Hercules and Xena |
Death of Iolaus is Life To A Newsgroup | Hercules and Xena essays |
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Hercules and Xena |
Death of Iolaus is Life To A Newsgroup | Hercules and Xena essays |
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Death of Iolaus is Life To A Newsgroup
Every now and then the fans complain that the people at Renaissance Pictures are just trying to provoke them through changes made to the shows. To a certain extent this is true. Even a fantasy television series is a work of art, and the purpose of art is to provoke reaction. This year Hercules has been sent on a long journey, and the season got off with an astounding bang by killing off Iolaus. Iolaus? Dead? Well, he's been dead before. Not to worry. This time, however, fans are worried. Michael Hurst has a strong following among the fans of both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He's played many characters on both shows, not just Iolaus, but the death of Iolaus this year has struck a nerve among the fans. Word is out that Michael signed up for 22 episodes, but Iolaus has barely been seen. Well, the effect has been astounding and healthy for the Hercules news groups. I've never seen this much traffic in them. Previously I've reported that the Hercules Usenet fans were long denied access to a group for the show through an unfortunate set of circumstances. Nowadays I find some of the longtime online fans are active in alt.tv.hercules, sharing their knowledge and insight. This is good. But the concern over Iolaus seems to dominate the group. Kevin Sorbo's fans are not worried about his health, they've discussed his marriage to actress Sam Jenkins to death, and Herc is enjoying some absolutely great stories. But everyone wants to know what's going to happen to Iolaus. Well, it's lately been reported that Iolaus is dead, dead, dead. Sadly, Michael Hurst himself appears to have admitted in a recent interview that the character gave himself over to Dahak. Such a revelation is rocking the halls of online fandom. An Iolaus will be back -- two of them. The (now) evil Iolaus seems to be Dahak's avatar. But the jester Iolaus from the alternate universe of "Stranger In A Strange World" will apparently be brought into the series to help Hercules. Weird? It's probably going to get weirder, and the fans will be there, analyzing the changes in the show every step of the way. I expect interest in alt.tv.hercules (and it's predecessor, alt.tv.hercules-legendary-journeys) to increase regularly as the show progresses. As more and more fans search for online sources of information they're going to look into the newsgroups to see what's being reported there. So, although I doubt Renaissance Pictures really cared whether the newsgroups were active, the changes they've effected have revitalized that corner of online fandom. I'm looking forward to the discussions. It's not that the Hercules groups have been empty. It's just that people have compared them to alt.tv.xena, which never had an interrupted existence, and many have wondered why the Xena group gets so much more traffic. A year's absence can have a devastating effect on a newsgroup, but apparently the absence of a much beloved character can have a positive and healthy countereffect as far as the group is concerned. Hey, see you on Usenet. NOTE: Because of extensive flaming, Xenite.Org no longer endorses the news groups. We do recommend you check out the great fantasy and science fiction forums at SF-Fandom. |
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