Hercules (TV series)

Television series
German title	Hercules
Original title	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Country of production	USA / New Zealand
original language	English
Year (s)	1995-1999
length	45 minutes
Episodes	111 in 6 seasons ( list )
genre	Fantasy , action series
idea	Christian Williams
production	Sam Raimi , Robert G. Tapert
music	Joseph LoDuca
First broadcast	April 25, 1994 (films), January 16, 1995 (series)
German-language first broadcast	October 7, 1994 (films), December 8, 1995 (series) on RTL
occupation
Kevin Sorbo : Hercules ( Ekkehardt Belle ) Michael Hurst : Iolaus ( Axel Malzacher )

Hercules is an American television series produced by Renaissance Pictures for MCA / Universal in New Zealand from 1995 to 1999 . It is loosely based on the legends about the ancient Greek son of gods and folk hero Heracles (Greek; Latin: Hercules ). To test public acceptance, the series was preceded by five television films with the same theme and the same main characters in 1994 as part of the Action Pack series. There is also a New Zealand mini-television series of the same name with Paul Telfer as the main actor.

action

In a fantasy version of ancient Greece, Hercules, the son of the god father Zeus (played by Anthony Quinn at the beginning ), and his best friend Iolaus go through numerous adventures. Often they encounter injustices and conflicts that need to be resolved, whereby Hercules relies on his patience and wisdom in addition to his superhuman physical strength. Again and again, however, they are haunted by Hercules' jealous stepmother, Hera , who unloads all her anger over her husband's infidelity towards his son. Later, the god of war and half-brother Ares becomes the main enemy.

In the course of the series, Hercules also meets Xena, the warrior princess , who roams the ancient world with her troops, robbing and murdering. He converts her and she becomes his lover, but in the end they part ways. Xena's further adventures are described in the successful offshoot of the same name.

Television films

• 1994: Hercules and the Amazon Women
• 1994: Hercules and the Lost Kingdom
• 1994: Hercules and the Circle of Fire
• 1994: Hercules in the Underworld
• 1994: Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur

Spin-offs

Hercules has the following two spin-offs :

• Xena, the warrior princess (1995-2001)
• The young Hercules (1998-1999)

background

• The series never took itself seriously, despite a lot of serious issues. Although the triumph of good over evil was always the basic concept of the plot, the style of staging always went in the direction of comedy and trash . This began with the anything but contemporary costumes, some of which seemed more borrowed from the S&M scene , through the overacting of the actors to the repeatedly interspersed, anachronistic ideas (e.g. Hercules with electric guitar and Iolaus as Bruce Lee ).
• In contrast to almost all Olympian gods, the mother of the gods Hera is never embodied by an actress in almost the entire series; it usually appears as a pair of piercing-looking eyes that float in the clouds or look at someone from the water of a spring. The creators of the series always worked with new computer animations based on the blue peacock , their symbolic animal . Only in the fourth season Hera got a face and was played by the American actress Meg Foster .
• Some later movie actors made early guest appearances in Hercules, including Karl Urban and Marton Csokas , as well as ex-porn star Traci Lords .
• Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo met his current wife Sam Jenkins on the set.
• Like Hera, the god of war Ares was also a computer animation at the beginning of the series and was depicted as a gruesome skull that could be seen in the moon or spoke to his servants from a pool of blood. His places of worship resemble devil places with bull elements.
• With the cast of the recurring character Autolycus, Bruce Campbell , producer Sam Raimi had already shot the Evil Dead trilogy. Campbell appears repeatedly in Raimi productions (e.g. the Spider-Man films). One episode even parodied the “Little goody two shoes” scene from the Army of Darkness , in which Ash fights against his evil doppelganger. At Hercules, Autolycus fights against his twin brother. Bruce Campbell played all roles.
• There are several allusions to Hercules in Sorbos' later series Andromeda . For example, Captain Hunt has Hercules' wig and sword in his quarters.

Comparison with the myth

Although the action takes place in Greece, the hero bears the Roman name Hercules (or Hercules) and not the Greek name Heracles. Also with other figures, which are taken from the Greco-Roman pantheon , partly the Latin, partly the Greek name is used. The Roman Discordia in Greek mythology corresponds to the goddess Eris , the Roman Fortuna is opposed to the Greek Tychē , yet Discordia and Fortuna appear in the series. The names Autolycus, Sisyphus etc. are also the Latinized forms of Autolykos or Sisyphos , as there are numerous names in Latin form (such as Celesta, Voluptua, Atticus). However, it is common practice in the English-speaking world to reproduce ancient Greek names in Latinized form - comparable to the fact that the Latin form is also used in German for "beautiful Helena " and not the ancient Greek form of the name Helénē . (In addition, this apparent inconsistency is put into perspective by the occurrence of completely non-antique names such as Derk, Obie or Goth.)

The series describes Hercules as an intelligent, subtle man who usually prefers to solve a problem peacefully and with cunning. This corresponds only to a limited extent to Heracles in the Greek legend. Hercules also turns against the custom of sacrifice several times in the course of the series, since in his opinion the gods “only think of themselves”. The hero's willingness to help, which has become a leitmotif in the series, can, however, be partially justified by the ancient stories. The good-natured character of the serial hero is also reflected in the myths (e.g. Ovid , Met. IX). As in ancient mythology, it is mostly Hera who, directly or indirectly, conjures up a fighting Hercules, while ancient Heracles himself strived for rest all his life and his peaceful family life was only destroyed by Hera's work.

The fabrics and figures used are only partially taken from Greco-Roman mythology and sometimes appear mixed up. Kassandra , for example, is also a seer in the series, whose prophecies are not believed, but she lives here on Atlantis , and not like the mythological figure in Troy . Deïaneira was also the wife of Heracles in the myth, but she was not killed directly by Hera as in the series, but killed herself. Heracles killed his first wife, Megara , in the madness caused by Hera's drugs . This event is in turn integrated into the series through the - mythologically unproven - story with Serena, who Hercules also killed in a delusional state. Incidentally, it does not appear from the series that Deïaneira is the daughter of Oineus . The famous apple of discord also found its way into the series via a newly invented route. While in the myth Eris the apple intended for “the most beautiful” comes into play in order to stir up discord among the goddesses, in the series it is Aphrodite who gives Iolaus the apple in order to be chosen by him as the most beautiful goddess. Typhon is a terrible monster in Greek mythology and not a clumsy and good-natured giant like in the series.

The adventures in Ireland or the encounter with Caesar or with vampires are of course completely detached from Greek mythology . Iolaus' reference that his father fought in the Punic War is also an anachronism ; moreover, this information cannot chronologically be made compatible with Caesar's invasion of Britain. In the same way, the motifs of the apocalyptic horsemen and the Christmas events taken from the Christian context are modern artistic syncretisms and not compatible with the Greco-Roman myth.

The insignia typical of Herakles, such as the fur of the Kitharonic and Nemean lions and the legendary club , were also omitted. Furthermore, it is not mentioned in the series that according to mythology Iolaus was actually the nephew of Heracles.

Recurring characters

• Zeus ( Anthony Quinn , Peter Vere-Jones, Charles Keating )
• Ares ( Kevin Smith )
• Hera ( computer animation , later played by Meg Foster )
• Aphrodite ( Alexandra Tydings )
• Discordia ( Meighan Desmond )
• Strifus ( Joel Tobeck )
• Alkmene ( Liddy Holloway )
• Deianira ( Tawny Kitaen )
• Jason ( Jeffrey Thomas )
• Nemesis ( Karen Witter )
• Nebula ( Gina Torres ), half-sister of Gilgamesh
• Salmoneus ( Robert Trebor )
• Autolycus ( Bruce Campbell )
• Morrigan ( Tamara Gorski )
• Falafel ( Paul Norell )
• Xena ( Lucy Lawless ) (1995)

DVD

The first season in German appeared in 2004. After four years, the second season appeared on November 13, 2008, the other seasons followed. In July 2010 the final season 6 was released on DVD.

Episode list

→ Main article: Hercules (TV series) / Episode list

Web links

• Hercules in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Hercules in the online film database
• Episode guide on fernsehserien.de
• Hercules in the German dubbing file