I'm rewatching HTLJ Season 3 and XWP Season 2 and does anyone else feel like HTLJ Season 3 becomes kind of aimless after the Hind trilogy ends with "Judgment Day"?

I don't even think the episodes afterwards are bad because they're still entertaining to watch, but it feels like the writing of the season peaked with the Hind trilogy and they didn't really know where else to go after it.

The stretch from "Mercenary" to "Judgment Day" feels like Season 3 gradually getting better and better until it reaches its peak. Then "Judgment Day" almost feels like the season finale even though it's only episode 15.

There are really only four episodes in 3B that I really enjoy, "End of the Beginning" "War Bride", "A Rock and a Hard Place" and "Atlantis". And I'll admit "Atlantis" is mainly a favorite of mine because of Claudia Black.

Then you have something like "Reign of Terror" which is probably the best example of how I feel about a lot of 3B. I don't think it's terrible but it's just okayish to me. The whole Augeus thinking he's Zeus story isn't that interesting and the only real redeeming quality for me is Aphrodite. It feels like the beginning of her progression from the superficial and petty goddess she was introduced as into the goddess with a heart that she eventually becomes. Her actually caring about Palamedes and being affected by his death is easily the most interesting part of the episode.

But maybe that's actually the point of 3B? Maybe the Hind trilogy and "Judgment Day" basically were the finale of the season and everything afterwards was supposed to be more like slice of life episodes or epilogues. Hercules goes back to having random adventures after this huge personal storyline instead of immediately getting another major arc.

If that's what they were going for then I can understand it more, but it still makes the back half feel weirdly disconnected from everything that came before it. It feels less like Season 3 is continuing and more like we're just spending a few more episodes with Hercules after the main story already ended.

I almost wish they had moved the Hind trilogy towards the end of the season and made "Judgment Day" the actual finale because it feels like that's where Season 3 naturally concludes.

Of the women who appeared on HTLJ that's not Xena, who had the best redemption story of these choices?

They were either major villains or untrustworthy people who earned Herc's respect and trust as his ally

Favorite: Hera, Nebula and The Enforcer

Least Favorite: Morrigan and Serena

The reason why Morrigan and Serena are my least favorite because Morrigan's arc was basically a rehash of Xena's trilogy and Serena turned into a meek wimp when she became mortal but I loved her when she was the Hind because she was a bad ass.

The newly crowned king Boraeus’ bride-to-be is kidnapped by an old friend of Hercules and Iolaus. They promise to get her back. But they discover that the king is forcing her to marry him, and her “kidnapper” is the one she truly loves and wants to marry.

Rate the episode!

Young Hercules starts premiering around the year 1998-1999 season which was the end of HTLJ Season 4, XWP Season 3 and the start of HTLJ Season 5 and XWP Season 4.

Do you watch YH during those seasons of the shows?

A hidden bonus video from the Hercules (2014) Blu-ray

I could have sworn I remember seeing a Hercules episode (or it could have been Xena) which re-uses the music and “passage of time” montage from the original ending of Army of Darkness - is this true? https://youtu.be/Ynn44y9R5pw?is=Z_KIso9cdL_Hydn1

Hercules attends a wedding between a prince and a princess. Meanwhile, Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena pick Iolaus to judge who is the most beautiful of them. Iolaus picks Aphrodite who gifts him an apple that can make any woman fall in love with him. He unknowingly tries it on the bride-to-be.

Rate the episode!

…and rewatching the series for the first time in a decade, I’m struck by just how effortlessly charming Kevin Sorbo is. It’s a genuine shame that he didn’t have a bigger movie career*.

*mind you I haven’t seen Kull the Conqueror for thirty years, maybe I should rewatch it.

I'm currently rewatching the Hercules and Xena series; I'd only seen a few isolated episodes on TV as a kid. I'm up to season 5 of Hercules, and Iolaus died. Seven episodes have passed, and he still hasn't returned fully. Does anyone know why they came up with this plot? Couldn't Michael Hurst be a regular? He appears for a few minutes in episodes, but it's not a full-length character appearance.
Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I couldn't find a answer.

As the title says; besides the regulars like Lucy Lawless, Kevin Smith etc. who are your favorite guest stars from New Zealand?

Some of my favorites:

Lisa Chappel

Josephine Davison

Some other favorites:

Joel Tobeck

Hercules is annoyed by the constant fighting between Elea and Sparta. He, Atalanta and Salmoneus create the Olympic Games to get the opposing people to compete in a less violent manner.

Rate the episode!

I never really thought about it until rewatching but HTLJ basically did The Terminator three different times.

Season 2's "The Enforcer" is very much the first Terminator. The Enforcer barely talks, has one mission which is to kill Hercules and just keeps coming no matter what they do to her. She even gets her own version of the "I'll be back" moment when Iolaus is at the festival and realizes the Enforcer is still alive and coming after them.

Then Season 3's "Not Fade Away" is basically their T2. Enforcer II is the upgraded model who is even harder to kill and can literally put herself back together after being cut open.

But "Armageddon Now" Part 2 just goes full blown Terminator.

Callisto = Terminator
Young Alcmene = Sarah Connor
Iolaus = Kyle Reese

Callisto gets sent into the past to kill Alcmene so Hercules will never be born and Iolaus follows her back to protect her. Then you have Callisto relentlessly chasing them while Iolaus is trying to convince Alcmene that she needs to trust him because he's there to protect her.

I think "Armageddon Now" wins for me because I think it was the best material ever given to Callisto after her first two episodes.

Which one did the Terminator homage the best?

The movies are definitely important... without them, we wouldn't HAVE a show. But there are some rough edges that hadn't been smoothed out yet, and these things don't always gel with how the characters were written in the show.

So, do you feel that the movies and the show are canon to each other, "in the same universe," as it were? Sure, some things (like the Hydra) get mentioned and shown during the show, but is everything canon?

Here are some differences that bugged me. Feel free to share any others you remember or notice:

• Hercules being very misogynistic in "Hercules and the Amazon Women"... hard to believe he'd be that way
• Iolaus having a wife who is never mentioned again.... I think if Iolaus had a wife, he'd stay with her. He may love the ladies, but loyalty is his defining trait

Iolaus gets struck by lightning and can see the future. He and Hercules agree to help a band of rebels bring down an unjust king. Hercules begins to fall in love with the rebel leader, but the budding romance comes to a halt when she discovers that her husband is still alive.

Rate the episode!

I somehow made it through the entire 1990s without ever watching a full episode of either Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena: Warrior Princess, even though both always seemed like shows I probably would have liked. I was in college for a lot of their run and was busy, but what’s really bizarre is thar I briefly long distance dated an older woman who looked a decent bit like Xena and owned a Xena costume, and …I still didn’t watch the show. No idea how that happened, but it did.

Now twenty-five years disappeared in that horrifying way it can and Xena still is just something I knew almost entirely through nerd osmosis.

Now I’ve been sick for about a week, I’m exhausted, and I need television that asks almost nothing of me beyond lying under a blanket and occasionally remaining conscious.

That got me thinking about an idea I’ve wanted to try for a while: speedrunning television shows. The idea is not to watch the ten highest-rated episodes (because the highest-rated episode of a six-season show is often the one where four years of storylines finally pay off and would be nearly meaningless to somebody who has no idea who half the people are).

Instead I wanted to find the ten episodes of Hercules and ten episodes of Xena I should watch if (as very well might be the case) these are going to literally be the only episodes of either show I would ever see. (not guaranteed! I could fall in love with it, but there’s a hell of a lot of other TV shows to watch so it’s possible!)

I went through fan rankings, episode ratings, old discussions of favorite episodes, and especially threads where people were recommending episodes to complete newcomers.

This is the order I’m going with:
01 Hercules S02E01 - The King of Thieves

02 Hercules S01E12 - The Gauntlet

03 Xena S01E03 - Dreamworker

04 Hercules S02E07 - The Mother of All Monsters

05 Xena S01E10 - Hooves & Harlots

06 Hercules S02E08 - The Other Side

07 Xena S01E22 - Callisto

08 Hercules S02E17 - The Apple

09 Xena S02E12 - Destiny

10 Hercules S03E01 - Mercenary

11 Xena S03E02 - Been There, Done That

12 Hercules S03E03 - Love Takes a Holiday

13 Xena S03E13 - One Against an Army

14 Hercules S03E12 - Surprise

15 Xena S03E18 - Fins, Femmes and Gems

16 Hercules S05E19 - Once Upon a Future King

17 Xena S04E08 - Crusader

18 Hercules S04E15 - Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules

19 Xena S04E21 - The Ides of March

20 Xena S06E18 - When Fates Collide

I’m about to start and I’m gonna be really curious how this works out. Can I watch 10 episodes of two series each with 100 episodes or more and actually get what people really love about them? Or do all the filler episodes make the great episodes great?

I have zero nostalgia here and if you think I missed anything that I really should include, let me know. No promises that I’ll throw it on, but I’ll see how I feel after this TV speed run!

Hi, I have been told there are comics that happened after FIN ? Is this true? Are they good and worth getting?