Xena Warrior Princess reboot might still be happening after all

A number of months ago, NBC revealed that they were working on developing a reboot of the Xena: Warrior Princess TV series, with Sam Raimi producing alongside original co-creator Rob Tapert. There was no word on whether or not the series’ original star, Lucy Lawless, would be returning or involved in the reboot at all though, and the last we heard from the project was that it was desperately in need of a writer.

Finally, after months and months of silence from the project too, it looks like the reboot has officially begun to move forward in the development process.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach has been brought on to pen the series’ pilot episode, who worked heavily on Lost and will serve as an executive producer on the series alongside Tapert and Raimi. The report states that the series will follow a new and modern Xena, who combines the charisma and charm of Lawless’ original iteration with the edge of characters like The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen.

Despite fans’ wishes and hopes too, there has been no updates on Lawless’ involvement in the reboot, even though the actress has continued to voice her enthusiasm for a reboot over the years as well. Unfortunately, considering how the original series concluded, it would be difficult to include Lawless’ version of the character, without some kind of explanation that the writers and producers might not be willing to sacrifice time to make.

Part of what made the original Xena series so charming though was the time period it lived during,and while I’m not entirely skeptical that this project can work, I’m also seriously hoping that the new reboot doesn’t try and take the fun out of the property, like so many reimaginings and reboots have done over the past few years. Raimi and Tapert were able to bring back the spirit of Evil Dead completely in tact with Ash vs. Evil Dead, so here’s to hoping they can do the same thing here as well.

The Xena: Warrior Princess reboot is currently in development at NBC.


geeknation.com

So conflicted about this. 

I would love this to happen so that the franchise of this awesome show can be revived. 

But on the other hand I would rather only all the originals were involved in it.

Also I would be a lot happier if it was anyone other then NBC. 

NBC hasn't been the same since ER ended, they cancel more shows then they keep. 

Their track record for making good shows has gone downhill since then as well.

As a life long fan of the original, "new and modern" Xena just doesn't appeal to me. 

If they were to drastically change it, I would rather it was left alone altogether. 

The fact that Rob Tapert is supposedly involved does give me a small glimmer of hope though.

Remembering the true "Spartacus" Andy Whitfield

Gone but not forgotten R.I.P. Andy, so glad we got to know you even for a little while miss you :(.

'Xena' body armor for U.S. Military Women?

The US military is developing “Xena: Warrior Princess”-style body armor for women that it hopes will give them greater protection on the battlefield, with more curves in the chest and hips.


It is a considerable engineering challenge to make body armor that better fits the bodies of female troops, US military officials acknowledge, and such armor may be years in the making.


In the meantime, Army engineers are forging ahead with improvements that they hope will provide much-needed changes after a decade of women serving on the front lines of an unpredictable battlefield.


Much of the impetus to change the body armor came in 2009, when the female soldiers of the storied 101st Airborne Division deployed to war and had some concerns about the gear they had to use on a daily basis.



“It rubbed on the hips, and the vests were too long in the front, so that when you had female soldiers climbing stairs or climbing up a hill or a tree, or sitting for a long time in a vehicle, that would create pressure points that in some instances could impact blood flow and cause some discomfort,” says Lt. Col. Frank Lozano, who helps develop female body armor.


Ill-fitting body armor is “more than a matter of comfort,” according to a subsequent US Army study. “It affects combat effectiveness.”


The study found that the poor fit of the body armor on female soldiers “made it difficult for [them] to properly aim their weapons and enter or exit vehicles.”



And so the Army set about to see what it could do to improve the fit of body armor for women. “It became clear to us that there was a difference in torso length,” says Lozano, who is the product manager for the Army’s soldier protective-equipment program. “The other point that we realized is that there is a significant difference in shoulder width. I read this data, and it seems so obvious.”


The most important goal is to be able to “spread out the energy” when a bullet hits the body armor plates, says Douglas Graham, a spokesman for the Army’s Office of Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment.

“Some people would like to eventually make plates so it’s like ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and conforms to the shape” of female soldiers, he adds.

Yet there are engineering challenges. The more curves the plates have, the heavier they get. It also creates potential weaknesses in the armor, like creasing a paper, Lozano explains.

“There are some complex curvatures that come into play with female hard-armor plates,” he says. “I could make female hard armor, but it would be twice as heavy.” As a result, some of the Army’s developmental efforts involve “unique chemical designs” to create plates that are lighter and conform to different body shapes.

Currently, female soldiers have a choice of 11 male body-armor sizes.

Now, the Army is testing eight additional sizes made specifically for women, with, among other changes, more-narrow shoulders and “bra-shaped darting” in the chest.

Some 100 women of the 101st Airborne Division, who will soon be headed to Afghanistan, are testing them and have given positive early feedback. “They say, ‘I could wear this all day,’ ‘I could run a marathon in this,’ and ‘It feels much lighter,’ even though it really isn’t any lighter,” Lozano says.

Now, he adds, the challenge will be finding the money, in the midst of robust calls for cuts in defense spending, to mass-produce them.

MSNBC

It's amazing how a little show like Xena Warrior Princess still serves as an inspiration in all kinds of different areas all these years later.

Happy Birthday Lucy L.!

Photo: askmen.com

A very Happy Birthday to Ms. Lucy Lawless.  Who turns 43 today.  All the best :).

Happy Birthday Ms. Lawless

Image Source

Happy Birthday Lucy (42 has never looked better!). Thanks for continuing to entertain and inspire us all. =).

'Spartacus' and 'Seeker' thrill @ Comic-Con

WOW. Is it January yet?!. Looks like Rob & co. have outdone themselves once again.

Speaking of the new season 2 trailer for Legend of the Seeker was also released.



Word is that Buffy alum Charisma Carpenter aka Cordelia Chase will be on the show as well (I hope she gets a big part).

Can't wait to see the sneak-peek for Dollhouse.

Happy Birthday to my favourite t.v. heroine

Ms. Lucy Lawless turns 41 today. Looking as good as ever!. Happy Birthday!.

And congrats on 11 successful years of marriage (March 28) to her and Mr. Rob Tapert. All the best.

Xena: the chocolate Warrior Princess

A bit of cool or should I say yummy? pop-culture news for today. Two of my favourite things chocolate and Xena :D.

Source

Actually the original source is here but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment, me thinks the Xena fans have crashed the website server *lol*.

As Homer Simpson would say "mmmm..... chocolate Xena", ok that's SO wrong I'm gonna stop now *lol*.

Seriously though that's gotta be one of the most unique costumes I've ever seen.

I don't really see much resemblance to Lucy Lawless facially-wise but the costume is very close.

It does remind me more of the costume from " A Friend in Need" or an Egyptian version of one then the original (obviusly the woman couldn't make an exact replica due to copyright infringement), but awesome looking nonetheless.

I wonder if the whole thing is edible or just the armor.

Fun with #3 on BSG

This is what I like to call vintage Lucy Lawless, you just can't write the kind of responses that she comes up with lol.

Whenever I need a good laugh I can always count on her to provide it. Oh, and a nice jab about Rob Luce LOL. Guess he's the only one who can boss her around lol.

Happy B-Day Lucy Lawless!

As I've done every year since starting this blog I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Ms. Lawless (40 has never looked so good!). Cheers to many more:).

And although it's a day late Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. Tapert.

Happy Birthday to the son of the warrior princess :)

A very Happy Birthday goes out to Lucy Lawless's little man Julius Tapert, who is not so little anymore he turns 8 today:). Congrats to him and the proud parents as well :).

Another year of wishes

I meant to mention this earlier in the day but fell asleep, I've been exhausted this week. Anyway I wanna wish my favourite couple Lucy Lawless and Rob Tapert a happy 9th wedding anniversary (March 28).

I wish them happiness, success and longevity in their personal and professional endeavors.

http://www.askmen.com/women/galleries/actress/lucy-lawless/picture-1.html

I also want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Mrs. Lawless who turns 39 today (March 29). Here's to a wonderful day filled with family, love, laughter and cheer. All the best.

As they say in New Zealand, good on ya! Lucy :) and wishing you luck with "Football Wives".

Happy Birthday Julius Tapert!!

I couldn't call myself much of a Xena fan if I didn't remember all the important dates. In this case it's the Birthday of Lucy Lawless 's oldest son Julius Tapert. Julius turns 7 today so a very Happy Birthday to him!!. All the best to the proud parents as well. Time really flies I still remember him as a cute chubby little toddler lol.

Celebrity Duets the votes are in........

And Alfonzo Ribeiro is the winner. As the winner he gets $100,000 for his favourite charity. Congrats to him. I know that I said I had no problems with who wins that I would be happy either way and I am. But at the same time I can't help but feel a little sad that Lucy lost.

At least I was right about the competition being between Alfonzo and Lucy. Hal got the boot, before they announced the winner. He really didn't impress me all that much, his scream-fest has gotten on my nerves the last few performances. His best one was the very first duet with Dennis De Young.

Tonight everyone got in on the singing gig, including Mr. unintelligible himself Little Richard who sang "Good Golly Miss Molly". Which I admit was a nice blast from the past. Before that all 8 celebrities returned for a group number.

David Foster joined in on the piano as the celebs sang songs written by him. And of course there's Marie who also sang a little something with the group. Even the host got a chance to belt out a song with Boys 2 Men. And I have to say Wayne Brady can carry a tune!.

Lucy's husband Rob and daughter Daisy were in the audience again tonight, too bad Renee couldn't make it for the finale.

Tonight was also a chance for the 3 remaining celebs to show off their skills singing solo. Lucy was totally rocking out during hers on a raised platform. I don't know what song it was exactly but it sounded great and she was having a blast doing it.

Even though Lucy didn't win I have to say I am so proud to be her fan, she brought so much fun to her performances it was a blast watching her sing with all these legends and grow more confident with each passing week.

I am sure she will have no regrets or gripes about not winning, after all how can you not feel like a winner when you've sang with some of the best in the business?. I hope that this experience convinces her to continue with her singing.

And who knows? maybe even make an album one of these days. I am so glad I taped all her performances, now I can go back and relive them all over again. I just cannot get enough of her duets last night with Smokey and Bonnie lol. It's sort of hard to believe it's over. I 've gotten used to watching Lucy perform every Thursday and Friday night.

She may not have won the phone poll, but she'll always be a winner in the eyes of all her fans:D.

As they say in New Zealand good on ya Lucy!

Duet pics from last night

Lucy with Bonnie Tyler

Just putting these up 'cause I loved the way Lucy was dressed last night.

Celebrity Duets: Week 5

Well this is it, the last chance for all the celebs to give it their best shot. I have to say that Lucy and Alfonzo really delivered!. Lucy sang with Bonnie Tyler one of my all time fave 80's songs "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and she sounded great!.

This song was perfect for her voice she even went as for as to adapt to her duet partners voice and made hers sound more raspy. Now that's talent!. Out of everyone else in this competition Lucy has really held her own in terms of genres. No one else had to do as many as her, Alfonzo sang a lot of ballad/ rock type stuff and Hal has done rock and heavy metal.

None of these genres take the singers out of their comfort zone. So if nothing else Lucy has proven she can really bring it in that department. Her second duet of the night was with Mr. Smokey Robinson (her own choice). The song was "Fly me to the Moon" it was a jazz/blues number, she sounded absolutely great! and looked so relaxed.

Tonight was the first night I noticed how much Lucy has improved over the past 5 weeks, she was no longer worried about the song so much and just went out there and had fun. She looked great as always but this time, it wasn't just that. This time she also sang great in both duets.

I've read a lot of comments on message boards where people kept saying Lucy was only getting through because of her looks and so on, well I hope tonight proves to them all that they were sorely mistaken!. I won't really say who I want to win as long as it is not Hal I'll be happy (of course I would be ecstatic if it's Lucy:D).

But Alfonzo has done a great job and if he wins I'm good with that too. He has an amazing voice. As for the judges well Marie finally paid Lucy a complement in her second performance without any critique attached to it, that was great to hear. She did say something in her first performance about Lucy fading out on certain words or not breathing hard enough or something along those lines but she still thought it was great.

Little Richard actually made sense tonight! in most of his comments, miracles do happen lol. Not that it has ever really mattered what the heck the judges say on this show it's all about the fans or fandoms. Basically it's now left up to the fans to decide who wins. And well the Xenaverse has always been really good at voting someone to the top spot:D.

Lucy's husband Rob and pal Renee O'Connor were supposedly in the audience tonight but I did not see them, probably just blind. Will have to look back at the tape. I'm hoping they all show up tomorrow especially since it is live unlike tonight. Can't wait to see what surprises await tomorrow aside from announcing the winner that is.

Celebrity Duets: And then there were 3

Before I say anything about Lucy tonight I just have to say I was absolutely shocked that Jai got the boot!. He was one of the best singers and he deserved to be one of the final 3 not Hal. I don't know what the heck happened there I guess it's like many people have said Hal got a lot of pity votes.

Because they certainly weren't voting based on Thursdays singing if that was the case Jai would have stayed. I think even the judges were shocked. Except for Little Richard who actually wanted Hal to stay.

But on to the important stuff, Lucy is in the finale, yeah!. She deserves it especially after last nights performance. Although she didn't get as many votes as the previous week. I'm so glad she's still in it, now I have a reason to watch this thing to the very end lol. I wanna see Lucy get that money for her charity:D.

Oh, and I am so glad Cheech is finally out, about damn time!. So it is now between Lucy Hal and Alfonzo who I guess received the most amount of votes tonight. Next week should be very interesting, I can't wait to see what artists they have in store. I was also very happy to see Lucy so relaxed having fun and basically being herself. Loved it when she rubbed Wayne's head for luck lol. I love when she's being a goof lol.

Also loved what she was wearing tonight jeans and high heeled boots. It was another rocker chick outfit and it looked great. Lucy's daughter was in the audience again tonight, I'm still hoping to see Renee there next week. What? I can dream lol.

Celebrity Duets week 4

Wow! now that's what I'm talking about, Lucy Lawless totally rocked tonight!. She sang with Richard Marx I was so happy. Since she couldn't sing with Cindi he was the next best thing, and they sang one of my fave songs of his "I'll Be Right Here Waiting For You". The reason Cindi Lauper was not there was because apparently that was just a rumor, she was never going to be on at all, too bad.

Like I said Lucy still kicked butt with Richard!. For the first time in the competition everyone was able to really hear her voice and it was absolutely great. She seemed more relaxed tonight then all the previous times. And not at all hesitant or timid as Marie would say. I think having her family with her was a big factor in that. She had both her sons with her and her older daughter Daisy was cheering for her in the audience.

That had to feel nice and I'm certain it give her a boost of confidence. Hopefully if she makes it to the final the whole family will be there:D. She got praise from all 3 judges tonight, finally. Well OK 2 I never count Little Richard because I still need a dictionary when he speaks lol. Although Marie had to put in her comment about relating more to her singing partner by touching his shoulder, whatever Marie.

Lucy was on second tonight and had a tough act to follow with Jai and Patti LaBelle tearing down the place with "Lady Marmalade". But I think she really pulled it off. Her best performance to date. I can't wait to see what song Lucy will sing with Marx tomorrow. And she better go through I want her to be in the final 3.

As for the others well again I want Cheech OUT already and the same goes for Hal who did way too much screaming then singing tonight. Aside from Lucy's performance Alfonso was my second favourite. So my pick for the final 3 are Lucy, Jai and Alfonzo. Lucy looked great again tonight (as if that's a huge surprise lol) in a tight black leather dress, I'll have some pics later in the day.

Another Celebrity Duets pic:)

Here is another pic of Lucy this time in the gold dress from last night:).

Photo by Sharon Delaney from Lucy's official site

Celebrity Duets America has voted and...

The Xenaverse kicks butt again! Lucy Lawless was the top vote getter tonight:D. She looked absolutely gorgeous again in a gold gown, and I liked this song she did with Dionne better then the one last night. The group number at the beginning was great as well this time they did Earth Wind And Fires "September".

So far I still haven't heard that one knock out song from her, she's doing great with the artists but I'm hoping she gets some better songs next week. One where she does most of the singing instead of the other way around.

I can't wait to see who she gets paired up with. Hope it's Cindi Lauper:D. The bottom three tonight were Hal Sparks, Cheech, and Carly Patterson.

Poor Carly got the boot, which I thought was unfair it should have been Cheech I don't even know why the heck he's still there.

And Hal should not have been in the bottom 3 it should have been Jai who had a less then stellar night Thursday. But oh well, what are you gonna do, at least Lucy is still in this thing:D.

It'll be interesting to see how she handles the pressure of being the only woman left in the competition. Next week things are gonna get tougher with 2 people being voted off instead of 1.

Thankfully we were spared any comments from Little Richard tonight who had a prior engagement, I say thank god! that man makes no sense to me anyway lol.