Xena: Warrior Princess: Season 6 (DVD)

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Disc 1--"Coming Home", "The Haunting of Amphipolis", "Heart of Darkness".

Disc 2--"Who´s Gurkhan?", "Legacy", "The Abyss".

Disc 3--"The Rheingold", "The Ring", "Return of the Valkyrie".

Disc 4--"Old Ares Had a Farm", "Dangerous Prey", "The God You Know".

Disc 5--"You Are There", "Path of Vengeance", "To Helicon and Back".

Disc 6--"Send in the Clones", "Last of the Centaurs", "When Fates Collide".

Disc 7--"Many Happy Returns", "Soul Possession", "A Friend in Need, Part 1".

Disc 8--"A Friend in Need, Part 2".

Video:
The 1.33:1 (full frame on 4:3 monitors) image looks better than what we saw with Season One, though the picture is a tad soft most of the time. Like most TV shows prior to the 21st Century, "Xena" was probably shot with 16mm film. 16mm film is grainier than 35mm film, so the picture can be a bit "rough" sometimes.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 English tracks are very robust. They were rejigged from what were presumably stereo or stereo surround stems. There´s a lot of bass presence, and the tracks are very good at dispersing the Emmy-winning music. Dialogue gets buried sometimes due to action effects or due to careless engineering, but this doesn´t happen frequently.

Optional closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
The Season Six box set probably has the most extras of all the "Xena" releases. They show you how "Xena" was produced, and it´s obvious that a lot of resources were spent on these bonuses. You get a Photo Gallery, a weblink, and DVD credits on Disc 1. There are various interviews and video and audio commentaries for several episodes. The video commentaries are abridged versions of the audio commentaries.

Disc 8 offers the "Bringing Monsters to Life at K.N.B. EFX Group", dailies of "To Helicon and Back", and an extended cut of "A Friend in Need", the series finale. Disc 9 offers alternate cuts of "Dangerous Prey", "Legacy", and "To Helicon and Back". Also on Disc 9 are footage from a 2004 "Xena" convention, promos and interviews shot for Season One when the show was first being sold to TV stations, behind-the-scenes footage for the final episode, and bloopers.

All of the other extras are on a tenth disc--a CD-ROM, to be exact. On that tenth disc, you´ll find bios for directors, writers, and actors, a trivia game, "Xena Chronicles" (information about various minutiae), information about Greek mythology, and production drawings/sketches.

--Miscellaneous--
A DigiPak foldout package houses the discs. There are various pieces of information regarding collectible "Xena" coins. Everything fits inside a cardboard slipcase.

Film Value:
I have to admit that "Xena", like "Highlander: The Series", is something of a guilty pleasure for me. "Xena" isn´t a commendable artistic achievement in the conventional sense. At least a third of the episodes are boring or lame. Yet, there are a lot of charming performances, heartfelt moments, and exciting fights to enjoy. If you´re in the right frame of mind, then "Xena" can give you a couple of big grins.

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