Hercules and the Trojan War (10/30/98)
Another nice episode!
Homer (Dan Castellaneta) makes his reappearance in this episode, again as a news reporter.
Helen's hair is yellow again! :-)
It's nice to see Herc and Adonis going at it again! I'm happy that Herc doesn't cower to Adonis' arrogance!
The Speedy Pita guy appears as a student at the academy (the one voting *against* Adonis).
Herc wins the role of Homecoming King, thus pairing him with Helen, something her REALLY seemed to like (much to the great annoyance of Adonis)! :-)
Then the Trojans deface the statue of Prometheus in the Academy's quad. The students demand retaliation! Most notably Tempest and Ajax! Hercules should have stuck to his first senses about the nature of a prank. Instead he gives in to the demands of his fellow students.
The gag about the look-alikes from the Trojan Academy was quite funny. Paris (Cary Elwes), the Adonis look-alike appears to have been the leader. I liked seeing that they even had their very own demi-god; the son of Poseidon, Otus, who looked very much like a waterborne version of the Gargoyle, Broadway. The fact that Jeff Bennet (the voice of Brooklyn on GARGOYLES) provides a voice for this episode really helps as well.
TRIVIA: In mythology Otus, along with his twin brother, Ephialtes, were known as the Aloadae, and were the sons of Poseidon by the maiden named Iphimedia. Iphimedia was in love with Poseidon, but he had rebuffed her advances. So it became her custom to walk along the seashore scooping handfuls of water and emptying them into her bosom. This trick eventually worked as Posiedon finally succumbed to her love and resulted in the birth of the two giants. When the boys were nine years old they were four meters tall and seventeen meters tall. They decided to war with the Olympian gods and piled Mt. Ossa atop Mt. Olympus, and then Mt. Pelion on top of them both. Their next goal was to turn the sea into dry land and the land into sea. Ephialtes attempted to ravish Hera and Otus, Artemis. Different accounts say they were eventually imprisioned by Ares, slain by Zeus' thunderbolts or tricked into killing eachother by Artemis.
Still, the mere fact that Otus is called a demi-god and the son of Poseidon on Disney's Hercules is interesting. My question is, "How is Otus considered a demi-god?" If he is the son of Amphitrite then he should be a full god, but if he is the son of a mortal (the traditional way of making demi-gods) then the editors at Disney may have let one slip by! (heh-heh). Though the true son of Amphitrite and Poseidon, Triton, is scheduled to appear, perhaps a future episode will explain the relationship between Poseidon and Otus.
Back to the review: Helen disappears and the rest of the main and secondary characters get together to rescue her. Here we get to see a new role for Icarus, resident genius! As the son of the great inventor Daedalus, we see him now taking advantage of this, with the Trojan Horse. In this case, unlike the Trojan War of Legend, this time six Academy students are hidden within (Herc, Adonis, Icarus, Cassandra, Tempest and Ajax). Learning that Helen was never in any real danger they are pelted by vegetables. This episode also seems to explain how Helen's parents were able to ride in their own wooden horse carriage: Steam Power! While the horse can roll, we soon learn that it definitley cannot fly! :-)
Apparently Homer decides this story isn't interesting enough and deems to insight a ten year war resulting from Helen, with the face that could launch a hundred, no, a thousand ships!
A very nice episode!