Like superheroines before her, she should be strong and brave. If she's pretty, so much the better.

She must vow to protect the powerless and battle barbarians.

Superhuman powers aren't mandatory, but advisable, and she must be able to save whole civilizations in a single episode.

A real-life name like Lucy Lawless may seal the deal.

Lawless, a 28-year-old New Zealand actress, stormed into the world of syndicated action-adventure television in March 1995 as a guest character on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." Giant, beautiful, and fierce, Xena and her band of warriors tried to kill Hercules in a quest for his empire.

But within the space of an episode, the warriors defected and the power-hungry princess realized she was losing her humanity. In later episodes, Xena and Hercules become allies, then lovers. In fall 1995, Xena pulled off a true feminine coup. She got her own series.

One year later, the campy, comic action show, which blends ancient mythology with Hong-Kong style fight scenes and special effects, has legions of fans and solid ratings (check local listings for time and channel). Along the way, Xena, who now fights for justice, has become something of a role model.

"It just seems to have hit the world at the right time," Lawless said. "The world is ready for a woman hero who is smarter and stronger than she is good-looking."

While no one doubts Xena's brains and brawn, executive producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi don't mind having a little fun with Lawless' beauty. Muscular, and nearly 6 feet tall, Lawless is laced each week into a bustier-like costume of leather and metal.

Some others:

• Time. The show is set somewhere in the "golden age of myth." Dialogue, however, bubbles with the hip double-entendres of, say, "Melrose Place."

• Closing Credits. Read the fine print: you're likely to find a guarantee that no Amazon warriors were killed while filming the show.

• Sexuality. Men love Xena. But so do women, and viewers and producers alike snicker about Xena's friendship with Gabrielle, the young, blond sidekick played by Renee O'Connor.

• Continuity. "We have no respect for that," crows Lawless. "Sometimes it's completely slap-stick, then it'll be more intense and dramatic, with some fantastic moral dilemma."

"Xena can make mistakes, although she's never made to look stupid," she explains. "That gave me a whole new perspective and I let go of all those super-protective guards that actors like to have on their characters."

Xena may be vulnerable, but she's mighty well-armed. She wields a chakram, a razor-sharp discus. She uses the "Xena touch", a two-fingered pinch on the pressure points of the neck, to elicit information from uncooperative sources. Her battle cry, which sounds something like "Yi-yi-yi," strikes fear into gods and mortals alike. And she boasts excellent martial arts skills, honed in sessions with Douglas Wong, a renowned kung fu master in Los Angeles.

By the end of last season, "Xena" ranked as high as 11th among syndicated shows, occasionally beating out the likes of "Baywatch." This season, in 22 original episodes, "Xena" is aiming squarely at the Top 10.