Progress Report: Season 3

Sweet! All commentaries and interviews from season 3 are now properly noted. The commentaries are improving as the seasons go on, but I do feel there are some missed opportunities. For instance, why is it that Kevin Sorbo doesn't have a commentary on the second and last episode he directed, "War Bride?" That puzzles me.

I'd also have liked a commentary on one of the Hind trilogy episodes with both Kevin and Sam, but I won't complain (especially since this is actually an old set...). As long as I'm at it though, the thoughts of Lucy and Renee on their crossover episode "Judgment Day" would have been nice...

Still though, overall they were very good features. Recommended watching this round goes to the interview on "Prince Hercules," where Kevin and Sam tell the story of how they met. Very nice!
See you all with season 4!

Improvising in the face of disaster!

I've felt pretty guilty about not posting anything in the last few days, although I have been working on the site. So lets take a look at another area that'll be covered: the video games. Now let me tell you, these were hardly passable even when they first came out, and they've aged awfully. However, I feel obliged to cover them in detail...

There were Hercules games on the N64 and Gameboy Color, both of which will be featured. I'll be including an array of screenshots, as well as a complete game walkthrough for each. You can also look out for story summaries for those of you that want to know what they've done with our favorite characters without suffering through the gameplay.

And last, but not least, you can check out (fair) reviews for each game and a link out area to check out what the rest of the web has to say about these games. Even if you're not a gamer, this section is to be written in an entertaining and encompassing manner so that you can still find enjoyment in it, so don't dismiss it!

Editors note: The post you've just read was written by a half awake author. Forgive any lapses in grammar, spelling, or style. Thank you for your patience.

Preview Wallpaper 3!

Didn't really feel up to taking commentary notes, so I worked on a wallpaper today. Here is the result! Honestly, I wasn't sure what the plan was until I really got going. Relationship wallpapers are especially tricky for me, since I really like a lot of the possible pairings in the show. My personal favorite is actually Hercules/Morrigan, but oh well, I still like this wallpaper! Hope you do too! Available in the usual resolutions:

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Xena Online Convention

Hello my faithful readers (all 4 of you),

Wanted to give a heads up about the Xena Online Convention coming from The Xena Scrolls. Running November 7, 8 and 9, you'll get a chance to hang out with other Xenites while participating in contests and winning prizes! Seems like a good time, so I'm going to support the site by keeping a button along the right side of this blog. Head on over and join the fun!

I'll be participating myself, and really, I like the format a lot. I'm actually considering putting something like that together for Hercules once I get this site up. All in due time! I'm one man with a quite a long road ahead of me as it is, so I better not get too big too fast!




Banners for the convention are above, use them on your site and spread the word!

Progress Report: Season 2

What a great season, I really like these episodes. Very good commentaries too, they come recommended! I've finished taking notes from the commentaries this season. While not always very informative, they are a blast to listen to. I especially enjoyed some of Kevin's offhand comments in "The Other Side."

Great fun, now on to Season 3!

They say music soothes the savage beast...

Figured this would be a nice time to showcase another feature on the site! Hercules is a show that always benefited from a great soundtrack, one that easily rivals that of many films (much in thanks to having a man like Lo Duca who has scored many movies). I have all 4 released soundtracks, as well as the Young Hercules soundtrack. While I'd love to just post these in their complete form, I feel that would be a disservice to the hard work put into the music, when you could support it by buying it! Besides, the bandwidth that would require, as well as risk of losing my entire website for sharing music...

So, to compromise, there will be an MP3 rotation on the site. Once a week, a new track will be posted, along with information on the soundtrack you can find the song on, choice episodes in which the song was played, and any other relevant information. If it proves to be popular, then I may be able to get some unique songs as well, personally recorded from the DVDs!

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!

Progress Report: Season 1

I've gone through all the commentaries and interviews of season 1 and taken notes on all of them. They are actually pretty good commentaries to listen to, Kevin and Michael are a lot of fun! Certainly worth a listen if you have the set.

Redesign

It was definitely time for a change. While my efforts will always remain primarily on making the final site, this blog has always irked me. This new design is much more in line with the final color scheme of the site, features a clean, clear logo and is much more readable. The old one was thrown together in haste, but this one I believe is much more attractive and functional.

Just as a bit of a "where are you" update, I've been going through the commentary tracks and interviews of the first season, taking detailed notes of all relevant information. That information will then be included in the episode guide. I've also thrown together a few linking banners and buttons to be used to link back to the site.

As always, please comment with feedback or contributions, I'll respond to all messages within 24 hours!

...when the ancient gods were petty and cruel

UPDATE 2: Man, that's the last time I make wallpapers late at night. Fixed a massive misquote on the wallpaper. Thumbnail still reflects the old one, but the files have been corrected.

UPDATE: How come nobody told me I posted broken links? Fixed.

I guess this is what most people wanted, right? I threw this one together this afternoon for you guys. Available in a multitude of resolutions like last time, so take whatever you need! Let me know what you think in the comments section.

16:10 Resolutions:

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4:3 Resolutions:

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Still looking for contributions, whether it's wallpapers or otherwise. Send them my way and get special credit on the site! Thanks!

Screencaps: 100%

Ah, at long last. This takes a lot of patience! Hercules screencaps from every season and every episode are complete! I still plan to take caps from the Herc crossover episodes in Xena, and the movies have yet to be capped, but they'll be getting a special treatment. It comes in to a grand total of 4,415 images. It should be noted that not all of these images will make it into the episode guide, at least not at first. 10 images per episode should be plenty.

Need an image? Let me know, I probably have it now! I'll celebrate by treating you all with a new wallpaper in the coming days. See you then!

I've been grabbed more times than the Golden Fleece!

Finished up with screencapping Season 2 last night. It's interesting, actually, going through this show in reverse. Just rapidly viewing all these episodes really opens my eyes to some things I never noticed, whether it be repeated actors or reused stock footage. It's all great fun though. Season 1 is short, and the movies will receive special coverage outside of the normal episode guide.

I've been toying with opening a Xena sister site to this...but my hands are completely full with the Legendary Fansite at the moment. Still, I have time for layout design and I can pay for the webspace. If anyone is interested in being a head writer for a prospective Xena site, just let me know. I doubt I'll hand over the site completely, but I'd love some help with that project. If not, I'll just start on it once the work starts to whittle down on this site.

See you next update!

PS: The title just comes from a quote that made me chuckle in a Xena episode I was watching... [The King of Assassins - Season 3]

And then there were two!

Ah, progress. This site is a beast! I finished making screencaps of Season 3 today. I've been working in reverse, so that leaves Seasons 1 and 2 to finish up. After that, I move on to the other areas of the Episode guide, which should give the site a very solid backbone.

As I go through the supplements on the DVDs to make notes, is there any interest in taking screencaps of the video commentaries? I can take them for the sake of completion if people are interested. Let me know!

Let the Games Begin!

Next feature to look forward to... the contest! Yes, many sites have contests, and the winner of the month receives the respect and admiration of fellow competitors as well as the title of "winner" for a month. However, I'm prepared to take a step above that! The HTLF contests will be run at regular intervals and will offer actual, physical prizes.

I've been able to do this because, after collecting Hercules (and Xena) merchandise for so long, I have extras of plenty of items. From card sets to books and toys, there are quite a few great collectibles that I'd rather pass on to another fan rather than just throw away, put in a box or sell to someone. So what must you do to win these illustrious prizes?

Basics really. Wallpapers, cosplay, fanart, poems... Competitions will always have a different theme so that everyone has a chance to showcase their talents, and in many cases, there will be multiple categories with multiple prizes to be won! You won't have to pay a dime!

Sound fun? If anyone actually reads this blog... Then let me know if you'd be interested in a competition to be run on this site in the coming months before the website opens. I can easily run them concurrently with the site development, perhaps as a method of producing content to be featured on the site? Let me know!