Hercules bluray just arrived!

[Disney Duster]

I guess if you consider Phillip the protagonist, which I don't.

Oh. I don't consider him the protagonist either. I see what you meant.

[Sotiris]

Menken wanted Hades to have a song.

There are some musicals where we couldn’t have a villain song. I always wanted to have a villain song for Hades in Hercules, but I couldn’t figure out how we would have Hades sing. Whether it was the way he was depicted in the movie, whatever. [There’s] no given about a villain number.

Source: http://www.craveonline.com/entertainmen ... lain-songs

[DisneyFan09]

You know what? Due to me being used to the villains having their songs through the Renaissance and forward, I thought it was a bummer that the studios decided to discard the villain songs in the late nineties (though for Tarzan it's a different case, for obvious reasons ). At least Hades could've benefited a song. At the time I wanted a song for Shan-Yu as well, though I remember having the discussion with a friend of mine, who objected that it would've been completely off-putting to have such a fierce, hostile warrior like Shan-Yu break into song. I could picture Clayton singing as well (though he was limited by the non-singing policy they put on his film )

[Disney's Divinity]

I imagine writing a song for Hades would be difficult. I can't picture him singing at all.

[unprincess]

well he got a song in the series. Lets just say...it wasnt great, but I dont know how it would have turned out in a WDAF production. Love James Woods but he really aint much of a singer.

[Sotiris]

I just found out that Phil's original line "a pair of big blue eyes" which was changed into "a pair of big goo-goo eyes" in the finished movie can actually be heard in the behind-the-scenes teaser trailer.

[JeanGreyForever]

I just found out that Phil's original line "a pair of big blue eyes" which was changed into "a pair of big goo-goo eyes" in the finished movie can actually be heard in the behind-the-scenes teaser trailer.

I always wondered why they changed Megara's eyes to purple. Maybe because she already had similarities to Aurora so they wanted to add this one more (although I still think Aurora's eyes are blue). Or maybe because Meg was supposed to be a sort of anti-hero or reluctant villainess, they decided that purple would better suit her, especially since she also has a physical resemblance to Vanessa who also has purple eyes.

[Sotiris]

A panel for Hercules is being held at D23 Expo this year. It sounds fun. Is anyone going?

Update: Disney has uploaded the entire thing on YouTube.

Zero to Hero: The Making of Hercules

Sunday, July 16,2017
12:30 p.m.
D23 Expo Arena

From the heights of Mount Olympus to the depths of the Underworld, celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Disney classic that put the “glad” in gladiator! Join a group of legendary artists and filmmakers who brought Hercules to life, including directors John Musker and Ron Clements, animators Eric Goldberg (“Phil”) and Ken Duncan (“Megara”), as well as Megara and Hercules themselves—Susan Egan and Tate Donovan—as they recount stories of making one of the most epic animated features of all time.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... altin-John

[disneyprincess11]

I want to, but I'm going to the Women of Imagineering panel instead

[unprincess]

how cool! Wish I could go to a D23 con.

[Sotiris]

I didn't know about this piece of trivia so I thought I'd share.

For most of the time that this Ron Clements / John Musker movie was in production, there was this scene where Hercules - atop his flying horse, Pegasus - flew through a star-filled sky. And which Disney characters were recreated as constellations in that nighttime sky? Sebastian the Crab & Ariel from "The Little Mermaid."

The only problem with this cartoon cameo is that it came at the very end of "Zero to Hero," this high energy song which was supposed to give the audience all sorts of information about how the Greek people now saw Hercules as almost this celebrity / sports star. But when this Musker & Clements film began test-screening around the country in late 1996 / early 1997, what Ron & John found was that brief glimpse of Ariel & Sebastian actually pulled people out of the movie. Audience members were so busy turning to their seatmates and then saying "Did you see that? Those were characters from 'The Little Mermaid' " that they sometimes missed a crucial plot point in "Hercules" 's next sequence.

So in order to make sure that audiences actually knew how Hades planned on taking down Hercules in the second half of their film (i.e., by siccing Megara on him), Musker & Clements reluctantly had to cut Ariel & Sebastian out of "Hercules" just months before this Walt Disney Animation Studios production was released to theaters in June of 1997.

Source: http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief ... esses.aspx

[DisneyFan09]

You didn't know? The Action Game of Hercules showed the version where at least Sebastian was shown. And The Three Commentears actually mentioned this on their commentary about the film.

But it's somewhat contradicting to exclude Ariel and Sebastian since Scar had a very obvious cameo in the film.

[Disney's Divinity]

I suppose they were replaced by the Marilyn Monroe shot? I don't know, they could've still used them, just put them in the background so they weren't immediately noticeable.

[unprincess]

so Sebastian as Cancer & Ariel as Aquarius(constellations)? that would have been neat!

[JeanGreyForever]

I would have loved to have seen Ariel and Sebastian. I never knew about this before.

[PatrickvD]

I knew this from playing the video game, but still interesting to hear the reasoning behind why they were cut from the final film. I can understand, but still think they were fun cameos.

[Sotiris]

At the Fan Expo Dallas 2018, Susan Egan talked about her experiences working on Hercules. It's really interesting stuff.

• Susan Egan: What She Liked About Hercules
• Susan Egan: Meg's Song
• Susan Egan: Hercules Cut Lines

[JeanGreyForever]

Thanks for posting. Susan Egan's Meg is really the only thing I still like about this movie.

[D82]

Yes, thanks for sharing those clips, Sotiris! They were very interesting. I also love the character of Meg.

[Disney's Divinity]

At the Fan Expo Dallas 2018, Susan Egan talked about her experiences working on Hercules. It's really interesting stuff.

• Susan Egan: What She Liked About Hercules
• Susan Egan: Meg's Song
• Susan Egan: Hercules Cut Lines

She definitely was more natural as Meg than Belle. I've always loved "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)," in part because it suits Meg's character so well. She's not open, honest, or sappy enough to sing a ballad or love song.

Egan talking about how they cut her lines for being too modern was hilarious considering what film this is.