RACE ISSUES

If Ephiny thinks she has problems with Phantes in HOOVES AND HARLOTS (#10), just wait until she marries him!

RUDNICK:
[147] You know, in talking about XENA and how and where it's filmed and so forth, I have to say something else I appreciate about XENA is that it's a colorblind show.

LEVINE:
[148] Very much so.

RUDNICK:
[149] I really appreciate that. When XENA wants to talk about an issue like racism or something like that, they use centaurs and Amazons, instead of different kinds of people. Roles aren't concretely defined as having to be played by specific races.

LEVINE:
[150] Not only that, but Xena's big love, Marcus, the guy she had to go to the Underworld for, is a black man. I love that. In general the Kiwi are less concerned about that than we are. I'll be there in casting and there are no blacks in New Zealand, certainly not many. There are no Hispanic in New Zealand. There is a big Maori population, the indigenous people to New Zealand. I love that about the show too, because you don't care. It's great not to have to worry about those issues. The producers don't care either because it's a fantasy show and there are no color barriers imposed. You're right, if they talk about prejudice, it's prejudice against centaurs. Well, we don't have any centaurs out here in L.A. so it works.

RUDNICK:
[151] It makes it more poignant, too, I think. In those situations, you can see how ridiculous a lot of artificial barriers are. XENA doesn't typically get too heavy in the philosophy department but it does make a point every now and again.

LEVINE:
[152] R.J. and the other writers strive for this -- there's a moral point in every episode. In THE QUEST (#37), it was "You've got to believe". THE QUEST was never intended to follow the episode it did, but that theme spanned three episodes, DESTINY (#36), THE QUEST, and A NECESSARY EVIL (#38). Lucy wasn't quite well to do all the things she had to so in A NECESSARY EVIL. I think they were pushing the envelope a bit. I haven't seen Lucy on a horse yet. Certainly not in ULYSSES (#43). There's no reason why, it just hasn't happened yet.

RUDNICK:
[153] Perhaps people don't want to push their luck yet.

LEVINE:
[154] I hope the audience is ready for the new season of XENA.

THIRD SEASON

RUDNICK:
[155] Without getting yourself or anyone else into trouble, what can you say about that?

LEVINE:
[156] You know what, I'm a director who works on the show. I'm really not privy to all the story lines. I can ask, they'd tell me, but it's not something I pursue. However I do know there's a story line coming up that travels through several episodes and it's very, very powerful. I just read a script from that story line and I wish I was directing it. I read it and my jaw dropped. R.J. [Stewart] wrote it. The second one was written by Steve [Sears]. I don't know how many more after that continues the story line.

With all the trouble Callisto and Ares have caused so far, what's to come in Season 3?

RUDNICK:
[157] I know we're up for at least a 3 episode arc.

LEVINE:
[158] It's definitely a three. I didn't read the first one. I may have gotten two and three. If indeed I've gotten two and three, I don't think the audience will truly appreciate the arc until number two. It really starts to happen in number two. One just sets it up a little bit but all of a sudden in two and three things really happen.

RUDNICK:
[159] The big buzz lately, of course, is the story printed or leaked or what have you by the L.A. Daily and the "rape" of Gabrielle. The story said the role of Gabrielle's ten-year-old daughter was cast, but then went on to say that as "everyone" knew, the child was the result of her being raped by a god. This got people very upset, because of previous quotes from people who make the show about how Xena would never be sexually violent or treat those topics lightly.

LEVINE:
[160] She's not raped. She is *not* raped. When you're dealing with gods and goddesses, you can do a lot of things. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but she's not raped.

RUDNICK:
[161] That statement alone will alleviate a lot of tension. I have to say, after talking to several people now who make the show, I can't imagine they would make a story that was offensive or tasteless or hurtful in that way. Everything always works out in the end and the friendship, and even love, that Gabrielle and Xena have for each other bring them through a crisis.

LEVINE:
[162] (smiles) Wait for the arc.

FOREVER KNIGHT REVISITED

Nick Knight, vampire cop.

RUDNICK:
[163] Now that we have the required XENA material out of the way, let's talk some more about FOREVER KNIGHT. As far as FOREVER KNIGHT is concerned, having followed it through three seasons, I kind of got the feeling that perhaps the producers sort of killed it towards the end. The first season was really good, the second season was all right, the third season had interesting episodes here and there but the trend seemed downward to me.

LEVINE:
[164] The third season was where they had a new partner, right?

RUDNICK:
[165] Yes, Schanke's dead and Tracy comes into the picture.

LEVINE:
[166] Yes. FOREVER KNIGHT was a fascinating show. As I mentioned I was a former network/studio executive. I developed FOREVER KNIGHT for New World Television. It had many incarnations. It started out in New York, came out here, and it was a pilot for CBS with Rick Springfield. It didn't get on the air even though we thought it would have been successful. A year and a half later after it was dead, CBS said "Remember Nick Knight? We want to do it as a TV show for our late night line up." We did it as a Canadian Content show and everything was done in Toronto. I was the only American director to go up there to direct. It was a fun show.

[167] I don't want to get into why the changes were made in the third season. I really wasn't involved in the third then. I only did episodes in the first and second seasons. They were totally Canadian Content by then and I couldn't go up there. But it wasn't as good. The first and second season I thought were really good at exploring Nick and all the characters around him. Then [third season] they brought in a new partner, got rid of Schanke, which I think may have been a financial decision as much as anything else. It just wasn't as good.

[168] I'll tell you a little story about FOREVER KNIGHT that most people don't know. The flashbacks were never intended to be part of the show. When we first started doing FOREVER KNIGHT, the late-night version, we only needed about 39 minutes of material. Well, the foreign markets needed 43 minutes of material. Jim Parriot, who created it, said "Well, you know what I'll do, I'll do these flashbacks into his past." It was planned to take two days and shoot something like six flashbacks in a row. We shot the first flashbacks for the show and everyone just loved it. We couldn't get rid of them.

LaCroix, creator and corruptor of Nick.

RUDNICK:
[169] I've made the comment in other forums when the show was running, gee I wish the show was --"

LEVINE:
[170] (finishing) "-- all flashbacks." I had one show that was told mainly in flashbacks. It was the politician show. They became more and more elaborate, more and more part of the show. Sometimes they were just gratuitous flashbacks that had nothing to do with the show, but boy, when those two story lines clicked, they were great episodes. They were the most fun part of FOREVER KNIGHT because you got to do period pieces. "Dance by the Light of the Moon" was the first episode I did, and that was fun because it revealed how he became a vampire.

RUDNICK:
[171] You got to do some of the more fun and... I won't say offbeat..but more unusual types of episodes.

LEVINE:
[172] (smiles) Well, I got the "stripper" episode, the "models" episode, and I got the "workout/aerobic" thing. I really like "Hunters" because it was a Schanke episode and it was a good episode for John Kapelos. I liked the flashbacks in it because it was about being hunted, the vampires were being hunted. It was a good case where the past and present story lines clicked. I also thought stylistically it was good too. It was a fun show. I had good times with Geraint [Wyn Davies] and the guys in Toronto and I bonded very quickly.

[173] We shot at night. We were literally vampires. We started at 5pm and ended at 5am. As people who know the show would appreciate, we never went out in daylight. It wasn't intended that way. The original intention was to follow Nick's partner, Schanke, in the daytime, and Nick would come out at night. But that never happened. We ended up always shooting at night. It was a bit taxing on your mind. One time I did a two episode stretch so for six weeks I was up all night. The cast and crew were always on that schedule.

Janette, former (and occasionally current) lover and owner of a vampire hangout called THE RAVEN.

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