The Road to Calydon

Double-dip needed? Maybe not...
If you already own the Anchor Bay (AB from here on out) release of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" - Season 1 you may want to hang onto it.

This release has only the series. The 5 made-for-tv movie "specials" which introduced the character and truly started the series are *not* included. These were on the AB season 1 release. There is no word on whether these will be available separately.

The AB release had the 13 season episodes on 4 disks while this release uses only 3. This indicates there will be more compression, but the jury's still out on whether or not the episodes have been cleaned up beyond what AB did.

On the AB release, the sound was remixed into a 5.1 Dolby Digital while this release is 2.0 (which was the original sound mix). This may or may not be a drawback depending on your outlook.

The primary draw for this release is the use of subtitles which the AB release did not have (the major drawback of the AB release IMHO)...

Protector of the People
Hercules Season One, an 8-disc DVD Collection, collects all 5 TV pilot movies and the 13-episode first season (1994-1995) of the syndicated action series based on the popular Greek mythological figure.

THE STORY

The critically-acclaimed �Hercules the Legendary Journeys� aired in syndication for 6 seasons from 1994 till 1999. Based on the popular hero from Greek mythology, the story followed the adventures of Hercules and his friend Iolaus as they traveled the earth defending mortals against the tyrannical gods who plagued them, namely his step-mother Hera, Queen of the Gods and his half-brother Ares, the God of War. The series� brilliant combination of action and adventure, special effects and adaptation of Greek mythology was a critical as well as commercial success, drawing strong ratings and a cult-following.

THE DVDS:

Disc 1:

Movie 1: �Hercules and the Amazon Women� � Hercules and Iolaus embark on one last great adventure...

Hours of entertainment at a good price.
I pre-ordered this set as soon as I found out about it and I'm glad I did. I watched Hercules (and Xena) for years while it was on TV and miss it, so I get my fix when I need it now. Hercules and Iolas have a positive buoyancy and a "nothing is sacred" humor that is sadly lacking in a lot of hero action series so it's also refreshing to watch. This set has all the Action Pack movies as well as Season 1 (which includes the Xena trilogy), pamphlets, etc and supposedly a commemortive coin (though I found none in my package and there was no customer service number to call inside either, that was one downer). But the quality is good, the beginnings are the original beginnings, which is fun, and you get to see Zeus when he was played by Anthony Quinn, Lucy Lawless when she was playing bit parts, and Ares before Kevin Smith personified the role so well. In fact, though a Xena fan (and I know I will be making some Xena fans angry when I say this) I must say that the Hercules set is much...

Click to Editorial Reviews