From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V5 #267 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Monday, October 31 2005 Volume 05 : Number 267 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Hercules in Encyc [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] [OT] Orci & Kurtzman maul Hitchcock classic in Zorro [] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:55:06 EST From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] Hercules in Encyc A few days ago I sent this list an article on Xena from The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders (2005). Below is the Encyclopediab article on Hercules. Words in bold print in the article refer to other articles in the Encyc. Is anyone sending these Encyc articles on to other lists? Will someone archive them on a permanent site? Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1994-2000) Summary The series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys began with five two-hour telemovies (all in 1994) which reinterpreted mythical quests, including several Labors of Hercules. Hercules and the Amazon Women gives a feminist version of Herculesb romance with Amazon Queen Hippolyta, as the chauvinistic hero learns to respect the Amazons (see Feminism). Hercules and the Circle of Fire and Hercules and the Lost Kingdom revisit the rescues of Prometheus and a Trojan princess but primarily serve to establish Hera as Herculesb chief adversary, who sends evil minions to oppress humanity. Hercules in the Underworld updates the Labor of Cerberus, while Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur places her hero in the role taken by Theseus in the myth. The filmsb success led to the series, which begins with Herabs murder of Herculesb wife and children, thus launching Hercules on his journeys. The typical episode begins with the hero learning of some wrong he must right or some danger to innocents that he must thwart. Adversaries are often traditional fantasy characters such as gods and goddesses, kings, queens or monsters, and Hercules must call not only on his strength and courage, but also his wisdom and compassion to resolve the problem. A few loose dramatic arcs are provided by Herculesb relationships with his loving mother Alcmene, his charming but self-centered father Zeus, and especially his friend Iolaus, who becomes more central as the series progresses, even playing the lead in some episodes. The final episode, bFull Circleb (1999), sees Hercules reconciled with Zeus and Hera and continuing on his adventures with Iolaus. Hercules makes a final appearance in the Xena: Warrior Princess episode bGod Fearing Childb (2000) in which he is forced to kill Zeus to protect Xena and her newborn. Discussion The mythical strongman Hercules has been portrayed on screen many times, including a few animated incarnations. The most famous big screen Hercules was bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe Steve Reeves, star of the Italian feature films Hercules (1957) and Hercules Unchained (1958). Exciting action and Reevesbs imposing screen presence made these films huge international successes and gave birth to the bsword and sandalb genre. Though many others followed in Reevesbs sandals, the genre was generally panned by critics for wooden performances and poor scripts, and petered out in a few years. Sword and sandal films were long out of date by 1993, when American producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi were commissioned to update the myth for a series of Hercules telefilms. Known for their tongue-in-cheek horror film The Evil Dead (1983), Raimi and Tapert brought the same serio-comic spirit to Greek mythology, emphasizing Herculesb humor and humanity over god-like feats of strength and epic solemnity. As portrayed by handsome, likable Kevin Sorbo, the new Hercules is far from the stoic strongman of the 1950s as he is from the slow-witted hero of myth. Instead he reflects a post-feminist ideal of a hero who combines intelligence and courage with emotional accessibility and a wry sense of humor. Togas are replaced by open shirts and woven leather trousers, and Hercules rarely uses a sword; instead, he kicks and punches through stunt fights that are as visually entertaining as they are cartoonish in their lack of realistic damage. Filmed in New Zealand, Hercules is set in a sword and sorcery version of the ancient world, populated with characters not only from Greek myth, such as centaurs (see Horses) and giants, but from other traditions such as Celtic, Norse and Near Eastern mythology. While adventure and drama provide exciting moments and over-the-top special effects, comedy is a staple of Hercules, which tried virtually every comic form from romance to slapstick to farce. Contemporary cultural references abound, from Aphroditebs b valley girlb dialogue and glib toga salesman Salmoneus, to entire episodes that parody genres such as westerns, musicals, and drag shows. Like sword and sandal films, these new adventures generally omit the bloody and tragic elements of the myths in favor of happy endings more palatable to American television audiences, though tragedy is occasionally permitted in the series. Even in comic episodes, heroism always remains the central theme. In Hercules, a hero must have not only strength and courage, but compassion. Heroism is not just Herculesbs dedication to helping others; it is dashing thief Autolycus giving up his booty to help the poor, or the timid Salmoneus braving a villainbs wrath. While Greek myths often made their heroes the helpless pawns of the Fates, in Hercules, individuals are always masters of their own destiny, so long as they have the courage to stand up for themselves and their dreams. A closely related theme, and perhaps the most important, is being true to oneself. It is explored most effectively when Hercules, grieving for Iolausb s heroic death, forsakes the way of the heor and flees to Ireland. There he is defeated by another demigod, the Irish warrior Morrigan, because he no longer has the heart to stand against evil. A druidbs teaching helps him rediscover his heroic calling, enabling him to defeat Morrigan in battle and later win her heart (bRessurectionb [1998]). Hercules generated two syndicated spin-off series, Young Hercules (1998- 1999) and Xena: Warrior Princess, as well as an animated feature film, Hercules and XenabThe Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus (1998). By updating classic myths with humor and a contemporary outlook, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys helped to create a new genre of television fantasy. Bibliography Cate Barker. bThe Last Labour of Hercules.b Xena: Warrior Pricness, 1 (March 2000), p. 16-20. Athur Chappell. bXena and Hercules.b Matrix, no. 134 (Nov.-Dec. 1998). p. 18-20. K. Stoddard Hayes. bBad to the Bone.b Xena: Warrior Princess, 1 (Dec. 2000), p. 38-42. Patrick Lucanio. [Hayes mistakenly calls him bLuciano] With Fire and Sword. Scarecrow Press, 1994. Joe Nazarro, bRobert Tapert.b In Nazarro, ed., Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. London : Titan Books, 2002, p. 196-201. Marc Shapiro. bThe Labors of Hercules.b Starlog, no. 211 (Feb. 1995), p. 55-58. Jim Smith. bThe Long Path.b Xena: Warrior Princess, 1 (March 2000), p. 22-26. Robert Weisbrot. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: The Official Companion. Dpoubleday, 1998. Robert Weisbrot. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: An Insiderbs Guide to the Continuing Adventures. Taylor Trade Publishing, 2004. - ---Karen Stoddard Hayes. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:29:09 EST From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] [OT] Orci & Kurtzman maul Hitchcock classic in Zorro I just sent the post copied below to the Internet Movie Database message board for the Legend of Zorro. I copy it here because two of the four screenwriters for Legend of Zorro are Orci and Kurtzman, from Xena and Hercules. Boeotian I have not read many reviews or comments on The Legend of Zorro, so perhaps this has already been discussed by others. Has anyone else noticed that the screenplay resembles the Alfred Hitchcock classic Notorious (1946)? In both films, the heroine is forced by nasty American government agents to become romantically involved with the villain, in order to spy on him. In Notorious Ingrid Bergman actually marries villain Claude Rains; in LZ Catherine Zeta-Jones does not have to go that far. In Notorious the man who loves the heroine (Cary Grant) is one of the spies who forced her to marry the villain; in LZ the hero does not force the heroine to do anything and hebs indignant that the government forced her. In Notorious the Nazi villain is probably more in love with the heroine than the hero is; in LZ they donbt explore that. Other similiarities b The villains are European aristocratic, totalitarian conspirators who are plotting against America b Nazis in Notorious, a screwball secret society in LZ. The villains work in a Spanish-speaking area of the Western Hemisphere (Argentina in Notorious, recently-Mexican California in LZ), but everybody in the film actually speaks English. The villains have a secret weapon b uranium for an atomic bomb in Notorious, nitroglycerine in LZ. The villains hide the makings of their superweapon in wine bottles. The chief villain is assisted by an ominous woman b Claude Rainsb mother in Notorious, a dour servant in LZ. The villains kill one of their own members for a small offenseb a Nazi bungler in Notorious, the English lord in LZ. My attention wandered (more than once) but wasnbt there a scene in LZ in which Catherine Zeta-Jones realizes she is being poisoned by the villain? In Notorious Claude Rains and his mother poisoned Ingrid Bergman and almost killed her. And of course in the end the hero rescues the heroine and the villain dies. Notorious is a great film while Legend of Zorro is embarrassingly minor. It shows that filmmaking and writing skill count for much, and just rewriting a classic script wonbt ensure a good movie. ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V5 #267 **************************************