Customer Reviews

Xena Warrior Princess - Season Four Video Set [VHS]

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Gabrielle was killed at the end of Season Three and the beginning of Season Four finds Xena trying to find her. Xena continues to deal with mistakes of the past. Here is a brief episode guide:

1. Adventures in the Sin Trade (1): Xena travels to the Land of the Dead to find Gabrielle.

2. Adventures in the Sin Trade (2): Xena battles a shamoness and tries to free spirits of deceased Amazons before she can contine looking for Gabrielle

3. A Family Affair: Xena and Joxer discover that Hope is posing as Gabrielle.

4. In Sickness and In Hell: Xena and Gabrielle help Joxer defend an army.

5. A Good Day : Xena fights with Greek soldiers and tries to send Caesar and Pompey to from whence they came.

6. A Tale of Two Muses: Xena and Gabrielle try to help a friend change a town that has outlawed dancing.

7. Locked Up and Tied Down: Xena is convicted of murder and sent to Shark Island Prison.

8. Crusader: Xena deals with a woman crusader who has a "reform or die" policy for prisoners.

9. Past Imperfect: Xena remembers using a battle strategy similar to one that is entrapping her now.

10. The Key To The Kingdom: Joxer, Meg and Autolycus try to steal the infamous "key" that's prophecized to lead to Athena's crown.

11. Daughter of Pomira: Xena and Grabielle try to rescue a girl who had been kidnapped several years ago.

12. If The Shoe Fits: Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and Aphrodite tell fairy tales to princess Alecia on the journey to reunite her with her family.

13. Paradise Found: Gabrielle is taught meditation by a mystical man who is feeding off Gabrielle's goodness.

14. Devi: Gabrielle acquires the ability to heal, but Xena is uncertain of the source of her power.

15. Between The Lines: Xena's soul goes to the future for an encounter with the reincarnation of an old enemy.

16. The Way: Xena tries to rescue Gabrielle and Eli from the King of the Demons with the help of the god Krishna.

17. The Play's The Thing: Zera convinces Gabrielle to base a play on hers and Xena's adventures.

18. The Convert: Najara claims to be nonviolent but Xena is suspicious. Joxer copes with guilt over killing a man.

19. Takes One To Know One: A bounty hunter looking for Xena is murdered. The goddess of retribution gives Xena until sunrise to find the killer.

20. Endgame: Gabrielle becomes queen of the Amazons.

21. The Ides of March: Roman soldiers capture and crucify Xena and Gabrielle.

22. Deja Vu All Over Again: A woman in the present time says that she is Xena's reincarnation.

Season 4 is not my favorite season it. It was overly sentimental, much like season 6. But I won't comment on the season, I'll comment on the set.

First and foremost, the claim of "director's cuts" is false and leads people to believe they're going to get an extended episode. A series of extended, cut and alternate footage is a more honest description of what we see. The presentation, could have been better. I'd rather see the original, then see the extended (or whatever) version of the scene. I don't like the compactness of the presentation.

Widescreen, oh let me count the ways. Widescreen versions of the 4th, 5th and 6th season exist. It's a shame the manufacturer (not to be confused with the distributor--Anchor Bay) Davis-Anderson was unable to secure these versions. Although, I doubt they tried very hard to secure them.

The Commentaries and interviews, key episodes are missing from this. A commentary on Adventures in the Sin Trade was warranted and need. Interviews on other subsequent episodes (mainly, Past Imperfect -- a key episode in Xena's backstory) were not be found. However, it's not because there was nothing shot. There was, however the manufacturer--Davis Anderson--opted to not include the interviews.

Bloopers. Sadly, the only bloopers that seemed to have been kept were the ones that were printed for gag reels and anyone who's a member of the fan club (or was) has probably seen them. That's okay. Season 4 has some of my favorite slip ups.

The packaging a new design to keep down costs, but I don't like have to take out one disc to get another one out.

There are some glitches in the digital-remastering, but it's a lot better than the previous sets and the sound is better this time around, in my own humble opinion. Overall, the technical aspects of the sets is improved.

Aside from that, I think Davis-Anderson lowered their standards to get this set out in a hurry. It has the aoura of being a rushed to production set.

At the end of Season Three, Gabrielle had jumped into an abyss to kill her evil child, Hope. Season Four opens with Xena undertaking a spiritual journey to recover her friend. I don't want to spoil anything major, so I'll just mention that the pair travels to India in search of Gabrielle's Way (path through life) and in the process Xena discovers her own Way. They bump into Pompey, Caesar, and Brutus repeatedly, and are instrumental in setting up the famous Ides of March incident at the Roman Forum. This sets up a big dramatic ending for the season, and there's a modern episode (about past life regression) in the final episode.

Season Four has important consequences for the Amazons, shows how Xena played a pivotal role in Roman history, dabbles in FOUR different spiritual paths (shamanism, crusaders, the Way of Love, and the Way of the Warrior), travels to a new part of the Hercules/Xena world, and kills off some major characters. Plus Joxer turns out to be less lame than expected. There's a LOT going on this season.

The DVD collection of Season Four of "Xena: Warrior Princess" contains even more extras than the oodles included with Season Three. The collection includes nine DVDs and one CD-ROM; that's one more disc than for Season Three. There are the usual "interviews" (episode commentaries) featuring many of the usual suspects (Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Robert Tapert, Steven L. Sears, Eric Gruendemann, Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell). The two sets used for the commentaries are the same as for Season Three. There's the expected blooper collection, with heavy use of *BLEEP* to cover the naughty words. There's a fairly long Ted & Bruce bit, where Bruce's first book ("If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor") is pitched repeatedly. There's a modestly scholarly take on Siberian shamanism as relating to the "northeastern Amazons" of X:WP, a commentary by the martial arts teacher about how he trained the actors (particularly Lucy, Kevin Sorbo, and Hudson Leick) to fight, and a visit to the firm that made the "suits" and mechanical rigs for the monsters in the series. The "extra" DVD is filled with alternate, longer cuts of scenes that didn't make it into the finished episodes. The CD-ROM is just as lame as in all the previous seasons, but who cares? The truly lavish quantity of extras on the DVDs make that inconsequential. One downside: the packaging uses an inconvenient overlapping disc arrangement, so you have to remove the preceding odd-numbered disc to get at each even-numbered disc.

Guest appearances for Season Four include:

o Marton Csokas as Borias, warlord and Xena's former lover

o Victoria Pratt as Cyane, Amazon Queen

o Sheeri Rappaport as Otere, Amazon warrior

o Claire Stansfield as Alti, shamaness

o Karl Urban as Julius Caesar, Roman Triumvir

o Jeremy Callaghan as Pompey, Roman Triumvir

o Shiri Appleby as Tara, wannabe sidekick

o Bruce Campbell as Autolycus, King of Thieves

o Timothy Omundson as Eli, prophet and healer

o Kathryn Morris as Najara, crusading zealot

o Alexandra Tydings as Aphrodite, Goddess of Love

o Meighan Desmond as Discord, Goddess of Retribution

o Danielle Cormack as Ephiny, Amazon Queen

o Jennifer Sky as Amarice, Amazon warrior

o Hudson Leick as Callisto, Xena's arch-nemesis

o David Franklin as Brutus, Roman centurion

o Robert Trebor as Marco (no, not Salmoneus)

o Kevin Smith as Ares, God of War

Bottom line: FIVE STARS. Buy this collection; you'll be glad you did.

The truly remarkable thing about Xena the Warrior Princess over its six-year run is not that it was one of the first series to show women as fighters who could hold their own. (Xena never needed a guy to step in and save her.) No, the really interesting thing about this series is that it was carried by two women characters... whose strengths and flaws, insecurities, doubts and struggles were central to the whole six-year epic story arc. With each season, the series grew a bit more complex. Season 3 was brilliant for its darkness, the "rift" of jealousy and betrayal in the partnership between Xena and Gabrielle. The end of Season 3, episodes Sacrifice 1 and 2 were an amazing testament to how much these two characters mean to each other. Season 4 carries this arc even further, with the first two episodes dedicated to Xena's search for Gabrielle, much more backstory about Xena's mean and murderous past (and the nasty friends she kept), and then deepening as Gabrielle tries to reconcile living life with a warrior while trying to find her own way as a non-violent person. This season is brilliant in the way it reveals so many shades of gray, so many conflicted feelings. Is violence always bad? What does self-sacrifice accomplish? How much do we owe to free will and how much to fate? And how much is just trusting your gut to do the right thing--no matter what that is--when the time comes. There are some of the series' best episodes here: Between the Lines, which shows Xena and Gabrielle fighting injustices through a future lifetime in which Xena is the Mother of Peace and Gabrielle a warrior prince, reveals the relationship between the two characters as something much bigger and more profound than they (or we) ever previously thought. End Game and Ides of March are just plain amazing. This season demonstrated what XWP the entire series was really about: The way of love (or friendship). Some of the themes and episodes in this season are the foundation of many references and excellent episodes in subsequent seasons. There are more episodes in later seasons that explore Xena and Gabrielle's future lives. Others that touch on the notions that these characters were destined to be together no matter what. Others that explore the shades of gray between peace and violence in even finer detail. On a more critical note, in this season, as in all of the others, there are a handful of great episodes, some okay episodes and a few clunkers. A Tale of Two Muses (or XWP's version of "Footloose") is just plain dumb, and Daughter of Pomira is flat and uninteresting (harking back to the "dispatching-the-baddies-of-the-week" formula of Seasons 1 and 2. By Season 4, we're all hanging on this series for its development of the main characters, for the sly and campy humor, etc. We're way past being interested in the old schtick. But this is a minor criticism, really, of a TV series that during its time took so many risks, managed to mixed light and dark, slapstick and melodrama, as it tried so many weird and wonderful things. It can be forgiven if not every episode is a perfect 10. This show in its entirety is still some of the best television I've ever watched. I've cared more about these characters than any others. That's perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the show, its producers, writers and actors. And a remarkable accomplishment given that many people might easily never watch Xena Warrior Princess--assuming it to be nothing more than a silly, campy costume comedy. Sure, it was that. But it was so much more, too.

Season 4 is an excellent season. The way they introduced the season finale through Xena's vision on episode Adventures on the Sin Trade, kept us all intrigued during the whole season. The India episodes, especially Between the Lines are on my all time favorite.

However, there are 2 things I didn't like about this season set. First, it doesn't have as many extras as season 3 set, and second, once again, nobody has thought about non English speakers, who live in Latin America and Spain. I'm from Chile, and my English is not the best, but at least I can understand most of the episodes, but I'm sad for all my friends that simply don't speak or understand the English language. No matter how much they want to buy the DVD episodes, they won't, 'cause they just won't understand them.

I read the reviews about season 5, and I saw no subtitles are included once again, and I guess it will be the same for season 6. I wish someone could make something about the Spanish, French, Portuguese, fans around the world.

This season kicks off with adventures in the Sin trade where the long awaited conclusion to the Sacrifice takes place as Xena travels to Siberia to find Gabrielle and battles the evil Alti. Then you can watch the comedy Family Affair when Xena and Gabrielle battle illlnesses and have to battle a schythian army. This season includes the episodes "crusader, past imperfect, if the shoe fits, paradise found, devi, and deja vu all over again. This is a spectacular season that goes more in depth with Xena and Gabrielles friendship and leaves you hanging on the end for season five. This is a must have for any Xena fan!!!!!

The 4th season of xena is great with the introduction of alti in the episodes sins of the trade. The return of callisto and gabriels evil daughter hope make the season all much better. The introductions of different gods in different places, besides Greece, was also great. Towards the end of the season they introduce different characters like Eli and Amourice. Ephiny dies. And a huge cliffhanger delivers the deaths of ceaser xena and gabriele. And the DVD contains TEN DISCS. This dvd should be bought by fans and non fans

This video set contains:
001. Adventures in Sin Trade:
This was a good episode. We get to see more from Xena's evil past, which is always great! (LOL!) I loved the range of emotions we get to see in this episode. I don't think I've ever seen Xena so sad... Broke my heart..I didn't like the Anokin story though. In my opinion it belittled Xena and Gabrielle's relationship.. And since when does Evil Xena care about anyone but herself?
002.Adventures in Sin Trade II:
Not as good as the first one, I got more of a "bad trip"feeling,like I was watching the Xena version of "Requiem for a dream"...
003.A Family Affair:
Fantastic episode!! Very emotional and well done. Renee does a great job playing both Hope and Gabrielle. I'm glad we (finally) get to see Xena interact with Gabrielle's parents... I always wondered about that...
004.In Sickness and in Hell:
This is actually the very first episode I've ever seen of the show.(Now I've seen them all). It may not be the best episode made, but I found it quite funny and loved the Xena and Gabrielle dynamic in this episode.

005.A Good Day:
To this day this, this episode always moves me. Love Xena's intensity in battle. Great strategy episode.
006.A Tale of Two Muses:
Liked this one much better than "Forgiven"(season 3, also featuring Tara). Good Xena and Gabrielle interaction and I totally LOVED Auto!!(King of thieves)
007.Locked Up & Tied Down:
Xena tries to atone by going to jail... Solid episode, great performances by our leading ladies.
008.Crusader:
Ouch... I REALLY don't like Najara.

009.Past Imperfect:
Gotta love EvilXena!! I truly enjoyed this episode, the Xena/Borias dynamic was great!
010.The Key to the Kingdom:
Although I love Auto (and there were a few good jokes in this episode), I didn't like this episode.. Don't like Meg much either (never did).And where's Gabrielle? I'm not watching this episode any time soon again...
011.Dauther of Pomira:
The return of the Horde... This episode can't hold a candle to "The price" (season 2), where the Horde was first introduced. Not a great episode.

012.If the shoe fits:
Very funny episode, a re-telling of Cinderella (Tyrella, in this episode). Great Xena and Gabrielle interaction. Didn't like the little princess, though...
013.Paradise found:
Gabrielle down the rabbit hole, just like Alice in Wonderland.... Didn't like the way they portrayed Xena's dark side. Lucy Lawless would have portrayed it beautifully without all the physical changes, in my humble opinion.
014.Devi:
Great episode!! Renee does a great job as the manipulative Tataka.Here, we get to meet Eli for the first time.
015.Between the lines:
Another wonderful episode! Here we learn that the souls of Xena and Gabrielle are forever connected. Beautiful... Also, Gabrielle loses her "golden fleece".

016.The way:
Xena and Gabrielle find their way... Loved the Krishna story line.
017.The play's the thing:

Gabrielle writes and directs her own play. Pretty funny episode.
018.The convert:
The return of Najara... Liked this one better than "Crusader"
Joxer has trouble with his first kill...
019.Takes one to know one:
Gabrielle's birthday with a twist.... I don't like Discord one bit..

020.Endgame:
Wonderful episode!! Very well written and acted. Too bad that Ephiny had to die... She's one of my favorite amazons.
021.Ides of March:
WOW!!! What an incredible episode!! One of my all time favorites. Xena's dreaded vision comes true...
022.Deja Vu all over again:
I'm not a fan of this kind of "über" episodes, but it's quite funny. (didn't like it at all after a first viewing, but it grows on you...) I liked "Soul possession" better (season 6) which is kind of a continuation of this episode...

This season had its ups and downs but I still liked it a lot. Hope you will too! Battle on!

Although the production values for XENA went up in Season Four -- with consistently more complex camera angles and better and more interesting sets and effects -- and despite the fact that the season ended and began on high notes, as a whole Season Four was something of a disappointment compared with Season Three. That season had a number of excellent dramatic episodes, but even more a large number of superb comic episodes. But while Season Four had some good comic episodes, they were fewer and farther between than in Season Three.

Part of the problem in Season Four was a story arc that took Xena and Gabrielle to India. Though there was a lot of potential there, the actual episodes in India were rather disappointing. The most important thing was clearly meeting Eli, who would play an ongoing role through the rest of Season Four and into Season Five. Another problem for me personally in the season was the loss of Callisto (for the most part) as Xena's main antagonist and her replacement by Alti, who I never came to like.

The beginning of Season Four, however, was extraordinary, as Xena makes a journey to the Amazon equivalent of the afterlife in search of Gabrielle, who she believes had died in the closing moments of Season Three. She is given a series of visions while there of her time with Gabrielle, including one where Gabrielle, while being crucified by the Romans, looks up at her and tells her that she loves her. This was clearly not a memory, so Xena concludes that Gabrielle is in fact still alive. While this is good news, the rest of the season is clouded by the fact that Xena fears that the two of them eventually face crucifixion. While most of the rest of Season Four is somewhat flat, it ends spectacularly with the culmination of the Caesar story. "The Ides of March" easily goes down as one of the five best episodes of XENA, if not the best. But I must qualify. It, unfortunately, was not the final episode of the season. The last was one of the worst episodes of the series, "Deja Vu All Over Again." In it we see Lucy Lawless waking up in a modern bed with Ted Raimi (Joxer). She is convinced she is Xena and that she must be the Xena vigilante who is going about town solving crime. Convinced that she was Xena in a previous life she and her boyfriend go to a past lives counselor (Renee O'Connor) who hypnotizes her. Eventually, Lawless realizes that she was not Xena, but Joxer while Raimi realizes that he was Xena. O'Connor turns out to be Gabrielle. Despite some good occasional comic moments (such as Lucy Lawless leaving the office singing her own version of the Joxer song) it was a terrible end to the season.

The good news is that Season Five would be a big improvement.

The season four collection brings some episode director cuts. More audio/video commentary from cast and crew. More bloopers and more. Interesting characters are brought into this season. More great episodes of dramatic, humorous and fight scenes! With opening episodes of Xena dealing with what the last season brought and some really even more shocking ending episodes for season 4. Buy this one today!