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“Xena was to Gabrielle, back in the first season, what Gabrielle was to Temecula. It’s kind of a mirror. It’s not identical but it’s a little bit of a mirror of what was going on with Gabrielle when Xena came on to the scene.”

- Steven L. Sears

This post is in tribute to the insightful writing and character representation and development by Steven L. Sears. This is his commentary in the gifs.

Watching the interview for the season 4 episode, ‘A Good Day’, there was some commentary about what the significance of the character Temecula was in the episode. Listening to this commentary, a new wave of insight has entered into my consciousness. Having these interviews and commentaries between the cast and crew from the DVDs I’ve bought are important to me because, although I have my own interpretations and ideas about how storylines play out and the growth of the characters season to season, I care about the opinions of the creators. My respect and admiration for them is so high because of how much the philosophical symbolism they put into the writing and production affect me and what they teach me regarding the human condition and real life situations and circumstances. You see, Xena is so much more than a TV show to me. It’s helped me gain a cemented mentality about how to deal in my life. I may never have the experiences of what the characters go through in the show but I do know they are relevant to today and many people just like me experience them. And it’s good to have that awareness and that knowledge of not only the experiences themselves but how those experiences affect people and what they do and the decisions they make having been influenced by them going forward. 

The reason why Gabrielle, out of all the characters on the show, matters to me so much has to do with how she handles the dire situations she gets thrown into because of travelling with Xena, because of becoming an Amazon Princess, because of how close of a connection she has to Xena. And all those experiences which inevitably lead to even more experiences in a sort of ripple effect. Just like how when Xena talks about the water never truly settling in ‘Dreamworker’ because of what’s been thrown into it and has become a part of it. It’s forever changed because of it. And as much as Xena’s individual storyline of seeking redemption matters in the show, the most integral and interesting reason to watch the show, for me, is all because of Gabrielle and her individual storyline of going from inexperienced farm girl into a warrior. What she takes with her and what she leaves behind metaphorically. Parts of her personality and her psyche that were so important to her to begin with but were either flawed or just misunderstood ideals. Her growth mentally and emotionally is just as important as her physical growth. It’s her consciousness evolution that grips me to the show and I think it’s because of the way it’s written but also how it reflects back to me and my life. I always say it’s Xena I most relate to regarding life experiences. But what makes me give more of my attention to Gabrielle is because she represents the person I wish to be with in those experiences, in those situations, in those circumstances. So while she’s not me and I don’t relate to her anywhere near as much as I do Xena, she’s a part of what I want to be involved with going forward in my life. The person I see myself being with on all fronts. The yang to my yin. I see Gabrielle through Xena’s eyes as a guiding light. 

Tribe News - 27 September 1999

THE TRIBE ON THE WEEKEND On the weekend, Dwayne Cameron (BRAY), Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu (CHLOE), and Sarah Major (PATSY) went home to visit their families before returning to the Cloud 9 production center to resume filming. Victoria Spence`s friend visited and stayed with Victoria at her houseparent and chaperones` house near the Cloud 9 production centre and spent most of the weekend shopping and catching up on news of their friends at Victoria`s school, all of whom are major Tribe fans and very proud that their schoolmate is achieving success as a regular cast member of the Tribe. Beth Allen (AMBER) and Amy Morrison (ZANDRA) remained with their families at their homes while Caleb Ross (LEX) entertained Antonia Prebble (TRUDY), who is staying with the Tribe cast and houseparents while her family visited the South Island. Michael Wesley-Smith (JACK) caught up on school work as did Ashwath Sundarensen (DAL) and Airi (KC) while Ryan Runciman (RYAN) learned his lines and checked out some of the rugby (Ryan is a keen rugby fan). Meryl Cassie (EBONY) spent most of the weekend recording (John Williams and Matt Prime anticipate the completion of the Tribe album in approximately four weeks and we will provide details of the release date so keep checking the website for exclusive information).

THE CHOSEN We have been authorised to reveal that fans of the Tribe throughout the world will be introduced to some new characters in the second series including the Guardian - a mysterious and spiritual leader of the enigmatic Tribe called The Chosen, who become an ominous threat and adversary of the Mall Rats. The Chosen are a breakaway, almost renegade faction of the Locos, inspired by the word of Zoot and throughout the back-story episodes in series 2, fans will note the Guardian under his alias of Jaffa becoming friends with Martin - prior to his incarnation under the persona of Zoot.

DANNI, ALICE, ELLIE In addition to the Guardian/Jaffa, there are other characters introduced in series 2. Obviously storylines are highly confidential, but we have been authorised to reveal as an exclusive to website fans and users, that Alice the humorous farm girl will return along with her sister Ellie, and life for the Tribe will never quite be the same when they encounter these slightly unusual women of the Earth (and as a sneak preview, Jack in particular is destined to feature in the amorous Ellie`s plans). Also, a stunning young lady (Danni) will affect the lives of the Mall Rats and we will reveal more information in later editions on the website so keep checking the Bulletin Board for updates.

TRIBE MUSIC WORLD EXCLUSIVE On Monday 27th September, the cast and crew of Tribe Series 2 attended a premier of the two music videos which were filmed recently, and all concerned were thrilled with the end results. The Cloud 9 post-production team has been busy editing and laying tracks so the finished result was eagerly anticipated by all concerned. One track is entitled "Abe Messiah" and is a spiritual and inspired piece of music which is very different and can only be described as "Tribe rock" featuring a strong gospel element and celebrating the birth of the Abe Messiah. The other track is entitled "This is the Place" and features Dwayne Cameron, Caleb Ross and Daniel James (BRAY, LEX - and yes, ZOOT!) all of whom seem reminiscent to a cross between Boyzone and Backstreet Boys, and their singing and choreography is very impressive. The music video involves some sexy slow dancing between Bray and Danni, Zoot and Trudy, and Lex and Ebony - but this is not relevant to any storyline themes of the Tribe, it is purely visuals to punctuate the song which is very much a love song. Other members of the cast will feature on other music videos as and when the tracks and album have been completed. We have been authorised to reveal that Cloud 9 is currently negotiating to try and make these videos available EXCLUSIVE to members of the Official Tribe Fan Club and more information will be posted when details are known - hopefully long before Christmas so that members of the Fan Club will receive limited editions of the music videos.

MIPCOM Mipcom? This is a global television festival rather like the Cannes Film Festival. MIPCOM is actually held in Cannes in the South of France and members of Cloud 9`s administrative team and the sales team of Cloud 9`s distribution subsidiary, Cumulus, will be attending the festival to discuss several foreign territories acquiring the series, which means that fans of the Bulletin Board on the website will soon be able to chat with viewers all over the world. The Tribe is rapidly evolving into a cult series and has received great critical acclaim as well as very high ratings. This has generated an enormous amount of interest from several broadcasters all over the world from America to Japan, Germany to Italy, and more details will be posted about transmissions in other countries. But as sure as the sun sets and rises again - the world is going Tribal!

CAST APPEARANCE ON TRIBE TALK Victoria Spence (SALENE) appeared on the Bulletin Board last week and had a tremendous response from fans. Victoria (who likes to be called Tori - and never Vicky!) enjoyed chatting with fans about all kinds of topics and areas both on and off-screen. Victoria tried her very best to answer as many messages as she can and apologies to those messages and users whom she could not reply to. Victoria will be appearing on the Bulletin Board later this week to answer messages she was unable to get to last week due to the huge demand. We will be announcing details of the next cast member to appear live and exclusive on Tribe Talk on Monday 4th October.