Ted Raimi Movies

This episode is set in Macedonia in the year A.D. 1942. Archeologist Janice Covington (Renee O'Connor), who bears a startling resemblance to our old, old friend Gabrielle, is searching for the legendary Xena Scrolls, a fragment of which was unearthed by her father years earlier. Several other people are interested in unearthing the scrolls, among them translator Melinda Papus (Lucy Lawless), a dead ringer for Xena herself. Before the story is over, the spirit of ancient Warrior Princess Xena has inhabited Melinda's body in an effort to prevent the chaotic resurrection of the War God Ares (Kevin Smith). Keep an eye out for another familiar-looking character, here traveling under the pun-inspired moniker of Jacques S'Er. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Xena: Warrior Princess spin on the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, Xena's friend Joxer (Ted Raimi) is killed after getting enmeshed in a family feud. The next day, Joxer is killed again...and the same the next day, and the day after. Realizing that she is somehow trapped in an endlessly repeating time warp (and she's the only one who realizes it!), Xena (Lucy Lawless) must somehow alter events to set things aright. Alas, it is during another "new day" that Xena causes the death of another very close friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and Iolaus (Michael Hurst) plunge into a parallel dimension reminiscent of a certain modern superhero's "bizarro" world. In this strange land, Hercules is a despotic ruler named "The Sovereign" (also played by Kevin Sorbo); the brave Iolaus is a weak-kneed court jester; warrior princess Xena (Lucy Lawless) is the Sovereign's cuddly consort; surly god of war Ares (Kevin Smith) is the charmng god of love; and hedonistic goddess of love Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) is the prudish Queen of the Gods. In their efforts to prevent the Sovereign from killing Zeus, the "real" Hercules and Iolaus must hark back to the earlier story arc involving the demigod Serena (aka "The Golden Hind"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Xena: Warrior Princess was the series' most eventful 22 episodes to date -- as well as the most mobile, with Xena (Lucy Lawless) and her friend and chronicler, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), traveling far and wide, from the British Isles to the far-off Orient. It is, in fact, during the ladies' odyssey to the land of "Chin" that the viewer learns more secrets of Xena's checkered past, including her "debt" to the philosopher Lao Ma -- and the birth of a son we never knew she had. In the season's lighter moments, teenaged warrior wannabe Tara (Shiri Appleby) tries to supplant Gabrielle as Xena's traveling companion. And everyone suffers from the comic intrusions of aspiring warrior Joxer (Ted Raimi), capricious Goddess of Love Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings), and self-proclaimed King of Thieves Autolycus (Bruce Campbell). On the darker side, war god Ares (Kevin Smith) continues to be a thorn in Xena's side. Even more disturbing, Gabrielle is impregnated by the demonic god Dahuk, giving birth to a daughter ironically named Hope (Amy Morrison), who literally grows up before her eyes -- as the incarnation of pure evil. Hope ultimately kills Xena's son, Solan (David Taylor), briefly causing a bitter rift between the grieving mothers, and is herself killed -- twice. It is the second demise of Hope which also costs the life of Gabrielle, a tragedy on which Xena: Warrior Princess concludes its third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once again, series star Lucy Lawless essays the dual role of Xena and her lookalike, Princess Diana. To protect Diana as she prepares to assume the throne from her dying father, Xena switches places with the Princess, and vice versa. As a result, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) and Joxer (Ted Raimi) become hopelessly confused -- and even more so when another Xena lookalike, a barmaid named Meg (played -- surprise, surprise -- by Lucy Lawless) arrives on the scene with an agenda of her own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Still trapped in Callisto's body, Xena (here played by Hudson Leick, aka "Callisto") seeks out her old nemesis Ares (Kevin Smith), God of War, to reverse this phenomenon. Unfortunately, Ares insists that he has been stripped of his immortal powers because someone has stolen his sword. This leads to a competition for the "God of War" title on a remote island, complicated by the capriciousness of that old trickster Sisyphus (Charles Siebert). The fact that this episode was written to compensate for the absence of series star Lucy Lawless due to an injury sustained after falling off a horse is cheerfully acknowledged in the closing "disclaimer." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of Xena: Warrior Princess is noteworthy for several reasons, though two of these stand out above all the rest. The first was the promotion to full "regular" status of the series' principal comedy-relief character, a bumbling wannabe warrior named Joxer (Ted Raimi), who had previously shown up in the first-season installment "Callisto." The second occurred during the two-part adventure "Destiny"/"The Quest," in which heroine Xena (Lucy Lawless) actually died and was brought back to life -- one of several termination-resurrection scenarios which would proliferate in the seasons to come. A potential series-threatening crisis occurred in October 1996, when star Lucy Lawless fell from a horse during a publicity stunt staged for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Suffering a broken pelvis, the actress was forced to sit out several weeks of shooting, necessitating the hastily written episodes "Intimate Stranger" and "Ten Little Warlords," in which Xena's mind and soul was briefly "possessed" by the body of her arch-enemy Callisto (Hudson Leick). Deftly balancing dead-serious episodes (especially those wherein the usually pacifistic Gabrielle [Renee O'Connor] would toy with the notion of learning how to kill her enemies) with delightful excursions into comedy and whimsy (notably "Here She Comes? Miss Amphipolis" and "A Comedy of Eros"), Xena: Warrior Princess wrapped up its second season with 22 highly-rated installments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Created by John Schulian and Robert Tapert, the New Zealand-filmed Xena: Warrior Princess was a spin-off of the tongue-in-cheek "sword and sorcery" series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. As introduced on Hercules, Xena (Lucy Lawless) was a fierce and formidable villainess, the leader of a vast army bent on destruction and devastation. There was some justification for this: As a child, Xena had witnessed the destruction of her home village and the brutal murder of her brother at the hands of a despotic warlord. At first forming her army to protect other peasants like herself, she became consumed with a lust for power and was soon conquering for the sake of being the conqueror. But through her association with the virtuous Hercules, Xena experienced an epiphany, casting off her former evil ways and devoting the rest of her life to making amends to her victims and protecting the innocent -- a task complicated by the many enemies she had made during her Warrior Princess years, who neither forgave nor forgot, and by the unsavory alliances she had forged during those same years. No sooner had Xena "seen the light" than she rescued the citizens of a village besieged by yet another evil warlord. Among those saved was young and beautiful Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), an aspiring "bard" (writer and artist) who became Xena's constant companion, first because she idolized the former warrior princess and was eager to experience adventure first-hand, but ultimately because she was Xena's devoted friend and confidant.
In the course of the series' six seasons, Xena and Gabrielle journeyed through Greece, Italy, Scandanavia, Africa, India, and China, with side trips to the Underworld -- ruled by Xena's erstwhile crony Hades -- and to the future, in which the two heroines found themselves in reincarnated form. Predicated on the theory that anything is possible in a fantasy series, both Xena and Gabrielle were "killed" and "resurrected" on several occasions, and both bore children who grew up to become their nemeses: Xena's daughter Eve (Adrienne Wilkinson) reached adulthood as the much-feared warrior queen Livia, the lover of war god Ares (Kevin Smith), while Gabrielle's offspring Hope (Amy Morrison), whose father was "force of darkness" Dahak, would have to be killed at her mother's hand in order to save Mankind (Xena also had reason to despise Hope; it was she who killed Xena's long-estranged son, Solon). In one memorable instance, Xena briefly assumed the form of another woman -- a metamorphosis necessitated by a real-life accident which sidelined Lucy Lawless for several weeks. Lest this all sound a bit grim and morbid, it must be noted that the series, like its predecessor, Hercules, had a healthy, irreverent sense of humor, as encapsulated by the light-hearted "disclaimers" which appeared at the end of each episode. There was also time to spoof such modern-day phenomena as beauty contests, spaghetti Westerns, Danny Kaye films, theme parks, pro wrestling, Broadway musicals, and even such TV shows as You Are There and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was also a cheerily contemptuous disregard for the time line of "real" history, with Xena and Gabrielle crossing the paths of Julius Caesar, Ulysses, Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, David and Goliath, Brunnhilde, and many other past "celebrities," both genuine and imaginary. Generally, the series' jocular treatment of Myth, Mysticism, Religion, and Reality was accepted in the spirit in which it was intended; but on one occasion, an angry protest from a Hindu extremist group obliged the producers to remove the fourth season episode "The Way" from the series' rerun package.
Of Xena's many recurring characters, the best known and most often seen included Xena and Gabrielle's clumsy, wannabe warrior friend Joxer (Ted Raimi); Xena's mortal enemy, the blonde female warrior Callisto (Hudson Leick); troublesome traveling salesman Salmoneus (Robert Trebor); self-proclaimed king of thieves Autolycus (Bruce Campbell); Amazon princess Ephiny (Danielle Cormack), who enabled Gabrielle to join her all-female tribe; teenaged Amazon Amarice (Jennifer Sky), who became to Gabrielle what Gabrielle was to Xena; healer and shaman Eli (Timothy Omundson), Gabrielle's spiritual mentor; and an impressive array of "immortals," including the aforementioned Ares and Hades, goddess of love Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings), sea deity Poseidon (Charles Siebert, who also directed several episodes), and the puckish Cupid (Karl Urban, who also played Julius Caesar). And, of course, the star of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Kevin Sorbo, made a few courtesy calls on Xena. Syndicated in the U.S. beginning September 15, 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess was subsequently telecast in practically every English-speaking country in the world, then went on to virtually every other country where television existed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dennis Skinner (Ted Raimi) seems like a normal enough guy, but he has a very abnormal hobby -- at night, he creeps through the back streets looking for potential victims, and when he finds one, he carefully removes their skin with an elaborate collection of knives. Heidi (Traci Lords), one of Dennis' victims, is on his trail, waiting for a chance to get her revenge, but in the meantime Dennis has developed a crush on Kerry (Ricki Lake), and wants to find a way to show her he really cares. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide