''Young Hercules'' is a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

series to the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' that originally aired on Fox Kids Network. After a pilot film aired on Feb. 17, 1998, the series premiered on September 12, 1998 and ended on May 14, 1999, with a total of 50 episodes over the course of 1 season. It stars

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling ( ; born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. His work includes both independent films and major studio features, and his accolades include a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, a ...

in the title role, who took over from Ian Bohen who starred in the pilot movie and four episodes of '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys''. The series was inspired by the Greek myths of

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

Plot

The show features the efforts of

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

, the god of war, played by Kevin Tod Smith, who attempts often to destroy his younger half-brother to win over

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

' good graces. Among his group is his nephew Strife ( Joel Tobeck), who is the rather weaker member of the team. Strife's mother is

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

, goddess of retribution ( Meighan Desmond), who acts more level-headed and power hungry than her counterpart on more than one occasion. The series has two other villains:

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

, queen of the gods and Hercules' stepmother; and

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, god of the sun and Hercules' half-brother. The series follows

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

(

) as he attends Cheiron's Academy to train in the arts of the

warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

under the wise headmaster Cheiron the

Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

( Nathaniel Lees). He makes friends with the future king of

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

, Prince

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Med ...

( Chris Conrad) and a thieving former member of a bandit group named

Iolaus In Greek mythology, Iolaus (; Ancient Greek: Ἰόλαος ''Iólāos'') was a Theban divine hero. He was famed for being Heracles' charioteer and squire, and for helping with some of his Labors, as well as for being one of the Argonauts. Fa ...

( Dean O'Gorman), who was sentenced to train at the academy as an alternative to prison for his crimes. Hercules also meets the academy's first female cadet,

Lilith Lilith (; ), also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden ...

( Jodie Rimmer). Other characters of interest include Kora, the innkeeper who (unknown to Hercules and his friends) is a devotee of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. As the series develops, Kora is revealed to have special powers which allow her to do Artemis' bidding. There are hints of romance between Hercules and Kora, although their friendship keeps it all innocent.

Cast

Main

* Ian Bohen as

(pilot only) *

* Dean O'Gorman as

* Chris Conrad as

Supporting

* Jodie Rimmer as Lilith * Mfundo Morrison as

Theseus Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes desc ...

* Nathaniel Lees as Cheiron * Angela Marie Dotchin as Kora *

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

* Joel Tobeck as Strife * Meighan Desmond as

* Katrina Browne as Cyane, an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

* Jason Hoyte as

Hephaestus Hephaestus ( , ; wikt:Hephaestus#Alternative forms, eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2. ...

, god of metallurgy * Sharon Tyrell as

Alcmene In Greek mythology, Alcmene ( ; ) or Alcmena ( ; ; ; meaning "strong in wrath") was the wife of Amphitryon, by whom she bore two children, Iphicles and Laonome. She is best known as the mother of Heracles, whose father was the god Zeus. Alcmene ...

* Alison Bruce as Simula * Elizabeth Hawthorne as

* Jay Ryan as

Cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

* John Bach as

Production

''Young Hercules executive producers were Robert Tapert and

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the first three films in the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present) and the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed the super ...

. Liz Friedman and Eric Gruendemann were co-executive producers, and former MTV producer Cynthia Hsiung was producer of the series. Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald were head writers. In

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, where principal photography was shot, Janine Dickins held down the fort as the New Zealand producer while three series directors took turns shooting the episodes in blocks of four along with a fourth director for second unit. Chris Graves, Charlie Haskell and Andrew Merrifield shot principal photography and Simon Rabbi shot second unit. Later in the series, Simon Rabbi shot principal photography for the 50th episode, "Valley of the Shadow." The series has been used in case studies of how to shoot television series efficiently. Traditional television series are shot one episode at a time. ''Young Hercules'' was shot in blocks of four episodes at a time. The three main directors of the series were on a rotation, one director for each four episode block. The four would be written with this in mind, keeping sets, locations, and actors similar in all four episodes even if story and plot lines might not interrelate. This saved tremendous amounts of money and time allowing the series to be shot on a shoestring budget, but with maximum on-screen dollars. The 50 episodes had a budget of roughly $20 million which includes above and below the line costs. Shooting in New Zealand also allowed the series to circumvent considerable

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

regulations for further savings. Additional money was saved shooting the series on 16 mm film. Early research was done to see if digital cameras could be used, but it was determined that technology was not adequate at the time to make digital filming economically viable. Principal photography took place in New Zealand while post-production elements including visual effects and music were all edited and integrated together in Los Angeles. Ian Bohen played Young Hercules in the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and was offered the part, but opted not to move to New Zealand where the series would shoot principal photography. Early on in the series, special visual effects were conceived by Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop, the then little known visual effects company that went on to win several Academy Awards for their work on ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

''. Weta and Richard Taylor stepped off ''Young Hercules'' early on to work on ''Lord of the Rings''. In fact, the early production days of ''Young Hercules'' saw many of its crew leave to work on the then little known

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

sensation, ''Lord of the Rings''.

was only 17 when he was cast in the lead role. To train for the role, Ryan took intense martial arts classes by the same trainer who taught

Lucy Lawless Lucille Frances Lawless (; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress and director. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series ''Xena: Warrior Princess'', as Number Three (Battlestar Galactica), D'Anna Biers on the re-im ...

and Kevin Sorbo. He was so tall and thin that his costume had to be reworked to minimize the look of how thin he was. Original costume sketches showed a darker upper body costume. When Gosling was cast, the costume designers made the upper body of his costume lighter in color and broader in the chest to help create a more bulky look. Makeup was used on Gosling's arms to help add muscle contours. Similar tricks were used for both Sorbo and Lawless for their characters. It was known to be only superficially faithful to

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, as was its predecessor; it uses similar characters, but in a variety of stories, some of which contain anachronisms.

Location

The series was filmed entirely in New Zealand, at Studio West in West Auckland.

Episodes

The series was aired out of order. The episodes are listed below, as presented on DVD, in the order of their production codes. Despite this, the episodes list is not completely correct chronologically. For example, in "The Head That Wears the Crown" Jason is crowned king, yet in several following episodes, such as "Winner Take All", he is still a prince. Similarly, even though Lilith visits Hercules' mother in "Mommy Dearests", they later appear to meet for the first time in "Home for the Holidays".

Reception

The series aired on the Fox Kids Network at first on Monday through Friday at 4:30 p.m. PST and Saturday mornings at 8:30 a.m. PST. Later in the year, the series aired Monday through Friday only at 3:30 p.m. PST. Although ratings on Fox Kids were strong for the season (2nd top-rated live-action series below ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

''), ''Young Hercules'' was not renewed.

Awards

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

Home media

On June 23, 2015,

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released ''Young Hercules- The Complete Series'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in Region 1 for the very first time.Ryan Gosling in 'The Complete Series' on DVD!

References

External links

* {{Fox Kids 1990s American children's television series 1990s New Zealand television series 1998 American television series debuts 1998 New Zealand television series debuts 1999 American television series endings 1999 New Zealand television series endings Action Pack (TV programming block) American children's action television series American children's adventure television series American children's fantasy television series American prequel television series American English-language television shows American television series about teenagers Fox Kids Hercules: The Legendary Journeys New Zealand children's television series New Zealand fantasy television series New Zealand science fiction television series Teen superhero television series Television series about Heracles Television series based on classical mythology Television series by Universal Television Television series created by Sam Raimi Television series set in ancient Greece Television shows filmed in New Zealand Works by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Cultural depictions of Jason Television series created by Rob Tapert