PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
WHAT IF TOMORROW NEVER CAME?
Xena: Rise and shine everybody, rise and shine.
Xena: The day is repeating itself.
Gabrielle: But today hasn't happened yet.
Xena: Well, it happened to me.
ONLY XENA CAN JUMP START THE CLOCK.
Gabrielle: So you're saying that today is actually
yesterday for you but for us today is today because we can't
remember that yesterday is today, right?
Xena: Right.
BUT TIME IS NOT ON HER SIDE.
Xena: Don't try and stop me.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT.
Xena screams.
BATTLE ON, XENA.
TV GUIDE PROMO
Xena realizes her day is repeating itself so
she can break a cycle of death that hinges on two lovers'
warring families.
Shades of Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day"; Xena, Gabrielle and
Joxer get mixed up with two feuding families on a day that
repeats itself over and over again.
Xena becomes puzzled when the same disturbing events occur over and over
again.
Xena knows there is a reason why she and her companions must relive a
certain day; now she must find it.
AIRING AND RATING
INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 10-06-97
An AA average of 5.6
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) XENA 7th at 5.6
(2) STDS9 9th at 5.2 ("Rocks and Shoals" 126/602)
(3) EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT 10th at 4.9 ("Decision" 01/101)
(4) HERCULES 11th at 4.8 ("Hero's Heart" 61/402)
(5) WALKER 13th at 4.5
(6) NYPD BLUE 21st at 3.8
2nd RELEASE: 12-01-97
An AA average of
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 6th at 7.1 ("Ice" 08)
(2) XENA 13th at 5.6
(3) HERCULES 15th at 5.1 ("Hero's Heart" 61/402)
(4) WALKER 18th at 4.7 (Dunno)
(5) STAR TREK DS9 20th at 4.6 ("Simple Investigation" 515R)
(6) NYPD BLUE 21st at 4.5
(6) PENASCOLA 3.8 (beats me!)
(7) TEAM KNIGHT RIDER 2.6 ("Iron Maiden" 09/109)
SYNOPSIS :
This synopsis is by Bluesong.
The show opens with Xena waking to the
cry of a rooster and Joxer entering the barn they are all
sleeping in. Joxer has a hat full of goose eggs he found for
their breakfast. Unfortunately the stableman drops a horseshoe
into Joxer's hat and splatters the eggs all over him. Shortly
thereafter Joxer intervenes in a fight between two townsmen and
he is stabbed through the heart. He dies in Gabrielle's arms, and
they burn his body. Gabrielle is sad. She lies down in the woods
with Xena, who pulls her close and says, "Sleep now. It'll hurt
less in the morning."
Xena wakes to find herself back in the
stable. Joxer appears. Xena is confused because she remembers
what happened but no one else does. She keeps Joxer away from the
sword fighting, but then Argo is killed because someone else
dies. Xena wakes again in the stable, keeps Joxer away from the
sword fight, and then Gabrielle is stabbed and killed. Xena pulls
her close and tells Joxer it will be alright.
The next morning Xena wakes and
tentatively pokes the hay to see if Gabrielle is sleeping there.
When she finds her friend still alive Xena pulls her up and hugs
her close. Joxer comes in, sees them, and yells "group hug!" He
joins in the hug until Xena pushes him away.
Xena tries a variety of methods to keep
the day from happening all over again, including killing the
rooster. She keeps people from dying, etc., but nothing seems to
work. She allows all three of them to be killed; she awakes the
next morning to the same circumstances. One morning Joxer enters
and she throws her chakram into his chest, much to Gabrielle's
dismay.
Each day Xena has to explain again to
Gabrielle and Joxer what has happened and that they cannot
remember. She finally decides she has to end a feud in the town,
so she visits the doctor, the midwife, and anyone else who might
have some dirt on the people in the town, and settles the feud.
The rooster crows and she's still stuck
in the same day. She has a bit of a lunatic fit and then decides
she's missed something small. She recalls the doctor saying that
a vial of nightsbane is missing -- lethal stuff. She figures out
who has it and learns that it's a Romeo and Juliet situation --
two young lovers from feuding families, and the girl drank the
nightsbane after sunrise. Cupid gave the young man a wish, and he
wished tomorrow would never come so his girl would not die. The
wish would last until a champion could keep the girl from dying
and end the family feud. But the girl's house was on the other
end of town from the stables, and Xena could not get there fast
enough to stop the girl from drinking the lethal potion.
Finally Xena spent a day sizing up the
town, getting her angles right, while everyone fought to the
death around her. Of course the next morning they were all up and
doing the exact same thing as yesterday. But as soon as the
rooster crowed Xena threw her chakram, and it raced all over the
city until it finally reached the girl and cracked the vial
before she drank it. She then made peace with the families again,
as she had done before on previous days, and hoped for the best.
The next morning started out the same
way, but Joxer brought turnips, and Xena knew things were
different.
COMMENTARY 1:
Commentary by Beth Gaynor.
OK, that's it, this show is now
getting dangerous: XWP nearly killed me this week. When Xena sat
bolt upright and buried her chakram in Joxer's chest, then
contentedly went back to sleep with her thumb in her mouth while
Gabrielle stammered incoherently in horror, I thought I was going
to have to call the paramedics. My sides are still aching.
Mind you, I'm not a Joxer-hater. I'm a
rise-and-shine hater, and did feel some triumph on that count.
But even funnier was how perfect it was for Xena to decide, just
once in all those days, to kill 'em off, let the gods sort 'em
out, and take a day off. Getting skewered by arrows the day
before will do that to you.
We've had a lot of dramatic episodes
start off with a light comedy scene, so I suppose we're due for a
comedy to start off with some nice drama. Joxer's death was
potently done. His bloody head in Gabrielle's arms and her tears
by the funeral pyre were near-exact duplicates to Perdicus' death
and funeral scenes. Xena's sympathy -- and her own sadness for
Joxer -- were touching, too.
MAJOR subtext alerts! Xena and
Gabrielle fall asleep in each other's arms, Xena juggles turnips
in front of Gabrielle's chest while she talks about seizing the
day, and when Xena finds Gabrielle alive the morning after her
death, she pulls her into a rough and tumble embrace that gets
burst into by Joxer's arrival. For around a full season now, I've
been waiting for some character to cock his or her head to the
side, look at Xena and Gabrielle, and mutter "I wonder if they...
nah!" I thought for just a second there that the time had
arrived, but Joxer is far too innocent and eager for such an idea
to even cross his mind. His "group hug!" conclusion instead was
priceless.
The best, though, was the hickey
alert. Xena's sidelong glance and Gabrielle's studious
examination of the side of the road were classic.
To give equal air to the subtext-con
view, there are, as always, plenty of alternate explanations:
Gabrielle needed enormous comfort, Xena was very glad to see
Gabrielle still alive, and maybe the hickey reactions were
disbelief at the ridiculousness of the idea or memories of that
guy in the tavern last night who was the source of said mark. The
debate can rage unabated without any ground gained by either
camp, but it sure is fun to watch a gasoline can get thrown into
the fire.
The greatest chakram throw in history!
By my count, the chakram caromed 30 times through the town. The
round killing thing gets to see a lot of action this episode --
besides offing Joxer and travelling throughout the village, it
also gets to slaughter livestock.
"Maybe it's the rooster."
"Kurraaa kwa kurrrra-BAH!"
The golden nuggets of this episode,
though, were the reactions, especially Gabrielle's responses as
Xena rages through the day. The blank look of stupified fury on
her face when Xena leaves her and Joxer tied up; and her
amazement in the barn, with her hands resting quietly
on her knees while Xena rants incoherently, are fantastic. I also
adored Xena's temper tantrum, complete with leg kicks and
Yosemite Sam-style cursing.
Joxer quote of the episode: "Hey, if
you need a big goose egg, I'm your man."
Xena showed remarkable restraint in
this episode. I expected her to go ballistic after Joxer's death,
and when they killed Argo, I was waiting for her to level the
village and burn it all to the ground. For an episode with a high
violence count, surprisingly little of it was caused by our
Warrior Princess.
But while Xena's b*tt-kicking was kept
to a minimum, Gabrielle's battle skills shone when Xena was
calmly measuring out her chakram shot. Gabrielle got disarmed (by
her best buddy) and still managed to keep the raging villager at
bay before finally getting her staff back to finish pasting him.
Way to go, Gab! Even an extra gets some good fight time: did you
see that peasant girl beat the stuffing out of the nobleman? As
Xena said with such pride, "Good girl!"
One beef with the episode: WHAT was up
with the final day repeating one last time? Or I assume that was
what happened: Xena fixed the day, then it repeated one last
time, a bit different, with all the problems fixed. Confused the
heck out of me. At first, when Joxer came in and Gabrielle popped
up, I thought they were playing a really vicious joke on Xena,
but it turned out that they didn't have a clue. Shouldn't the
next morning have just been... the next morning? No barn, no
breakfast, no rise-and-shine?
The episode ended on an awfully
sitcom-y note, with a shared belly laugh between the stars, but
since it included the amazing sight of Xena participating in the
belly laugh, I'll forgive it happily. Just don't make it a habit,
guys, please.
Next week: The
Dirty Half-Dozen . I haven't heard much at all about this
episode, but I notice that Ares is back again. If nothing else,
the episode wins fashion points for those majorly cool cloaks
Xena and Gabrielle are wearing!
COMMENTARY 2:
Commentary by Carmen Carter.
Yes!!! Kudos to Hilary J. Baden for one
of the funniest XWP episodes of the series! Clever, witty,
beautifully paced -- with a tight script like this, how can you
possibly lose? To my surprise, BEEN THERE, DONE THAT jumped right
into my Top Ten List.
Although the basic premise was taken
from GROUNDHOG DAY, the script deftly crafts the plot to Xena's
character, and makes good use of both Gabrielle and Joxer and
their importance in Xena's life. First and foremost, however,
this is quintessential Xena. Challenged by a dilemma, she focuses
all her manic energy to solving the equation that eludes her day
by day. This is the Xena I've missed all summer, and LL brings
her to life with a confidence and verve that were missing from
THE FURIES.
The episode starts with a stark, almost
dark quality, with Joxer's death and Gabrielle's reaction to it.
Then, gradually, the inexorable toll of days shifts the tone of
Xena's situation from drama to broad comedy. Fortunately, the
comedy is handled with a greater control and consistency than was
present in such slapstick episodes as "Comedy of Eros." In BT,DT,
humor enchances the central plot without turning the story into a
outright farce. High marks go to the director for that feat.
With material like this, it's no wonder
the actors don't make a misstep. LL positively shines as Xena,
with Renee O'Connor and Ted Raimi offering solid supporting
roles. In fact, this was probably Raimi's best performance as
Joxer. If Joxer was always used to this good effect, I'd have no
problems with the character (a *few* times a season, mind you).
And then there were those wonderful
sororal moments! A virtual cornucopia of sisterly scenes of Xena
and Gabrielle doing what comes naturally between two women
friends....
All in all, I'm a happy camper tonight.
WHIMPERS, MURMURS,
AND A LOVE GONE TO FAR
05-22-98. From Sal_Fan. There was a Sinbad mention
in "Been There, Done That" The male lover
said something to the effect that, in order to break the spell,
he needed to find a hero: Maybe Hercules, or even Sinbad.
12-30-97. From the Valley Forge Con
10/04/97: BEEN THERE, along with A DAY IN THE LIFE, are Renee
O'Connor's favorite episodes to date. She said that filming BEEN
THERE was "a lot of fun".
11-16-97. Regarding the similarities
between Xena's observance that Joxer would walk through broken
stuff for Gabrielle and Lucy Lawless' comments about Liz Friedman
in an interview, our very own Ephany (ephany@teleport.com) wrote
on 11-13-97: "Well that was me who asked that question [to Liz
Friedman at the San Francisco Con on 10-18-97 about the quote]
and Liz said that *she* had nothing to do with that line, that
Lucy adlibbed it on the set." So there you have it. It was not
written in but contributed by Lucy Lawless.
11-16-97. Wondering about that sign in
BEEN THERE DONE THAT? So did Petra de Jong
(p.j.dejong@stud.frw.ruu.nl), who wrote on 11/11/97: "That
signboard with the two bulls on it -- it keeps changing through
the episode, mirroring what's going on in the episode. The first
time we see it, in the teaser, we see the two bulls, calmly
facing each other. They seem to be lying/sitting. This reflects
the 'everything is normal' mood in town. We don't know yet what's
going to happen. Then, after the introduction, when Xena finds
out that the day is repeating itself, we again see the signboard
but this time the bulls are standing on their legs, facing off,
steam from their noses, as if readying for the attack. It seems
that the bulls are a symbol for the two rivaling houses: ready to
fight each other. It really reflects the 'explosive' atmosphere;
only one accident can make it all explode, in other words, will
start the fight. Then, the third and last time we see the sign,
it is after this big fight (when Xena's measuring all the angles
and so on), so when the houses are at full-out 'war'. The bulls
on the sign are actually attacking each other, mirroring what
happened on the square. I don't know if anyone else noticed this
but I just love little details like that. Another reason why I
love this show."
Looks like TPTB have gone back to the
original idea of showing a couple of comedies before jumping into
the heavy drama. This episode is being promoted as an homage to
GROUNDHOG DAY. Xena gets into a repeating cycle of
events and she has to figure out how to get out of it by
manipulating the events which happen to her. Most everyone gets
killed in this episode (including the rooster!) at one point or
another, as Xena constantly experiments with how NOT to get
anyone killed (e.g.,
if she saves Joxer, Gabrielle dies; if she saves Gabrielle, Argo
dies; if she saves Argo, someone else dies; etc) and to get the
next day to be a different day. This is thought by many of the
crew to be the most humorous episode yet of XWP. Renee O'connor
cited this episode as one of her favorites at the October 1997
Valley Forge Xena Convention.
In a WHOOSH! interview (issue #13),
Bernadette Joyce, the co-ordinating producer of XWP said, "We
have got a show called BEEN THERE, DONE THAT and one shot has 21
chakram hits." So, get ready for some hi-falutin' chakram action
in BTDT!
Rumors: XWP meets GROUNDHOG DAY or a
STAR TREK TEMPORAL LOOP...you decide! The kill ratio is pretty
high but what does death really mean in the Xenaverse? DIDDLY
SQUAT!!! I don't know about you, but I bet Joxer getting offed
will appear on many music videos of the future! This will
definitely be a "Get as many friends to watch with you in one
room" episode, and DON'T forget the popcorn.
From Chris Clogston's Sacramento Con
Report: "The final slide was a teaser. It showed an unconscious
Gabrielle with her head in Joxer's lap. The distressed looks on
Joxer's and Xena's (who is crouched nearby) faces indicated
trouble. Brad merely said that in this scene, Gabrielle is dead.
The name of the episode is BEEN THERE, DONE THAT."
HIGHLIGHTS:
Xena killing Joxer
The intense chakram calculations and
delivery
Xena's heartfelt reunion with
Gabrielle after Xena realizes the Gabster is not dead.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT
FOR
06-09-98. From KSZoneW.
The fountain in "Been There" was also seen in HTLJ's "Surprise"
and "My Fair Cupcake".
06-09-98. From KSZoneW.
Hermia and the rooster crowing reminded me of HTLJ's "My Little
Cupcake" with the rooster crew and the mention of Hermia.
02-01-98. From Bret: Apparently, when
you go to the shop to buy poison,
it all comes in the same vial. Note that the vial of poison
Hermia uses to kill herself (several times) is the
same as that used by Gabrielle in MATERNAL INSTINCTS.
12-07-97. From Linzie16@aol.com. When Xena is
trying to figure out what she is missing, Gabrielle and Joxer are
sitting there dumb-founded. Xena understands that she is
'missing somthing small' and runs off to figure it out. The
camera shoots to Gabrielle and Joxer still sitting there. The
horse in the background shows that that sceen was in slow motion
for he slowly bends down to eat.
From Bret! Near the end of the episode,
Joxer gets smacked by a barn door and gets knocked down. He's
supposed to stay down, but watch carefully in the lower left of
the screen as the actor's shadow gets up and moves away.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a
transcript of BEEN THERE DONE THAT .
DISCLAIMER:
The rooster was not harmed during the
production of this motion picture, although his feathers were
severely ruffled. However, a little gel and mousse straightened
out the mess.
WHOOSH! ARTICLES:
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LINKS:
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Xena Rulz
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