Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Titles
Genre	Supernatural, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Drama
Created by	Christian Williams
Starring	Kevin Sorbo Michael Hurst
Country of origin	New Zealand  United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	111, plus 5 pilot Television movies (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	41–44 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication / USA Network
Original run	January 16, 1995 – November 22, 1999
Chronology
Related shows	Hercules and Xena – The Battle for Mount Olympus Xena: Warrior Princess Young Hercules

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles (Hercules was his Roman analogue). It ran for six seasons, producing action figures and other memorabilia as it became one of the highest rated syndicated shows in television history.^{[citation needed]}

It was preceded by several TV movies with the same major characters in 1994 as part of Universal Media Studios's Action Pack: in order, Hercules and the Amazon Women, Hercules and the Lost Kingdom, Hercules and the Circle of Fire, Hercules in the Underworld, and Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur, the last of which served mostly as a "clip show" of the previous movies as a lead up to the series.

Description

Kevin Sorbo (left) and Michael Hurst (right) as Hercules and Iolaus

The series is set in a fantasy version of ancient Greece not precisely located in historical time. Although set in ancient Greece, the show also has a mixture of Oriental, Egyptian and Medieval elements in various episodes. The show stars Kevin Sorbo as Hercules and regularly features Michael Hurst as his sidekick Iolaus. Robert Trebor often rotates with Iolaus as Hercules' other sidekick, Salmoneus – ever looking for a way to make a quick dinar.

Typical plot lines involve Hercules and Iolaus (or Salmoneus) saving rustic villagers from monsters, evil warlords or the often selfish whims of the gods. There was also comedy and episodes often had "in-jokes" about modern themes. In a Come Dancing style contest (episode And Fancy Free), Michael Hurst wore drag throughout to play "The Widow Twanky" and was billed as Edith Sidebottom in the credits. In the episode Beanstalks and Bad Eggs, which is a Jack and the Beanstalk parody, three baby harpies who look like Gremlins do a Three Stooges routine. In the earlier episodes, as mentioned in the show's opening title, Hercules' main nemesis is his evil stepmother Hera, the powerful queen of the gods, who seeks to destroy Hercules using various monsters, because he is a reminder of her husband Zeus' infidelity. As the series progressed, a wider range of enemies was used; notably Hercules' half-brother, the malicious god of war Ares, replaced Hera as the show's primary antagonist. Towards the end of the series Ares is himself replaced by the evil god, Dahak, who is the main villain in the show's fifth season and sets off a story arc that has Hercules traveling to Sumeria, Norseland and Éire. Although Zeus, Hercules' father, is frequently cited by Hercules as a neglectful father, Zeus' love for Hercules is well-documented in the show (In one episode, Hercules explains to a friend that he looked to father figures because Zeus was never around when he was younger. When confronted about this by Hercules, Zeus revealed that he specifically chose Alcmene to be Hercules' mother because he, unfortunately, knew that he could not be there for his son and knew that she would provide him with the love, strength, and support he deserved, thus revealing he had put more thought into Hercules' birth than any other child he ever had). Indeed, Hercules is often referred to as "the favorite son of Zeus". Zeus makes several appearances on the show, even saving his son's life and restoring his superhuman strength on one occasion when he needs it the most. Hercules, for his own part, is always there for Zeus when his father needs him, and in the end, Hercules reconciles with his father and buries whatever issues he has with the father he has come to understand and love. This, however, is changed in Hercules's last appearance on Xena: Warrior Princess, when he is forced to kill Zeus with the rib of Cronus.

The show had a successful spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess, with which it shared recurring characters such as Ares (Kevin Smith), Autolycus (Bruce Campbell), aforementioned Salmoneus (Robert Trebor), Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) and Callisto (Hudson Leick). Both shows, although produced in New Zealand using mostly local actors who strove for American accents, were syndicated worldwide. The success of the show also saw a number of similar ancient-set series being commissioned, such as The Adventures of Sinbad, Conan the Adventurer, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, BeastMaster and Jack of All Trades.

Episodes

Characters and cast

Main

• Hercules (Kevin Sorbo)
• Iolaus (Michael Hurst)

Recurring

• Alcmene (Elizabeth Hawthorne, Liddy Holloway and Kim Michalis)
• Althea (Willa O'Neill)
• Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings)
• Apollo (Scott Michaelson)
• Ares (Kevin Smith)
• Artemis (Rhonda McHardy)
• Atalanta (Cory Everson)
• Autolycus (Bruce Campbell)
• Callisto (Hudson Leick)
• Cassandra (Claudia Black)
• Charon (Michael Hurst)
• Cupid (Karl Urban)
• Daedalus (Derek Payne)
• Dahak (Michael Hurst, Mark Newnham)
• Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen)
• Demeter (Sarah Wilson)
• Dirce (Lisa Chappell)
• Discord (Meighan Desmond)
• Falafel (Paul Norell)
• Gabrielle (Renée O'Connor)
• Hades (Erik Thomson, Mark Ferguson)
• Hera (Meg Foster)
• Iphicles (Kevin Smith)
• Jason (Jeffrey Thomas, Chris Conrad)
• Joxer (Ted Raimi)
• Kernunnos (Stuart Devenie)
• Mabon (Nicko Vella)
• Morrígan (Tamara Gorski)
• Nebula (Gina Torres)
• Nemesis (Karen Witter, Teresa Hill, Kimberley Joseph)
• Odin (Peter McCauley)
• Orestes (Michael Hurst)
• Persephone (Andrea Croton)
• Psyche (Susan Ward, with Beryl Te Wiata as the old Psyche)
• Salmoneus (Robert Trebor)
• Serena (Sam Jenkins, Kara Zediker)
• Strife (Joel Tobeck)
• Xena (Lucy Lawless)
• Zeus (Roy Dotrice, Peter Vere-Jones, Charles Keating, Anthony Quinn).

International broadcast history

• In Australia, this show was shown on Network Ten on Saturdays at 7:30pm back in 1997. Right after it, at 8:30pm, Xena: Warrior Princess was aired.
• In Brazil, the show was previously shown on SBT from 1997 to 2000 and reruns being shown on Rede Record along Xena from February, 2006.
• In Dominican Republic, the show was shown along Xena on Telesistema 11, and its female-oriented brother channel Coral 39.
• In Egypt, the show was previously shown on Egyptian TV Channel 2 and also received reruns due to its huge popularity among Egyptian viewers.
• In France, the show was shown on TF1 and is currently repeated on NRJ 12.
• In Germany, it was shown on RTL in the afternoon programme and on weekends.
• In Greece, it was shown along Xena on Star Channel.
• In Israel, it was shown along Xena on Channel 1 and AXN.
• In Italy, it was shown along Xena on Italia 1, now is re-aired on AXN.
• In Malaysia, it was shown along Xena on nt7 in 1999 and the show was shown on TV3 Every Sunday in the afternoon complete all seasons..
• In Norway, it was shown on TV3.
• In Singapore, it was shown on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.
• In the Netherlands, the show was shown on Yorin and Veronica.
• In the Philippines, it was broadcasted in the late 1990s at GMA Network alongside Xena The Warrior Princess.
• In Poland, the show was shown on Polsat, TV4 and AXN.
• In Portugal, the show was shown on SIC, and it is currently shown on Sci Fi Channel.
• In Russia, the show was shown on NTV, STS and TV3.
• In Spain, the show was shown on the public TV station TVE, then it started broadcasting in regional TV channels. It is sometimes been broadcast along Xena.
• In Slovakia, on TV Markíza.
• In Slovenia, the show was shown along Xena on POP TV and Kanal A, usually Weekends afternoon.
• In Sweden, the show was shown along Xena on TV3, together they were branded Äventyrssöndag (Adventure Sunday).
• In Thailand the show was shown on Channel 3 Every Monday-Friday in the evening complete all six seasons.
• In Turkey, the show was shown along Xena on Kanal D.
• In the United Kingdom, the show was broadcast by subscription service Sky, who also ran Xena. It was also run by terrestrial Channel 5 (who also broadcast Xena), in a Saturday tea-time 5:50 p.m. slot. For a while, some fourth season episodes were broadcast in a Sunday evening 8 p.m. slot, and some later re-runs of earlier episodes aired on Tuesday evenings, with the odd episode turning up late on during the night-time schedules. However, both shows abruptly disappeared from their schedules mid-way through the show's run, leaving several seasons unbroadcast (although they have since repeated the earlier episodes several times, edited (often quite heavily) for a Saturday morning youth-aimed slot). It is currently being shown on satellite/cable channel Bravo 2 on weekdays.
• In Indonesia the show was shown on RCTI Every Sunday in the morning complete all seasons.

DVD releases

Anchor Bay Entertainment has released all 6 Seasons of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as well as all TV-Movies on DVD in Region 1. The first two season box sets are not closed-captioned, even though the original release of episodes on TV was.

See also

• List of Hercules and Xena characters
• Xena: Warrior Princess
• West End Games published a Hercules & Xena role playing game.
• Norse mythology in popular culture

External links

• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys at the Internet Movie Database
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys at TV.com
• Xena Fan Films - fan films based on characters of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"