Xena Fandom? Alts and Ubers and Vids, Oh My!
September 4, 1995: Xena Reinvents Fandom
This Week In Fandom History Episode #180
Photo Credit: Renaissance Pictures, Universal Television
Aiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiiii! This week, Emily and V head back to the mid‑90s — the era of dial‑up internet and aggressively pointy shoulderpads — to revisit the rise of Xena: Warrior Princess. It’s hard to overstate how much this show reshaped the fandom landscape: a morally complicated heroine, a narrative built on redemption… and a relationship between two women that sparked decades of essays, fanfic, fanvids, and lovingly chaotic forum debates. The Xenites weren’t just early adopters of online fandom. They were architects of it. Come wander the hills of ancient Greece (New Zealand) with us as we look at how one warrior princess carved out a space that still echoes today.
ABOUT THE EPISODE
The Xenite Blueprint
Digging into this episode felt like opening a scrapbook made by thousands of people who all loved the same thing with their whole hearts. I knew Xena had a passionate fanbase, but revisiting the early message boards and fanfic exchanges reminded me just how foundational that passion was. These fans weren’t just reacting to a TV show — they were building a shared language for how to talk about TV shows on the internet.
What struck me most was how quickly Xena and Gabrielle became a touchstone for queer viewers who were used to reading between the lines. The show gave them a relationship that was tender, complicated, and emotionally rich, even when the network insisted on calling it “subtext.” (But you can’t spell subtext without s-e... you get the idea).
While we know that with 2026 eyes, this show is not the picture of queer representation that it should have been, it’s important to remember what the ‘90s were like on television and in most popular media. If it wasn’t just rampant homophobia, there was the foregone conclusion that anything gay — especially anything sapphic — was only to be played for laughs.
The folks behind Xena knew what they had, and they knew what they were doing. They did their best to work within the incredibly restrictive social and professional parameters to tell as much of a queer love story as possible while still keeping the show on the air for six glorious seasons.
If you love lonnnnng-form essays on early internet fandom and love a deep-dive into what life On The Web was like in the early ‘90s, Xena fans have you covered with multiple links to timelines and history waiting for you in the episode show notes.
Imagine a time when Xena: Warrior Princess was a hidden treasure. Most folks found the show by accident while they channel surfed, and if they became obsessive fans, they had no one to talk to. There were no XenaFests, no professionally run Xena conventions and no fan clubs. The NetForum did not exist. ... Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor were unknown actresses. No one even had a clue as to the actresses’ true hair color. An important point in early Xenadom. Trust me on that.
— Diane Silver’s A Cyber History of the Online Xena Community: Part I
Photo Credit: Renaissance Pictures, Universal Television
Xena: Warrior Princess Fic Recs
Thank you so much to the many longtime Xena fans who attended the TGIFemslash Virtual Con for sharing their favorite fics with us! And a VHS vid, too! So exciting! All of these recs are for Xena/Gabrielle fics, naturally. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet: “uber” is the ‘90s Xena fandom term for an AU, specifically one in which the characters are Xena and Gabrielle in soul, but not necessarily in name or body (whether through reincarnation or otherwise).
Maleficent Beauty by Creme Brulee
Three fairy godmothers discover via a prophetic vision that newborn Princess Aurora (Gabrielle) is destined for true love with their dark sorceress sister, Maleficent (Xena). Horrified by the prophecy, the sisters resolve to stop the union, driven by fear of Xena’s dark magic and a bitter sibling rivalry. Before Gabrielle is even born, the godmothers secretly craft powerful counter-spells in an attempt to rewrite fate and protect the realm from Xena's influence.
Recommended by: Mosiaho
Rec: this author pen name “crème brûlée” I just so appreciate when they keep their old blogs up after all these decades. She’s written some of my favorite Ubers, but there are two in particular, and one was one of the first I read to myself in audio recording because it was a comfort book and helped with insomnia.
And a review from 2001 by Lunacy: Creme Brulee is cooking again with this DELIGHTFUL uber-Conqueror homage to the SLEEPING BEAUTY fairy tale. For those of you who are familiar with the Disney version - well...this is juuuuust a tad different ;-) Charged with the well-being of the as-yet unborn princess Aurora, her three fairy godmothers are horrified when a vision reveals to them who the princess' true love will eventually be - none other than their evil sister Maleficent - a dark sorceress ostracized from the kingdom and their family for her dealings in dark magic and her rebellious determination to live life on her own terms. Intent on protecting the princess, the three sisters cast a spell that should keep Aurora and the dark sorceress apart and one day join the princess's life to that of the neighboring prince. Two things they don't quite count on though - the strength of true love...or the staying power of true lust. Years later, at the princess' engagement party, Aurora catches her first glimpse of the dark, sexy, GORGEOUS sorceress everyone has been trying to keep her away from and suddenly those hormones kick in full force. For her part, Maleficent attends the festivities intent on wrecking havoc on the royal family, her own sisters and the kingdom but one look at the beautiful young princess starts wrecking a little havoc on the dark one's own composure. It's spells vs the magic of the heart as Maleficent goes head to head with her sisters for the right to choose her own destiny and have Aurora do the same. Clever, highly original and wonderfully entertaining, this is a fairy tale for the ADULT in us all ;-) Creme's writing is top notch, reflecting a quick wit and a very impressive mastery of the art of storytelling. Add this one to that MUST READ list folks - VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! - 22 pgs., 10/31/01
Cooking On High by Creme Brulee
This is an Uber offering.
A notorious chef is going through a difficult life transition. Things were complicated enough before she was accused of murdering a woman she barely knew. And they're complicated further by a waitress she can't shake, who may be after more than her secret recipes.
Join our uber gals on a race through a small tourist town as they hunt down a killer while being chased by a posse of bad guys.
Recommended by: Mosiaho
Rec: Xena is an irascible, previously evil, trying to be reformed chef who just wants to run her fine dining French restaurant in peace during the season in a New England tourist island, and avoid the schemes of Ares and Callisto analogues. Someone is murdered on the island. She accidentally gets caught up in solving it with the Gabrielle analogue who is a waitressing over summers to put herself through college. Hilarious. Cozy mystery vibes. Don’t know why she never published.
Look Into My Eyes by Frost
Cyberpunk Space Opera Uber fic. What if Xena was a corporate enforcer chafing under the thumb of her master and was supposed to kill space ranger/psychic cop Gabrielle, and they accidentally established a very strong mental connection that saved Gabrielle’s life, but put Xena in danger?
Warnings: Sex crimes, murder, crime against children
Recommended by: Mosiaho
Rec: I am EXTREMELY NORMAL about this space opera cyberpunk WIP uber. Very chill. It’s a WIP, but the ending is satisfying enough. I hope the author is living their best life writing books.
Full Circle by Leslie Ann Miller
A way to cope with the aftermath of the series finale. Drama/angst.
Recommended by: killabeez
Rec: This one is very old, but luckily still online: healed me in the immediate aftermath of the original airing of the final episode.
And a rec from 2007 by leavethesky: This story (and all of Leslie Ann Miller's stories) is one of those beautiful fics that makes the Xena fandom stand out. It's beautifully written, wonderfully conceived and manages to tell a complex, heartbreaking story (yes, you will cry) in only a few pages. Brilliant stuff!
Coup de Grace by Vivian Darkbloom
Uber. The fabulously ill-tempered archaeologist Janice Covington [Xena] and Southern-Belle-in-Exile Melinda Pappas [Gabrielle] gradually discover the real truth at the heart of the Xena Scrolls, in a story that darkly plays with time and memory, loss and desire, and the nature of what is real and what is not.
Recommended by: Anonymous
Rec: OKAY. If you want some amazing Janice/Mel Xena fics [Uber fics in which Xena and Gabrielle are reincarnated as Janice Covington and Melinda Pappas; became a trope/genre of Xena fics on their own!], I cannot recommend Vivian Darkbloom enough.
And a VHS vid!
Kiss the Girl by taraetoo
This vid is from 1998, and may well be the first femslash vid ever made. It is BRILLIANT, especially the first 12 seconds. And the fact that it was made by splicing together VHS film on two simultaneously-running VCRs is mind-blowing! HIGHLY recommended.
For the next month of newsletters and episodes, please send us your fic recs for…
Supernatural
Dan & Phil
Mean Girls
Any PBS Kids fandom — fanart works if you don’t have fic!
Send us your recs (and self-recs count!) at our website and check future newsletter editions to see recommended fics!
Other events that happened This Week In Fandom History…
That’s all for our first (but definitely not last) Xena/Gabrielle extravaganza! We’ll see you next week with another recap of what happened… This Week In Fandom History.
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