A genie grants you a wish so you can change anything you want in Xena (about a character, an event in the show, you can even write en episode completely different or make something goes another way). What do you wish for? How does that change things?
Posted by PlantainDisastrous92@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 93 comments
futafancyfeet@reddit
I'd want the show to be like, 80% gayer. Change the subtext into text.
Popular-One-7051@reddit
By season 6 it was totally text
futafancyfeet@reddit
Definitely can agree with that. Even so, what I said still stands. 80% gayer, at minimum.
Popular-One-7051@reddit
I kind of liked that it felt more romantic than sexual too. what can I say, im a mushy kid. They were so damned sweet together
futafancyfeet@reddit
I agree. It never needed to be solely sexually charged, although that can definitely be nice. They felt like a real couple.
SleepyMoth_13@reddit
Less Eli
Popular-One-7051@reddit
ABSOLUTELY!! Hated him.
SleepyMoth_13@reddit
The character was ok at first and then just kept coming back and hanging around
Popular-One-7051@reddit
The whole wannabe Jesus thing rubbed me the wrong way
SleepyMoth_13@reddit
Agreed
Awkward-Buy8266@reddit
The ending 100% and the boyfriend of the week episodes wiped out,Xena's past is ok but like when she was with Gabrielle those boyfriends of the week made no fucking sense. And as the ending i would say like the battle of chin but make it more heroic and just her being wounded and gabrielle caring for her plus saving all those souls too.
Popular-One-7051@reddit
None of the networks would be behind an all lesbian show. im amazed it was as out as it was for back then. Heck even now there aren't any really out lesbians leading a show. When Rizzoli and Isles got more of a lesbian fan base they shoved the two of them back into closets and nailed the doors shut.
Wicked68@reddit
The Ending. Friend In Need never happened. And they settled in Egypt for a time
animebdsmplusweed@reddit
She would make the perfect Athena!
Thirsha_42@reddit
I would change xenas armor to be more accurate.
WanderWomble@reddit
I would change the ending. I watched it live so to speak and as a young mega fan of the show it absolutely devastated me. Xena deserved so much more than the ending she got.
Actual_Bet6584@reddit
I agree I hated the ending .. I wished they would have wrote it where she was done fighting peacefully and just settles down somehow.. it was sad
Fuzzy_Ability8284@reddit
I can't imagine experiencing that live, you poor thing. The biggest crime of AFIN is that its practically impossible to rewatch, which SUCKS cause there were cool things in it I actually liked but you got to be fkd up to think I'm gonna willingly watch her get freaking decapitated again.
The way I screamed at the TV for her to just pour those damn ashes in to revive Xena. Fuck those lost souls.
RynnB1983@reddit
yep, season six i was there for every episode on the original night of broadcast and when they showed this i sat with the remote in my hand just staring at the screen like "WTF did i just watch?" they the played the "movie" version on upn on the weekend and I watched it again and literally broke down crying cause I couldn't believe it had ended that way.
for all the shit Xena had gone through....THAT was how she ended? I just can't acknowledge the travesty of AFIN. if i could change anything or ha e just 2 things it would have been to keep the chakram the original throughout the series instead of the yin-yang only due to us having the chakram in the 1920s that the writers forgot about somehow. Continuity is a pet peeve of mine and my OCD to gave everything right and in its place didnt sit well with that change.
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
I'll never get over the shot of her decapitated head, and the reaction on Gabrielle's face. It makes me ill. Poor Gabrielle looked like she wanted to break down right then and there.
Both of them deserved a happy ending.
Owl_Queen101@reddit
No literally!!! Like I’m not team gabby but it must have been AWFUL
7Clarinetto9@reddit
I really thought she was going to vomit. I would have.
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
Renee made it so convincing that she was fighting both the urge to cry and to puke, perhaps leaning more towards vomiting. It genuinely breaks my heart every time I see it.
StyraxCarillon@reddit
I've rewatched Part 1, but there is no chance in hades or tartarus I'd rewatch the finale.
Owl_Queen101@reddit
1000%
GothicXenomorph@reddit
I would choose to never even let it end. LET THERE BE INFINITE SEASONS
Cruise1313@reddit
Same thing happened to me and I would also change the ending.
StyraxCarillon@reddit
Thank you! I also watched it live, and it was horrifying. Our hero deserved so much better.
invisiblebyday@reddit
I'd insert a line into the last episode like this:
Gabrielle: Xena, I'm pouring your ashes in anyway. I know you said not to but we'll deal with that when you're alive again.
Gabrielle pours in ashes
hero_of_time_08@reddit
Gabrielle really does drop Hope down that ravine and therefore ends that whole ordeal. That saves Solan who still ends up leaving with Xena where she then reveals he is her son. He travels with her and Gabby eventually becoming a reoccurring character like Joxer.
Shinobi347@reddit
I’d cast someone as Dahak and let Gabby finally get some retribution in an episode.
temporarysteve@reddit
It turns out to be real and I get to travel with them. Result: No one believes me until I show photos.
Cute-Canary-889@reddit
We had like a 20 second sweet mother/daughter storyline between Xena and Eve…it’s why I never cared for it and the jump. I hated the way Joxer’s story ended. The back and forth with Xena and Eve and for Eve to still leave Xena and was never mentioned again. And of course, how Xena ended up they did her dirty and wished she had a stronger ending. RIP Kevin Smith.
RotaVitae@reddit
Rift: Stretch it into multiple episodes to give something as momentous as the breakup the dignity it deserves. One Xena-lite episode and one Gab-lite episode, each with guest character sidekicks, where each is put into a problem she's not good with, and realizes how much she relies on her other half and loves her despite the trauma. One final episode where they reunite and have a serious talk about what's happened, pledging to stay together and work through the heartache while dealing with Hope.
Callisto does not become a god. I don't know how it would play differently but she's just not needed after she's put in Tartarus.
Athena debuts seasons earlier than the Twilight and complicates Xena that there is an Olympian she feels she might actually be able to trust, especially since she can help put down Ares whenever he causes too much trouble. A slow disintegration of the relationship happens over Season 5 as Athena chooses her family over Xena's friendship, making her death in Motherhood one that Xena actually regrets.
Nemeses for Gab:
While keeping Callisto mortal, Velasca doesn't become a god either. Instead she lives and splits the Greek tribe into factions loyal to her vs Gab. Amazon episodes become political stories that Gab has to navigate to really prove her worth as a Queen. Xena can kill Velasca as Gab's champion, but Gab masterminds persuading the tribes and getting her into a final battle.
Alti: Gab is far more spiritually inclined than Xena. Out of love for her, she learns to become a more powerful shaman than Xena and takes ownership of Alti, who threatens her future with Xena, and Xena's child, as much as she did the Amazons and Evil Xena of the past.
Bellerophon: Gab asks Xena to step aside and let her face Bellerophon alone after helping her get into his fortress. A Hercules-like half-god, he is the toughest opponent Gab has ever faced alone. She defeats him both to avenge the Amazons and to demonstrate the culmination of six years' fighting alongside Xena.
Immediate-Mud4121@reddit
I actually love these ideas! I was one of the people that watched Xena when it was originally airing but I was quite young. And in terms of media, I was privileged that it was one of the shaping influences of my life as a woman. I am bisexual, however as a teen I originally connected with Xena and Gabrielle as friends. It came out around the time I was going through that intense female friendship stage, and it was that apparent friendship that was one of the things that spoke to me.
Obviously as time went on I realised they were leaning in to a romantic relationship, which was also fine. However, your ideas appeal to me as they actually keep that aspect of focusing on the plot itself as much as the actual relationship, which enabled people to find in it what they needed. I realise that there was so little lesbian representation at the time, it’s no wonder there were many that longed for it to lean more in to showing that. I get it completely.
But for some of us, at least in the early days, it was a nice representation of friendship as well. Plus, as far as story goes, your ideas are better than what we got. Would have loved more Athena stories, especially with Aries in the mix as well.
Stella_Noire_2008@reddit
I love all of these ideas!
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
Yes! A chance to talk through their troubles. We all know X+G needed more of that.
More Athena and Xena!!
I don't even like Alti, but you're spot on. However, Gabrielle would inevitably struggle with all that power, so would she become possessed again? Either way, I think Velasca and Alti are the strongest contenders from your list.
MusicIsLife81@reddit
I would change the ending of the show. They die together, but it jumps to a future scene of them old and grey, having lived a well lived life together and die peacefully next to eachother, the way we see some soulmate couples do in real life. It could have happened at the end of WFC. They ride off together and then a caption across the bottom of so many years later and shows them then in the future. Would have been a perfect ending to the show instead of that gut wrenching crap they put us all through with AFIN.
7Clarinetto9@reddit
Or possibly show a modern-day place (at the time) where we see them meet up again as Bette and Tina jk. 😏
MusicIsLife81@reddit
That would be a cool idea dea as well. I really like that idea. 😊
reo_reborn@reddit
....you made this guy well up lol. So much a better ending :'(
MusicIsLife81@reddit
Awww I'm sorry about that my friend. I just have always had that daydream in my head for years of how I had wished the series had ended and the more I re-watch the series, the more I believe that episode would have been the perfect one to end it with, instead of ripping all of our hearts out and wanting to slap Rob Tappert.
reo_reborn@reddit
Don't be! It was perfect!! It's bow my head cannon when I refuse to watch the last episodes next time lol
MusicIsLife81@reddit
Awww thank you! I too refuse to watch the final episodes so I'm glad I could help. Although I just read a book yesterday written by a fan that did help heal my heart a little. It takes place afterwards AFIN and it moved me very much. It gave us an ending like what we should have had. (Not like mine though, I didn't steal the idea! 😂) Yes AFIN still happened, but there was more after it.
WarAgile9519@reddit
I would remove the whole ' Death of the Gods ' arc , it really killed the show for me as a kid.
Away-Living5278@reddit
I'd wish Cyrene alive when Xena comes back. If she's still being driven crazy, fine. But I'm still upset and died like that.
OTOH, making Xena not die in the finale would also be good. Or allowing Gabrielle to bring her back. This is #1 but Cyrene is #2.
Extra_Tennis_8266@reddit
I think that, in my opinion, many people hated series finale to the point that Xena could have survived like many other prevoius episodes. The production should not only have chosen to, but could also have changed the course Xena's story stead of being brutally executed in the way The criticism and defamation were much crueler from my point of view. I also didn't like the series finale.It was barbaric for me. If i, the producer and author, would give her second chance after what she did, and if she repented for everything she did and fixed her life once and for all, would I?😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫
Nike-316@reddit
A Hercules/Xena crossover or movie event for the Dahak storyline. It always bothered me this never happened, particularly during season 3 of Xena/season 4 of Hercules.
SurreptitiousSpark@reddit
Can you only change one thing or multiple things?
I’d replace the pregnancy story lines and not have Xena die at the end.
13mtorres@reddit
Venía a decir lo mismo.
tolkienalarm@reddit
Oh thank God. I too HATED the pregnancy story lines, for both characters. I realize Lucy was pregnant IRL so they needed to explain that, but show that in flashbacks only. And don’t get me started on the whole “Hope” storyline. Ugh.
Wayne47@reddit
Xena never gets pregnant with Eve and the whole time skip doesn't happen.
reo_reborn@reddit
Yes!tbh I didn't mind the time jump but the eve storyline felt so.. awful.
Deep_Bird_1789@reddit
Omg yes. It's god awful.
reo_reborn@reddit
Change bittersuite.
Remove the music and story aspect of it. Change it into a more realistic battle between Gabby and Xena. I could not stand that they wrapped that up with a song and dance episode.
I'd rather have seen Xena full of anger and going back to the 'dark side'. However due to her anger she underestimates Gabrielle who knows all of xenas tricks and techniques and uses that against her. While Xena still has the upper hand you always feel Gabrielle has a chance.
It could have ended with the same result but in a way that explored the characters better. 🤷 I'm not a writer though so..
X5455@reddit
I wouldn’t have that bs that Xena needs to stay dead because the spirit would come back or whatever, Xena would be resurrected as originally planned and she and Gabby would ride into the sunset together to be happy for the rest of their lives.
ArcXivix@reddit
Yeah, I'd've been absolutely fine (happy, even) with just a 'the adventure never ends' kind of ending.
Imissxena@reddit
That they ended the show in Greece, the way it began. With Xena and Gabrielle together! If you’re gonna go full circle.. go FULL circle. Bring it back to its roots for a proper ending, where it began. Xena was always going to die in her quest for redemption.. that’s the rub. But, it could have been done in a way more true to the shows origins. Let them ride off into the Greek sunset together, into eternity!
ObnoxiousConsistent@reddit
No time jump. And to achieve this there are two options - either axe the whole pregnancy storyline, or Ares doesn’t put them on ice.
of course technically speaking, neither is possible - bc Lucy was pregnant, and bc the show couldn’t go on with a baby indefinitely
but i think there are ways around it. I would actually prefer the second option because I didn’t mind the pregnancy and small Eve so much. it’s Eve when she’s grown up that was really annoying😒
I would even welcome a couple of episodes like kindred spirits 2.0 where Xena and Gabrielle are forced to hide out somewhere and raise Eve after their plan of pretending to be dead works out. but I think realistically you couldn’t really make the show just that.
so i could also see a smaller time jump, like a couple of years so Eve is no longer a baby, but just a child actor. This allows the show to keep all of the side characters they established over the first five seasons as opposed to being left with no one pretty much in season six.
monkeylicious@reddit
I’m actually ok with the time jump. I remember watching that live and being really interested in how the story develops from there.
The one thing I would change would be to add 3 more seasons, even if it meant keeping the ending for Season 6.
I think Gabrielle would have eventually found a way to bring Xena back, likely paying a huge price and maybe needing the help of another pantheon.
antealtares@reddit
Bless her heart, I would recast Livia.
TaniksHasNoCorn@reddit
I would have the genie make the CGI and video footage be recorded in a higher quality format so the show could easily be ported to Blu Ray/4k.
pastajewelry@reddit
I'd like to make Xena/Gabrielle canon.
Duskfall@reddit
None of the Christian stuff, instead they explore more of the Amazon things which completely shuffles the show off into an "alternate timeline" so the ending isn't a thing lol
Tonglentoo@reddit
The ending!! Awful
Mrblorg@reddit
They make the Gabby spinoff or at least a movie with Lucy as Xena's ghost
HedgehogPlenty3745@reddit
She could be real for 24 hours and I could be a character in the show and she adopts me as her child.
Hour_Dog_4781@reddit
Xena doesn't die at the end. The whole twilight of gods nonsense doesn't happen. No Eli and no Christian crap. No Eve. Callisto doesn't die, she becomes an anti-hero who occasionally works with Xena. And the most blasphemous one of them all: Xena and Callisto are a couple instead of Xena/Gabby.
SecretlyASummers@reddit
Xena and Callisto get together once.
Hour_Dog_4781@reddit
Just once is not enough!
Deep_Bird_1789@reddit
OMG YES. LOL.
EBJ1990@reddit
Make a different finale
Darth_Twinge@reddit
The pregnant Xena in season 5 changed the tone of the whole show and at the time the show was cancelled, season 5 ratings were cited as the reason. So I would want to get rid of that. I realize it was written in because Lucy was pregnant in real life but there needed to be a different way. Even Xena in Callistos body back in season 2 was a better solution to real life issues.
Reinaguerrera@reddit
I would change the last episode, not in regards to Xena's death but the fact that it was the finale. I would give it one more season with Gabrielle going to Egypt, learning to be by herself, telling Eve about Xena's death, and having Eve going all in to resurrect Xena and Gabby trying to stop her , ofc she eventually joins Eve to resurrect Xena, and Joxer too. The ending episode would be all the characters together since they have been reincarnated and watching Xena and the Eve spin off laughing at all the camp stuff.
danpru@reddit
I would want the India storyline to last longer than just 3 episodes. It would be very interesting to dive deeper into Hindu philosophy/religion, Xena's warrior nature and Gabrielle's spiritual quest.
KatzAKat@reddit
Gabrielle needs to figure out that her walk/life of peace isn't going to work for her much sooner. Her going back to that repeatedly got old really fast.
If you've had a vision that you're going to be crucified at a certain location when you have a specific, unintentional, haircut, you don't go to that certain location until you grow your hair out.
If you're going to get stuck in an afterlife because the souls you've caused to be there need to be avenged, then the souls of Chinese, who you turned into stone, need to be examined for how their souls fared.
I would have liked to have seen subtle costume changes for Xena based on her travels, especially when she wore different clothes during her journeys. I can't imagine her stowing them somewhere and going back for them, so remaking them the same seemed unlikely for her.
If you leave the ending as is, why would Gabrielle want to go back to the land of the pharaohs when there are lots of new places she could have explored? She didn't have a great time there previously.
suderui@reddit
Gabrielle keeping the long hair + the original story for past imperfect
MercifulExistential@reddit
Wouldn't have made the gods such pushovers during the twilight. Xena broke more of a sweat in one against an army. The Olympian pantheon being taken out so easily was disappointing to me and felt rushed.
kingcolbe@reddit
Gabrielle drank Bacchaus wine and turn xena permanently
Deep_Bird_1789@reddit
No Eve. No Season 4-6. Get the original writers/show runners of season 1-3 to do 4-6. And ofcourse why tf would they kill her off?
Agent8699@reddit
I wish Steven L Sears was promoted to “showrunner” in season 5, instead of leaving to be showrunner of Sheena.
Eau_De_Chloroform@reddit
I would have Xena be stated and written as a lesbian from day 1. Not because the show needed it, but because 8 year old me needed it 🥲.
SakuraTacos@reddit
Kindred Spirits. Erase Joxer’s storyline and when Gabrielle says she wants to stay to lead the Amazons, Xena says “That’s a great idea, Gabrielle. Eve is safe here and she can learn more about her role as an Amazon Princess. Also, I’m going to stop torturing myself, and you, with the regret over my past, no more chasing redemption.”
And then they live happily ever after, the end!
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
And to truly seal the deal, they have a joining ceremony!!
I imagine Xena wouldn't care much about it, but she'd do it for Gabrielle and by that point, she's well aware of the profound depth of their relationship.
badluckfarmer@reddit
Not a damn thing.
ZvsGrgs@reddit
There's an episode called "Chakram". I wanted to know more about the two chakrams at the altar. Who made them, etc. I'd make it a 2 or 3-episode arc with flashbacks to when Ares stole the Dark Chakram and gave it to Xena and when she first started to use it, etc. What can I say, I love the chakrams... I'd have maybe some more modern-day episodes because they were fun. I'd probably not let Xena die in the finale, that's basic, right?
Fuzzy_Ability8284@reddit
Ooooh yeah this is a very good one right after fixing the finale. That episode was a huge disappointment in providing lore to the chakram.
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
No time jump.
We see more of Xena as a pirate. Or even a better ep with Cortese and the battle that made Xena into a warlord. It started out as a noble cause but gradually became her downfall.
Gabrielle gets a fair shot at defeating Velasca on her own or another villain like Callisto. While Xena battles with the realization that her friend is slowly losing her humanity, she starts missing the bard who would tell stories. Like "To Helicon and Back" just more spaced out. So, by the time Eve comes around she seriously considers settling down.
Gabrielle and Xena share one mutually charged kiss. In which neither one of then is dead or dying. Preferably before a tumultuous battle ahead of them.
Callisto doesn't become a god.
ratatatoskr@reddit
I wish there was no season 6 time skip. The biggest benefit would be we get to keep Joxer. I will never forgive them for that. I don't even hate Virgil that much, I just rather have Joxer.
NoReach1699@reddit
I would delete:
Ulysses Purity Back in the bottle Soul Possesion
That's it
Seed0fDiscord@reddit
Nadja wakes up, we get confirmation whether the djinn is real or simply a delusion
Ill_Consequence1755@reddit
Well, as someone who watched the show from the beginning when it aired and ended up working on some fanfic folks might have read , I’d kill the ambiguity of X&G’s relationship. I’d let it be front and center.
It would have landed Xena in the history books, but alas, studios had the last say.
TypesAndPatterns@reddit
I would have the show stick to its original plan of 7 seasons with an Eve spin-off.