This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, in Alder we trust! Vera, Katie, and Livy are witchbombing in Minisode 42: Motherland: Fort Salem. We discuss the rich worldbuilding of this underseen Freeform gem, its huge cast of complex female and non-binary characters, its unique take on witchcraft tropes, awesome sound design, and unabashed queerness. TLDR w…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the owls are not what they seem! Vera, Katie, and Livy are rocking out at the Roadhouse for Minisode 41: Twin Peaks. We discuss the original 1990 show, David Lynch’s unjustly maligned follow-up film Fire Walk With Me (which just might be the key to everything), and the remarkable anti-revival revival, the Showtim…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST: bow down, bitches! Vera, Katie, and Livy are back from camp in Minisode 40: Xenite Retreat 2022! We discuss the long-awaited return of this unique Xena-themed gathering and give a rundown of our many adventures there, including meeting crusader for better queer storytelling Katherine Fugate, attending the West Co…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, buzz buzz buzz! Vera, Katie, and Livy are talking about one of our favorite new TV shows in Minisode 39: Yellowjackets. We discuss the unique storytelling of Showtime’s blockbuster genre hybrid, the tremendous performances, the vivid evocation of high school in the 90s, the note-perfect needle drops, and how deft…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, move over necessity, Xena is the new mother of invention! Vera, Katie, and Livy discuss Xena’s many historic accomplishments in Minisode 38: Xena Did It First. We pick our favorite Xena inventions, from TV CPR to centaur cesarean sections to Caesar himself (maybe not her proudest moment). Even Gabs gets in on the…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, reunited and it feels so good! Vera, Katie, and Livy are very thankful for Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor in Minisode 37: My Life is Murder (The One With Renee). We’re discussing the big episode, you know the one! It’s a family affair, with Michael Hurst in the director’s seat, Renee’s son joining his mom in fro…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, it’s the match of the century! Vera, Katie, and Livy enter the ring for Minisode 36: Xena vs. Buffy Deathmatch! Join us as we referee a series of match-ups that will test our fannish loyalties and our hearts! Who will win when Joxer meets Xander? When Callisto meets Faith? When Gabs meets Willow? Waaaaaah, don’t …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’ve got recs! Vera, Katie, and Livy are talking fave summer entertainment in Minisode 35: Recs Roundup! It’s been a busy summer and we’ve watched and read many things! Join us as we discuss For All Mankind, Girls5Eva, Gideon the Ninth, Cruel Summer, Evil, Fear Street, and more. Plus: a sneak peek at upcoming mi…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, clear eyes, full bra, can’t lose! Vera, Katie, and Livy are off to the Ghost River Triangle for Minisode 34: Wynonna Earp, the little Syfy show that could. We discuss this Weird Western’s indebtedness to Xena and Buffy, its commitment to putting a happy queer relationship onscreen, and the obstacles it overcame w…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Black Alert! Vera, Katie, and Livy journey into the unknown with Minisode 33: Star Trek: Discovery. We discuss the production troubles that led to successive showrunner changes and reboots, and the fascinatingly divergent iterations of the Star Trek universe that resulted, from Season 1’s explorations of imperial…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, it’s a bard’s tale! Vera, Katie, and Livy have their quills out and ready for Minisode 32: Xena Fanfiction. First we discuss our own fanfic histories as both readers and writers, and unpack the vital role fanfiction plays in fandom. Then we dive into Xena fic: its evolution as the show aired; its many genres and …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, care to join us for a Clandestine Glove Lunch? Vera, Katie, and Livy are pining and yearning in Minisode 31: Coming Out of the Corset, a discussion of Hollywood’s hottest new genre: Lesbian Period Dramas! We take five recent examples: The Handmaiden, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Ammonite, The Favourite, and Carol,…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, what’s that sound? It’s Minisode 30: Whoosh.org! Vera, Katie, and Livy talk about the sprawling Xena website central to the fandom when the show was airing, and which continues to be an information hub today for fans both old and new. We discuss our own experiences using Whoosh.org to research our podcasts, and w…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the world of men do not deserve her! Break out your Lasso of Truth for Minisode 29: Wonder Woman. Vera, Katie, and Livy are talking about both of director Patty Jenkins’s big screen takes: Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984. We discuss the original film’s unique WWI setting, its mythic depiction of Amazons and th…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, she saved the (known) world a lot! This week, Vera, Katie, and Livy return to Sunnydale in Minisode 28: Sorry Buffy, Xena Did It First! We explore the many thematic elements shared by these two series in an attempt to solve the ultimate mystery: was Joss Whedon watching Xena and just how much stuff did he steal f…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the data tells the story! Vera, Katie, and Livy are crunching the numbers in Minisode 27: Fins, Femmes, and Fractions. We re-evaluate an episode of Xena we’ve never given many kudos to, based on the rating system devised by two of our generous patrons! Will we appreciate it more if the data supports it? We’ll see…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, ZOMBIIEEE-EEEE-EEE! Vera, Katie, and Livy sink their teeth into Minisode 26: Resident Evil. We discuss the video games that started it all, the surprisingly still good original film, the fantastic early aughts trend of mid-budget female asskicker movies, all the iconic setpieces, lewks, characters, and femslash s…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, kill them all! Vera, Katie, and Livy enter the arena with Minisode 25: Spartacus. Don’t judge this Starz show by its bawdy bloody reputation -- it’s a modern TV classic that combines the best of Xena and Buffy. We discuss Spartacus’s grand ambitions, its distinctive visual look, its deeply human characters, and i…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Happy Xenaversary!!! Vera, Katie, and Livy are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Sins of the Past in Minisode 24: Our 25 Favorite Xena Things! In which we make a very scientific list of all things we love about Xena, including Xena’s murder smile, Gabrielle’s plot-motivated haircut, SPLISH SPLASH, patented soft…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, sorry baby! Vera, Katie, and Livy are dressed to kill in Minisode 23: Killing Eve. We discuss all three seasons of the hit BBC America series, a genre-bending boundary-busting queer feminist comedy thriller, the galaxy-brain ideas of head writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer’s career traje…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the subtext here is rapidly becoming text! Vera, Katie, and Livy are rounding up all our favorite Xena/Gabrielle moments in Minisode 22: Subsext and Soultext. We discuss the fan terms “subtext” and “maintext,” the differences between these two forms of queer storytelling, and how the show evolved over time until …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Volcano Maaaaaan! Vera, Katie, and Livy are watching an episode of *record scratch* Hercules?! It’s Minisode 21: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Mount Doom, in which we discuss 5x12 “Sky High” with special guest star Ephiny! We celebrate our favorite centaur-loving lady, her magnificent hair, and her new reed-dar…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, command us, mistress! Vera, Katie, and Livy journey to the Midlands in Minisode 20: Legend of the Seeker. We deep-dive into RenPix’s mid-aughts return to syndicated fantasy television, discussing our favorite episodes, the Ayn Randian source material, the gorgeous visuals (especially SLO-MO KAHLAN HAIR) and the m…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we live to vid! Vera, Katie, and Livy are exploring every aspect of fanvids and vidding in Minisode 19: The Power of Vidding. We journey through the history of vidding from Star Trek slideshows to VCR vidding to the digital revolution to Instagram edits, not to mention our own vidding histories (or in Livy’s case…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, malakas! Vera, Katie, and Livy explore Ancient Greece through the eyes of superhuman assassin Kassandra in Minisode 18: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the video game with major Xena vibes that is helping us survive quarantine. We discuss the queer romances, the historical realism, the immersive worldbuilding, the unex…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, it’s time for some comic relief! Vera, Katie, and Livy are dipping their toes into the exciting world of Xena comics in Minisode 17: Xena Comics (Road Warrior), in which we talk about the new run of Dynamite comics and the VERY IMPORTANT PANELS the fandom wholeheartedly embraced. We discuss our own (limited!) his…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, put on your top hats, sink your coal pits, and be sure to pack your largest thermometers! Vera, Katie, and Livy are off to Yorkshire in Minisode 16: Gentleman Jack. We discuss all things Anne Lister: the historical figure, her coded diaries, the academic who decrypted them, and the HBO/BBC period drama that broug…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, resistance is futile! Vera, Katie, and Livy are assimilated and loving it in Minisode 15: Seven of Nine. In another of our special minisodes no one asked for, we discuss our newest obsession, our fannish histories with the Star Trek franchise, how Seven is the quarantine heroine we deserve, and the evolution of t…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’re breaking into showbiz! Join us for Minisode 14: Modern AU Pitch-a-thon! where Vera and Livy role-play as a Hollywood writing team pitching a truckload of modern-set Xena stories to development executive Katie. Will she greenlight the show about Xena and Gabs as members of the US Women’s National Soccer Team…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Vera, Katie, and Livy’s friendship is sorely tested as we force ourselves to pick the ten best Xena episodes of Xena (as opposed to the best Gabs eps, which we picked in the previous podcast). Join us for Minisode 13: Best Xena Eps of Xena (a.k.a. We Hate Lists!) as we argue over what makes a Xena episode a Xena …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, you can’t spell GABS without ABS! Vera, Katie, and Livy are going through our favorite Gabrielle episodes in Minisode 12: Greatest Gabsisodes. We not only discuss all the famous, beloved Gabs stories, we also talk about some deep-cut eps that people don’t often list even though they’re key (anyone hungry for some…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’ll have pizza, and margarita shooters! Vera, Katie, and Livy are having a frelling good time with Minisode 11: Farscape, the crazy-balls puppet-heavy sci-fi show with even more tonal shifts than Xena! We discuss the creative freedom of this Australian co-production, its use of fanfic tropes, and the ways in wh…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, all this has happened before, and all this will happen again! Vera, Katie, and Livy tackle one of the trickiest Xena fan questions in Minisode 10: Reboot or Revival Extravaganza! We discuss successful TV examples of both formats, and debate what version of Xena: Warrior Princess best suits our cultural moment. Th…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’re spending the holidays with the person we love… Sandra Bullock!! Vera, Katie, and Livy are talking about one of our favorite Christmas movies in Minisode 09: While You Were Sleeping! Join us as re-experience this cozy ‘90s rom-com, complete with pointy bangs, cozy sweaters, long skirts, and terrible misunder…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, when did they do the deed? In Minisode 08: The Amazon Wiggle, Vera, Katie, and Livy are speculating wildy about exactly when Xena and Gabrielle began a romantic relationship. First we offer up our hypothesis (which involves Vera’s favorite episode, “The Quest”) before digging into a deeper question -- weren’t Xen…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’re partying like it’s 1999... B.C.! Vera, Katie, and Livy are doing the weirdest double feature with Minisode 07: Episode Commentary Shenanigans, the first of our Patron-selected minisodes! With the help of copious amounts of whiskey, we provide a watch-along commentary for our least favorite episode, ULYSSES,…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the postman always rings twice! Vera, Katie, and Livy (not so jet-lagged now) pick up where they left off in our Hermes Mailbag! Once again we’re answering your questions, including what would Gabrielle’s theme song be, what aspects of the show did we appreciate more on the rewatch, and the all-important question…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’re BAAAAAAAACK! Vera, Katie, and Livy return from their Greco-Roman adventures and answer your questions on all things Xena in the first part of our AFIN Mailbag! After chatting about our trip (So! Many! Old! Things!) we discuss such topics as best and worst finales of all time, would we have had a different r…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, the pins are coming out! It’s time for The Great Unpinning, in which Vera, Katie, and Livy wrap up “A Friend in Need” by picking up all the conversations we’ve shelved since the beginning of the podcast. We discuss the fan response to the finale, the history of the harmful trope Bury Your Gays, and how Xena’s end…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, it’s journey’s end. Vera, Katie, and Livy climb the mountain that is 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part II,” the final episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. We discuss the challenge of endings, the visual callbacks and thematic importance of “Sins of the Past” and “The Gauntlet,” the use of sound design and editing in Xena…

KILL BILL SIRENS, KILL BILL SIRENS! This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Vera, Katie, and Livy journey to the Land of the Rising Sun for 6x21 “A Friend in Need Part I,” the first half of the spectacular series finale. HOOOOMG, heavy breathing… We discuss why Japan is an appropriate setting for Xena’s last adventure, the cinematic influences that are…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, we’ve got mail! It’s the fifth installment of our fabulous Hermes’ Hermès Mailbag, and Vera, Katie, and Livy are answering your questions! We talk about our favorite episodes and lewks, pitch alternate universe concepts, discuss S6’s use of color, mourn the loss of the When Fates Collide kiss, and examine the big…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, here comes the bride! Vera, Katie, and Livy are pulling a major retcon with 6x20 “Soul Possession,” a weird grab bag of an episode that makes a tangle out of its many loose threads. We discuss Joxer as this episode’s emotional center, its puzzling decision to return to the events of Adventures in the Sin Trade an…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, things are getting Sapphic! Vera, Katie, and Livy are partying it up with 6x19 “Many Happy Returns,” the show’s final comedy, which also happens to be one of its giddiest and most moving. We discuss this ep as a nonstop nostalgia fest with its many references to A Day in the Life, Callisto, Chariots of War, and m…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, it’s love at first sight! Vera, Katie, and Livy are stepping into an alternate timeline with 6x18 “When Fates Collide,” one of Xena’s most romantic episodes. We discuss how writer Katherine Fugate found her way to Xena, why alternate realities are such a popular storytelling trope in fandom, the bold revisiting o…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, Son of Borias, what have you done? Vera, Katie, and Livy are horsing around with 6x17 “Last of the Centaurs.” We discuss the glorious, nostalgic returns of Marton Csokas and Danielle Cormack, Xena having surrogate sons all over the place, the episode’s parallels to ‘Last of the Mohicans’ and its use of Holocaust …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, life finds a way! Vera, Katie, and Livy are working some weird science with 6x16 “Send in the Clones,” a modern-day set clip show that directly takes on fan culture. We debate whether this was a good idea (spoiler alert: it was not!), discuss other depictions of fans in movies and TV (ilu Galaxy Quest), and ponde…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, war is hell! Vera, Katie, and Livy go once more into the breach with 6x15 “To Helicon and Back,” the show’s biggest battle epic, and the grim conclusion to the Amazons’ storyline. We discuss the many references to WWII films including Saving Private Ryan, They Were Expendable, The Longest Day, Patton, and… Jaws? …

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST, fables have never been sexier! Vera, Katie, and Livy are reckoning with 6x14 “Path of Vengeance,” an episode that goes back to the show’s roots with a plot full of Amazon justice and juicy moral dilemmas. We discuss Eve’s final appearance on Xena and how her character arc differs from her mother’s, Xena’s hypocri…

This week on XENA: WARRIOR PODCAST: You! Are! There! Vera, Katie, and Livy investigate 6x13 “You Are There,” a comedy experiment that stretches the show’s tonal boundaries. We discuss the forerunners of the fourth wall-breaking reporter, including X-Cops, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and of course the original You Are There, we debate whether t…