HERCULES AND THE LOST KINGDOM (1994)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

Compared to the previous film in this series, KINGDOM is considerably more muddled and dependent on wild coincidence. Its only basis in archaic mythology is a story in which Hercules expiates a sin by enduring a year of servitude under Queen Omphale of Lydia. But though a version of Omphale appears in the telefilm-- oddly, played by the same actress who would most frequently portray Hercules' mother in the series-- she's not important to the story. But because the original Omphale narrative concerned slavery, KINGDOM finessed that into not one but two instances where the mighty hero finds himself encumbered with people he's liberated.

After Hercules defeats an unruly giant, a messenger brings him news that he's needed by the people of the lost kingdom of Troy, which for no clear reason Hera shunted to some obscure location after the Trojan War. But the messenger dies, so the only way Hercules can find the kingdom, according to Daddy Zeus (Anthony Quinn), is to find a magical compass in the possession of Queen Omphale (Elizabeth Hawthorne). This feat Hercules is eventually able to accomplish by "temporarily" selling himself into slavery to the Queen, possibly thanks a little sexual persuasion off-camera.

But on his way to Omphale's land, the hero encounters a young woman about to sacrificed to bring rain, so he liberates her. The writers playfully named the woman after one of the archaic hero's wives, Deianeira (Renee O'Connor, a couple of years before playing Gabrielle on XENA). Initially Deianeira resents being saved, because she wanted to be a sacrifice. Yet she's apparently not a member of the tribe, having knocked around as an orphan for years. She has a vague memory of having been a princess, a story Hercules dismisses as fantasy, and she thinks that for years she's been followed by a mysterious hooded figure, which the audience sees to be truth. In any case, she attaches herself to Hercules, and without even invoking the old "you're responsible for people you save" aphorism.

After Hercules acquires the compass, the script builds up the idea that Deianeira may have come from Troy, so her crossing paths with the hero is a fortuitous coincidence. During their time in Omphale's kingdom, a slave named Waylin (Robert Trebor, who would play another support-character in the HERCULES series) also attaches himself to the little entourage.

When the trio reach Troy, they find that the people of Troy, living in the woods and exiled from their own city by minions of Hera, identical blue-skinned warriors called the Blue Priests. Deianeira learns that her dreams are real, as she soon meets her father the ailing King of Troy. The monarch lives just long enough to pronounce the young woman Troy's new ruler and then he kicks the bucket.

Deianeira lays plans to take back the city. And although there's a young, age-appropriate Trojan who clearly fawns on her, Deianeira suddenly begins getting affectionate toward Hercules, though he clearly thinks of her as an annoying little sister. (Actor Sorbo was a little more than ten years older than actress O'Connor.) After being rejected, Deianeira gets kidnapped by the hooded man who's been watching her for years. His reason for so doing was to arrange her eventual sacrifice to Hera, and once she's in the hands of the Blue Priests her death seems inevitable. 

Suffice to say that Hercules and the Trojans liberate the city and Deianeira, but only by Hercules taking the young woman's place and getting sucked up into the heavens. Yet as Zeus helpfully informs Deianeira, Hera won't be able to kill Hercules (why not?), and indeed, the film ends with him getting cast back to Earth, ready for another adventure-- hopefully, a better one than KINGDOM.