Wonder what homages have you guys found while watching the series? Have noticed this scene from 6x02 (“Haunting of Amphipolis”) is probably an homage to “This House Possessed” (1981). Can’t remember the episodes but felt like “Apocalypse now” and “Titanic” were references, too

Posted by dooopiedoopie@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 20 comments

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RedCalaLily@reddit

That first season ep where Xena goes to save Amphipolis from Draco and his army, the fight scene on top of poles and people's heads is from The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk starring Jet Li.

The season 1 ep with Callisto where they fight on ladders is from Once Upon A Time In China also starring Jet Li.

Xena drew heavily from Hong Kong cinema action movies!

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7Clarinetto9@reddit

I need to pay attention more to see if I can find the fast zoom Shaw Brothers movies were known for. I always think of those flicks when a fast zoom happens in any movie or show.

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Yes! Xena's iconic kick-in-a-circle-while-holding-on-to-a-pole thing came from Hong Kong, Jet Li's Wong Fei-Hong's No-Shadow-Kick was surely an inspiration, there was also a fight on top of poles that inspired Xena too. An "homage" to HK Cinema, or a straight-up ripoff?? 😏

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7Clarinetto9@reddit

I'm not really familiar with Jet Li. Also I really only know one or two HK movies and at least one of those was a Raymond Chow production. I know Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee are/were known for theatrics. I have wondered though how many kids who watched Xena during its original run went to their martial arts teachers and asked if they knew how to do the pole kick thing. 🥋😂

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RedCalaLily@reddit

Jet Li movies are SO fun (as were Jackie and Bruce ofc! Also Sammo Hung). I actually got into HK movies because of Xena! Found out they inspired the show, saw Once Upon A Time In China & America in a film fest and was hooked! Then I also took kung fu classes for a while. I was probably the one who came in as a fully grown adult and asked how to do the pole kick thing 😅 Also no one could tell me how to flip over a mile in the air to land on a ship in the ocean to save my girlfriend, so how good were my kung fu classes anyway 🤔😂

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7Clarinetto9@reddit

Well I think I have my plans for the weekend now. LOL I wonder if kung fu would help me with balance? I don't care about being able to fight. I just miss flying through the air and jumping over things.

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RedCalaLily@reddit

It def helps with balance! Yoga helps too, but I feel like balancing on one leg so your other leg can be free to kick...and keeping that balance while moving around is next level balance...not that I've achieved that, mind you, but it helped!

I also sprained my ankle trying to leap over things and keep up with 14 year old boys in class 🥰 And I was 25 years younger then! 😂

Really we just need to study with Lao Ma to fly through the air! 😁

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SakuraTacos@reddit

Haunting of Amphipolis is Rob doing Xena Evil Dead
The finale is A Chinese Ghost Story. There’s many more Chinese action film references throughout the series, a couple for example: Xena walking The Gauntlet in Hercules and Xena and Draco fighting on the townspeople’s heads in Sins of the Past.
Been There, Done That is Groundhog Day
Tale of Two Muses is Footloose
Takes One to Know One is Clue
Married with Fishsticks is Overboard
In 6.01 “Coming Home” Ares and Xena have a moment of dialogue that is almost verbatim from Dumb and Dumber (“So you’re saying there’s a chance”)
The ending of Forgiven is taken from a John Wayne movie (I’ll edit if I remember the name)

I forget what movies they borrow from but Tsunami, Dangerous Prey, and To Helicon and Back are also movie references.

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NoReach1699@reddit

Daughter of Pomira is The Searchers

Dangerous Prey is The Most Dangerous Game

The Gauntlet references Bride With White Hair

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TheCuri0usWatcher@reddit

Just want to add, the premonition that Xena had about Alti attacking her baby in "Them bones" was literally a scene straight from Aliens 😱....

"The black wolf" gave me Spartacus vibes where they all claimed they were the black wolf until the real one stepped foward.

"Girls Just wanna have fun" gives me STRONG Buffy the Vampire slayer vibes 😂

"Xena Scrolls" is very Indiana Jones

Intimate Stranger is a very dark "Freaky Friday" lol

The Quest is a nice call back to Army of Darkness where Bruce Cambell/Ash/Autolycus is possessed. The scene of Xena initiating the possession with his hand first to steal the map, was chef's kiss 🤌🏽 and the easter egg.

Gabrielle's Hope is like a weird Omen/Rosemary's Baby type of thing.

There's so many lol and I haven't even really started on s3 except for the Hope reference 🤣 but you got the majority of them. I could keep going though 👀

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