Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion [Paperback]

K. Stoddard Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Illustrated Companion | Publication Date: June 1, 2003

Xena: Warrior Princess chronicles the life and death (and afterlife) adventures of the fierce and fearless Xena as she travels through ancient imaginary lands. Leaping onto our screens with the now-familiar battle-cry "Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi!", the show ran for six series, and its blend of drama, humour, hard-hitting (literally!) action and a knowing modern-day sensibility helped it to achieve "that most oxymoronic of distinctions, mainstream cultdom" (Entertainment Weekly). Xena: Warrior Princess: The Complete Companion is the only comprehensive, fully-authorised guide to all six series of the groundbreaking action-adventure show, and contains a complete episode guide, plus character and behind-the-scenes information, and details of Xena fandom, all illustrated with over 150 photos. Also includes an 8-page colour section.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840236221
• ISBN-13: 978-1840236224
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,333,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depends on how picky you are..., August 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion (Paperback)

It's been two years since the series came to a close and ended it's shooting, and we finally have a complete illustrated companion to go along with it all.
With all the time we spent anticipating this book, I believe that it left a bit to be desired. The author of the book either did not do his or her homework very well or did not pay too much attention to detail when the episode guide was written. Each episode review was only three or four lines long, and there were a few mistakes on the episodes scattered throughout. IE-In One Against an Army, Gabrielle was shot by an arrow BEFORE Xena took refuge in the armory. This was actually a rather large point in the plot of the story, but the book states that Xena went to the armory and then Gabrielle was shot. For the episode "Many Happy Returns" the book explains that Xena and Gabrielle enlisted Aphrodite's help to help Genia "enjoy worldly pleasures." Weren't they trying to teach her to live her own life? You may like the episode guide better than I did if you aren't so picky, but I definitely recommend online fan written episode guides over the one in this book. They are usually more in depth and more accurate.
The rest of the book was alright. It has the genesis of Xena, a production history, an episode guide (both for the series and when Xena would guest star on Hercules), character reviews, a behind the scenes look at costumes, makeup, stunts and special effects, Xena's journeys across the globe, a Greek Mythology encyclopedia to help you keep the characters straight, and even a chapter just for the fans of the show. I've been a very avid Xena fan and collector since Xena was first on Hercules in 1994, and if you're like me then you've seen and read all of this before (not to mention having already known all of the information from having memorized every detail of every episode of the show *big grin*). It's nice to have all this in one book, but it's not anything new or exciting to those that have been fans all along. BUT it is one of those things that every xenite should have. I recommend it to all Xena fans, but with the warning of not to have your expectations set too high and the advice that almost everything (if not everything) from this book can be found online.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book,but could have been more extensive, May 18, 2007

By 

R. Sorrow (Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion (Paperback)

Being that I own the Xena guide written by Robert Weisbrot,I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. What I got was a book that was not as extensive as it should have been. The individual episode summaries should have been more detailed than they were. If Weisbrot had written this one,no doubt they would have been. However,I did enjoy reading about the final four seasons,and for that I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EVAGELOS PAPOUTSIS, November 8, 2007

By 

Vagoulakos "VGA" (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion (Paperback)

I didn't expect something like that. Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion contains everything about the show and the preparation before the show began. I mean that, as the most Xena funs know, Xena: Warrior Princess was "born" in Hercules: The legendary Journeys first season, and then Universal in assosiation with Renaissance pictures decides to make it a T.V. show. Well, as I said this book contains the real history of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS show. Unbelievable!!!