The year is 1999; after six seasons of exciting mythological action, Kevin Sorbo decided he had had enough of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Now Renaissance Pictures faced a dilemma: what series could replace Hercules and join the action-packed world of Xena: Warrior Princess? Producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert knew they couldn’t find one show to replace Hercules, so they came up with two. The first was Jack of All Trades, a historical comedy starring Bruce Campbell, and the second was Cleopatra 2525.
Created by R.J. Stewart and Rob Tapert, Cleopatra 2525 was one of the most ambitious (and strange) shows of its kind. It’s been 25 years since the sci-fi series beamed into syndication all the way back in January 2000. And it’s time to look back.
See, long before Gina Torres starred as Zoe Washburne in Firefly or Jessica Pearson in Suits, she played Hel, one third of the sexy trio at the center of Cleopatra 2525‘s absurd, campy war against flying robots. Yes, it’s probably one of the strangest roles of her career, but it also played a huge part in making her a household name.
An Exotic Dancer’s Wild Trip 525 Years Into the Future
Like Futurama did the previous year, Cleopatra 2525 told the story of someone who “travels” to the future via suspended animation. No, it wasn’t the same Cleopatra we all know and love: this Cleo was a modern (for 2000) exotic dancer who suffers complications during a breast augmentation.
Sent exactly 525 years into the future, the dancer now finds herself in a society forced to live underground. Besieged by the “Baileys” (which were armed flying machines rendered in gloriously terrible CGI), humanity now fights for survival and attempts to reclaim the Earth’s surface from the machines. Yeah, The Matrix was all the rage back then, making “the machines” the perfect baddies for this kind of show.
Cleopatra 2525 Got Bigger, Weirder, and More Ridiculous in Season Two
By its second season, Cleopatra 2525 got bumped up to an hour-long format — while its companion piece, Jack of All Trades, wasn’t so lucky. Jack was pulled partway through its own second season, in December 2000, leaving Cleopatra to fly solo for the rest of its run with more time to tell the craziest stories the writers could think of. Forget the techno-babble of Stargate or Star Trek: Cleopatra was all about absurd storylines. Just one look at Creegan, one of the series’ many bad guys, is enough to tell you all you need to know about the kind of show Cleopatra 2525 was.
The core crew of Cleo (Jennifer Sky), Hel (Gina Torres), and Sarge (Victoria Pratt) faced off against all sorts of bizarre villains throughout the show’s two-season run. They could be facing off against telepathic criminals in one episode – and becoming ghosts in the next. You never really knew what to expect with Cleopatra.
Sadly, not even all the creativity in the world could save Cleopatra 2525 from the curse that plagued so many shows in the late ’90s: an early cancellation.
Why Cleopatra 2525 Got Canceled Before Its Story Could Finish
One thing about revealing attires and time-travelling strippers is that they tend to make networks a bit anxious. A show as provocative as Cleopatra 2525 would be relegated to late-late-night slots, severely limiting its appeal to anyone without a bad case of insomnia. Besides, the early 2000s would see a decline in syndicated TV shows like Xena or Cleopatra 2525; now, it was all about cable networks and their premium shows.
In its final episode, Cleo and the underground humans prepare for the final confrontation with the Baileys – a clash that would kick off the show’s third season. With Xena‘s conclusion on the horizon, Renaissance Pictures saw little incentive to continue Cleopatra 2525. At the time, the series was getting bombarded with lukewarm reviews, and it would be years before fans realized just how bonkers this hidden gem truly was.
For those of us who don’t mind a little bit of camp with our sci-fi, there are only a handful of shows as creative as Cleopatra 2525. It stands out as a time capsule that perfectly captures the sci-fi vibe of the early 2000s. Even though it ends on a cliffhanger, the journey is absolutely worth a watch.
If You Liked These Shows, You’ll Like Cleopatra 2525
Cleopatra 2525 probably isn’t for everyone. But if you liked Xena: Warrior Princess, this might be your cup of tea, especially since it has the same producers, the same New Zealand backdrops and the same willingness to be completely ridiculous. But it’s also for fans of Andromeda (the show Kevin Sorbo himself jumped to right after Hercules wrapped). And if raunchy, campy sci-fi is really your thing, Lexx takes everything Cleopatra 2525 was doing and pushes it several steps further.
RELATED: Lexx: The Weirdest, Filthiest Star Trek Parody Ever Made Is Streaming Free
Where to Watch Cleopatra 2525 Now
As of this writing, Cleopatra 2525 actually isn’t available on any major streaming platform. One of the only ways to watch it right now is to buy the complete series DVD box set (Universal, 2005), still available through resellers like Amazon and eBay.
Cleopatra 2525 |
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An exotic dancer is frozen in 2001 and unfrozen in 2525 by two female warriors fighting against robots that have taken over the world. The three join forces and try to escape from the underground caves to which humanity has been banished. |
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| Creator: R.J. Stewart, Robert G. Tapert |
| Cast: Gina Torres, Victoria Pratt, Jennifer Sky |
| Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Fantasy |
| Number of Seasons: 2 (28 episodes in total) |
| Streaming Service: N/A |
