http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hercules.jpg
[[caption-width:320:Herc and his li'l buddy Iolaus]]
-->''This is the story of a time long ago, [[TheTimeOfMyths a time of myth and legend]], when [[JerkassGods the ancient gods were petty and cruel]], and they plagued mankind with suffering. Only one man dared to challenge their power: '''Hercules!'''''
-->''Hercules possessed a [[SuperStrength strength the world had never seen,]] a strength surpassed only by the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway power of his heart.]] He [[WalkingTheEarth journeyed the Earth]], battling the [[{{mooks}} minions]] of his {{wicked stepmother}} Hera, the all-powerful queen of the gods. But wherever there was evil, whenever an innocent would suffer, there would be '''Hercules!'''''

A classic NinetiesAdventureShow, ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' followed the life of the legendary hero throughout ancient Greece as he fought tyrants, monsters, and the machinations of the Olympian gods with the help of his trusty sidekick Iolaus. It put a new spin on GreekMythology, deliberately avoiding the white togas normally associated with this time period. It was delightfully tongue-in-cheek (including plenty of {{Anachronism Stew}}s and {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s) and impressively epic in its scope, using a lot of WireFu action sequences and this was one of the first television series to make extensive use of [[SerkisFolk CG creatures.]]

It was created by Sam Raimi of ''EvilDead'' fame, who would later go on to direct the ''{{Film/Spider-Man}}'' movies. Speaking of Evil Dead, Bruce Campbell (Ash) directed a few episodes (Including the series finale), and played Autolycus.

The show started out cheesy and got campier and campier as it went on, but it retained a good sense of humor throughout its run. (And it had a kickass theme song.) ''Hercules'' was closely tied to its spinoff ''XenaWarriorPrincess'', which soon overshadowed it in popularity. It also spawned [[SpinoffBabies another spinoff]], ''YoungHercules'', starring a young Ryan Gosling, which didn't fare quite as well.

As an interest note, the writing duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci got their start on this show, and have continued to complete a nerd trifecta of scripting movies for ''MissionImpossible'', ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' and ''Film/StarTrek.''
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'''This series provides examples of:'''
* ADayInTheLimelight: There are several episodes primarily starring Iolaus, Autolycus, and/or Salmoneus.
* AllAmazonsWantHercules: No kidding.
** Seriously, if a trope mentions "amazons" in its title, it probably showed up in this series. Or in the Xena spinoff
* ActingForTwo: In two episodes, Iolaus' actor Michael Hurst plays an unrelated female character based on a pantomime character. In one episode he played his look-alike distant cousin.
* AllTheMyriadWays: Subverted; Iolaus's alternate-universe twin gets developed into a main character in his own right for about a season.
* AnachronismStew
* BackFromTheDead: Iolaus, repeatedly.
* BalefulPolymorph: "Porkules"
* BadassNormal: Iolaus, Autolycus and of course Xena.
* BigBad: Hera in the earlier seasons, Dahak in the later ones.
* BigNo
* {{Camp}}: ''And how!''
* BoringInvincibleHero: 100 ft tall monster? Piece of piss. Immortal God? No sweat. The monsters ''might'' be okay, but how a mortal half god can kick the hell out of an immortal full god not just once but on a regular basis is a mystery to me
* CaliforniaDoubling: New Zealand for ancient Greece.
* ClassicalMythology: Chewed up, spit out, and hung out to dry.
* ClipShow: One of the most clever uses of this trope, ''ever''. All of the supporting actors play a part in the modern day as actual members of the production staff, panicking over Kevin Sorbo going missing. Pretty much epitomizes the humor of this show. Bruce Campbell as Robert Tapert, etc.
* CrossoverCosmology: Herc spends a season hanging out with the Celtic and Norse gods, and later fights the Babylonian ones.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: After [[spoiler: Iolaus' death]], a distraught Hercules states that [[spoiler: Iolaus]] was ''his'' hero.
* DarkActionGirl: Xena before the HeelFaceTurn
* {{Elseworld}}: Hercules in the French Revolution!
* EvilCounterpart: The Sovereign
* TheFaceless: Hera, until the fourth season and the final episode.
* FanService: Pretty much every female character on the show... and the male heroes as well. This show had some of the skimpyist clothes on television since ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries.''
* GladiatorRevolt
* GuiseWillBeGuise: In two episodes Iolaus has to stand in for his lookalike King Orestes.
* HeelFaceTurn: Xena, when she got her own series. Also, Hera, the former BigBad, turned good in the last season just in time for Zeus to [[FaceHeelTurn turn bad]].
* HeroicFantasy
* HonestJohnsDealership: Salmoneus.
* HotAmazon: Atalanta (see below), Nemesis, and of course Xena.
* HoYay: Herc and Iolaus aren't quite as explicit as Xena and Gabrielle (not that this is saying much), but have you ''read'' some of the FanFiction?
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* ImprovisedWeapon: Iolaus - he was especially good with frying pans
* JamesBondage: Iolaus, the male damsel in distress.
* JerkassGods: The show got ''that'' part of the mythology right, anyway.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: "Yes Virginia, There is a Hercules" claims that Kevin Sorbo is the real Hercules, subtly influencing his real adventures into the show.
** Which also qualifies as a head-on assault on the CelebrityParadox.
* LoveableRogue: Autolycus.
* ManlyTears: To be shed whenever someone dies, isn't dead anymore or when your best friend tells you you're his family.
* MirrorUniverse: The AlternateUniverse ruled by the Sovereign, Herc's EvilCounterpart (complete with [[BeardOfEvil beard]]).
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: One episode centers around legendary femme athlete Atalanta hiding her strength so not to intimidate men; it ends with AnAesop about being true to yourself.
* [[{{ptitleyj6phryk}} Ooh Me Accent's Slipping]]: Actor Michael Hurst (Iolaus) was supposed to sound ambiguous (read: American), but his native Kiwi accent slipped in every now and then, especially in the beginning.
* OpeningNarration: See the page quote
* TheOtherDarrin: Around four different actors played Zeus. Possibly TheNthDoctor, considering he's a god and can change forms.
* [[{{ptitle1488yglo}} Please Spare Him, My Liege!]]: Works only partly with the Sovereign.
* ThePowerOfFriendship
* TheRival: Ares.
* SandWorm
* ShirtlessScene
* {{Sidekick}}: Iolaus.
* {{Spinoff}}: ''XenaWarriorPrincess'', then later...
* SpinoffBabies: ...''YoungHercules''.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: Anything worn by Aphrodite.
* TheTimeOfMyths
* WalkingTheEarth
* WorldsStrongestMan
* YouLookFamiliar: Herc's two half-brothers Ares and Iphicles bore an awfully strong remarkable resemblance to each other, despite not sharing any blood relation.(Out of universe, both were of course played by the late Kevin Smith.)
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