Xena: Warrior Princess-Season 4 (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Gantt]

Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Four

From: Anchor Bay Entertainment

Anchor Bay Debuts 10-Disc DVD Set For "Xena Season 4"

The Battle Between Good And Evil Continues With The Deluxe Collector's Edition Ten-Disc DVD Set Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Four

Anchor Bay Entertainment & Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp Introduces Its Largest DVD Box Set Ever

Featuring 22 Original Episodes Plus Hours of All-New Bonus Materials

Available June 15, 2004

TROY, MI - Fueled by Lucy Lawless' irresistible charm as television's most powerful heroine and set within the adventure-filled mythic backdrop of a land before time, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp will debut the newest collection of legendary XENA adventures with the must-have Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Four DVD collection, priced to own at $79.98 SRP. Scheduled for release on June 15, 2004, this ten-disc DVD set features the complete fourth season of 22 original episodes digitally re-mastered with 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound now with closed captioning, plus over nine hours of new interactive bonus materials exclusive to the DVD.

The remarkable ten-disc boxed set of Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Four, the largest collection yet from Anchor Bay, contains the exciting "complete and uncut" fourth season from the Emmy Award-winning series, highlighted by the fan-favorite episodes "Adventures in Sin Trade," "Paradise Found" and "Déjà vu All Over Again." The smash-hit fourth season riveted fans with gripping episodes that unveiled secrets of Xena's tumultuous past, revealed heroic triumphs and tragic failures destined in her future, and in the end, left them stunned beyond words by the events of the electrifying season finale, "The Ides of March."

With hours of exhilarating bonus features, the Season Four DVD release includes the following exclusive supplemental materials:

Interviews with Actors, Producers, Writers, Directors and Costume Designers including: Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Michael Hurst, Rob Tapert, Hudson Leick, Ted Raimi, R.J. Stewart, Steven L. Sears, Donald Duncan, Robert Field, Jane Holland, Rick Jacobson and many more!

Video & Audio Commentaries with Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Executive Producer Robert Tapert and Co-Producer Chris Manheim

Director's cuts of the episodes: "Between the Lines,"
"A Good Day"
and
"Locked Up and Tied Down"

Special Featurette - Bringing Monsters to Life at K.N.B. EFX Group

Special Featurette - "Adventures in Sin Trade": An Exploration

Special Featurette - Bruce & Ted "Cabin Fever"

Bloopers / Outtakes
Photo Gallery

CD-ROM features including:
--Actor, Director and Writer Biographies
-- Series Trivia
-- Xena Chronicles
-- Extensive Original Production Designs and Sketches

In a time of ancient gods, ruthless warlords and capricious kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty Warrior Princess forged in the heat of battle. Together with her sidekick Gabrielle in tow, Xena battles barbarians, overcomes oppressors and defeats demigods to protect the innocent and fight for peace in ancient Greece. Combining the series' trademark humor and dark mythological drama with Lucy Lawless's fiery and sexy persona, Xena: Warrior Princess completely redefined the role of the female action hero on television.

Xena: Warrior Princess began as a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, premiering as a series in 1995. In its first season, the adventures of this formidable female fighter became the most popular new syndicated series on television, with ratings that exceeded even those of Baywatch. Nominated for six Emmy Awards, the series was honored for Outstanding Music Composition in 2000. During its original run of six seasons, Xena aired over 130 episodes, and with its stablemate Hercules, built a fiercely loyal cult following with legions of devoted fans that spawned nearly 1,500 websites, hundreds of individually licensed properties and conventions around the world.

Anchor Bay Entertainment is an established leader in the field of home entertainment. In addition to the ever-popular Thomas & Friends collection and other children's titles such as "The Tales of Beatrix Potter" and "The Wacky World of Mother Goose," the company offers an expansive selection of award-winning theatrical films, classic television programming and chart-topping fitness titles, including the "Crunch" and "For Dummies" series. Anchor Bay Entertainment, along with its co-owned sister companies, Digital Production Solutions (DPS), Film Roman Inc., Mainframe Entertainment Inc. and DKP Effects, is aggressively developing a wide range of original programs and concepts in addition to licensing existing brands and films.

Anchor Bay Entertainment is a subsidiary of IDT Entertainment, a division of the IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT). Anchor Bay Entertainment and the IDT Corporation can be accessed via the web by visiting www.anchorbayentertainment.com and www.IDT.net.

IDT Entertainment, Inc. is focused on developing, acquiring, producing and distributing computer-generated as well as traditional animated and live productions for the film, broadcast and direct-to-consumer markets. IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C, respectively.

Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp, located in West Hollywood, CA, is the multi-award winning product development, merchandising and marketing partner of Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc. Davis-Anderson promotes a variety of merchandise for properties such as: Highlander® (Film and TV series), Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Lord of the Rings, Conan® and MARVEL®. Visit http://www.davisanderson.com.

 

[Will_B]

No widescreen no sale. Is it widescreen?

(Season four was made entirely in widescreen, including effects shots).

 

[Amy Mormino]

TVShowsonDVD.com reported that they don't have the video specs yet, so its unclear right now. I certainly hope they do air it in widescreen, though. Here's hoping!

 

[Sven Lorenz]

It would be nice if it's in widescreen but since it has never been aired anywhere in widescreen and I've never seen any framing issues with the fullscreen picture I'll buy it even if it is in fullscreen.

They may have produced it in widescreen but they've always made sure that it looks good in fullscreen and if the widescreen picture is like the R2 Buffy releases (everything happens in the middle of the frame and you see a few more trees in the widescreen frame) we won't lose anything important.

 

[PhilipG]

I'd like to think they'd plump for w/s. Since they're producing "director's cuts" of some episodes, I presume they're going back to the original negatives (rather than using old 4:3 cable masters). The director of the extras seems to like a w/s framing, and provides the cast/crew with a w/s TV to look at. All positive signs. The only big negative sign might be that they think Xena (and Hercules, let's not forget) is primarily a kids' show, and children don't like/understand w/s according to Disney execs...

 

[Gord Lacey]

Philip, you might want to change your graphic. It's Davis-Anderson that creates these discs, not Anchor Bay. Anchor Bay only brings the sets to the retail market.

Gord

 

[PhilipG]

But Gord, it's Anchor Bay's name on the box. Anchor Bay's press release. If people don't buy the DVDs, then Anchor Bay suffers financially - and they should know why. Anchor Bay's name should be my guarantee of quality. They've set themselves up as middlemen, so I will complain to them, and hopefully they will then put pressure on Davis-Anderson to use the "correct" masters.

Anchor Bay also have been in the DVD game long enough to know that w/s now sells very well; if they were unaware about the AR of later series of Xena/Hercules they should let Davis/Anderson know about this. And I'd like to think that Anchor Bay would trumpet my cause to Davis/Anderson much better than I ever could.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Okay, I just wanted you to be aware that it isn't Anchor Bay that decided what format the video is. When fingers are pointed I just want people to be aware which direction they should be pointing in.

Gord

 

[David Paymer]

Glad to hear the best season of the show will finally be available on DVD. Thanks for the info, Brandon.

 

[JennL]

Anchor Bay has nothing to do with the production of the DVDs, just so you know. AB's agreement only goes so far as retail distribution and advertisment.

Davis-Anderson produces the DVDs. And in reality, your grip should go to Universal Television, because they have the widescreen versions but did not give them to Davis-Anderson.
AB can only release and distribute what DA gives them. And from what I know, Davis-Anderson did try to get the widescreen versions, but were unable to secure them from Universal.


Jenn

 

[Dan Rudolph]

I suppose this is a bad sign for the full Amazon High pilot being included in season 5.

 

[PhilipG]

This is interesting information, and if true throws an entirely different spin on things. But it still puts fans of the show between a rock and a hard place. :frowning: I'm surprised that Universal would withhold widescreen masters - but what possible motive could they have, other than that they intend to save them for whatever-variant-of-HD-DVD? That's good enough reason for me to hold off buying the DVDs and wait.

On the other hand, that wait could be a long time, and an even longer time if the current DVD sales diminish. *sigh*

Well, I'm just going to see how rich or poor I am on the day of release, and judge whether the extras make the sets worth the potential double dip. In the end, the completist in me may want both "OARs"...

 

[Brandon Gantt]

Well, since it was composed for both 4X3 and 16X9 it's not that big of a deal for me.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Anyone know if "The Way" is the edited version?

 

[LizH]

We ARE talking about XENA (as in, Xena-with-the-lesbian-subtext) here, aren't we?

Trust me, The Warrior Princess is not -- repeat, NOT -- for kids.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

"The Way" seems to be intact. Xena punched Hannuman in the face a couple times, which I believe is what was cut. Also, runnign time is 44:24, aout the same as the other episodes.

Annoyingly, several of the interviews open with widescreen clips so as to remind us this show was shot widescreen.