It is so amazing it was made in the 90s. I believe, we wouldn't get the story 'right', if it was made in earlier, or later decades. We wouldn't even need it, I guess... We got the true values of such things like: friendship, the eternal good vs. evil theme, redemption... well, life itself, really. The last good things our generation learned from TV.Everything comes in waves. We were lucky to hop on one of those in "our time" and it still carries us throughout our lives. We were moved and affected by such shows, like X:WP. To be honest, I prefer this to the "Twilight", or even "The Hunger Games" generations (mostly, because we know how to kick ass unapologetically - it's the kung-fu with a sword,baby). Joke there - I can't even come close to understanding the purpose of the "twilight". I mean, Tarantino was inspired by X:WP. Kill Bill was born later. They both shared the amazing skills of Zoe Bell. I won't even mention Lord of The Rings... maybe a looong shot ( I know there was a book first), but do the calculations.Yes, it was cheesy, it was crappy cgi, silly/witty dumb stuff. At the same time, it was teaching us valuable things, if we wanted to notice it. It was ENTERTAINING! It was hot. It was wild, even savage, sensual, sexy thanks to Lucy's performance and the score music(Joseph Lo Duca). And it brought us back to our senses thanks to Renee and the 90s censorship. :)Battle on Xena, battle on...

When you're young, there are many faces that you may look up to on television. As much of a boy as I was, it wasn't Spiderman, Superman, Batman or even Wonderwoman that I looked up to, it was Xena Warrior Princess that inspired me and made me respect strong woman from so young an age. After all, it was the first time a woman got such a strong leading role on television. It paved the way for women on TV, that's for sure.Xena Warrior Princess was my childhood heroine. She was everything to me when I was a kid. At home and during recess at elementary school, I was so obsessed with her portrayal as an exceptionally skillful warrior woman that I began doing her battle cries, flipped myself to perform cartwheels and threw frisbees pretending they were her signature chakram weapon. I just loved this woman so much.The show itself, based in an historically ancient time in Greece, taught me values about the importance of strong relationships, respect, will power, forgiveness and perception. What made it even more intriguing were the well composed soundtracks, the implementation of a bit of Indian culture and of course, all of Xena's abilities were fun and spectacular to see depicted and played out.Here was this extraordinary unearthly warrior woman looking to make amends for a sinful past and as a result, she is betrayed by her own army. From there, she finds and bonds with her best friend and bard girl, Gabrielle, and they evolve as characters and head off for a sometimes wacky, but heavily dramatic, war-filled and emotional roller coaster ride, dealing with some friendly but many threatening forces along the way.Callisto has to be the single greatest female villain on the show and arguably of all time. The character's back story of surviving a village fire that barbecued her family because of Xena and her army was heartbreaking and it fit greatly with reminding Xena about how heinous her actions of the past were. Put that together with how unstable, psychotic, cold and vengeful Callisto is in the show and you'd agree. Also, Xena's fights with Callisto were some of the most heated and amazing girl fighting sequences. The show did have some challenges in the special effects department in the early seasons, but I was glad they enhanced it a ton as the seasons carried on. The only season I was barely fond of was the final 6th season. It just didn't live up to my fondness of the past seasons and felt like a departure from the true essence of the show. The ending was realistic in that anyone that lives by the sword, will die by the sword. It was just unfortunate Gabrielle was left lonesome instead of dying along with her soul mate, Xena.Rating: 9/10

Lucy Lawless looked SO LARGE on my little TV screen - Xena was larger than life. Ironically, sidekick Gabriella (Renee O'Conner) was several inches taller than Lucy in real life. It amused me to learn that they would put Lucy on large blocks so that it would seem she "Towered" over Gabriella - The Illusion worked for all of the 6 seasons of this series.Renee O'conner and Hercules: The Legendary Journey's Kevin Sorbo were part of Sam Raimi's cargo of actors, used in the "Darkman" series of films by Raimi. Lucy Lawless was imported from "Hercules and the Amazon Women" which was a Universal Action-Pack TV Movie - So she was no stranger to the Raimi Stable either.The very first Episode, revealed the campiness that made the series so enjoyable: There was always some kind of gag - Related to a fight Xena was to have. In the very first Episode, Xena battles a guy with Staves, while standing on the heads of a crowd of people who had been gathered - Why the people did not move out of the way is a mystery, but that they just stood there was incredibly funny. From the first episode onward I practically never missed a Xena episode.As this show was interlocked with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it was always a treat to see Lucy guest star on that series, or Kevin guest star on Xena - Sometimes, sidekicks Hurst and O'Conner came with them. As this did not happen very often, it was a real treat when it did happen.Xena as a character was introduced as a Woman Warrior who had beguiled Iaolus in an episode of Hercules Legendary Journeys - she was "evil" in that episode. Her conversion from Crook to Heroine took place in episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and in several episodes of the Xena series.The character of Xena was developed well, as was sidekick Gabriella. There was ALWAYS some fight, and Gabriella would change her "walking stick" into a weapon, and knock some poor guy's block off! And Xena had the "Round Killing Thing" that always came back to her, there was a Xena chatroom I would visit back then, and the owner of that Chatroom - "Artemis"- always gave me grief for not calling that thing a "Chakrum." My favourite Crook which Xena always fought was Ares, in the form of Kevin Tod Smith, who passed away 15th Feb 2002 after doing a stunt where he accidentally fell - Sad was the day I learned of that. Kevin's "Ares" always appeared to be the "Biker from Hell" - With his long black hair, and Lambchop Sideburns and leather Gauntlets. He was great! He made the show, his crookedness, yet vulnerability gave the show an edge, yet on occasion he proved to be less devilish then some of the other crooks of the series.Many of the same crooks and irritations that were in Hercules - Like Bruce Campbell's "Autolycus: The King of Thieves" were guests on the show - Ted Raimi was "Joxer the Mighty" — who was a geek who wanted to be a warrior, who Xena would beat up - But the guy always ended up helping Xena in odd ways. And he had his little Song! It was too much, you could not help but love it.This show had many Quirks, and many of New Zealand's best actors and actresses were in the show - Karl Urban was Caesar AND Cupid - Tim Thomerson was Meleager the Mighty - The cast list is impressive - Martin Csokas, and even Salmoneus was in an episode, or two? I don't know how many he was in. But my favourite Xena nemesis was Hudson Leick as "Callisto" — the woman was pure evil! And she was turned into a God-I loved the episodes where Xena had to deal with her, cos Callisto had to be beaten, not by Xena's sword or "Round Killing Thing" - But by Wits Alone.From Caesar to Beowulf - From Greece to Rome, Xena fought them all - And usually won. From Greek Mythos to Christian Mythology, it was covered. John the Baptist. The Archangel Michael. Eastern Gods, Xena's adversaries were from all over.I had just seen the 2011 "Conan the Barbarian" reboot-muck, which reminded me so much of Hercules and Xena so much — and reminded me, how much I loved Hercules and Xena. or as Mad Magazine put it: "Jerkules and Xima"

I know there may be those who either agree or disagree, but I love this show, ever since I was a kid I loved it. The scenery is excellent, the music is rousing, the dialogue is witty and fresh, the choreography kicks ass and the stories are entertaining with plenty of adventure. And I love Xena herself. She is a strong, spirited heroine, the sort of heroine I like, and I have to say Lucy Lawless is just perfect for the part. Garbrielle is a nice character too, in fact I like all the characters in this show they have a great likability about them and it comes through crystal clear.Overall, just a terrific, fun show. In fact out of Hercules:The Legendary Journeys, Adventures of Sinbad and Xena:Warrior Princess, Xena is my personal favourite of the three for especially the choreography and its heroine. 10/10 Bethany Cox