The Mighty Hercules
| The Mighty Hercules | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre |
|
| Created by | Adventure Cartoon Productions |
| Directed by | Joe Oriolo |
| Voices of | Gerry Bascombe Jimmy Tapp Helene Nickerson |
| Opening theme | "The Mighty Hercules," sung by Johnny Nash |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 128 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Joe Oriolo |
| Running time | 5 minutes (usually compiled into 30-minute omnibuses)[citation needed] |
| Production company | Adventure Cartoon Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndication |
| Release | September 1, 1963 – May 1, 1966 |
The Mighty Hercules is an animated television series based loosely on the Greek mythology character of Heracles, under his Roman name Hercules. It debuted on television in 1963.[1] The show ran until 1966, coinciding with the sword-and-sandal genre of films popular between 1958 and 1965. Each stand-alone episode runs 5½ minutes, and in syndication was aired either as part of a block with other cartoons, or with several episodes airing consecutively to fill 30-minute time slots.[2][3]
Summary
The cartoon features Hercules, the legendary hero, who dwells on
Hercules's friends and allies are:
- Newton, his main sidekick, a helpful boy centaur who calls Hercules "Herc" and has a habit of repeating himself every time he speaks
- Helena, Hercules's girlfriend
- Prince (later King) Dorian of Calydon
- Tewt, a small satyr who vocalizes only by playing his syrinx
- Timon, a young human from Calydon
- Pegasus, Hercules' winged steed.
Also featured atop Mount Olympus are Hercules's father Zeus and Dodonis with his crystal rock of seeing. Both often warn Hercules of the troubles going on down below in and around the Kingdom of Calydon or deep in the Lernaean Forest.
The original episode has relatively lavish animation by
The show generally used Greek myths as the inspiration for its episodes, but used the influences oddly. Daedalus is the evil wizard who is Hercules's most frequent foe in the cartoon, but in
In addition to the ring, later episodes added new equipment for Hercules and his friends to use, such as a "moonstone beam" in his belt and an invulnerable sword and shield. Episodes invariably ended with Hercules racing towards Mount Olympus and shouting "Olympia!" after defeating the villain.
Production
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Adventure Cartoon Productions made The Mighty Hercules in connection with Trans-Lux Television, the same company that later brought the Japanese anime series Speed Racer to audiences in the United States. The company produced 128 episodes of The Mighty Hercules, each approximately five minutes in length. Joe Oriolo was the producer and director, and many of the animators were veterans of the New York City animation scene, including Grim Natwick, Frank Endres, John Gentilella, George Germanetti, Reuben Grossman, and George Rufle.
The show featured two different sets of voices for the characters. The most noticeably different voice was that of Newton: his original voice sounds as if he has just hit puberty, with his voice constantly cracking, while the later episodes give him a high-pitched Mickey Mouse-like voice. There is no gradual change in the voices. Most of the early episodes have the first set of voices, and the rest have the second set, and in the seventh episode during the first season, "Double Trouble," the voices actually change during the episode, with Newton near the end of the episode speaking a line in his original cracking voice and in his very next line switching to his second, high-pitched voice, while Hercules speaks in his first voice until his final two lines of the episode, which are in Hercules's second voice.
In early episodes of the first season, voice actor
Music
The Mighty Hercules features a
The transformative "ring anthem" frequently used as Hercules slips on his magic ring, along with several bridges of music used throughout the episodes, were taken from the 1954 film
In 2005, The Mighty Hercules was re-issued to television in a newly remastered version and was reformatted, with new title music performed by an unidentified singer replacing the familiar theme music.[citation needed] The version that aired on the Canadian network Teletoon Retro used the original Nash theme music.[citation needed]
Episode list
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Audio recording
In 1963, Golden Records released a tie-in long-playing record for children entitled The Mighty Hercules (LP-108), with words and music by Winston Sharples.[citation needed]
In popular culture
In 2009, the Canadian jazz musician John Stetch covered the theme song from The Mighty Hercules on his album TV Trio.[8]
When doing Superman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm was inspired by the design of Hercules in what became the design for Superman in the show.[9]
DVD release
On October 4, 2011, Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) brought the series to DVD for the first time with a single-disc selection entitled The Mighty Hercules, in Region 1. All 20 episodes are from season 1, the last one being episode 40.[10]
References
- ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ The Mighty Hercules at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016.
- user-generated source]
- ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
- ^ nostalgiacentral.com MIGHTY HERCULES, THE
- ^ theclassicrocker.wordpress.com #162 – The Mighty Hercules Theme Song, February 23, 2019[permanent dead link]
- ^ "TV Tunes swing on new CD". The Tucson Citizen, February 10, 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "How Superman: The Animated Series Avoided the 'Cornball' Man of Steel". January 6, 2019.
- ^ Lambert, David (July 13, 2011). "The Mighty Hercules – Single-Disc DVD Release Announced for the Classic '60s Cartoon". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
