Hercules and Xena.

[Mytical]

Ok..so who watched these shows when they were on? I know I did. I mean .. it had Bruce freaking Campbell in it for Pete's sake. And yes, that should be his legal full name..even if it is not.

Hercules of course came first. What some people may or may not know is that at least at first Hercules was more a solo act. While it seems that Iolaus was always there by his side, Herc was on his own for a lot of the first few seasons. I think the popularity of Xena/Gabby was what caused more Iolaus to be seen. The show took a LOT of liberties with things. Especially the mythology. However, it didn't stop there. They 'invented' surfing, valley speak, and soo much more on this show. Had music that was not even close to time period accurate..and the like. However, it was always tongue in cheek and worked really well. It was fun. Heck they even had drag .

Bruce played Autolycus (spelling, I will probably butcher a lot of the spelling..sorry), the 'king of thieves'..who never actually seemed to be able to keep anything he stole. Either Herc or Xena would take it back, or he would willingly surrender it for some good reason.

Kevin Smith may have been the best bad guy EVER on this and Xena though. His Ares was one of my favorite characters ever. He also played Iphicles, Hercules brother. I think his tragic passing had more then anything to do with both Hercules and Xena's cancellation, but I could be wrong.

Now on to Xena. Who actually got her start in Hercules. She played a bad woman there, who is redeemed partly by Hercules, partly from the fact she would not let her men kill a child.

Xena studied with many great teachers. Amazons, spiritual leaders, etc. She was Ares favored, and was supposed to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Good enough to fight Ares to a draw.

The heart of the group though was Gabrielle. At first she couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag, and Xena refused to teach her, but things of course change. She also learned from the Amazons and became a princess AND queen of them.

Like Hercules, Xena's show took some huge liberties with facts..but again made a great story. Also Herc/Iolaus would appear on Xena, and Xena/Gabrielle would appear on Xena..a lot of their story line if you did not watch one..you would be lost on the other. It was a very clever strategy.

Some supporting cast were...
Joxer 'The Mighty' - Bumbling/Stumbling man who thought he was one of the greatest warriors ever. He might not have been able to beat a kitten in a fight, but he had a heart of gold. Great comic relief, but seemed to pull things together when the chips were down.

Ares - God of War, and all around main enemy for both of them. Had a love/hate relationship with both also. Herc because he was 'half brothers' to Ares, and Xena because she was once his greatest general.

Aphrodite - Goddess of love, though sometimes you wondered about that. Often trying to cause couples troubles (making one fall in lust with somebody else, etc), she was a 'Beach Babe' also..liked surfing and talking like a "Valley Girl".

Zues - Herc's father..he was a playboy, and not the father of the year..and often hiding from Hera..his wife.

Hera - Hated Herc (because Zues cheated on her with Herc's mother), and tried constantly to kill him..but not directly because fear of Zeus..who feared her..yeah it was complicated.

Autolycus - See above.

There were so many minor characters it would be impossible to list them all...

So..who watched it, what were some of your favorite episodes, and what did I miss?

[Aethian]

My favorite was the one with the golden hynd that was on Hercules. For some reason I just always loved that episode.

If you look in the archives of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, you'll be able to find where they got Xena to do her yell trill for the show. It was awesome. Apparently it works well on making her kids quiet in the car.

[Jester]

I watched Xena almost religiously, but since this was a time before widely-spread DVR's and such (I didn't have one, anyway), I missed a lot of the end of the series, and have wanted for some time to go back and watch it from the beginning to the end.

As I have mentioned in another thread, Gabrielle was the object of my worship. If you want to figure out what my type of woman is, check out Gabrielle in this series. Petite, spunky strawberry blonde with great hair, opinionated, a positive attitude, and a kick ass bitch when she needed to be. I was SO into her that when she cut her hair short in one episode, my best friend turned to me and asked if I'd be alright. (Seriously.)

Joxer 'The Mighty'

He was hilarious, and was played by Ted Raimi, brother to director Sam Raimi. Some of you may have noticed Bruce Campbell in the first Tobey Maguire Spiderman movie as the ring announcer. He's been in a few of Sam's productions, going all the way back to Evil Dead 2, if I remember correctly.

Aphrodite - Goddess of love

Babe-a-licious, though for the life of me I can't remember who played her. Just all around fun in her troublesome way, I thought. And loved looking at her.

One major player that you forgot was Callisto, played by Hudson Leick. Perhaps the greatest badass bitch villain of all time. And again, not hard on the eyes. Honestly, the producers seemed to get some of the best-looking actors, who could actually act, and fill out their roles nicely.

Any straight guy who watched that series and says he wouldn't mind getting his ass kicked by Callisto is probably lying.

[AnaKhouri]

I watched Xena off and on- I worked on a broodmare farm in college, and we started early and were done by 3. I had to stay on until 5, when the night watcher got there. Xena was the only thing on FOX in reruns that I could get with the tiny tack room TV. I quite enjoyed it though not having seen the entire series, I was confused sometimes.

Also in college I wrote a naughty fanfic for a friend, who wanted Ares and Silent Bob together. It wasn't until after I finished it that realized both characters are played by actors named Kevin Smith, so that was the joke... It was pretty funny as I recall, I wish I still had a copy. The most fun part was writing Jay's dialogue.

[Mytical]

Doh how could I forget Callisto? Xena was even trapped in her body for a little *laughs*..figured prominently in the Hope saga. She was Xena only nuts. *laughs* There was also Najara. Same deal, absolutely insane, almost as good as Xena in fighting.

[Andara Bledin]

I was always amused by the fact that Iolaus was such a total riff on Skywise from Elfquest.

^-.-^

[firecat88]

I wasn't too much into Xena, but I did manage to catch a few episodes of Hercules when it was still running. Young Hercules, however, is another story entirely.

See, when all of these shows were still running, I was still in middle school (to be specific, I was about 13). Thus, though I wasn't necessarily forbidden from watching Hercules or Xena, my regular TV watching at the time was whatever was on either Fox Kids or Nickelodeon. Thus, I discovered YH before anything else. I still watch it too, because the entire show is on Hulu.

For those who don't know what Young Hercules is: Like Xena, it's a spin-off of Hercules. In this, though, it shows Herc as a teenager at the Academy (think the flashback episodes from season 4 of Hercules, but 50 full episodes).

Naturally, several characters from Hercules and Xena appear there- Ares (played again by Kevin Smith), Strife (Joel Tobeck) and Discord (Meighan Desmond) are the main baddies in it, though they don't appear in *every* episode. Also, Chris Conrad and Dean O'Gorman reprised their roles of young Jason and young Iolaus respectively. Instead of Ian Bohen, though, Ryan Gosling plays young Hercules.

....wow, that was all a bit more wordy than I intended.

[RayvenQ]

Apart from Ares, Discord was by far, my favourite baddie. I liked Hera her last moments in Hercules too.

My favourite episodes are Porkulese (and the one after it, what happens to Discord, and ares having discord with him until she was reverted back ,was hilarious)

I also loved the episode where Ares has to hide as a farmer, such a turnaround from the norm.

[violiavampyr]

Watched them all the time. My mom loves them too. In fact she made a Xena costume (this is before I knew what cos-play was, and I don't think she still knows what it is) and wore it to a little con in San Diego 1999, scroll down a bit, she's the only Xena. Scroll down from that and there's me with a half deformed/burned face. aLa POTO.

[Immortal1982]

Myty, Kevin Smith didnt die until after both shows had ended. Still one of the best aussie actors period.

I think the high point of the series was the golden hind story. herc getting a little happiness. And i always had a chuckle at the oddball modern episodes.....

[50 mission cap]

I used to watch Zena to. i see im not the only one had a thing for Gabrielle

[Mytical]

While Gabrielle was indeed a hottie, and I am a huge fan of red hair, Lucy was the one I had a crush on. Then again, I like strong women. Which was why I wasn't too big of a fan of the multiple Xena thing. Right now on Netflix I am up to season 5 of each again.

Which means both are almost over (Netflix has 6 seasons of both). I do like the new Chakram Xena got, but by the end the show was getting a bit over the top..lots more then normal.

[Mytical]

Another very attractive enemy turned ally is Morgan the Druid Spirit of Justice. Wish I knew who played her.

[RayvenQ]

If you mean Morrigan, which I think you do, she's played by Tamara Gorski

[lordlundar]

I watched Hercules fully and Xena up to a point aka when they started to bring the catholic religion into the mix <shudder>. And this comes from a person who could tolerate the Taoist part of Xena (when her chackram broke and she had it reforged into the Ying-Yang one). The whole Angels vs. Demons thing was off putting for me personally and was when I just went "yeah, this show just went to plain stupid."