Once upon a time, a TV show changed the way people around the world saw New Zealand, ushered in a new way for fans to get together and made a permanent impact on one fan's life. Produced by Justin Gregory

The TV show Xena - Warrior Princess changed the way people around the world saw New Zealand and ushered in a new way for fans to get together. Xena also made a permanent impact on one fan's life.

"I just wanted to be immersed in it."

From the moment Gabrielle Podvoiskis first saw Xena - Warrior Princess, she was obsessed.

"It was just completely Xena," she says today.

"All Xena, all the time."

Nine-year old Gabrielle and her sister Rose felt like the show was made just for them, especially as Xena's closest, most loyal friend was also called Gabrielle.

"I used to wear my hair the way Gabrielle wore hers. It was quite embarrassing in lots of ways."

Xena was her world.

"I loved it and I just wanted to be immersed in it."

So did others.

Carolyn Skelton was a New Zealand academic living in Sydney when she first saw Xena. She had heard about a new show being discussed positively in feminist and lesbian circles. A show that was "creating a buzz" about gender roles and sexuality. She wanted to know more.

But what really intrigued Carolyn when she watched it, was the fact that the show was being made in Auckland.

"What's happened to the industry that they are filming overseas TV programmes in New Zealand? That caught my attention."

So much so that Carolyn would spend years writing her PhD thesis on Xena, asking questions about location, identity, how the TV show connected with its fans and how they connected with each other.

Because Xena happened at an interesting time. The internet was just finding its feet and fans of the show went there to find each other. This community, the Xenaverse, may well have been the first to be born on the web. Carolyn began to explore.

"And I found this whole community. There were different factions; the lesbian subtext fans, the feminists and the heterosexual males who might have found Xena sexually attractive."

But all of them found something intriguing about this new show and its female lead.

"For American fans, (Xena) was something totally different from what they had previously seen on television or film in terms of a female character. She was more down to earth. As one fan put it she didn't care if she broke a fingernail, she'd throw herself into the part. (These were) empowered, relatable characters."…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details