Screengrab by Judi Mair, for the Australian Xena Information Page

"LEGACY"
Episode # 5

( )

Production #: 1405
Initial Air Date: 10/30/2000
Rating: 4.0

Cast
Lucy Lawless: Xena
Reneé O'Connor: Gabrielle
Alison Bruce: Kahina
Rawiri Paratene: Tazere
Owen Black: Korah
John O'Leary: Dalius

Credits

Written By: Melissa Good
Directed By: Chris Martin-Jones

Log Line | TV Guide | General | Synopsis and Reviews | Missy's Comments
News | Multimedia | Merpup Commentary | Disclaimer

Log Line:

Gabrielle takes a look at how she's come to kill out of instinct.

TV Guide:

Xena and Gabrielle (Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor) try to help two warring African tribes unite against their Roman enemies.

General:

  • This is very cool! Legacy has been submitted for consideration for a 2001 Prime Time Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing. Click here to see the ballot supplement.

  • Excerpt from Whoosh! interview with Robert Tapert by Bret Ryan Rudnick:

    RUDNICK:

    I understand you had some difficulty when you wanted to have Melissa Good write some episodes. Did you have trouble with people convincing them to do that?

    TAPERT:

    (smiles) Only amongst my writing staff. It's not conventional to go into fandom and pluck out a writer. It invites problems. It's also challenging to the staff. I give R.J. a great deal of credit. Missy did a pretty darn good job on LEGACY (117/605). The whole system worked exactly as it should have. He [R.J.] spent maybe a day or two polishing up some stuff, working out a bit of logic, this and that. All in all, her script was left pretty much intact. COMING HOME (113/601), due to the story we had assigned her, R.J. had more to do in acts three and four, working out a bunch of mechanisms.

  • Lucia's "Little Legacy" cartoon at The Australian Xena Information Page
    [Click here]
  • More Legacy pics from Creation:
    http://www.primenet.com/~outback/fanclubs/spoil/legacy604005g.jpg
    http://www.primenet.com/~outback/fanclubs/spoil/legacy604019.jpg
    http://www.primenet.com/~outback/fanclubs/spoil/legacy604020.jpg
    http://www.primenet.com/~outback/fanclubs/spoil/legacy604r125.jpg
    http://www.primenet.com/~outback/fanclubs/spoil/legacy604030.jpg
  • According to the Whoosh! schedule it looks like this episode will be the 5th one shown in Season 6.
  • Legacy Pictures....check them out...thanks Missy.
  • It seems that Gabrielle gets buried in the sand in this episode...hmmmm...
  • Filming was done June 12-22, 2000 on a beach somewhere outside Auckland NZ.
  • Rumour has it this episode is the second in a trilogy that has Gabrielle dealing with her feelings surrounding her taking on the role of warrior and protector during Season 5.

Synopsis and Reviews:

Missy's Comments:

(This is a compilation of comments that Missy has posted on various mailing lists.)

  • How do you feel about episode?

    My mother's friends, who are casual watchers, really liked the ep. They liked it better than CH (so did I. (gg)) My elderly aunts in NJ also enjoyed it, so to me, that was a good indication that generally speaking the script worked.

    My mother also liked it. (g) She really liked the foot washing, the cousins, and the polo ball scene. (g)

    My personal preference is for Legacy over CH, if for no other reason than that it's about just Xena and Gabrielle, and didn't have to achieve all the things CH was aiming for.

  • Any comments on Lucy?

    Actually, what impressed me the most is how focused, and intense she is. i never actually concentrated on what she looked like. (sheepish grin) Very sharp lady.

    Lucy raises her eyebrows just fine on her own, and needs NO instruction by me. (G)

  • How about Reneé?

    I will definitely say that Renee did a heck of a job in this one. (g)

    That boot line was a ROC ad lib - and a very funny one at that. (g)

  • Comments on the writing/filming process:

    RJ sends over the shooting draft, sure - but then Rob has it. He's a part of the writing process from the start, he's seen all the drafts, and he has his own, unique perspective on what goes on. So when he gets the shooting draft, he makes what changes he feels, and he talks about it with the director who will have their own perspective as well.

    The script is, as I said, just the starting point. Everyone who has a part in it affects the final product - from the director to the editor in LA - it's a living, breathing thing until they slap the credits on and it becomes final. Up to that moment, a single cut, or a single change of focus can alter the entire perception of the episode.

    To be honest, the biggest thrill I've gotten out of the entire process is not seeing my scripts produced, or going to NZ - it's been the priviledge of being able to be a part of the team that has worked so hard for six years giving us Xena.

  • How about that sandstorm?

    I can't speak for the director - but I'm guessing it was tough for them to be acting in a non existent environment (the sandstorm was all CGI) or a space filled with smoke (how they did the background swirls) If I'd have been doing it, I'd have done a frontal shot of Xena peering into the storm, then see the dark form looming up behind her, then cut to Gab, her reaction, then her jumping between them as Xena turns when she senses the guy.

    If you look carefully at that desert, not only do you see footprints remaining in the damp sand of the NZ coastline, you also see broad tire tracks. Seeing the roman's tracks was a cinch.

  • Why did they choose the desert for this episode and how did Xena and Gab get to the desert?

    Cause that's where Rob Tapert told me to put it. (g) Seriously, they wanted two desert eps, and I came up with the basic premise for Legacy based on that. They are there on vacation.

    It's different looking. The costumes are cool, too. Actually, they're warm - which is nifty since it was 40 degrees wtih a 20 mph wind when they were filming Legacy. (g)

    I used the Berber tribes and their home locations to base (very roughly and widely ) the nomads on, pre the migration of Arabs to the area.

    Xena and Gab were on vacation. (g) Actually, they were originally going to leave the boat before it sailed in Ghurkan, but some bits had to be changed because a few scenes had to be changed, so that didn't work out quite right. Basically, they decided to take a break for a few days. Eve and Virgil were given the task of returning Sarah to Potadeia, I guess. (g)

    Argo didn't make the trip to North Africa with them - she gets more seasick than Gabrielle, I think. (g)

  • What episode items were your idea?

    I came up with the Gab killing Korah scenario, but it was because we were going to allow Gabrielle to start reacting to all the killing she's been doing as part of this little mini arc.

    Yep, I did indeed write in that Gab uses a staff in that last fight. On the description - mostly I only put in action that was important to the telling of the story - otherwise, it's up to the actors and directors.

    (g) I wrote in that she identifies herself by the chakkie - but the actual scene was designed by Rob, I believe. The Battling Bard you can lay at RJ's doorstep. (G) I think I want a tshirt made up of that last fight scene in the sand storm with that caption below it.

  • The quote: "Gabrielle, in everyone's life there's something that goes beyond the greater good. That's what you are in my life." was a great line. Was that yours?

    That was mine, yes.

  • Comments on the Gab polo game and Xena's many skills...

    Well, it's funny thing about that. (g) Originally, I was going to have Gab quartered - you know, a rope on each arm and leg, attached to horses, giddap, four bard bits no waiting.

    I think they thought polo would just be more fun, and easier for them to set up. (and safer for Renee. Those horses are big animals, and she's a small person. I hate to think of her having those ropes tied off and one of the horses spooking)

    However, that was too violent and shocking, so I was told I had to use death by polo instead. After I obediently complied, I mentioned that Xena has to dig Gab out and pull her up onto a horse in a matter of seconds - how do we explain that?

    Well, seems I had two choices. Either dont' explain it, or have Xena race by, duck down on one side and grab Gab's hair and just pull real hard like she was trying to pluck a carrot from the ground.

    I chose no explanation. (g)

    Well, you know - I try to be reasonably logical when I do my story ideas. For instance - I was going to have Gabrielle pulled apart by four horses, one with a rope tied to each limb instead of polo heading her - but they said that would be too brutal. (g)

  • Why didn't the nomads know that Xena was alive?

    It seemed reasonable to me that an outpost like North Africa would not have heard yet about specifics known at court, and we did discuss that - to determine how much the nomads would or wouldn't know about Xena - they expect her to be dead and all.

    Rome's a big empire. (g)

  • Comments on the foot-washing scene?

    They spoke the dialog as written - but the jealous interpretation was all theirs. (g) I didn't write any direction in the script indicating that, if that's what you're asking.

    I think it was an absolutely perfect interpretation of the material, however. (ggg) I also really, really liked how Renee played the whole scene with Korah.

  • Subtext? or Maintext?

    (g) I think what I said was that I hadn't put any subtext into Legacy. That's what the quote was, though it was actually part of a larger discussion which really was about the nature of what subtext was. I said, in that larger discussion that a lot of folks think 'subtext' is the sly wink wink nudge nudge type (like the bathing in Altered States, or 'is that a hickey?' in BTDT) - and based on that I didn't put any subtext into either ep.

    Of course - the other side of that is, since I've written as much as I have in fanfic of X and G, when I write them even 'for real' - I have a certain view of them and that influences how I write their dialog and interaction. Ie, for me, it's not subtext, it's maintext, and I proceed accordingly in my writing with the exception that I don't put anything in that would definitively indicate a phyiscal relationship.

    I did, on the other hand, put in a couple of things that could be viewed as ambigous and interpreted any way you choose, which is what I actually consider 'subtext'. And some things in Legacy that were definitely considered subtext were put in by the actors and the producer without annnnyyyy help from me AT all. (laughing)

  • What about Xena's scene when Gab is chained up?

    Actually - that's an excellent example of subtext that gets put in by the actors/director themselves. That scene was not scripted at all in the shooting draft. There was a scene in the final draft I submitted that had Xena seeming to feel Gab's distress from afar, but it was cut in the shooting draft. Then - after they put in the clip sequence, it semed a natural place to fade from Gab's point of view, to Xena's - to illustrate their connection so they put that scene back in when they shot the ep.

    Cuddling, sleeping on Gab's side of the bed, snuggling with her blanket - that was all inserted by the actress and or the director. Given that it was a new director, I'd bet on it being Lucy's decision.

  • What did Gabrielle leave out of those scrolls? Inquiring minds want to know. (g)

    (g) Depends on your point of view, doesn't it? (g) I meant it in the sense that Kahina now understands that the Xena she read about in the scrolls wasn't exactly the real life, flesh and blood Xena currently screwing up her life. That Gabrielle might possibly have written Xena through a filter of familiarity and love that presented her in the best light possible.

    (g) The line was deliberately left to everyone's imagination as to what Kahina was talking about. (an example of what I personally think is actually 'subtext', because you really can read anything into it you like.)

    However. (g) It was details about Xena that I was thinking of when I wrote that particular line, both her dark side, and the fact that she and Gabrielle were more chummy than the official stories let on. So, you're both actually right. It's one of my favorite lines from the script, along with the 'roman noble/slave' line, another deliberately ambiguous comment. (G)

    Actually, I've gotten a bit of mail debating on whether that, or the 'you be the master, I be the slave' line was the more subtexty. I liked them both because you really could interpret them any way you chose to - which is what I think subtext really should be. (g) Otherwise, it's not subtext. It's maintext.

News:

Multimedia:

Merpup Commentary:

Disclaimer:

Despite severe air turbulence, no sand fleas were harmed during the making of this motion picture, although some experienced periodic bouts of motion sickness.

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