All The World’s A Stage: Anything For A Dinar
The Last Of The Centaurs, the fifth to last episode of Xena's sixth and final season, is a particularly ambitious show. Not only does it feature ghosts, kidnappings and battles aplenty, it also sees our heroines indulging in one of life's simple pleasures: shopping. Kate Barker arrives on the set to find Xena and Gabrielle all set to part with their Dinars, and discovers what it takes to make an Ancient World marketplace look like the real thing...
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 20
The return of the Amazon Ephiny (Danielle Cormack) as a ghost only Gabrielle can see; the various offspring of past characters now long gone; and a title reminiscent of the epic fantasy films of the 1970s. The Last of the Centaurs has got it all.
The plot of The Last of the Centaurs is fairly simple, although at times one might have difficulty keeping track of who is related to whom: Xenan, centaur son of the now-dead Ephiny, has taken off with Nicha, daughter of Lord Belach, who in turn is the son of Xena’s warlord ex-partner Borias. It seems Belach assumes that Xenan has kidnapped Nicha, and tragedy results.
Xena and Gabrielle’s first appearance of the episode takes place at an outdoor marketplace, where Xena balks at the hideous apparel that Gabrielle insists on trying on. That’s Gabrielle’s humorous cue to explain that she’s not buying; she’s only shopping. When Gabrielle gets into the makeshift changing room, however, she sees more than just her reflection...
The marketplace set is very colourful and detailed, from the toy animals hanging off pillars, to the racks of clothes (which may have come directly from the costume department!), to the guy in the back offering drags on a very suspicious-looking pipe. The area is populated by extras playing at buying, selling and just looking, and from the angle of the camera, everything looks much bigger than it really is.
Right now, the crew are setting up for rehearsals, which means coordinating lighting, camera (this time tracking atop a craning arm), main action and what seems like a huge number of extras, to each do their bit to make the scene complete. There aren’t actually that many extras in the scene, but with everyone positioned correctly on set, it appears (at least on camera) as if there’s a lot more going on than there actually is. Gabrielle is alone in the dressing room, and is suddenly joined by the ghost of Ephiny. Danielle Cormack, looking most regal in the clothing of an Amazon queen, steps into shot from the side, so it’s just a matter of switching angles quickly so that she just seems to have appeared out of nowhere.
There’s interaction in the changing room between Ephiny, Gabrielle and eventually Xena, and the scene then moves back outside to the main marketplace, where the three women find a messenger circulating a Wanted poster with a bounty on Xenan’s head. Filming all this requires a multitude of different shots and camera angles; there are tracking and dolly shots, close-ups, mid-shots and panning... and, as is usual, the maximum amount of screen time to come out of this will probably be less than two minutes.
Later in the day, another scene of short duration requires much more co-ordinated action. In Belach's room, Xena fights off the lord and several of his guards in a brief but well-choreographed fight. During the rehearsals, stunt mats are laid out for the stunt men to fall on after Xena knocks them down - and are very ingeniously placed under the rugs that are part of the set dressings for that scene. As the fight is filmed, another trick of the trade is revealed: on the film monitors, Xena kicks the guards’ butts and they twist and fall to the floor. On set, however (viewed from a different angle), Lucy Lawless’ sword strikes don’t land anywhere near the stunt men's bodies. Of course, being highly trained professionals, they react exactly the way one would if any of the strikes had connected.
It’s sometimes hard to comprehend just how much time and effort goes into simple scenes like this. Back at the market place, the crew have to make sure that all the extras in the background have something to do, that they know when and how to do it, and that they do it in such a way that it isn’t distracting from any of the main action. Directing extras is one of the main tasks handled by the Third Assistant Director.
Extras in this shot include a couple of soldiers of the village guard, the folk running the stalls, the interested shoppers, and that guy with the strange-looking pipe, who looks like he’s about to offer Xena a drag. Other members of the crew check that all the props and set dressings are in the right places, that the incense sticks are burning, and that the smoke supposedly coming from the candles and pipes is at the perfectly desired level.
The background action (involving the extras) is cued before the main action so that the market is in full swing by the time Lawless and O’Connor enter the shot. Shown on the television monitors, the camera does a slow pan down, up and across, giving audiences a glimpse of what looks like a very busy market indeed. On the resets, various pieces-of set dressing (for example, the straw on the ground and some brightly coloured flags of material hanging above) are altered and the movements and positions of the extras are fine-tuned.
The next part of the scene involves the messenger announcing details of the bounty on Xenan. A number of takes and shots are required to film Xena, Gabrielle and Ephiny bursting out of the changing tent to quiz him. During a break while cameras are re-set, Lucy Lawless steps off the set and spies a Ione sandwich sitting on a bench. “Whose is this?” she asks hungrily. “Can I have it?” She takes a bite and wanders happily back onto the set. (I think we can assume this was actually her own sandwich.)
The marketplace scene is soon completed to director Garth Maxwell’s satisfaction. Lawless comes out again, also pleased with her part in the proceedings. “Yeah,” she exclaims with mock arrogance. “I was cookin’!”