Fond Memories of The Mighty Hercules
I dug up this VHS tonight, I’ve held for Twenty-five years when “King Video” in Oshawa was going under; it was, like, one of the first local chains in the area, so being a media junkie, I made damn sure to check it out.
Mighty Hercules
While my biggest regret was not buying the entire dump bin of MIB video games that were a quarter, I did manage this gem.
A two-pack of “Mighty Hercules” and “Speed Racer,” and I just realized now that this might have been a not-for-rent sample, but I think the statute of limitations is long past. The shows had the same distributor, Transluxe, hence being marketed together.
As a Toronto area kid, I was treated to “The Mighty Hercules” on Global Television in the 3rd grade. It was from the 1960s, but I was into Greek mythology at that point, and hey, it was a cartoon where a guy punched bad guys. What can I say? I have simple tastes. Now on the cynical side, the show had a Canadian voice cast (like the 67 Spider-Man) and somehow I think that helped get around Canadian Content or “CanCon” laws at the time (See Bob and Doug McKenzie.)
The main reason I bought this tape was that it contained the very first episode of the series. Which I can now share below thanks to YouTube.
A lot of the atmosphere in that pilot didn’t transfer to the series, and I would obsess about catching it the days it would air (also see that “Battle of the Planets” where Zoltar wass unmasked, OMG). The show was still beautiful, but everything got tightened up. I remember watching the show intently, trying to copy the characters with my sketch pad, I learned a lot from it’s style, so the show is near and dear to me.
This LP record was the only other Mighty Hercules item I’ve ever obtained.
However, my holy grail is to own one of these replica rings sold in the 1960s (that I can’t find.) According to the show’s rules, I could beat up ten guys with that ring, but I am in trouble if there are a dozen.
Mighty Hercules Rack Toy Ring
PS I hate Newton, I hate Newton.
#mightyhercules
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Mighty Hercules, Global Television, Custom Mego, Mego Figures, Newton, Toot, transluxe
I grew up in Brampton Ontario, and this show was on every day.
I read an interview with BRUCE TIMM where he claimed this show’s animation style served as the inspiration for the look of Superman when he was formulating the follow-up to Batman the animated series.
Cheers!
That sounds familiar, and you can totally see it. It had a really great style about it.
That is six kinds of awesome! In hindsight, it’s kind of visually apparent/obvious of the influence, but hindsight is yadda, yadda.
Never knew there was a pilot episode — thanks for that. An inspiration for Ambiguously Gay Duo and other TV Funhouse shorts?.
Long ago there were a couple of 8mm home movie reels, each combining two or three adventures — I saw them offered in the Blackhawk Bulletin. In more recent years the theme song has turned up on CD compilations of cartoon themes.
I remember this from the very early 60s, sometimes paired with Felix the Cat. It would turn up on local channels but it never felt like a “real” show, as it lacked a proper series opening. Each segment had the impressive theme song, but it wasn’t the same as opening credits or even a still card announcing The Mighty Hercules Show up front.. Possibly designed to be dropped into local hosted kiddie shows.
There is also an somewhat inexpensive comic that is not too hard to find, I think by Gold Key, well worth getting!