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Hercules (1997 film): Difference between revisions
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After Zeus fights and sends the Titans to the Underworld, he becomes the ruler of Mount Olympus, home of all Greek gods. Hades is sent to rule the underworld, but he makes plans to throw Zeus out of Mount Olympus with the Titans' help. The three Fates warn him that his plans would be endangered if Hercules, Zeus and Hera's newborn child, is still around by the time he tries to take over Mount Olympus. Hades sends his minions Pain and Panic to turn Hercules into a mortal and kill him, but they fail in their attempt and leave him on earth with his divine strength to be raised as a human. Hercules grows up but later learns he is the son of Gods, and in order to return to Mt. Olympus he must turn into a "true hero". He is trained by Phil the Satyr and becomes the most famous hero in ancient Greece after battling monsters of all kinds. He even saves Mt. Olympus from being taken over by Hades, but he only becomes a god again after he offers to exchange his life in order to save Megara, his love, from Hades' underworld and shows that a true hero must have a strong heart and not only physical strength.
While the film is considerably [[Bowdlerization|Bowdlerized]] from the original myths, there [[Pragmatic Adaptation|really was no alternative]] if you want to make a family film out of [[Greek Mythology]]. The result was a widely praised film, which despite not reaching the critical success of ''[[
Over a year after its release, the film [[Recycled:
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=== The film features examples of: ===
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== Original Film ==
* [[Abusive Precursors]]: The Titans, the portrayal of which was in some ways very close to ancient Greek Theology (ancient beings defeated by Zeus and imprisoned in the Underworld, their powers were very broad as well) and in some ways very different (the original Titans were deities [[Not So Different]] from the Olympians and the parents of several of them, rather than near mindless elemental monsters).
* [[Actor Allusion]]: Not sure if this was on purpose, but as Phil is an Expy (or at the very least an [[Affectionate Parody]]) of Mickey from the Rocky films, [[Batman Returns
* [[Added Alliterative Appeal]]: One of the lyrics for ''Zero to Hero'' is "and this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs!"
* [[Adorkable]]: Herc himself fits this, especially as a youngster. Even as an adult, he's still sorta awkward.
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* [[Big No]]: Done by Hercules {{spoiler|when Meg is crushed}} and by Zeus after baby Herc is kidnapped from Olympus.
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: "Someone call IX-I-I!"
* [[Blessed
* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: It's never really mentioned why Hades doesn't just open a can of divine whoopass on Hercules himself. He's clearly shown to be powerful enough and seemingly immune to any physical attack Hercules can throw at him while he's still mortal. Maybe he's worried Zeus will suspect him, but that doesn't hold up at the end of the movie when he's still trying to get Hercules out of his hair literally minutes before he mounts an attack against Zeus.
* [[Bound and Gagged]]: Meg during Hades' deal with Hercules.
* [[Bowdlerise]]: Big time. Besides a total change of Hades' personality, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera. Of course, for a kid's movie... there isn't much alternative.
* [[Breather Episode]]: After the [[Darker and Edgier|heavier themes]] of ''[[The Lion King]]'', ''[[
* [[Broken Bird]]: Megara. She pledged service to Hades to save an old boyfriend's life - only to have said boyfriend run after another girl shortly afterwards. ''OUCH''.
** She's also implied to [[Rape
* [[Big Friendly Dog|Big Friendly Horse]]: Pegasus, who was a gift to Hercules from his father at birth. Described by Zeus as having the heart of a horse and "the brain of a bird", he [[All Animals Are Dogs|acts pretty dog-like]] throughout the movie. Besides the flying, Hercules and Phil get their faces licked by him several times throughout the movie.
* [[Burning
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Zeus and Hades.
* [[Cassandra Truth]]: "Zeus is your father?" (cue laughter... and smiting). Which is odd given the God's track record in Ancient Greece...
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* [[Cut Song]]: Hercules had a ballad called "Shooting Star", and there was an alternate, slower song for Meg called "I Can't Believe My Heart."
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Phil, Megara, Hades... you get the general picture.
* [[Deal
* [[Death
* [[Death's Hourglass]]: This film has one with the Fate Sisters and the threads of life: if the person is close to death and the thread of life gets cut, said person dies, and their listless soul ends up on the River Styx.
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Megara again.
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* [[Elemental Powers]]: The Titans:
{{quote| '''[[Dishing Out Dirt|Rock Titan]]:''' CRUSH ZEUS!<br />
'''[[An Ice Person|Ice Titan]]:''' [[Kill It
'''[[Magma Man|Lava Titan]]:''' [[I'm Melting|MELT ZEUS!]]<br />
'''[[Blow You Away|Tornado Titan]]:''' BLOW HIM AWAY!<br />
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* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Numerous examples. For starters, [[Danny De Vito]] is Philoctetes and [[James Woods]] is [[Large Ham|Hades]].
* [[Heroic Build]]: Hercules, following his training with Phil. Just look at the picture!
* [[Hijacked
* [[Hold Your Hippogriffs]]:
** "Holy <ref> Heavens/Hell!</ref>"
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*** It's probably a Greek God thing.
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Zeus. On his free time, he's a loving father and husband, spends time joking with everyone and attempts to be a good big bro for Hades; in fact, he's ''much'' more lovable than the original Zeus, but once the Titans attack and Hades proved to be a backstabber, we quickly see where Hercules' strength come from and ''why'' you don't mess with the King of the Gods.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: This followed on the heels of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''. Essentially, we went from the dark, gritty streets of Paris with a brooding and depraved judge to James Woods as one of the most funny Disney villains of all time and the green fields and colourful cities of Greece. Perhaps they got tired of the grit.
** Well, after this was ''[[
** The take on Greek mythology present in the film, in addition to being [[Sadly Mythtaken]], is ''much'' lighter and more family-friendly, probably to get it a lower rating.
* [[Love Makes You Crazy]]: Portrayed positively here.
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* [[Pig Latin]]:
{{quote| '''Herc:''' ''(meeting the Hydra)'' Uh, Phil? What do you call that thing?<br />
'''Phil:''' [[Two Words: Obvious Trope]]: '''AM-SCRAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!''' }}
* [[Playing Against Type]]: Non-acting example: The art director was Gerald Scarfe, the same person behind the nightmarish [[Deranged Animation|animation]] of ''[[The Wall]]''.
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]] / [[Bowdlerise]]: Not much choice when you adapt [[Classical Mythology]] into an animated family film. However, [[Tropes Are Not Bad]].
** When Phil beats up that one civilian for making fun of his training of Achilles, he says "I'm gonna wipe that freaking grin off your face!" For television broadcasts, "freaking" is changed to "stupid".
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: Hades main reason for wanting Hercules dead is a prophecy says he's [[The Chosen One]] who'd defeat his scheme. Otherwise he'd have left him alone.
** This is further shown in the crossover with ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. Here Hades doesn't take it ''personally'' when Aladdin first defeats Pain and Panic. Needless to say Jafar was shocked:
{{quote| '''Jafar: '''"That's it? Aladdin ''humiliated'' you! Don't you want your [[Revenge]]?<br />
'''Hades: '''"How about I ''[[Take Over the World|rule the cosmos]]'' first, and ''then'' I'll take it? }}
* [[Prophecies Rhyme All the Time]]: [[Lampshaded]]:
{{quote| '''Fates:''' In 18 years, precisely, the planets will align, ever so nicely...<br />
'''Hades:''' [[Yiddish
* [[Punctuated for Emphasis]]: "I've got 24 hours to get rid of this ''bozo'', or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke, and ''you. Are wearing. His. MERCHANDISE!?!''"
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Hercules.
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** Hera is Hercules' ''mother''. Of course, it wouldn't be very parent-friendly to say "He's the son of Zeus and some mortal chick that Zeus knocked up".
** Philoctetes was never a satyr ''or'' heavily involved in the Hercules myths (his only claim to fame with the half-god was lighting his funeral pyre and gaining his bow and arrows as a reward).
** [[Hijacked
** Megara was never assaulted by Nessus (that would be Herc's ''second'' wife, Deianeira; Megara was killed by ''Herc himself'' after Hera made him loopy).
** [[Handicapped Badass|Hephaestus]] is capable of using his legs.
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* [[Say My Name Trailer]]: Of course, the last one is Hades saying "Jerkules."
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Mount Olympus and Hades (The Underworld, not the villain) simply look ''amazing''.
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Shout-Out]]: One of the Muses' sculpture incarnations during "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" should look ''very'' familiar to fans of the Haunted Mansion ride at the [[Disney Theme Parks]].
** Hades, just before the fight between Hercules and the Hydra: "[[Battle Cry|Let's get ready to RUMBLE!]]"
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* [[Stealth Pun]]: Gospel is a genre related to praise and worship of a higher power. What better way to augment the story of Hercules than with a set of [[Gospel Revival Number|Gospel Revival Numbers]]?
* [[The Stinger]]: Stick around after the credits and hear the lamentations of Hades.
* [[Surrounded
* [[Tailor-Made Prison]]: The Titans are imprisoned in an undersea vault.
* [[Terms of Endangerment]]: Hades: " Meg, my sweet, my flower, my little ''nut'' Meg."
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** {{spoiler|Pain, under the disguise of the little boy that Hercules rescues from the giant boulder}} says to Herc "''Jeepers'', Mister, ''you're'' strong!", on which Panic hangs a rather [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] [[Lampshade Hanging]].
* [[Tsundere]]: Megara has to qualify as an example. Look at "(I Won't Say) I'm In Love" for a perfect example of a tsuntsun-to-deredere switch.
* [[Two Words: Obvious Trope]]: Phil loves them. Sadly, his math is a bit off.
** Right before [[Training Montage]], during the song, it looks like the trope is about to be played straight with the lines "Askin' me to jump into the fray/My answer is two words:" setting it to rhyme with something like "No way." Then he's [[But Thou Must!|zapped by lightning and the trope remains subverted.]]
{{quote| '''Phil:''' [''charred and smoking''] O-kay.}}
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* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Phil {{spoiler|calls out Hercules for being too distracted by love to see that Meg is using him. Hercules takes a flying leap to avoid the hint, takes his rage out on Phil and disowns him as his trainer, leaving Phil to mumble one last admonishment and leave him to his darkest hour.}}
* [[Win Your Freedom]]: Megara.
* [[World of Snark]]: The only other Disney Canon entry that rivals this film in the amount of [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkers]] is [[The Emperor's New Groove
* [[X Meets Y]]: The movie is basically the [[Theme Park Version]] of Greek mythology meets the origin story of ''[[Superman]].''
* [[Yiddish
* [[You Got Spunk]]:
{{quote| '''Nessus the centaur:''' (to Meg) "I like 'em ''fiery''."}}
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== TV Series ==
* [[Actor Allusion]]: In one episode, [[Dan Castellaneta]] voices a [[
** And Helen of Troy, voiced by [[The Little Mermaid
** In "Hercules and the Kids", that wouldn't be the first time Ryan O'Donohue, Pamela Segal, and Courtland Mead [[Recess|voiced a group of kids on a Disney cartoon]].
* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Icarus idolizes Cassandra, who couldn't care less.
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* [[Boot Camp Episode]]: The series has Herc and Icarus infiltrate Spartan Military Academy to save Adonis, who has to go through basic training in accordance to family tradition. Ironically, [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Icarus warms up to the military lifestyle.
* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Helen of Troy.
* [[The Cameo]]: In "Hercules and the Bacchanal", [[The Little Mermaid
** Sebastian and one of Ursula's eels appears in the Atlantis episode.
* [[Cassandra Truth]]: With the Trope Namer being a main character, this is a given.
* [[Clip Show]]: "Hercules and the Yearbook".
* [[Closer Than They Appear]]: In "Hercules and the Gorgon", Hercules's shield says, "Objects are closer ''[[Rouge Angles of Satin|then]]'' they appear".
* [[Crossover]]: With the earlier Disney series ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. It contained an example of [[Let's You and Him Fight]].
* [[Crossover Cosmology]]: Hercules encounters Egyptian and Norse gods. The Olympian gods also become Roman gods, they even like their new Roman names (except Hades, see [[Shout-Out]]). The Fates also moonlight as the Norns.
** It's also possible for a dead Arab ''genie'' to go to the Greek underworld. (Then again, it being possible for genies to die at all is a deviation from mythology.)
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** [[Fridge Brilliance]] / [[Bilingual Bonus]]: 'Tri' means three, and 'via' means street or way. Trivia is mentioned as also being the god of where three streets meet.
* [[Jerkass]]: Adonis. He can't qualify as a [[Jerk Jock]] if he's too lazy to play sports.
** Some episodes portray him as a [[Jerk
* [[Kid Appeal Character]]: Icarus.
** How sad... because in [[Greek Mythology]], Icarus, son of Daedalus, flew too close to the sun using artificial wings of wax and feathers, and fell to his death. It's mentioned that he ''did'' fly too close to the sun, thus the hairstyle and (purportedly) the general loopiness.
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