Legendary Journeys Podcast

One of the side projects from the Hercules & Xena Wiki is a new podcast. Legendary Journeys the Hercules and Xena Podcast dropped its first episode today. The hosts (one of whom is yours truly) are going to watch the entire Hercules/Xena franchise in chronological order and discuss two episodes each week.

In today's episode (Episode 0: First Steps), Scott and Beth discuss the origins of the Xenaverse in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and then move on to discuss the development of the Action Pack films at Universal.

A new episode will drop every Monday.  Listeners can leave comments and questions on the blog at  Hercules & Xena Wiki, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Legendary Journeys Book Club

For many years, I have been an administrator over at the Legendary Journeys Hercules & Xena Wiki.  We've just started a side project; a Hercules and Xena book club!

Join us on Goodreads where, each month, we will read a Hercules or Xena novel and discuss.  We are beginning this month (September 2017) by reading Timothy Boggs' By the Sword.  This is available in its original mass market form or for Kindle.

Kevin Sorbo's Hercules Costume

The Prop Store of London has a complete Hercules costume worn by Kevin Sorbo during the production of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.

So many of the Hercules and Xena costumes were sold off in little bits and pieces so it's rare to find one that's so complete including even the gauntlets and boots!  The listing at Prop Store indicates this was used in the season five Xena episode "God Fearing Child" and it may have been.  But there's a sewn-in costume tag dated December '97 which mean it was probably first used in season three of Hercules.

Meet the Spartans (2008)

Meet the Spartans comes from the ridiculous minds of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.  These are the people who (unfortunately) brought us the Scary Movie films, Date Movie, Disaster Movie, etc.  It finds itself in the IMDB's 100 worst movies for good reason.

The story (such as it is) is very loosely based on the film version of Frank Miller's 300.  It begins with rather faithful recreations of scenes from 300 but quickly degenerates into a series of sickening toilet humour and nonsensical parodies of celebrities and reality TV shows.  It also relies heavily on racial and gay jokes, which, surprisingly are not that offensive (and not that funny).

The cast is full of eye candy with Carmen Electra, Sean Maguire and Travis Van Winkle.  Maguire seems to have fallen far from his first acting role with Sir Laurence Olivier in A Voyage Round My Father.   

Travis Van Winkle is truly beautiful.  I would cast him to play Apollo in something. He definitely embodies the ancient Greek ideal of male beauty.  Unfortunately, this film doesn't give him a chance to display much acting talent. 

Finally, there's an appearance by genre-favourite Kevin Sorbo.  Fans of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys will enjoy some Herc jokes.

It is possible to say at least one good thing about this film and that is that production designer William A. Elliott, costume designer Frank Helmer the visual effects teams did an excellent job on creating sets and a look that mimics 300.  The film had a $30 million budget so the money had to go somewhere!

The best sequence in the film takes place at the Hot Gates where the Spartans face the Persians.  There's a pretty incredible "dance-off" that features some very talented dancers and stunt performers.

Other than that, the film is pretty terrible and I would say it's safe to stay away from. If you do intend to seek it out, it's available on DVD in an "Unrated Pit-of-Death Edition."

Ted Raimi at Fan Expo 2001

I didn't find Tim Raimi especially friendly or gracious when I met him in 2001.  He waved me up to his table and then proceeded to ignore me and have a five minute conversation with his girlfriend about what she should bring him for lunch!

However, he made up for it during his stage appearance when he invited fans to sing the Ballad of Joxer the Mighty with him (the Illusia version from "The Bitter Suite").

Gabrielle Drawing

Here's a great drawing of Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) from Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie.  I purchased this from the Art Storm Gallery.

This drawing was used for the first scene in which Xena and Gabrielle appear.

Robert Trebor at Toronto Trek 2001

In 2001, Toronto Trek followed the successful appearance of Alexandra Tydings and Claire Stansfield with an appearance by Robert Trebor who played Salmoneus on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.

Trebor is a unique and funny performer and it was interesting to hear him speak about his varied history in film and television.  I bought a copy of his book, Dear Salmoneus.

Alexandra Tydings and Claire Stansfield at Toronto Trek 2000

I met my first cast members from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess at a convention called Toronto Trek in 2000.  Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite) and Claire Stansfield (Alti) were fantastic convention guests!  They seemed genuinely happy to be there and they filled the autograph room with energy!  They brought a ghetto blaster and played fun music which made the lines more tolerable and when you reached them they really made the autograph session personal.

I've been going to conventions since 1991 and this remains one of my all time favourite con experiences!  Thanks, ladies!

Eye Candy: Karl Urban as Cupid

6'1" Karl Urban was born in New Zealand in 1972.  His acting career began in earnest after he completed high school.  He appeared on the TV series Shortland Street for a season before moving on to appear in three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess as Cupid.  He would also play Julius Caesar in several episodes of both series.  He is probably best-known now for  his appearances in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pathfinder (2007) and Star Trek (2009).

In "The Green-Eyed Monster"

In "For Him the Bell Tolls"

In "A Comedy of Eros"

Dagger From "King For A Day"

I bought this hero, resin dagger from Xena Prop House member, Morgan.  It was originally sold at the Turner's auction for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.

A dagger like this was first seen in the second season Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode "Once a Hero" in which Hercules uses it to prop open a falling stone door.

Many more daggers of this style were used by the soldiers in Attica in the third season episode "King For A Day."