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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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Xena:
Warrior Princess - Season One
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Reviewed
by: |
David
Litton |
| Genre: |
Fantasy
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| Video: |
1.33:1
fullframe |
| Audio: |
English Dolby
Digital 5.1 |
| Language: |
English
|
| Subtitle: |
None
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| Length: |
1062
min |
| Rating: |
Not
Rated |
| Release
Date: |
04/29/2003
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| Studio: |
Anchor
Bay Entertainment |
| Commentary:
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None |
| Documentaries:
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None |
| Featurettes:
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None |
| Filmography/Biography:
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Cast and
crew information |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
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Trivia game,
screensaver, "Xena Chronicles" encyclopedia, commemorative coin,
still gallery |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Lucy Lawless,
Renee O'Connor |
| Written
By: |
Assorted
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| Produced
by: |
Assorted |
| Directed
By: |
Assorted
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| Music: |
Joseph LoDuca
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| The
Review: |
Tongue-in-cheek doesn't even begin
to describe "Xena: Warrior Princess," which began as a spin-off
of "Hercules" in 1995 and was able to carry itself through
six seasons of campy dialogue, cheeky good humor and some
of the most amusing television to come along in some time.
Lucy Lawless is cast as the titular heroine, a former bad
girl who is in the process of trying to forget her past, despite
the fact that every five minutes she's having to kick the
ass of every mythical beast and god that crosses the path
of innocent people. She's soon joined by villager Gabrielle
(Renee O'Connor), with whom there would be a great deal of
questions as to whether or not the relationship between these
two female heroines was homoerotic in nature. Together, they
whooped some serious behind and kept audiences coming back
for more until the show had its series finale in 2001. Much
the like the character herself, "Xena" is the stuff of legend,
and fans will appreciate owning the episodes on DVD. --
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| Image
and Sound |
Now here's
a real head-scratcher: why do the transfers for "Xena: Warrior
Princess" look so lousy? Presented in their original fullframe
ratio of 1.33:1, they certainly do lack a certain cleanliness
to them, as the abundance of film grain tends to be quite
bothersome in places. Aside from that, the rest of the presentation
is just fair: color saturation is decent enough to be pleasing,
while contrast is mediocre and edges sharp. There are no noticeable
artifacts present, and besides the graininess, the source
prints look in good shape. Let's hope that the later seasons
won't look so terrible. ***
The sound,
however, is in-your-face glorious! Remastered for a full Dolby
Digital 5.1 experience, these are pleasing tracks all-around.
Surround usage is very nice, with lots of imaging and sound
effects for a truly enveloping listen in each episode. Deep
bass from the .1 LFE is nicely done, while dialogue sounds
fairly natural for the most part. The image may not be up
to speed, but the sound sure is!
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| The
Extras |
Here's
another disappointment for you: what is with the lack of intriguing
extras? And better yet, what the hell are they doing on a CD-ROM
instead of a DVD disc? The only supplement accessible through
your set-top player is a still gallery on Disc One; the rest
of the material is on a separate computer disc, and it's not
all that terrific. We have some generic cast and crew bios,
as well as a downloadable screensaver and a trivia game. The
only really worthy piece in the "Xena Chronicles," which gives
us some facts and interesting notes about this first season.
Included in the box set itself is a booklet, some coupons for
related offers, and a commemorative coin. |
| Commentary |
None |
| Final
Words: |
"Xena"
has finally arrived on DVD, but is it really worth it? With
a list price of nearly $90, the lack of extras is going to weigh
heavily on one's buying decision. But hey, fans are going to
eat it up no matter what, so what the hell? Dive in, folks.
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