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This is a 'conducted tour' of Renpics' main outdoor sets at Lion Park, based on a walk around the site some weeks after filming ended in the company of Bret Rudnick, who was familiar with the site in his guise as a reporter for 'Whoosh'. I've described where things 'are' in the present tense, because that's how I remember them; I've been reliably informed that the sets (which were never intended to be permanent) were demolished shortly afterwards, partly for safety reasons, so there's very little to see now. I haven't been back.
All these descriptions of where things were filmed are my own conclusions, based on observation at the time, photographs, and the evidence on screen; I have no 'inside sources'. All errors and mistakes are mine. However, I've been enormously encouraged (and my memory jogged) by the aerial views in an old Australian '60 Minutes' documentary recently sent to me, and by the chance discovery of an air photo of the whole site. The documentary was made in 1998 at the time Daughter of Pomira and Endgame were being filmed. The air photo, so far as I can judge from the structures visible in it, I would guess was taken very roughly around the same time. Much later, the Xena Season 6 DVD set included on its 'extras' CD, a map of the site with names for the sets - these are mostly what I've used here.
The remaining photos were taken on the site a few weeks after the end of production in March 2001, before the sets were demolished. Many thanks to Bret for permission to use many of his photos.
The first 'outdoor' sets used by Renpics were at Sturges Road, on the fringes of the built-up area west of Henderson. It was in a valley, with a good-sized lake surrounded by patches of woodland. However, for reasons I'm unaware of, after a couple of seasons Renpics moved their main outdoor sets to Lion Park. It could just be that there was more room there. Lion Park is in gently rolling country, less steep than the ridges around the Sturges Road site. There are a couple of small ponds on the site, one surrounded by bush, the other in open country. Overall, the site is probably much larger than Sturges Road, which may be one of the reasons for the move. But it doesn't have a lake.
So far as I can tell, the move took place around the middle of Season 2, though there was a considerable overlap - Pacific Renaissance continued to use a large lake (which I think was the one at Sturges Road) for a considerable time after that, as late as A Good Day.
Dating the move, much of Intimate Strangers, the ship in Ten Little Warlords, and the ruins of Cirra in Destiny are at Lion Park (the line of gum trees on the horizon behind is unmistakeable); but the 'fishing' scene in the following A Day in the Life was in a small pond at Sturges Road (according to Rob Tapert in the commentary for that episode).
| 1 The port (ship) [Boatville] 2 Ti-tree woodland and clearing 3 Temple ruins 4 The pond in the woods 5 - 5a - 5b The track through the woods 5 Amphipolis gatehouse 5b Clearing in the woods 6 Wooden bridge 7 Stone town [Springfield] 8 [Amazon village] (site of) |
9 The fort [Newcastle] 10 The inn / farm [Farmhouse] 11 The village (and Amazon village Season 2-3) [Bogville] 12 Isolated house [B&B] 13 Amazon village site (Season 4-5) [Santaville] 14 The pond 15 Clearing (later) [Cave entrance] 16 The quarry 17 Town [Centrium] 18 Halls of War (Ares temple) ?? [Mansion] |
The Lion Park site is in a shallow valley, in the vee between two streams, a half mile across, encircled and overlooked by a low ridge along which the public road runs, but due to a strange quirk of the topography, and occasional stands of trees, it's almost completely invisible. You could stand by the side of the road and you would swear you could see over the whole basin and nothing bigger than a car could be hidden in it, certainly not five or six large movie sets. In fact there is only one place on the road from which you can see any buildings at all, and even then the site just looks like a collection of old sheds. This seclusion must have been very useful to Pacific Renaissance in their work.
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(this is two telephoto shots stuck together) |
I think 'Lion Park' got its name from a short-lived attempt to establish a safari park on the site, many years ago.
There were at least eight main sets on the site (or more, depending how one counts). They don't appear to have had any special names (Kevin Sorbo, when asked about one set in the '60 Minutes' piece, said they just referred to it as 'the village').
Some of the main sets were:
The town/Ares temple
The port
The fort
The stone town
The farm
The village
The quarry
Many of these sets are multi-purpose - that is, a row of buildings will often be double-sided,
with a completely different 'look' on the two sides, or will have been adapted to a different
'look' from time to time.
The entire site slopes down from the entrance. The first set one comes to, in the centre of the site, is the 'port' set [1 in the air photo]. This has a ship in the centre, with water (in a trough) around it. Clever camera angles and cutting disguised the fact that the ship was completely surrounded by a wharf and the dockside buildings with no sea for miles. Innumerable shipboard and dockside scenes were shot here. For example, the ship scenes in Destiny, the wharf and ship in The Debt, the Xena/Gabs/Amarice fight against the bounty hunters on the wharf in Ides of March, right through to Married With Fishsticks and (probably) Anthony & Cleopatra. (The Season 6 shipboard scenes appear to have been mostly shot on 'Rob's Folly' out in the Hauraki Gulf, this includes Friend in Need, excepting the few seconds of 'night-time' scene when they arrived off Higuchi, which were probably shot here).
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in the '60 Minutes' documentary |
in Ten Little Warlords |
in War Wounds |
Ignoring, for the moment, the eyecatching presence of the fort just ahead, we turn back to the south-west towards a stand of ti-tree [2], a scrubby second-growth tree which is the first stage of regenerating native bush. It's most commonly seen in its immature form, as scrubby bushes, but the ti-tree here is mature and twenty or thirty feet high, forming woodland. This grove is most unusual (in the Auckland area) both in the size and closeness of the trees, and the absence of undergrowth between the trunks. It must have been perfect for filming scenes.
Zooming forward in time by a few millennia, this was the first sight of the surface that greeted Hel in the first episode of Cleopatra 2525, and she was singularly unimpressed...
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Hel contemplates nature |
Returning to the Xenaverse, this woodland featured in many episodes - for example, Intimate Strangers (in which fully half the episode must have been shot in this grove), Callisto's fiery reappearance in Maternal Instincts, the start of Locked Up and Tied Down, the fight with Hades and Athena at the start of Looking Death in the Eye, right through to Soul Possession where Xena made the deal with Ares.
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(or is it the other way around?) fight in Intimate Strangers |
in many such scenes |
in Maternal Instincts |
The outer edge of this grove has a litter of columns and broken statuary scattered around - a ruined temple [3]. I had this down for the final scene in God Fearing Child, but the background in that episode appears to slope too steeply to be this place. Obviously it has been used for scenes, but I can't place them.
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Downslope from this, through the trees, is a very small nameless stream, no more than a trickle, which has been dammed to form a small muddy pond [4], surrounded by woodland. Running along the far edge of the pond and down the valley, cut into the slope, is a track [5a - 5] which has been much used - for example the cannibal fight in Destiny, in The Quest,The Convert, God Fearing Child (Herc and Hera's conversation occupies most of the length of the track and is the best view of it), and most recently at the end of When Fates Collide and in Soul Possession. Curiously enough, the view across the pond itself seems to have been very rarely used - brief shots in The Quest and The Convert being the only ones that come to mind.
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(the track runs along the far side of it) |
in The Quest (just visible among the trees) |
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God Fearing Child |
(Taking photos by natural light on a fine day brings home how difficult it is to get the right exposure - either the shadows are black or the sunlit areas are bleached out. My photos above have been massively tweaked with 'Gimp' to get a result that is only just useable. It's much easier on overcast days when the light is softer and more even. RenPics cameramen had the immense advantage of fill-in lighting).
Still in evidence beside the track is the gatehouse from Amphipolis Under Siege [5] (which, coincidentally, actually is located at the approach to 'Amphipolis' town as used in the ep.)
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to Amphipolis in Amphipolis Under Siege |
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The belt of woodland on the slope above the track is narrow, you can see daylight through the trees. As the track beside the stream reaches the upper end of the woodland [5a] it doubles back sharp right up the slope, coming to a small clearing [5b] that was used for a number of 'woodland' scenes. For example, Xena and Akemi's conversation about 'sounds' in Friend in Need 1 was, I believe, shot here.
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was shot here |
In the cleared paddock upstream of the pond is a timber bridge [6] which serves no obvious purpose as a farm bridge, which suggests it may be a Pacific Renaissance construction. Certainly several episodes featured a wooden bridge over a CGI gorge.
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Just downhill from all this is 'Springfield' [7] - a set with an Arabic or Indian look to most of its buildings (though it has an imposing Greco-Roman style gateway at the eastern end). It was used, for example, in the Season 4 'India' episodes. It was noticeable how cunningly the set was designed, with lots of side alleys and passageways that could be used to hide cameras from each other. The outside of it also featured as Amphipolis in Amphipolis Under Siege.
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massive, un-'Eastern' gateway in the distance) |
('60 Minutes' helicopter footage) |
Below Springfield in the vee between the nameless stream already mentioned and the larger stream down the western edge of the site, is a flat area with a couple of domes and number of poles sticking up [8] - the only remains of the Amazon village from the Season 6 episodes Path of Vengeance and Helicon. (Earlier Amazon villages were elsewhere on the site - see below). Just beside this are the timber platforms over the 'sulphur pit' from Path of Vengeance.
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This was also the site of the ruins of Cirra in Destiny, long before the
Amazon village was built on the site.
Just beyond this is where Xena deflected all Khan's rockets in Back in The Bottle.
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the first major 'back-story' |
the ruins of Cirra have long gone from this site |
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Back in the Bottle |
left-right for this one. The army on the hillside is CGI |
Heading back across the nameless stream and swinging left (on a track cut through the thick undergrowth, that Gabs rode down near the end of When Fates Collide), brings us out below the fort (known as 'Newcastle' by PacRen). This is the most visually imposing set on the site, with its massive-looking 'stone' walls. The exterior and interior have been seen in innumerable episodes.
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end is the back of the blue screen |
corner. The 'stone' wall is very convincing |
| Some exterior views of the fort from The God You Know: |
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building at top right is CGI, though |
The inside was possibly seen best at the start and finish of the chariot race in The God You Know. But most recently it served as the snow-swept street in old Higuchi where Xena was attacked by the mob.
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(notice the Japanese 'gateway' covering the Imperial eagle above the doorway)... |
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It was while taking scans to illustrate the fort that I noticed a very daring stunt (and hasn't Lucy commented that the chariots were the most dangerous part of the production?) - Caligula's crash at the end of the chariot race, as he came through the gateway - notice the sloping ramp in the middle picture above, which Xena avoids, but Caligula doesn't. Those horses must be magnificently well trained.
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Leaving the fort and keeping left downslope to stay near the stream, we come to an isolated timber building with a couple of outhouses [10], which at various times has been Alcmene's farm in 'Hercules', Joxer's inn in Looking Death in the Eye, Livia and Motherhood, Ares' farm, Akemi's grandfather's grave site in Friend in Need, and has featured in many, many other episodes. Known as 'The Farm', most likely the name came from Alcmene's farm rather than Ares'.
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It looked the same 25 years later in Livia |
Virgil must have put that centre building up fast - and it burned down just as quickly |
background is a distinctive landmark |
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Friend in Need |
The inn is a dead end (and not only for gods).... backtracking up the slope a little way, we come to the village [11] - a cluster of houses with thatched roofs, poetically named 'Bogville'. Most villages in the series (after the move to Lion Park i.e. from mid-Season 2 on) have been this one. The left-hand photo below may just give a clue to the origin of the name - the ground is indeed rather wet.
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(extremely difficult for photography) |
from beside the fort |
It also served, suitably disguised, as the Amazon village in The Quest, A
Necessary Evil, and Bitter Suite. (I had some doubts about this, as the huts didn't
seem to resemble the current village very closely - however, it was visibly the same village in all three
episodes, and the very last shot in the village - the start of the Gabdrag - is a dead giveaway to the location -
compare the tree in the background of the right-hand scan below with the scan from Path of
Vengeance lower down).
It was also the centaur village in Maternal Instincts - reflecting the new era of Amazon-Centaur
cooperation?
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A Necessary Evil |
Maternal Instincts |
Bitter Suite |
Behind the village, sheltered by a row of trees, is a single isolated building [12], known as 'B&B'. It was used, for example, as the house where Xena and Beowulf first encountered Grindl at the end of The Ring. It's quite easily confused with The Farm, as they share a similar appearance. I'd guess the name may have come from some of the old inns in England which now function as 'Bed & Breakfast' budget tourist accommodation, but it's only a guess.
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To the east of the village, behind a row of trees, I have a vague recollection of more buildings... something shows up in the air photo [13]. Regrettably, I didn't take more notice of this at the time. Looking at the Amazon village scenes in the episodes from Endgame to Kindred Spirits, there is a background of a row of pine trees in one direction and a stand of the tall feathery gum trees adjacent to it, in fact running through the village - this location [13] seems to fit. The buildings of this Amazon village were very wide, with correspondingly flat slopes of the roofs, in contrast to the high-pitched roofs of its predecessor. Of course, Endgame was set in the Greek Amazon village, Lifeblood and Kindred Spirits in the Northern Amazon village - a different locale entirely. But Renpics used the same set for these mid-period episodes. (Just to complete the list, the Northern Amazon encampment in Sin Trades and Them Bones was at Cable Road, Woodhill; and we never actually got to see the village (if any) in Coming Home). The Season 6 map says it was known, bizarrely, as 'Santaville', and it was used as the Norse village in The Ring, with pine trees strapped to the gums to disguise them.
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building behind Amarice in Endgame |
(this view from Lifeblood) |
the row of low trees beyond, and the line of tall gums in the background, locate this quite well - it's at the west edge of the Amazon village, above [13] on the air photo |
Doubtless the low-lying plain to the north, at the end of the site, was used for many outside scenes... this also, I missed. Oh for a time machine.
Stretching from the village eastwards across the site, are large open fields, bordered by lines of trees. Still, they don't look nearly as big 'in the flesh' as they do on screen. Before I visited the site I was hoping to find the scene of the battle in Endgame, and Athena's army in Amphipolis Under Siege, and looked hard for it; but even after a second visit, I was convinced I had failed to find it, until I viewed my photos afterwards and saw how much bigger the area looked on film. A wide-angle 28mm SLR camera lens, just like the movie camera lenses Renpics used, makes an open space appear much larger than it does to the eye.
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Amphipolis Under Siege (and most of them are CGI) |
the field and the line of trees beyond (From the '60 Minutes' footage) |
from the middle of the site |
The tall row of pine trees along the stream in the background effectively screens the high-tension power lines from view.
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at the right of the pond |
Heading south-east we come to a small grove of young pine trees, looking the worse for wear,
it's not at all sure if they'll survive the scorching they got during the last fight in
Friend in Need 2. (These trees are not visible on the air photo, being more
recent imports, but the small flat area [15] which became a clearing in the trees is.)
This spot has been seen extensively in the 'making of' feature on the Season 6 DVD set.
The map shows this spot as 'cave entrance', probably hidden by the pine trees at the time
we visited.
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points of swordfighting |
a little scorched |
Making our way through the small trees, we come on the battle scene from Endgame, or at least part of it.
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episode the domes came from |
Just upslope from here, we come on a large ridge of earth and sprayed concrete 'rock' - the quarry set [16]. Both the inside and the eastern face of this versatile construction featured in many episodes, for example the Ares-Xena fight in Coming Home, and most recently as the flanks of Mount Fuji where Gabrielle fought Morimoto for Xena's Warrior Pot - complete with bird's nest.
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in Coming Home |
Just below this is a large round swimming pool, with an underground viewing window for underwater photography, and a shed nearby with three chimneys poking out of it - if the New Zealand winter weather was unfriendly, at least the pool was heated. I expect this was used for that deplorable fishy episode we prefer not to mention. The underwater viewing window in the side wall was probably used for underwater scenes in such episodes as Coming Home and The Ring. And it also served as the waterfront in burning Higuchi in Friend in Need.
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is just visible at the right |
Heading back towards the centre of the site, we cross the winding dirt track whose most conspicuous use was part of Xena and Caligula's racing tour of the site in The God You Know (and man, those chariots were drifting on the corners!), and come to the entrance gates of the town [17] - 'Centrium'. Xena and Caligula raced through here too (though they started and finished at the fort). This is another long 'street' set, with a sharp bend at the end of it, last used for the fire scene in Higuchi in Friend in Need.
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The God You Know |
Friend in Need (Higuchi in flames) |
At the northern end, this set backs onto the courtyard [18] which, if I recall correctly, was the Halls of War (Ares' temple). Known as the 'Mansion', this name is a little puzzling. Mansions sound untypical of Herc and Xena's days.
Beyond here, between the 'port' and the 'fort', is a clutter of sheds presumably used for storing props and spare scenery and the innumerable other things a production site needs. There is also a huge blue screen, which (judging from the evidence of the aerial views in the 60 Minutes documentary) is semi-portable, having moved around the site as required.
| And that about wraps up our tour. Please tip your guide on the way out... |  |
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