Hercules (spoilers from the NBC movie).

[AdamYJ]

Anyone else see this movie last night?

Now, the myth of Hercules has always been open to interpretation (some notable versions include the Disney version and Hercules: the Legendary Journeys). However, there were some choices made in this version that seemed a bit odd. For example: a lot of the things he encountered in his five labors (it used to be twelve) were different. The Stymphalian Birds were harpies, the Nemean Lion was a sphinx and the Cretan Bull was another name for Antaeus. In fact, a lot of the stuff with Antaeus was weird, especially the idea that he may have been Hercules's father and not Zeus.

The one thing that caught me most off-guard was the way Alcmene and Megara were both bitter b!tches that served Hera. I'm so used to Alcmene being a good person and the source of much of Herc's morality that this interpretation was surprising. However, since neither Alcmene nor Megara were very fleshed out in the myths, it was a valid interpretation.

Anyway, it was still pretty entertaining. If the things surrounding the character were changed, at least the hero himself seemed pretty spot-on.

[Kathy Kane]

OK, I watched the first hour of this TV movie, only becuase Tim Dalton was in it. and he dies at the end of the first hour fighting a hydra. As a lover of Greek myths, I think that there were too many liberties taken with the myths. Herc had a twin brother, WHAT!:mad: Now admitedly I'm also a Xena/Hercules fan, so I can deal with some myths being changed a bit, but this was just too much, and the annoying naration in the begining, was pointless. I didn't like it at all, and it I felt it was a wasted of time, talent and effort.

[AdamYJ]

As a lover of Greek myths, I think that there were too many liberties taken with the myths. Herc had a twin brother, WHAT!:mad:
Um, go back and read the myths. Look into the various different versions. In most of them, Hercules does have a twin brother named Iphicles who was the son of Amphitrion. In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Iphicles was changed to an older brother who left home while Herc was still young, he was eventually given the role of King of Corinth by Jason in the series (I know way too much). In fact, in many of the myths I read, Hercules's friend Iolaus was the son of Iphicles.

It's actually a surprisingly common thing in the Greek myths to have twins born of two different fathers. Leda actually had quadruplets that way after a fashion (4 kids hatched from two eggs). Castor and Clytemnestra were children of her husband while Pollux and Helen were children of Zeus.

[90'sCartoonMan]

In most of them, Hercules does have a twin brother named Iphicles who was the son of Amphitrion. In Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Iphicles was changed to an older brother who left home while Herc was still young, he was eventually given the role of King of Corinth by Jason in the series (I know way too much).
Yeah, I was a bit confused because I remembered Iphicles from Legendary Journeys, and I was like "How can a woman give birth to twins and they have different fathers?" Then again, this is Greek mythology-type stuff where people are born out of foreheads.

What bugged me (aside from the pronounciation of Hera) was the Zeus/Hera rivalry. I dunno, it just felt weird.

Adam, you're up on your mythology, how does this interpretation match Tiresias stories? I took a Women in the Greek Cultural Perspective class a couple years ago, and I thought Aphrodite turned him into a man/woman so he could find out who has the most pleasure during sex or something.

[Hades]

It was dreadful. I turned it off after the first half hour. At least they made Hercules accurate to the myths by being a big dummy with a club.