Hercules

[omelissokomos]

Hallmark Entertainment will be showing a miniseries of Hercules starring British muscle cutie Paul Telfer. First episode's on 23 May 2005, so get those Tivos and VCRs ready!

[Herculean hunk]

it would be nice if some1 can record it and spread it around the forum =), sadly i can't record =(

[Aikuchi]

Dont know when it'll ever come to South East Asia.

But i'm pretty sure they'll be a VCD or DVD release, and then screenshots can be captured for the forumites


Yinn

[roodinverse]

Watched the trailer. This seems a big budget TV love letter to all the OLD Hercules films of yore (Steve Reeves, Lou Ferrigno, etc.) combined with the super epic, Lord of the Rings meets Ridley Scott's Gladiator styled, week long TV miniseries.

Good examples of this genre are Sci-fi channel's Earthsea or Dune. or Armand Asante's (sp?) version of the Odyssey. Better yet, skip them and read the books. They're better. Especially Earthsea, as the miniseries got a lot wrong. I will catch this for the eye candy, overdone epic cheese, and big name cast.

Basically, the same reasons I sat through "Troy".

--rood
Oh, and for the record, I'm a sucker for epic cheese. I'll probably go see Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, even though it has next to no beef as far as I can tell (unlike Gladiator). Mainly because I hear he didn't screw up the subject matter as much as he could have (it's about the Crusades).

[Chi-town]

There's a brief interview with Paul Telfer in this month's M&F (June 2005). Includes full page photo of him in constume, flashing some awesome biceps.

[Doctor9]

Good evening all!

About half-way through the show so far - just thought I'd comment...

Paul does look the part, I find. A hair more athletic than bodybuilder in look - seems to make sense to me, given the historical/mythical context.

On a separate note, even the teen-aged Hercules wasn't too bad - fit, but obviously still a boy.

My only complaint so far is that I'm pretty sure the "lift up horse every day as it gets bigger" bit wasn't part of the Hercules mythology - my memory isn't dredging up the name, but I'm sure it wasn't him.

Doctor9

[glammaman2000]

...Milo of Something-or-other.&it was a cow.&supposedly,he was an actual historical figure.

[Beemer133]

Anyone know where to find the Hercules muscle growth story? It was about his labours for the king, and was very good (and long if i remember correctly).

[Chi-town]

Caught the first hour and the last half-hour. Oh my, was it awful! Cheezy effects (I won't even call them "special"), take-the-money-and-run acting (Elizabeth Perkins, I'm looking at you), dialogue from a second grade skit...

...but my goodness, that Paul Telfer is gorgeous! He actually does very well -- he can cry on cue, his smile is dazzling, and he's quite articulate. I'm sure we'll see more of him.

The fantasy part is when he first appears: the teenage Hercules, in an effort to build his strength, begins squatting a young colt. The boy then transforms into adult Hercules squatting a horse -- with Mr. Telfer shirtless and sweaty. Very nice touch, but they do make you wait 45 minutes before it comes. And a moment later when Timothy Dalton (!) places his hands on Hercules and leaves them there while saying good-bye; whew, did I envy Mr. Dalton.

Apparently NBC trimmed an hour from the mini-series and moved up the televised date. Guess they didn't have any confidence in it.

[omelissokomos]

Originally Posted by Chi-town

Apparently NBC trimmed an hour from the mini-series and moved up the televised date.

So that's why the sched changed. I'll have to wait for it to come out on the local Hallmark Channel.

[musclesed]

man, i just gotta comment... it WAS cheesy... and the special effects WERE a bit dated... but that scene of him laying in bed after he tried to kill himself... DAMN..that was frickin HOT... he's got some abs on him.. and some pecs... meaty... REALLY MEATY!!!

[bluecoolz]

Originally Posted by omelissokomos

So that's why the sched changed. I'll have to wait for it to come out on the local Hallmark Channel.

Oh, I see... Singapore does have the Hallmark Channel on the cable, but it did not show in Singapore... How sad...

[Aikuchi]

I think its just a matter of time till it shows in South East Asia.
I'm still watiting

All the other Hallmark shows get to SEA pretty soon anwyays. Let's hope Hercules is one of them



Yinn

[brent]

I caught bits of it at the gym. I'm sure it'll come out on DVD, then I'll be able to pause it, etc. The guy playing Hercules was beautiful, at had a body to die for. I imagine the writing wasn't to good, and I'm sure I didn't miss much seeing it without sound...

[jdhdawg]

I thought the movie was surprisingly gory & violent for network TV. The highlight was definitely Mr Telfer. He had awesome arms, a magnificent set of pecs with amazingly-defined abs for a big guy. Wow.

[CelticMuscle]

Will this be shown in the United Kingdom?

[jdhdawg]

Don't know but check out the website....http://paultelfer.facesgh.com/index2.htm

[jockga]

my memories were of hercules wearing only a loin cloth. i was disappointed to see all the clothing that herc wore during most of the movie on sunday. is this part of the conservative american culture?
i have a thing about television not showing a mans nipples. if you look at razor blade commercial or even old navy ads they will show a womans breasts and the drop of a hat but when it comes to showing a mans naked nipples wow the television censors will be fast to cut them out of the view on the t.v. screen.
has anyone else had these same observations?

[Notbigenuff]

Had to tape the show last night and watched it tonight - concerning Paul Telfer all I can say is WOW!! The best looking Hercules since Steve Reeves in my opinion. But sadly, his body was the best "special effect" of the whole show. Though in many ways the story was closer to the original mythology/legend than, for example, Disney's Hercules (which I very much enjoyed) or even the recent TV series with Kevin Sorbo, the writing, acting, etc. in general just seemed to drag along. Too bad...

[arpeejay]

Telfer is gorgeous (I mean REALLY gorgeous!) but I only made it about halfway through the show. It was just lame, even though (as a former classics student) I appreciated the faithfulness to the original mythology.

I've been nosing around the net but thus far I haven't found out too much about Telfer except that:

(1) He's 25 (born 1980?)
(2) He's 6'2
(3) He's been lifting since he was 14
(4) His body has been something of a hindrance in terms of landing parts (most casting directors think he's too big...)

Also:

There's *another* Paul Telfer who is a star football (soccer) player for some UK team. Also dark haired but 33 instead of 25, 5'9 and 160 lbs. instead of 6'2 and (well over) 200 lbs.

As for our star:

Those lips! Those eyes! Those traps! Those pecs! Those bi's! That furry chest!

Total fucking WOOF!

xoxo

richard

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by jockga

my memories were of hercules wearing only a loin cloth. i was disappointed to see all the clothing that herc wore during most of the movie on sunday. is this part of the conservative american culture?
i have a thing about television not showing a mans nipples. if you look at razor blade commercial or even old navy ads they will show a womans breasts and the drop of a hat but when it comes to showing a mans naked nipples wow the television censors will be fast to cut them out of the view on the t.v. screen.
has anyone else had these same observations?

I don't think it's the conservative culture, but you're definitely onto something. I think it's been a long-accepted practice to objectify women but people are still uncomfortable with objectifying men. I really do think it's a form of homophobia -- "I don't want to see/We can't show anything that might cause a man to have even a mild erotic reaction!" Whether in razor ads or sit-coms or whatever, it's OK to show a glimpse of a man's chest as a tease ("This shot's for the ladies."), then back off.

As for the costumes, they probably just borrowed shit from "Hercules", "Xena" and any number of other syndicated TV shows.

And so, in my effort to bring equality to the sexes, I hereby proclaim that yes, I objectify Paul Telfer!

Originally Posted by arpeejay

Those lips! Those eyes! Those traps! Those pecs! Those bi's! That furry chest!

Total fucking WOOF!

Amen, honey! I was looking at that gorgeous face trying to think of who he reminded me of, and I realized: Billy Zane, particularly in "The Phantom" movie. Only bigger, of course.

[Lucas88]

Originally Posted by Chi-town

I don't think it's the conservative culture, but you're definitely onto something. I think it's been a long-accepted practice to objectify women but people are still uncomfortable with objectifying men. I really do think it's a form of homophobia -- "I don't want to see/We can't show anything that might cause a man to have even a mild erotic reaction!" Whether in razor ads or sit-coms or whatever, it's OK to show a glimpse of a man's chest as a tease ("This shot's for the ladies."), then back off.

I'm not sure if it's homophobic or sexist...we're still a very heterosexully-male-driven society. It wasn't that long ago in history that women were considered property much more readily than individuals and we still do a hell of a job objectifying them today. The male slaves of history were considered objects or possessions as opposed to individuals, and there was little concern about the clothing of a male slave...clothing was a symbol of status and slaves had none. I think a large percentage of the male population still can't grasp the concept of a man choosing to objectify himself (bodybuilders flexing and posing in little more than G-strings, male models strutting down a runway in their underwear, etc.) and putting himself on display as women and slaves have been for centuries (a VERY GENERAL STATEMENT...there are more enlightened men in the world today but there are a lot of unenlightened men, too, and hundreds of years of cultural norms don't just disappear overnight).

Then again, if a "normal" heterosexual male is caught watching shows revolving around half-naked men...well, they must be gay, right? I know a lot of straight guys who would think that.

Food for thought.

[Pagemaster_B]

Work and other obligations have kept me from watching. Hercules is one of my favorite Greek myths since I was a kid, and I'm disappointed to hear that Hallmark Entertainment did a poor job with it. They use to have such good movies when I was a kid. Come to think of it, their fantasy based films have been piss poor over the past number of years. "Merlin" was horrible despite the promising premise and the actor, Sam Neil. I just couldn't get myself past the first half hour.

Honestly, I never did like the "Hercules" tv show, either. Bad writing, bad acting, and bad special effects. Xena was the same way, and now I have to suffer her more because my roommate keeps buying the series on DVD--yuck! Now, if only I can find the Hercules movies with Lou Ferigno (I know I botched his name badly), then I'll be happy. He's not green and he runs around shirtless--you can't get any better than that!

As for the nipples not shown, here's a page from my sarcastic humor: Because of the demand for equality between the sexes, women are not allowed to show their nipples on TV, so men aren't allow to show their nipples either. How's that for equality?

[Lucas88]

Originally Posted by Pagemaster_B

As for the nipples not shown, here's a page from my sarcastic humor: Because of the demand for equality between the sexes, women are not allowed to show their nipples on TV, so men aren't allow to show their nipples either. How's that for equality?

I like your answer better than mine {he says LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF!!!}

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by Doctor9

My only complaint so far is that I'm pretty sure the "lift up horse every day as it gets bigger" bit wasn't part of the Hercules mythology - my memory isn't dredging up the name, but I'm sure it wasn't him.

Doctor9

You are thinking of Milo. He carried a calf on his shoulders every day. As the calf grew, so did Milo's strength.

Btw, I did not like this rendition of Hercules. Paul Telfer is gorgeous, but in plain English I thought the movie sucked. He was good in the USA movie Spartacus playing Gannicus, Spartacus's heroic friend.

[omelissokomos]

Two non-Hercules shots, the second from his stint in Hotel Babylon

[bayjock]

According to IMDB, Paul will be in the upcoming movie "Young Alexander The Great". Here's a link to a preview: http://www.ilyasalkindcompany.com/al...llfeature.html