Dubbing actors Rodion Prikhodko, Yaroslav Ivanov, Igor Balakirev, also Composer Alan Menken Editing Tom Finan, Robert W. Headland Dubbing director Lyudmila Demyanenko Writers Ron Clements, John Musker, Don McEnery, more Artists Gerald Scarfe, Andy Gaskill, Keith Berg

Do you know that

  • Ricky Martin voiced the adult Hercules in the Spanish-Mexican version.
  • When Hercules enters Phil's house, he hurts himself on the Argo's mast. Judging by the myths, the Argo's mast was the cause of Jason's death.
  • The Lernaean Hydra is one of the monsters that Hercules fought. It was created using 3D graphics.
  • When Hercules poses for the artist's portrait, he is wearing a lion's skin with a scar under his eye. This moment echoes the cartoon "The Lion King". Scar the lion has the same mark under his eye.

More facts (+1)

Bugs in the cartoon

  • At the beginning of the film, Hermes brings flowers to Hera and says that Orpheus designed the ikebana. But Orpheus is a contemporary of Hercules.
  • Zeus was the father of Hercules, but Hera was not his mother. According to mythology, Hercules was born of an earthly woman from Zeus. For this, Hera disliked her illegitimate son and sent tests on him.
  • In the cartoon, Narcissus is a god. But that's not true. A narcissist is a mere mortal who loves to indulge in narcissism.

Plot

Beware, the text may contain spoilers!

Disney's full-length beautiful fairy tale tells about the heroes glorified in the legends and myths of Ancient Greece. Baby Hercules, barely born, has already become an enemy of the most evil god - the underground lord Hades, and his assistants, the stupid Pain and Panic, are constantly pursuing the child. They unsuccessfully try to poison the newborn Hercules and build barriers to him throughout the film.

The baby is raised by adoptive parents, but when he becomes an adult, they tell him the whole truth. The hero sets off on an adventure. He looks for his own father, who gives him a gift - the winged horse Pegasus, and sends him to a meeting with the satyr Phil. Then the friends travel together, get into thousands of troubles, but come out of them victorious. Hercules saves the beautiful Meg from the clutches of a centaur, defeats the Lernaean Hydra, and kills the Cyclops. The young man will even have to go to the afterlife, risking his own life in order to save his beloved and put an end to his worst enemy Hades forever.

The Greeks called Hercules Hercules. He was not endowed with great intelligence, but his courage eclipsed any lack of cunning. Hercules was easily irritated by outbursts of rage at innocent passers-by, and then regretted, felt guilty for what he had done and was ready to accept any punishment. Only supernatural forces could defeat him. In Greek mythology, only two figures - Hercules and Dionysus - from ordinary people became completely immortal and were worshiped as gods.

Hercules was the son of Zeus and Alcmene. Alcmene had a husband, Amphitryon, an outstanding Greek warrior and heir to the throne of Tiryns. One night, when Amphitryon was on a campaign, Zeus appeared to Alcmene under the guise of a husband. When Amphitryon returned, the blind prophet Tiresias told him that Alcmene would give birth to a child who would become a great hero.

The fight of Hercules with the Nemean lion

Alcmene gave birth to twin boys, Hercules and Iphicles. When the goddess Hera discovered that Zeus had seduced Alcmene and gave birth to Hercules, she was furious. Hera was jealous of Zeus and tried to kill the baby by sending two poisonous snakes to him. The child strangled snakes in his crib. Although Hera failed to kill Hercules, she haunted him throughout her life and brought him much suffering and punishment.

Lessons from Hercules

Like most Greek youths, Hercules attended music lessons. One day, Linus, his mentor, taught Hercules to play the lyre. Hercules, disappointed with his game, flew into a rage and broke the lyre on Linus's head. Linus died instantly, and Hercules was shocked and very sorry. He didn't want to kill his teacher. He just didn’t know his strength and didn’t learn to control it.

Miraculous acquisition of immortality

At a time when Hercules was very young, he went to fight the Minyan king Ergin, to whom Thebes paid tribute. As a reward for his release from tribute, the king of Thebes gave Hecules the hand of his daughter Megara. Hercules and Megara had three children. One day, Hercules was returning home after a trip, and Hera sent him into a fit of madness, during which he killed his wife and children. When Hercules came to his senses, he was horrified by his action. Heartbroken, he went to Delphi to the oracle to find out how he could atone for his guilt. The oracle told him to go to the king of Tiryns Eurystheus and carry out any of his orders. The oracle also said that if Hercules completed all the tasks assigned to him, he would become immortal.

Twelve Labors of Hercules

King Eurystheus gave Hercules 12 difficult and dangerous tasks. They became known as the twelve labors of Hercules.

The hero's first task was to kill the Nemean Lion, a beast that terrorized a certain area and could not be killed by any weapon. Hercules strangled the beast with his strong hands, without using any weapons, and from its skin he built himself a cape, which made him invulnerable.

12 labors of Hercules on ancient coins

The second task was to destroy the Lernaean Hydra, a creature with nine heads that lives in the swamp. One of the hydra's heads was immortal, and the others grew back after being cut off. Hercules went to fight the hydra with his friend Iolaus. Hercules cut off the heads one by one, and Iolaus used a torch to burn them with fire so that new ones would not grow. The last ninth head of the hydra remained alive, and Hercules had to bury it under a pile of stones.

The next task was to catch the Kerynean hind with golden horns, which the goddess Artemis considered sacred. She rushed across the fields, devastating them. Hercules hunted her for a whole year, finally wounded her and brought her to Tiryns. Artemis demanded that the sacred animal be returned to her. Hercules promised that the doe would remain alive.

The fourth labor of Hercules was to catch the Erymanthian boar, which was terrorizing the lands around Mount Erymanthus. Chasing the animal from its lair, Hercules drove it so that the beast’s strength was exhausted; the hero easily dealt with it and brought the tied boar to Eurystheus.

The fifth labor of Hercules is known as the cleaning of the Augean stables in one day. The son of the sun god Helios, King Augeas had huge herds of cattle, the stables of which had not been cleaned for many years. Hercules offered to do this work in one day in exchange for a tenth of the herd. Augeas agreed, realizing that no one could do this in a day. Hercules filled up the river bed, it turned its waters towards the stables, and in one day all the manure was washed away.

The sixth labor was the fight against the Stymphalian birds, with iron claws, beaks and wings, which attacked people and terrorized the countryside. The goddess Athena helped Hercules scare away the birds, forcing them to fly out of their nests, and Hercules shot them with a bow.

The seventh task was to bring the Cretan bull alive to Tiryns. This bull was given by the god Poseidon to the king of the island of Crete, Minos. Because Minos did not sacrifice this bull, but replaced it with another, Poseidon sent the bull into a frenzy, and it destroyed everything in its path. Hercules caught it and swam across the sea on it.

With his eighth task, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the horses of Diomedes. King Diomedes of Thrace had beautiful but wild horses, which he fed with human meat. Hercules led away the herds of horses. Diomedes set off in pursuit of him, and Hercules was forced to kill him, and tamed his horses and brought him to Eurystheus.

The ninth test was to obtain the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta. When the Amazons attacked Hercules, thinking he was going to kidnap their queen, Hercules was forced to kill them. Hippolyta, as a ransom for one of the Amazons captured by Hercules, gave him a belt.

The tenth task was to bring Geryon's cows. Geryon was a monster with three bodies, had three heads and three pairs of arms and legs. The journey to Geryon to the west was difficult, it was necessary to overcome the desert and the sea. The sun god Helios gave Hercules his boat, on which he reached Geryon, killed him and took away his cows.

Hercules defeats the hydra

The eleventh task that Eurystheus gave to Hercules was to bring three fruits from the garden of Atlas, which held the sky. Atlas had a golden apple tree in his garden, from which three fruits had to be picked. Hercules lay in wait for the god Nereus to help him find the way to Atlas. While Atlas went to his garden to buy apples, Hercules had to hold the sky instead. According to other sources, Hercules received the fruit by killing the dragon who stood guard over the tree with golden apples.

Director

Phil Weinstein

Producer

Tad Stones
Alan Zaslov

Studio

Walt Disney Television

A country Number of seasons Number of episodes Episode length

~22 minutes

TV channel Broadcast TV channel (RF) IMDb Format

half-hour TV show

"Hercules: The Animated Series" (English Hercules: The Animated Series) - animated series 1998, based on cartoon of the same name Disney studio, which is a reworking of ancient Greek myths. The series tells about the adventures of the teenager Hercules, who is training in a special school to become a real hero. Among his friends are the enterprising Icarus, the fortuneteller girl Cassandra and his teacher Philoctetes, whom everyone simply calls Phil. Hercules confronts his treacherous uncle, the god of the underworld, Hades. The series contradicts some of the events of the film and is not canon to its universe.

The series debuted on August 31, 1998, airing Monday through Friday throughout its first season. The broadcast then moved to Saturdays, starting with the September 12 premiere of the second season, as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning broadcast block (along with the series Pepper Ann, Recess and Disney's Doug). The series became a hit, comparable to the success of a full-length cartoon at the box office.

Unusually, the first broadcast of the second season ended on January 16, 1999, two months before the first season finale (March 1), which was considered the finale of the entire show. A year later, the series began airing on the Toon Disney Channel, where episodes aired until 2008.

Disney XD aired the series in June 2001 with the founding of the channel in Canada.

Episodes

Season Number of episodes Show
Premiere The final
1 Weekdays 52 August 31 1998 March 1 1999
2 Disney's One Saturday Morning 13 12-th of September 1998 January 16 1999

How to become a hero

4 episodes of the animated series were edited into a film called “ How to become a hero » ( English Zero To Hero), which came out straight to DVD.

The central episode is the episode "Hercules & The Yearbook", re-edited with parts of the following episodes:

  • "Hercules & The First Day Of School"
  • "Hercules & The Grim Avenger"
  • "Hercules & The Visit From Zeus"

Some of the dialogue between Hercules and Meg has been changed. For example, the episode "Hercules and the Visit From Zeus" replaces the end scene of "Prometheus Academy".

Differences from Greek mythology

  • Each character in the series is introduced by their own Greek name, except Hercules, Cupid and Bacchus - these names are from Roman mythology: Hercules, Eros and Dionysus, respectively.
  • In the series, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera. In myths, his real mother is the mortal woman Alcmene. In the series, Alcmene and her husband, farmer Amphitryon, find baby Hercules when he ends up on Earth and decide to raise the boy as their son.
  • In the series, Narcissus is a god from Olympus, although in myths he was an ordinary mortal.
  • There are 9 muses in Greek mythology. Only 5 are shown in the series, the other 4 are not even mentioned.
  • In the series, Pegasus is created by Zeus from the clouds as Hercules' pet. In myth, Pegasus was a wild winged stallion created from the blood of Medusa. Pegasus was captured by another hero, Bellerophon, who appears in the episode "Hercules & The Pegasus Incident". In real myths, Hercules never encountered Pegasus.
  • In the series, Homer appears as a reporter.
  • In myths, Icarus died when he flew close to the sun.
  • In mythology, Cassandra received the gift of foresight from Apollo, in addition, no one believed her. In the series, friends constantly listen to the girl’s visions.
  • Adonis was a god in mythology.
  • In mythology, it was Hera who tried to defeat Hercules, not Hades.
  • In mythology, Cupid is the son of Aphrodite and Ares. In the series, his origins are unclear.
  • Pan is the king of the satyrs in the series. However, in mythology he is a god and the son of Hermes.
  • Hercules opens the Greek Pantheon in Rome, although the city has not even been founded, let alone become a metropolis.
  • The god Trivia does not exist in Greek mythology. Although this was the Latin name of the goddess of witchcraft and darkness, Hecate.
  • The series witnesses the sinking of the legendary lost city of Atlantis. Although in fact, Atlantis sank long before the Herculean events.
  • Keto, Medusa, Minotaur, Harpies, Geryon, Argus, Cyclops and Erymanthian Boar are the children of Echidna and Typhon in the series, which contradicts mythology.
  • The Nemean lion was killed by Hercules. In the animated series they become friends. In addition, the animal can speak.
  • Galatea was created by Pygmalion, not Hercules.
  • Hercules and Medusa become friends in the cartoon, although in mythology they never even met. Not to mention that Medusa is a negative character.
  • Circe seduces men in the series, although in mythology she simply turned them into animals, specifically pigs.
  • In the series, Hercules takes part in the Olympic Games, although this did not happen in mythology. In addition, due to the fact that the series is aimed at children, all participants wear clothes, although the athletes were naked during the games.
  • The Spartan army used African elephants in battle. While in the series in the episode "Hercules & The Secret Weapon" an Indian elephant is depicted.
  • In the series, Hades is the younger brother of Zeus. Although in mythology, Hades is the eldest son, and Zeus is the youngest.
  • In the series, Megara is an ordinary Greek woman, not a princess. In addition, she is clearly older than Hercules. Her father Creon, the king of Thebes, never appears or is even mentioned in the cartoons.
  • In the series, Hades is a classic negative character, although in myths he is an ally and friend of Zeus, who does not particularly care about Olympus. He enjoys ruling the Underworld.
  • Hades had no intention of freeing the Titans. In the myths this did not happen and they did not storm Mount Olympus. Although the children of Mother Earth tried to get to Olympus.
  • Philoctetes appears in mythology as a friend of Hercules, but he was not a satyr and did not train the hero.
  • In the series, Hercules was born the prince of the gods, since his parents - Zeus and Hera - are the rulers of Mount Olympus. In mythology, Hercules was not only a king among the gods, but also among people - he was of royal blood from Thebes.
  • In the series, Hercules was born on Mount Olympus and later came to Earth. But in myths the hero was born on Earth.
  • In the series, Paris and Helen are not lovers, although it was their romance that caused the Trojan War.
  • In myths, Heroin is the great-grandson of Medusa. In the series, they are brother and sister, the children of Echidna and Typhon.

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