Hercules/Xena (Spoilers)

[kirk55555]

The Lady and the Dragon (Hercules) - An old foe that Hercules and Iolaus had helped get exiled to an island is back, and he now has a dragon helping him terrorize villagers and kill attackers. Hercules and Iolaus go to help, and find the Dragon, which turns out to be a young dragon (with a hilariously stupid little boy voice) that's being manipulated by the bad guys.They end up showing him what's really happening, and the dragon lights the main bad guy on fire, and then runs home. Overall, this was a standard but entertaing adventure. The Dragon's voice was just stupid, even for "young" dragon, and the CG was about normal for Hercules, but they did some cool practical things with his hands and head at times. The story, while not amazing or anything, was a s solid adventure. Overall, I had a good time.

 

[kirk55555]

Long Live the King (Hercules) - Iolaus tries to help his look-a-like cousin King Orestes form a peaceful coalition of kingdoms. But, and evil king manages to kill Orestes, forcing Iolaus to take his place. It kind of sucks that they killed Orestes off this episode, but besides that it was pretty good, although maybe not quite as good as King for a Day, the episode that introduced Orestes. At the end, Iolaus fakes his (Orestes) death so that the Queen can rule without Iolaus having to be around, even though the Queen and him want to be together. That part wasn't surprising (he obviously wasn't going to stay king), but hopefully its some closure for them now. Overall, this was a pretty good episode.

Surprise (Hercules) - On Hercules Birthday, Hera brings a dead Callisto back to life for one day (this takes place around season 2 of Xena) to try to kill Hercules. This was a very good episode. Seeing Callisto and Hercules together was interesting, and the best parts of the episode. The stuff with his friends/family was ok, although the hallucinations were fairly predictable (Iphicles is jealous of Hercules, etc). Callisto ends the episode by becoming immortal, but Hercules traps her in the cave (although she wasn't in there very long). OVerall, this was great. Callisto and Hercules together was an interesting situation, and they made the most of it.

Encounter (Hercules) - Hercules has to save the Golden Hind (a half woman/half deer creature) who a warlord wants to kill, because its blood can kill gods. Along the way Hercules's half brother Ares shows up (with Kevin Smith being in his second episode in a row, after playing Hercule's mortal half brother Iphicles in Surprise). He is supposedly protecting the Hind, but he's willing to use it in a plan to kill Hercules. We meet Ares nephew Strife, who doesn't do much this episode but scheme and be a bit annoying.

The Golden Hind turns out to be able to shapeshift to a completely human form, and Hercules falls in love with her (and vice-versa). She has the power to heal, and saves both a mortally wounded kid and Iolaus (when she heals him, we learn that she loses human form if a mortal touches her). At the end it looks like Hercules has saved a day, and Hercules and serena (The Golden hind's human name) seem to be starting a relationship, while Ares laughs about how its all going to plan. This was a pretty good episode, and the effects of the half human/half deer Golden Hind were actually done pretty well. Besides Strife being a bit annoying, it didn't have big problems. Kevin Smith was great as always, and having him be a foe of Hercules is cool.

 

[kirk55555]

When a Man Loves a Woman (Hercules) - This episode had some good moments, but overall was just ok. Hercules wants to marry Serena from the last episode, but Ares obviously doesn't want that. Eventually, Ares says that the gods will allow the marriage, if Hercules gives up his powers and Serena is turned into a full human permanently. They both agree, and end up getting married at the end. This episode is notable for being Joxer's only appearance on Hercules, but he's wasted here, not doing anything particularly interesting. The best scene in the episode was when Hercules went to the Elysian Fields to tell Deianeira (his dead wife) that he was getting remarried. It was an effectively done sad scene. Besides that, the episode was just ok. Hercules will obviously be getting his strength back sooner rather than later, and there is no way Serena can stay alive too long without the show going through major changes.

 

[kirk55555]

Judgment Day (Hercules) - This was a decent episode. Serena gets killed by Stryfe, who frames Hercules for the murder. Xena and Gabrielle show up to help figure out what happened. It was cool to see Hercules, Xena, Iolaus and gabrielle together. I figured Serena would die, but it wasn't done badly, although I still hate Stryfe. We got to see Zeus for the first time since the last Hercules TV movie. I really wish they could figure out a better reason for him doing nothing while people kill Herc's family, other than that he's Zeus and he was busy. Once was an accident, twice is just being an ass. Also, its weird that Zeus is "The King of the Gods", but he gets no more authority than any other god, and he wasn't even willing/able to punish Ares or Stryfe for what they did. It really makes him look weak, which isn't a great way to go. Still, it was nice to see Zeus again. Overall this was an enjoyable episode, even though Stryfe made it a bit annoying at times.

 

[kirk55555]

The Lost City (Hercules) - While looking for his cousin, Iolaus finds a brainwashing hippie cult (and that's not an exaggeration). Salmoneus is already there, and brainwashed. Iolaus, along with a female reporter he was traveling with, have to stop the cult leader and save the day. This episode was bad. Hippie brainwashing sounds like it should at least be interesting, but it was mostly annoying. Overall, this was just an annoying episode.

Les Contemptibles (Hercules) - This was a clip show that turned out to be a lot better than it should have been. The framing story is in 18th century France. Sorbo, Hurst and Trebor play thieves who are scamming rich people out of there money. The current scam is for Trebor's character to pretend to be The Chartreuse Fox, a hero of the downtrodden, and try to scam a woman out of her money, with Sorbo and Hurst's characters acting as highway robbers he finds and intends to turn into heroes by telling them stories of the legendary Hercules. Eventually, they get their money stolen by the real Fox, but she gets captured and sentenced to get her head cut off. After all the stories, the three characters have a change of heart and rescue her, going off with her to save France. This episode should have been terrible, but it was pretty funny and entertaining.

 

[kirk55555]

Reign of Terror (Hercules) - Hercules is traveling with Salmoneus to help get him a meeting with a guy he knows named Palamedes, who Salmoneus wants to partner with in a new manure business. When they get to the place, they find that the king (who was always a bit off) now things he's Zeus, and has become a danger to his people. He's also changing a temple to Aphrodite into a temple for Hera, which makes Aphrodite herself show up. Hera decides to take advantage of all this and gives the crazy king the power of a god (basically strength and balls of lightning), on the condition that he kills Hercules.

This was a great episode. I really like how, while she was pretty shallow and petty in her first few appearances, Aphrodite really gets character development as both Hercules and Xena go on. In her last Hercules appearance, she fell for Hephaestus, regardless of his looks. In this episode, she takes some criticism from a villager named Palamedes (the town has worshipped her for year, but she never helps them) but she realizes that he respects her, not for her looks but just for who she is as a person.

When he dies because of the mad king, she delays his death to give Hercules a chance to save him, and even cries over the likely death of a mortal she barely knew. It was done really well, and helps the character. I mean, I'm not saying she acts out of character, she's still Aphrodite, but its always nice to see her be more developed than I thought she would have been based on her first few episodes. She also helps Hercules find time to save Palamedes by playing along with the crazy king and pretending he's Zeus, which is funny. Eventually, Hercules saves Palamedes by redirecting a thunderbolt the king throws at him, bringing Palamedes back to life (while reflecting another back at the king, who now thinks he's ulysses).

Overall, this was a fun episode. Salmoneus gets a few good moments, but its Aphrodite who gets the most character stuff, and the crazy king was interesting.

 

[kirk55555]

The End of the Beginning (Hercules) - Atolycus gets his hand on a stone that allows him to mess with time, and ends up stranding Hercules and himself in the past, without a way back. To get back to the present, he teams up with a younger version of himself to get the stone in that era, while Hercules meets a young Serena (right when the other Golden Hinds were killed) and tries to get her away from Ares. He succeeds, and so does Autolycus (although he fights with his younger self a bit before getting the stone). In the present, Serena is alive, mortal, and has a family of her own, so its a bittersweet result for Hercules. This was a decent episode, although I think the Serena stuff was kind of unneeded, and that they didn't really need to revisit her even if she had a bad end. But, the two Autolycus stuff was good, and the herc/Serena stuff wasn't bad, just not needed.

War Bride (Hercules) - A princess is kidnapped before going through with a political marriage to a prince she didn't want to marry anyway, and her younger sister (who arranged the kidnapping) kills their father and takes control of their kingdom. The kidnapped princess is self centered and a jerk, but after Hercules and Iolaus rescue her she learns her lesson and changes, even falling for the prince she's supposed to marry. It was a standard story, but it was done well and it was entertaining.

 

[kirk55555]

A Rock and A Hard Place (Hercules) - Hercules chases a suspected murderer into a cave, where a cave in traps the suspect under a rock. If the rock is moved the suspect will die, although he'll die anyway in a few hours. The villagers from the town of the crime want to kill the suspect now, but Hercules wants to show compassion and try to get what really happened out of the suspect before he dies. This was a very good episode, and I didn't know what would happen by the end, if the suspect was actually guilty or not.

It also shows how one persons crime can drive people to be more like the criminal, as shown when the survivor of a family he had apparently killed tried to kill him, and the whole village stayed outside the cave celebrating a man's slow death (and plotting to make it quicker). In the end the suspect was guilty, and he told what happened, and had an interesting perspective on his life, admitting that he was a coward (he killed the family so he wouldn't be caught robbing and be sent back to jail). This was a different episode for Hercules, and I like it.

 

[kirk55555]

Atlantis (Hercules) - Hercules washes up on the shores of Atlantis, meeting a woman named Cassandra (played by Claudia Black) who has foreseen both Hercules arrival, and the destruction of Atlantis. Hercules tried to help her convince the people who live in Atlantis to flee, but they are too confident in their science, and don't like Cassandra anyway for not embracing their way of life. Eventually, Hercules and Cassandra make it off the island as it sinks, while the rest of the citizens (except for a few captured sailors Hercules rescued) drown.

This was a decent episode, but Atlantis was a bit too goofy. They had a lot of advanced tech, including energy weapons, planes and microwaves. It was just a bit too ridiculous. but, the overall story was decent, and Claudia Black did a good job as Cassandra.

So, that's the end of Hercules Season 3. It was a good season, it only took me so long to finish because I was watching so much Xena. Its hard to pick a favorite episode, but Love Takes a Holiday, Not Fade Away, and Reign of Terror were very good. The Lost City was probably the most annoying, but it wasn't the worst thing ever, just not something I'd recommend watching. The Serena arc was ok, but it got a bit annoying at times, and wasn't the most interesting. Overall, this was a solid season.

 

[DWF]

Atlantis was written by Orci and Kurtzman and whether they intended it or not contains many elements from the George Pal movie Atlantis: The Lost Contintent. This was also the first time I'd seen Claudia Black in anything and she had a great chemistry with Sorbo, plus the ep. got Sorbo out of his normal outfit for a welcome change.

 

[kirk55555]

Fallen Angel (Xena) - This episode was horrible. The show is basically "Xena's Bible Adventures". Xena and Gabrielle are dead because of what happened at the end of season 4. Instead of going to the Elysian Fields like they should (they don't actually have to be physically in Greece to go there), they start going to Christian style Heaven...because why not, I guess. I mean, Gabrielle (even during her "way of love" phase) didn't actually worship the Cristian God, and Xena definitely didn't, but I guess crucifixion means an automatic transferal to Christian afterlife. Anyway, demons end up attacking, and gabrielle falls to hell, where she meets a demonic Callisto. Xena becomes an archangel to save her, and Gabrielle is saved, but Xena gives up her salvation to "purify" Callisto. So, Xena becomes a demon, Callisto becomes a boring amnesiac, and gabrielle becomes an archangel just in time to stop demon Xena. Eli manages to bring both gabrielle and Xena back to life (with help from the lobotomized angel Callisto), and that ends the episode.

This was a very bad episode. I'm beyond done with the stupid, shoe horned in Christian religion stuff on Xena. It doesn't fit at all, and its use here was idiotic, especially since we learn that Callisto's family went to Christian heaven instead of the Elysian fields. Since they were in Greece presumably worshiping the greek gods when they died, its pretty confusing. Also, Callisto's final fate after murdering probably dozens if not hundreds of people? She gets to be an angel.I feel like I was watching a Kirk cameron produced episode of xena, and it was just as bad as that sounds. Its only redeeming story feature was Joxer finding out they died and saving their bodies. Also, the effects were decent. Besides that, this was garbage.

Chakram (Xena) - This was a lot better than it should have been. After being brought back to life, xena has no memories of the violent parts of her life (although she still remembers people and other things like that). A random war god wants to use Xena to get the "Chakram of Light", the opposite of xena's old chakram, which was broken. The chakram of Light can kill a god. Xena ends up getting it, and fusing it with the remains of her chakram. This restores her memories, eliminates the god killing powers of the Chakram of light, and mixes the light and dark weapons into a new "Balanced" Chakram. The new weapon can split in two, and has a handle in the middle. Its pretty cool, actually, and feels like an upgrade to her already cool weapon.

The parts of this episode with semi Amnesiac Xena flip-flopping over restoring her warrior memories was kind of bland, but besides that it was a decent episode. Gabrielle is not only back to fighting, but kicking serious butt, washing the bad taste of "The Way of Love" out of the show. Ares appears trying to get the chakram of light, and he's as good as ever. Overall I didn't have much hope for this episode, but it was better than I expected. The only real problem was xena being kind of bland and annoying in her semi amnesiac form, but besides that it was solid.

 

[Forbin]

I was disturbed by the Judeo-Christian mythology too. I wonder if the producers were trying to "not offend" some aspect of the audience, or maybe were influenced by their own religious views. It was unfortunate, whyever they did it.

But the spawning of badass Sai-wielding Gabrielle makes up for a lot. Rene really put a lot of effort into becoming a martial artist with a nice hard body, and I appreciated it.

 

[kirk55555]

The thing is, its not so much the actual material, its just that it feels extremely out of place. Its the greek mythology and related things that's interesting for Hercule/Xena, the Christian stuff just doesn't work in this context for me. It just feels intrusive and doesn't fit with the show.

 

[Timewalker]

Fallen Angel (Xena) - This episode was horrible. The show is basically "Xena's Bible Adventures". Xena and Gabrielle are dead because of what happened at the end of season 4. Instead of going to the Elysian Fields like they should (they don't actually have to be physically in Greece to go there), they start going to Christian style Heaven...because why not, I guess. I mean, Gabrielle (even during her "way of love" phase) didn't actually worship the Cristian God, and Xena definitely didn't, but I guess crucifixion means an automatic transferal to Christian afterlife. Anyway, demons end up attacking, and gabrielle falls to hell, where she meets a demonic Callisto. Xena becomes an archangel to save her, and Gabrielle is saved, but Xena gives up her salvation to "purify" Callisto. So, Xena becomes a demon, Callisto becomes a boring amnesiac, and gabrielle becomes an archangel just in time to stop demon Xena. Eli manages to bring both gabrielle and Xena back to life (with help from the lobotomized angel Callisto), and that ends the episode.

This was a very bad episode. I'm beyond done with the stupid, shoe horned in Christian religion stuff on Xena. It doesn't fit at all, and its use here was idiotic, especially since we learn that Callisto's family went to Christian heaven instead of the Elysian fields. Since they were in Greece presumably worshiping the greek gods when they died, its pretty confusing. Also, Callisto's final fate after murdering probably dozens if not hundreds of people? She gets to be an angel.I feel like I was watching a Kirk cameron produced episode of xena, and it was just as bad as that sounds. Its only redeeming story feature was Joxer finding out they died and saving their bodies. Also, the effects were decent. Besides that, this was garbage.

Chakram (Xena) - This was a lot better than it should have been. After being brought back to life, xena has no memories of the violent parts of her life (although she still remembers people and other things like that). A random war god wants to use Xena to get the "Chakram of Light", the opposite of xena's old chakram, which was broken. The chakram of Light can kill a god. Xena ends up getting it, and fusing it with the remains of her chakram. This restores her memories, eliminates the god killing powers of the Chakram of light, and mixes the light and dark weapons into a new "Balanced" Chakram. The new weapon can split in two, and has a handle in the middle. Its pretty cool, actually, and feels like an upgrade to her already cool weapon.

The parts of this episode with semi Amnesiac Xena flip-flopping over restoring her warrior memories was kind of bland, but besides that it was a decent episode. Gabrielle is not only back to fighting, but kicking serious butt, washing the bad taste of "The Way of Love" out of the show. Ares appears trying to get the chakram of light, and he's as good as ever. Overall I didn't have much hope for this episode, but it was better than I expected. The only real problem was xena being kind of bland and annoying in her semi amnesiac form, but besides that it was solid.

I am in complete agreement with you on both these episodes. I'm guessing that part of what ran through the writers' minds was that "hey, we know that Christianity eventually won out over the Greek/Roman gods, so why not show that"... but it was done with a sledgehammer, and a few centuries too early. It's still 1st-century AD when these episodes happen and the Greeks and Romans were still worshiping their traditional gods.

 

[Forbin]

The thing is, its not so much the actual material, its just that it feels extremely out of place. Its the greek mythology and related things that's interesting for Hercule/Xena, the Christian stuff just doesn't work in this context for me. It just feels intrusive and doesn't fit with the show.

I completely agree.

 

[kirk55555]

Succession (Xena) - A bandit woman wants to kill Xena so that she can team up with ares, so the god of war sends Xena, the bandit and Gabrielle to a special place to fight. But, theres a twist. Gabrielle and xena share one body. Gabrielle comes out at night, and Xena in the day (I wonder if the episode's writer had just seen Ladyhawke ). Also, to escape, Xena cannot kill the bandit woman, although Gabrielle can. Eventually, Xena tricks the bandit into asking Ares for help, proving herself unworthy and ending the fight, with ares sending Xena/Gabrielle back where he found her, and leaving the bandit woman trapped in a cave.

Overall, this was an enjoyable episode. It was also unintentionally funny, because they kept doing every trick they could to try to get you to not notice that Lucy Lawless is definitely visibly pregnant. It doesn't work, at all, but its not a problem, its just kind of funny. I'm pretty sure they "reveal" Xena's pregnancy next episode, so they don't have to hide it anymore, but it was funny seeing them try to keep it off screen this episode.

 

[Forbin]

I always feel guilty (and rightly so) when I get annoyed that an actress gets pregnant during her show. Yeah, it's an unreasonable response, but the lovely Gillian Anderson spent all of X-Files season 2 in a damn trench coat, just one year after we all fell in love with her!

 

[kirk55555]

Beanstalks and Bad Eggs (Hercules) - This was a very bad goofy episode. It was basically written for kids who think Barney is the epitome of entertainment. Autolycus and Hercules end up climbing a beanstalk (like in the fairytale) and run into a giant with some harpy eggs. The eggs hatch, and gremlins come out. I'm not joking about the gremlins, just look at them

In the interview bonus for the episode, the producer admits they're gremlins. They act really obnoxiously, and even do a full on Three Stooges routine. This was one of the more aggravating Hercules episodes, and one that not even Bruce Campbell can save. I know this season is going to be a bit different, since its after Sorbo had a stroke and they had to work around it, but this was a pretty bad way to start Season 4.

 

[kirk55555]

Animal Attraction (Xena) - This was an ok episode. Xena learns she's pregnant while visiting a town in the Wild west (It obviously can't be the real Wild West, but its a episode with all the tropes of westerns and in a wild west style setting). The biggest problem was all the time wasted on the Amazon woman (whose name I haven't bothered to remember since she's leaving soon and will get killed off screen) and some random guy they expect me to remember from season 4, even though he was barely a minor character in that episode. They have a stupid romance that does nothing but waste type. Xena learning about her pregnancy and gabrielle finally getting a horse was intresting, and the wild west showdown was decent. The episode gets bogged down too much with the pointless romance subplot, but besides that it was decent.

 

[kirk55555]

Hero's heart (Hercules) - After failing to save a woman cursed by her husband's bad luck (although Iolaus doesn't know that), Iolaus blames himself and decides to quit traveling with Hercules and settle down. This doesn't work, and he winds up alone and despondent. Fortune, the goddess of luck (and the reason the husband of the dead woman was cursed) feels bad about Iolaus thinking he's to blame, so she tries to take his memory of failing the woman. Instead, she takes all of his memories of his time with Hercules. He ends up helping a crime lord, but in a confrontation with Hercules he refuses to hurt him. Everything turns out well in the end, obviously. This wasn't an amazing episode, but it was solid. We learned that Iolaus had a tough childhood, but that Hercules helped turn him around.