Whoosh! Online Edition Episode Guide


HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS

AS DARKNESS FALLS
aka Centaur Mettle Journey


EPISODE NO. H06
Season 1, episode 6
Series 106
1st release: 02-20-95
2nd release: 05-22-95
3rd release: 08-07-95
1st USA strip release: 08-11-98
2nd USA strip release: 11-30-98
Production number: 76607
Approximate shooting dates: November 1994
Last update: 12-30-98


GUEST STARS, CAST & CREDITS
PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
TV GUIDE PROMO
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
SYNOPSIS by Liz Sheppard
COMMENTARY by Nikalaos
TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE
TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER
WHOOSH! ARTICLES
LINKS


GUEST STARS
Robert Trebor (Salmoneus)
Cliff Curtis (Nemis)
Jacqueline Collen (Penelope)
Lucy Lawless (Lyla)
Peter Muller (Deric)
Mark Ferguson (Craesus)

CAST
Matthew Humphrey (Marcus)
Buzz Moller (Tyron)
Fiona Mogridge (Cheris)
Maya Dalziel (Mother)
Jonathon Bell-Booth (Brother #1)
Mervyn Whitley, Jr. (Brother #2)

CREDITS
Edited by Steve Polivka
Written by Robert Bielak
Directed by George Mendeluk


PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
ON THE NEXT HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS
(Hercules throws a spear)
A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
(Lyla kisses Hercules)
A DANGEROUS TEMPATION
(Altar blows up in front of Nemis)
A VENGEFUL ENEMY WITH THE ULTIMATE WEAPON
(Nemis with club with spikes on it)
Nemis: "This club will kill Hercules".
(Herc stumbles around)
Hercules: "All I can see is shadows".
AND HERCULES HAS A REAL PROBLEM
Hercules: "I think I'm going blind".
(Herc tries to focus while shooting an arrow)
Nemis: "Who must I kill?"
(Arrow hits fruit)
Hercules: "This is my fight!!"
ON THE NEXT HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS

TV GUIDE PROMO
Hercules attends a friend's wedding where Nemis the Centaur arrives and kidnaps the bride and her maid of honor.

Hercules vs. a centaur, who comes bearing a grudge--and a cudgel provided by Hera.

AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 02-20-95
An AA average of 6.4
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) STAR TREK DS9 6th with 7.5
(2) HERCULES 12th with 6.4
(3) BAYWATCH 14th with 6.3

2nd RELEASE: 05-22-95
An AA average of 5.3
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) STAR TREK DS9 4th with 7.1
(2) BAYWATCH 9th with 5.5
(3) HERCULES 13th with 5.3

3rd RELEASE: 08-07-95
An AA average of 5.3
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) HERCULES 8th with 5.3
(2) STAR TREK DS9 12th with 4.9
(3) BAYWATCH 15th with 4.8

4th RELEASE: 12-22-97
An AA average of 5.3
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 3rd with 8.2
(2) HERCULES/XENA 12th with 5.3
(3) WALKER TEXAS RANGER 17th with 4.8
(4) STAR TREK DS9 26th with 4.1
(5) OUTER LIMITS 28th with 3.9
(6) BAYWATCH 29th with 3.8



SYNOPSIS:

This synopsis is by Liz Sheppard.

Nemis, the centaur, begs to Hera for the ability to win the heart of a woman named Penelope. He is given a club with spikes on it to kill Hercules. Herc runs into a soldier named Tyron with two sets of armor, who is going to Nespa to return the armor to the owners family. Two centaurs, Deric and Craesus, are practicing their archery with Lyla. Nemis comes by and gives Lyla some wine and a pouch. He plans to avenge his brothers death by killing Hercules.

Herc runs into Salmoneus, who's quit selling togas and has started going into real estate. Herc is not interested. Penelope and Marcus are happy -- kiss kiss, but Marcus is worried about Lyla and the centaurs. The wedding has started, with Craesus competeing in throwing spears. Herc and Craesus competes, with Herc winning and Sal placing bets. Lyla flirts with Herc, and gets him to drink some wine in a toast. She doesn't drink it, pours it in a plant, and the plant dies.

Herc asks Sal if he looks any different, because he feels funny. He complains about his eyes. Deric grosses out some snotty women for fun. Herc decides to test out his skills with Derek, but has trouble with his eyes. He still hits the bullseye, but not the very center. Herc questions Penelope on Lyla. She says that after her brother died, Lyla became wilder, hanging out with centaurs. Nemis shows up, with Marcus getting mad. Tyron shows up and tells everyone about the death of Teres. Teres' brothers get mad because Tyron didn't avenge his death, so a fight scene breaks out. In the confusion, Herc's eyes become worse; and Nemis and Craesus take Penelope and Cheris with them.

Herc, with Sal as his eyes, goes with Marcus and Tyron to go after the centaurs. The centaurs are shooting them with arrows, with Herc shooting arrows back, hitting and killing Caresus. Nemis sends a big boulder falling down the hill. Tyron pushes Marcus out of the way, and gets killed. Marcus gets hurt alittle, but he doesn't want to go back.

Herc gives Tyron a burial with Deric and Lyla coming up behind him. They don't plan to join either side and are going to Athens. Lyla tells Herc that his sight will return in a few days.

Herc follows the sound of bats to the cave. He distracts Nemis to free Penelope and Cheris. Cheris gets the key, but Nemis comes back inside with the club. Herc puts the fire out with Nemis' stew, so Nemis is blind as well; but the ceiling is caving in and Cheris is having trouble getting Penelope free. Nemis gets wounded by his club, but helps out Herc by holding the ceiling up to Herc can free Penelope. Herc, Penelope, and Cheris escape just in time to see the ceiling collapse with Nemis inside.

Herc gives Cheris Tyron's sword and gives Sal's winnings to the newlyweds.



COMMENTARY:

This commentary is by Nikalaos.

First of all, let us mention the cast. VERY interesting, if you ask me. Recognize familiar faces? Oh, yeah - a bunch! Ok, of course there's Sal - we all love that dude, don't we? And then there's that lanky beauty Lyla, played by who else? Lucy (f)Lawless! (I kinda like her hair that lighter auburn color) Deric and Lyla are introduced in this ep - both will make another appearance in "Outcast" -- interesting note: Deric has a goatee and Lucy's hair is Xena's color. Heck, Herc and Sal even say "Lyla looks a lot like Xena - but with a different disposition". Back to THIS ep. The woman who plays Penelope (wasn't Penny Odysseus' wife? Guess it's a popular name) is Jaqueline Collen. Know her from the wannabe Herc & Xena show "Sinbad"? She played the sexy and firey magician's apprentice Maeve during first season. Charis (the Greek word kharis means "divine gift" ), Penny's bridesmaid, is also the actress who played Mariah in "The Lost City" (another note: The blonde lady in "Lost City" also played Lucenne in "Prodigal Sister") As for Nemis, the crazy centaur, was he the same dude who played Nessus in "Hercules in the Underworld"? And was that dude who played the bridegroom, Marcus, (more name re-use-age) aslo the actor who played Epius in "The Apple"?

Ok, now let's talk about our favorite tough-gal, Lucy as Lyla. To me, Lyla was like some mix between a mediocre baddie Xena in a good mood slash a tad darker Meg. I like her hair color that way - I wonder if it's dyed . . .

Onto the episode itself: I, personally, liked this episode. But then again, I am WAY to acceping when it comes to criticism. So I'll just point out some notable moments and other things of that sort. Ok, now the centaur's costumes have changed slightly. In this ep, they were hair almost to the neck - it looked so weird, like not horse and not man, but some sort of moldy goat hair. And there's some weird centaur computer generated imagery at the beginning, when Lyla walks over to Deric after he shot the arrow through the fruit. If you notice, Lucy's bod appears MUCH bigger than the dark-haired centaur's, as if he's far away. But you get from the conversation and the way she looks at him that he may actually be that small. But then the camera shoots to the actors' upper bodies, and we see Lyla is quite a bit shorter than both centaurs.

Ok, now HOW OLD IS HERCULES????!!! Kev's 38 last time I heard, but I wonder how old Herc when he met Penelope as a 12-year-old wee yougin. He's an adult, and he's experienced a WHOLE LOT during his life, including having a family with 3 kids. Maybe demi-gods age slower. Demigods. That brings us to our next little nitpick. I wonder why Herc didn't sense something with the drink Lyla gave him. I mean, she proposed the toast, yet did not drink. Maybe he was still enchanted by her . . . ah . . . "her" in general. And it sure is a good thing they mentioned the poison not doing its work too good after Herc tied the archery contest, after all, the liquid killed the plant right away. Good job to those writers who really emphasize Herc's god-like side.

Wimpy damsel in distress alert here! I, for one, hate the 'damsel in distress" routine. If these chicks won't even TRY to save themselves - even in desperation - are they really worth saving? OF COURSE THEY ARE, but it sure makes it boring. Especially after seeing Lucy as Xena and Jaqueline as Maeve - both strong, independent women, I was kinda let down to see 'em both roll with the punches of the tough guys (or gals). I guess this just proves how flexible actors are.

Psycho bad-guys/gals are the best! Ever hear of a chick called Callisto? It'd be too cliche if all the villains were that fun. But Nemis tries to do a good mental routine. He's kinda loony - Lyla said it herself that he was crazy. But he's that way because he has two opposing desires: love and hate. Both blind him to whatever kind of person he used to be (we know that he wasn't always weird). He wants Penny - wants her for lust or for love, who knows? Probably both, at least in his round-about way. But he also wants to kill Hercules. At first, it was the so-called love thing which got him Hera's club thing. But then that developed into a deep reminder of his hate for Herc after the son of Zeus killed Nessus, his centaur bro. But actually, I'd say Nemis was one of those "learn a little lesson" villains - whose own selfishness leads to his destruction. He wasn't a very deep character, kind of confusing, but fun to have in the story anyways.

In the Nemis/Herk fight in the "dark" cave, there was some pretty odd inconsistancies. First of all, why didn't Herk just bust open the chains at first instead of search for the key? I guess we needed Charis to have a job during the suspenseful "darkness" fight. I liked how Penelope sort of hyperventilated, but that's off track. Herk dodges Nemis' every blow - kinda weird how blind people formerly unaccustomed to blindness can do that. And Nemis didn't look like he was trying too hard. After the fire was out, Hercules said that now they were even, because they both were in the dark and both without fire. Sorry to say, but now we know Herk is most definitely blind. It was barely darker than before the cooking fire was out, but I guessed the lighting was for mood. A fight in the dark with the creepy bluish light of an implied moon may have been nice, but the fire was really good in expressing rage. Say, I thought that fire was gone. BUT NO! The screen keeps shooting to this curtain thing on fire. I don't get it. And after Nemis tells them to get out and save themselves, I thought it was neat how as the cave collapsed, we heard him howl "HELP ME!!!!!" That proved his sacrifice of his live wasn't some blind, love-stricken act for Penelope, but that he didn't WANT to die, either. I guess that makes us all sigh because the kooky horsey really did have a monster crush on Penny.

The guy who plays the third centaur, Craesus, is Mark Furguson. He's been Hades in "hercules in the Underworld", Krykus in "Hooves and Harlots" and "Remember Nothing", and Smythe in "The Xena Scrolls"

Another inconsistancy: How did Herk see the collapsing beam in the cave? Was it supposed to be that he heard it? Or how about the sword of Tyron? After it got busted, Herc cast it aside. How did he find it? We see him running out of the cave with it, and then it disappears as he, Penelope, and Charis hit the ground. Then we see it again when he gives it to Charis. Maybe his sight was returning in the cave.



TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE

02-24-98. At Burbank II Con (01-17-98), Brad Carpenter (out-going Director of Merchandizing and actor) stated that in the first season of Hercules, when Lucy Lawless first played Lyla, her hair color was closer to her natural colour (light brown, not black).

02-01-98. At Burbank II Con (01-17-98), Robert Trebor (actor, Salmoneus) stated that AS DARKNESS FALLS was filmed in a dormant volcano, and he strained his muscles in order to get out of the volcano. He alos offered his take on the sotry, that Salmoneus pulled through by being Hercules' eyes. He also added that it was shot for about 9 days, almost entirely outdoors.



TRANSCRIPT

Click here to read a transcript of AS DARKNESS FALLS .



DISCLAIMER

No Centaurs were harmed during the production of this motion picture.



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