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Let's get it started, in here!"

Okey, doke, lets just jump right in here. IIm not sure how this format will work out but well try our best. Theres a good chance that the questions will just keep on coming and Ill have to eventually just cry out STOP! so that I can get to bed or back to work, so dont be offended if that happens before I get to someones question. I cant make any guarantees, but the questions will still be here and Ill see if I can get to them later. Again, I have to repeat this, I cant make and guarantees that I actually will get back to them, Ill just try. And that reminder is more for me than you. I have this whole if someone asks you something show the decency of answering thing going on but, logically, I cant possibly spend all my time answering questions. So youll have to take my best efforts.

Also, Im going strictly off memory. I dont have a journal or a diary of the Xena years (was that a stupid omission or what?) The vast majority of my Xena stuff is in boxes, packed away, so I dont have time to go look for things and do research. If there is an answer that I cant quite remember, Ill just say so and move on. And you might be surprise at what I can remember on one hand, but things I cant remember on the other. But, hey, thats the way the mind works. When it works.

Some questions will overlap, so youll see me referencing some of my own answers in my answers. And most people know that I tend to ramble a bit. I dont know if Ill have that luxury here because of the amount of questions I might get. Fortunately Im a fast typist, but there is an direct relationship betwixt speed and typos, so youll just have to deal with them. (and, by the way, for those of you who are amazed that I wrote all this so quickly, take a chill pill Im writing this at 9:40 this morning whilst still in my jammies.)

The first questions Im going to address are from NL. She asked me to answer some questions she had sent me for the 10 year anniversary, but I didnt get to answer all those questions. So here are her questions:

I so enjoyed and appreciated the spread-out Perdicus arc for the character of Gabrielle. The irony written into both the girl and boy next door seeking out separately and both getting a big ugly dose of the reality of romanticized war/adventure/killing, and then arriving at the same place psychologically was so well done. And of course the irony of being torn apart by senseless violence at the exact moment they resolved to leave that all behind made for incredibly effective drama. Their story was also quite relatable on a more simple, modern level - the universal theme of rediscovering someone youve known and taken advantage of since childhood. Can you tell us how you all came about deciding on this experience and growth for Gabrielle?

The first one, GREEKS BEARING GIFTS, by Armus and Foster, was using Perdicus as a way of demonstrating how events can change people to degrees that make them almost unrecognizable. Perdicus was originally portrayed and regarded by Gabrielle as dumb and unmotivated (and taller) But in a time of war, that person was transformed into another person, a real human being, worthy of admiration and pity. It was another step in the growth of Gabrielle to see that kind of a chance and to underline what certain events are capable of. This happens all the time and is happening now. Many many people comment on the dopey annoying kid in high school who comes back from the Marines or military service as a disciplined, responsible, focused person. Its called growing up. But in a time of war, you arent given leeway to be casual, you grow up fast. Now when we next see Perdicus, in RETURN OF CALLISTO, we see how the impression that Perdicus made on Gabrielle matches what she has been programmed to believe she is looking for in a mate (note the use of the word programmed how many of us cant understand that?). Her desire to be what she believed was always expected of her and girls of her age gives much more luster to her feelings toward Perdicus than Perdicus himself. So they marry. Now, whether this was all planned from the beginning, no, not to my knowledge. RJ wrote ROC as well as the first appearance of Perdicus (SINS OF THE PAST) so I dont know if he had planned to use Perdicus again or not. Judging from the way Perdicus just appeared in one scene, I wouldnt think so, but thats just speculation.

Many times you just put things into a script that services the particular plot, then later, when trying to develop other ideas or character arcs, you go back to the footlocker of the past, where everything that came before resides, and sees if there is something there that can help you out. For these purposes, Perdicus was there.

RJ mentioned that he originally pitched the Callisto idea as a 3 part arc, and I wondered if Gabrielles marriage was always part of that equation. (With the caveat that neither hero nor sidekick could stay married for the rest of the series!) So, when Gabrielle fell in love with Perdicus in Beware Greek Bearing Gifts mid-Season 1, was it already assumed Perdicus would likely come back into the picture later?

I dont know. He didnt pitch me the 3 part arc. We discussed possible usages of Callisto in the future, but I dont remember the details of it.

I suspect that you mightve had a hand in casting Scott Garrison, since he also was involved in Swamp Thing with you. He seemed to exactly capture the still sweet yet more mature-Im not your doormat anymore, hon hometown crush. He seemed to match ROCs Gabrielle so believably at the time - did the arc (albeit not all in a row) turn out well as far as you and the rest of the Grand Poobahs were concerned? I loved how you reflected back on it all with your later Season 3 ep - The Dirty Half Dozen, with the character of Glaphyra pushing Gabrielles buttons by maligning Perdicus memory and male-bashing. That jail scene hit all the right notes and said a whole bunch- KUDOS.

Thank you. The Gabrielle/Perdicus marriage thing didnt work out quite to my expectations. It was too quick. It should have been a two hour episode at the least. I think even RJ said that at one point. We tried to cover it and did a so-so job of it, in my opinion. Scott Garrison is quite a fun guy. A side story: After ROC had aired, there was much talk about what Xena was saying when she saw Callisto kill Perdicus (Lucys mouth was moving, but it was in silence). Many said she was saying to Callisto Thank you. I told Scott that and he just couldnt stop laughing, he thought it was hysterical. Didnt take offense to it at all. I had actually wanted to get Scott and John DAquino (Ulysses) to come onstage with me at the 10 year anniversary wearing bullseye t-shirts. I couldnt locate Scott, but John was into it. John said he would even provide Ulysses photos with bullseyes on them for the fans.

Gabrielle writing a psalm for her slain Perdicus at the end of Intimate Stranger was genuinely touching. I sing the song of Perdicus; the boy I knew, the man I loved (That was your idea, yes?) Was it meant to be a special honor to have the bard Gabrielle immortalize him in such a way? Its moving that both women were written to express themselves at times of loss in their own ways- Xena feels inspired enough to sing her dirge only for the respected fallen, and Gabrielle writes poetry. One is more visceral, the other morethought outobservant, mirroring the characters.

There was no way that Perdicus could NOT have affected Gabrielle in such a way. Remember, he was her betrothed and, eventually, someone she wanted to marry. It would have been shallow for her to have NOT regarded him in a higher status. But more importantly, it showed that she had come to terms with his death, she had immortalized him in her poem, where he would never die. In Gabrielles mind, people in her stories and poems never die, they live on in memory and tribute.

Now, to the next question from npcentral.

You've mentioned in the past that your original draft of "Them Bones, Them Bones" included Otere, who was written out in a later draft (and of course, doesn't appear in the televised version). While you had said you didn't remember how her absence was accounted for in the script, you suggested that maybe she had gone off to join Amarice's lost tribe. It occured to me later on there are some similiarites between Otere's grim, battle-scarred childhood, and your original, darker conception of Amarice as an orphaned daughter from a fierce tribe of Amazons, whose upbringing never allowed her to be a child. That characterization of Amarice was changed by others, as we know, and ironically, it's in a rewritten "Them Bones, Them Bones" that her backstory is finally revealed to reflect a much lighter character. So I'm wondering several things: Did the Northern Amazons of "Adventures in the Sin Trade" directly or indirectly inspire Amarice's creation? How did you plan to develop Otere in "Them Bones, Them Bones", and might we have seen her deal with some of the same issues originally intended for Amarice? And do you recall your thoughts on how she would have served Xena's story, post-"Sin Trade"? On a related note, was the Amazon Mystic, Chi'ah, in the original draft, and if so, is there anything you can share with us about this enigmatic character, the only surviving adult of the tribe? PS: I still enjoy rereading the notes from your tv writing workshop last Jan, '04 at the Burbank convention--it has the effect of a booster rocket every time. You made the experience of the writer come alive in vivid detail. I'm looking forward to your planned textbook coming out soon. Thanks for taking the time then, and now! We greatly appreciate it!

Well see if the textbook ever does come out. There are so many TV Writing books out there that I havent really pushed it yet. Its been revised in a major way. The copy you have is so filled with redundancies and typos and redundancies. You guys got a true first draft because I wanted to give you something to take with you (two hours of a class on twenty years of experience is just not enough!). The current version of the book is probably half again longer than that version. But to the question of Them Bones, Them Bones I dont know. Ive not read that script since I turned in my final draft, so I really dont remember much about it. Seriously. There was so much going on at that time, with me not attending Xena story meetings (Rob and I agreed I shouldnt because I was leaving to run a competing show) and my writing of the Sheena pilot at the same time, so I didnt keep up with it after I wrote it. When I was writing it, it had my full attention and got the best work I could do, but since I wasnt going to shepherd it through the process after that, I had to put it out of my mind so I could move on. The same is true for the other one I wrote under the Buddy Williers banner. I dont believe I developed Otere in any major way in that script, though. I wouldnt have moved any of my Amarice backstory to her because I had no intention of changing Amarices backstory. That change was done after I left and I didnt know about it until I got the shooting draft. If I find the script (my original one), I might take a look, but I have no idea where it is right now. As for Chiah, I know I had developed a backstory for her, but I dont remember the details.

From total apathy:

A few questions on 'Between The Lines': The Blue Scroll quoted in the beginning of the episode is credited to an anonymous author. Were you trying to suggest that other people besides Gabrielle wrote about Xena's adventures? Also, and I'm not trying to be mean here, why the color-coded scrolls?

I get this question a lot. Its really quite simple. It has nothing to do with actual color. It has to do with content. In our Xenaverse, the scrolls of Xena were found in Bulgaria and are currently being translated (hence our series) and no one knows who originally wrote them (well, we do, but not in the series universe). But this particular scroll has to do with her journeys in India and experiences with Hinduism and other Eastern religions. In those philosophies, the color blue is considered to be a Holy Color (look at the portrayals of Krishna in artwork). Archeologists realized the significance of the scrolls and attributed its special status (Eastern Holiness) in the convenient name. Scientists do this. No one remembers that Leakey found Australopithecus afarensis AL 288-1 in 1974, but they do remember that Leakey found the fossils of Lucy. The name was given because of the Beatles song which was playing at the camp. It became a convenient handle for the scientists to use to distinguish the find from others as well as for the public to use. (and believe it or not, that was all in my mind when I referenced it as the Blue Scroll in the script). It had nothing to do with the color of the scroll.

At this point in the show Gabrielle still tried to avoid taking the life of another person. However, when she entered her future life as Shakti, there are a few scenes where she takes down several warriors with her sword. Did Gabrielle think her actions didn't matter since she wasn't in her current life at the time or was she secretly affected by the killings?

Id have to go back and look, but I actually believe we took pains to show that she didnt kill anyone. She used her sword, but I seem to remember having a discussion with the production team that we made it look as if she was knocking people around as opposed to inflicting mortal wounds. Were not perfect, but thats not something that would have easily eluded my eye.

Lastly, what time period were the scenes with Shakti and Arminestra supposed to take place? Immediately after Xena and Gabrielle's existence or many years afterwards?

A few generations later. Figure somewhere around four generations. In the world of karma and reincarnation, each life builds on the previous. There was a lot of work to be done on our heroes, as advanced as they might have been for their time.

From GabRenee;

Out of all the episodes you have written for the show which one you are most proud of in how it turn out on screen?

I often get asked what my favorite (insert specific quality here) of my episodes were or which episode was my favorite, and I have no way to give an answer. They arent compartmentalized like that in my mind. Each one has perfections and flaws. None of them are perfect and couldnt possibly be with as many people giving their creative input to the final result. Some were less satisfying for certain reasons than others. But no individual episode stands out at either end of the extremes. And, also, many of them stand out for reasons that have little to do with values that others might think. For example, DREAMWORKER will always stand out to me, but not because I think its my best work or it turned out perfectly, but because it was my first Xena script. So I cant really answer the question,

What is your favorite season? Least favorite? and Why?

You know, this has pretty much the same answer. Each one was different and good/bad for different reasons.

What are your thoughts on the episode When Fates Collide?

Ive heard its good. I havent seen it. For Katherine to have gotten such a great response by writing only one episode, it must have been exceptional. As a note, I havent seen any of the episodes produced after I left. Reasons for this? I was too busy to keep up initially. Then, later, I realized that Id have to watch all of them sequentially to be able to make any sense of them and my schedule doesnt allow me that luxury (I cant even keep up with my regular TV shows, Tivo notwithstanding).

Assuming that you read Xena fanfic or used to-- Which one do you enjoy most reading? (General fanfic? Alternative fanfic?(X & G as lovers), Uber Xena?, etc)

I havent read a lot of it and I didnt read any while I was working on the show. I read some of Missys work, which I thought was exceptional. The Dar and Kerry series, though, was much more interesting to me because I could divorce myself from the characters I had written, although I havent read a lot of that either. I did read one slash fanfic which involved a gang-rape and I stopped right there, so I can say that that kind of writing doesnt entertain me (whether Xena/Gabrielle or any other context). Most of the time, when Ive read fanfic, Im more intrigued by the interpretations rather than the exhibition. In other words, its interesting to see what the fanfic writer is motivated by, what focus they give to the characters. Its more of an insight into the psychology of the writer than the characters.

How old was Xena and Gabrielle in Sins of the Past?

We actually discussed this at an early time in the series. I think we decided that Gabrielle was around seventeed and that Xena was in her early twenties. As the series went on, we managed to pile a lot of living in those twenty odd years of Xena!

From ForeverXena;

But if you were asked to write the ( hopefully ) upcomming Xena movie , would you feel like doing that ?Or are you finished with the Xena verse in that aspect

No, Im not done with it. Never will be, its too much a part of my life. But if asked to write the movie, sure. It wont happen, though. For a number of reasons. Ive not been approached to participate in any manner with any Xena movie (not a complaint, just a fact) and if the movie does get picked up by a studio, they arent going to look highly on my credits as far as a feature is concerned. Im a TV writer and feature divisions of Studios look down their noses on TV. So it wouldnt happen unless there was enough leverage to convince the suits otherwise or unless I was running a prestigious series at this moment.

I also have no idea at what stage any movie might be in. People ask me if its going to happen or not and I just dont know. I hear the optimistic statements made during conventions, but I have also been on the other side of the curtain and know that, at the moment, its just optimistic talk. In Hollywood, nothing is set in stone until the people are in the theatre watching the movie. So until you have bought your ticket and are walking to your seat, I wouldnt hold out hope for a movie. I know, that sounds so pessimistic, but believe me, it comes from experience.

Of course, if a movie is ever done, the odds of it being a success with the hardcore fans is very slim. There are just too many varying opinions on the series to be able to satisfy everyone. The only thing that everyone agree on is that they would like to see a movie. Other than that its anyones game. Subtext? Maintext? Pick up where it was left off? Do the beginning over again? Cast new leads? So on and so on. Doesnt mean that it wont happen and wouldnt be a huge success, just that the odds are against it. Stay tuned.

Second , just a bit of praise for you.One of my absolut favorite episodes is The Price , well done , well written , and I love the fact that when Xena faced her worst fears ( at that time ) she wasnt superhuman at all , rather she mentally collapsed and showed us why she is a flawed hero, much more realistic in my opinion.

Thank you. I think human flaws are always more interesting as they set the internal obstacles that a person has to overcome in order to be heroic. And, more important, it shows heroes to be human after all, someone we can all identify with.

Joxerfan:

We've all read the numerous interviews with you and others on the subtext in the series. The common response always seemed to be "Whatever the characters do on their own time is their own business - we'll leave it up to the imagination of the audience." i.e. everyone could interpret it as they saw fit, because you guys were writing about warlords and ancient gods. But there's been this lingering rumor (in some internet fan circles, anyway) that what was said in interviews may not have been true - that on set, and in story conferences, it was a foregone conclusion that the characters were being written, acted, and directed as lovers, even if specific love scenes or references to them were never filmed. So was that the case? In story conferences, was it ever discussed that X and G specifically were lovers in a literal 20th/21st century way (i.e. not "they love each other" or other ambiguous lines?) To your knowledge, did the directors ever specifically direct the actresses to portray the characters that way, or did you or any of the writers specifically write that into any treatment or script, or did the actresses ever say "I'm playing the role specifically this way, regardless of the dialogue? Or was it intentionally left as an unanswered question?

First, the answer no, not the answer to were they/werent they, but the answer to your question: It was left as an unanswered question. Always. Now, the details. First, I wasnt on the set, so I cant vouch for that on a word for word basis. But when the subtext started to take on a life of its own, we were aware of it and we certainly enabled it. But we thought more along the lines of what can we give that will be subjectively interpretational without stating anything as fact to violate interpretations? As you can see from that convoluted statement, it wasnt something that was easily done. But no matter how each individual writer wrote the characters (and we were all pretty distinct in that) we all had to write in a way so as to not violate the interpretational rules. There were many times when things were written into the scripts that were subtle, but we knew Okay, theyll get that. Then there were other times when someone on the set, or Lucy or Renee, would give a reading or take on a line that would do the same thing. But it was never overt and never intended to be overt. And, by the way, that goes for the shippers side. We never wanted to violate their interpretations any more than the subbers. Now, to certain extents, you can argue back and forth about whether we were consistent about that, but I think we put enough out there that worked for people. The amazing thing is that we were able to do it at all. That it is still being debated to this day means that we walked that line pretty well. Not perfectly, but better than most.

I think the thing that I liked about it is that there were many times that we were able to put things in that were totally missed by one segment (because in their world, it had no context) but completely embraced by the other segment (because it was extremely relevant to theirs). DAY IN THE LIFE is a great example. But there are many others.

Okay, lets see Ryan424;

In the Whoosh! page for Past Imperfect it talks about 15 minutes being cut from the episode. After I read this I was really surprised that none of those 15 minutes ever appeared on the DVD since obviously that is a big portion of an episode. So just curious, but do you remember specific scenes that were left on the editing room floor?

Not off hand. But you have to remember that PI wasnt unique in that regard. This was something that we wrestled with over and over. Many of the shows ended up being extremely long. And many of those were mind. It frustrated Rob to no end. One time, he said to me It was 18 minutes over! You have to write less or something to that effect. I responded by pointing out that the particular script he was talking about was less than 42 pages. We never did figure it out, although I think a lot of it just had to do with trying to service the action components without sacrificing the character components. And sometimes a certain director with a certain writer just adds up to longer episodes. But it was a bear to tangle with. GREATER GOOD and ENDGAME were two other problematic scripts in this regard. So I cant remember what ended up on the floor, Id have to look back at the original shooting draft.

Xena and Ares' past. In a couple of your episodes (The Dirty Half Dozen, Succession, The Deliverer) you seem to insert hints about Xena and Ares having a past together. Although there was the "I always wondered what you looked like" in The Reckoning, how did you (and the other writers) view Xena and Ares' past together (since obviously they had "something")? And was there any reason why we never saw it incorporated into an episode?

Actually, it was incorporated in all the episodes. Ares seduced Xena, in the mental and emotional sense, and utilized her to his purposes. Because of the time when she was a warlord, she was extremely open to Ares being her patron god. And thats what it was all about. He was her father in the sense that he was home to her, he was her guiding light, he gave her the love that made her the power that she was. Now the question has always been whether they were lovers at one time (yes) and whether he was her true father. To that latter question, the staff had a discussion about it. I stated my opinion that Ares should definitely NOT be Xenas father. The reasons for that feeling were that it would make her more like Hercules and less like the fans watching the show. Her physical abilities would be explained in one fell swoop; shes half god. Her humanity would then be threatened and subject to an almost boundless interpretation. And what did that say of Gabrielles attraction to her? Idolatry? It didnt work for me on so many levels. As of the time I left the show, we stayed with the Ares-not-her-father path, although there were some interpretational things put in the scripts now and then.

Fruitbat:

(thanks for the complients, by the way )

You could be said to have invented the Amazons and their culture on X:WP; how much of it was mapped out in advance and how much was made up as the series progressed?

I think this is one of the areas that, once established, stayed pretty constant. When I was to do an Amazon script, I went and looked at the Hercules episodes dealing with Amazons, notably the first one. And, to be honest, I didnt like the way it ended. I loved that Hercules learned about himself, but the idea that these strong warrior women would suddenly become all girly and fall into the arms of the men just didnt ring true to me. So I knew I had to go in a different direction. At that point, the idea was that I was going to use that Amazon tribe. The idea of many tribes didnt exist at that point. So I knew that if I wanted to do an Amazon episode, and I didnt like the way Amazons were portrayed (and left off, all pro-men) I had to start from scratch. So I came up with the idea of modeling them on the Iriquois confederacy. A loose association of tribes that had a common bond and past, but were independent of each other. Some more Spartan than others (Amarices tribe, in my mind) and some more moderate (Melosas). Once I had that image in my mind, I was able to assign rules to the Amazons and their ways. Most of that, amazingly, saw out the entire series. The reason it did wasnt so much because I was brilliant, but because by implying the idea of separate tribes with common bonds, it freed us to play with other concepts of the Amazons without violating any rules of the other tribes. Then, somewhere along there I started asking why the original Amazon nation had broken up. Thats when I hit on the idea of the Battle of Corinth being a pivotal in the life of Xena and, more importantly, the world as it existed. That battle destroyed the Amazon Nation and the Centaur Nation, and set those two against each other, though they were allies at one time. And so on and so on. Yes, I have admitted many many times before, I think too much.

Teris was said to be Melosa's "true-sister." What's a "true-sister?"

All Amazons of a particular tribe are sisters in the group identification sense. But Tereis was Melosas biological sister, a true sister.

Luvxg;

I think we can safely say Xena was instrumental for showing strong independent women on TV. Obviously, with the onslaught of reality based shows the TV lansdscape has changed over the past few years. Do you think we'll continue to see shows such as Xena - with that stong female lead?

I think the die has been irrevocably cast. Yes, females will continue to be strong characters. The key is whether there will be more series where the female characters will truly be the leads. To give an example, Xena was definitely such a series as it was only about the two women. But other series usually have a male somewhere as a regular to keep that dynamic going. I dont believe in sacrificing either gender for a good character, but the male dynamic is already established in series TV. Hopefully, the female dynamic will be considered just as much an equal. It depends on the audience and how the studios perceive what they want.

Chakram;

Have you talked to Rob Tapert, or any of the actresses/ actors about making a spin-off of Xena, or maybe a TV movie?

Rob and I did talk one time about a possible spin-off. He asked me to lunch, we talked about it, and thats pretty much the last I heard of it. There was an idea that I thought would be a fun series, but it would have been a pretty drastic change. And, just like a movie, there was no way to guarantee we would have satisfied the fans. It would have had to stand on its own merits. And, no, I cant go into detail about the idea, it was something Rob and I talked about in private.

What advice would you give someone who would want to direct or produce a show, or movie. What schooling or how do you start a career in that business?

You dont just jump into directing, writing, producing or acting. You do need some sort of training. And I wish I had the time here to go through all of it. And a lot of it also depends on your own situation. If you are still in school, I recommend getting involved in the arts. Drama classes and the like. Getting involved in community theatre, for example. But you also have to figure out what your focus is. Just saying I want to produce a TV show wont do it. You have to make a major commitment in your life to make a career of it. And producers in TV are usually Writers (to a lesser extent actors or directors). Producers in film are usually financial people. So to do the former, you need to follow a creative discipline. For the latter, youd need business training. There is so much to talk about in this area, theres no one thing I could tell you other than the general advice of perseverance.

Sais 2 cool;

I remember back on the nutforum you remarked that in the bitter suite you felt xenas apology should have been about (if I recall correctly) the gab drag. However, rob was adamant that it should be about xenas lie regarding her role in ming tiens death (and technically speaking she didnt lie. She never did say gabrielle, I swear I never killed ming tien. But thats a debate for another time) Ive always been curious to know what robs reasoning was for wanting the apology to be about ming tien instead of about the host of other wrongs xena had done to gabrielle.

Well, actually, I said that there was so much more involved with their history that the lie seemed small by comparison. As to what Rob wanted (and I dont like speaking on his or anyones behalf) he felt that the lie was a much simpler and, yet, much more revealing flaw in their relationship. From a simple lie, so many things can grow. It was a disagreement, but Rob listened to all sides (fairly, I believe) then decided he wanted to stay with his take on it. So we did.

one of the most compelling things to me about xwp was the complexity of the xena/gabrielle relationship. I never saw it is 100% healthy -- primarily post rift. Often times it seemed that they were together out of a stubborn, dependent were going to stay together even if it kills us attitude. Given the price she paid, was gabrielle reallybetter off staying with xena? Or somewhere around s3 would she have been better off buying a bus ticket to Athens and sending a card on Christmas and birthdays? So, was it deliberate on the part of you, rob, rj, lucy, renee et al to paint the relationship as something a bit darker and cynical than e.g. herc and iolaus? Or, rift notwithstanding, did you all see it as rosey and lovely?

I never saw it as rosey and lovely. From DREAMWORKER on, I saw the clouds on the horizon. And, besides, if they had not had the kind of deeply rooted differences that eventually became serious rifts, they would not have been as interesting or complicated. But at the beginning of the series, we didnt plan on it becoming the dark soap opera that it became later on. It progressed in that direction. At a certain point, your characters start taking on their own life and you follow along, adding what you can when you can. As to whether Gabrielle should have just gone home, thats a good question. One that you could ask the character and end up with a great discussion. Because people make those choices every day. Its human. Her decision was to stay with Xena. Why? For her own reasons? Because Xena needed her? Why? Its a great question. And the fact that it could actually be discussed on a real level shows how complex the characters were. Are.

Okay, now I'm addressing another question whilst you read....

1. In Succession, Ares told Gabrielle that he wanted her as his Warrior Queen. In your mind, what was his real goal here? To me, the fact that he allowed Xena to observe his chats with Gabrielle but not vice versa suggested that Xena was the ultimate "object" of his game. Did he actually want Gabrielle as his WQ, or was he hoping to "seduce" her as a way to get to Xena -- or a little bit of both? Along the same lines, did the producers ever consider a story arc in which Gabrielle actually does temporarily "join" Ares? Do you think such an arc could have worked?

In my mind, yes, Ares was definitely after Gabrielle at this point. The bait and switch, tease and tempation with Xena had gone on long enough. Not only did he realize he wasn't going to get Xena and that Gabrielle was a logical successor, he was angry and wanted Xena to be tortured by what he was going to do. But his intent was, in fact, to get Gabrielle to his side. And, yes, I think that an Ares/Gabrielle thread could have worked. Obviously that's not the course of events that happened, but it could have led to some interesting stories.

2. Another Ares question, if I may: In Sacrifice I, Ares initially sets out to fight Dahak and Hope, but then joins forces with Dahak. When you wrote the episode, how did you see his motivation here? Did he decide that he could enhance his own power by allying himself with Dahak, or was he simply playing to survive? Did he really want Dahak to win? When he made the "if Xena kills Hope, Xena dies" deal with the Fates, did he actually want to save Hope's life, or was he hoping that Gabrielle would kill Hope?

Ares one concern is Ares. Dahak was capable of destroying him, so of course he was going to join in, just to prolong his existence. Ares was pragmatic. Given enough time, he was convinced he could find the flaw in Dahak that would allow him to regain power. He wasn't foolish enough to challenge Dahak when the odds were so stacked against him. Even trying to convince Xena of the truth wasn't working, a situation he contributed to. So he went to plan B: Surrender until a better moment. And he once he had thrown in his lot with Dahak, it was in his interest to make sure Hope survived. After all, there was always the old Ares charm that told him he might have a chance at controlling Hope as well. Considering his past, why wouldn't he believe it?

"Mr Sears, what are your current projects?"

Unfortunatley nothing that is being paid for. I have several things I'm working on, to take out and try to sell later. I didn't sell a pilot this year, so I'm looking at getting some work on the new series or established series. Believe it or not, my Xena credits hurt me in this business, but that's just the way it goes, no matter how successful a show might be.

I have a documentary that I am producing along with Jeffrey WIllerth and Chip Chalmers about the 50th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. I don't know if it will ever see the light of day, but we're doing the work on it. Again, on our own dime.

I have written a few pilot scripts and I'm writing a couple of screenplays. We'll see what happens with them.

And, of course, I continue playing with my photography. I know, not really the domain of your question, but I love photography just as I love writing, so it ends up in the same category for me.

Eventually I'll get around to replacing the gutters and repairing the storm damage, but, hey, writing and photos are more important.....