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

Hercules and Xena must save Mount Olympus from the dangerous Titans.

Summary
The movie starts with the Sirens singing Across The Sea of Time, which is about how Zeus took the Cronus Stone from the Titans and had a fling with Alcmene and had a son named Hercules, who defeated a hydra at an early age and became a hero. As they finish, a giant sea serpent comes from the sea and Hercules is trying to kill it. He finally throws a giant rock in its mouth but it jumps on the shore and lands on top of Hercules. It can not live on land so it dies and Hercules climbs out of its nostril. The villagers thank Hercules, and Iolaus climbs out of a restchair and joins Hercules, who gets a big fish as a gift from the villagers. Hercules and Iolaus head to Thebes to see Alcmene but Iolaus is a little upset because Hercules gets all the credit. However the two defeat several highwaymen and all is okay. Satyrs are in a bar having stolen gold from helpless people, so Xena and Gabrielle show up to beat them up and take the money back. Ares shows up after Gabrielle throws wine at a satyr and beats him up with her fighting stick. He tells Xena to stop Hercules from going to Thebes because there is a trap set for him there. Xena wants Hercules to go because there is trouble and he needs to help. She is angry because Ares never gives up and wants her. She and Gabrielle argue about his intentions for short time.

Hercules is acting like a horse and pulling an old style plow at his mom's house. Iolaus is tired but they see Zeus come from the heavens in his chariot, winged horses like Pegasus driving the chariot down. He takes Alcmene to Mount Olympus and Hercules is angry. Iolaus thinks Alcmene went on her own because she put up no fight but Hercules disagrees and pushes Iolaus against a wall in his anger. Hercules says sorry and they both head off to rescue Alcmene. Zeus talks to Ares and wonders why he did not stop Hercules. He says he tried to get a mortal named Xena to do it and Zeus is angry because Ares keeps wanting Xena. Hera shows up, and yells at Zeus about bringing Alcmene here. She leaves and somehow steals the Cronus Stone, the stone that keeps the Titans in the Underworld lava pits. Hera summons the Titans out while Zeus checks on Alcmene, who has been shrunk and placed in a small Arabian doll house castle for safety from Hera. Aphrodite surfs down a mountain and makes Iolaus very happy and hugs her brother Hercules. She tells Hercules that Hera is angry and not to go to Mount Olympus for his own good, but he decides to go and Iolaus stays behind to entertain the Goddess of Love, but she leaves when an earthquake starts.

Due to the earthquake a small boy falls into the lava pits, Hercules holds the colliding ends together and Iolaus pulls up the boy making both heroes. The mother takes her son as Xena and Gabrielle, in a nearby town, battle three thugs who they beat easily and Xena must stop a rolling giant rock from destroying the fat thug. As she is successful, they show Hercules meeting the Earth Titan Porphyrion as he emerges from the ground. Porphyrion tells Hercules that he can go free because he is not defending the gods. The Water Titan Tethys arises from the water as the Fire Titan Mnemosyne emerges from the volcano and the fat Wind Titan Crius materializes from a tornado right in front of Xena and Gabrielle. 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. Xena and Gabrielle are helping wounded people and Artemis decides to get Xena's help and turns Gabrielle into a giant bird. Xena flies on Gabrielle to the gods' home while Hercules climbs up. When Xena accuses Ares for what happened to Gabrielle, Artemis tells Xena that she changed Gabrielle into a bird to get Xena's help and Xena said that all she had to do was ask for help.

The Titans come and fight. Hercules shows up and rescues Alcmene and leaves everyone to fight the Titans. Hera turns the gods into animals when they are on the retreat. Iolaus and Xena escape on Gabrielle to Alcmene's house. Everyone is upset because Hercules did nothing to help Alcmene. The animal forms of the Gods arrive. Ares is a goat, Aphrodite is a cow, Artemis is a rabbit, and Zeus is a mouse. When Xena and Iolas arrived, she confronts Artemis and learns that she can't turn Gabrielle or herself back due to the loss of the Gods' powers. Hercules finds out that Alcmene was sick and Zeus offered to make up for hardtimes by giving her immortality and taking her to live with him on Mount Olympus. Hercules is still angry at Zeus for abducting Alcmene in the first place.

The Titans sing a song about them defeating the Gods until Hera stops them scolding them for wrecking Mount Olympus during the musical number. After Hera walks out, Porphyrion tells Tethys that Hera won't boss them around much longer. Back to Earth, Xena sings a song to Gabrielle. Both her and Hercules makeup and agree to help the Gods get their home and Cronus Stone back. When bringing this up with the Gods, Zeus states that they are powerless with Hera and the Titans wielding the Cronus Stone.

Upon using the Cronus Stone to change the Titans into a powerful state upon hearing Xena's warcry, Hera tries to force the Titans to do her bidding. The Titans strip the stone away from Hera and make her doll-sized in the dollhouse. Alcmene by the way has been turned back into a normal person. The heroes ride Gabrielle to the mountain and fight the Titans. Hercules gets the Cronus Stone and tears it apart which causes the Underworld caverns open and the lava pits are displayed. Hercules and Xena flip Crius into the lava and Iolaus gets Tethys and Mnemosyne to collide and dissolve into the fiery pits. Gabrielle scoops up Porphyrion who had grabbed Hercules. Hercules manages to reach Gabrielle's back, where Xena and Iolaus are sitting and Gabrielle drops the Titan into the cavern, catches a falling Hercules, and drops him off on the gods' mountain in time to close the stone which locks the Titans in their prison of lava. When Zeus finds Hera in the dollhouse, Hera quotes that "it was fun while it lasted."

Zeus and Alcmene go back to Olympus and Zeus welcomes Hercules to visit. Artermis turns Gabrielle back to normal who seemed to enjoy the experience to fly. Hercules then heads off with Iolaus, Gabrielle, and Xena to Corinth to return a bag of gold and seek another adventure.

Background Information

 * Though featuring the same major characters and the (mostly) same cast, this movie is generally not considered canonical to HTLJ and XWP. 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 original video featured a preview for the Young Hercules movie.
 * 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 – Herakles, 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. Far from being on the Giants' side, Hera was actually the field commander of the Olympians, as Zeus's thunderbolts were needed as heavy artillery.

Voice Cast

 * Kevin Sorbo as Hercules
 * Lucy Lawless as Xena
 * Michael Hurst as Iolaus
 * Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
 * Kevin Smith as Ares
 * Alexandra Tydings as Aphrodite
 * Josephine Davison as Alcmene and as Artemis
 * Joy Watson as Hera
 * Peter Rowley as Zeus
 * David Mackie as Porphyrion
 * Alison Wall as Tethys and as Mnemosyne
 * Ted Raimi as Crius