Lucifer's Feet from "Heart of Darkness"

I bought these fantastic latex feet from a Xena Prop House collector who got them directly from KNB EFX Group after production on Xena: Warrior Princess ended.

They were worn by Alex Mendoza as Lucifer in the 6th season episode "Heart of Darkness" and possibly later by Joel Tobeck in the same role in the episode "You Are There."

The feet are barely visible in "Heart of Darkness" except in several shots where we see Lucifer flying as he fights with Xena.

I wish I had had these in my collection when I met Howard Berger of KNB back in 2006!

Scythe From "The Way"

One of my favourite episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess is "The Way."  In that episode, the god Krishna transforms Xena into Kali so that she can defeat the evil Indrajit.  Ever since the series ended and the props and costumes were auctioned off, one of my "holy grails" has been a Kali Scythe.  I was recently able to purchase one from fellow Xena Prop House member, Tedra!

Like most of the bladed weapons created for the show, this one is made of closed cell foam around a metal rod and then coated with resin and painted.  This one has clearly seen some action!  There are some great little bites taken out of the blade; obviously made during Xena's epic battle with Indrajit.

I love the detail on this prop.  It makes a great addition to my collection.

Following its appearance in "The Way," a scythe like this was used by Alti in the fifth season episode "Them Bones, Them Bones."  In this case, it was mostly a computer-generated prop used by Alti's skeleton until it is knocked from her hand.

Robert Trebor at Toronto Trek 2001

In 2001, Toronto Trek followed the successful appearance of Alexandra Tydings and Claire Stansfield with an appearance by Robert Trebor who played Salmoneus on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.

Trebor is a unique and funny performer and it was interesting to hear him speak about his varied history in film and television.  I bought a copy of his book, Dear Salmoneus.

Happy Holidays!

From "A Solstice Carol"

Agora

Agora was written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar (The Others, The Sea Inside).  It premiered at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals in 2009.  

This is not really a "sword and sandals" film but rather an historical drama about the life of the Alexandrian philosopher, Hypatia.  I want to discuss it here mainly for the fantastic production design work by Guy Hendrix Dyas (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Superman Returns).

Dyas and his team did an incredible job of bringing to life the city of Alexandria in 391 CE.  Today, there is very little of ancient Alexandria left.  The modern city is built largely atop the original, even using the same grid system designed by Alexander the Great.  

Through painstaking research about the historical city, Dyas managed to design something that really feels like a living city but that is also extremely beautiful on film.  Alexandria was a port city and one that benefitted from a unique conflux of Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultural and artistic sensibilities.  The city seems to include the best of all three worlds in its design.

One of the highlights is the re-creation of the famous Alexandrian lighthouse: one of the ancient wonders of the world.  It's seen only in passing on screen but the attention to detail is quite wonderful.  The other amazing re-creation is of the ill-fated Alexandrian library which is the setting for a great portion of the film.

Hypatia is played by Rachel Weisz who does a great job of bringing to life the famous female philosopher.  I find the film profoundly sad for two reasons.  First, history notes that Hypatia was one of the first women to work and write extensively in mathematics and science.  She had the benefit of her father's tutelage and the amazing resources of the library but was seldom taken seriously because of the rise of Christianity and its disdain for women as anything but subservient to men.  The film romanticizes her murder somewhat.  The historical Hypatia is said to have been flayed alive by a group of Christians after being accused of speaking her mind.

Second, as much as the film focuses on Hypatia, it also chronicles the rise of Christianity in Alexandria and the hate and intolerance it brought with it.  Granted, Christians themselves had been persecuted since the dawn of their religion but did that give them the right to slaughter those of other faiths?  The film is really an indictment of Christianity.  It depicts Christians as short-sighted villains who willfully kill others and destroy the Alexandrian library and its half a million texts. About 1% of those texts have survived to today.  Imagine all that was lost?!  The sequence of the library's destruction is extremely painful to watch.

Agora is a perfect name for this film.  The agora was a "place of assembly" in ancient Greek cities; sort of a town square.  Ancient Alexandria was like an agora for the Mediterranean.  It was a meeting place for all cultures and peoples until the 4th century CE when intolerance and hate almost destroyed it.  Countless treasures of human thought were lost.  Who knows how Western civilization may have evolved had the Alexandrian library remained intact and continued its mission of collecting the world's knowledge and training new scholars?  

As I mentioned above, Agora is really not a sword and sandals film but I recommend it highly to fans of the genre and everyone else.

Alexandra Tydings and Claire Stansfield at Toronto Trek 2000

I met my first cast members from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess at a convention called Toronto Trek in 2000.  Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite) and Claire Stansfield (Alti) were fantastic convention guests!  They seemed genuinely happy to be there and they filled the autograph room with energy!  They brought a ghetto blaster and played fun music which made the lines more tolerable and when you reached them they really made the autograph session personal.

I've been going to conventions since 1991 and this remains one of my all time favourite con experiences!  Thanks, ladies!

Eye Candy: Karl Urban as Cupid

6'1" Karl Urban was born in New Zealand in 1972.  His acting career began in earnest after he completed high school.  He appeared on the TV series Shortland Street for a season before moving on to appear in three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess as Cupid.  He would also play Julius Caesar in several episodes of both series.  He is probably best-known now for  his appearances in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pathfinder (2007) and Star Trek (2009).

In "The Green-Eyed Monster"

In "For Him the Bell Tolls"

In "A Comedy of Eros"