SYNOPSIS:
Synopsis by Liz Sheppard
A man pretending to be Hercules is drinking in a tavern. A woman whos
children are trapped in a cave calls for help and "Hercules" helps her. He
holds up the ceiling so their father can help. Herc and Iolaus show up to
help as well. They get the kids free, but the man gets crushed and was dead
before Herc could get to him.
In the tavern, Herc and Iolaus find out that the man pretending to be
Hercules was named Kanzankis. The magistrate, Turgeus, and a lawyer,
Spencius, place Herc under arrest for Kazankis' death. Herc goes with them
to jail. He won't break out until the trial is over and justice is taken
care of. Ares shows up and loves the fact that Herc is on jail for his good
deeds.
Spencius accuses Herc of a bunch of stuff, which Herc doesn't agree with.
He says that Herc tries to get people to be like him, no matter if they are
immortal or not. Geleith, Kazankis' wife, tells them about how meeting
Hercules changed Kazankais life. He wanted to be a hero. Speicius says that
Kazankis left his family to starve to go out and good. One of Kazankis'
children asks Herc why he killed her daddy. Ares laughs.
In Athens, Iolaus complains about the food and that Spencius has never
lost
a case.
Spencius brings out witnesses that had faith in Herc and wanted to be like
him, but had terrible results in their lives. These stories bring Herc
down. Dirce shows up and is now Herc's lawyer. Dirce and Iolaus go in
search of witnesses. Cassandra from Atlantis talks about how Herc saved her
life with the flying machine, just like in her dreams. Spencius says that
she made it all up. Herc gives a speech about Kazankis did a
self-sacrificing deed and they should honor him. Dirce tells Herc that he
could be banished from Greece forever.
Derk's wife form Mercenary is being questioned. Spencius makes Derk into
a
killer. Dadilius, the inventer, is questioned. Herc is the best friend he
has ever had, next to his son. Icirus,his son, wanted to fly and listened to
Herc, who said to follow your dreams. Spencius says that Herc's words
killed Dadilius son.
Dirce tells Herc to think positive and Aresis trying to make get him
angry. Ares wants Herc and him to be a team. Herc: "What color is the sky
in your world?"
Queen Melissa from War Bride said that Herc inspired her to help the
wounded. Jason and Alcmene arrive and Jason gets questioned. He says that
Herc turned his life around. Spencius says that Herc's planned expedition
killed the men that dies. Alcmene visits Herc in his cell, but can't stay
long. Dirce says that Iolaus will go in the witness stand for the prosecution.
Spencius brings up the fact that Iolaus had died, but was brought back
because he's a good friend of Herc. He says that Herc's heroic deeds cost
him his wife and children's lives. Villagers have trouble with some big guy
named Mong, but Herc refuses to go help. Ares visits Herc and talks about
destroying all of Greeece without Herc being able to stop it because he
would be benished. Herc helps Mong, who had a toothache.
Spencius says Herc disrupts their order. Herc gives a speech about if what
he does is wrong, then he is guilty. Everybody needs Hero's to aspire to,
and he won't stop being a hero. Iolaus says he's Hercules, as well as
Jason, Alcmene, Cassandra, Dirce and everyone else, as well as Geleith.
Case dismissed.
Geleith says her children have two heroes to look up to, Hercules and
Kazankis.
COMMENTARY:
This commentary is by KSZoneW.
Hercules on Trial ??? The episode idea was unique and turned out to be
very good and intresting. It was not comical and was more of a dark episode than anything else. Everyone
did a good job and Hercules was at his best in this episode. In "Hercules on Trial" a majestrate named
Spensius decides to use a heroic act by Hercules to place him under arrest. Hercules simply did his job and
helped someone who needed help but a mans dead led to a majestrate getting Hercules accused of a crime
and led to the "First Trial of the Century".
This Spensius guy really knows how to be a good lawyer and defend his
client against someone. He was able to get something against whatever Hercules said. Even the real heroic
things that Hercules did where made bad and no good by Spensius. Spensius was able to use the "Bad
Things About Heroism and Heroics" to make the people and jury believe that Hercules was guilty. Perhaps
Hercules lawyer was not as good. Dirce was simply more comical and ment good but was not as good. She
did improve since "King Of Thieves" where she defend Iolaus in court against her confused father. She
improved but nothing she really did helped, except for her partial idea to find people to defend Hercules on
his trial.
The defenders of Hercules all did a decent job. Cassandra told the story
about how Herc saved her and they escaped from Atlantis. However because Hercules could not save all
the others, who refused help and did not want to believe Cassandras dreams, Herc was found wrong doing
by Spensius. Cassandra did a good job defending Hercules but could not stand out enough, which was also
a problem of hers during "Atlantis" during season 3. Daedalus lost his son when he decided to test an
invention of wings. It was supposely Hercules that gave him the idea but Spensius again was able=
to outsmart Daedalus and tell another side and blame Hercules for the death of Icarus. Daedalus ment well
and knew Hercules was a friend and told it like it was, but he could not counter Spensius and failed. Melissa
was more of a comical relief person and served little purpose in this episode, but the sceen with Lisa
Chappell playing two people gave me a small laugh. Jason was a very good witness but was cut short. The
mention of how many died on the voayges for the Golden Fleece gave Spensius a chance to blame
Hercules for deaths. Jason mentioning how Hercules helped him counter his drunkness and problems was
good. I still dont understand why Iolaus testified for the other side, even though he supported Hercules. My
guess is that he wanted to defend Hercules from the other side, thinking it would make a change. Pehaps
the best defense was Hercules himself. Sorbo once again proves he does good emotional talks, because
his two speeches made diffrence. His first speech told the truth and the second speech showed that
Hercules was guilty, but he was guilty of being a hero. "Being a Hero means putting yourself on the line" is
very true and one of the best things that Hercules ever stated. The "Spartacus" type end was very well done
and made me want to stand up and say that "Im Hercules". It was well done and even got the judge to state
he was Hercules, which made Herc innocent.
Ares was at his evil best. Ares wanted to use Hercules being banished from
Greece as a way for his evil plan and mind to take control. He had a very brutal war going on, as we could
see in highlights from probally some old roman war movies. Ares was at his best and once Greece had no
Hercules, and Xena possibly returned to her evil ways or died in her stress with Gabrielle and the rift, Ares
had his warworld back and nobody would stop him. For Ares, Hercs trial was a thing of goodness. Ares was
a important character and I thought Kevin Smith did his best evil laugh after that little girl who lost her father
asked Hercules if he killed her daddy and Hercules looked confused and puzzled and not knowing what to
say. Alcmene was herself and really felt bad for her heroic son. Whats it with mothers and food ? Alcmene
always likes to ask Hercules if he's filled and hungry.
THings to Look Out For:
The music used during Herc's first speech on trial was an outake from the
"Regrets...Ive Had a Few" episode this season.
They used a new background for Athens. Will we see another new one for
XWP's "When in Rome" later in season 3 ???
The jail cells in this episode where also used in "King of Thieves" and the webs
on the cells where leftovers from "Web of Desire".
The area of Athens where Herc met Mong was also in "If I Had a Hammer" and
many other episodes of HTLJ and XWP.
Highlights:
The acting job by Kevin Sorbo and Kevin Smith.
The face on Mong when Hercules knocks his tooth out is pretty funny.
The little comedy spoof between Melissa and Dirce
The footage that Ares shows Hercules of the war. Mostly the sceen where fire
blazes down an entire army !
The promo for this episode was one of the better ones. Not the best for good.
The look on Hercs face when he is asked the question by the little girl.
Ares laughing at Hercules when the girl blames Hercules in his face for her
fathers death.
Ares godly exit is always cool, or any gods exit is pretty cool to watch.
This episode was pretty dark in the plot sense. Being that a hero was put on
trial for manslaughter and being a killer. It was intense in words and featured no fighting whatsoever, except
for sevral minutes where Hercules punched Mong the mighty, who needed his hurt and loose tooth knoc=
ked out. It was a good episode and one for all ages. Everyone did a good job and Lisa Chappell hopefully
got two checks sent to her. I would of liked to see possibly some more people defend Hercules, maybe Derk
instead of his wife, who few probally remembered. They did show a rerun of "Mercenary" sevral weeks ago
so that was probally to have people remember who Kara and Derk where. It gets my rating of 5 out of 5
stars. Next week my new review will be of "Medea Culpa" and Ill also do one for "Maternal Instincts". I can't
wait !!!
TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE
01-14-99. From KSZoneW. Atlantis:
Cassandra returns in season 4 to help Hercules when he is put on trial. That episode will be called "Hercules on Trial and airs as the second new episode in January 1998.
01-21-98. Dirce will be in this episode. Dirce is the lawyer from "King of
Thieves" episode and is played by Lisa Chappell, who is great at doing comedic roles on HTLJ. Cassandra
is also supposed to be in this episode.
01-08-98. KSZoneW@aol.com overheard in a summer chat that this episode
has Cassandra defend Hercules when he is put on trial. Cassandra is played by Claudia Black.
TRANSCRIPT
Click here to read a transcript of HERCULES ON TRIAL.
DISCLAIMER
Due to extensive DNA testing, Hercules was proven innocent
during the production of this motion picture.
