Per il ciclo di interviste:
"Gli amici di Xena"

Scanto intervista Stephanie (webmaster di The Royal Academy of Bards)

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Hi, Stephanie, welcome to xandrella.com from all our staff. Your site "The Royal Academy of Bards" is one of the most important for Xena's fanfiction.
1. Tell us something about you and how you knew Xena.

I first heard about Xena during Season 2. I heard there was going to be a kiss between the lead actresses from my gay moms list so I looked at my tv guide and there was an episode coming on that evening. It was Destiny. I was intrigued with the interaction of Xena and Gabrielle so I tuned in for the Quest and I saw every episode after that.

2. How did your site get started?
One of the sites I originally started going to once I found fanfiction was Tom’s Xena page (www.xenafan.com). Around the beginning of 2000, Tom announced he wasn’t going to be updating the fanfic site anymore. On Missy Good’s Merwolf list there was a big outcry about where people would go for fanfiction. Missy offered to sponsor a site if someone would run it. Myself and several other people offered up. I’m not really sure at this point how it ended up with me doing most of the updating and creating of the site but I guess I probably just stepped in and started doing it. By Mid-March, I had contacted a few of my friends who were writers and they agreed to let us host their work as well. Originally we had people like Advocate (Blayne Cooper), XWP Fanatic, Barbara Davies, Midgit, Redhawk, Tragedy 88 (Keket), Carrie Carr and AJ allow me to put their works on the site. That gave us our base. I’ve never forgotten those friends who gave us our start.

I figured I’d be updating maybe once a week at first then it would taper off to monthly. Little did I know that the response to the site would be overwhelming and we were pretty much having to update on a daily basis to keep up. With a handful of exceptions from our March 30th, 2000 coming out, we’ve been continuing to update daily! Who would have guessed there would be that sort of response? I’m pretty sure none of us did, including Missy who, to this day, is the sole financial support of our site.

In creating a site from the ground up after having the ability to see what we liked in other sites and what we wanted to make different to make it more reader friendly. We noted that most sites didn’t have stories with a short synopsis..some didn’t even have them separated by genre. We wanted to make The Academy of Bards a place that anyone could come to visit and make an informed decision about what they wanted to read. So we insisted on the authors telling us in their words about their story and what genre they wanted it in.

We also wanted to give exposure to almost anyone who wanted to write. I’m very glad we decided to make it an open list. This decision allowed for some of the best darned writers I’ve read to have a place to get their start. I’m very proud of that.

3. What season, character and episode of Xena you like most and why?

I think I will have to say I am a big fan of Season 3. I mean, wow, what episodes we had there! Sure there was ‘the rift’ but to counter that we had The Debt I & II, One Against an Army, Bitter Suite and probably one of the funniest lines ever...from Fins, Femmes and Gems “fisting a fish”

My favorite character probably has to be Xena. No matter how much she was kicked down, she always came back. Sometimes she needed a little help from Gabrielle but she didn’t let adversity get in her way. She managed to get the job done.

My favorite episode of XWP...boy that’s sure a hard one. I had so many. I think I’ll have to go with When Fates Collide. There simply was no subtext in that episode, it was all maintext and pretty much all about the bond between Xena and Gabrielle that not even the Fates could prevent.

4. Xena is maybe the first tv show wherein the storyline is based on the sentimental relationship between two women, even if in the subtext. How much, according to you, has this contributed to open the way for other more explicit relationships in tv series like "Buffy" or "The L Word"?

I think that Xena really pushed Buffy to explore the relationship between Tara and Willow because with Xena it was so much ‘are they are aren’t they?’ Because of the relationship(s) on Buffy with the same-sex, I believe that opened the door for more shows so in effect started the road for shows such as “The L Word” that are straight-forward in their portrayal of same-sex sex and relationships.

5. For me, Xena's and Gabrielle's various "flings" for men, especially in the earlier seasons, were put in the stories to "reassure" the audience more orthodox about the sexual preferences of the two women, when some episode like "The Quest" or "One Against An Army" disturbed their conscience. What do you think about it?

I think that maybe originally the chemistry between Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor wasn’t anticipated and the assumption was that the women were straight as Xena had been written in the Hercules series. Little did anyone know that the characters themselves would determine that Xena and Gabrielle belonged together!

6. Are you satisfied about the way Robert Tapert and his staff developed the sentimental theme between Xena and Gabrielle through the seasons or, in your opinion, they could do something more?

Rob, are you reading this? Could you have at least given us one non-debated kiss or made The Ring Trilogy one last longer? :) I mean come on, how could there not have been one in the prison in “The Ides of March”? Or again, the prison in “When Fates Collide”? There were so many opportunities! And for the love of all that is holy will you please film one more episode? I would like to see DJWP’s The Marriage of Xena and Gabrielle made into an episode. Thank you <grin>

7. The final episode of the show ("A Friend in Need") was very debated in Italy. Many disliked it. What were your reactions? Did you like it or not?

I liked it; I hated it. I cried and I yelled at the screen. It was probably mostly true to the story Rob and company wanted to tell though I think that Gabrielle would have said to hell with everyone else, come back for me! I really would have loved to have seen “When Fates Collide” the last episode. I could have dealt with FiN if Fates had been the series end. I keep bringing that episode up. It really must be my favorite!

8. What is Gabrielle for Xena mainly: a lover, a wife or a friend? And in what order you'd put these three faces if you had to grade them?

I think Gabrielle was whatever Xena needed her to be at the time. I think first and foremost she was her partner and by the end, her equal partner. If I had only the three choices I would pick the order of friend, lover, wife.

9. In your opinion, Xena's fanfiction writers only took inspiration from the tv series or also gave ideas to the show? Like the "soulmates" concept, anticipated by the "soulbounds" in Missy Good's works, for example.

Well Missy, of course, wrote two episodes (plus two more that unfortunately weren’t filmed) so she did give her ideas to the show. I think for the most part the show inspired the fanfic writers which in some miniscule way might have influenced the direction of the show because of the feedback from the community of fans.

10. You are also the author of a book, "Telltale Kisses". What can you tell us about it?

I actually didn’t write the book I only helped edit a bit and I compiled it. This was a project that was a benefit for a baseball league that had their funds stolen by the former president. Without the funds brought forth from the book and by the donations many sent in, I’m not sure it would have succeeded. I’m happy to announce that everything will be fine for the next year.

The book is still doing well and has gotten rave reviews. I’m very proud of it and the writers who donated their time, effort and talents to it. I might be willing to do another one (with the help of the awesome writers of course!) if the right project and charity came along.

Thank you very much for your willingness. Ciao.

And thank you for asking!

steph