Every month the OTW hosts guest posts on our OTW News accounts to provide an outside perspective on the OTW or aspects of fandom. These posts express each individual’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy.

Vera Itkin (she/her) works in the corporate media world with her hands in production and post-production. She loves to contribute to fandom via transformative works such as fanvids, fanmixes, and fan… Opinion Having.

Katie Tocci (she/her) has a BFA in Cinema Studies from NYU, an MA in Media Studies from The New School, and a career in entertainment promotions strategy. You’re most likely to find her hiding her face behind a pillow, masking tears shed for tragic OTPs.

Livy Tarcov (she/her) works as a videographer and new media technician, but she loves old media too, especially when paperbound. She is currently querying an adult fantasy novel about flying people.

Today, Vera, Katie, and Livy talk about Xena: Warrior Podcast and how Xena’s fandom became essential to the show—and to their story.

How did you first find out about fandom and fanworks?

VERA: I was an impressionable freshman in the NYU film program, immersing myself in all things [Martin Scorsese voice] “CINEMA,” learning to edit film stock on an old Steenbeck table as well as digitally on a computer. In my spare time, I would search the internet for anything about my favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One day, I stumbled upon a site that was full of these edited clips of Buffy set to music. I clicked on one and my mind was forever blown… I had just discovered fanvids! Vids changed my life and became my art from then on.

KATIE: Fandom feels like it’s always been in my life. My first TV obsession was Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I was in the official Trek fan club and attending conventions by age six (it helps when your dad is also a nerd). However, I didn’t discover fanworks until I had access to the internet. Not to date myself, but it was with Buffy the Vampire Slayer message boards and fanfiction websites that I first found fic in junior high. Wild to think that I didn’t see my first fanvid until college!

LIVY: The Phantom Menace broke many fans’ spirits, but it ignited mine. I trawled TheForce.net’s message boards for Attack of the Clones spoilers, and when I ran out of movie news, I strayed onto the fanfiction sub-board and never looked back. Rich with ideas but profoundly flawed, The Phantom Menace had a delicious tension between execution and possibility that made it a perfect source for fanworks. The TF.net authors were inventive, welcoming, and relentlessly positive—truly a more civilized age before the dark times, before the Empire.

What made you decide to create Xena: Warrior Podcast?

Vera had watched Xena as a kid and tried for years to get Katie and Livy to watch it too. When the show hit its 20th anniversary and a new generation of fans discovered it on Netflix, Katie and Livy finally succumbed. And they loved it!!! Vera was so vindicated. Afterwards, we got to talking—because none of us could understand how such a daring, nuanced show was never included on any pop culture lists. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show we love, is constantly lauded as revolutionary. But much of what Buffy is credited for… Xena did it first! And that became our podcast’s mission statement. We wanted to showcase the brilliance of this syndicated ‘90s action hit, recontextualize it for the 21st century, and give it the credit it deserves.

The fandom’s presence is really felt throughout the podcast, much like in the show itself. What stands out to you about the interaction between fans and producers of Xena, and how did this influence your discussions of each episode?

The internet put Xena fans in direct contact with the producers—not a unique situation for the mid-90s, but still fairly new, with neither side carrying a lot of expectations or baggage. Xena‘s producers treated the fans with respect, incorporated their ideas into the show, and even hired a popular fanfic author, Missy Good, for the sixth season writers’ room. The show and its fandom became inextricable soulmates, and on our podcast, we couldn’t talk about one without the other. These days, most creators have a complicated, often fraught relationship with their fanbases, so it’s fascinating to see such a different dynamic with Xena.

What has been the most rewarding part of making this podcast?

Our listeners reached out to us early on, sharing their stories of how Xena changed their lives, how it was their gay awakening or helped them come out, and gave them community and acceptance. Understanding our listeners enriched our understanding of the show. As podcasters, we tried to make our analysis definitive and deep, joyful and fannish—true to the spirit of the show and the people who love it. We devoted so much of ourselves to the podcast that, at times, it seemed almost too daunting a task. But our listeners always saved us. We’ve received messages from folks all over the world who found the podcast just when they needed it most. They told us how it helped them through their darkest days and hardest journeys and, at times, literally saved their lives. There is no greater reward than that.

How did you hear about the OTW and what do you see its role as?

In the late 2000s, we started attending VividCon—a fan-run convention about fanvids and vidding. Vidders at the time were especially interested in the topics of copyright and fair use of DVDs as a higher-quality source for vidding. So it was big news at the 2012 VividCon when Francesca Coppa, Rebecca Tushnet, and Tisha Turk testified before the Library of Congress in a continuing effort that ensured vidders the right to make our art freely. We’re forever grateful for the hard work and sleepless nights that still go into fighting the good fight on behalf of everyone in fandom.

What fandom things have inspired you the most?

VERA: The VividCon vidders of the late 2000s are my artistic foundations. Two names that immediately spring to mind are obsessive24 and Bradcpu. Their vids are so skillfully crafted that they’ve pushed my creativity beyond the limit for years. They made me a better vidder.

KATIE: It was really Vera getting into vidding that inspired me most, as without that influence and encouragement, I probably wouldn’t have started editing on my own. Attending VividCon showed me how I could use this art form to express my own feelings, ideas, and critical interpretations of all my favorite stories and relationships.

LIVY: My foundational fics are “The Penitent” by FernWithy, Jedi Skysong, & BelleBayard; “The Very Secret Diary” by Arabella; and “Doctor Who Season 4” by Aria. For fanvids, “The Glass” by thingswithwings; “Starships” by bironic; and “I Swear” by dualbunny, greensilver, & sweetestdrain. Watch that last one immediately—you won’t be sorry.

We encourage suggestions from fans for future guest posts, so contact us if you have someone in mind! Or you can visit our Pinboard account to catch up on earlier guest posts.