Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus

Long after Zeus stole the Cronus Stone from the monsters called the Titans whom he also imprisoned in Tartarus, he and Alcmene gave birth to a son named Hercules, who defeated two serpents (sent by a jealous Hera) at a young age and became a hero. After Hercules battles a sea serpent, the villagers thank him, and Iolaus climbs out of a restchair and joins him. Hercules and Iolaus head to Thebes to see Alcmene, but Iolaus is a little upset because Hercules takes all the credit. Meanwhile, Xena and Gabrielle reclaim a bag of gold stolen by satyrs from a group of travelers in Corinth. Ares tells Xena to stop Hercules from going to Thebes because there is a trap set for him there, but Xena does not believe him and leaves with Gabrielle.

While tending to the crops, Hercules and Iolaus encounter Zeus, who takes Alcmene to Mount Olympus, much to Hercules' anger. After a brief argument, Iolaus and Hercules decide to rescue her from Mount Olympus. Back at Olympus, Hera hears about Alcmene's presence and confronts Zeus before stealing the Cronus Stone, the stone that keeps the Titans in the Underworld's lava pits. She releases the Titans while Zeus checks on Alcmene, who has been shrunk and placed in a small Arabian doll house castle for safety from Hera. Meanwhile, Aphrodite surfs down a mountain to warn Hercules of Hera's wrath if she sees him. Ignoring Aphrodite's warning, Hercules decides to continue on to Mount Olympus and Iolaus stays behind with Aphrodite. However, an earthquake begins (probably due to Hera interfering with the power of the Cronus Stone), and a small boy nearly falls into the lava pits, forcing Hercules to hold the faults while Iolaus goes to rescue the boy. Xena and Gabrielle, in a nearby town, get into a fight with three thugs during the aftermath of the earthquake. After the boy is rescued, Hercules and Iolaus meet the Earth Titan Porphyrion as he emerges from the faults. Hercules tells Porphyrion that he can go free because he is not defending the gods, but warns Porphyrion that he should keep his fight against the gods away from the mortal world. Giving his word, Porphyrion heads over to Mount Olympus, signaling the other Titans to awaken. The Water Titan Tethys arises from the water as the Fire Titan Mnemosyne emerges from a volcano and the fat Wind Titan Crius materializes from a tornado right in front of Xena and Gabrielle after they have defeated the thugs. The Titans then gather to begin their revenge on the gods.

Zeus calls Artemis, Aphrodite, and Ares together to fight the Titans and they hope Hercules will help them, unaware that Hercules has let one of them go out of hate against the gods. Xena and Gabrielle are helping wounded people and Artemis decides to get Xena's help and transforms Gabrielle into a Roc. Xena flies on Gabrielle to the gods' home while Hercules climbs up. When Xena accuses Ares for what happened to Gabrielle, Artemis confessed the truth about her own actions, offering to turn Gabrielle back if Xena helps the gods fight the Titans.

Hercules shows up and rescues Alcmene and leaves everyone to fight the Titans. Hera transforms Ares, Aphrodite, Artemis and Zeus into a goat, a cow, a rabbit and a mouse, respectively. They are angry that Hercules did not help them to fight against the Titans, but he did not care, considering the fact that he hated them because of the hard times they gave humanity. When Xena and Ioalus arrive, the former blames Hercules and his family for Gabrielle's fate and she confronts Artemis and learns that she can not turn Gabrielle or herself back due to the loss of her powers. Hercules finds out that Alcmene was sick and Zeus offered to make up for hard times by giving her immortality and taking her to live with him on Mount Olympus. Alcmene also confessed that she could not bear to tell Hercules about it because of his hatred of Zeus. Realizing his mistake, Hercules decides that it is for the best, as long as Alcmene is happy. Even Zeus starts to feel guilty for not being a little frank with Hercules, holding himself partially responsible for causing Hercules to hate the gods and deny his help back in Mount Olympus in the first place.

Hera scolds the Titans for wrecking Mount Olympus when they celebrate their victory against the gods. On Earth, Xena and Hercules reconcile and agree to help the gods get their home and the Cronus Stone back. Upon learning of the heroes' return (due to hearing Xena's battle cry), Hera uses the Cronus Stone to give the Titan more powerful forms and tries to force the Titans to do her bidding. However, Porphyrion strips the stone away from Hera (with help from Crius) and deprives her of her powers by shrinking her and putting her into the dollhouse, declaring himself and the Titans as the new rulers. The heroes ride Gabrielle to the mountain and fight the Titans. Hercules gets the Cronus Stone and almost tears it apart, which causes the Underworld caverns to open, allowing Xena to flip Crius into the pits and Iolaus to get Tethys and Mnemosyne to collide and dissolve into the fiery pits. However, Porphyrion, having inherited much of the power from the Stone before being separated from it, uses it to restrain Hercules, but is pulled into the air by Gabrielle, who then drops the Titan into the cavern. Gabrielle then drops Hercules off on the gods' mountain in time for him to close the stone, locking the Titans in the Underworld. The gods are then returned to their original forms, while Hera remains trapped in the dollhouse as punishment, and Artemis turns Gabrielle back to her human form as promised.

Back at Thebes, Alcmene is preparing to leave and return to Mount Olympus, and Zeus assures Hercules that he is welcome to meet them again anytime he wants. As Zeus and Alcmene leave for Mount Olympus, Hercules heads off with Xena, Iolaus, and Gabrielle to Corinth to return the bag of gold to its owners and seek another adventure.

• Kevin Sorbo as Hercules
• Lucy Lawless as Xena
• Michael Hurst as Iolaus
• Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
• Alexandra Tydings as Aphrodite
• Kevin Smith as Aries
• Josephine Davison as Alcmene and Artemis
• Joy Watson as Hera
• Peter Rowley as Zeus
• David Mackie as Porphyrion
• Alison Wall as Tethys and Mnemosyne
• Ted Raimi as Crius
• George Ball as Porphyrion (singing voice)
• Roger Freeland as Crius (singing voice)
• Amanda McBroom as Mnemosyne (singing voice)
• B.J. Ward as Tethys (singing voice)

The film was a joint production between U.S. and Korean Universal Cartoon Studios. Lynne Naylor, who worked at Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Marvel, Spumco and Warner Bros. was hired to direct the film. The script was written by John P. Loy, who wrote numerous scripts for animated television series such as Porchlight Entertainment's The Book of Virtues and Warner Bros.' Pinky and the Brain before entering a multi-year deal with Universal Cartoon Studios to write, develop and produce animated projects. Originally slated for a mid-October release, the film was pushed back to January. "We want the finished product to be of the finest quality," said Louis Feola, President of Universal Home Video. "As often happens with an animated feature, more time was needed to complete the film."[1]

While production continued on the film, a Hercules and Xena road tour was scheduled around the U.S., featuring a traveling exhibit of memorabilia from the live-action shows, previews of the upcoming Nintendo 64 game and an inside look at the production of the animated movie

The film features three songs, "Across the Sea of Time", "Titan's Song" and "Xena's Song", written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom. Tom McGrath served as a domestic key animator in the film, while Chris Mitchell co-directed the animation overseas at Koko Enterprises in South Korea

• Though featuring the same major characters and the (mostly) same cast, this movie is generally not considered canonical to Hercules the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. Some elements, however, later made their way into the live-action series, including:
  • Mnemosyne's appearance in "Let There Be Light" is consistent with her appearance here.
  • The Kronos stone, mentioned in earlier productions as simply a time-travel device, is confirmed in "The Prize" and later "Love, Amazon Style" to give gods "power greater than Zeus." This matches the ability of the stone as seen in this film.
• A clip of this movie was featured in "Yes, Virginia, There is a Hercules."
• Zeus's appearance in the film is based on Anthony Quinn's portrayal in the Universal Action Pack films.
• Though not identified as such, a character bearing a strong resemblance to Salmoneus makes a brief appearance.
• Xena references the events of "The Reckoning".
• Surprisingly, Hera appears in her human form. When the film was produced, Hera had yet to appear "in the flesh" on the series. She would, however, finally do so a few months after the film was released.

The story is inspired by the Gigantomachy, a war the Olympians fought with a race of beings called the Gigantes, or giants, whom Gaia created to get revenge on the Olympians for killing the Titans. Porphyrion was the leader of the giants, who could only be killed by gods and demigods working together – Heracles, unsurprisingly, was selected as the gods' primary champion. The original story featured many more than just five Olympians, with Athena and Hermes playing major roles – the Fates even took part, beating some of the giants with bronze clubs. Unlike what’s seen in the movie, Hera was not on the Giants side but was actually the field commander of the Olympians, as Zeus's thunderbolts were needed as heavy artillery.

• List of animated feature-length films

• Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus on IMDb