In present day, 2001, a mysterious scientist, Alexis, plans to clone Xena and Gabrielle. She entrusts the help of Clea, Polly and Mac, three die-hard Xena: Warrior Princess fans, who begin to become suspicious of Alexis' true motives.
Summary
Alexis Los Alamos meets a man named Gillis for a chakram.
At night in the 21st century. The mysterious Alexis Los Alamos waits on a dark dirt road, as a car drives up and flashes its lights to her. Alexis gets out and meets a man named Gillis and exchanges an envelope of cash for a tattered ancient chakram and samples of dark brown and blond hair.
Meanwhile, in an apartment, three die-hard 'Xena: Warrior Princess" fans, Clea, Polly and Mac watch numerous episodes of the show, choosing key clips. Cut to the footage from Them Bones, Them Bones where Xena tricks Alti into entering her own dreamscape.We watch up to the point Alti's skeleton assembles, then the scene freezes. The scene cuts to the room of a basic Xenaphile. Videos are strewn across the floor. Pictures of Xena and Gabrielle cover the walls. There is a Xena standee and a chakram. They're talking, saying they should use this footage. Alexis calls to inform them that phase one is complete and asks how the clip reels are coming. Promising to meet Alexis at her laboratory in 72 hours, the three fans agree that for the good of Xena, Gabrielle and the world, their plan had better work.
The Xena Clones awaiting to be woken up.
Clone Xena
Clone Gabrielle
At the lab three days later, Alexis confirms that the experiment was successful and directs Polly, Clea and Mac to glass chambers containing replicas of Xena and Gabrielle. Alexis reveals that she cloned them from ancient hair she received from the tomb of the scrolls, but their minds are still empty. Polly wires and prepares the clones while Alexis decides that Polly's clips, which highlight Xena's fighting skills, should be downloaded first. Fight sequences from numerous episodes play across the monitors as the information is installed into the clones. Later that night, a mystery person enters the lab and downloads violent clips from Xena's evil days into the memory of the Xena clone, causing her vital signs to rise significantly.
Evil Xena footage is programed into Clone Xena.
The next day, Polly is giving Gabrielle a haircut when Mac suddenly realizes that another download occurred during the night and alerts the others. The three are horrified to learn that scenes from Xena's evil days were purposely downloaded to sabotage their experiment. The clones' life signs rapidly elevate, indicating they are going to awaken any moment.
The Clones awaken...
In a feeble attempt to reverse the damage of the evil Xena downloads, Mac quickly installs Clea's compilation of Gabrielle clips into Xena. Moments later, the glass of the chamber shatters and the Xena clone emerges and puts the pinch on Mac looking for an explanation. As Xena surveys her surroundings, she spots Gabrielle and the two recognize each other. The fans inform Xena and Gabrielle that they were cloned because the world is in desperate need of heroes.
Xena enjoys modern food, pizza.
The fans show Xena and Gabrielle episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess to test how much memory they've retained. Xena and Gabrielle who are now seated in front of the big screen. Xena has an open pizza box on her lap. The clips are from Sins of the Past, when Xena hauls Gabrielle up onto Argo, then ecstatic Gabrielle playing Pan Pipes from The Prodigal, then Gabrielle crying on Xena's shoulder in A Good Day. Next is Gabrielle trying to entice Xena to try the squid in Lost Mariner. Xena and Gabrielle are watching all this with interest.
Gabrielle enjoys soda.
Gabrielle is also struggling with her soda. She seems to know how to use a straw, but the lid has popped off and is distracting her. We see Gabrielle dying in Is There a Doctor in the House?, then the water fight in A Day in the Life. This makes Gabrielle laugh merrily. During all this, we hear each of the team member's thoughts... Polly is watching Xena's every move. She's thinking Xena could kick Jackie Chan's butt. If Bruce Lee came back from the grave, she could kick his butt too.
Alexis sets Gabrielle up who uses her weapons on the police.
When the clones discuss what they should do, Xena announces that acts of humanity do not really interest her. Hearing that, Alexis informs Gabrielle that they may have unleashed the evil Xena. Ignoring Polly's protests, Alexis leads Gabrielle outside, where she all of a sudden makes a scene, accusing Gabrielle of breaking into the lab in order to attract the attention of nearby police officers. When the police approach and try to apprehend a confused Gabrielle, she tells them that she was cloned and pulls out her sais, aiming it at them.
Alexis is revealed to really be Xena's enemy Alti.
Inside the lab, Xena and the fans are discussing the role of Joxer when Alexis barges in and reports that Gabrielle has been arrested. Lying, she says that Gabrielle curiously climbed into the police car and then pulled her sais on the cops. Alexis immediately gives Xena directions to the city jail and hands over her chakram. Now suspicious, Clea inquires where the chakram came from. Before their eyes, Alexis morphs into Xena's enemy Alti, revealing that she had recreated the evil Xena so they could unite and take over the world.
Xena fixes her sword with modern day tools.
The group shifts their attention to the monitors where a newswoman is reporting that someone impersonating Xena attacked numerous cops in order to release a woman dressed as Gabrielle from jail.
Alti drives a car trying to run Xena over.
After springing Gabrielle from jail, the two hide out at an auto-wrecking yard where Xena attempts to mold a hubcap into a sword. Moments later, Alti and her hostages, Cleo, Polly and Mac, arrive in a car. Alti approaches Xena unarmed and reminds her of their past together. Gabrielle begs Xena to ignore her, but Xena pushes her aside.
Alti temps Xena to the dark side.
In desperation, Gabrielle grabs Xena and begins to flood her with memories, hoping to spark her memory. As their eyes lock, Xena remembers her love (whatever form that love might take) for Gabrielle and turns on Alti. Gabrielle releases the fans as Alti jumps back in the car and attempts to run Xena down, but she misses and knocks down a power line in the process. Xena drags Alti out of the car and slams her onto the hood as the live wire hits, electrocuting her. Before their eyes, Alti's spirit rises and her body transforms into a pile of ash, while a fire started by the live wire spreads towards barrels of propane.
The clones live to see another day...
Without hesitation, Xena and Gabrielle send the fans to safety and rush towards the barrels just as they explode. Assuming their heroes to be dead, the fans walk home solemnly, not noticing a taxi with two passengers clearly resembling Xena and Gabrielle drive by.
Disclaimer
No Xena fans were harmed in the making of this motion picture.
Background Information
Behind the Scenes
- This is the only modern-day episode in which Ares does not appear in person (though he does appear in the clips).
- Polly Baigent, who plays Polly in this episode, was previously Lucy Lawless' body-double. She also previously played Paulina in "The Play's the Thing".
- Alison Wall, who plays Clea in this episode, previously played Minya in four episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess.
- Ian Hughes, who plays Mac in this episode, previously played Diomedes and Melas in "The Black Wolf" and "Callisto" respectively.
- Jennifer Rucker, who plays the police officer in this episode, previously played Miss Parnassus in "Here She Comes... Miss Amphipolis" and will go on to play one of the crazy fans in "Soul Possession".
- RetCon: When the Dealer is giving Alti the items from the tomb in "The Xena Scrolls", she is given the Balanced Chakram. The Chakram last seen in the tomb was the dark one.
- Clea mentions that she might try to show Gabrielle clips from old Ellen episodes, which was a television series that ran from 1994-1998. Towards the end of that series, the titular character comes to terms with her sexuality as a lesbian: the reference is another nod to the fan speculation on the nature of the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle.
Key Events
- This episode marks the last time we see the original Dark Chakram in flight. We will see it one last time in "Soul Possession" (but not in flight).
- Alexis get two hairs and The Balanced Chakram from the tomb in "The Xena Scrolls".
Goofs
- Clea mentions that in "season four, episode seven", there is a campfire scene where Xena does "an insight into her character." "Season four, episode seven" is in fact "Locked Up and Tied Down," where the only scene that can be considered to be a campfire scene was the opening one before the credits, but no "insight into her character" is shown here, unless they are talking about Past Imperfect which had a campfire scene and got the episode number mixed up.
Trivia
- The title is a nod to the 1973 song Send in the Clowns and the 1985 adventure "Send in the Clones" for the Paranoia pen-and-paper role-playing game. Paranoia was published by West End Games, the same company that also published the Hercules & Xena Roleplaying Game.
- Clips used in this episode (in order):
- "Them Bones, Them Bones"
- "Chakram"
- "Eve"
- "Motherhood"
- "Amphipolis Under Siege"
- "One Against an Army"
- "The Way"
- "Heart of Darkness"
- "Destiny"
- "Adventures in the Sin Trade II"
- "The Debt I"
- "Armageddon Now Part 2"
- "One Against an Army"
- "The Way"
- "The Way"
- "The Ides of March"
- "A Necessary Evil"
- "Deja Vu All Over Again" (Which showed clips from: "Sins of the Past", "The Prodigal", "Lost Mariner", "Is There a Doctor in the House?", "A Good Day" and "A Day in the Life")
- "The Abyss"
- "Eve"
- "Callisto"
- "Back in the Bottle"
Links and References
Guest Stars
- Claire_Stansfield as Alti/Alexis_Los_Alamos
- Alison Wall as Clea
- Ian Hughes as Mac
- Polly Baigent as Polly
- Elizabeth Hawthorne as News Reporter
- Paul Norell as Gillis
- Barnie Duncan as Surfer Dude
- Jennifer Rucker as Police Officer #1
- Patrick Kuhtze as Corrections Officer
References
People
Gods
Places
Other
| << Season Five | Season 6 | |||||||
| #01 | Coming Home | #09 | Return of the Valkyrie | #17 | Last of the Centaurs | |||
| #02 | The Haunting of Amphipolis | #10 | Old Ares Had a Farm | #18 | When Fates Collide | |||
| #03 | Heart of Darkness | #11 | Dangerous Prey | #19 | Many Happy Returns | |||
| #04 | Who's Gurkhan? | #12 | The God You Know | #20 | Soul Possession | |||
| #05 | Legacy | #13 | You Are There | #21 | A Friend in Need Part I | |||
| #06 | The Abyss | #14 | Path of Vengeance | #22 | A Friend in Need Part II | |||
| #07 | The Rheingold | #15 | To Helicon and Back | |||||
| #08 | The Ring | #16 | Send in the Clones | |||||