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Xena - The Series Finale (The Director's Cut)

Xena - The Series Finale (The Director's Cut)

List Price: $24.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: About conmemtary
Review: I was exspecting an conmentary but didn't get it. I guess just the dvd has it. Other than that loved it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: The director's cut includes scenes not shown in the original finale. It gives information that helps you understand how other events actually take place. The behind the scenes editorial was a great addition. And I really enjoyed the dialogue that you could have accompany the episode. It was interesting to hear the opinions of Lucy and Renee. Bring on more episodes!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Don't bother with this one. You'll spend so much time rolling your eyes, that you will seldom see the screen. I really expected the Xena finale to be so much better. What a disappointment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Xena Finale on DVD
Review: One word to sum this DVD up.....AWESOME . With the bonus material this DVD is sweet. I sure do hope the seasons come out on DVD. Battle on!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Why is FIN on DVD and not all 6 seasons?
Review: This is, without a doubt, the worst Xena episode ever. In fact, many people choose just to believe it never happened. I loved the series, LOVED it, and this last episode was just crushing, horrible, and I will never watch it again. It was a violent, misogynistic, senseless betrayal of a wonderful show. Although I would gladly pay any amount of money to have seasons 1-6 on DVD, they are not available on Region 1. Only FIN is! I will NEVER buy that, and I recommend no one else ever even see it. I am waiting for series 1-6 to be released on region 1 DVD (and hoping it will happen -- soon -- ever?!) while blithely and blissfully denying that FIN ever happened.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Rob Tapert: Mr. Un-Original
Review: First, let me say that I am a die-hard Xena fan from the very first season and I certainly give credit to Mr. Tapert, Mr. Raimi, Mr. Stewart et al for the wonderful show they gave us for six years. That being said, I really wish Rob hadn't participated in the commentary of the dvd. While I applaud his efforts, for me all he did was prove what most of the Xenaverse had suspected all along: he stole ideas from other films (he calls it "paying homage"), and as a director is stuck somewhere in the wasteland of mid-70's television fluff. Mr. Tapert explains how he took great care to give us repetitive, simplistic shots and visually "spell everything out". His efforts are sophomoric at best: "I didn't think people would get that Xena was beheaded unless I showed it twice" he comments.
The additional footage was nice but I wondered why he didn't include these scenes in the final cut and sacrifice less important scenes: Xena getting her clothes stripped off by Yodoshi's fire whip, for instance. Yeah, that really moved the story forward, Rob.

As for Lucy and Renee, they were as delightful as ever although I really didn't buy some of their comments about never before seeing their characters as gay. I don't think they remember "The Quest". They also didn't remember that Xena could take the pinch off herself as demonstrated in "AITST Pt.2" Also Lucy suggests that she didn't know there was real water exchanged in "THE KISS SCENE". I'm not buying the Brooklyn Bridge either...

Overall, the dvd is not bad but its sad to think that these people actually believe their own press releases and possess such a limited knowledge of the characters they created. It is little wonder that fan fiction is still going strong despite the show's cancellation.

Oh well, at least there's "E.R." It took the risk to be honest and is still on the air. Go figure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEST DVD!
Review: I LOVED THIS DVD! ITS AWESOME! IT KOO! The best episode of Xena ever, especially when Gabrielle catches the Chakram, the boat scence, the Kiss of Life, the Samurai Battle of Xena, everything! I recomend this DVD even if you DON'T like Xena, you'll like this episode!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Major Catastrophe
Review: An incoherent, out-of-character, depressing end to a great show.
Hazily pretty photography & a stand-out performance by Renee O'Connor can't make up for a story that seems to negate the previous six years. Not to mention the horrific shots of Xena's mutilated corpse & severed head.

A self-indulgent finish that did not take much of the audience into account.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You've Got to get this!
Review: This is a must for any Xena fan! With the option of watching FIN with Lucy, ROC, and Rob narrating it, you learn lots of info a/b what went on behind the scenes for filming and some useful insight to what is supposed to be going through Xena and Gab's head. This DVD has cool Behind the Scenes stuff and overall is GREAT! I'm VERY glad I bought it! You'll regret it if you don't get it! Lucy and Renee did a WONDERFUL job for the last episode of Xena. It's too bad the series ended though.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What movie? What DVD?
Review: This is not a DVD I'd recommend. The incredibly distasteful way they ended this show gets increasingly disturbing as time goes on. Robert Tapert (co-writer/director of FIN and Executive Producer of XWP) chose to end the TV series this way and nothing he can do will ever fix that. The plot didn't seem very original given that it bore striking similarities to the Hong Kong film "A Chinese Ghost Story", with Xena and Gabrielle shoehorned into the plot. His artistic integrity can be called into question more than if he had wrote his own original story.

I also do not want to see a movie. Bringing Xena back from the dead defeats the purpose of killing her off in the first place. Tapert's allegedly artistic choice would be rendered moot because if she can be so easily brought back, then why "permanently" kill her off in the first place?

Tapert chose to kill her off in the most gruesome way imaginable (i.e. a headless, naked Xena hanging from a tree and riddled with bloody arrow holes with her best friend/lover upchucking her lunch when she finds her) with a plot barely able to hold water and the reason for her death highly dubious. Vengence wins out in the end. That was not the show I had fallen in love with and watched for 6 years, which stated that love and forgiveness was the way to go (see the Season 6 episode #17 "Last of the Centaurs" for the last example of that).

Tapert further undermined his artistic vision by re-editing the original TV broadcast with Gabrielle alone on the boat and Xena's ghost in the cosmos, for the DVD/Director's cut. To appease outraged and devastated fans, he edited out the lonesome Gabrielle scene and showed Xena as a ghost with Gabrielle on the boat as the final scene of them together instead. However, Xena is still dead so the end result is the same.

RJ Stewart (co-writer of FIN) claims the scene with Gabrielle alone on the boat was to make a specific point that she had taken up the mantel of the Warrior Princess, despite Gabrielle's decidedly different life philosophy that opposed being a warrior for the last 6 years. If Stewart's storytelling point is true, then why did Tapert not stick to his vision? Why did he re-edit the ending? It makes me believe in the story even less.

But it was Tapert's choice to end the show the way he did. We'll all have to live with it and in my mind a movie will not fix it. In the meantime, I'll save my money. The one star goes to Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor for acting their hearts out even though it was all for naught.


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