TV GUIDE PROMO
At the behest of Helen of Troy, Xena goes to
the embattled city to help end a 10-year war with the Greeks. But
while trying to rein in the hostilities, she discovers a Trojan
horse who's working with the enemy.
Xena joins the climatic battle between the warring Greeks and Trojans that is precipitated by the false peace offering of the Trojan horse.
Gabrielle is reunited with an old flame when she and Xena travel to Troy.
Helen of Troy summons Xena to help end the Trojan War.
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 01/15/96
An AA average of 6.1
Highest rating until 2nd season's INTIMATE STRANGER released 11/11/96
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) HERCULES 5th with 7.5
(2) XENA 12th with 6.1
(3) STAR TREK DS9 16th with 5.2
2nd RELEASE: 04/08/96
An AA average of 4.5
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) STAR TREK DS9 6th with 5.8
(2) HERCULES 9th with 5.2
(3) XENA 14th with 4.5
(4) BAYWATCH 16th with 4.4
3rd RELEASE: 12/16/96
An AA average of 4.6
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) HERCULES 10th with 5.1
(2) XENA 14th with 4.6
(3) BAYWATCH 16th with 4.3
(4) STAR TREK DS9 21st with 4.1
SYNOPSIS:
Xena compelled to visit her pal Helen
at Troy midst the Trojan War finds Helen suffering from violent
nightmares. After Xena and Gabrielle fight their way to the city
walls, Gabrielle discovers that her ex-fiance Perdicas, literally
a different man and all buffed up, is fighting for Troy.
Gabrielle had left him when she decided to carry on with Xena.
She now is impressed with the new body and personality.
Meanwhile, Xena and Helen play catch up in each other's lives and
Xena finds out that Helen is not happy with Paris or Troy. Helen
feels, just so, confined by it all.
Deiphobus, the captain of the guards
and Paris' brother (Paris being Helen's lover), then wheels in a
big bamboo horse stating that the Greeks have left. Turns out
that Deiphobus is working with the enemy and the horse is filled
with Greeks. Xena suspects, and gets enough people worried about
it, that they all hole up in a Temple. Deiphobus kills Paris so
he can have Helen (dating was much more vicious back then).
After the Greeks exit the horse and
take the city, they pull the horse out of the city's gates.
Luckily, the gang found refuge in the horse and now can escape.
Xena notices Deiphobus trying to escape as well with Helen. She
has a nasty fight with Deiphobus who is, as most of Xena's foes
are, eventually kabobed. Perdicas dumps Gabrielle in order to
escort Helen safely to the nearest city facilities (yeah, right!)
Gabrielle later marries Perdicas in
THE RETURN OF CALLISTO. Perdicas, of course, dies a messy death,
but at least he gets to mate with Gabrielle before leaving this
mortal plane. RETURN was also directed by T.J. Scott.
COMMENTARY:
Cited by Ms. Magazine as one of the
more feminist episodes of XWP because of some dialog shared
between Xena and Helen of Troy ("Xena to Helen of Troy: 'What do
you want to do?' Helen: 'No one's ever asked me that before!'),
XWP is clearly not your run-of-the-mill traditional woman
superhero show.
First of all, Xena is not a
superhero. She's good because she's good, not because of magic,
being born under a different colored sun, or scientific
enhancements. This observation was challenged in an early script version of THE FURIES (#47) where
Xena's paternity was challenged. However, later script rewrites made the statement that Ares was Xena's
father, into a more ambigious statement that Xena made the Furies THINK he was her father in order to get
them off her back. At this point in the Xenaverse, Xena is not a demigod.
Second, Xena has no permanent male in
residence who sticks around in order to save her. Neither does
she have a temporary male who does the same (well, baring
Hercules, but, heck, he's a demigod afterall -- but then all the
fights they have had ended in a draw, except the time Xena
knocked him out in an unfair move in "Prometheus".) This, of course, changes in a bizarre way when Joxer
was interoduced as a regular character in the second season. But his function apparently is that of the court
jester or fool, and not as the protector and defender of Xena, although the character often calls himself that.
If there was any saving to be done,
it was by Xena, and during the first season, Xena was usually
saving Gabrielle. Xena kept Gabrielle around not just for someone
to talk to at the campsite at night or to feed her horse, but to
rescue as well. Apparently Xena did not need a man. It also
appeared that Helen might be thinking the same thing, after she
was through with Perdicas, of course.
Perdicas returned to Gabrielle's life
not
just a new man, but as a new actor as well. The new and improved
Perdicas would return to Gabrielle a total mess in RETURN OF
CALLISTO (#29) where he would talk Gabrielle into marrying him
and have Callisto ka-bob him all in one rather intense 24 hour
period. What a guy.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS, AND A LOVE GONE TOO
FAR
01-30-98. In an upcoming WHOOSH interview with Maggie Hickerson, the
script coordinator for XWP (tentatively scheduledto run in March 1998), Ms. Hickerson reminscinces about
Galyn Gorg's audition. "We don't get to see the people audition for roles because they don't usually do that
at our offices. The only time they had a casting session in our offices was for the women to play Helen of
Troy. The writer's assistant and myself were pretty biased toward the woman who actually got the role. He
had worked with her before so when she came in she was the one who talked to us. All the others were
focused on the lines they had to say but she [Galyn Georg] was more relaxed and said "Oh, I haven't seen
you since we worked on M.A.N.T.I.S.' She was friendly and they were obviously all attractive women so if
you went just by looks they were all suitable. But she was more relaxed and confident and ended up getting
the role."
CHANGING TIMES
Changing Times is by Debbie White.
In GREEKS, Xena goes against her own countrymen
to help an old friend whom she had parted with previously on bad
terms, and Gabrielle changes how she thinks about her
once-betrothed, Perdicas.
The Changing Xena
Xena is not thinking even remotely about visiting Troy
until she sees and attempts to save a man being attacked on the
road. The man is a servant of Helen of Troy, bringing a message
that Helen needs Xena's help. We learn later that although Xena
and Helen left each other on poor terms the last time they met,
they were still friends. Since we have never seen Helen before
this episode, we must assume that they were friends before Xena
turned good, or during the time she was good before SINS OF
THE PAST (#01). Thus Helen, kind of like Marcus, is most
likely a friend Xena made when she was evil, but is still
friendly towards now that she is fighting for good. Apparently,
Xena is loyal enough to her friends that she even is willing to
fight to get to them and then fight against her own countrymen to
further assist them. When Xena finds Helen, Xena hugs her. Xena,
who hardly lets anyone near her, let alone hug her, is
comfortable enough around Helen to let her get that close.
Xena shows off some interesting sides to her personality
during this episode. First, Gabrielle is getting nervous about
running through a war zone to get to Troy. Xena says, "Are your
boots laced?" right before dashing off. What a way to distract a
person from their fear!
Second, once inside and ready to go find Helen, Perdicas
mentioned Xena should see Deiphobus first. Not knowing if that
name was male or female, she asks, "Who's she?" and assumes the
unknown person is female rather than male. Xena shows here that
she does not think being a female warrior is at all limited to
herself and seems also to expect more of them. That or she is
giving Perdicas a hard time.
Third, when Xena finds Helen, she refuses to take her
back to King Menelaus. Instead, Xena tries to get Helen to leave,
since the war stopped being about Helen. Leave it to Xena to see
when a war's cause has turned into an excuse and it is time just
to leave if you do not like it. Again, Xena encourages Helen to
go out and be and do what she wants instead of letting others run
her life.
Though Xena was her usual creative and quick-thinking
self, she did something rather surprising. When the guards try to
capture Xena, and Deiphobus is holding a dagger near Helen's
back, Xena allows herself be captured despite the fact she knows
something is not right and she does not know for sure that she
can get free. Impossible odds have never stopped Xena from
freeing a person before, so why did she let the guards take her?
It seems like whenever the person in danger is someone she really
cares about, she freezes some or gives up, like her chakram was
too late to save Marcus in THE PATH NOT TAKEN (#05). Is
this Xena's 'fatal flaw'?
For those people who think Xena never gets frightened,
take a look at her face when she is in jail and the big Greek
just stepped into her cell. Xena looks frightened, but that does
not stop her from then smiling and looking like, if not really,
enjoying the fight.
Finally, we learn a little bit more about how Xena
thinks of Gabrielle. When Perdicas thanks Xena for taking care of
her, she replies, "It's no problem, she's like family."
The Changing Gabrielle
Gabrielle shows off her courage and loyalty once again.
Xena decides to go to Troy during a war? Of course, Gabrielle is
right beside her even though she is scared. Xena is going to
fight against the Greeks for a while? That means Gabrielle
follows the lead. Gabrielle really trusts Xena's judgement by
this time.
Gabrielle also shows off her romantic side in this
episode. It starts off when she wants to stop by Troy because
Helen, 'who launched a thousand ships' was there. Forget the fact
these were warships. When Gabrielle finds out that Perdicas is
fighting at Troy because it is a 'war for love,' she says he is
doing that because she told him tales, and she takes the
responsibility for making war seem romantic.
We learn quite a bit about Gabrielle through her
interaction with Perdicas. We find out that when they were young,
Gabrielle used to boss Perdicas around. Not only that, but
Perdicas would take the blame for things Gabrielle did. He even
was slightly accident prone in his efforts to please Gabrielle.
So when Gabrielle hears he is fighting this war because it is a
war for love, she tells him to go home before he gets hurt.
Which he refuses to do.
Perdicas said the last thing he saw of Gabrielle was her
leaving town. She left town in the middle of the night, but
Perdicas saw her leave. I get the feeling that he saw how she
reacted to Xena and, knowing her, thought she might leave. Even
learned that Gabrielle does not respect men that let her boss
them around. That might have been half the reason why he decided
to leave farming and become a soldier. Gabrielle sees that
Perdicas is now confident, good at fighting, and deserves
respect. That is when she starts to fall in love with him again.
Gabrielle did not say goodbye to Perdicas when she left
the village. She did not thank him for always taking the blame
for her or seem to really ever think about his feelings at all.
Now she thanks him for taking the blame so long ago. She listens
to him when he tells her to take cover, then is impressed by how
well he handles himself in the fight. She does not even complain
to Xena about being left behind when Xena tells her to stay
behind with Perdicas. When the Greeks about to break into the
temple, Gabrielle goes so far as to say she is sorry about how
she treated him and kisses him. In the end, though, Perdicas
decides he is not ready to give up his new freedom. Gabrielle
sort of stops and mutters that she was going to say the same
thing, but had seemed ready to say something else before Perdicas
said his words. Gabrielle even lets Perdicas kiss her one last
time. Even Xena makes the comment she thought Perdicas was going
to join them, but Gabrielle mumbles "no" in response.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Xena somersaulting out of a large
bamboo horse is not to be missed.
Coming soon
THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
03-11-00. From Adra Jade. In BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS, the actor Cameron Rhodes plays Deiphobus, Paris' brother and in KING CON he plays Eldon, Rafe's friend.
From Corinne Heller. In THE RECKONING, Xena plays along with Ares's proposal to bring back
anyone she names from the dead and she suggests Hector, Achilles, and
Agamenmon, but they're long gone. In BEWARE OF GREEKS, those three people play major parts in the siege of Troy. Oops!
SHOOTING SCRIPT
DIFFERENCES
Prepared by
SheWho.
There's an in-joke about the new actor playing Perdicas, but the changes
in this one aren't all that riveting. One thing that struck me about
the script, however, was that the Gabrielle we see on screen was more
confident and active in terms of fighting than the scripted Gabrielle,
who is essentially non-existent in the fight scenes.
BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS. Shooting Draft. November 16, 1995.
Writing credits TBA. Contributing writers: Roy Thomas and Janis Hendler, Adam Armus & Nora Kay
Foster. Directed by T. J. Scott
In the opening exchange between Xena and Gab, rather than saying, "Half
an apple, that's it?" Xena asks, "So, how did this happen?" After Gab's stomach growls, Gab says, "I didn't
say anything."
[Just an observation of my own: This is the first, and only, episode I
can recall where Xena and Gab fight in tandem, a la Hercules and Iolaus. Xena ends up on a guy's
shoulders, Gab hits him the stomach, and he falls to his knees. It looked coordinated. The script doesn't
suggest much involvement of Gab in this fight; it only mentions a quick tap of two reviving thugs with her
"walking stick."]
In the script, Xena and Gabrielle crawl on their bellies to a location
where they can see Troy. Interestingly, in the script Xena knocks out,
but doesn't kill, any of the attacking soldiers during their run toward
the walls of Troy. (She runs her sword through a whole battalion in the
televised version.) In the script, when the soldiers attack, "Xena
pushes Gabrielle aside" and does all the fighting; there is a lengthy
description of Xena fighting, but no mention of Gabrielle, who kicks
major butt in the televised version. Rather, the only mention of
Gabrielle during their approach to the walls is an indication that "Xena
continues to fight the Greek attackers, but their ranks are growing.
Two of them spot Gabrielle and move menacingly towards her."
[Thankfully, someone thought to portray Gabrielle as something other
than a stand-around prop in the screen version.]
Perdicas is described as "a handsome soldier, 20's". [No comment.] [Perdicas
was describved as being in his 30s in the SINS OF THE PAST script.]
In the script, Perdicas yells at Gabrielle to get inside, but she
remains there wielding her walking stick until Xena calls to her, "Go, Gabrielle! Now!" Then she takes off for
the gates.
Early on after meeting the new Perdicas, Gab tells Xena, "I'm telling
you, he's not the same. Even his walk is different." Xena replies, "People change, Gabrielle." [This is, of
course, an in-joke about a new actor being cast as Perdicas.]
In the televised version, when Perdicas tells Xena she'll have to talk
to Deiphobus, Xena says, "Who's she?" The script says, "Who's he?" [I wonder if that was LL's idea.]
A witticism altered: After Perdicas tells Xena that seeing Helen and
Paris is against regulations, Xena says, "So am I." In the televised
vesion, she says, "That's never bothered me before."
This version of the shooting script indicates that the entire opening
exchange between Xena and Helen was rewritten from the original script.
So was nearly the entire exchange between Gab and Perdicas in the next
scene. D*mn, I'd like to see the original.
In the script, when the archers attack, Perdicas barely saves Gabrielle
from being hit by an arrow and tells her to take cover, since apparently
she's too stupid to protect herself from obvious dangers. The line from
Perdicas as he shoots the archer -- "This is for my friend!" -- is not
in the script.
When Xena and Gab walk together, talking about Helen's request to be
returned to Menelaus, the little goodbye hand squeeze is not in the script.
Xena's characterization of Deiphobus as a "scum-sucking opportunist"
during their confrontation in the jail isn't in the script; rather, she
simply asks Deiphobus what he gets out of all this.
When Perdicas tells Gab that he's glad they found each other again, she
"smiles, a little embarrassed, but very much taken with him."
Outside the gates, Perdicas jumps out of the horse just after Xena;
Gabrielle's great leap from the horse immediately afterward isn't in the
script. In the script, after Xena and Perd jump out of the horse, a
Greek soldier raises his sword behind Perdicas, but Gabrielle conks him
with her staff. Scene "widen to include Gabrielle as she stands before
the Greek soldier, half proud, half petrified. She smiles at Perdicas
who looks back at her, incredulously. Gabrielle responds with a shrug."
[Note: Gab does quite a bit of fighting in the televised version, almost
none of which is indicated in the script.]
Xena's suggestion to the injured Greek soldier, "Run for your miserable
lives," isn't in the script.
In the televised version, Xena places Helen's crown on the unconscious
Deiphobus; in the script, it's one of Helen's veils. Rather than saying, "Very nice," she says, "Let him try to
explain this."
The final exchange between Gab and Perdicas begins,
Gabrielle: "So, where are you going now?"
Perd: "I don't know. I thought I might see the world."
Gabrielle: "That sounds like fun."
His prediction that they'll see each other again some day is followed by
a hug, not another nauseating kiss.
The final hug between Xena and Helen is described as a "sisterly hug."
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS.
DISCLAIMER:
No Oversized Polynesian-Style Bamboo
Horses were harmed during the production of this motion picture.
However, many wicker lawn chairs gave their lives.
