Hercules and Xena |
In Search of the Autolycus Files, or, Greek Trek... | Hercules and Xena Essays |
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Hercules and Xena |
In Search of the Autolycus Files, or, Greek Trek... | Hercules and Xena Essays |
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In Search of the Autolycus Files, or, Greek Trek...
It seems pretty much a done deal that Kevin Sorbo is leaving HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS. The most credible seeming explanations I've come across on the 'Net say that Renaissance Pictures has actually been losing money on the world's most popular syndicated television series (that's plural -- XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS is apparently not making any money either). With revenues coming from 80 countries around the world I, for one, would have thought somebody was making money. According to Kevin's fan club newsletter he was asked to take a 33% pay cut. On the other side of the table Sorbo, who has long been honest about his desires to return to the United States, develop his movie career further, and take a rest from the grueling H:TLJ schedule, was apparently asking for a raise. So, now fans are speculating and hoping that Renaissance will find a way to keep the series going, although by and large nearly everyone seems to be of the opinion that Sorbo is the show in many ways. Can a series survive without its star? We've seen it happen for a while: Valerie Harper left a television series after the first season. It had done well in the ratings, but the producers renamed the show to THE HOGAN FAMILY and kept it going for a while longer. Of the original four stars for ALL IN THE FAMILY, only Caroll O'Connor went on to star in ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE, but if O'Connor was not to AITF what Kevin Sorbo is to H:TLJ, he was still pretty much the show's lead from the very beginning. Without Archie, there was no family, but Archie survived and flourished without Edith, Michael, and Gloria. GIMME A BREAK was an interesting family sitcom. Dolph Sweet played the father but he only lasted one season. He died of a heart attack, IIRC, and yet the series continued without its star for a couple more seasons. Emphasis shifted to Nell Carter, of course, a great comedic actress and singer who well deserved to carry a show on her own. This summer the SciFi Channel's hit show SLIDERS is going to have to get along without its chief slider: Jerry O'Connell is leaving the show, and so is his brother Charlie (who plays Colin Mallory, the brother of Jerry's character Quinn). That leaves only Cleavant "Cryin' Man" Derricks of the original four sliders in the show. As Rembrandt Brown he has developed a loyal following in the show, for Rembrandt is surely one of the more versatile and interesting characters on SF television today. It's possible that SLIDERS will survive although fans are not happy about the loss of both O'Connells. Can HERCULES be HERCULES without Hercules? I don't think so. Sorbo defines the character in a way that no other actor could hope to replace or equal, so it's extremely unlikely Renaissance would even consider trying to replace him in the role. Abe Vigoda went on to reprise the character of Fish from BARNIE MILLER for a couple of years in his own series, and Kelsey Grammer has enjoyed immense success as Frasier in the series of the same name, continuing a character who was introduced after several seasons to the legendary CHEERS ensemble. So maybe there is hope that a new series will be born out of H:TLJ's large and talented repertory. The semi-regular characters include Autolycus, the King of Thieves, Salmoneus, the Motivated Guy, Morrigan, the last Druid of Eire, and Aphrodite, Goddess of Love. Recurring villains include Ares, God of War, and Discord, Goddess of...well, a buxom lass who loves to create trouble in the land of Men. And then there is Alt.Iolaus, the jester from the alternate universe who is trying to become a warrior and hero. Unfortunately, none of these characters is really ready to pounce into the limelight. They would have to undergo some sort of radical change to make them series leads. The actors are capable of handling the work -- especially Michael Hurst, who has played Iolaus in one incarnation or another since the very first movie. Kevin Smith is another superb actor who has handled multiple roles (many people find it hard to believe he plays both Iphicles and Ares). And Morrigan, though not appreciated as a love interest by many fans, seems to strike a chord with them as a possible lead for a new series. She would not be the first reformed female character to leap out of H:TLJ into a new series: Xena paved the way. I'm not sure of what could be done with Morrigan, but I suspect that a show set in Eire would require a lot of retooling on Renaissance' part, and that brings us back to the issue which started this all: money. Right now, there is a lot of it floating around New Zealand's film industry as New Line Cinema underwrites Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS movies. Jackson has already hired away Ngila ("Nyla") Dickson, the excellent costume designer who has been with Herc and Xena from the beginning. He has possibly also hired away part of the H:TLJ film crew. So there is a shortage of qualified technical talent in Auckland these days. If H:TLJ and X:WP are not making money yet, what are the prospects for another series? YOUNG HERCULES has folded up shop -- Fox Kids Network decided that MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF TIR NA NOG and POWER RANGERS IN SPACE were more entertaining to their audience. Most of the actors for the YH series have already signed on with another (non-Renaissance) show. Ares and Discord have returned to trouble Herc and Xena in the syndicated shows, and rumor has it that the H:TLJ series finale will have Hercules face off with Zeus (whom rumor says may be played by Anthony Quinn, if Renaissance can get him), Ares, Hera, and perhaps some titans (which would be the third time we've seen a Hercules-versus-the-titans story in the 1990s). If Herc puts Ares into that temple prison that we encountered in "The Xena Scrolls", then Kevin Smith will either have to hope Iphicles suddenly ends his endless diplomatic trips and finds a new love interest, or he'll have to go looking for more work elsewhere. Maybe he'll turn out to be Aragorn in the LOTR movies. Another series we had high hopes for was AMAZON HIGH (or AMAZON NATION, or...). Unfortunately, Renaissance still hasn't been able to sell the two-hour movie which was to be the pilot for the series. A show about a lot of scantily clad women warriors coming from Renaissance couldn't sell? That doesn't bode well for keeping alive the Neo-Grecian Flame we've so come to love and cherish these past few years. The adventures we could follow with Autolycus and Salmoneus, the new dynamic duo of the Ancient World, will probably never be. We won't be treated to a series of LOVE, APHRODITE STYLE either, where an endless supply of voluptuous maidens find the men of their dreams in a cascade of bars, barges, prisons, villages, and warlord slave pits. Jason won't gather up the last three or four Argonauts and take them on a voyage of exploration, boldly going where no Greek has gone before. GREEK TREK. It could be a sort of WAGON TRAIN TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. The United City-States of Greece could send out the Argo to seek out new tribes and civilizations, and they would meet up with the dreaded Carthaginian Empire, tangle with the Silician Pirates, skirt the frontiers of the Ethiopian Territories. We'd get to see more of Willa O'Neill (who played Pheobe, an Argonaut, as well as Gabrielle's sister Lila and Hercules' friend Althea). Alas, after only a few years, it seems, we will soon be forced to retire to a life of reruns and fan fiction. We knew the end must come some day, but in the backs of our hearts and minds we held the hope that someone would rise from the crowd and forge a new path with a new series. We were planning on building a whole new fandom, obsessing about new characters, visiting new towns and...and...why go on? Ah, Hercules, we hardly knew ye. But I'll be watching the theaters. Some day, some way, I know, there will be a HERCULES: THE MOTION PICTURE, and then perhaps a new generation of Grecian Heroes and Villains will grace our lives again. |
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