From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   3-10 The Quill Is Mightier . . . .   
      
   First air date was Jan 19, 1998.   
      
   The episode starts out with young punks running away from a temple they have   
   written graffiti on – 'Elect Xena God.' 'Xena Rules,' 'Xena's da Bomb.' It   
   is the Temple of Aphrodite, and she is angry about it.   
      
   Ares shows up and says it's all Gabrielle's fault since she is the one who   
   made Xena a legend with her stories. Aphrodite goes to where Xena and   
   Gabrielle are camping for the night. Gabrielle is talking about how   
   wonderful it is to start on a brand new scroll.   
      
   Xena suggests that instead of writing about HER, write fiction. Gabrielle   
   writes about waking up with a jerk,  Xena has gone fishing, and she   
   (Gabrielle) defeats five barbarians. Aphrodite enchants the scroll so   
   everything she writes comes true.   
      
   Gabrielle wakes up and Joxer is there but not Xena. Five barbarians attack,   
   and using Xena back flips, her mighty abs, and her staff, Gabrielle defeats   
   the barbarians and sends them running.   
      
   Gabrielle figures out it was her scroll and now wants to do good.   
      
   Two sisters of an orphanage are looking for donations to auction off.   
   Gabrielle makes a man appear with a valuable sword and he gives it to them.   
      
   Gabrielle and Joxer go to a tavern and when Gabrielle writes that the food   
   is free and the drinks are on the house, ale pours down from the ceiling.   
      
   Aphrodite tells the barbarians to go after Gabrielle. When they appear at   
   the tavern, and after two tries, Gabrielle sends them to "The Caves" to fall   
   asleep.   
      
   Ares wants a warlord, Thallonius, and his men to attack a valley, but they   
   won't while Xena is there. Ares tells them to look for his sign that she is   
   gone.   
      
   Gabrielle wants to end all war so she writes, "The will of mortals won out   
   and war lost all its powers." And Ares falls out of the sky, without his   
   powers. Gabrielle tells him it is her fault and will fix it. So she writes,   
   "The force that enchanted the scroll lost its power." And Aphrodite falls   
   out of the sky onto Ares.   
      
   Ares berates Aphrodite for giving Gabrielle the powers of destiny. But   
   Aphrodite says he wanted her to, but Ares wanted her to go after Gabrielle   
   to get Xena out of the way.   
      
   Gabrielle is trying to figure out how to bring Xena back to help. She   
   describes her wearing leather with her whip, and Minya appears.   
      
   Thallonius and his men are still waiting for the sign.   
      
   Gabrielle, Joxer, Ares, Aphrodite and Minya are back in the tavern. Everyone   
   but Gabrielle is drunk on the free ale.   
      
   Outside, Gabrielle lays her scroll down on a table and wanders off. Joxer   
   solicits free love advice from Aphrodite. She tells him poetry or presents.   
   He tries writing a poem on the scroll and three naked dancing Gabrielles   
   appear. Gabrielle returns and sends them to The Caves.   
      
   Later than night when everyone is asleep, Joxer slips away to sell the   
   scabbard his father gave to him to buy Gabrielle a necklace.   
      
   The next morning she finds it and he tells her it was to make up for the   
   naked Gabrielles. He says he traded the scabbard for it.   
   Gabrielle gets over-excited -  she hid the scroll in the scabbard.   
      
   A woman runs up to say its raining dinars in town. So Gabrielle and Ares,   
   and Aphrodite and Minya go looking for the peddler. Gabrielle send Joxer to   
   The Caves.   
      
   Gabrielle and Ares are following wagon ruts Gabrielle decides belongs to the   
   peddler with the cart full of dinars.   
      
   They go to The Cave where Joxer is trying to disarm the barbarians, but he   
   wakes them up instead.   
      
   Minya and Aphrodite show up. There is bedlam as everyone is running here and   
   there, grabbing and losing the scroll. Gabrielle gets it and writes down   
   something. The peddler grabs it and runs out of the cave with everyone   
   chasing him. Gabrielle says she wrote for the scroll to go to Xena.   
      
   Thallonius sees the peddler being chased by the barbarians chased by the   
   three naked Gabrielles chased by Minya as a sign and starts to attack the   
   valley.   
      
   Xena shows up with a cart full of fish. She figured out what was going on   
   after she read the scroll. She asks Aphrodite what the exact spell was. She   
   says it was, "Lies will make the world go 'round, till truer words are   
   written down."  So Xena tells Gabrielle to watch her and write down   
   everything exactly as it happens with no embellishments.   
      
   Xena starts fighting Thallonius and his men with the cart full of fish and   
   her sword. Gabrielle writes it down and Aphrodite's and Ares' powers are   
   returned and they disappear.   
      
       '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''   
      
       Another comedy episode, and a semi-Xena-lite episode with her gone for   
   most of it. But that was okay, Gabrielle more than made up for her absence.   
      
       It was nice to see Ares and Aphrodite, and Minya back. Lots of plot   
   holes, but since it was obvious everyone was having such a good time, they   
   don't really present a problem.   
      
       Have to mention the three naked Gabrielles.   
      
       And how gorgeous Alex Tydings is. She certainly has the figure for   
   Aphrodite!   
      
       We all knew Gabrielle's abs were rock hard, but to be able to stop a   
   sword point – that IS hard!!   
      
   Some of the better lines—   
       Ares (about Xena) – "…I only made her the warrior. She [Gabrielle] made   
   her the legend . . . Pretty soon, when people think of 'love' they're gonna   
   think Xena, not Aphrodite."   
      
   Almost Everyone (reading) -- "Gabrielle awoke with a jerk."   
      
   Aphrodite (after she falls on Ares) – "Whoa! Wipeout!"   
      
   Ares – "…We were starting to – warm up to each other there, weren't we?   
       Gabrielle – "Yeah, we were."   
       Ares – "I didn't like it."   
       Gabrielle – "Right back at'cha."   
      
       Joxer – "Minya, where are the barbarians?"   
       Minya – "They stopped fighting and ran back to Barbaria."   
      
       Minya – "You know, I expected more from the god of war. I mean, without   
   his powers, he's just another man – just another – big old –   
   leather-clad –   
   well-muscled – gorgeous, hunk of – bad-boy – man."   
       Gabrielle – "How are those hormones, Minya?"   
       Minya – "Raging. I, uh – I might go see – Hower."   
      
   ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,   
      
       But I can't let it go without at least mentioning a few things –   
      
       Aphrodite is a goddess, how hard would it have been to make the graffiti   
   disappear?   
      
       I guess Gabrielle was using a fountain quill (with its own ink supply).   
      
       Couldn't have Gabrielle just written something like, "Xena came back to   
   Gabrielle."?   
      
       Why wasn't Joxer's sword in the scabbard?   
      
       Why were the barbarians after the scroll?   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)