Hercules The Legendary Journeys - Season 1 - Region 1 DVD

This eight-disc volume includes five movie-length adventures, thirteen one-hour episodes, and numerous bonus features. Narratively, the unfolding story finds Herc doing good deeds wherever he's needed, though his backstory is more interesting, including a dubious relationship with his all-powerful dad (a sweet performance by Anthony Quinn)and a tendency to feel the wrath of Zeus's wife, Hera, simply because Hercules is the philandering old man's illegitimate offspring. The movie cycle ends with Herc in a state of domestic bliss; the subsequent, regular series darkens him considerably but then thrusts him repeatedly into adventures with redemptive possibilities.

Nifty special effects make one believe once again in centaurs, many-headed serpents, a Minotaur, a Cyclops, and several other fantastic species not included in standard references to Greek myths. The regular or recurring cast include Michael Hurst as Hercules's vain, comic-foil buddy, Iolaus; Tawny Kitaen as the hero's wife; and Lucy Lawless in a pre-Xena role (in Hercules and the Amazon Women) and then as the Warrior Princess herself for multiple episodes. All together, this is a show that turned out to be smarter and funnier than anyone might have expected in the mid-'90s, and which holds up very well today. --Tom Keogh