this core plot of the season... I treat The
Deliverer, Gabrielle's Hope and Maternal Instincts, at least, as eps that
simply did not happen. So far as I'm concerned, in order to continue to
relate to the Xenaverse and the characters of Xena and Gab at all, I have
to basically say that these eps were "misreported"... that whatever
happened at that point in Xena and Gab's lives wasn't what we were shown in
those eps, because that was repulsive nonsense. Something happened... but I
just vaguely imagine a non-specific, clearly tragic "something" which
precipitated following events. And then the principle "serialised" elements
of the fourth season have been the crucifixion as foretold by Alti, and the
whole karmic, vision-of-future-lives thing. And these again, were both, in
my estimation, mistakes. The idea of karma is fine... but *knowing* where
your karma is leading is clearly contrary to the whole essence of the
concept, as well as, IMO, just fatally bad story-telling. And as for the
crucifixion thing... well the endless repetition of the vision was largely
just annoying. And the payoff was, for me, as most of you probably know by
now, obscene garbage, which I certainly won't allow into any imaginative
universe I intend to inhabit. So... let's just say Marco's speech
aggravated some wounds for me.
*
Sorry... back to the ep again! (Well... it *is* the end of the season, so I
hope you'll forgive my retrospective discursions to some degree...) "On the
count of ten, we'll find ourselves in another body." Not all three in the
same one, hopefully...
*
When Annie and Harry and the Doc all went under together for the first
time, Xena and Gab and Joxer were fighting a bunch of soldiers dressed in
black in a village, parts of which were burning. What ep was that from? I
couldn't place it. I couldn't see any principal villain in any of the
shots, and I can't remember those soldiers. I thought perhaps Sacrifice...
but surely they mostly fought Dahak priest types there? Or perhaps In
Sickness... but Xena and Gab didn't look stupid in the clip. Now it's
bugging me...
*
I think Robert Trebor likes playing villains - they always seem to make him
the bad guy when he's not Sal, and he takes to it with gusto.
*
"A bomb! Why, Marco?" "Cause boiling oil is to difficult to rig in this day
and age. Now, you've got about ten minutes before this thing blows your
heads off." Hmm... the classic bad-guy "leave the good guys so they can
escape" modus operandi. May we all have enemies with such a sense of style!
*
"This is a karmic catastrophe... I'm gonna come back as a worm... or a
cockroach. No! A TV evangelist!"
*
And next we get Spiny Norman and Hope's death scene from A Family Affair.
Somehow it seemed clearer this time. Did they re-edit it, or is it just
hindsight...?
*
"You were Xena, right?" "Yes." "OK, then I must have been one of the two
blondes."
*
"Take us back, Mattie!" What? Suddenly Harry is on first name terms with
the Doc? How does he even *know* her name? (Read it off the diploma, I
guess. Though "Mattie" is an odd name to put on a diploma. Mind you, I once
had a dentist called Babs Cohen...) I do realize they're supposed to be
bonding here. And actually, in terms of the acting, I thought it was quite
well done.
*
The kiss scene from The Quest! Oh yes! Well, if they wanted a 'bonding'
scene, that's a good place to start, eh? *Great* scene! I thought they were
going to cut before the kiss itself, but no, they went back.
*
"Maybe I was the guy with the moustache?" "Botchkalis... or something..."
Poor old Auto - sounds like a disease!
*
I didn't care at all for Harry whacking Annie. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I
couldn't let you chew on those wires" is all very well and good... but I'm
afraid they should have rethought this. To me, it came across far too much
as condoning a guy whacking his woman in the face when she was mouthing off
to him. Not a pretty image. Of course you could say "well, Annie is Joxer,
so this is just Joxer getting whacked again". But then I've always found
the way Joxer is abused unpleasant and distasteful too.
*
Really, although it was nice seeing the clips, Harry's idea that the best
way to deal with being tied up next to a bomb was repeated self-hypnosis
seemed rather hard to believe in...
*
Oh yes! The Return Of Callisto 'rescue' scene - another great one!
*
Seeing all these old clips only reinforced my feelings that the show was
basically better when it was somehow simpler. It's all very well talking
about 'ambition' and 'scope', but I find it very hard to doubt that the net
effect of the increasing emphasis on 'arcs' and complex pseudo-metaphysics
has been to weaken the show, so that neither the characters nor the world
they live in seem to have the resonance and power they once did. I remember
finding out in kindergarten that if you just keep mixing in more colours
all you end up with is a muddy brown...
*
"I *was* Joxer!" "I was the sidekick." "I know who the Xena Vigilante is."
Nicely done...
*
"Have you done this before?" "No. But I have many skills."=20
*
"It's the red wires!" Oh come on! They couldn't let Gab be right for once?
I think they were just pulling our chain. (And anyway, if the timer is a
simple circuit closer, surely cutting *either* wire going to it would be
just as good?)
*
I thought Ares got shut back in the tomb at the end of The Xena Scrolls...
so how come he's out?
*
Hmm... so Ares still wants Xena, even in a body that looks like Joxer? Nice
to see he's flexible and open minded...
*
I gather that some people have been complaining that Ted didn't quite pull
off becoming Xena. Well, I guess there's some truth in that... he didn't
totally bring Xena to life the way Lucy does. But hey, that's a very tall
order! I thought he gave it a pretty good shot. I certainly didn't think he
disgraced himself, even if he couldn't quite get it (which would have
required something close to magic).
*
I can't say I was too impressed with idea of Ares as the inspiration of the
Y2K problem. Of course, perhaps I'll feel differently next year - but I
certainly hope not.
*
That scene from The Reckoning was good. But it's kind of hard to take the
way they made Ares look back then... somehow he seems geeky, kind of 70s,
compared to his current style.
*
"Are we gonna fight again?" I liked it! Innovative use of a beanbag as a
weapon, too! It seemed a tad unlikely, though, that an umbrella, after
being used to fence strenuously with a sword, would still open perfectly
with nary a nick in its fabric. Also, in the next fencing shot, the
umbrella is furled again - when did Harry / Xena find time to re-furl it?
*
And Annie seems to have decided she's not giving in, even if she *is*
Joxer. "I decked the god of war!"
*
"You know, I think I knew it was going to work out this way." "So why'd you
come back for me?" "Like I said - I'm a sentimental guy." Now *that* to me
was consistent with the way Ares has been, right since we first saw him.
And I still think there's more strength in consistency than in any
"sensation of the week" strategy.
*
And Annie fancies Ares? ("Great big hunk of god...") It really gets hard to
keep track of who fancies whom...
*
"Annie. Annie... I, uh" "Harry, I got some bad news for ya. You and I
aren't made for each other. She's your soulmate." "My soulmate?" "If you
could just stay awake through one episode, you'd know these things."
Honestly, this is probably the first scene in X:WP, perhaps the first scene
in anything, that actually made me cry and laugh at the same time. Truly.
And not crying because of laughter... crying at the actual pathos and
sentiment of it, but still laughing at the same time. And I have to say,
I'm a great admirer of such mixed messages... somehow laughing and crying
at the same time seems almost the quintessential reaction to life, although
it so rarely happens. I mean, that scene from One Against An Army that they
used was a tremendously moving scene in its original place. But myself, I
think I found it even *more* moving the way it was seen in this ep.
*
And I *loved* the next bit about Joxer too... about how he saved Xena and
Gabrielle from Callisto, and how he had the heart of a lion (which is
basically true, IMO)... and then "And he was a very underrated fighter!" Oh
gods... I nearly wet myself. And Lucy was *brilliant* here.
*
"Oh, um, Harry... I've been aware for some time that you've been going into
my underwear drawer at night and um... it's nice to know it was in a good
cause." LOL! I'm sorry, but I have to admit I liked this too. So Harry
needed Annie's underwear to play the Xena Vigilante... I almost wish we
could've seen that.
*
"I think I remember... when we first met." Oh yes, I'm a sucker for that
one. I have a blow up of Xena and Gab on that horse right over my computer,
in front of me while I work.
*
OTOH, I'm afraid I found Gab / Mattie's final monologue a bit over the
top... a little too much like new age greeting card verse.
*
And what about the kiss? I try to avoid reading too much before I write up
my own reactions, but I know there's been some controversy about this. I
can understand people's frustration about the fact that it's ok to show
"Xena" and "Gab" kissing if "Xena" happens to be in a man's body at the
time, but not when they're both in women's bodies. And I agree. It's silly
and backward that it's somehow a big deal to show something as simple as a
kiss between two people. We're still a long way from all people really
being treated equally in the media. *But* whilst it may make us aware of
things that we don't have and should have, I don't think there was anything
actually wrong or false about this kiss in itself... for me, at least.
*
And I really *loved* Annie's final coping with "who she used to be"! For
some reason (feel free to psycho-analyse me, if that's your thing) this
made me cry more than anything else in the ep.
Annie banannie
She kicks fannie
Dangerous with sword and knife
Learned her skills in that past life
Never will you outfox her
She's as good as old Joxer
Aa-ah!
I'm Annie, I'm Annie the Mighty!
You go, girl!
COMMENTARY 3:
This commentary is by Videntur.
I would like to go into some of the positive aspects of this episode so maybe
I should
get the negative aspects out of the way first. There are two things I do not
like in
Xena episodes: the first are "Xena-light" episodes in which Xena either does
not
appear or has very little part. The second are episodes which make Lucy
Lawless
and/or Xena look stupid. As the hero of the play, I do not like to see our
warrior
nor the actress that plays the warrior portrayed as a bumbling idiot - unless
its going
to be a comedy where everyone plays the part of the fool and not just Lucy
Lawless.
First, what I failed to understand was why Gabrielle's spirit was able to be
in her body and Ares was able to revert back to his body (although he is a
god) but yet Xena's spirit had to be in a different body, and of all bodies,
why Joxer? To me (and this is my opinion) the only saving grace to this show
were the flashbacks from previous episodes - with the last several flashbacks
(picture of Xena, picture of Gabrielle, and the end scene of them laughing
together [taken from the episode "A Tale of Two Muses"] being the best.
I disliked the part in the episode where Annie (Lucy Lawless) puts on a Xena
outfit
and it looks like a "Xena -wannabe" outfit (although this was good acting on
the part
of Lucy Lawless to be able to look like a total "geek" in Xena wannabe
clothing).
Worse of all, I hated the last scene where Annie goes skipping down the
sidewalk
singing "Annie the mighty". I don't mean to sound negative, but why was
every other
character allowed to display some form of intelligence except the character
played
by Lucy Lawless.
The show, however, did have a few saving qualities (and I do mean very few).
It
showed that not only are Xena and Gabrielle's karmas linked in future time
but
that Ares and Joxer's karmas are also linked to Xena and Gabrielle in the
future.
It also showed that Ares will never stop trying to win back his warrior
princess
(note: it was great to see Ares back in the play - you have been truly
missed).
Best of all, the show showed that Xena and Gabrielle are soulmates with a
friendship
that will last for all time. This is great because the best episodes are
episodes
with both Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. Also, if you notice, Ares does
make
reference to events in the episode "The Xena Scrolls" which if this is true,
also tells
the viewer that Xena and Gabrielle's life did not end with the crucifixion
that we saw
in the episode "Ides of March". This is because in "The Xena Scrolls", the
scrolls
are carefully placed in a wall and Xena has been charged with making sure
that
Ares does not escape from his entombment. This suggest that Xena and
Gabrielle
knew of their approaching deaths and had time to hide the scrolls which we
know
did not happen in "Ides of March" because Gabrielle was always too busy
denying
that the event would ever come to pass.
All in all, I can truly say that this it is my least favorite episode for the
fourth season.
I hope that in the fifth season, if the writers and directors want an episode
with humor
and less action scenes that they write another episode like "A Day in the
Life". If I could wish for things to take place in the fifth season they
would be: less "Xena-light"
episodes [afterall she is the hero and I would like to see her in all the
episodes]; less
comedy plays [especially those in which the hero looks stupid]; more Ares;
more
Autolycus; getting back our long-haired fighting bard and more episodes where
when
our hero receives a wound she is treated by Gabrielle with the love, kindness
and
friendship shown in the episode "Ides of March" which is my favorite episode
for the
fifth season.
COMMENTARY 4:
This commentary is by Beboman.
This was an interesting episode, I'd have to say. Well, we know that Xena's
and Gabrielle's souls move on. The characters in "Dejavu." are not
descendants of Xena and Gabrielle, as were Janice and Mel, but are the souls
of Xena and Gabrielle. This is an interesting premise. Another thing I
found interesting was that Xena ended up being male and Joxer was a female,
while Gabrielle was still female. (Personally, I would have preferred that
LL would have still played Xena.)
Once again, LL's comedic talent came to light in this episode. She did a
great job playing Joxer, especially at the end; loved the song. There was
not a trace of Xena in her interpretation, a little of Meg maybe.
Ted Raimi was not too bad at playing Xena. Considering all the people who,
in one way or another, have played Xena, Ted's portrayal of Xena was not all
that bad. (My favorite was when Xena was in Auto's body.) But there was
something about Ted's interpretation of Xena that was just not right. (I'm
still looking.)
The idea of Xena's and Joxer's souls ending up together as lovers was
something of a scary thought. (Maybe I should be nicer to those I find
dumb. I really don't want to reincarnate in their body.)
So if the premise is correct and Aries is immortal, where are Aphrodite,
Venus, and the rest of the Greek Gods?
Since this show was a clip episode, I agree with some of the clips used,
especially those clips that showed Xena's and Gabrielle's life together and
all the love there is between these two characters. It was a perfect
mixture of happy and sad moments. There is a great chemistry between LL and
Roc as actresses, but I also feel (and this is my personal opinion) that the
friendship that exists between LL and ROC is very real. It is something
that comes through in every scene the two women share.
Moving right along, for ROC's directorial debut, I found this episode was
very well done. I have discovered that directing a comedy is harder than
directing a tragedy and ROC did an excellent job. The timing was there and
the actors all hit their marks, including the extras at the waiting room.
Loved Joan and Costar, very well done. And the sword fight with Annie/Xena
and Joan was just great. The selection of the episodes that determined which
one was which character was a good selection, especially the ones that
involved Joxer. It was great to see Salmoneus once again, even though he
was just a cover for Aries.
I found it interesting how ROC used the show as the basis of the show. So
Annie is a fan of Xena the show and, at the same time, she believes she is
Xena the mythological legend, which led to being Xena the vigilante. Good
idea. Loved some of Annie's comments regarding the show.
But I have some questions: 1) why is it every time LL plays someone in the
future, she has to wear eyeglasses. Why doesn't she change the color of her
eyes; 2) Why the bad wig. Don't tell me that they could not have done
better in the wig department.
Found it interesting how Aries is still trying to regain control of Xena. I
also found it interesting how they were able to explain how Aries appeared.
Last time we traveled into the future, Mel and Janice locked Aries back in
his tomb.
What made this episode for me was that the direction was so good I forgot it
was ROC's directorial debut and I focused on the storyline and the show.
This is a sign of a good director. (Please do it again ROC.) All in all,
another good episode.
Once again, this is my personal opinion. Season four was a very good season
with some really good acting by both LL and ROC, some really good scripts
and some excellent directing.
COMMENTARY 5:
This commentary is by Elad Avron.
THE most BRILLIANT episode EVER made in XWP (You might disagree, so just a note, I DIDN'T get to see 'Bitter Suite' yet, so don't judge me).
I think that if the episode would have started without seeing the house first, and It would have started immediately with the "Callisto" scene, it would've been much more surprising, but it was good still. I found it cool to see Lucy Lawless play a nerdy woman, which was obviously from first sight a little weird. I was more surprised when I saw Harry wake up and saw it was Ted Raimi. It was all nice and cool, until I saw that Xena Warrior Princess paperboard cutout, and then I though it was weird because in that.... reality.... Not only was Xena real, even in the 90's although she was dead by then, but the TV series existed as well, and the actress looked the way she does in real life (Lucy Lawless), Anny (Lucy Lawless) thinks she's Xena (Lucy Lawless), and never have she or anyone else for that matter noticed that Anny looked exactly like Lucy Lawless, the actress who played Xena in the TV show, and no one noticed that both Lucy Lawless, the actress, Anny, and the one they saw as Xena in their trances looked all alike. However the plot was pretty ingenious.
It was fun seeing all of our well known friends from Xena act as 90's characters (Not seeing 'The Xena Scrolls' this is my first 'Present Day' episode). However Renee's character was extremely well done, and all of the actors showed an extremly well playing capabilities, fitting into each other's characters. Ted was doing an extremly well Job as a sceptic respectfull nice and avarage man, unlike his usual 'Jar Jar The Mighty' kind of character. Lucy made a great appearence as well, but I already said that I think.
I knew Anny was probably crazy, or at least I started suspecting she wasn't all that Xena when she took off her coat and appeared in her Xena costume. I suspected there was something stinky about that Marco character, but couldn't point it out. When they said it was all a scam, I said 'I wonder if what Anny saw was something she remembered from the TV series, which would have been a subconscious explanation, and then asked myself if the episodes in that world were the same like ours. Couldn't be, it would've been a never ending circle. However as I realized Anny was Joxer and she started mumble about Joxer being and idiot, I laughed my guts off. Although most people think that about Joxer, I on the other hand think that the writers are abusing the character, and should give him a chance to proove himself. When Marco tied them all up, I wondered what was going on but delayed that thought.
I was realy surprised to see Harry (Ted Raimi) being Xena, but I think he played that part so well (Not in the sense of being Xena, but in the sense of being a Xena reincarnation. The Chakram thingie was of course great, especially since I always say that in all great fantasy stories there is one law that must always happen and proove itself: "History always repeats itself".
When Marco became Ares, it was of course a surprise, but then everything made sense. It was cool seeing how immortal gods made it to the 90's. However, everything now was in place. I remember the Doc saying something about Marco teaching her that trance thingie, which she thought was a scam, but apparently isn't. It's simple. Ares, knowing The Doc was Gabrielle, knew that no matter in what life time they are, the best way to reach Xena, is to get to Gabrielle. So he teamed up with her, taught her the trance thingie so that when Xena comes she'll be able to find out she is Xena, otherwise what's the point, and by that he actualy brought Xena into this lifetime. When Ares and Xena/Harry fought, I almost cried from the irony. It was all nice and cool, and when Anny told Harry and the Doc that they were meant for each other, I started crying.
And of course, the kiss. I found it a little out of place, not because it was woman and woman, no matter if it was man and woman this time, but becase Gabrielle's and Xena's love is greater than anything, including one's sex and/or sexuality. I found the kiss out of place because it underestimated that love, and made it feel like the writers said "Ok, now that they are man and woman, we get our chance to let them express their feelings". Well that's wrong. If nothing stopped them from kissing in this life, nothing should have stopped them from kissing in the Xena life time. It was wrong. I'm not saying I'd like to see them both kiss, not on the sexual side at least, but as I said, if nothing stopped them before, nothing should have now.
I however cried even more to the thought that after all of these years, about 2070 years, if my memory from the ninth grade History lessons is correct (Judging the time of Caesar), after all of this time, Xena and Gabrielle reunite. I have a strong reason to believe that Harry/Xena has both
the personality of Harry, and the personality of Xena in one body. It's weird, but it's like if Xena lived in Harry, carrying his memories and knowledge as well as her own's. I also wondered if Xena and Gabrielle will remain in the conciousness of Harry and the Doc forever (until they die), or was it just temporary. It's like if you took Xena and Gabrielle and threw them in our world. Then again, they do have the knowladge and memories of their bodies, so it can help them cope.
That made me think more then anything else in the the entire series. Xena and Gabrielle: Together 'till the end of time. Of course there were more reincarnations in the past ever since the two girls died, as we saw from the episode where Gab gets a hair cut, but the fact that they remembered each other, and each other's lives and memories and consciousness in this life, in our own time, made me cry out of excitement for about two days. Hey, I do have feelings!
I cried even more to the tune of 'Anny Banany', and then it ended. THE most brilliant episode EVER made in the BRILLIANT television series: "Xena Warrior Princess".
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
By Xorys.
So, who was who in Deja Vu All Over Again?
There's not really an awful lot I can say about this ep.
I'm not going to attempt to summarise the accomplishments of Lucy Lawless,
who did a superlative job playing Annie in this ep, or of Rene=E9 O'Connor,
who both played Dr. Matie, and directed the ep... keeping track of their
doings is something of an industry by itself in the Xenaverse, and it would
futile for me to attempt to cover the ground here.
* The Doc's sleazy and duplicitous (and it turns out ultimately, divine)
sidekick Marco was played by Robert Trebor. This is the first time that
Robert Trebor has played any role other than Salmoneus on XWP (although
you could almost say that Salmoneus himself is many roles in one...) Over
on the Herc side, Robert first appeared, along with Rene=E9 O'Connor, as
Waylin in the pre-series TV movie Hercules And The Lost Kingdom. He was
also seen as Waylin in Hercules In The Maze Of The Minotaur, which was
basically just a clip show of the previous Herc movies, and for which
Robert did no new scenes. Subsequently, besides playing Salmoneus in *many*
HTLJ eps, Robert also played Francois Demarigny in Les Contemptibles, and
the nasty studio head B.S. Hollinsfoffer in Yes Virginia There Is A
Hercules and For Those Of You Just Joining Us. Robert also went behind the
camera to direct the HTLJ ep A Rock And A Hard Place.
Outside the Xenaverse, Robert pops up all over the place. He appears as a
guy in a taxi in 1994's The Shadow. He's a motel owner in 1992's Universal
Soldier. Also in 1992, he played Buddy in The Nutt House. He was in Talk
Radio in 1988. In 1987 he appeared selling tuxedos in Making Mr. Right, and
was also seen in My Demon Lover. He had quite a meaty role as a snivelling
villain type in 1986's 52 Pick-Up. He was a copy boy in 1985's Turk 182,
and the same year appeared as a reporter in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose
of Cairo, and in the TV movie Out Of The Darkness. He also appeared in
1982's The First Time, and Gorp (1980).
On TV, Robert has guested on Night Court and Miami Vice... and I suspect
I'm missing some others.
* Once Marco dropped his disguise, Ares was played once more by Kevin
Smith. Apart from playing Ares on HTLJ, XWP and Young Hercules, Kevin can
be seen in Channelling Baby (together with Joel Tobeck and Danielle
Cormick), in the TV movie Flatmates (also featuring various other Xenaverse
faces), in the NZ movie Desperate Remedies (ditto), and in the TV feature
"McLeod's Daughters". He's also, apparently, signed up to do a couple of
new shows in NZ, in one of which I heard that he is featured as a detective
of some sort... and the name of the show is apparently to be "Lawless"!
* Xena's latest incarnation Harry was, of course, played by Ted Raimi. I
won't go over Ted's *many* roles again, since I went through them at length
recently, when he appeared as Joxer in If The Shoe Fits.
* The only other credited role in the ep was Tammy Barker as Matie Acting
Double - presumably this means that she stood in for Rene=E9 as Dr. Matie
whilst Rene=E9 was working behind the camera. Tammy first appeared as a
Gabrielle look-alike (the one who got to speak) in The Play's The Thing.
And coincidentally she was in this week's HTLJ ep, Revelations, playing the
rescued virgin sacrifice Penelope. This is about the only case I can
remember of a supporting actor being credited on both shows in the same
week, unless you count the week that Karl Urban did Julius Caesar in Render
Unto Caesar and A Good Day.
* The ep was written by R.J. Stewart, who still holds the record as the
most credited writer for XWP... he wrote The Titans, Prometheus, ACAOTPB,
AFOD, MB, Callisto, RoC, Warrior...Princess...Tramp, ADITL, Ulysses, The
Furies, Gabrielle's Hope, Forgiven, Crusader, The Way, and Ides Of March
plus being credited as Teleplay Writer for SOTP, Destiny, The Debt 1 & 2,
and AITST 1 & 2, and as Story Writer for The Quest, both Debts and both
parts of AITST.
As already noted, the ep was directed by Rene=E9 O'Connor, taking control
behind the camera for the first time.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
09-16-00. Kevin (Ares) Smith was at the Panathenaea Convention in London, England on September 3, 2000. He complimented Renee O`Connor directorial skills. He also mentioned that O'Connor was a very generous and prepared director.
06-22-00. Apparently the kiss at the end of the show was added by the director, Reneè O'Connor.
02-25-00. Steve Sears, a former co-executive producer of XENA, appeared on the NetForum on or around January 31, 2000, under his Tyldus rubrick, and shared the following:
[Sears stated before] "On the more amusing side, I've never been accused of more contradictory things than I have while working on Xena. I am a homophobe and honorary lesbian... "
[Comment to Sears statement]Really, with that description, you must be a delight at a party, sort of an equal opportunity offender, eh?
[Sears response] Hah! Now THAT was funny! I'm sure you heard this story before, but the homophobe thing happened in two e-mails once. A true homophobe sent me an e-mail lambasting me for "outting" Xena and Gabrielle in Deja-Vu. WHo cares if they were in male and female
bodies, they KISSED! THe very next e-mail was from a lesbian (she said so in her post, by the way, not assumption) who accused ME of being a homophobe because they would only kiss in MALE and FEMALE bodies! I forwarded the e-mails to each of senders. On the first I wrote "Maybe you two should switch TV sets". Oh, and by the way, the infamous "kiss" in that episode wasn't in the script. It was added it in on the set. I was as surprised as anyone.
12-16-99. In October 1999, Renee O'Connor was interviewed in STAR LOG magazine. She stated, "In the episode I directed ["Deją Vu All Over Again"], Ted has to play Xena and he's Xena in a past life. And we have this very simple scene, Ted as Xena having a
conversation with Ares. I wanted him to play it as Lucy plays Xena, when she's quite staunch, her shoulders pulled back and standing upright. She could take Ares on in a minute, and almost torments and tantalizes him at the same time. I wanted Ted to play that," she laughs,
seemingly incredulous about her own request. "And then Ted played Xena as the feminine side of Ted, a bit hysterically, in a comedic way. Then, I wanted him to play a nasty moment between Xena and Ares, just mean, downright hard and formidable, because Xena has that about
her, when she can test Ares with her whole body. Ted is such a nice guy that it's not in his body to insult and rip someone apart. I just couldn't get it from him, he's just a good soul. That, in its own way, enlightened me about Ted and his true personality. He doesn't
have that nastiness other people have within them."
06-23-99. On an on-line chat at tvguide.com on 06/16/99, Ted Raimi said about his choice in how to play "Xena" in DEJA VU: "I found the worst elements in myself and brought them forward it's just like when i bring some of the best and simplest for joxer"
05-11-99. BETWEEN THE LINES was Steven Sears' take on the UberXena fanfiction genre, and now R.J. Stewart gets his chance up to bat. If anything, the 4th season of XWP will be seen as the year TPTB co-opted the fan fiction genre of Uber and took it to heights which no one in fandom would dare do. This will be the second time an Uber was male to the other's female. In BETWEEN THE LINES, the UberXena was an elderly woman leading her people to freedom, while in DEJA VU, the UberXena is a male in his 30's called upon to battle with Ares once more (picking up, no doubt, where Melinda Pappas left off back in the 1940s). In BETWEEN THE LINES, the UberGabrielle was a young prince who was also fighting for his people's freedom, while in DEJA VU, the UberGabrielle is a twenty something female scam artist in 1999 LA. DEJA VU will be the first time the Ubers are on camera, the opposite sex, and around the same age. Will this inspire a spate of hetero-Ubers?
04-14-99. The May-June issue of MAKE-UP ARTIST had an article about the make-up artists on XWP. In the article they have a picture of Lucy Lawless as the character she plays in DEJA VU. The character is a generic fan of XWP, who is married to Ted Raimi as the "non-believer" spouse. It is thought that Renee O'Connor would not appear in the episode since she was directing, but the inclusion of O'Connor in new agey garb also in MAKE-UP ARTIST makes one think she might play a cameo in DEJA VU. DEJA VU takes place in LA in 1999.
03-26-99. At the NYC Xena Convention (02-27-99) it was reported that the Mel and Janice (XENA SCROLLS) sequel had been scrapped in favor of the O'Connor directed episode which would also take place in the 1940's. However, this is in direct conflict with intelligence received about DEJA VU being a modern day episode a la YES VIRGINIA THERE IS A HERCULES; however, instead of being about the production people, it would be about the fans. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I find it easier to believe that they are doing a 1990's episode as opposed to a 1940's episode WITHOUT Janice and Mel. But then, stranger things have happed.
12-21-98. DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN, to be Renee O'Connor's directorial debut, was originally scheduled for filming in December (the last before the summer break [December-January]), but the episode before it was running over (apparently THE WAY) and instead of having to work into the break, DEJA VU has been rescheduled for February 1999. Also, Robert Trebor will not be playing Salmoneus. This is supporting some wild conjecture that DEJA VU will be the Janice and Mel sequel episode mentioned by Robert Tapert at the Burbank II Con (01/98) and hinted at by RJ Stewart in his RealHollywood chat on December 15, 1998.
11-22-98. The episode title PEARL AND THE BOOK was associated with this clip show for a while, but the name was confimred as DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN in late October 1998. It is not clear whether this name is superceding the title PEARL AND THE BOOK, or superceding some other title. As of this date, we are still runnig with 23 titles for a 22 episode season...if DEJA VU stays, something has to go.
11-08-98. Looks like the clip show will not be a Janice Covington/Melinda Pappas show after all. Salmoneus will be in tow, however.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
These things are by Beth Gaynor.
Annie's costume had to have been snagged from some
convention-goer. I think I've seen it before. Come to think
of it, I think I've met a half-dozen Annies at those things.
Ted Raimi now joins Renee O'Connor, Hudson Leick, and Bruce
Campbell in the distinguished list of people who have
attempted the Xena battle cry. Lucy Lawless even gets
honorable mention for impersonating herself: listen for
Annie's weak try at the Xena battle cry during "Joan" and
"Xena"'s sword battle.
MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
06-23-99. From Virginia Carper. One of the people in the waiting room was 'General Patton'. When I first
watched "Destiny", they introduced Julius Caesar with music from the movie,
"Patton". At first, I thought that was a fluke. But when they introduced
'Patton' in the waiting room, they played the same music. I think that someone
in Xenaland knows that General George Patton believed in past lives. Patton had
a custom of going to a place and reliving a past life. One of his past lives
was Caesar. Patton's friend, General Omar Bradley thought that he was nuts.
But Bradley also thought Patton reliving past lives and past life battles helped
him to win the war.
05-17-99. From Rob Lent. The title "Deja Vu All Over Again" is a Yogi Berra quote, who was known for making such odd or redundant comments.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN .
DISCLAIMER:
No Sword-Wielding, Card-Playing,
Therapy-Seeking French Freedom Fighters
were deflowered during the production of
this motion picture.
However, rumors of Custer and Pocahontas
remain unconfirmed.
