Hercules: Zero to Hero | |
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Home Entertainment [1] |
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Running time | 70 minutes [2] |
Country | United States [2] |
Language | English |
Hercules: Zero to Hero is a 1999 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The film is a direct-to-video follow-up to 1997 animated feature Hercules . It was released on August 17, 1999. The film serves as a package film combining four episodes of Hercules: The Animated Series .
The film briefly gives Hercules' history after defeating Hades (who off-screen succeeded in getting out of the River Styx and gave up his quest for the rule of Olympus), in which Hercules marries Meg and revisits his teenage years. In particular, it shows an adolescent Hercules's enrollment and the beginning of his adventures at the Prometheus Academy, a school for gods and mortals, which Hercules attended during the time when he was training to be a hero with his mentor, the satyr Philoctetes.
The frame story repurposes footage from the episode, "Hercules and the Yearbook" (from Season 1; Episode 47), while the flashbacks are based on the episodes, "Hercules and the First Day of School" (from Season 2; Episode 1), "Hercules and the Grim Avenger" (from Season 1; Episode 49), and "Hercules and the Visit from Zeus" (from Season 2; Episode 2).
The following characters appear as they did in the corresponding episodes that the film packaged.
Hercules: Zero to Hero was first released on home video on August 17, 1999.
Michelle Erica Green of LittleReview gave the film a rating of B+, writing that while the film "lacks the dazzling visuals of the feature film upon which it is based...it's hard not to be charmed", adding "the characters are all clever and original despite their mythic origins". [3] Conversely, Antagony & Ecstasy gave a scathing review, writing that as the film "was assembled of four episodes of the Hercules cartoon that had already aired in 1998 and 1999", it was "perhaps the single grubbiest cash-in of [all the direct-to-video released]", adding "Zero to Hero was already going to be at such a low level of accomplishment even relative to other DTV projects". [4]
In a review, Vern Perry of the Orange County Register described the Disney formula as "Just give 'em what they like. And keep it up.", noting that's what the company has done with these two 1998/1999 releases. He added that this film benefited greatly from the return of some of the original voice cast including Tate Donovan and James Woods. [5]
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is an American fantasy television series filmed in New Zealand, based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles. Starring Kevin Sorbo as Hercules and Michael Hurst as Iolaus, it was produced from January 16, 1995, to November 22, 1999. It ran for six seasons, producing action figures and other memorabilia as it became one of the highest-rated syndicated television shows in the world at that time. It has aired on Once Channel, Sky1, five/5, Heroes & Icons, and Horror.
Hercules is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. It is loosely based on the legendary hero Heracles, a son of Zeus in Greek mythology. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, both of whom also produced the film with Alice Dewey Goldstone. The screenplay was written by Clements, Musker, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi. Featuring the voices of Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, and Susan Egan, the film follows the titular Hercules, a demigod with super-strength raised among mortals, who must learn to become a true hero in order to earn back his godhood and place in Mount Olympus, while his evil uncle Hades plots his downfall.
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Tate Buckley Donovan is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in Damages, Jimmy Cooper in The O.C., and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disney animated film Hercules, the animated television series of the same name and in a few Kingdom Hearts video games. He starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the 1992 film, Love Potion No. 9.
Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series is an American animated television series based on the 1997 film of the same name and the Greek myth. The series followed Hercules as a teenager, in training to be a hero, prior to the events of the film.
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Heracles, also known as Hercules, is a Greek and Roman mythological hero known for his strength and far-ranging adventures. He is one of the most commonly portrayed figures from classical mythology in the popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Hercules is a 1997 platform video game developed by Eurocom Entertainment Software. It is based on the 1997 film of the same name. It released on the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows along with an abridged version developed by Tiertex Design Studios for the Game Boy released by THQ the same year.
Megara, commonly known simply as Meg, is a fictional character who appears in the Walt Disney Pictures animated film Hercules (1997). Voiced by actress Susan Egan, Meg is introduced as a cynical young woman enslaved by Hades, god of the underworld. Hades forces Meg to uncover Hercules' weaknesses by seducing him in return for her freedom, only to develop genuine feelings for the hero instead. Loosely based on Megara and Deianira, Heracles' first and third wives in Greek mythology, directors Ron Clements and John Musker adapted Meg into a morally conflicted con artist, while basing her role and personality on 1940s screwball comediennes, particularly actress Barbara Stanwyck's performance in The Lady Eve (1941).
The mythological Greek deity Hades often appears in popular culture. In spite of his present neutrality and lack of bad deeds, he is often portrayed as a villain due to his association with death and the underworld.
The familiar name and large size of the Titans have made them dramatic figures suited to market-oriented popular culture.
Events in 1963 in animation.
Hercules is a Disney media franchise comprising a film series and additional merchandise, starting with the 1997 animated Disney feature of the same name, directed by John Musker and Ron Clements.
Sergio Pablos is a Spanish animator, director and screenwriter. While at the helm of his company, Pablos developed several concepts for animated feature films, most notably the original ideas upon which Despicable Me and Smallfoot were based.
Hercules is a musical based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios 1997 film of the same name, with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and David Zippel, and a book by Kristoffer Diaz, Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah. The production is also loosely based on the legendary hero of the same name, the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology.