Hercules and the Living Legend
Well, I think I may have found my baseline from which to judge future episodes.
"Hercules and the Living Legend" was not one of the better episodes (IMHO).
The show started off good... I really felt sorry for Achilles... reallllly sorry. Being compared to a "has-been" and lower than a two-headed pig was pretty degrating.
When Hades showed up, he had lots of good lines, but after that the quality of the show dropped for me. I found myself no longer caring about Achilles or Hades' plot to seperate Phil & Herc. I hated the monster, Memnon.
The gags surrounding the "Tartarus Vision" (a.k.a. "TV") were pretty good, but that's about it. I guess I was glad when Phil, and later, Achilles finally saw the light (so to speak), but I dunno... that's about it.
TRIVIA: Did you catch Kath Soucie's voice coming from Pain & Panic's bimbo personas?
Regarding the Memnon from Greek Mythology, Disney's use here was, shall we say, very liberal license. Perhaps the writers were just using a familiar Greek name, but, in fact there really was a Memnon in Achilles' legend, only he was human.
Memnon was the son of Tithonius, the king of Ethiopia, and Eos (Aurora) the goddess of the Dawn. He took 10,000 men to Troy to assist his uncle Priam in the Trojan War; he behaved with great valor, and he killed Antilochus, Nestor's son. Nestor challenged Memnon to single combat, but Memnon refused because of Nestor's vulnerable (elderly) age. Achilles took up the challenge for Nestor; Memnon accepted and was killed in the combat. Finally a great statue was erected to honor Memnon in Egypt at Thebes, and it was said that when the first rays of the dawn fell upon it a sound came from it like the twanging of a harpstring.
So, it would appear that some basic elements remained in "The Living Legend" tale, but the reasons and the people all changed.
Maybe after I view it again I'll like it better. I missed seeing Icarus & Cassandra and even the Muses and "Bob" this episode... I guess on the plus side... variety is good.
Rich
ACHILLES: "Who are you? HADES: "Hades, Lord of the Dead. How're you doing? Nice gut. ACHILLES: "Is it my *time*? HADES: "No. No. No. You've got lot's of time... well, six years...anyway..."
Rich