CITY OF THE DEAD

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

PROMO TRANSCRIPTION
IT IS SAID THAT WHOEVER POSSESSES THE BOOK OF THE DEAD WILL BECOME A GOD.
(Rameses holds the Necronomicon.)
(Rameses holds his arms in the air and lightning strikes the ground around him.)
Hercules (to Iolaus): This can't be good.
(Ramses fires a lightning bolt at a statue of Anubis.)
ON AN ALL NEW HERCULES--
(Hercules fights the newly awakened statue of Anubis.)
Queen Nefertiti: Why are you doing this, Ramses?
(Guards lead Ramses away.)
QUEEN NEFERTITI AND THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE WILL BE DESTROYED--
(A lightning bolt hits a cart, and the resulting explosion throws two villagers back.)
Queen Nefertiti: I would never betray Egypt.
(Hercules is held by an energy beam shot by Ramses.)
UNLESS HERCULES CAN STOP A MADMAN.
Ramses: You'll be the first one to die!
(Ramses hits Iolaus with a lightning bolt and Iolaus is thrown back.)
Hercules: Ramses, wait! No!
(Hercules jumps to stop Ramses.)
AN ALL NEW HERCULES!

TV GUIDE PROMO
Hercules visits Egypt and meets Ramses.

Hercules and Iolaus also travel to Egypt on a diplomatic mission only to become embroiled in a royal family feud that threatens the life of Queen Nefertiti.

Hercules and Iolaus end up dealing with a family feud that threatens Queen Nefertiti in Egypt.

Hercules and Iolaus travel to Egypt and become involved in a family dispute between the royal family and Queen Nefertiti.

Ambassadors Hercules and Iolaus become embroiled in Egyptian intrigue.

AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION
1st release: 11-08-99
An AA average of 3.2
Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas:
(1) X-Files 4.6
(2) Xena 3.9
(3) ER 3.7
(4) Stargate 3.3
(5) Hercules 3.2
(6) Beastmaster 3.0
(7) Earth Final Conflict 2.9
(8) VIP 2.8
(9) Profiler 2.3
(10) Pensacola 2.4
(11) Amazon 2.1

WHERE HAVE I SEEN YOU BEFORE?

By Xorys.

And who was who in City Of The Dead?

Did Queen Nefertiti look familiar? She might well have. She was played by Gabriella Larkin, who we last saw playing Alti's incarnation Khindin in Between The Lines (when Claire Stansfield wasn't taking over herself).

And what about Nefertiti's fractious daughter Amensu? Did she give you the willies? She did me... but that's perhaps because she was played by Josephine Davison, who I mostly strongly associate with her role as the creepy beauty turned spider-monster Arachne in the ep Web Of Desire (the ep which introduced Gina Torres as Nebula).

Josephine also played Ramina in Promises, and Alexa in War Brides.

She also voiced the roles of Herc's mother Alcmene and the goddess Artemis in Hercules and Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus.

At the movies, Josephine can be seen in the NZ picture Topless Women Talk About Their Lives, along with Danielle Cormack (Ephiny), Joel Tobeck (Strife, Deimos), Willa O'Neill (Lila, Althea, Phoebe), and Andrew Binns (Hippocrates).

Josephine had a long running role on the NZ soap Shortland Street (home or at least temporary refuge to a large proportion of the NZ acting profession, including many Xenaverse denizens) appearing for four years as Gina Rossi-Dodds.

Amensu's megalomaniacal brother Ramses was played by Toi Iti, for whom, despite his striking profile, I could find no other credits.

The head of Nefertiti's court was played by Chris Graham. Whilst not a hero, this role was less unsavoury than any Chris has previously played in the Xenaverse. Did you recognise him? Probably his best known role was as the stringy-haired, braggart warlord Toxeus in Death In Chains and Mortal Beloved, a role in which Chris got quite a lot of scope, despite the unpromising start of being killed almost as soon as he appeared on screen.

Chris also played a slave boss abusing alterno-Gabrielle and others in the X:WP ep Remember Nothing. And his only previous outing on HTLJ was as Colchis, the unprepossessing hunter of pigs and would-be lover of Discord in the ep Porkules.

The anxious High Priest who was heartlessly dispatched by Ramses, despite having stood in loco parentis to him, was played by Robin Kora. Now where have we seen that face before?

Robin was the village elder who condemned Xena's 'dad' and got into a lot of trouble for his pains in the X:WP ep Ties That Bind. He also played Peplus in the HTLJ ep The March To Freedom (which I can't comment on because I haven't seen it).

The only other credit I found for Robin was in a UK TV production called The Other Side of Paradise.

And did the captain of the boat that Herc and Iolaus took to Egypt ring any bells? Well... I guess this might be stretching it. He was played by Tony Forster, who previously appeared in the ever popular role of 'Man' in the ep Revelations.

Now... another interesting little sidelight. One of the Egyptian guards, the only one who got a speaking credit, was played by Watchman Rivers. And where have we seen Watchman before? Well he was extensively painted at the time, and so not very recognisable - he was Pilee's adoptive father, Cirvik in the X:WP ep Daughter Of Pomira. I've a feeling that Watchman may have appeared in other eps in non-speaking roles as well.

The remaining two credited cast members were Jason Tahu as an Assassin and Brent Marshall as an Adviser, for neither of whom could I find any prior credits.

The ep was written by George Strayton and Tom O'Neill, who previously wrote the ep Revelations. George Strayton apparently works (or worked) for Renaissance Pictures as Director of Marketing. He was also involved in the production of the Hercules, Xena and Men In Black ARC system and role playing games, and has worked on Star Wars RPG books. I'm not sure about this Tom O'Neill... unfortunately it's a fairly common name.

The ep was directed by Chris Long who first visited the Xenaverse to direct the ep Darkness Rising.

TALES OF THE HERCAVERSE

10-08-99. Rumors have it that this episode is an homage to the remake of THE MUMMY which was released in 1999.

06-27-99. An actor appearing in CITY OF THE DEAD, made these commetns on-line: "Hercules was fun, but REALLY REALLY COLD. Although the episode is set in Egypt, keep in mind that everything was shot in 10 degree celsius weather!! Everyone froze practically to death out there!" "This Egypt episode "City of the Dead" is about Hercules vs the Egyptian gods and the Egyptian afterlife (Osiris, Anubis, mummies, pyramids and stuff). Although the infamous Necronomicon is mentioned, it is NOT the Necronomicon from HP Lovecraft stories and/or other horror stories. It's just the episode's writer being really confused."

TRANSCRIPT

Click here to read a transcript of CITY OF THE DEAD .

DISCLAIMER

No pyramid schemers were harmed during the production of this motion picture.

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