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Title:
Xena: Warrior Princess: Season Six: The Final Season: Deluxe Collector’s
Edition: Ten Disc Set
Disc
One Episodes: “Coming Home”, “The Haunting Of Amphipolis”, “Heart Of
Darkness”
Disc Two Episodes: “Who’s Gurkhan?”, “Legacy”, “The Abyss
Disc Three Episodes: “The
Rheingold”, “The Ring”, “Return Of The Valkyrie”
Disc Four Episodes: “Old Ares Had
A Farm”, “Dangerous Prey”, “The God You Know”
Disc Five Episodes: “You Are
There”, “Path Of Vengeance”, “To Helicon And Back”
Disc Six Episodes: “Send In The
Clones”, “Last Of The Centaurs”, “When Fates Collide”
Disc Seven Episodes: “Many Happy
Returns”, “Soul Possession”, “A Friend In Need Part I”
Disc Eight Episodes: “A Friend In
Need Part II”, “A Friend In Need Part 1 & 2: Director’s Cut”
Region:
One
Genre:
Action Fantasy TV Series
Stars: Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, Michelle Ang, Marton Csokas, Karl Urban, Adrienne Wilkinson, Kevin Smith, Ted Raimi, and Michael Hurst
Writers:
R.J. Stewart, Chris Black, Melissa Blake, Paul Robert Coyle, Liz Friedman,
Katherine Fugate, Melissa Good, James Kahn, Joel Metzger, Vanessa Place, Emily
Shopov, Edithe Swensen, and Rob Tapert
Directors: Josh Becker, Mark Beasley, Charlie Haskell, Rick Jacobson, Chris Martin-Jones, Garth Maxwell, Renee O’Connor, Charles Siebert, and Rob Tapert
Executive Producers: Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi, and R.J. Stewart
Feature length: 1040 minutes
Extras: Interviews, Audio Commentaries, Alternate Director’s Cuts, Deleted Scenes, Featurette, Xena Season One Promo, Bloopers, Never-Before-Seen On Set Footage, Production Drawings and Sketches, Photo Gallery, Actor, Writer, and Director Bios, Series Trivia, Chronicles, Production Designs and Sketches
Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Closed Captions
Packaging: Ten-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Glossy Slipcase
Chapter Stops: Five Per Episode/11 For “A Friend In Need” Director’s Cut/121 Total
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Years of Television Broadcast: 2000-2001/DVD Release: 2005
Home Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
I
sometimes find it interesting to see how people in show business change as they
become more successful. I am not talking about larger egos or anything like
that, but rather just their physical appearance. Being able to afford to have a
personal trainer whip to them into better physical shape is usually the easiest
thing to spot. Lucy Lawless definitely looks sexier and more ripped in “Xena:
Warrior Princess” season six than she did in the first season and the same
holds true for Renee O’Connor, but I certainly cannot blame them. If could
afford a personal trainer to motivate me in the gym I think I’d get better
results too. Please note that this is conjecture on my part and it is not based
on any known fact or rumor and is also not intended to be gossip. The roles have
changed a lot since the first season too. Gabrielle (O’Connor) has come into
her own and Xena (Lawless) definitely confides in her more than ever before not
just as friends and traveling companions, but as lovers too. While the series
never came out and said Xena and Gabrielle were lesbians or even bisexual, it is
pretty obvious that they share a bond that transcends ordinary friendship.
Indeed by the end of the series we realize they truly are soul mates in a finale
that is both touching and bittersweet.
Among the adventures our heroines face is a match against Lucifer in “Heart Of Darkness,” blood thirsty cannibals in “The Abyss,” the opportunity for Xena to rule Rome at Caesar’s (Karl Urban) side, and ultimately make amends through an ultimate sacrifice in the two-part series finale “A Friend In Need.” The series finale was previously available on DVD through USA Home Entertainment in a “Director’s Cut.” Both the original broadcast version as well as the Director’s Cut are included in the set though some of the extra value materials found in the USA Home Entertainment DVD are not carried over here.
In
that story that our traveling companions cross the boundaries of life, death,
and the afterlife when Xena and her soul mate Gabrielle are called to Japan
where Xena must defeat a soul-swallowing demon and make amends for a tragedy she
caused some 25 years earlier. The Director’s Cut of the series finale is still
bittersweet and yet it is quite entertaining with the trademark action, effects,
and humor that made the show a worldwide hit. The good news for those who buy
this set is that the Director’s Cut has been remixed into a full Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Soundtrack to match the other 22 season six episodes and English
Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are encoded onto the episodes as an
option too. The previous USA Home Entertainment DVD released in 2002 only had a
Stereo Soundtrack. The bad news is the feature length audio commentary track the
USA Home Entertainment DVD had is not carried over to this box set release.
However, for the second part of the TV broadcast version of “A Friend In
Need,” Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, and Producer Rob Tapert do provide a
retrospective commentary. Lawless and O’Connor reveal how throughout the
series the question of Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship being more than
friends had always been left unsaid in such a way so the audience could wonder,
but in the finale although the characters do not go out and say it, it is pretty
obvious that Xena and Gabrielle were lovers and Xena had other female lovers
before she met Gabrielle so as I noted above, there you have it.
There are additional episode length audio commentary tracks as well as abridged video commentary tracks for “The Ring” with Joel Metzger, “To Helicon And Back” with Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, Rob Tapert, and Michael Hurst, and “When Fates Collide” with Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, and Rob Tapert. Episode specific interviews with cast and crew members are also included for “Coming Home”, “Heart Of Darkness”, “Who’s Gurkhan?”, “Legacy”, “The Rheingold”, “The Ring”, “Ares Had A Farm”, “Dangerous Prey”, “You Are There”, “Path Of Vengeance”, “Last Of The Centaurs”, “When Fates Collide”, “Many Happy Returns”, and “Soul Possession.”
Anchor Bay Entertainment presents “Xena: Warrior Princess: Season Six: The Final Season: Deluxe Collector’s Edition: Ten Disc Set” in the (1.33:1) aspect ratio of the American television broadcast. I read that later seasons of “Xena” were shot in (1.78:1) for high definition broadcasts, but there is no explanation if this is true why these episodes are not presented in a widescreen aspect ratio for the DVD. The picture is a bit dark with some subtle grain, which is a bit of a disappointment, but this season does look sharper than previous season sets released on DVD. The lighter the settings, the better the picture quality gets.
Other
extra value features include a photo gallery on disc one, dailies for the
episode “To Helicon And Back” (19:47), the third part of the “Bringing
Monsters To Life At K.N.B. EFX Group” (22:11), rough cut to completed scene
comparisons for “Dangerous Prey” (12:21), “To Helicon And Back” (25:28),
“Legacy” (24:34) and B-roll footage as well as on the set interviews for
“A Friend In Need” (30:51). A look at a 2004 “Xena” convention (16:48)
with fans dressing up like the characters is also included along with the
original first season promo (2:36) and a behind-the-scenes interview from the
set during the production of the first season (5:07).
The
tenth disc is a CD-ROM containing Actor, Writer, and Director credits,
information of the various treasures, creatures, gods, mortals, and whatnot
featured in the series and an episode synopsis is provided for all 22
installments under the “Chronicles” banner. Galleries of production design
drawings and storyboards for select season six episodes wrap up the extra value
materials in this set.
After a brief season six montage, the menus become standard interactive still frames with the series theme music playing in the background for the main menu and all are easy to navigate. “Xena: Warrior Princess: Season Six: The Final Season: Deluxe Collector’s Edition: Ten Disc Set” is by far the most comprehensive of the Xena DVD sets I have ever seen and a must purchase for all fans of the series when it debuts at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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