Long ago when the Earth was young, the gods were excessively
cruel and humanity was regards as nothing more than feces: to wit they feared
the Day of the Excruciating Pooper Scooper, one man stood for justice. He possessed a strength never known to the
little mouth breathers and they heralded him as a hero. So grab your waterskins, stock up on rations
and don’t forget your 40 lb war boat.
This is Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
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| That's not a rock monster, it's a rock lobster!! |
Who can say what the
spoilers truly stand for?
In 1995, Renaissance Pictures created five TV movies loosely
based on the Greek mythological demi-god Hercules. A man born of both man and god, fathered by
Zeus the king of the gods he held strength to the likes that humanity had not
seen prior and lemme tell ya these people were recording this all down on
parchment.
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| Bad dog!! |
Hercules (Kevin Sorbo of Hercules and the Amazon
Women, Kull the Conqueror, Dharma and Greg, Andromeda and The O.C.) journeys
the lands aided by his partner (no not that kind of partner, just a sidekick)
Iolaus (Michael Hurst of Death Warmed Over, A Moment Passing, Hercules in the
Underworld and Bitch Slap)thwarting demons, monsters and overthrowing
tyrants. Occasionally getting into
squabbles with Hercules’ half brother and full god of war Ares (Kevin
Smith of Desperate Remedies, Young Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess, Riverworld
and Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao) our heroes rescued damsels, fought
wars and attempted to farm in-between battles.
With superhuman strength, knowledge of melee and blunt weapons and good
old fashioned fisticuffs our hero seeks to bring a sense of order where there
is chaos. And what is a hero without his
fair share of villains wanting his head on a pig pole? Aside from Ares being his primary source of
torment Hera, queen of the gods loathed her stepson who was a symbol of Zeus’
infidelity and the bane of her existence apparently. The spleen this woman vents on a guy… sheesh.
After the inception of TV movies, a series was created with
the title of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and lasted for six seasons with a
substantial cult following. Created for
the US of A but filmed in New Zealand the standing of this show went worldwide
and got the typical explosion of merchandise from t-shirts to action
figures. Given this is a Sam Raimi/Robert Tapert
creation there is a lot of slapstick, inside jokes and pop culture references
to boggle one’s mind. The popularity of
this series resulted in the spinoffs of Young Hercules, a prequel series of
Hercules adventures as a lad as well as Xena: Warrior Princess.
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| Not a friendly critter. |
The series was a bit campy and silly in
portions but generations of the myths’ fans had their fill and enjoyed them
thoroughly. I do count myself among them
in the fact after chatting with more than a few of the cast members including
Kevin Sorbo and just pointed out how much these adventures and mini-movies. It is my opinion that the shows came later
such as The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Beast Master and Jack of All Trades
got a fair shake because of the sci-fi fantasy fans of this era.
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