LITTLE PROBLEMS
aka Body and Souls

GUEST STARS, CAST & CREDITS
PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
TV GUIDE PROMO
PRESS RELEASE
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
SYNOPSIS by Bluesong
COMMENTARY 1 BY Beth the Gaynor
COMMENTARY 2 BY Beboman
COMMENTARY 3 BY Philip Teo
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER

PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
ON AN ALL NEW XENA...
(Aphrodite shoots magic at Xena, whose body glows and fades away)
Daphne: Gabrielle, it's me.
Gabrielle: Xena?!
APHRODITE'S LITTLE MISTAKE...
(Gabrielle turns and glares at Aphrodite)
Aphrodite: Oops!
GETS XENA IN BIG TROUBLE!
(Xena slumps tiredly against a wall)
(Daphne looks in a mirror, with Xena's face reflected)
Daphne: I'm scared.
Xena: YOU'RE scared?!
AND THE ONLY WAY SHE'LL GROW OUT OF IT...
(Gabrielle and Daphne spin around; Sandor draws his sword)
Daphne: Turn around now, and save yourself.
Sandor: Nice try.....Xena!
(Sandor and his companions laugh)
...IS TO PROVE THAT POWERFUL THINGS...
Sandor: [faking fear] Wooooo!
(Daphne does Xena's war cry, flips in the air and kicks Sandor in the face)
...COME IN LITTLE PACKAGES.
(Daphne holds Sandor down with her foot)
Daphne: Next time, pick on someone your own size.
(Xena and Daphne walk in through a doorway)
AN ALL NEW XENA!

TV GUIDE PROMO

Aphrodite puts Xena into the body of a child.

Gabrielle and Aphrodite must save Xena's soul from becoming trapped in a girl's body forever. ClickTV

Gabrielle and Aphrodite have until sundown to save Xena's soul from being trapped inside a young girl forever. Log line.

PRESS RELEASE

When Xena (Lucy Lawless) stops a group of Tharon's (Peter Feeney) thugs from stealing treasures from Aphrodite's (Alexandra Tydings) temple, she sees a dying young girl named Daphne (Rose McIver). Deeply moved by the child's plight, Xena remarks she would change places with her if she could. Aphrodite takes her at her word and morphs Xena's life force into Daphne. The only problem is that Aphrodite does not successfully complete the transfer and Daphne awakens to discover Xena is inside of her! Before Aphrodite can figure out how to undo her magic, Daphne's father, Galantis (Colin Moy), arrives to take his daughter home. There Daphne learns that her mother is dead and is consoled by Xena. Back at the temple, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), holding Xena's lifeless body, devises a plan to get hold of the special oil that separates Siamese twins, in hopes of separating Xena from Daphne.

Meanwhile, Tharon orders his men to find Xena so he can exact revenge. Sandor (Stephen Finch) and his thugs find Gabrielle and Aphrodite placing Xena's body in a cave and demand that they hand her over. Gabrielle single-handedly defends the body and Aphrodite uses her magic to seal the cave until they can return. In order to get into the club where the owners of the oil, Castor (Wade Taylor) and Pollux (Scott Taylor), are appearing, Gabrielle and Aphrodite pose as Swedish Siamese twins. In their disguise, the two enter an oil wrestling competition against Castor and Pollux and successfully recover the oil just before their true identities are discovered.

In the village, Xena takes control over Daphne's body in order to stop a team of spooked horses. Having witnessed the event, Sandor reports to Tharon that he believes Xena is in the body of a young girl. While he can't believe this to be true, Tharon orders Daphne's capture. Shortly thereafter, Daphne and her estranged father argue which sends her running to her mother's grave site where Sandor finds her. Once again, Xena takes over and scares off Sandor and his men. Having grown up with only one parent herself, Xena urges Daphne to reconcile with her father. While by the river, Daphne suddenly remembers that her mother died while saving her from drowning. Galantis sees Daphne and angrily orders her to stay away from the water. Daphne runs into the woods and Galantis tries to follow, but is intercepted by Sandor who kidnaps him as bait for Daphne/Xena. Gabrielle catches up with Daphne/Xena to alert Xena that she must get back to her body before sundown or forever remain trapped in Daphne. With the same deadline for Galantis's life, Daphne/Xena races off to Tharon's castle while Aphrodite retrieves Xena's body from the cave. Daphne/Xena successfully defeats Tharon, Xena's spirit is returned to her body and Galantis and Daphne reconcile.

Cast:
Xena: Lucy Lawless
Gabrielle: Renee O'Connor
Aphrodite: Alexandra Tydings
Daphne: Rose Mciver
Galantis: Colin Moy
Tharon: Peter Feeney
Sandor: Stephen Finch
Castor: Wade Taylor
Pollux: Scott Taylor

Production:
Executive Producers: Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi, R.J. Stewart
Co-Executive Producer: Eric Gruendemann, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Producers: Chris Manheim and Bernadette Joyce
Co-Producer: Michael Mcdonald
New Zealand Producer: Chloe Smith
Written By: Gregg Ostrin
Directed By: Allison Liddi

AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 11/22/99
An AA average of 4.0
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:

 X-Files                        4.2 
 Xena                           4.0 
 3rd Rock                       3.8 
 Hercules                       3.7 
 Stargate SG-1                  3.5 
 Beastmaster                    2.8 
 Earth: Final Conflict          2.6 
 Profiler                       2.5 
 Peter Benchley's Amazon        2.4 
 Relic Hunter                   2.3 

SYNOPSIS:

This synopsis is by Bluesong.

A gang of thugs steal stuff from one of Aphrodite's temples. Xena and Gabrielle burst through the doors. Gabrielle looks very sleek in her amazonian outfit. The superchakram bounces around, heads are smashed, the bad guys run away. Aphrodite pops in to say "thanks" and shows Xena and Gabrielle her latest thing. She has the "sisters" in the back of her temple trying to heal sick people, who in turn leave lots of things in the temple as a gesture of thanks. Xena walks around and stops by an unconscious girl. Xena tells the girl she would switch places with her if it would wake her up. Aphrodite is like, okay, and "poof" Xena faints and the little girl sits up. Then the little girl, Daphne says she is Xena and somehow Aphrodite screwed up and she has Xena and Daphne in the same body. This leaves Xena's body as a pregnant hull languishing around unconscious. Gabrielle tries to take this all in very quickly, and then Daphne's father shows up, says, hey, you're awake, now get up and come on. "Xena" tells Gabrielle she'll be alright and asks Gabrielle to look after the pregnant hull. Gabrielle is very upset with Aphrodite for mucking up the spell.

The bad guys talk to their leader, Teflon (that's not right, but close), about getting Xena.

Daphne's father tells her her mother is dead. He is very silent. Gabrielle watches Xena's body and tries to help Aphrodite figure out a counter spell to fix things. Daphne grieves over her mother's death. Xena appears in the mirror and offers comfort to Daphne.

Gabrielle pulls Xena's body to a safe place. She turns around and all the bad guys are there. They want Xena's body. Aphrodite disappears. Gabrielle grabs a rope and beats up all the bad guys. Every one of them. Go Gabrielle! Gabrielle asks Aphrodite to seal up the "safe place". Aphrodite and Gabrielle now have to go to the Gemini Club to see Castor and Pollox about some oil (castor oil, get it, ha ha!) that will separate Xena and Daphne.

Daphne and her father go to market. Xena tries to convince Daphne to talk to her dad. A horse runs away and goes dashing through the market. Daphne turns into Junior Xena and tosses a frisbee and then flips and aaiaiayala yells and lands on the horses back, complete with long-missing Warrior Princess Theme music. The bad guys are watching all this and make the connection that Xena is in that little body.

Gabrielle and Aphrodite dress up as the siamese twins Bruna and Hilda from Val to get into the Gemini Club. They meet Castor and Pollux who asks them to bed in Norweigan, ha ha, and then they wrestle and then they are found out to be individuals not siamese twins. Gabrielle grabs the castor oil and they run away.

Daphne finds her mother's grave. The bad guys show up. Xena takes over and beats up the bad guys. Xena tells Daphne she might also grow up to bash in heads someday, too.

Teflon is not happy that his warriors were beaten up by a scrawny little girl. Teflon says he wants his revenge on that leather clad b*tch. (B*tch: the word of the Xenaverse.)

Daphne goes fishing and remembers that she tried that before. That time she fell in and her mother drowned saving her. Daphne runs from her father and goes to cry. The bad guys conk Dad in the head and take him hostage so Xena will come to them.

Xena tries to comfort Daphne. Teflon and Dad chit-chat. Gabrielle finds Daphne, and tells Xena the switch must take place before sundown. Xena sends Aphrodite to get Xena's body, and Xena/Daphne and Gabrielle go to save Dad.

Gabrielle approaches the front gates with Daphne/Xena. Xena cuts off the flow of blood to some unsuspecting guard (nice to see that move again, anyway). Daphne finds Dad and sets him free. Daphne and Dad have a heart-to-heart. Gabrielle appears and tells them to come on, the coast is clear. Dad and Gabrielle get away but Daphne is caught. Teflon takes Daphne up the castle stairs. Dad and Gabrielle get attacked by thugs. Gabrielle and Dad whip b*tt.

Daphne tries to make a break for it. Then Teflon faces off against Xena/Daphne. They fight. Teflon finally falls over the edge of the castle roof. Aphrodite appears with Xena's body and administers the castor oil. Xena and Daphne go check on Dad and Gabrielle. Dad and Daphne hug. Xena beams at Gabrielle. Xena hugs Daphne, says goodbye, she'll be back. Xena and Gabrielle walk off down the beach for a very long time.

COMMENTARY 1:

This commentary is by Beth Gaynor.

This comedy made me laugh the most since Been There, Done That. It's the first one in quite a while that's funny without being foolish. A few of the jokes may give the Moral Majority fits, but the rest of us adults will just sit back on our couches and crack up.

For those of us keeping track, Xena's soul has now been in seven people:

Callisto
Autolycus
Gabrielle
Melinda Pappas
Artimnestra
Harry
Daphne

WOW, that's a well-travelled soul. The Quest (which provided two of those jaunts) and this episode had some of the same reasoning behind it: let the star do some of her lines sitting down. (Thank goodness this time it's for a much better reason than a fractured pelvis.)

Also to relieve some acting time for a star who's getting reeeallly big (wow, I think that kid was setting up condos for rent), Gabrielle and Aphrodite get to have some romp time on the screen. And my heavens, does Gabrielle ever romp. Her fight scenes were awesome. She not only throws around the sai like a pro, but wields a sword, a mace, and a flaming whip. I'm with Gabrielle in wishing that Xena could have seen that one; by my count, that was ten guys she beat up! Watch Gabrielle drop the sword-n-mace at the end of the first fight like they're diseased - ha!

Kudos to that little kid for doing a heck of a Xena impersonation! She beats the pants off that Pepsi girl for the voice-changing business (and I think in this episode's case, that's actually the kid doing the voice). I thought she did a better job as Xena than she did as Daphne, although both were darned decent efforts. Go, kid! Live a long and happy acting career.

Speaking of the girl, what kind of dream job must this have been? Even if she never watched Xena, to get to whip a sword around and run all over the countryside and castle sets for the cameras? What a rough way to spend a couple of weeks. I bet she had all the other kids beat on the "what I did for my summer vacation" essays.

But for all the characters in this episode I liked, I gotta say: the head bad guy, Theron, was lame. Lame lame lame. Every time he showed up to try to be menacing, I had pretty much the same reaction that the head henchman did when he was threatened by Daphne. "Ooo! NOW I'm scared!" The metal origami mask was ridiculous looking - did he decide to stop kids being afraid of his scars by making them laugh themselves to death? And after all that buildup, THAT was a scarred-up face? He just looked suburned. It's a sad bad guy who lets his head henchman show him up - now THAT guy was fun.

I partially blame the lame bad guy, but episodes like this bring out my worst couch potato instincts. "Yeah yeah yeah, the kid's in turmoil, the bad guy's after Xena... enough dramatic meaningful stuff, get back to Gabrielle and Aphrodite bickering! Show another fight!"

I love the history of Gabrielle and Aphrodite: Gabrielle seems to have, and always has had, special dispensation to banter and harangue Aphrodite. Xena gets to mouth off to Ares, Hades, and pretty much anybody else. Aphrodite usually ignores/interacts minimally with Xena, but Gabrielle has her number.

Notice Gabrielle's emphatic "NO hensbane!" Memories of rock choirs, Gab?

Was Lucy really lying in that pallet that Gabrielle dragged and Gab and Aphrodite wrestled onto the dias? (If it wasn't, they have a very Lucy-looking mannequin.) Trusting actress!

I love the Xena theme music when Daphne goes into full Xena mode. Hearing the warrior princess songs to a slow-motion running kid was hilarious.

This town must manufacture metal polish in bathtubloads. EVERYthing reflects. Even the soup shines!

Aphrodite in a sex show club! No wonder she's out of control almost the entire time. She gets off on the wrestling (and I'm not EVEN gonna comment on those two ladies at the start of the scene), she's ready to start the foursomes at the word 'go', and she gets... distracted... during the wrestling. Gab's plan was marvelous, she just forgot to bring a few buckets of cold water to hose the goddess of love down.

Mythology note: Castor and Pollux really were twins and the sons of a god, although they weren't siamese twins, they were just inseparable by choice. There's also no mention of Castor and his oil... castor oil, ha ha. (And thank you, XenaWriters, for NOT spelling that joke out for us. We can connect the dots.)

This week, thousands of kids are looking up the word "linguists" in their dictionaries to try to figure out what the heck that line was about.

Aphrodite and Gabrielle oil wrestling with Siamese twins... I'm speechless. I can NOT add a crack to top that.

CLASSIC Gabrielle when she's exposed (so to speak) after the wrestling match and promptly launches into an outraged speech about the shameless exploitation of the female form. Ahh, she can still be an idealist.

Amazing how the neck pinch works through a leather collar! (With kid's fingers, even!)

What's with the feel of finality at the end? The long shot of the walk on the beach, the swelling music? I felt like I was watching the end of a season. If the director needed to fill in 30 more seconds, I could have suggested some other spots.

HIGHLIGHTS

Best one-liners of the episode:

"She got me right in the jewels!" - wimpy de-jeweled henchman, while retreating
"Aphrodite's succoring the ill." "I AM NOT!!"
"We're not (twins)? You lied to me?" [WHACK!]
"Junior Amazon cookies". I nearly fell off my couch.
"Think of them as really mean trout", especially with the grrrr-imace Gabrielle gives when she says it.

This gets my vote as Aphrodite's best Xena episode yet. She's useless as a goddess (oh, sure, Gab made her promise not to use any magic, that's why she doesn't just zap them into the twins party), but she's hilariously funny. Loved the eyebrow raise when Gabrielle says she's afraid of Aphrodite thinking.

COMMENTARY 2:

This commentary is by Beboman.

Ok guys, another episode of "let's try to figure out how we can make Xena fight with out getting her in a real fight". Well, so far we are doing fairly good (I'm not saying really good because it will go to the writers' heads, and we don't want that.)

Not a bad episode, even if it was a "Xena light" episode. It does not count if Xena is just an image in a mirror, shield, knife, water and, least of all, in a soup. But the idea was not bad after all.

Is it just me or did Aphrodite change costumes? If I missed it the last time I saw her, sorry, but if it's new, I really liked it.

Well, our Gabrielle has really grown up. She has developed into a really good fighter with some really good fighting techniques. I enjoy watching her fight. Gabrielle has even picked up on some of Xena's old techniques. Gabrielle has definitely been paying attention to Xena.

Rose McIver, who played Daphne, did an excellent job in her portrayal of both Xena and Daphne. This kid is an excellent actress, especially when she became Xena. I bet she enjoyed those fight scenes to no end.

The episode moved fast and Gabrielle had some really great lines. As usual, ROC delivered them just right. Way to go, ROC.

G: "It's hanging below the belt."
G: "My daughter is selling junior amazon cookies"
G: "How did it feel to be young again?"

There is not much to comment on in this week's episode. Other than Xena in Daphne's body stopping the horses and bringing Teflon's men to their knees, events that were accompanied by Xena's theme. It was just so nice to hear that tune again. I love that tune. (As a matter of fact, I listen to it when I'm riding. It's such a great tune to ride to.) Meanwhile, back in the Xena world, the Xena pinch was back. That is something I have also missed. But I laughed my head off when Daphne did it and tried to sound so much like Xena. This was such a great touch.

All in all, this was an extremely entertaining show. The writers have used a lot of imagination to keep Xena pregnant and in control, but at the same time without getting her into any fights that could cause harm to LL's pregnancy. Well, I take that back. The fight at the beginning of the show was just spectacular. Even pregnant, Xena has a flare for fighting and, by the Gods, she does such a great job. Did you see her walk on the shoulders of those warriors? It sort of reminded me of "Sins of the Past."

I have come to enjoy those moments of intimacy between Xena and Gabrielle at the beginning or at the end of the show. Seeing Xena and Gabrielle walk down the beach was reminiscent of "Ten Little Warlords", when Xena gets her body back. The difference was that in this episode Xena gets her body back after being stuck in Daphne's and in "Ten Little Warlord" Xena gets her body back after being stuck in Callisto's body for some time. Not a big difference there; she was stuck in a child's body both times. (Yo, all you all don't get mad at me, in a way Callisto has been a child, in a weird sort of way.)

But going back to my original thought, I enjoy watching Xena and Gabrielle walking down the beach and joking with each other. There is such a great connection between these two characters that those moments become very special. (Yes, I am a softy deep inside, very, very deep inside.)

So far, this season has not given me a really bad episode. They have stayed with a format, they have followed it and it is really working. Let's hope they don't change halfway through the season.

Well guys, we are entering into the rerun stage of the season, so I guess this is my que to say bye until we start with the new episodes again. So, until then, I will see you all later.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

These things are by Beth Gaynor.

Continuity nit: When Daphne looks in the mirror for the first time to see Xena, Xena's in control, so Xena shouldn't have been speaking in the mirror.

New outfit for Aphrodite: she's traded in the nightie for a (spangled) sports bra and short shorts, for that on-the-go athletic sex kitten look.

Possibly the funniest moment of the whole episode is when Gab and Aphrodite are trying to talk their way into the Gemini club, when their horns lock together and nearly knock Aphrodite's helmet across her face. Alexandra Tydings looks like she almost cracks up, but the scene goes on, and they end up bravely marching into the club, blind twin and all.

MORE THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

From Virginia V Kelly. The "cunning linguists" line (during the time aphrodite and Gab are Siamese Twins) was originally used in the James Bond movie with Michele Yeoh. Bruna and Hilda from Val would be a nod to Brunehilde from a Wagner opera, DIE WALKURE. I assume Val is for Valkyrie.

TRANSCRIPT

Click here to read a transcript of LITTLE PROBLEMS.

DISCLAIMER:

No Pie Tins were harmed during the making of Tharon's mask.