XENA is a TV-series about a "forgotten" Greek hero, and was a companion series to HERCULES. While Hercules is a straightforward hero who nearly always does the right thing, Xena is a former warlord who longs for redemption but still possesses some of the savage characteristics that caused her to ruin other people's lives. An unusual choice for the hero of an adventure show; in fact her name is Greek for "the strange woman".

The show was bizarre for its sheer lack of consistency. For example, the afterlife: sometimes it was the Greek Hades, sometimes the Christian Heaven and Hell, sometimes Hindu-style reincarnation, and they were never reconciled. As another example, the character of Joxer, sometimes a contemptible buffoon, sometimes a sort of Holy Fool whose innocence and devotion impress Xena. Another wierd feature was the way it jumped all over time periods. Various episodes were set in the Trojan War, the Persian invasion of Greece, the age of Caesar, and one even during a midieval witch-hunt. And finally there is the way they take a character who talks movingly about temptation and remorse and dress her up like a dominatrix.

And the lack of consistency means that individual episodes could be very good -- an adaptation of the Flying Dutchman legend or a time travel story where Xena tries not to turn savage -- while others were awful.