“Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” ran for six seasons and 111 episodes, and it never pretended to be anything but a good time. Kevin Sorbo played Hercules. Michael Hurst played Iolaus. Together they crossed a fantasy Greece that owed as much to Saturday matinees as to myth, fighting monsters, warlords and the occasional petty god. The show first aired on January 29, 1995, and last aired on November 27, 1999. It was created by Christian Williams and carried by syndication, which meant it lived or died on the strength of its own charm. It mostly lived.
Trailer, via TheSuvorovvv.
A Son of Zeus in a Syndication Slot
The premise is simple and the show knew it. Hercules journeys across the earth, fights monsters and helps people. That is the whole engine.
The series is set in a fantasy version of ancient Greece not precisely located in historical time, and it mixes in Oriental, Egyptian and Medieval elements whenever an episode needed them. This is not a history lesson. It is an adventure show with a rotating cast of gods and a hero who can throw a boulder when the script calls for it.
What made it work was the pairing. Sorbo’s Hercules is calm, broad-shouldered and a little dry. Hurst’s Iolaus is the sidekick who does the talking, the scheming and the dying-and-coming-back. The two had a rhythm that carried episodes even when the plot was thin. And the plot was often thin.
Hera, Ares and the Villain Carousel
The early seasons had a clear nemesis. Hera, the queen of the gods and Hercules’ evil stepmother, wants him destroyed. She sends monsters. She helps her followers. She is a reminder of Zeus’ infidelity, and she never lets anyone forget it. That is a strong premise for a monster-of-the-week show, and it gave the first seasons a spine.
Then the show changed its mind. As the series progressed, Hercules’ half-brother Ares, the god of war, replaced Hera as the primary antagonist. Ares is malicious and fun in a way Hera rarely was, and the shift kept the show from going stale. By the end, Ares himself was replaced by the evil god Dahak, who runs the fifth season and sends Hercules to Sumeria, Norseland and Éire.
That is a lot of geography for a syndicated action show. It is also a sign that the writers were willing to keep moving. The show never settled into one shape for long.
Salmoneus and the Quick Drachma
Not every companion worked. Robert Trebor’s Salmoneus, a wheeler-dealer always looking to make a quick drachma, rotates in as a regular companion, particularly in the earlier seasons. He is a comedy character in a show that already had comedy. Sometimes that is fine. Sometimes it is one joke too many.
The show also had episodes with in-jokes about modern themes. That is a choice. It dates the series, but it also gives it a looseness that more self-serious fantasy shows lack. “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” was never trying to be a prestige drama. It was trying to be fun, and it usually was.
Zeus, the Favorite Son
Zeus is a complicated presence. Hercules frequently calls him a neglectful father, and the show does not argue. But Zeus’ love for Hercules is well documented, and Hercules is often referred to as “the favorite son of Zeus.” Zeus makes several appearances, and on one occasion he saves his son’s life and restores his superhuman strength when he needs it most. Hercules, for his part, is always there when Zeus needs him.
That relationship gives the show more weight than its monster fights. A hero with daddy issues is not a new idea, but Sorbo plays the resentment without letting it turn into a sulk. He is a grown man who has decided to be decent anyway.
That is the show’s real thesis.
Five Movies and a Cancelled Sixth Season
The series did not start as a series. It was preceded by five TV movies in 1994, with the same major characters. In order: “Hercules and the Amazon Women,” “Hercules and the Lost Kingdom,” “Hercules and the Circle of Fire,” “Hercules in the Underworld,” and “Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur.” The last of those served mostly as a clip show of the previous movies, a lead-up to the series proper. It was part of Universal Television’s Action Pack, which is a very 1990s sentence.
The ending was not planned. The show was cancelled midway through filming of the sixth season. Only eight episodes were produced after Sorbo initially declined to renew a three-year extension contract to continue as Hercules. That is a messy way to go out.
The show does not get a clean finale. It gets a stop.
The Memorabilia and the Ratings
It is easy to forget how big this got. The show produced action figures and other memorabilia. It became one of the highest-rated syndicated television shows in the world at that time. It has aired on Once Channel, Sky One, 5, Heroes & Icons, and Horror. That is a long afterlife for a show that was filmed in New Zealand and built around a guy in a leather vest.
The New Zealand production is part of the appeal. The landscapes are green and open, and the show uses them without apology. It does not look expensive. It looks like a place. That is a trade-off that works.
What Holds Up and What Does Not
Here is the honest read. “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” is not a great drama. The acting is uneven. The effects are of their time. The villain carousel, Hera to Ares to Dahak, is a sign of a show that kept rebooting itself rather than building. The in-jokes about modern life will make some viewers wince.
But the show knows what it is. It is a syndicated action series about a strong man helping people, and it delivers that with a straight face and a sense of humor. The Sorbo-Hurst partnership is the reason to watch. The Hercules-Zeus material is the reason to remember it. The action figures are the reason it lasted.
It did not need a prestige budget. It needed a hero, a sidekick and a monster.
The Numbers Behind the Legend
- Title: “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”
- Created by: Christian Williams
- Network: Syndication
- First aired: January 29, 1995
- Last aired: November 27, 1999
- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 111
- Starring: Kevin Sorbo as Hercules, Michael Hurst as Iolaus
- Genres: Action & Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Preceded by: five 1994 TV movies
- TMDB audience score: 6.9/10 (617 votes)
Where the Show Lands
Six seasons is a long run for a show that was cancelled mid-season and never got a proper ending. The fact that “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” still turns up on channels like Heroes & Icons and Horror says more than any ratings chart. It found an audience and kept it for six seasons, ending only when Sorbo initially declined to renew his contract. That is not a tragedy. That is a syndicated show doing exactly what syndicated shows do.
The TMDB audience score sits at 6.9 out of 10, drawn from 617 votes. That is a fair reflection of what this is: a good show with a great central pair, a messy back half and a villain problem it never fully solved. Watch it for Iolaus. Watch it for the Zeus episodes. Skip the clip show. 6.9 out of 10.
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