History YMMV / XenaWarriorPrincess

* LGBTFanbase: ''To unbelievable levels''. Xena: Warrior Princess is such a hit with queer women given the implications between Xena and Gabrielle, as well as with other women such as Lao Ma, Brunhilda, M'Lila, Najara, and Akemi. There was a group called the Marching Xenas that had participated in Pride Months, Suburu utilized Xena's popularity among queer women when they marketed their cars towards them, as they had ads that said XENA LVR (Xena Lover), and Xena even pioneered some of the earlier fem-slash fan fiction online, which was known then as "altfic".
* {{Misblamed}}: Fans complained loudly and often about Season 5, usually blaming new show-runners Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for everything. While being show-runners made them responsible for many creative decisions, they nonetheless still had to answer to Rob Tapert, and the series was also hurt a number of experienced, local personnel leaving to work on the big-budget ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'''s trilogy.

* MyRealDaddy: Although John Schulian created the character in Hercules for the episode "The Warrior Princess", his Xena was more of a FemmeFatale and then a DistaffCounterpart to Hercules. It was the head writer for Xena, RJ Stewart who refined the character as we know her.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Joxer

* SeasonalRot: Despite being more popular than its parent series, which for reference got better as it went along, ''Xena'' seems to have peaked in season 3. Four is considered a let down compared to the previous season and season 5, to put it bluntly, was not liked, due to a lack of action[[note]]Lucy Lawless was pregnant at the time season 5 was filmed (which was worked into the show), which greatly limited the actions she could perform[[/note]] and the infamous "Twilight of The Gods" arc, which is considered by some to be one of the worst storylines in TV history. Season 6 is seen as a modest improvement, although fans are split on how the series ends.

* MorePopularSpinoff: Of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''.

* ScapegoatCreator: Fans complained loudly and often about Season 5 at the time, usually blaming new show-runners Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for everything. Apparently, it wasn't just the fans who felt this way, as Kurtzman and Orci were suspiciously gone about halfway through the season. While being show-runners made them responsible for many creative decisions, they nonetheless still had to answer to Rob Tapert. The series was also hurt by ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'''s production, as a number of experienced, local personnel left to work on the big-budget trilogy.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Some of the CGI and blue-screen effects used in the earlier episodes (such as in "The Titans", "Prometheus" and "Mortal Beloved") have ''not'' aged well. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the budget wasn't exactly high. Plus, the show has a deliberately high camp value anyway.

** Callisto and Ares. Well, ''everyone'' is sexy in this series, but the villains tend to be sexier than the average peasant.

* When Xena saved Cleopatra from an AssassinationAttempt, the ruler of Egypt said that Xena would be welcome to come to her kingdom at any time. The looks both gave each other seemed to have a lot more going than just friendship.

** ''The Bitter Suite'' is best remembered for Xena getting a ShamefulStrip from Ares and to a lesser extent Gabrielle running around naked.
** To say nothing of the ''three'' nude dancing Gabrielles in another episode.

** In "Remember Nothing," Xena is finally driven to take back her wish upon seeing Gabrielle kill someone. Congratulations, you've saved your partner's innocence...for a whole one year.

** Eli. Fans either like him for his bond with Gabrielle and being kind, courageous, and willing to lay down his life for the sake of humanity to be free of JerkassGods, or fans find him unbearably preachy, hypocritical for forcing his beliefs on others, and consider him the keystone to the SeasonalRot the show faced. The fact his introduction led to the introduction of Christian story lines in a show meant to explore ancient mythologies and religions is also a point of contention.

** Multiple episodes taking place in modern day with the principle actors playing reincarnations/descendants/look a likes of themselves, because...why not?

** Ephiny gives Gabrielle the staff her mother passed down to her, saying she knows it's in the right hands. And Gabby will end up throwing it in a river like a piece of trash, one of the biggest reasons her pacifism arc is so unpopular. EH! WRONG. So sorry but that staff got chopped in half when Gabrielle was fighting at Troy in "Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts". It was a completely different staff that got chucked in the river.

** Ephiny gives Gabrielle the staff her mother passed down to her, saying she knows it's in the right hands. And Gabby will end up throwing it in a river like a piece of trash, one of the biggest reasons her pacifism arc is so unpopular.

* SeasonalRot: Season 5 is generally regarded by Xena fans as when the show went downhill, with some going so far as to call that season's "Twilight of the Gods" arc one of the worst in tv history, while season 6 is met with a BrokenBase, particularly the two-part finale, although many at least consider it an improvement over season 5.

* RetroactiveRecognition: This show provided a stepping stone for many now-familiar faces in the science-fiction circuits, such as pre-''Series/{{Roswell}}'' Shiri Appleby, pre-''Series/{{Firefly}}'' Creator/GinaTorres, pre-''Series/{{Farscape}}'' Creator/ClaudiaBlack, pre-''Series/{{iZombie}}'' Rose [=McIver=], and pre-''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' Creator/SelmaBlair. There was also an early appearance from Kathryn Morris of ''Series/ColdCase'' fame, and Creator/ManuBennett almost a decade before his roles in ''Series/{{Spartacus}}'' and ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. (Other ''Spartacus'' actors who earlier appeared on ''Xena'' include Craig Parker, Kevin J. Wilson, Antonio Te Maioha, Stephen Lovatt, Craig Walsh-Wrightson, Jeffrey Thomas, and Peter Feeney.) And of course, Creator/KarlUrban, who played no less than ''four'' different characters across the first five seasons.

* CultClassic

* EvilIsSexy: Callisto and Ares. Well, ''everyone'' is sexy in this series, but the villains tend to be sexier than the average peasant.

** The homoerotic relationship between Xena and Gabrielle constantly walked the line between subtext and text.
*** It's text in the modern-day reincarnation episodes, they get married and everything.

* MyRealDaddy: Although John Schulian created the character in Hercules for the episode The Warrior Princess his Xena was more of a FemmeFatale and then a DistaffCounterpart to Hercules. It was the head writer for Xena, RJ Stewart who refined the character as we know her.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: ''''Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate'', a 3D FightingGame for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}, is the very definition of "button masher". Characters' standard attacks are performed by rapidly pressing the C buttons repeatedly, and those were the only {{Combo}}s the game offered due to high ending lag on all attacks. Special moves and throws had such a high amount of startup lag, often for a full second (!), that the only way to not get punished for them is to camp. To make matters worse, there was a fairly large amount of HitboxDissonance to go with it. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And the game's villain is an]] OriginalCharacter, a BigRedDevil [[GenericDoomsdayVillain with the fittingly generic name of "Despair"]]. That said, the music and the graphics were well-done.
** Fun fact: the game's developer was Creator/TitusSoftware. Yes, [[VideoGame/{{Superman 64}} THAT Titus Software]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The gods in the "Twilight of the Gods" arc. They are trying to take 1 life in order to save ''their families'' and the beings they love at the very least (putting aside their responsibility to humanity and their godhood). Considering that we already established that if Eve had died as a baby, she would have gone straight to Heaven or the Elysian Fields, to eventually be reincarnated - something that the Gods know and are very familiar with - from the Gods' perspective you can see exactly why killing her seemed reasonable.
** Additionally, a good deal of this arc can be boiled down to: "an unseen god seeks to remake the world even if it means killing off established gods, and a newborn daughter will be instrumental to achieving this." Does that sound familiar? Because, while not being exactly the same, it still sounds suspiciously like Season 3's Hope storyline. While there was far more concrete evidence about Dahak and Hope's natures upfront, but from the outsiders' perspective, it's not hard to see why the Olympians and others were suspicious and thought the worst.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome
** The intro. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvdMynYtk6M How about the intro on electric lyre]]?
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwfaCL-Ox8Q&feature=related He's Joxer! Joxer the Mighty! Joxer! Joxer the Mighty!]]

* HeReallyCanAct: Hudson Leick played bit parts in soaps and never really garnered any attention... until she played Callisto. The range and depth of her acting as well as her development of the character was just insane (... [[DontExplainTheJoke as in insanely awesome]]). When she had to play Xena for a couple of episodes (MakesSenseInContext) she was jaw-droppingly good, and she played one of the most complex and heart-rending villains to ever grace the television screen without dropping a beat. It was her acting as a reformed Callisto that justified the entire existence of the [[spoiler:"Xena and Gabrielle die and become angels" plotline]].

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Some of the CGI and blue-screen effects used in the earlier episodes (such as in "The Titans", "Prometheus" and "Mortal Beloved") have ''not'' aged well. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the budget wasn't exactly high.

* RetroactiveRecognition: This show provided a stepping stone for many now-familiar faces in the science-fiction circuits, such as pre-''Series/{{Roswell}}'' Shiri Appleby, pre-''Series/{{Firefly}}'' Creator/GinaTorres, pre-''Series/{{Farscape}}'' Creator/ClaudiaBlack, pre-''Series/{{iZombie}}'' Rose [=McIver=], and pre-''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' Selma Blair. There was also an early appearance from Kathryn Morris of ''Series/ColdCase'' fame, and Creator/ManuBennett almost a decade before his roles in ''Series/{{Spartacus}}'' and ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. (Other ''Spartacus'' actors who earlier appeared on ''Xena'' include Craig Parker, Kevin J. Wilson, Antonio Te Maioha, Stephen Lovatt, Craig Walsh-Wrightson, Jeffrey Thomas, and Peter Feeney.) And of course, Creator/KarlUrban, who played no less than ''four'' different characters across the first five seasons.

** Fun fact: the game's developer was TitusSoftware. Yes, [[VideoGame/{{Superman 64}} THAT Titus Software]].