Disclaimer:

* No Dead Amazons lost their lives in the production of this motion picture.

Things to know about the episode:

- Claire Stansfield at a convention in Seattle in February 2001 said that she based Alti on Mab the evil Queen from the NBC mini-series Merlin a few years back and also on the Wicked Witch a little since she is the scariest character she could think of. She talked about filming Sin Trade, they were up on ropes and wires and she had lots of layers of furs and hides on and when they dropped her and she was spinning she felt like a spinning possum.

-Robert Tapert, in an interview stated about this episode: "They had the flood of the century while we were shooting there. It was also a low point in the series for Lucy. There's nothing she hates more than being cold and wet. She tells me the only other people who have any idea what that is like are Navy SEALS. It was rainy, windy, and cold. She had a tough time. She didn't really get mad or anything, but it was a dark time for her. It worked for the episodes."

-Claire "Alti" Stansfield at the Orlando Con 5/99 stated that the SIN TRADE Amazon land of the dead was filmed at a mountain near Lake Taupo. She also stated that she enjoyed having the really heavy furs on. She felt sorry for the actress playing the dead Amazon `Anokin`, because she didn't have as warm a costume.

-Marton Csokas said in an interview that: "R.J. Stewart wrote the script for my first appearance and that was to take place in Mongolia or thereabouts. I was trying to do a combination Russian/Chinese kind of accent which didn't quite work out. He was at a wardrobe fitting and mentioned that the character was based on Attila the Hun, and should be sort of Hungarian. Well, that's no problem for me, to do a Hungarian accent, but it turned out a little more generic than that. I liked the character. "

-Claire "Alti" Stansfield was at the Santa Monica Convention (01/24/99), and said: When she got the script for Alti they didn't tell her which part she was reading for and assumed it was Cyane, the Amazon Queen, not the "old bag of bones" Alti. She said Lucy Lawless helped her feel at ease while she was playing Alti, because Lucy herself was very enthusiastic and supportive. She mentioned that Marton "Borias" Csokas really gets into his role. "When he threw Alti out of the room he *threw* her out of the room!" It doesn't take long to apply the Alti makeup. There is a lot of extra theatrical blood, however.

-From R.J. Stewart's RealHollywood 12-15-98 chat: Q:"What's the deal with 2 Amazon Queens named Cyan? Are they one and the same?" A:"Well, this is all explained in Amazon High, however, the original Amazon Queen was named Cyan, so it's a tradition that the Amazon Queen's are "Cyan."...You didn't know that? Ha! It is something we planted in Amazon High and then carried into Xena and not many people have seen AH, so not many understand that."

-There has been conjecture whether the Cyane of SIN TRADE was the same or a related Cyane with the Cyane from YOUNG HERCULES. Not so said Liz Friedman, producer of every sort of Herk, Xena, or Young Herk. Then why does the name Cyane pop up so much in the Xenaverse, especially for Amazon Queens? Apparently it is all linked to that once and future pilot, AMAZON HIGH. The high school Buffyoid who goes back in time to join in on the formation of the Amazon nation is named Cyane. She at first has a really rough time (as Liz Friedman said, the poor gal no longer has access to a blow dryer), but then eventually matures enough to become the first Queen of the Amazon Nation. And subsequent Queens have taken the name Cyane when they ascended the throne in honor of Buffy, oops, I mean Cyane. Even though, it might be interesting to have an Amazon Queen named Buffy, "My name is Buffy. Does anyone have a problem with that?". Apparently Melosa, Ephiny, and Gabrielle have yet to hear of this hallowed Amazon tradition.

-Claire Stansfield appeared at the San Francisco Creation Con (10/17/98). Someone in the audience mentioned that she looked like Anne Bancroft and she replied that she hears that a lot -- so much that if "The Graduate" is remade, she wants the Mrs. Robinson role (she also mentioned having a boyfriend 10 years her junior). She is way younger than the character and she related a funny story about reading for several other parts, including the part of Cyane, the Amazon Queen, only to be cast as the "old, bag of bones" character. The fur outfits were many layered and heavy "Lucy and I are big girls, but in these outfits, we were REALLY big girls" and the harness work (aerial fight scenes) was difficult, uncomfortable, but worth it for the effect.

- Writer/executive producer R.J. Stewart is a big fan of Joseph Conrad. THE DEBT was heavily influenced by APOCALYPSE NOW and the Joseph Conrad novel which inspired it. And now it looks like he has returned to the same well that is HEART OF DARKNESS. HEART is a novel which explores both the outward and inward journey into hell and back. Looks like Xena is caught big time in Conradland.

- This episode was mentioned few times at the Cherry Hill, NJ Con. (08/29-30/98) Sharon Delaney's presentation revealed this information: An anecdote of TJ Scott: Sharon showed an outtake photo of Lucy Lawless between takes during ADVENTURES I, huddled under a raincoat and an umbrella looking completely miserable. It was pouring rain and the temperature was about 50 degrees. Sharon said the director, TJ Scott, asked Lucy if she wanted to stop the shooting, but she elected to keep filming in a very tired but determined voice. Sharon's other shots from ADVENTURES I showed a group of people, including Borias in a post-Debt flashback, and a lot of women that Sharon said are Mongolian Amazons.Everyone's wearing soft brown buckskins, lots of bone and beads, and Xena wrapped in it from head to toe, including a hood with short antlers on it. Sharon had a great shot of Xena in the indian leathers in mid-flight, looking as bad-as-Hades as ever."

- Robert Field, XWP film editor, in an AoL chat on 09-20-98, mentioned that there was a take in SIN TRADE where a spider went in and out of Lucy's mouth. They didn't get it on film. He also mentioned that Vicky Pratt's character whups Xena pretty good and also has a nude scene. This may be the one that got by the censors.

- This may be the first Renee O'Connorless episode. The character, Gabrielle will appear but most likely as a clip or voiceover from an earlier show. In the promos sent to TV stations carrying XWP, Gabrielle is only listed in the credits of SIN TRADE II. There also has been talk that although Renee O'Connor was not in front of the cameras much for the two part season opener, she was behind the camera working on her goal of becoming a director someday. She was also in LA for a while appearing in a movie called RUBBERNECKING. Originally thought to be a TV movie, it now looks like it might be released as a feature.

- The script in SIN TRADE called for Lucy to say "That's a tough one." It was a Lucy-ism when she said "That's a toughie".

Things to look out for:

-The Berserker is introduced with the grim words that he's "killed every warrior he's ever met in combat." But isn't that true of all warriors except the dead ones?

- In Is There a Doctor in the House, when Gabrielle died she went to the Elysian Fields, even after she was inducted as an Amazon. But in Adventures in the Sin Trade I, she went to the Amazon Land of the Dead. In Hooves and Harlots, Gabrielle asked what the Amazon's were doing for Terreis, who had been killed. Xena replied that they were sending her to Artemis, their Greek Goddess. So, I guess after they see Artemis, she sends them to the Land of the Dead without going thru Hades. Perhaps Xena should have asked Artemis instead of Hades.

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