of the week” to simply bizarre to comedy. When
Duchovny opted out of his recurring role in the final
two seasons, Scully became the featured believer.
Impact With slogans such as “The Truth Is Out
There” and “Trust No One” and with a cultlike fol-
lowing by self-styled “X-Philers,”The X-Fileswas a
popular culture icon of the 1990’s. It reflected, yet
often parodied, the viewing public’s beliefs and con-
cerns over the trustworthiness of government, the
likelihood of extraterrestrial contact and its mean-
ing for humankind, and the desire for and enjoy-
ment of good television entertainment.
Further Reading
Cavelos, Jeanne.The Science of “The X-Files.” New
York: Berkley Boulevard Books, 1998.
Kowalski, Dean A., ed.The Philosophy of “The X-Files.”
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007.
Shapiro, Marc.All Things. The Official Guide toThe
X-Files. Vol. 6. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
William S. Brockington, Jr.
See also Cable television; Film in Canada; Litera-
ture in the United States;Matrix, The;Northern Expo-
sure; Television; TV Parental Guidelines system;Twin
Peaks.
Xena: Warrior Princess
Identification Television action-adventure series
Creators Robert Tapert (1955- ) and John
Schulian
Date Aired from September, 1995, to May, 2001
As one of the first—and the most popular—major syndi-
cated action-adventure television series with a female lead
character,Xenaproved that women could be viable as stars
in the action genre.
Debuting in 1995,Xena: Warrior Princesswas a spin-
off fromHercules: The Legendar y Journeys, another
syndicated action-adventure series from the same
producers. Featuring a lead character who was intro-
duced as a villain inHercules, the series was one of
many entries in the “swords and sandals” subgenre
of the 1990’s, which featured broadly interpreted
historical settings, exotic locales, and elaborate fight
sequences styled after Asian feature films. Though
Xenaincluded all these elements, it also featured two
females as the main characters, filling the “buddy”
roles usually reserved for men. The series included
several male recurring characters, including the
Greek god Ares (Kevin Smith); Joxer the Mighty
(Ted Raimi), a bumbling would-be warrior; and
Autolycus (Bruce Campbell), the “King of Thieves”;
but there were no male regulars, at the time a sharp
departure from the norm.
Lucy Lawless, who played Xena, and Renée
O’Connor, as Gabrielle, provided an image of em-
powered, self-defined women that dovetailed with
the growing social and economic power of women in
the media, politics, and the workplace. Because of
the strong subtext indicating a romantic relation-
ship between the two, the series also appealed
strongly to the lesbian subculture, which was becom-
ing more visible and outspoken during the 1990’s.
After only one year,Xenabecame the most popular
series in syndication, and following its success, many
other series with strong female lead characters948 Xena: Warrior Princess The Nineties in America
Lucy Lawless as Xena.(AP/Wide World Photos)