Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season 2
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season 1
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
201: The King of Thieves 1995 September 15
(First watched 2025-03-24) Guest starring Bruce Campbell as... more or less a mixture of Bruce Campbell and Robin Hood. Fun character, glad to know he'll be back.
The kingdom they were dealing with was pretty rough. Nobody other than the king's daughter seemed to be complaining about it, but a "justice" system where every crime leads to punishment even if they're pretty sure they don't have the right offender is uhhhh pretty messed up. Only at the end is he like "Oh, as king I can rewrite laws?" I'm sure all the people you've falsely executed don't mind your absentmindedness.
202: All That Glitters 1995 September 22
(First watched 2025-03-31) Las Vegas B.C.
Again the way the world works... Midas's land is within a few days of walking (from wherever it was Hercules was at to begin with), has had a big casino for years, and big troubles for years before that... but Hercules is totally unaware of all these happenings. Does he not pay any attention to stories going around, other than those directly requesting his help?
203: What's in a Name? 1995 September 29
(First watched 2025-04-01) When I saw an upcoming episode had a false Hercules played by Kevin Smith, I thought it would lean heavily to comedy. But... I was thinking Silent Bob Kevin Smith, rather than just another beefy guy who shares his name.
Iolaus is starving in prison. At the end of the episode they all arrive at Hercules's mother's house, and he appears to not have eaten yet. So you'd think the events of this episode would have to be almost immediately in the backyard of their hometown. But again, a warlord goes nuts for a long period of time and Hercules knows nothing about it.
204: Siege at Naxos 1995 October 6
(First watched 2025-04-13) I thought the guy who played Goth looked familiar, but I wasn't sure if he just had a very typical baddie look. As it turns out it was kind of both ways. He looked familiar because I've probably seen him in such roles dozens of times, just in bits small enough I didn't recognize him as one actor. But he's Brian Thompson.
Overall fun enough episode, though kind of hard to believe even the dumb barbarians are fooled by four people and a bunch of skeletons into thinking the fort is actually manned. Speaking of, nice of all those soldiers to die still in their armor and standing at their assigned positions for the most part. Also to turn to just skeletons within a matter of a year or whatever it was that Elora and her father were there alone.
I feel a bit cheated of possibility, though. They were going to deliver Goth to Athens to face justice for his crimes. I thought, alright, we're going to see one of the great cities! But nope, they're still just headed that way at the end of the episode, and I don't think the next episode continues on from there.
205: Outcast 1995 October 13
(First watched 2025-05-01) Return of some characters seen last season, including one of Lucy Lawless's earlier characters. They even lampshade it.
Salmoneus: Lyla, Lyla... does she remind you of anyone we both know? Hercules: Come to think of it, she kind of looks like Xena.
At first I was wondering how tough it would be for her to have a guest spot like this while busy with her own show, then she gets killed off in the first few minutes. Though she does make brief appearances in the rest of the episode, it was a pretty small role. I am surprised she was brought back from the dead by the end of the episode, though--would've thought killing off Lucy's extra characters would make things easier.
Hercules had to be like really conflicted about that return from the dead. "Oh... really... Zeus was willing to bring back to life this friend of mine who was burned to death... but not my wife and children. Well... gee, happy for her, I guess..."
On to something more difficult... I'm used to seeing some strange genetics in sci-fi shows and such, but here we're presented with a centaur man and human woman who together have a centaur child. That... seems like it would be a real mess of a pregnancy and birth, unless those things have almost nothing in common with the horse versions.
Back to Salmoneus. He just randomly runs across Hercules while both are traveling. Again. Is the world 1 square kilometer or what. Also speaking of Salmoneus, he handled himself pretty well in a fight this episode.
206: Under the Broken Sky 1995 October 20
(First watched 2025-05-13) Salmoneus with a fez? 👍
Pretty standard episode overall. Local bad guy messing with local businesses, Hercules stops him. Same guy coming between two troubled spouses getting back together, Hercules stops him.
On a sadder note, it's only now looking at information about this episode that I learn Salmoneus's actor, Rober Trebor, passed away two months ago.
207: The Mother of All Monsters 1995 October 27
(First watched 2025-05-30) Just rewatching the last few episodes of Cobra Kai over the last few days, then this... I guess I can't escape Martin Kove. These shows really are a treasure trove of lower-budget 80s/90s actors.
Hercules's mom acts like she's robbing the cradle with Demetrius, but at least by actor ages she's only one year older than him.
The archers shoot Hercules with one arrow and leave, assuming he's dead. They really need to learn about the double-tap.
Again, everything in this world is so close. Echidna is apparently a known entity that's been creating monsters, in a specific place Hercules knows, only a couple days walk (wounded walk) from his home... and he never thought to do anything about her until now?
208: The Other Side 1995 November 10
(First watched 2025-06-05) I liked this episode. At times I was wondering: Is the show getting better? Or by now have I just appropriately set my expectations for the show so now the same things land better? Anyway.
Some out of the ordinary things for this episode: We've seen Hercules go to Hades before, so this is one of the first recurring locations we've seen, which allowed for some callbacks like his pretty friendly relationship with Cerberus. Usually Hercules is fighting men who have no chance against him, or gods using their powers in big ways; but this time we see Hercules getting in a fistfight with a god, so it's more of an even match. Usually Hercules's enemies are real nasty types, but this time it's a bit more nuanced: Hades acts rashly because the proper way isn't working, and Demeter takes it out on the natural world in such a way it's killing humans and Hercules feels obliged to step in. We see Hercules's wife and children again, but they don't remember they're dead. They seemed to wrap that up pretty well, so I'd be surprised if we see them again. Another thing about visiting Hades again, we again see Charon who is played by Michael Hurst. Though Hercules and Charon don't have a lot of screen time together, I can't help but get the impression that their rapport from working together as Hercules and Iolaus carries over to the way Hercules and Charon talk to each other.
209: The Fire Down Below 1995 November 17
(First watched 2025-06-21) This show likes to have recurring characters, but it also likes to recast everyone. I didn't realize Nemesis WAS Nemesis until Hercules said so.
If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a good Salmoneus wrap-up. Saved from death, loses his recent riches, but still has a woman who cares about him anyway. Buuut I do know better so either things don't work out between them or he's away from her a lot.
For this budget show, the effects for Pyro weren't bad.
210: Cast a Giant Shadow 1995 November 24
(First watched 2025-06-23) The... basic plight of Typhon I find strains my suspension of disbelief. 1) He's stuck there for a hundred years, and not starved to death? 2) He's relatively close to both Echidna's lair and Hercules's hometown (previously established as nearish Echidna's lair), and neither Echidna nor Hercules heard any stories of a giant trapped by the road? Hercules in particular seems to spend most of his time wandering around, so how unlucky to have apparently just missed this road in his region for his entire life.
Beyond that, Hercules's trouble _with_ Typhon makes for a pretty interesting story. Oops! I killed your monster kids. Oops! I imprisoned your wife. How to break that kind of news to a kindhearted guy? But past the initial flash of anger, he's pretty understanding about how Hera is the real villain here.
Not something about this episode specifically, but something that's just recently struck me. Another notable difference between Hercules and Xena is that she rides a horse and he doesn't. If there's trouble somewhere, he just takes off running. And while his demigodly powers seem to include stamina, they don't include super speed. So it seems to me that for sure thanks to just using his own two feet he arrives at his destination later than he could've if he'd used faster transportation, and probably people have died due to his tardiness. Pick up the pace, Herc!
211: Highway to Hades 1995 December 1
(First watched 2025-06-25) Almost a direct followup to the most recent episode of Xena, "Death in Chains". Sisyphus was supposed to die at the end of that one but wasn't because uhh... Death was distracted by another dying guy and can't multitask, apparently?
I wonder how much of stuff like this was arranged for cost savings/ease of production. Like, could they get all of Hades's scenes for both episodes filmed in one day and save the trouble of costuming him again? Reuse of the castle sets means no need to knock them down or build new ones. Sisyphus already has his wardrobe. Etc. BUT it's the kind of interconnectivity I enjoy in Franchise. Though in-universe it raises some questions for me. Like, why didn't Hades go to Xena for help again? Did he figure she'd earned a day off?
Michael Hurst playing double duty as both Iolaus and Charon.
Kind of funny how much time in the episode is spent with one character trying to hint to another in not so many words "It's a shame these newlyweds didn't get to do it before the husband got killed."
212: The Sword of Veracity 1996 January 19
(First watched 2025-07-08) Iolaus go one episode without thinking he's met the new love of his life challenged FAILED.
I didn't really get Amphion's motivation for most of the episode. He seemed to think that by letting himself be killed he'd become a martyr and help end the reign of Trachis... but he was letting himself be killed by accepting a murder sentence without defense. That's not going to create a martyr, that's going to create the effect of "That guy we were looking up to was accused of murder and didn't even deny it! Guess it's a good thing we're not following his ideas anymore."
I like that the credits included "Minotaur" and "Assistant Minotaur".
213: The Enforcer 1996 January 26
(First watched 2025-07-12) This was probably the most cartoony episode yet. Chariot wheels spinning and smoking, the sharp outline of guys who have been thrown through walls. And though not exactly a cartoon, the Enforcer being 100% inspired by the Terminator is a pretty odd fit for mythical times as well. I say all this in a good way--goofy fun is something this show can do well.
I wasn't really sold by the Enforcer's defeat. Smashing her up didn't work because the water could just reform. But changing her to steam... works? Wouldn't it just soon enough condense and then back to square one?
When Nemesis was asking Hercules if anything looked different about her... they should've saved that line for one of the times they recast her with a different actress.
214: Once a Hero 1996 February 9
(First watched 2025-07-15) Taking some obvious inspiration from the old Jason and the Argonauts movie, as they make explicit in the credits. Fighting skeletons done with CG rather than stop motion, and considering the usual state of CG on this show I feel like it was done pretty well.
They mention the quest for the golden fleece being 10 years ago... so would that be about the time of the movies? A timeline for these characters would be useful, but also probably doomed to inconsistency.
215: Heedless Hearts 1996 February 16
(First watched 2025-07-20) Kind of a weird episode. The "Iolaus seeing the future" and "stopping another bad ruler" stories didn't have much to do with each other, but I guess they didn't think either was enough to fill an episode.
The Iolaus stuff was all pretty vague. Was it actually something supernatural or just bad luck striking him with lightning? Were his visions intentional or a fluke? All very cartoony, too, like the way he appeared after being zapped and how his premonitions stopped after a bonk on the head. I did like how he seemed early on to describe skyscrapers and planes.
For a guy who's got a wife waiting for him in the underworld, Hercules keeps picking up a lot of ~girlfriends in the world.
216: Let the Games Begin 1996 February 23
(First watched 2025-07-21) Aaand the origin story of the Olympic games. Competition so friendly it turns even some crazy warriors friendly.
Salmoneus is back and again down on his luck. I guess he blew it with that other woman who was interested in him. I did like that he was trying to be incognito by using the name Psoriasis. He did a pretty good job helping with the games, though. Coming up with the name, coming up with the torch imagery.
More cartooniness: straight up awooga horn sound effect when a boy sees his... aunt... in skimpy clothing.
217: The Apple 1996 March 1
(First watched 2025-07-21) Bitchin'. The series is fully a cartoon now, so Iolaus surfing on a piece of wood and Aphrodite surfing on a shell and using surfer slang is no longer strange in this world. Some random kids also accidentally discovering surfing... that starts to seem unlikely. Must happen every day? Like, mankind would be unable to avoid surfing, just as they were unable to avoid fire.
For the Xenaverse's purposes, they've really chopped the hell out of the Trojan War storyline. This apple contest was in myths what ended up starting that war, but we've already seen that war finished recently. A war that had several of its notable combatants missing because in even earlier episodes they were already considered dead.
Hercules's end solution using the apple to bring together warring sides... well, seems more easily done than it should be. I mean, the rule was that two people holding the apple together would be soulmates, right? So how is is that it ONLY activated then? Not when Hercules grabbed the first guy, nor when all three were holding it did Hercules become part of this soul bromance.
218: Promises 1996 March 15
(First watched 2025-07-26) In this world, monarchy is pretty common. But in this world, monarchy kind of means "The king rules, unless he does stuff Hercules doesn't like."
The most interesting thing in this episode I thought, were the Primords. Not exactly ape men, but some kind of beast men... and despite them being presented as uncivilized, they also seemed to know martial arts. Do they have dealing with the east, too?
219: King for a Day 1996 March 30
220: Protean Challenge 1996 May 4
221: The Wedding of Alcmene 1996 May 12
223: Centaur Mentor Journey 1996 May 25
224: The Cave of Echoes 1996 July 6
Contents > Franchises > Xenaverse > Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Contents > Television Seasons > Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Seasons
Contents > Television Seasons > Television Seasons by Year > 1995 Television Seasons
Contents > Television Seasons > Television Seasons by Year > 1996 Television Seasons
Contents > Television Shows
Contents > Time > Years > 1995
Contents > Time > Years > 1996