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Season Three

Prologue:
This is the story of a time long ago, a time of myth and legend when the ancient gods were petty and cruel and they plagued mankind with suffering. Only one man dared to challenge their power: Hercules.
Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen, a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart. He journeyed the Earth battling the minions of his wicked step-mother Hera, the all-powerful queen of the gods. But wherever there was evil, wherever the innocent would suffer, there would be: Hercules!

Episodes:

Episode 38 - Mercenary - 9/30/96 [Hercules]
While Hercules is transporting the ruthless mercenary Derk to Sparta to stand trial, he and his prisoners are shipwrecked on a desert island. In spite of a fractured arm, Hercules leads Derk across an expanse of scrubby trees in search of fresh water while a band of pirates hunts for gold they believe was aboard the shipwrecked boat. When Derk attacks Hercules in an attempt to escape, a huge worm-like creature springs out of the sand and grabs Derk's leg. Hercules saves Derk, and the two men find temporary refuge in an outcropping of rocks.
As more of the underground creatures close in on them, they reach an uneasy truce, and Hercules even agrees to let Derk see his family one last time before standing trial. The bargain is sealed when Derk agrees to reset Hercules' broken arm, which has become badly infected.
Meanwhile the pirates track the two men to the desert but are soon caught and killed by the sand creatures. Hercules tricks these predators into colliding with each other and sails with Derk in the pirate�s boat, bringing him first to see his family and then to face judgment in Sparta. Yet, when Hercules learns that the trial will not be fair, he helps Derk escape in exchange for his vow to leave behind the mercenary life.

Episode 39 - Doomsday - 10/7/96 [Hercules]
Hercules travels to Euboea to see his old friend Daedalus, a brilliant scientist mourning the death of his son. On the way, he stops a group of soldiers who are attacking a village using a giant crossbow built by Daedalus for King Nikolos. Hercules gets his friend Daedalus to see that the king is using his inventions to terrorize defenseless women and children. He then confronts one of those deadly inventions, a giant contraption of stone fists and feet called a Megalith that he defeats by hurling it to the ground.
When Daedalus learns that Nikolos has used the Megalith against Hercules, he tries to blow up his lab. However, the guards rush in and save the equipment, including a more advanced version of the Megalith. Nikolos himself climbs into the stone-and-steel body of the new Megalith, which uses a crystal to convert beams of sunlight into fireballs shooting out of the mouth of the helmet. After barely dodging the flames, Hercules manages to block the mouth of the Megalith, which blows up with Nikolos trapped inside. Daedalus burns the last of his blueprints and vows to devote his life to peaceful inventions.

Episode 40 - Love Takes a Holiday - 10/14/96 [Aphrodite]
While trying to persuade a restless Aphrodite to return to her duties as the Goddess of Love, Iolaus foils a plot to kidnap a woman, his long-lost grandmother, Leandra. To return things back as they should be and free Leandra, Iolaus must go up against Hephaestus and his evil "right hand man".

Episode 41 - Mummy Dearest - 10/21/96 [Salmoneus]
The Egyptian princess Anuket commands Hercules to help her find a stolen mummy. Angered by her arrogance and her ownership of slaves, Hercules refuses. However, when he learns that the mummy has awakened and is hungry for human life, he changes his mind. Also on the mummy's trails is the renegade priest Sokar, who hopes to unleash its powers and use them to become Pharaoh of Egypt. Salmoneus, unaware of the mummy's powers, is planning to exhibit it in his new House of Horrors.
Sokar seizes the mummy from Salmoneus, along with a pendant known as an ankh that gives him control of the creature. Knowing the mummy will become unstoppable once it consumes the life force of a human, Sokar turns it loose on Hercules. The son of Zeus traps the mummy in a tomb and riddles it with spikes, but this proves only a temporary setback to a creature already dead. After Hercules rescues Anuket from Sokar, the mummy reappears, kills Sokar, and absorbs the priest's life force. It now threatens to become all-powerful, but Hercules literally unravels this scheme as he grabs one end of the mummy's wrappings and gives a mighty yank, causing the creature to spin furiously before tumbling into a vat of boiling wax. Anuket, grateful to Hercules and to a slave who gave his life for hers, promises that on returning to Egypt she will work to free all slaves.

Episode 42 - Not Fade Away - 10/28/96 [Hades]
Iolaus is mortally wounded battling Hera's new Enforcer, an assassin whose essence if fire and whose only desire is to kill Hercules. Refusing to accept the death of his friend, Hercules carries Iolaus to the other side to seek Hades' intervention. Hades tells them that to return Iolaus to life, Hercules must defeat Hera's new Enforcer. Hades also instructs Hercules to team up with the original Enforcer, whose final resting-place has not been determined.
Freed of Hera's evil influence, the original Enforcer becomes increasingly sympathetic, even saving Hercules' mother, Alcmene. She also battles the new Enforcer with amazing skill, but perishes as the water that is her life's essence is vaporized by the new Enforcer's searing flames. Hercules tracks down Hera's assassin to a forge and dodges her flames, then uses a bellows to blow one of her own fireballs back down her throat, incinerating her. Iolaus, who has finally made peace with his estranged father, Skouros, in the Underworld, is now free to return to the land of the living. Skouros in turn, is able to enter the Elysian Fields, accompanied by the original Enforcer, who has earned the right to an honorable resting place.
Episode 43 - Monster Child in the Promised Land - 11/4/96 [Hercules]
Typhon and Echidna welcome a new monster to their family: baby Obie. Yet, the thief Klepto, posing as a baby-sitter, kidnaps Obie in order to impress the warlord Bluth. Iolaus comforts the grieving Echidna while Typhon and Hercules set out to find the baby. They want not only to save Obie but to keep him from tasting blood, an act that turned all Echidna's other children into vicious predators.
After Obie nearly falls over a cliff, Klepto rescues him and finds he has begun to like the little monster. By the time Hercules and Typhon catch up to him, Klepto tearfully admits that Bluth now has Obie, and he volunteers to help get the baby back. When they find Bluth's hideout, the warlord attacks Hercules but is impaled on his own sword during the fight. Echidna is overjoyed when Obie arrives home safely and she even forgives Klepto, whose affection for the baby has become obvious.
Episode 44 - The Green-Eyed Monster - 11/11/96 [Aphrodite]
Aphrodite is jealous of a mortal woman, Psyche. She orders her son, Cupid, to shoot the girl with one of his arrows to pair her off with someone. Cupid however, is in love with the girl and refuses. Aphrodite implores Hercules to talk to her son, but he guesses her real motives and refuses. So the goddess devises a plot: She sends Salmoneus to Psyche's home and orders Cupid to shoot Psyche so that she will fall in love with Salmoneus. But Cupid accidentally shoots Hercules, who falls in love with Psyche. [Cupid]
Cupid's jealousy causes him to sprout claws and wings and transform into a green-eyed monster. He grabs Psyche in his talons and carries her away. Hercules finds Aphrodite and learns the truth behind his sudden love for Psyche, and Cupid's transformation: Hera placed a curse on Cupid following a fight with Aphrodite. Cupid will turn into a monster every time he feels unrequited love. Eventually, the horrible transformation will become permanent.
On his way to rescue Psyche, Hercules begins to think of his late wife and the spell is broken. Meanwhile, Cupid and Psyche are falling in love. However, when Hercules appears, Cupid is again transformed, and the two fight. They stop when Aphrodite feeds Psyche a potion causing her to turn into an old woman. When Cupid declares that he still loves Psyche, Hercules suggests a happy ending. Taking his advice, Aphrodite restores Psyche's youth on condition that she become immortal and live with Cupid on mount Olympus.
Episode 45 - Prince Hercules - 11/18/96 [Hercules]
Queen Parnassa, the ruler of Kastus, conspires with Hera to make Hercules the leader of her army. Hera has Hercules knocked unconscious while trying to save an elderly couple. Although the blow would have killed any other man, Hercules regains his senses - but not his memory.
Just outside Kastus, Parnassa's soldiers stop the travelers and greet Hercules as their long-lost prince, Milius. Hercules is taken to the palace and introduced to his "wife," Kirin, a princess who is being forced to cooperate in Parnassa's scheme. Hercules also meets Kirin's children, who cannot remember their real father and are told that he has returned at last. Parnassa hopes that by deceiving Hercules into believing he is Milius, he will pledge his loyalty to Hera on Equinox Day.
Iolaus arrives in Kastus and tries to jog Hercules' memory, but the guards arrest him, telling Hercules that the man is an assassin. Hercules meanwhile begins falling in love with Kirin, who finds the courage to defy Parnassa and helps free Iolaus. Disguised as priests, Iolaus and Kirin slip into the Equinox Day ceremony where Hercules is about to pledge his loyalty to Hera forever. They urge Hercules to remember who he really is, and when Iolaus mentions Deianeira's name, Hercules' memory suddenly returns. The two heroes quickly defeat Parnassa's forces, Kirin assumes the throne of Kastus, and Hercules bids a sad farewell to the new family he has come to love.
Episode 46 - A Star To Guide Them - 12/9/96 [Iolaus]
The Delphic Oracle warns King Polonius that he will be succeeded on the throne by a child outside his own family. Determined to prevent that, Polonius' wife, Milliphone, orders him to round up male children in the province and bring them to the palace.
Meanwhile, Hercules and Iolaus are camping on their way to the winter solstice festival. Iolaus has a dream in which he travels down a twisted path, passing a distinctive rock formation and a gnarled old oak tree as two glowing red eyes swoop down at him. Then he is struck by a blinding ray of light, which sunburns his palms. Waking up, Iolaus tells Hercules about his dream and announces that he must travel north, but can't explain why. Hercules decides to go with him. They meet Trinculos, a thief who also has sunburned palms, and agree to let him travel with them.
The next day, Uris and Lorelei flee the king's soldiers with their newborn son, and are rescued by Hercules and Iolaus. The two heroes agree they must stop the king. However, Uris, who also has sunburned palms, wants to continue on his journey north. As the four men travel north, Polonius prays to Hera for help. She sends six members of her Death Squad. Unaware that Lorelei has been captured, the men continue to travel north.
Iolaus, Uris and Trinculos share their dream and realize that the answer lies in the king's palace. On arriving, they are attacked by Hera's Death Squad, but Hercules overcomes them. The king is killed in battle, the queen exiled, and Uris and Lorelei reunite. Looking up at the night sky, the three dreamers see a single star shining on a stable. They follow the light and find a man and woman bent over a tiny cradle as shepherds and their flock look on.
Episode 47 - The Lady and the Dragon - 1/13/97 [Hercules]
Hercules heads for Laurentia after learning that many comrades who helped overthrow the warlord Adamis have mysteriously disappeared there. Passing through a burned-out village, Hercules encounters old friends who tell him that Adamis has returned from exile and is attacking villages. Iolaus also heads for Laurentia with Cynea, a young woman he defended from thugs in a tavern. She confides that her fianc� was killed by the dragon Braxis in Laurentia, and Iolaus offers to fight the beast. Yet Braxis is not the evil monster everyone fears. Instead, he is a lonely baby dragon who has been tricked by Adamis into believing that humans want to kill him and that Hercules and Iolaus are responsible for his mother's death.
Iolaus sets out to kill the dragon, bearing one of Cynea's purple scarves tied to his sword for luck. When Iolaus arrives, Cynea tells him of Iolaus' plan, and Hercules rushes off to save him. But, like Braxis, Cynea is not what she seems: She is Adamis' sister, and wants nothing more than to see Hercules destroyed and her brother once more in power.
At the dragon's lair, Iolaus finds it no easy task to defeat a flying dragon, especially when it breathes fire. Hercules tries to reason with Braxis, then captures him in a chain mail net. Before Iolaus can kill the dragon, Hercules shows him a pit filled with a half dozen swords with purple scarves tied to them. Iolaus realizes that Cynea was behind their friends' deaths. Adamis, Cynea and their troops appear, and in the battle that follows, Adamis accidentally stabs Cynea. Adamis then tries to kill Braxis and boasts that he also killed Braxis' mother. But Hercules frees the enraged beast, who engulfs Adamis in a fireball. No longer controlled by Adamis' lies, Braxis flies off toward home, rejoicing in his freedom.
Episode 48 - Long Live the King 1/20/97 [Iolaus]
Iolaus's identical cousin Orestes, a gullible king who dreams of creating a peaceable League of Kingdoms, walks into a lion's den when an evil king invites him on a hunt. "Accidents happen on hunts," Orestes' wife warns him. "Fatal accidents."
Episode 49 - Surprise - 1/27/97 [Callisto]
Hera promises Callisto a chance at immortality if she will kill Hercules; she drugs his family, forcing him to help her find the Tree of Life, which cures all ills and confers immortality. If she fails, she'll die.
Episode 50 - Encounter - 2/3/97 [Ares]
Hercules and Iolaus set out to rescue the Golden Hind from an ally of Ares, who wants the creature's blood because it can kill a god.
[Hercules] Episode 51 - When a Man Loves a Woman - 2/3/97
Hercules proposes to the half-deer, half-damsel known as Serena (when she has two legs) and the Golden Hind (when she has four). Hercules is hardly weak-kneed when he asks his new love to marry, but if they do wed, he is certain to lose his strength. It seems that the evil war god Ares, who's Hercules� foe and half-brother, holds Serena in virtual slavery - and the gods won't let her go unless Hercules agrees to give up his godly powers.
Episode 52 - Judgement Day - 2/17/97 [Strife]
While Ares tries to turn Xena against his half-brother, Strife murders Serena and frames Hercules.
[Salmoneus] Episode 53 - The Lost City - 2/24/97
Iolaus encounters a blissed-out Salmoneus in a gold mine. He has fallen into money, but oddly, claims that worldly riches no longer concern him. He had fallen into the home of an underground cult led by a mass murderer.
[Iolaus] Episode 54 - Les Contemptibles - 4/7/97
In Troyes France, 1789, two revolutionaries (Robert and Jean-Pierre) are inspired by tales of Hercules and get mixed up with the revolutionary "Chartreuse Fox."
Episode 55 - Reign of Terror - 4/14/97 [Hercules]
Unstable King Augeus, who thinks he's Zeus, drives gods and mortals crazy with his loony orders. Then Hera makes him dangerous: she gives him Zeus-like powers if he will kill Hercules.
Episode 56 - End of the Beginning - 4/21/97 [Autolycus]
When Autolycus steals the Chronos stone and stops time, Hercules is reunited with his dead wife Serena while the King of Thieves faces off against an earlier incarnation of himself.
Episode 57 - War Bride - 4/28/97
A princess facing an arranged marriage to a fat prince from a neighboring kingdom is kidnapped by thugs hired by her scheming sister.
Episode 58 - A Rock and a Hard Place - 5/5/97 [Hercules]
Accused of murdering a family, a man named Cassus flees an angry mob until he is cornered by Hercules and Iolaus. The desperate man takes a girl hostage, but the threat does not keep a villager named Perius from firing his crossbow at Cassus, nearly killing the child.
Tossing the terrified girl aside, Cassus takes refuge in an abandoned mine. When Hercules follows him inside, Cassus attacks him with a knife and accidentally triggers a rockslide that pins him under a boulder. Hercules tells Cassus that he will bleed to death immediately if the stone is lifted. The cynical Cassus, realizing he is doomed, begins to tell Hercules his story. Herelates how he arrived in the village looking for work when a scream drew him to the house of the murdered family. By the time he entered, everyone was dead and he was mistaken for the actual killer. Hercules is skeptical but refuses to let Cassus be lynched by Perius and the other villagers.
As Cassus grows weaker, he confides that he has a son, Nico, whom he describes as a runaway. Iolaus finds the boy living among delinquents on the streets, but learns that Nico never ran away - his father abandoned him. Nico returns to confront Cassus, who, desperate to keep his son from repeating his own terrible mistakes, finally confesses that he murdered the family when he was caught stealing. These are Cassus' dying words and, Nico realizes his first real act of courage and caring.
Episode 59 - Atlantis - 5/12/97 [Hercules]
Shipwrecked on Atlantis, Hercules hears Cassandra's prophecy that her island homeland will be destroyed, and Hercules learns that a new super-weapon is causing quakes.

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