Customer Reviews

Hercules The Legendary Journeys - Season One Video Set [VHS]

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hercules Season One, an 8-disc DVD Collection, collects all 5 TV pilot movies and the 13-episode first season (1994-1995) of the syndicated action series based on the popular Greek mythological figure.

THE STORY

The critically-acclaimed Hercules the Legendary Journeys aired in syndication for 6 seasons from 1994 till 1999. Based on the popular hero from Greek mythology, the story followed the adventures of Hercules and his friend Iolaus as they traveled the earth defending mortals against the tyrannical gods who plagued them, namely his step-mother Hera, Queen of the Gods and his half-brother Ares, the God of War. The series brilliant combination of action and adventure, special effects and adaptation of Greek mythology was a critical as well as commercial success, drawing strong ratings and a cult-following.

THE DVDS:

Disc 1:

Movie 1: Hercules and the Amazon Women  Hercules and Iolaus embark on one last great adventure before Iolaus wedding. Answering the call to save a village from mysterious monsters they instead find a tribe of Hera-worshipping warrior women who have shunned men from their lives.

Movie 2: Hercules and the Lost Kingdom  Hercules aids a young woman find the lost city of Troy which was banished by Hera.

Disc 2:

Movie 3: Hercules and the Circle of Fire  Hera has stolen fire from mankind and only Hercules, along with the lovely Deianera, can get it back.

Movie 4: Hercules in the Underworld  Hercules is called to help save a village where the people are being sucked underground. In the midst of it all he saves his wife Deianera from the traitorous Centaur Nessus and winds up in the Underworld battling the guard of Hades -- the three-headed dog Cerberus.

Disc 3:

Movie 5: Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur  Settled down with his wife and kids, Hercules and Iolaus reminisce about their adventures together until they are summoned to a village to help slay a mysterious monster that not even Zeus himself can kill!!

Disc 4:

Episode 1: The Wrong Path  After Hera kills his family, Hercules sets out to avenge them. With Hercules on his personal quest, Iolaus answers to call to help a village being plagued by Heras She-Demon who can turn men into stone.

Episode 2: Eye of the Beholder  Hercules helps a town overcome a Cyclops whos diverting their rivers flow away to Heras vineyards. Intro: Salmoneus the Traveling Salesman

Episode 3: The Road to Calydon  Hercules aids a cursed people move to the protected and enchanted city of Calydon.

Disc 5:

Episode 4: The Festival of Dionysus  Hercules helps to thwart a devious plot concocted by an ambitious prince and Ares the God of War to overthrow the peaceful King of Meliad.

Episode 5: Ares  Hercules stops Ares and his servant from recruiting an army of teenage boys.

Episode 6: As Darkness Falls  Hercules must battle Nemis the Centaur, brother of Nessus and servant of Hera, who has kidnapped the bride Penelope. He has one problem though, he is slowly going blind as part of Nemis plot to kill him and only Salmoneus, the timid traveling salesman, can help him.

Disc 6:

Episode 7: Pride Goes Before a Brawl  Iolaus saves a maiden and battles a group of bandits in the forest. Little does he know that Hera has sentenced him to death and only Hercules can save him.

Episode 8: The March to Freedom  Hercules helps free a group of Easterners from a vicious slave trader.

Episode 9: The Warrior Princess  THE DEBUT OF XENA. To Iolaus she is the love of his life for whom he would kill and die for. To the rest of the world she is a merciless Warlord who is bent on world conquest. What happens when Hercules sets out to stop her once and for all?

Disc 7:

Episode 10  The Gladiator  Hercules and Iolaus free the prisoners of Menas Maxius, ruler of Apropus, who forces them into mortal combat for his own sick pleasure.

Episode 11  The Vanishing Dead  Hercules and Iolaus try to stop a senseless civil war between the people of Tantalus concocted as a devious scheme by Ares who wants more dead bodies to feed his dog Graegus.

Episode 12  The Gauntlet  Xena is usurped by her ruthless lieutenant Darphus. Hercules and Xena join forces to defeat Darphus army and stop their reign of terror once and for all.

Episode 13  Unchained Heart  Ares resurrects Darphus and sends him on a mission to destroy the world and provide enough dead bodies to satiate Graegus hunger. It will take the combined might of Hercules, Iolaus, Xena and Salmoneus to stop him.

THE DVD EXTRAS

Anchor Bays put out another solid Season DVD set with an awesome extras package. Among the goodies this DVD set comes with are:

SELECTED EPISODE COMMENTARY

Select episodes feature audio or video commentary by series stars Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst. Audio commentary is featured on episodes 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10. Video commentary is featured on episodes 5, 7, 10.

COLLECTIBLES AND CONTESTS

Each season DVD set includes a collectors edition Hercules coin. You can mail away for a coin holder to house your coins. Also included are entry forms for the Hercules sweepstakes contest for a trip to the Athens Games of 2004.

DISC 8: EXTRAS

Included on Disc 8 are:

1. Hercules screensaver

2. The Chronicles: A comprehensive guide to the Hercules universe including Episode Guides (Scrolls) and character guides for important characters including Mortals, Gods and Creatures.

3. Trivia Game: Test your Hercules knowledge (or pick up some).

4. Director and Actor Bios: Filmographies for ALL actors and directors who appeared in/worked on Season One.

THE VERDICT

Lovers of action-adventure and mythology are bound to fall in love with this series. The Ancient Greece settings and the FX that make up all its evil monsters are awe-inspiring. In all, you wont be disappointed as you follow along with Hercules and his Legendary Journeys!!

Highest Recommendation

I pre-ordered this set as soon as I found out about it and I'm glad I did. I watched Hercules (and Xena) for years while it was on TV and miss it, so I get my fix when I need it now. Hercules and Iolas have a positive buoyancy and a "nothing is sacred" humor that is sadly lacking in a lot of hero action series so it's also refreshing to watch. This set has all the Action Pack movies as well as Season 1 (which includes the Xena trilogy), pamphlets, etc and supposedly a commemortive coin (though I found none in my package and there was no customer service number to call inside either, that was one downer). But the quality is good, the beginnings are the original beginnings, which is fun, and you get to see Zeus when he was played by Anthony Quinn, Lucy Lawless when she was playing bit parts, and Ares before Kevin Smith personified the role so well. In fact, though a Xena fan (and I know I will be making some Xena fans angry when I say this) I must say that the Hercules set is much BETTER than the Xena first season set because it actually has commentary by Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst, while the Xena set is sadly lacking in that. The commentary is lots of fun, especially if you're already familiar with the stories. Something to watch out for, that I never realized with the TV shows, is the "No (blank) was harmed during the filming of this episode" in the credits. They usually have some bit in there about "Centaurs" or "satyrs" or "giants" or something funny. Fun to watch for anyway. And Amazon offers a much better price than the fan sites do with the added bonus of free shipping for orders over $... That makes the perDVD price worth it. Yes, I really think it's worth your investment of time and money and I think you should get it. It's too much fun to pass up.

I've been looking forward to getting the first season of H:TLJ on DVD for the LONGEST time and was not as all disappointed when it finally showed. This set is even better than anticipated.

The background and commentary from the stars of the show, Sorbo and Hurst, is wonderful. You can actually see them watching the episodes along with you or, if you prefer, listen to their comments as you watch. I only wish we could have heard from both actors on more than a few episodes. Also would have loved to heard from Rob Tapert on a few of those first season episodes as well.

The installment with Kevin Sorbo and one of the directors (of his first HTLJ movie?) is fun and quite telling. They obviously respect each other a great deal.

Even the small gaff's in both Sorbo and Hursts memories are endeariong. We tend to forget how long ago these shows were taped and they've been inviolved in so many!

In the furture I would like to see outtakes, comments from other actors such as Bruce Campbell (Autolycus) and Bob Trebor (Salmoneus) and also a segment with Sorbo and Hurst together, in the same room, taking a trip down memory lane, especially about their good friend, Kevin Smith (Ares) who is sadly no longer with us. However, we have five in a half more seasons to go for all that!

The picture quality in these DVDs is superior, much better than any of the videos (tape) done years ago, and I eagerly await Season Two and the surprizes it has in store for the HTLJ fans!

This DVD set is great. Not only do you get the 5 TV movies, but you get the 13 episodes that made up Season 1. I was kinda skeptical about this DVD set at first because I heard some people were upset about the Xena DVD sets, but the Hercules DVD set is a perfect purchase for us Hercules fans. The episodes look and sound better than they did on TV. The commentaries by Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst are entertaining and very funny. They even provide video commentary of Sorbo and Hurst physically watching the episode they are providing commentary on. This DVD set is excellent. The only disappointments I found from this set were minor things. I always loved the TV promo ads (previews of each episode on TV when it was coming out), and I was hoping those really cool promos would be in the set, but they weren't. Plus the scene selections seem to random and to few for each episode, but other than that it's perfect. All fans should purchase this!

The co-produced USA Studios and Univerals productions of Hercules: TLJ and Xena: WP will forever be known as cheese-fests, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The cheese factor in both of these series is what actually makes them both entertaining and fun to watch. If it's not Xena's screeching battle-cry or Herc's absolutley ridiculous (and not funny) jokes, it's the over-the-top fight scenes and the fight of good over evil that makes these series an absolute joy to watch.

Another aspect to these series that always attracted me to them was the half-way decent wardrobe department. The costumes that both the good guys (and civilians) and the bad guys wore were always fairly attractive and well suited (no pun intended) for the job. The armor costumes for the bad guys and creatures were always a high point for me. Nothing like a tall warlord dressed in a half bronze and leather strap armor set. Take for instance Xena's second in command who later turns against her. Great costume.

But anyway, how's the DVD set? The DVD set although a bit over spaced, IMO, (they could have fit the entire set onto 6 DVDs rather than 7), is a much better presentation than the first season set of Xena that came out earlier this year. However, that's due to the different film stocks used during the filming of these two series. Hercules was always filmed with 35mm film which tranfers fairly well to DVD. However the first two seasons (I think, but I may be wrong) of Xena were filmed on 16mm film and as you may guess, doesn't transfer well to DVD. And so the quality sometimes struggles to stay above VHS quality. But the Hercules set stays well within fullscreen DVD standards for a TV series at least. So you have nothing to worry about here for picture quality.

The sound quality is on par with the Xena set. Remastered in 5.1 Surround, the LFE channel is used quite extensively with the music track and quite a bit for special effects. The surrounds bring in a subtle surround presense with environmental effects and music.

The content itself? This set includes the first 5 Action-Pack movies that basically set up the series and introduces a few of the main characters along with the 13 episodes that make up the short but well rounded first season. These 13 episodes include what is known as the "Xena Trilogy" which introduces the character Xena and how she turns her life of murdererous warrior-ness around to befriending Hercules and fighting for the forces of good against those of the like she was once apart of.

Lucy Lawless co-stars in a couple other roles before she takes the character of Xena. Rene O'Conner also co-stars in one of the movies in some other role, but basically plays the same character-type as Gabrielle.

Overall, I'm pleased with this set and look forward for the rest of Anchor Bays' releases of Hercules and Xena.

For the low, low price you get 5-6 movies and the entire first season of Hercules. Plus it comes with an added computer disc with screen savers and more. 8 discs in all! I really enjoyed it!

I bought this Dvd the other day and was amazed! The episodes video is very nice but there are some times when i noticed some grainy shots. The sound was also good. Now i thought that the extras where very very good. I enjoyed the 8th disk and all the commentarys where awsome. A must have for any DVD collector and fan of the show.

Kevin Sorbo is "Hercules", now and forever, thanks to his performances on this set of discs. Steve Reeves and Alan Steel are now obscure footnotes to the character's place in pop-culture.

All this was quite unlikely back in the mid-90's when the content of these discs first hit the airwaves. The "Action Pack" package of syndicated content designed mostly for independant TV stations gave us a series of Hercules films that incorporated a surprisingly brilliant mix of humour and action. I was an instant fan of those films, watching them on the TV set in my parents' room on Saturday nights while they were downstairs entertaining guests. All four of those excellent films are included as part of this wonderful DVD set.

This set of discs includes all the original Action Pack movies as well as the short first season of regular Hercules episodes. We see the formation of the characters, with Iolaus becoming the "sidekick", with Robert Trebor (a pseudonym) exploring his self-interested endeavors as Salmonious, and with Xena the Warrior Princess in a three-episode story arc that launched the beginning of that character's successful spinoff series.

This series also featured the first real work for WETA, who would become famous as the effects wizards behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, filmed in New Zealand as these Hercules films were.

I recommend this DVD set for any fans of the original Action Pack movies, as this represents a greatly entertaining merger of action and comedy that would become the trademark of Action Pack shows until they faded out with the failure of "Jack of All Trades" and "Andromeda" in the early 2000's.

I thoroughly enjoyed this season of Hercules, I had not previously seen the first three telemovies, so that was a bonus, and had missed a couple of the episodes. The audio commentaries were good though it was quite obvious that Mr. Sorbo and Mr. Hurst had not recorded the commentary at the same time and this made it seem a little disjointed. It is always interesting to get the cast and crew impressions of what an episode was like and to learn a little about how and where the filming process took place. The video commentaries were a real bonus, to see what the actors look like off the set. Overall I enjoyed it.

DAMN, Finally they got Hercules on DVD. I have been waiting for this dvd for more than 4 years now. Finally its out!!!! I hope they will continue issuing all the other seasons since i really would like to buy them! Well Done UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!