"Xena: Warrior Princess" Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (1996)

Director:

T.J. Scott

Writers:

John Schulian (creator) &
Robert G. Tapert (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Xena: Warrior Princess" (1995)

Original Air Date:

21 October 1996 (Season 2, Episode 4)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer face the evil god Bacchus, who turns innocent girls into bloody wild women called the Bacchae...

Plot Keywords:

Lyre | Underworld | Curse | Vampire | Warrior

Cast

Lucy Lawless	...	Xena
Renée O'Connor	...	Gabrielle
Ted Raimi	...	Joxer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matthew Chamberlain	...	Orpheus
David Goodwin	...	Thief #2
Kym Kristalie	...	Bacchae #1 (as Kym Krystaly)
Anthony Ray Parker	...	Bacchus
Daniel Parker	...	Thief #1

Language:

English

Trivia:

The "new" Xena kills less often than then "old" Xena, but still quite often. In this episode, Xena beheads one dryad with her sword and another with her chakram (supernatural beings are equal to humans when conducting a body-count). In the climactic battle with the bacchae, Xena torches one of them and throws another against the cave wall, whereupon it explodes. The third one she throws against the ceiling with a similar result. Finally, Xena stabs Bacchus with a bone of a dryad and he explodes. The "new" Xena's body-count after this episode is 54.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: 11 minutes into the episode, after Gabrielle exits the inn to follow after some bacchae, she passes in front of a lit torch. The propane tank used to fuel the torch is clearly visible.

Quotes:

Xena: Find a way to make him presentable, and then we'll leave.
Joxer: Wait a minute. What did she mean, make you presentable?
Orpheus: She doesn't want me to look like you

So, where is the afore mentioned fun?

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A mish mash of vampire lore and, I assume, The Bacchae by Euripedes, the episode isn't very faithful to either and isn't very fun as well. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the one and only time that Xena and Gabrielle are seen necking on screen, unfortunately this is when Gabrielle is a bloodsucking Bacchae b*tch. There are more cheaply rendered flying things as well as a talking paper mache head, both of which provide the kind of lightheadedness that usually takes place after a blow to the head. There are also long shaky camera sequences, a Bacchus that looks like Tim Curry from Legend, and a rap song. However, Joxer, the mighty, returns and spending an hour watching Lucy Lawless is always pleasant.