From: davideml@bellsouth.net   
      
   5-10    Lyre, Lyre, Hearts On Fire   
      
      
      
   First airing was Jan, 17, 2000.   
      
   I'm not going to try to synopsize the whole episode, but just hit the main   
   scenes.   
      
   Draco and his men dig up the golden Lyre of Terpsichore. But because it's on   
   Amazon lands, a band   
   of Amazons led by Amoria demand he turn it over to them. Before they start   
   fighting over it, Xena,   
   Gabrielle and Joxer show up. Xena and everyone but Draco and his men start   
   singing "War, What Is It   
   Good For?"   
      
             Then Xena tells them there will be a battle of bands to see who gets   
   the lyre. They go to   
   the musical capital of Greece - Melodia, to have the contest. Word gets out,   
   the villagers sing,   
   and everyone wants a chance. Xena has Gabrielle audition the bands and tells   
   Joxer to get villagers   
   to build a stage.   
      
             Everyone Gabrielle hears is terrible. They hear something good   
   outside. It is Jace (with   
   a Spanish accent), Joxer's older brother, and his band of male dancers. They   
   sing and dance to   
   'Dancing In The Moonlight.' Gabrielle and Xena dig it but Joxer is embarrassed   
   and leaves.   
      
             Amoria and Joxer flirt with each other. Gabrielle is a little bit   
   jealous.   
      
             Cyrene and Xena have a reunion. Cyrene puts out an ad for a father   
   for Xena's baby. Xena   
   has to deal with potential fathers.   
      
             Draco is still in love with Gabrielle because of the love spell Baby   
   Bliss put on him   
   with a love arrow ( Comedy of Eros ) and he still wants Gabrielle to marry   
   him. He fantasizes about   
   her and sings "There's Always Something There To Remind Me", softly when she's   
   there, and hard when   
   in reality she isn't. He says if he can't have her, no one can.   
      
             In the baths, Cyrene insists Xena needs a man, so Xena and the   
   Amazons sing 'Sisters Are   
   Doing It For Themselves' to prove she doesn't. Cyrene is convinced.   
      
             Draco is the first act and he has captured Gabrielle and put her in   
   a cage wearing a two   
   piece fringy bikini. As she tries to escape, it looks like she's dancing. She   
   gets a rock from   
   someone in the crowd and breaks the lock just as Draco is going to kill her.   
   The next act are the   
   Amazons. While they sing, Xena fights Draco's men with the golden lyre while   
   Draco chases after   
   Gabrielle. Soon Draco and Xena are fighting while balancing on people's heads   
   and shoulders. Draco   
   is defeated.   
      
   Before Jace can go on, the crowd chants Xena's name. He says she won the   
   contest.  She says the   
   lyre belongs to the town of Melodia. The contest/show closes with everyone   
   singing "People Got To   
   be Free."   
      
   ............   
      
             The song list starts out with Edwin Starr's "War, What Is It Good   
   For?"   
      
             The next one, with the villagers singing, I never heard of.   
      
             Jace's "Dancing In the Moonlight" was done by King Harvest.   
      
             Next was 'There's Always Something There To Remind Me", originally   
   done by British singer   
   Sandy Shaw in 1964.   
      
             Then "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves", which I never heard   
   until this ep.   
      
             I didn't recognize Draco's battle-of-the-bands song and don't know   
   the title.   
      
             And I don't know what song the Amazons were doing since no one was   
   paying any attention   
   to them due to Xena and Draco's fight.   
      
             And the finale was "People Got To Be Free" by the Young Rascals   
   (later changed to just   
   The Rascals).   
      
   ...........   
      
             This was a very uneven episode for me. Some things I really liked,   
   some things I   
   tolerated until something else happened. And some things I really disliked.   
      
                      *I liked   
      
   - Jace's disco version of "Dancing In The Moonlight".   
      
                      -- Lucy's singing. Always does a good job.   
      
   -- Gabrielle. She had some excellent lines and some of the looks on her face   
   were priceless :   
      
       ~Draco:  "Aw, how can you say it's a spell, when I would gladly tear out   
   my own spleen and   
   carve your initials on the side of it, just to prove my undying love for you?"~   
      
                         ~Gabrielle:  "I'm flattered."~   
      
   --Gabrielle in the go-go outfit. I always said I liked seeing her wearing   
   blue. Well, skimpy white   
   works, too. And her singing in the finale was pretty good.   
      
    -- Amoria. Good looking and pretty good singer.   
      
    --  Draco's fantasy song with and without Gabrielle.   
      
    --  For being eight months pregnant, Lucy was pretty darned spry!   
      
   *The mediocre stuff --  The villager's song. Draco and Xena's fight on the   
   audience's heads - been   
   there done that; do something different.   
      
   *Did not like, or was just plain dumb -   
      
   -- The teaser song - "War, What Is It.?"  Every time I see it, I am expecting   
   to dislike the rest   
   of the episode. Can't say exactly what was bad, just that I thought nothing   
   was very good.   
      
    -- The fire coming out like a flame thrower from Draco's instrument.   
      
    --  The crap Xena & Draco were trying to do while on the audience's heads.   
      
    --  Xena using the golden lyre to fight off Draco's men.   
      
    --  The Amazons in the baths singing while dressed in black bikinis and Xena   
   is in overcoat? -   
   dumb dumb dumb!   
      
             At the very end of the credits, there was about a two or three   
   second shot of Lucy   
   dancing around in Gabrielle's white bikini. Talk about a BIG belly! !! !!! !!!!   
      
   ..........   
      
   The interview clip was with Lucy and Reneé. Lucy said she was eight months   
   pregnant while doing   
   this ep. She said she and Ted were having trouble learning the "War.?" dance   
   steps.  Both thought   
   Jay Laga'aia (Draco) did a great job on "There's Always Something.."   
      
   .......   
      
   For a typical Xena episode, this was terrible, a generous six out of ten. But   
   there were some very   
   good things about it for not being typical. The good things I would rate an   
   easy 9+ out of 10.   
   Averaged out, it comes to a 7.5. But the  nine plus moves it up to an 8 out of   
   10.   
      
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   5-10  Lyre, Lyre, Hearts . 8   
      
   5-09  Seeds Of Faith ..  9   
      
   5-08  Little Problems .. 6   
      
   5-07  Back In The Bottle .  6   
      
   5-06  Purity ......  7.5   
      
   5-05  Them Bones ....  8.5   
      
   5-04  Animal Attraction ...  6.5   
      
   5-03  Succession ....... 7   
      
   5-02  Chakram ..... 8.5   
      
   5-01  Fallen Angel ..... 8.5   
      
           Average ...... 7.6   
      
      
      
    --   
   David   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/LucyLawless.htm   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/xena.htm   
   http://geocities.com/daviderl31/GabPics.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)