Prince Edward wrote:Really interessting to see that art! I love Hercules (the character, the movie and it's soundtrack) but have long wondered about what could have been if Disney had taken the movie in a different direction.
I also share the view that Hercules would have been received better had it been more epic and a little less relying on the comedy part. I wonder how the movie would have looked like then and how the songs would have been. Alan Menken and David Zippel wrote "Go the Distance" while the movie still was meant to be more epic and that's a beautiful, classic song. My favorite from the soundtrack.
Don't get my wrong - I still think the comedy in Hercules is very smart and the movie is really funny and entertaining. But without the muses, the gospel music and the constant comedy it might have been viewed as more of a classic movie. Comedies are seen as more fluffy entertainment it seems. Had the movie been more in the style of say Pocahontas, Mulan or Tarzan, perhaps it would have been greated with more praise.
I know Menken was planning on going for a "Candide" approach for the Hercules soundtrack before Clements and Musker said they wanted a gospel theme. Not really familiar with Candide but apparently it's like a short opera. I love the songs from the muses as well, but Go the Distance is really beautiful. It suddenly makes a whole lot more sense now that I know it was written before the theme was established for the rest of the soundtrack. I know Megara had a cut song, a ballad called "I Can't Believe My Heart." I actually love this just as much as "I Won't Say I'm in Love" even though most fans feel it is inferior because it doesn't suit Megara, but I disagree. Anyway, it gives another taste at what the film could have been like.
If you own the blu-ray, I would recommend just listening to the music that plays during the main menu. It's really epic and feels like something that would come out of a more classic version of Hercules. While there are bits and pieces to the score of Hercules that I like, those are typically the more drama-fraught parts (like the Underworld and whenever the stars are aligning), and the rest I don't find to be anything that really catches me the way Menken's other scores do. So I do wish the score had been more like the main menu music and the songs more like Go the Distance and the "Candide" approach Menken wanted.
I'm not sure Hercules, a classical Greek story (that's typically a tragedy) was the way to go for a comedy. But I know Musker and Clements didn't really want to do Hercules anyway. They wanted to do Treasure Planet as a sort of comic book style film and then out of the list of choices they got after Aladdin, they felt Hercules would translate the best to the type of movie they wanted to do, hence why Hercules feels so much like a super hero, not to mention the many Superman similarities.
Disney's Divinity wrote:Aw, Scarfe's words to/about J&M were really sweet. It always seems to me that a very great deal was lost in translation between concept art and the finished product (which I understand, for simpler character designs to repeat over and over when animating, but still). I would love to have a more serious version of Hercules and more true to the myth, but I don’t think I’d trade for what we got, since I love the film too much.
I like Scarfe's work especially his concept art here but I don't think it worked well as a Disney film. I prefer the more realistic designs other Disney movies have, and I wonder if the more kookier designs also turned audiences away here.
http://disneyshercs.com/Disneyhercs/PRE ... neyPIX.htm
I found this great site with some more Hercules concept art from both the movie and the TV Show. Pretty much all the more realistic looking scenery and character designs are what I would have preferred to have seen in the finished film.
I know Greeks felt that Americans had butchered their culture with their comedy and how the source material was treated. Although Disney is never particularly reverent of original source material, I do think there were changes they could have implemented for Hercules. Hera could have played the wicked stepmother role, although instead of mother or stepmother, they could have kept her in the role of an aunt (so sorta like Ursula). After all, Hera is Zeus's sister and he was married three times before he married her, so they could have left Hera as Hercules's aunt who despises him maybe because she believes he will disrupt order and harmony? Or maybe just jealousy that he keeps her from ruling? After all the early villainesses were typically jealous of the main character, while all the 90s villains just really wanted power at any cost, so either one could fit Hera's role here. A little easter egg could be that Zeus wants to name Hercules after Hera so he calls him Heracles, but jealous Hera becomes furious so he amends the name to Hercules.
I'm not sure who Hercules' mother would be here; it might be difficult to present Zeus having a child with a Greek princess that he isn't married too, especially if she is married, but maybe Hercules could just be Zeus' child (like how Athena was born from Zeus) but he was born a demi-god instead of a full god by mistake (by Hades or Hera's hand perhaps like in the final movie?) so he realizes he has to give him up to the mortal world. Or maybe shrewd Hera tells Zeus that Hercules can't be one of the Big 12 unless he proves himself a true hero, so he must be raised as a mortal child to learn humility before he can achieve a seat with the other Greek gods (sort of like Thor being banished to Earth before he can be worthy to lift the hammer).
I know Disney has this current trend of surprise villains but they could have done something similar with Hades and Hera. Make Hera seem like a benevolent goddess when in actuality she is pulling the strings behind everything to get Hercules killed. It wouldn't be too far off from the myths where she is anything but benevolent. Hades could be a pawn who she manipulates. He wasn't happy ruling the Underworld but he accepted it, like in the myths, but here comes Hera proposing a situation that could benefit him and have him ruling the heavens like he would have rather wanted. Or if they wanted to keep Hades a villain (since that concept art of him designed to make him a really frightening villain like Grimhilde, Maleficent, etc.) they could have had him use Hera's jealousy to manipulate her into helping him and at the end she realizes that her petty jealousy could cost Zeus to lose everything so she reforms and makes amends with Hercules (also like in the myths).
I'm still surprised that Meg wasn't made a princess. Considering the princess lineup was already forming in those days, and Meg was a princess in the mythology, it seemed like a misfire. If Meg was a princess in the film, she would likely be a Disney Princess and then Hercules wouldn't be treated as badly as it is now. I think some concept art for Meg has her wearing a crown or diadem of some sorts but it might just be an elaborate headband. I never liked how we never really got a feel for Meg's origin in the final film; she just kinda comes out of nowhere with the only backstory being that she gave her soul to Hades to save her love. They could have made Megara the princess of Thebes with her father King Creon, the ruler of Thebes. When Hercules comes to prove himself a hero, he could have been promised Megara's hand if he saves Thebes from everything bad happening there, which would lead to Hercules completing the 12 Labors (which would have to be condensed but I hope they would make up the plotline rather than getting a passing mention like in the final film). Meg would think he is just an arrogant jerk with muscles and maybe she's been spurned before hence her bitterness so she could be swayed into helping Hades or Hera into sabotaging Hercules before also realizing Hercules is a nice guy who really loves her and she really loves him back. It would be hard to say no to a god that you are supposed to worship anyway.
