Hercules and the First Doctor
A Review by Juan F. Lara
This ep is about Hippocrates, doctor of aincient Greece. Therefore, they made doctor jokes. Lots of doctor jokes. All the doctor jokes you'd expect. In fact, this episode didn't seem to have any point other than as an excuse to make all those doctor jokes, and Hippocrates didn't have much characterization beyond being the reason for those jokes. The ep seemed predictable because you knew what jokes to expect ( Hades had a marathon of them at the end. ), and some of the puns made me boo the screen. ( like the reference to the two-snake symbol ) But a few of them did make me laugh. I liked how Hippocrates first came up with the idea of medicine, and how Pain and Panic wound up feeling comfortable in their hospital stay. Herc's fascination with Hippocrates's work came off as genuine. I admired Herc for the respect he had for Hippocrates. The Phil subplot didn't work for me though because Phil's disappointment was superficial. That subplot didn't really have much to do with the main plot of Hippocrates vs. Hades, as evidenced in Act 3, where Phil didn't really need to go with Herc to the underworld. ( In fact, Act 3 was all filler right up to when they reach Hippocrates. ) I couldn't believe that Herc could ever blame himself for the plague considering the way Pain and Panic spread it. ( P&P could've simply turned into flying creatures and spread it themselves. ) The career fair scene was dead-on, and it was fun to see Phil as a career fair representative. Guess his work on Herc inspired him to take on new clients. :-)
MISCELLANEOUS
"Hold up, baby. We know what you're thinking out there." "You're thinking, 'Mmmm, that girl looks fine!'"
DYN1: The person who died on the table in Act 2 was the same person whom Hippocrates brought back to life in the underworld. DYN2: Herc's "Star Trek" reference...:-)
Icarus: Aww. I feel bad for the shark. [ Hah. Icarus's gags were pretty good in this ep. ]
Charon has never objected to bringing Herc over to the underworld in any of his other appearances. The animation studios were Toon-City, and S.O.B. Productions of New Zealand. That's what the credits said. I'm not making it up. :-)
Overall I felt neutral about this ep. At least it had a few funny moments.
- Juan F. Lara http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jfl/intro.html
Hades: Well that's just great. That's just dandy. Pain: I told you he wouldn't be mad. Hades: Of course not. CAN'T YOU APPRECIATE IRONY?!!