PROMO
TRANSCRIPTION
ON AN ALL NEW HERCULES
A FATAL VISION SENDS HERCULES TO THE SAVAGE LAND OF THE VIKING.
Thor: Word of advice, stranger. Watch where you pick your fights!
NOW THE SON OF ZEUS MUST BATTLE THOR
Thor: He's mine!
THE MIGHTY GOD OF THUNDER
Hercules: I am not your enemy.
[Thor screams while fighting Hercules]
Hercules: Okay, now I'm mad!!
ON AN ALL NEW HERCULES
TV GUIDE PROMO
Hercules embarks on an odyssey to save the Norse god Balder from an evil prophecy.
Hercules has a major role in an end-of-the-world Norse prophecy.
A vision draws Herc to Norway, where he finds himself mixed up in events that, a prophecy says, will lead to "the end of all things." Part 1 of two.
AIRING AND RATING
INFORMATION
1st RELEASE: 11-02-98
An AA average of 4.0
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-FILES 12th with 5.7
(2) STAR TREK DS9 13th with 4.8
(3) ER 16th with 4.7
(4) XENA 17th with 4.5
(5) HERCULES 20th with 4.0
SUMMARY:
Summary by Bluesong
Hercules and an unknown fellow with blond hair share a vision. Hercules decides he has to leave the Emerald Isle to save this man's life. He travels in his boat and arrives in cold Norse territory. He saves a woman, sort of
(she's not very happy about it). He takes a bolt from Thor's hammer. Thor is
stopped by his brother, Balder, who is the unknown fellow. Hercules meets
Loki. Hercules learns of the Norns (like the Fates) and discovers that Balder
is supposed to die. Odin has everything living and not living swear not to
hurt Balder. To prove to Balder that he doesn't have to worry about dying
anymore, Thor hurls a bunch of stuff at him while Hercules tries to protect
him. Balder tells Hercules to try to hurt him. A young woman (really Loki in
disguise) hands Hercules a poisoned dart, and Hercules touches Balder's palm
with it. Balder dies. Loki entombs Hercules in stone. Thor and the other
Norse gods bury Balder. Hercules frees himself and crosses the rainbow
bridge. He meets up with Thor. They fight and fall to the earth. Hercules
defeats Thor. He takes him to Odin, who says that Thor's defeat is the second
fulfilment of a prophecy leading toward Ragnarok. To be continued.
SYNOPSIS:
Synopsis by Liz Sheppard
COMMENTARY:
This commentary is by Kent Simmons.
Perhaps the best episode of the season was "Norse by Norsevest." Despite the cheesey
sounding title, the episode brought something unique and different to the series' fifth
season. While all eps this season really could be described as the best one or one of the
best ones, this one is very good. It may not equal the darkness of "Faith" or the intensity
and awesome feeling of "Resurrection," but it was one hellava episode. The saga of the
Norse gods fit ell into Hercs soul searching. Hercules is able to see that not all gods are
bastards, proving his new opinions true. Herc must not only witness that his views on
not helping gods are wrong, but he must save the gods to save the people. He learns
that some gods are good and are needed to help people survive. Perhaps the most
intresting and untalked about fact during the two parter was the character titled "The
Darkness." Who else thinks it might have been Dahak? Thinking about it- Could the
blood have been Hinds blood, something that can killa god, and maybe Dahak somehow
got it from the parrallel world during the last few months? Something to consider.
The characters were intresting and well done for this episode. I thought Odin was
layed perfectly by Peter McCauley, who seems to be a favorite of Renissance. Baldar
was a good hero for the Norse Gods. Loki was also a good devious and sinister
villan. The prophecys became intresting and were intresting. We were given the hint
that maybe the Norn was behind them, not Loki. Thor will go down as one of my
favorite characters this season. He was mean, tough, and cocky. The hammer was
neat. The battle scene between Thor and Herc were nicely done. The most intense
momment of the episode was the final scene in Odins Palace. Frigga was also an
intresting character. The love scene between Odin and Frigga was perfect opera
style, with opera like saga music and acting from Odin and Frigga. I liked the
way they brought back some of the older HTLJ music for this episode. It gave it
the feeling of the older episodes and movies, which the episode was sortof ment
to be like. The new Herc costume was cool. The yakfur was a good additon, since
it would be almost suicidal for Herc to wear his Celtic warrior outfit without a heavy
layer to protect him from the ice cold Norseland weather. This one gets all 5 stars. If
I'm this generous by mid season, I think I'll confirm the fact I'm a nut when it
comes to HTLJ and XWP. There must be one episode I have to hate this season, although
it would be cool if there wasn't.
Things to Look Out For
Not a lot of reused stuff in this episode.
The viking boat in the village looked awfully similar to the boat from HTLJ's
"Pride Comes Before a Brawl."
Highlights
The scenery.
The battles between Thor and Hercules.
Loki changing from wold to human form.
The chilling ending scene in which Herc views the book and the music
gets loud and intense. This has to be one of the most intense TBC endings
since XWP's "The Debt" and HTLJ's "Armageddon Now" last season.
Watching Herc during the headbutting contest. The scene was hilarious.
Hilda snapping when Herc saves her from execution.
Herc breaking free from the rock prison of Loki, and yelling out "Now...I'm Mad!"
The rainbow bride.
SO WHO THE HECK IS BALDER?
This commentary is by KSZone.
One of the Aesir, his name means "The Glorious". He was also called the "god of tears" and the "white as". Balder, the son of Odin and Frigg,
was described as a very handsome and wise god. Some consider him to be a
god of light since he was so bright, light shined from him.
Balder's wife was Nanna and they had a son named Forseti. Balder and Nanna lived in Breidablik [The Broad-Gleaming], where nothing unclean
could be and there were "fewest baneful runes". Breidablik had a silver
roof on golden pillars.
At one point Balder had a foreboding dream. Odin rode to Hel's realm to wake a volva from the dead to find out the meaning of Balder's dream.
She foretold Balder's death by Hod (Hodur), his fraternal twin. Frigg
asked all things to swear not to hurt Balder but didn't ask the
mistletoe because it was so young. Loki, diguised as an old woman,
visited Frigg and found out Balder was invunerable to everything but
mistletoe. Loki made a dart out of mistletoe and tricked the blind god
Hod into throwing it at Balder -- all the other gods were playing games
by throwing various items at Balder --, thus killing him. Hermod rode to
Hel's realm and got her to agree to let Balder return to the living if
all things would weep for him.
One giantess named Thokk, Loki in
disguise, refused to weep for Balder, so he remained dead and was
cremated on his funeral boat, hringhorni. He is supposed to come back to
life after the Ragnarok.
Snorri and Saxo Grammaticus give very different views of Balder and his
death. In Saxo's version of this story, Hod is alone responsible for
Balder's death. Snorri's account is available online. Saxo gave a very
different picture of Balder: he was a vicious god who fought with Hod to
marry Nanna. Balder's name rarely occurs in place names, therefore, it
is thought that not many people worshipped him. The poets used his name
to mean warrior.
From: Introduction to Norse Mythology Website.
MUSIC USED
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Original Television Soundtrack. Joseph LoDuca. Uni/Varese Sarabande; ASIN: B0000014XJ.
Main Title, The Circle of Fire
TALES OF THE
HERCAVERSE
01-17-99. From Candi McBride. "Norse by Norsevest" and "Ares" - In Norse by Norsevest the demon in the
darkness tells Loki to "use my blood" to kill Balder. Ares tells Aurelius to "use my blood" to kill Herc in the episode Ares.
01-07-99a. From Kent Simmons. The episode brought back the feel of the earlier HTLJ movies with the
big time scenery, the music, and the darker background. Most HTLJ eps
have colorful scenery, even the darker ones. This one had a gritter and
more dark tone to the scenery. It worked perfectly for part one of the odyssey.
08-21-98. After ditching Caesar, Julius Caesar, Herk travels to the Nothern Lands and meets the Norse gods, Loki and Thor in NORSE TO NORSEWEST. They share a warm beverage while comparing religions. This may be a pseudo-Halloween episode. While still in Scandanavia, Herk finds out that Valhalla is SOMEWHERE OVER RAINBOW BRIDGE.
DISCLAIMER:
No ram, stag, or any other horned species was sacrificed for Thor's helmet during the production of this motion picture. We Swear it.
WHOOSH!
ARTICLES:
The following WHOOSH! articles discuss this episode:
Coming soon
LINKS:
Photo Gallery
Norse Mythology
Explanation of several Norse gods
