LOVE AMAZON STYLE

GUEST STARS, CAST & CREDITS
TV GUIDE PROMO
AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
SYNOPSIS by Penandswrd
COMMENTARY by Oenandswrd
WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?
TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE
TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER

TV GUIDE PROMO

The god of terror Deimos exploits a tribe of Amazons when Aphrodite accidentally puts them under a spell. Log Line

A depressed Aphrodite casts a spell on the male-bashing Amazons to give them a new attitude.

Hercules must reunite Aphrodite and Hephaestus to break a spell placed on the Amazons.

AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION

1st release: 10-04-99

    1 Wheel of Fortune              231/96     10.4   --
    2 Jeopardy!                     210/94      8.1   --
    3 Judge Judy                    224/97      7.1   9.9
    4 Friends                       220/90      5.7   8.8
    4 Entertainment Tonight         177/94      5.7   5.8
    6 Oprah Winfrey                 227/96      5.6   5.7
    7 Seinfeld                      212/95      5.2   --
    8 Frasier                       197/93      4.2   4.7
    9 Judge Joe Brown               197/96      4.0   5.0
    9 Jerry Springer                206/95      4.0   4.4
    9 Hollywood Squares             193/94      4.0   --
   12 ER                            226/91      3.7   4.2
   13 X-Files                       224/96      3.6   3.9
   13  Xena                         226/98      3.6   3.6
   13 Rosie O'Donnell              339/99 *     3.6   3.6
   16 Friends-Wknd                  179/81      3.5   4.0
   16 Seinfeld-Wknd                 177/87      3.5   --
   18 Drew Carey                    216/86      3.4   3.8
   19 Journey of Hercules           228/98      3.3   3.4
   20 Extra                         228/97      3.2   3.2
   20 Live w/Regis & Kathie Lee     236/98      3.2   --

Early Edition 6.7
Now and Again 6.6
Charmed 4.3
Angel 3.9
Buffy 3.8
XENA/X-Files 3.6
Voyager/Roswell 3.5
3rd Rock 3.4
HERCULES/Harsh Realm 3.3
STARGATE SG-1 2.8
EARTH FINAL CONFLICT/BEAST MASTER 2.7
Seven Days 2.6
Profiler 2.3
RELIC HUNTER/AMAZON 2.0

2nd release: 12/6/99
ER 4.0
X-Files 3.8
Xena/Stargatre-SG1 3.5
Hercules 3.4
Baywatch Hawaii 3.0
Earth Final Conflict/Profiler/VIP 2.7
Beastmaster 2.4
Relic Hunter 2.2 Amazon 2.0

SYNOPSIS:

Synopsis by PenanSwrd.

Aphrodite makes like Lady Godiva and rides naked through the landscape. She encounters Herc and Iolaus, explains she's doing this on advice from someone to improve her "aura" and rides off. 'Dite encounters a group of Amazons doing their "man hating" thing as she refers to it, and zaps a spell.

Herc and Iolaus proceed to town and notice something very strange -- Amazons serving men in a tavern/casino. They are aware of what they are doing, obviously don't like it, yet cannot do otherwise. At the centre of it all: Strife, who claims he did not put a spell on them but came upon the group and they do whatever he tells them to.

It turns out that 'Dite and Hephaestus are "splitsville" and 'Dite's spells are on the fritz. 'Dite's spells are not working properly, and Heph can't make anything worth a darn in his shop since their fight. Strife is still taking full advantage of the situation by getting the Amazons to do his bidding. But he's more than just a perv -- Strife is looking for fragments of the Kronus stone, given to the Amazons by Artemis to help protect them. He wants to reassemble the bits into a repaired stone to gain the power to destroy men and gods alike.

Herc helps 'Dite and Heph patch things up, while Iolaus tries to help the Amazons (when he's not infatuated with them) or avoid being killed by them (after Strife orders it).

Strife manages to reassemble the Kronus Stone, but after a big fight, Herc prevails. Strife runs off. All is back to normal again.

COMMENTARY:

This commentary is by PenandSwrd.

It's hard to mess up a story with Amazons in it, but this script manages to do just that. Although mainly intended to be a comedy, the episode in fact ends up demeaning a much-liked group of characters (Amazons) by acting out what amounts to a teenage boy fantasy. It wasn't necessarily a bad concept, but I found the execution to be a little offensive. Also, there was absolutely no chemistry between 'Dite and Heph in this episode -- I could not possibly believe that Aphrodite could be attracted to this incarnation of Hephaestus in any way. The off-handed remark about whatever happened to Salmoneus, "He's in prison for tax fraud", was less than gratuitous and does no justice to a much-loved character who has grown and matured with the series. I expected more from what is the last season of Herc and an abbreviated one at that. To me, this is definitely a "throw away" episode, and one that can be thrown as far as possible.

WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?

By Xorys.

And who was who in Love, Amazon Style?

Alexandra Tydings is well known to us as the lovely Aphrodite, to say nothing of the fetching Katherine the Pig (about the only saving grace of One Fowl Day, for me). She can also be seen as Victoria Reynolds in The Sunchaser, and in two eps of The Red Shoe Diaries entitled Burning Up and Love At First Sight (in both of which, I should perhaps caution you, even more of her is seen than in her role as 'Dite). I'm told that Alexandra also appeared on the short lived 1995 TV series Vanishing Son, which was Xena's predecessor as the Action Pack follow-on show to Hercules

Deimos, the god of terror (!) was, of course, played by Joel Tobeck, who is familiar to us all, principally from his recurrent role as Strife in previous HTLJ eps and on Young Herc. Joel also played King Beraeus in the ep Promises, and David Scott Pollison (as well as Strife) in Yes Virginia There Is A Hercules.

Joel has a very busy career in the New Zealand movie scene, appearing in Channelling Baby (with Danielle Cormick [Ephiny]), Topless Women Talk About Their Lives (with Danielle again, and Willa O'Neill [Lila, Althea, Phoebe]), Memory & Desire, Peach (with Lucy Lawless), My Grandfather Is A Vampire (as a McDonald's cashier), The Grasscutter (with Stephen Hall [Hector, Thelonius, Therax] and Jon Brazier [Mercenary #2 in The Vanishing Dead, Jakar in The Outcast, Slave Trader in The Fire Down Below, Trinculos in A Star to Guide Them, Walsim in TDHD, Tarsis in VA]), The Shrimp On The Barbie, Just Me And Mario, and Queen City Rocker.

Most recently Joel has appeared in the NZ TV series Jacksons Wharf. This show was directed by Murray Keane (Hower in ADITL, Tiber in Hercules And The Amazon Women, Hermes in Porkules)!

Joel will, apparently, be appearing, along with Jennifer Skye and Gina Torres, in the forthcoming Renpics show Cleopatra 2525 (one of the two half-hour show which will be taking the HTLJ slot).

Aphrodite's honey, the smithie god Hephaestus, was played by Jason Hoyte, who originated this role (in a slightly more subdued mode) on Young Hercules. Jason has previously been seen as a Lieutenant in the ep Let The Games Begin. He also played the role of Timus in the X:WP ep Warrior...Princess. Jason can also be seen in the NZ TV series Pio.

And what about the alpha Amazon Kayla - I'll bet she looked familiar, didn't she? She was played by Simone Kessell. Most recently we saw Simone as a lovestruck maiden turned rampaging zombie in the ep We'll Always Have Cyprus. Simone was quite a regular in the very early days of Herc's adventures - she played Jana in Hercules And The Amazon Women, "Girl/Hag" in Hercules And The Circle Of Fire, a "Worshipper" in Hercules in the Underworld, and Rena in What's In A Name and The Wedding Of Alcmene (seems like she specialises a bit in roles that call for appearing sweet and turning nasty).

But there's another reason Simone might ring a bell... she also played the unwilling beauty contestant Miss Mesini in the XWP ep Here She Comes...Miss Amphipolis.

Australians might have seen Simone playing a doctor in the series Medivac (also known as Adrenalin Junkies).

In 1996 Simone appeared in a NZ TV movie called Return to Treasure Island which was well stocked with Xenaverse regulars - Long John Silver was played by Stig Eldred (Titus in King Con, Minion Leader in Hercules In The Underworld, Belus in The March to Freedom, Maceus in Cast A Giant Shadow), and young Jim was played by Dean O'Gorman (young Iolaus, Homer, Rune). Also featured were Gilbert Goldie (the Town Elder in Locked Up And Tied Down, Nevus in Hercules And The Lost Kingdom) and William Kircher (the Prison Overseer in Locked Up And Tied Down).

More recently Simone was in the 1999 NZ TV series Greenstone, which also featured Norman Forsey (King Lias in W.P and W.P.T1, Casca in BTDT, Megas the old prisoner in Key To The Kingdom, Tiresias in The Road To Calydon, The Festival Of Dionysus and The Outcast, Old Merlin in Once Upon A Future King), George Henare (Zarathustra, Hidsim in Lost Mariner), and Alison Wall (Minya).

Simone also appeared on the series High Tide (playing a young tennis star in the episode: "Match Point"), on the series Homeward Bound, and as the presenter of The Cartoon Company.

And what about Deimos' companion in mischief, Vargus? Did you spot him? He was played by Campbell Cooley, who always seems to be cast in the Xenaverse as the villain's lieutenant in comedies. We first saw Campbell as one of Tarsis' guards in Vanishing Act (telling Tarsis that the furnace wasn't working properly, for example). Then he reappeared as Euryalus in In Sickness And In Hell, subjected to a drooling interrogation by an afflicted Gabrielle. Most recently he played Licinus, the creepy "chief of security" for the leather-hatted "holy man" Istafan in A Tale Of Two Muses.

Australians may have noticed Campbell in a TV commercial for the auction house sold.com.au - apparently the ad features a couple in bed who casually mention the possibility of selling something, and a horde of would-be purchasers immediately pop up... Campbell is one of the would-be buyers. He also has a small role as a convict in the movie Money for Jam.

Campbell now has his own tribute web-page at http://www.angelfire.com/sc/joxerfan/cooley.html. And you can read an interview with him at http://xenite.simplenet.com/one/campbell.html.

Sonia Gray was credited in this ep as "Gorgeous Amazon" (how's that for a flattering credit?) We've previously seen Sonia as Rhea, the selfless slave afraid to return home, in the XWP ep Ties That Bind. The only other credit I found for Sonia Gray was in a 1991 Italian movie called Abbronzatissimi - I haven't seen this, so I couldn't swear it's the same person... but it's not a very common name... and come to thing of it, "our" Sonia does look rather Italian (and isn't "Sonia" an Italian spelling?)

Another of the Amazons was played by Amber Sainsbury. Amber appeared as Regina in the ep Lost City, and at the movies she can be seen in Channelling Baby (along with Joel Tobeck, known to us as Strife and now Deimos, and Danielle Cormack who played that noblest of Amazons Ephiny).

On Young Hercules Amber played the Golden Hind in the episodes Iolaus Goes Stag and Hind Sight.

Amber was also seen in the NZ TV series Plainclothes, which featured Erik Thomson (Hades) as a plain old PC (Police Constable).

Yet another Amazon was played by Katrina Misa - we've seen Katrina before too... drawing a bow on Hera's behalf in the ep The Mother of All Monsters.

Katrina also featured regularly as a presenter on the UK series Animal Hospital with Rolf Harris (I think I shall just bite my tongue and not say anything about that show...)

Other Amazons were played by Joy Van Uden and Sharon Janes-Norman (she was credited as "Big Amazon" - not quite as flattering as "Gorgeous"... but sometimes, quite often actually, it's better to be big than to be gorgeous - and of course, there's no reason you can't be both).

I couldn't find any other credits for either Joy or Sharon, but whilst searching I did come up with a cute little tidbit which I can't resist mentioning, even though it's got nothing to do with this ep - Joy Watson played the voice of Hera pretty much all through the HTLJ series, up until Hera finally appeared in person, played by Meg Foster, in the ep Reunions. On HTLJ we never got to actually *see* Joy... but you can see her - she plays the Palm Reader in the XWP ep Tsunami!

Did one of the Gamblers in Vargus' casino look familiar to you? Might well have, since Tim Hosking played a Gambler in this ep. Tim played the Host in the HTLJ ep King for A Day, but is perhaps better remembered as the large blacksmith in the XWP eps The Black Wolf and Warrior...Priestess...Tramp.

And what about the dealer? Well, you'd probably have to have a sharp eye for that one - he was played by Albert Svord, whom we previously saw as a villager in the XWP ep In Sickness And In Hell.

The leader of the guys who set upon Iolaus and caged him was played by Ben Cooke. We last saw Ben as one of Zylus' loutish student henchmen in the ep The Academy.

Love, Amazon Style was penned by the writing team of Adam Armus & Nora Kay Foster, who have done much previous work in the Xenaverse... they wrote The March to Freedom, War Brides, and One Fowl Day, and the XWP eps Chariots of War (Teleplay), Death In Chains (with Babs Greyhosky), Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts (Teleplay), Ties That Bind, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, The Xena Scrolls (Teleplay), For Him the Bell Tolls, Blind Faith, The King of Assassins, Warrior...Priestess...Tramp, Fins, Femmes and Gems (with Rob Tapert), In Sickness And In Hell, and If The Shoe Fits - a record which, for me at least, shows quite a range from its highs to its lows...

The ep was directed by David Grossman, who is entirely new to the Xenaverse. I'm informed by Capel Cleggs that David Grossman specializes in directing fantasy material... he was chief director for the series Weird Science, and has directed episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Lois And Clark, and Sliders.

TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE

08/24/01. In Love, Amazon Style, Salmoneus received his last mention on Hercules before the show ended. Herc and Io made a joke about Sal, ("He's in prison for tax fraud"). At the May 27, 2000 Tachycon Convention in Orlando Florida, Robert "Salmoneus" Trebor was asked about this. He said the line was ad-libbed by the cast, and it was not in the script. It was put in because they realized that Sal wouldn't be brought back for the show's final episodes. So Robert says this was not meanspirited, they just wanted to mention him in some way.

08/24/01. In "Love takes a Holiday" Hephaestus claims Zeus isn't his father. In Young Herc, I think it was implied that Zeus was Heph's father. In "Love, Amazon Style" Heph says to Aph "He" meaning Hercules "may be your brother, but he's my friend." This implies Herc & Heph are not brothers.

09/24/99. It's a comedy with Aphrodite which has been nicknamed Stepford Amazons. Someone is making the Amazons do exactly what they hate most. I wonder who it could be?

TRANSCRIPT

Click here to read a transcript of LOVE AMAZON STYLE.

DISCLAIMER

No Conniving Mischievous, Over-The-Top Deities formerly and presently known as Deimos were harmed during the production of this motion picture.