Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)
Yi-yi-yi-yi!
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Three on DVD.
Anchor Bay's excellent box set collects 22 episodes on eight discs, plus
a ninth disc: a CD-Rom with all kinds of trivia and info. (Making it
nearly as big as Fox's Alien Quadrilogy box.) "Xena" earned its cult
following by offering rich sci-fi and fantasy stories and characters,
but never taking itself too seriously and turning on the sex appeal
whenever possible (both sexes). The very first episode, "The Furies,"
pits Xena (Lucy Lawless) against three scantily clad women who writhe
and dance when they're not spreading evil across the land, but the war
god Ares (Kevin Smith) provides eye candy for other orientations. This
third season emerges with the stories and characters in full swing, even
if it occasionally gets bogged down by the storyline about Gabrielle's
(Renee O'Connor) demon baby. Either way, how can you go wrong with
anything that stars Bruce Campbell? Our favorite cult actor appears in
three episodes, and even directed one, "The King of Assassins." Each
episode comes with various extras, such as interviews or commentary
tracks. The set also contains a hit-and-miss blooper reel and a photo
gallery.
Buy Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Four on DVD.
Lucy Lawless plays Xena with Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle, who both go
through enormous changes during this season. Bruce Campbell appears
in three episodes, and even directed one, "The Key to the Kingdom." The
set contains "hours of extras," including interviews, commentary tracks,
director's cuts on three episodes, a featurette on the two-part
"Adventures in the Sin Trade," a featurette on the monsters, bloopers,
outtakes and photos. Like "Season Three," this set packs
22 episodes on
eight discs, plus a ninth disc of extras and a tenth CD-Rom.
The CD-Rom is
full of bios, trivia, chronicles and designs and sketches. Best of all
is the 26-minute "Cabin Fever," in which Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi
interview each other more candidly than any professional could.
The following DVD has also been recently released:
Lost in Space (1965-66, Fox)
This massive box set contains only the first season of this popular
sci-fi show, with 29 hour-long episodes packed onto 8 discs, plus a 30th
episode: a never-before aired pilot. I used to enjoy this show in
afternoon re-runs during summer vacation, but I don't remember the
early, dark episodes, such as episode one in which Dr. Smith (Jonathan
Harris) accidentally stows away on board the ship and programs the robot
to kill the Robinson family. In other words, these early episodes prove
that the show wasn't quite as cheesy as I remember it, and certainly not
as cheesy as the silly 1998 movie would have us believe.
May 19, 2004
