A fierce warrior sets out to redeem herself for a blood-soaked past. She and her companion, Gabrielle, journey across the world fighting many kinds of enemies from all sides.

 Most of the basic elements of this series are entertaining even in the slower, less engaging episodes. The setting all look great and are sometimes varied, especially when there’s opportunity to show stories and styles based on different cultures. The comedy works well to keep the feeling of the show generally like but is also effective in contrasting the heavier scenes. There’s also guaranteed an over the top fight scene every episode.

 Some of the effects are rather dodgy, particularly when it comes to god powers but it’s taken just the right amount seriously, the characters don’t mention it except maybe twice in the whole show. Some of the enemies could have used bigger parts like Zeus who is one of the most famous but is only in a couple of episodes, comparatively posing little threat to other, weaker enemies.

 One of the things that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy was the slower relationship-based episodes between Gabrielle and Xena but I was actually all for it and would probably have watched a spin-off of just their domestic life if it were on offer. The character continuity was strong and the betrayals and disagreements felt fairly genuine most of the time. It’s also amusing that some episodes became self-referential so the show could address its own strengths and flaws.

 The least enjoyable episodes were the ‘filler’ ones where it’d almost be a re-run but with a few framing scenes to show the characters recounting past adventures which basically makes it a compilation. Since it’s limited, almost entirely, to ancient Greece, the types of stories are somewhat limited so naturally the format becomes formulaic at times and the presentation of each adventure become similar, like the fight scenes which can have only so much variation.

 7/10 -Well above average, but no masterpiece-

 -Xena’s name derives from the ancient Greek word “xenos” which means “stranger” or “foreigner”.

-Due to her unspecified homoerotic relationship with Gabrielle, both Xena and Gabrielle became Sapphic icons.